“Now, two groups have reached the center of the event. Violet is closing in quick, delayed a short while by their encounter with…”
He stumbled, trailing off with a glance towards Zoe.
“Let’s just call her Lucy.”
“With Lucy. Don’t touch that channel. We’ll be back with more excitement from the magical world after a brief message from our sponsors.”
— — —
“Ugh. Blech.”
“Yes, we get it,” Emily said, looking over at the nun with a shake of her head. “You had tentacles in your mouth. You’ve been whining about it for the last five minutes. It’s gross. Can you just stop making those noises?”
“You don’t even know,” Anise snapped. “You only had a few tentacles around your waist. I was completely wrapped up.” She tugged at her shirt, still slimy from being wrapped up in Lucy’s tentacles. “That thing was probably venomous.”
“Poisonous,” Eva said, glancing back over her shoulder with a wide grin. “Venomous is when they bite you. Poisonous is when you bite them. And you were definitely doing the biting.”
Anise groaned.
“But don’t worry. Though she can be toxic, it is an optional sort of thing. With her orders not to actually hurt people, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“Why me? Neither of you got wrapped up so much.”
“I got my wand knocked out of my hand and all she’s got are fire spells,” Emily said with a finger pointing towards Eva. “Obviously you are the most dangerous of the three of us.”
Eva twisted her face into a scowl. Anise did just the opposite, brightening up for the first time since having her mouth stuffed full of tentacles.
She was just about ready to turn around and remind the two of them that, even with Lucy barely fighting back, they would both have been carried out of the arena if it wasn’t for her. However, she felt her breath catch in her throat as she walked up a short ridge.
There was no forest ahead of her. No trees and hardly any brush. There was grass, but it had been clipped short. The clearing was far larger than the area Eva had coopted for her ritual. At least twice as large. Possibly more.
Of course, a clearing wasn’t all that shocking. The Infinite Courtyard had a number of clearings dotted around. None as maintained as this, but they probably weren’t used for events very often.
No, it was what occupied the majority of the clearing that had Eva’s jaw dropping.
“You all see the giant pyramid in the middle of the forest, right? It isn’t some illusion.”
“It’s the Pyramid of the Sun,” Emily said, voice soft. “The plateaus on the sides… the stairs running up the middle. Ancient mages would conduct rituals at the very top. But why is it here?”
“I doubt it is the original,” Anise said with a scoff.
Could have fooled me, Eva thought. The brickwork looked haggard and rough, weathered by time and… well, weather. Green vines grew up alongside the stairway, though the stairs themselves were clear of any plant life.
Anise had to be right. Eva didn’t know what the Pyramid of the Sun was, but if it was a real building actually used by ancient mages, it was probably some protected structure like the pyramids in Egypt. For cultural heritage if nothing else. Redford had probably built this version specifically for the event.
Narrowing her eyes at movement on the staircase, Eva’s lips curled into a frown.
“We’re not the first ones here.”
Two figures were sprinting up the staircase as fast as their legs could carry them. Though the moon lit up the area, it wasn’t enough to tell who they were. Their hats were a decent giveaway for which school, however.
“Faultline,” Emily hissed—almost snarled.
Eva had to take her eyes off the temple to glance at her face.
Her teeth ground together, bared in full. Her eyes burned… she wasn’t a demon or a nun, but they were almost glowing as they caught the moonlight.
Glancing over at Anise, Eva nodded her head towards Emily with raised eyebrows. All she got was a shrug from the other girl.
“There are others scaling the pyramid,” Anise said as her eyes went back to the temple.
Eva spun around.
The trainee-nun was right. Another two were running up the stairs. Their silhouettes lacked the pointed caps that the Faultline crew had. She honestly couldn’t identify them. One might be a girl. It could be Rachael. It could be the other pair that had Mount Hope students. Or it could be the other group of three with one member missing for some reason.
It could even be two separate groups that got rid of their partners and had met up.
“Let’s go help them,” Emily said, already starting towards the temple.
“You don’t even know who they are.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, breaking into a run. “They’re not Faultline.”
Again, Eva glanced at Anise. Again she got a shrug in return.
“I guess we better go after her.”
“We are enemies, you know.”
Eva smiled. Not a wide grin, just a polite one. “After all we’ve been through together? How can you say something so cruel. I even rescued you from that evil tentacle monster.”
“That tentacle monster was only there because of you,” Anise said with a scowl. “She said your name, she walked up to you, you two talked. If you had been in a different group, I would never have…” she trailed off, bringing a hand up to her mouth before shaking her head.
“Not necessarily. That could have been her assigned area. Then you would have been antagonizing her without me there to keep her from doing anything worse.”
“That’s… not just…” She shook her head. “Emily is already at the base of the pyramid.”
Eva spun around and moved a single step forwards before hesitating. “I’m trusting you to watch our backs,” she said. “Especially for any vampires. Keep your guard up.”
With that, she blinked forwards three times, crossing the distance to Emily in almost an instant.
And just about got a fireball to her face for her troubles.
Emily spun around the moment Eva appeared, lashing out with flames from the tip of her wand.
Eva slid to the side. She didn’t retaliate. The blast of fire—a good twice as hot as the flames Eva had used on Lucy, at least—blew past the side of her head. Stepping backwards, Eva held up her hands.
Emily followed through on a second attack in a single motion of her wand before finally realizing who she was attacking.
She paused with her wand raised in the air, tip glowing.
“Truce still?”
“I wasn’t the one who almost broke it.”
Her wand arm dropped to her side as she grasped her chest. The tip of her wand was still bright red.
“You okay?”
“Fine. Just startled.” She paused, glancing over Eva’s shoulder. “Anise back there?”
“She’s a bit slower than I am. I told her to watch our backs.” Eva pointed her out to Emily just to prove that she hadn’t broken the truce already.
And really, she wasn’t that slow. Unable to blink, yes. But her sprint carried her at a brisk pace. She was actually almost to them.
But Eva turned and took the steep steps three at a time, leaping up more than stepping as she left Emily behind.
She had a feeling that there would be a fight at the top. Two Faultline boys and two other people, probably not even from the same school. If she had been wrong and one of them was the vampire, she needed to be there and ensure he lost.
Anise and Emily would both have to catch up. Neither had Arachne’s legs.
She passed the first plateau. It really wasn’t that large. More of a landing than a plateau. From the staircase leading down to the staircase continuing up, there was only a few feet of level space. So she continued on without breaking stride.
Neither of her companions were doing quite as well. By the time Eva made it to the second plateau, they had only gone halfway up the first. Their speed dropped drastically. Climbing stairs was never easy and these ones were steep to the point of insanity. Just standing on the edge had Eva feeling like she was about to go tumbling off.