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“Good point,” Raiden agrees.

Van shrugs, “Let’s put it on the plinth and see what happens. There doesn’t seem to be anywhere else obvious for it to go.”

Ransom nods and walks over to the plinth, he places the gemstone on top, and it glows brightly. For a brief moment, I feel the tug of the portal, but then it disappears.

“What happened?” I ask the guys, we’re all still in the cave.

“I have no idea,” Reed answers as he looks around in confusion.

River does not look impressed as he says, “I thought I felt the portal, but it wasn’t as strong as it usually is.”

“Same,” Doc replies.

“Do you feel that?” Ransom asks.

Van nods, “Yeah, the magic is building again.”

“It feels different though?” Raiden says it like a question.

I nod, “Yeah, but I can’t put my finger on why.”

We don’t have any more time to try and figure out what’s going on because the portal magic suddenly appears again, but instead of pulling us in, the Draconian team suddenly appears, all of them looking sleepy and disoriented, apart from Coen, who spots us immediately. His eyes light up, but his expression remains in a frown.

The effort that it takes me to not run to him immediately is so fucking difficult that I find myself clenching my hands at my sides.

“What the fuck are we doing here?” Kylen demands.

“The gemstone has gone,” River points out, completely ignoring Kylen.

However, my eyes are glued to his face, across his cheek is a bright red, and blistering handprint, about the same size as Ribit’s hand.

I burst out laughing, “Looking good.”

“Fuck you, cunt,” Kylen immediately retorts.

Growls of warning fill the cave, and my smile widens as Kylen immediately shrinks back, before pretending that he’s not scared at all. Even the rest of the team looks nervous as they stay silent and watch us with caution. Although a couple of them seem to have learned from their mistakes at the first task and are dressed, Kylen and Rupert aren’t, and are in pyjamas, although they do appear to have boots on, which is weird. Then again, I think that the whole team is a bit off. I mean, how does it make sense to wear pyjamas, but put boots on just in case?

Especially after they have already been caught out.

It’s stupid.

My eyes involuntarily drift back to Coen, I can’t fucking help it. His eyes briefly meet mine, and his jaw clenches tightly as he looks away. He’s finding this just as difficult as I am, but it really is safer.

For him and me.

The same glow of magic that appeared in the woods shows up again, and Evander reads the words as they appear.

“Head north, work together to get through the portal, everyone must go through the portal to pass the trial,” Van reads.

“North?” one of the Draconian team asks.

I still don’t know all of their names, and I have no desire to learn them.

More words appear and Van reads them aloud as they do, “Certain gifts and attributes of your supernatural sides will be suppressed from this point forward.”

I frown, and I’m not the only one as my guys all share a look and Coen looks completely unfazed since I am pretty sure that his magic has been suppressed for years, that’s the only thing that would explain why he can’t shift.

Doc is the first to speak, “Fuck. That’s not good.”