Page 53

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

W hat meets us on the other side is like nothing I have ever seen before. In terms of sheer strangeness, the forest before us is on par with that magical underground forest where the dryads live. I blink, turning my head from side to side.

There is not a single straight tree trunk as far as the eye can see.

It looks as if someone has taken every branch and every tree trunk and then twisted them around, making them look like spirals that stick out in all different directions.

Green leaves rustle in the canopy above, but most of the twisting branches are also covered in dark purple moss that hangs down like curtains that ripple in the gentle wind.

The hanging moss paints the woods with splashes of color.

In fact, everywhere I look, bright colors light up the forest.

Pink flowers dot the fresh green grass that covers the forest floor, and bright yellow lichen covers every stone and boulder. There are even a few pale blue mushrooms growing on the gnarled tree trunks.

I stare at the colorful vista.

It’s like standing in the middle of a rainbow.

“Wow,” Lyra says. “This is pretty cool.”

I nod. “It’s stunning.”

Alistair draws his eyebrows down. “I hate forests.”

The portal behind us drops back down into the ground, sealing us in. I glance down at the grass where it used to be while a sudden sense of dread slithers through my stomach. I have a bad feeling about this.

“Ah, cheer up.” Lyra jabs her elbow into Alistair’s ribs. “We just need to find the other portal, and then we’ll be back on that dry and barren sand that you prefer.”

He levels a flat look at her, but it’s incredibly obvious that he’s fighting a smile too.

“And we need to find it fast,” Draven picks up. “Especially since the other teams have a head start. So listen up.”

“And there you go, giving orders again, bossy pants,” Alistair notes.

Draven fixes Alistair with a commanding stare until the snarky fire wielder raises his hands in mock surrender. With an exasperated sigh, Draven turns back to us.

“You heard Yster,” he begins. “As soon as one person steps through the portal, the entire team is immediately transported back.”

“Which means that we should split up to cover more ground,” I finish for him.

He nods. “Exactly.”

“Unless we’re attacked by the other teams,” Galen adds. “Then we’ll be picked off easily if we’re alone.”

Leaves rustle above us as a warm wind sweeps through the strange forest while we consider his words in silence.

He has a point. After the last game, both the Red Faction and the White Faction seem to have developed a grudge against us.

I’m pretty sure that that’s a big part of why they agreed to play this high-stakes extra game.

Not just to win back the crowd’s favor, but also to get revenge against us.

“Good point,” Draven agrees. Crossing his arms, he considers in silence for another few seconds. Then he turns to Galen. “In pairs then. You go with Isera. Lyra, you’re with Alistair.” He turns to me. “And Selena, you’re with me.”

We all nod in confirmation.

“Don’t waste any time or effort doing things to entertain the crowd,” Draven continues. “We just need to finish as fast as possible, and we’re already behind.” A sly smile tugs on his lips. “But fortunately, we have an advantage against the other teams this time.”

A small cloud of smoke explodes in the air and then drifts away on the breeze as Draven performs a half-shift. His massive black wings rustle as he spreads them wide.

Lyra chuckles and rubs her hands excitedly while Galen smirks knowingly.

Draven jerks his chin at me. “Alright, let’s get going.”

Lurching into motion, I run my hands down my black fighting leathers and check that my dagger is secure in my thigh holster. Then I quickly step over to Draven. He bends down and slides one arm behind my back and the other behind my knees. My pulse flutters as he lifts me into his arms.

His eyes are serious as he looks between Galen and Lyra. “Be careful.”

Then he shoots into the sky.

My stomach lurches and I wrap my arms tightly around his neck while squeezing my eyes shut. Winds rush in my ears, and my hair flutters behind me. Then the rapid ascent stops and Draven comes to a halt, hovering in the air. His massive wings create thumping sounds as they beat steadily.

Drawing in a deep breath, I pry my eyes open again and level a stern look at him.

“Bastard,” I huff. “You really are doing that on purpose, aren’t you?”

He just smirks at me, the wicked glint in his eyes answer enough.

With another half amused, half exasperated sigh, I shake my head at him and then turn to look at our surroundings.

The forest we’ve been dropped in is vast, but not all of it is accessible to us.

Our playing field is limited to Hana’s pocket reality, which takes the shape of a dome.

Walls rise up from the ground and slope inwards to meet in the center up in the sky.

The walls look like some kind of thick liquid moving against glass.

It’s similar to the wards around the Unseelie Court, but these are less transparent.

