Page 58 of The Holy Academy of Witches

Adeline stood at the starting line of a fog-coated track with three others I did not recognise in the slightest, but then that wasn’t much of a surprise. What with the insane training and tutoring and then burning out I knew next to no one here. What was a surprise was that I was actually feeling well enough to watch. Whatever Adeline had put into those potions had doubled (if not tripled) my healing rate. Shaking my head, I leaned forward, needing to absorb every detail. Anything that might give me an edge would be essential when it came to surviving my trial, especially now I’d lost a couple of days of training.

Unlike the other contestants, Adeline had no apparent runes marking her skin or weapons. She was dressed casually in skin-tight black leisure wear that covered ankle to wrist, disappearing under her chin where it blended with her hair, which was only partly braided back. Her fiercely focused expression screamed:Warrior. When the signal rang she wasted no time activating several spells simultaneously. Her shield shivering into place before a large bang erupted from the spot she’d just vacated. She was long gone into the shrouded obstacles while one contestant was laid out on the finish line, clutching their bleeding ears. I made a mental note: no shield, no safety.

A medic, dressed all in blue, approached the contestant checking them over. The damage was too severe to continue. Perhaps I could lessen the sass in our tutoring sessions… Just in case.

I surveyed the stands, the lack of family and outside visitors made them nearly empty except where the monitors stood. The monitors cycled between each main obstacle. The normal ropes and climbing challenges were made infinitely harder with jinxes and charms that only the contestants could see. Not that any of us would be making note of the locations as they were all subject to change at the end of each trial. On top of which, The Run itself would have completely different obstacles as they would be a much larger scale in the Forest, rather than the track.

A series of groans and scattered cheers arose as Adeline’s dark form was the first to the ropes course. She began muttering, her hands and feet glowing before she dismissed her shield. Risky. Maybe she’d already dispatched the other two contestants? Taking a running leap, she reached a rope that would be far above my ability before arching back and forth. Jumping and swinging - rope to rope - she made quick work of the course through athletic ability alone, Theo would have been impressed. At times her hands sparked, the unknown spell reacting with another but she was gone before a more telling interaction could occur.

Just before she reached the end of the course the other two contestants emerged from the fog. They looked murderous when they caught sight of her progress. They stood hand in hand; some alliance apparently having been struck in the fog. The first: a smaller, slighter girl with olive skin and dark purple hair, began activating the runes that lined her skin. The runes glowed but had no other observable effect. The second runner, a curvier brunette, chanted, hand still encasing the others. The runes glowed brighter before a series of ropes lit up. These must be the only unaltered ropes. Keeping their shields in place they began eating away at Adeline’s lead. But Adeline was already gone, deep within the mist.

Silva’s sleek hair entered my peripherals just as her voice pierced my focus.

“I assume you’re cheering for your tutor? Sad.”

I stayed silent, betting that she was the type that would be more irked by my lack of attention than a sharp remark, which honestly was beyond my ability at the moment. It only took a few more minutes of calmly watching the screen before my suspicions were confirmed.

“She doesn’t care about you, not really. She’s just allowing your puppy-dog act because her mother told her to get close to you.”

It wouldn’t surprise me if her motherdidtell her that. I wasn’t ignorant of the holes in mine and my brother’s back story, despite the unknown fortune spent to help distract the leadership from that very thing.

“You can tell I’m right. I know it. Just come with me to Professor Hershaw instead and we can fill in whatever tutoring she’s holding over your head,” She pleaded, as if genuinely concerned.

I looked at her then, unnerved by the departure from her usual disdain. She must have joined Hershaw’s tutoring squad, the late hours evident under her eyes. Genuine fear shone there too, whether for my benefit or something else I couldn’t tell. Either way it felt worthy of response.

“I’ll be fine Silva. No need to rock the boat on my behalf.” I looked back at the screen.

Adeline had just entered the area of the next obstacle. A net of razor wire over a pit of mud. Adeline approached and illuminated the hidden forcefields with a chanted spell. There was one above and one below the pit - to prevent any contestants from avoiding the obstacle all together. Rather than shimmying through the muck she began sketching something into the mud. She walked around it once, twice, before removing a hidden pouch from around her neck and sprinkling the substance on her drawings. Tucking the pouch back into her black suit, she slithered under the net.

