Page 147 of Mortal Shift
Cole shook his head, his face every bit as puzzled as my own. Looking around the room, I could see every shifter here wearing the same expression. Huh. Fun times. I guess no one knew what was going on...which did not bode well. Whatever the academy had in store for us, they intended for it to be a surprise. And in my experience, surprises at Darkveil were never a good thing.
Cole rubbed his hand across my upper arm in a reassuring gesture.
“Do you need me to distract you?” he said, a mischievous glint in his eye. I shook my head.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be distracted right now,” I said, my eyes darting around the room once more. They snagged on the door as it swung inwards, on the light from the corridor silhouetted Zane in the entrance. He paused there for a moment, every pair of eyes in the room looking at him, and then stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.
“If you all thought your assessments were over and done with that easily,” he said, “you’re going to be in for a nasty surprise.”
Shocker. But then, didn’t that sum up my entire experience the Darkveil?Not my entire experience at Darkveil,some part my mind reminded me, and I gave Cole’s hand a gentle squeeze. He squeezed back, but neither of us took our eyes from Zane.
“What’s going on?” someone asked from the back of the room, but I didn’t see who.
“If you’d shut up for two minutes, I would tell you,” Zane ground out. “You are about to begin your final first year trial at Darkveil.Sanctionedtrial.”
Sanctioned trial? My stomach twisted uncomfortably, and I could all but smell the anticipation and anxiety in the room. Something big was coming, something that would determine all of our futures, and abruptly my throat was too dry to make any sound even if I’d wanted to. A sanctioned trial meant blood was going to be spilled.
“When I leave this room,” Zane continued, “you will have three minutes to exit the building. You will not touch anything. You will not take anything but the clothes you are already wearing. You will not talk to anyone. And you will not attempt to remain inside.” His eyes roved the room, daring anyone to defy him.
“Anyone attending to break these rules will immediately fail the year,” he said. “Anyone attempting to re-enter the academy before the end of the trial will immediately fail this year.”
“What...What is the trial, sir?” one of the shifters asked, when it seemed that Zane wasn’t going to elaborate.
Zane curled his upper lip in a sneer, and then his lips flattened into a smile that promised nothing but trouble. “The trial is simple. You will remain in the academy grounds for twenty-four hours, and you will survive...by any means necessary.”
My heart stuttered in my chest and I twisted to look up at Cole. By any means necessary? I didn’t like the sound of that, and from the look on his face, neither did he. And if Cole was worried, then I knew I was right to be terrified.
“Enough questions,” Zane snapped. “Good luck. I’ll see those of you who are worthy next year.”
And with that, he turned on his heel and left the room.
We all stood frozen in silence for a long moment, shock turning us into statues. Then, abruptly, a figure barged his way forward from behind us, making straight for the door. He yanked it open and slipped out, and his movement seemed to stir everyone else to life. All at once, there was a hubbub of noise and everyone in the room surged toward the door.
I nudged Cole as the throng started to thin, and nodded at the exit. He dipped his chin and we started forward.
“Hey, Cali,” a voice called from behind me. I spun to face it, and found myself staring at Kallan.
“Good luck out there,” he said, his lips drawing into a malicious smile, and then he drew one finger across his throat. “I’ll be looking out for you.”
Cole exploded into action beside me, and I snagged his wrist in time to pull him back.
“Don’t,” I said, shaking my head frantically. “We don't have time to get into this right now. Besides,” I jutted my chin defiantly at Kallan, “if the best he’s got is idle threats and dirty looks, he’s the one who won’t last two minutes out there.”
I turned abruptly from Kallan and his two pathetic packmates at his back, and hurried from the room, my hand still wrapped around Cole’s wrist. He fell into step quickly beside me, seemingly realizing the same thing that I did: we’d already wasted too many precious seconds of the hundred and eighty Zane had allowed us. We needed to get going.
The moment we made it into the main corridor, we took off running. Zane had given us just three minutes, and we’d squandered at least one of those arguing with Kallan. If we didn’t make it out onto the grounds before the time was up, everything that we'd been through in the last year would have been for nothing, and neither of us was willing to allow that. Feet thundering through the near-deserted hallways of the academy, it seemed both seconds and hours until the large door that opened onto the grounds came into sight. Cole flung a glance at me and I returned it, both of us panting lightly from the run. I swallowed and nodded, and Cole ducked his chin in reply, then pushed open the door and let us out into the grounds.
Now the trial would really begin.
Chapter Forty-Nine
The night was dark, and the cold nipped at my face and hands. But somehow I got the sense getting a little cold wasn’t going to be the worst thing that happened to me tonight. Twenty-four hours, that was what Zane had said. Survive for twenty-four hours.
“Which way?” I asked, my voice seeming too loud in the still air.
I could see a cluster of shifters gathered a short distance away, some of them talking in hushed whispers, and some of them scanning the night air with wide eyes. Shifters didn’t scare easily, but they were rattled, and I could feel the fear clawing at the back of my own throat. I swallowed again, trying to banish it, and focused on Cole. Whatever was coming, we would get through it together.
“Whatever is coming, we can’t face it alone,” he said, as though he’d been able to pluck the thoughts straight from my mind. He nodded over at the cluster of shifters. “Come on, this way. Let’s see if we still have any allies.”