They distort the landscape outside the walls, letting us only see the general shape of what’s out there.

But what I see still takes my breath away.

Beyond the forest is a large city and a magnificent castle.

Arches and twisting spires reach for the heavens, and the entire palace appears to be made of some kind of pale reflective stone.

Even through the thick walls of Hana’s pocket reality, the massive castle shines when the sun hits it, as if the building itself is radiating sunlight.

The sight of it shocks me. Because the effect is eerily similar to both our Golden Palace in the Seelie Court, which glows golden in the sun, and Orion’s castle in the Unseelie Court, which glows silver in the light.

This palace shines more like a never setting sun rather than a precious metal like gold or silver, but still, the similarities are unnerving.

I stare from the castle to the city that spreads out before it while my heart pounds in my chest. Are there fae living here? Are there more of our people living here on this other world or other continent or wherever the hell we are?

“We’re at the edge of the pocket reality,” Draven says.

His voice snaps me out of my stunned thoughts, and I give my head a quick shake to clear it and to refocus on the problem at hand. Finding the only portal out before the Unseelie King traps us in here.

“And Yster said that all teams were dropped at a similar distance from the portal,” he continues. “Which means that the portal should be located somewhere in the middle of the pocket reality.”

Glancing behind us, I find that there is indeed a thick half-translucent wall rising up from the forest a short distance behind us. I shift my gaze back to Draven’s face. “Yes. It’s probably hidden underneath a thick canopy, though. Since Orion knows that you can fly.”

“True.” He clenches his jaw in annoyance. “Well, let’s see what we can find when?—”

Magic shoots towards us.

And arrows.

Draven drops down through the air right before a lightning bolt and a hail of arrows speed past right in the space we used to occupy. I gasp, tightening my arms around his neck at the sudden drop.

A blast of water slams towards us. Draven jerks us sideways, but right as we move, another storm of arrows shoots through the air. He snaps his wings in to protect them.

My stomach lurches as we plummet downwards at incredible speed.

Fire crackles through the air as a torrent of flames streams towards us. It’s followed almost immediately by another massive bolt of lightning. And then another swarm of arrows.

Draven summons his storm magic and narrowly manages to push the torrent of fire aside with a blast of wind while he flares his wings again.

Our rapid descent comes to a halt as he steadies us in the air for a second.

But more magic and more arrows are already speeding towards us, so he tucks his wings in again and drops us down through the canopy.

We land hard on the grass, the jolt pulsing through his whole body. But his eyes are locked on me, scanning my body for injuries.

“I’m fine,” I assure him.

Footsteps thud against the ground behind us. Draven quickly sets me down on the grass, and we whirl to face our attackers.

Relief crashes into me when we instead find Isera, Galen, Alistair, and Lyra sprinting through the trees towards us.

“What happened?” Galen demands, his eyes wide as he flicks worried glances between us and the sky above.

“We were attacked,” Draven replies.

“Yeah, we could obviously see that too,” Alistair points out as the four of them come to a halt before us. “But by who? The other teams shouldn’t be this close.”

“Or have magic that strong,” Isera adds, her cool eyes sharp as she scans the forest.

“Or have bows and arrows,” Lyra finishes.

Galen shifts his gaze back to Draven. “Did Orion set us up?”

Draven considers the question in silence for a few seconds, storms brewing in his eyes. But all he says is, “Not sure.”

My heart is still pounding fast after the sudden attack, so I draw in a deep breath to compose myself and then summon my magic. If Orion dropped the other teams close to us from the very start, and also gave them bows and arrows to use against us, I should be able to feel their excitement.

I throw my magic across the forest around us, looking for those glittering silver sparks of excitement.

It connects with eleven people. Six of them are moving in a cluster somewhere far across the forest straight ahead, and the other five, also moving together in a group, are somewhere to our left. Neither direction matches where the attacks came from.

Frowning, I keep my magic searching for another few seconds before I let it fade out again. If neither team is in a position to attack us, then who in Mabona’s name just shot at us?

“The other teams are not close by,” I say, silencing the confused discussion around me.

My friends all turn to me.

“Then who the hell was shooting at you?” Alistair asks, echoing my own thoughts.

Calling up my magic again, I once more throw it across the forest. But this time, I’m searching for yellow-green sparks of suspicion.

A jolt shoots through me, and I swallow as I look from face to face.

“Not sure. But they’re heading straight towards us.”