Page 17

CHAPTER 17

I was so drained from this last event. I had thought charms would be simpler, but they were proving to be the most complex of all.

The elimination round had just finished, and everyone was waiting eagerly for their scores to see who would compete in the final round.

Bruce and Pierre flanked me, facing the scoreboard, which was blank.

I was grateful for them, but I really wanted Aiden. Just his presence was comforting.

We had each been given a chunk of clay and told to create a homunculus for a fight. The charms had been tricky, to say the least.

We had competed against our contingent for the elimination round, so I wasn’t sure how well the other contingents had done. There had been six rings, one for each group. I had caught glimpses of the homunculi as they passed, but nothing of the charms used on them.

I swallowed anxiously.

“You will be fine,” Pierre said suddenly. “Your little man lasted five rounds before he was destroyed.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I was hoping for six. Bruce lasted six.”

“Mine lasted five as well,” Pierre continued. “We should be proud, no?”

I nodded. “You’re right. We should be proud. I’ve never done anything like this before.”

Part of the complication of the charms, beyond coming up with them on the spot, was the intensity of the ley line nexus. Once again, we were on a five-point nexus, and the power was almost overwhelming. I had to hold back or my poor little homunculus would have melted under the intensity.

I made a mental note to look up why Liangshan Yi in Sichuan had more power even than the nexuses in Mexico and Egypt.

“What is it about China?” I muttered to myself.

“Belief?” Pierre suggested.

I shook my head. “I think it might have something to do with the landscape. Look at the mountains and valleys, and how they roll. I think they might be mathematically perfect.”

“What do you mean?” Bruce asked.

“The Golden ratio,” I explained. “Remember when we visited Atlantis, and we saw that the city is laid out like a shell? And the nexus points, if flattened, do the same thing. It’s the Fibonacci sequence. I’d like to come back here and take some measurements. If I’m right, this could be huge for my thesis.”

“Does your brain ever stop?” Pierre asked. “I’m nearly out of my mind with anxiety over whether I’ll get into the finals, and here you are talking about your thesis.”

“Rarely,” I murmured, thinking about how Aiden was able to turn off my brain.

Bruce chuckled, obviously reading my expression, and I schooled my features into neutrality.

I shrugged. “What can I say? It’s hard to stop thinking, especially when my thesis is consuming nearly every spare moment I’ve got.”

Pierre nodded. “I know what you mean. I feel water-logged all the time because of collecting my data.”

I patted his arm. “It’ll get better soon, right? There’s only so much data you can collect.”

He grimaced. “I keep thinking that.”

“May I have your attention,” boomed the announcer’s voice. “The judges have determined who your final competitors will be. For Africa...”

I tuned him out, my heart beating so hard that all I could hear was a whooshing sound in my ears. I grabbed the boys’ hands and held on tightly.

“Asia!” The announcer listed their names. I forced myself to at least count how many were included in each team.

“There’s only six people per team!” I whimpered.

“On the positive side, if we don’t get picked for the team, we don’t have to stress about competing,” Pierre said encouragingly.

I spared him a glance. “You don’t know me very well if you think I won’t stress from the sidelines.”

Bruce smothered a laugh with his free hand.

“Europe!” The announcer shouted, and my stomach dropped to my toes. My grip increased and I bit my lip until it bled a little.

“Calm down,” Bruce said, concerned. “It’s not the end of the world. You faced that with less panic.”

The announcer called Bruce’s name first, and I jumped a little in delight. Then he called my name, and everything stopped.

“Did he really say my name?” I asked, shaken.

Bruce laughed and pointed at the board. “There you are! You should also have a green light on your headpiece, if you don’t believe the board.”

“I can’t believe it,” I muttered.

Pierre’s name was called last, and he swept both of us up in a giant hug, all of us hopping in place in celebration.

His excitement was catching, and I managed to forget my disbelief in the wake of his enthusiasm.

“Will the competitors for Europe please follow me?” an attendant said. “You will have two hours in the tent to prepare your homunculus and practice as a unit.”

I gulped. I wasn’t great at teamwork.

“You’ll be great,” Bruce murmured. “Have faith in us.”

“I have faith in you ,” I countered. “It’s me I’m not sure about.”

We joined the other three members of our team in a tent off to the side. Once we were in, the attendant sealed the tent, activated the anti-spying charms, and sat in a comfy-looking chair.

“Hi!” greeted a bubbly blonde girl, taller than me by at least a head. “My name is Carmine, and I’m from Germany.”

A short boy with messy curls introduced himself as Joey from Greece, and the last competitor, a tiny girl who looked no older than twelve years old, introduced herself as Sofia from Spain.

After our own introductions, we stood in a circle around the pit of clay and argued about the form of our homunculus.