The contestants I’d dubbed Grape and Otter for their hair burst out of the fog, breathing deeply. Seeing their opponent in a vulnerable state sent Grape into a hurried frenzy, she ran forward hand outstretched with a spell of ill intent on her lips… right into Adeline’s trap. She was frozen, her hand glowing with some unknown spell, the runes lining her skin useless.

Otter approached more carefully, looking between her temporary ally and Adeline’s retreating form. With an apologetic shrug to Grape, she hedged around the trap. Sitting on the ground she drew a rune over her head, her heart and her hand. Placing both palms on the ground, she closed her eyes, inhaling. Her eyes snapped open to show her pupils fully blown out. The runes she’d just drawn began to glow, lighting up the fog as she chanted in Norse. Her hair floated up to frame her face as she grounded her magic or perhaps supplemented from the ley-lines below, another thing I was yet to learn. She drew her right palm from the mud slowly, allowing the wet earth to slide down her arm. With a quick clenching of her fist she decimated the forcefield above.

Adeline was frozen, the explosion most likely having pressed the razor wire into her flesh. Though her outfit made any blood impossible to spot. With a small shake of her head she continued toward the end of the net, only a few feet ahead.

Otter severed the other palms connection with a gasp, the light gone, her hair deflated. She swayed, rubbing the runes from her now pale skin, likely sick from the large expenditure. Bracing her hands on her knees, she looked between Adeline and the wall of fog ahead. She could attack her opponent or focus her magic on crossing, there was still another obstacle to go either way.

That moment’s hesitation was all Adeline needed. Summoning a shield as she made it to her feet she ran for the fog. Otter kicked the net, and a stake came loose. She muttered under her breath before encouraging the other stakes that held the net to sink into the soft ground. Tossing the net to the side, she crossed the mud unhindered, her compatriot left frozen and furious.

Glancing around, I saw that most students were collecting on their previous bets only to place another round on the two remaining students. Silva had disappeared.

The next time Adeline emerged from the fog she looked winded. A small trickle of blood ran down her forehead and wrists, either from the razor wire or an altercation in the fog I had no clue. I guess we’d see if Otter showed up. This Obstacle had a large tower that connected to another on the other side of the finish line. She’d need to climb the tower and zip line across. The only complication being the lack of handholds, and no harness. Perhaps they were meant to conjure their own.

Adeline took in the structures before dropping to her knees. She drew a perfect pentagram enclosed in an equally symmetrical circle into the ground, something I’d learned to recognise and create under her tutelage. The pentagram lingered, shimmering in the soil.

Withdrawing the pouch once more, she retrieved five objects, placing them on each tip of the star’s spokes. Pointing toward the tower she chanted, drawing solely on her waning constitution. As she began to sway, I worried she was taking too much, asking too much, when both towers shivered, the nails holding them together shooting up into the electromagnetic force she’d summoned. Lowering the ball of nails slowly to the ground she erased her pentagram. She then climbed the piles of wood and walked across the fallen zip line as if it were a balance beam, taking a bow when she crossed the finish line.

The obstacle course was cleared of fog, immediately showing pits and hexes lining each inch of the track. Otter was lying in a pit, only knocked out we were assured, from the over expenditure of magic most likely. Adeline left the track after the medics attempted to heal whatever scrapes she’d accumulated, though she’d waved them away after only a few moments. Her mother watched every second with the stillness of a predator. It made no sense, she was the indisputable winner, the only one across the finish line and yet her mother made no move to congratulate or approach her. In fact, no one did.

Maybe it was awful, but I decided that I trusted Adeline a little more because of it. Maybe I had no idea who she was, but I knew what it was like to feel alienated for something that I had no control over. But as she continued proudly out of sight, knowing she had a prejudicial audience, I couldn’t help but wonder how she’d come out stronger while I always felt so weak.

Thirty-Two

Adeline

Iwaved away the second medic attempting to heal my obvious injuries, each one eager and probably anxious to treat the headmistress’s daughter. My ribs were aching, my magic was near depleted and I was fairly certain my split lip and bloody nose were quite off putting but at least I’d won.

I walked across the field back towards the dorms, feeling both exhausted and a little exhilarated. I checked my phone as I walked, not waiting to see if any of my room mates had been there watching. They most likely hadn’t.

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