“It should stand upright, like a human,” insisted Joey. “Easier to control if it looks like something we’re used to.”

“I think it makes more sense to be on four legs like a beast,” Carmine disagreed. “It has a lower center of gravity and will be harder to knock over.”

“A dragon!” Pierre shouted excitedly. “Something with flight!”

“Hang on,” I said slowly. “Working as a team, we would get more power if we could concentrate on one body part, right?”

“Yeah, but if all of us focus on a punch from the right arm, the homunculus would fall over,” Joey pointed out. “We would need at least two for the legs, and one for the body.”

“I get that,” I said reassuringly. “What if our little guy didn’t have legs?”

Sofia looked confused. “How would it move?”

Bruce chuckled and patted my shoulder. “I see what you mean. How do snails move?” He faced the rest of the team. “Something bloated and formless would be hard to attack.”

“And put the heart in the middle,” Carmine said. “I see the use of that. And then we can put a hidden mouth underneath it.”

I grinned. “That is an amazing idea! We can jump onto the others and destroy them with razor sharp teeth. The mouth would only need us to focus on it when it’s in use. Otherwise, all of us can focus on moving in the same direction.”

Bruce clapped. “Brilliant. Any objections?”

Everyone shook their heads.

“Let’s build. How big do we want to get?”

“As big as possible,” Joey said enthusiastically. “Can I make the teeth?”

“I wanted to make the teeth,” Carmine said with a pout.

“How about I make the lower and you make the upper, doll,” he said with a wink.

Carmine punched his shoulder, making him wince. “Call me ‘doll’ again, and that’ll be your face.”

“I love a woman who can fight back,” Joey said, waggling his eyebrows dramatically.

Still bickering, the two went to the far side of the clay pit and started shaping the teeth.

“As big as possible,” I murmured to the other three. “With all of us focused on its movement, it shouldn’t be too difficult to move at regular speeds.”

“Why don’t we build a small version to test it out?” Pierre suggested. “Practice working together, at least as the four of us.”

I nodded and picked up the heart that would signal the homunculus’s demise if it was damaged. “I think rubbery sides around a solid core center. Thoughts?”

Bruce chuckled. “They’re going to bounce off of us. Let’s do it.” He swirled his finger over the clay pit, pulling a small amount of clay toward him. He wrapped it around the heart and solidified it with a tap.

I put it on the ground. “I’ve got control,” I murmured, moving it forward and backward in front of us. “Join me.”

“One at a time,” Bruce cautioned. “Sofia?”

I felt a little resistance when she connected with the homunculus. She wanted to move it in a different direction.

“Over to the chair,” I said, and suddenly it was much easier to move. Her power added to mine did make things easier.

“My turn,” Pierre said softly.

He followed my lead, and the homunculus shot forward, reaching the chair in a leap.

“Is it because we know each other that it was easier for you to join?” I asked, most of my attention on the little lump of clay.

“I am not trying to control,” Pierre said. “I am lending my energy.”

“I think we should pick one person to be the lead,” Bruce said. “Then they will tell the rest of us the plan.”

“Your turn, Bruce,” I said. “Let’s see how much damage we can do with a jump from the chair to the floor.”

The homunculus hovered at the edge of the chair. When I felt the weight of Bruce’s energy join in, I counted down from three, and everyone focused on jumping.

The ground shook a little from the force of impact.

“Whoa,” Joey said, looking up from the teeth he was making. “That was intense.”

I brought the homunculus back over to my feet and scooped it up, breaking the link between it and the others. The clay flew back into the pit and I examined the heart carefully. “That landing did no harm to the heart at all. It recorded the pressure of impact, but it didn’t stop.”

“Amazing,” Pierre said. “Let’s go bigger.”

Together, the four of us sculpted the entire pit of clay around the heart. The top of the blob brushed the top of the tent. It took intense concentration from all four of us to levitate it long enough for the other two to attach the mouth on the underside.

“Everyone clear on the plan?” Bruce asked. “Siobhan directs the rest of us. Don’t fight her direction, or the meld won’t work as well. Once we jump onto another homunculus, we pause and Carmine and Joey take control of the mouth, Sofia keeping an eye out for a sneak attack from one of the others.”

“And what do we do if we are attacked while we’re busy masticating?” Joey asked.

“Siobhan takes control again.”

“What if one of the other groups has a similar idea as us?” Carmine asked.

“What if one of them builds a flying homunculus?” Pierre mused.

“If there’s a flying one, we’ll just have to wait until it gets low enough to attack. If someone else builds something like ours, then we’ll have to work together and hope they make a mistake.” I clasped my hands tightly behind my back to hide their shaking. “If anyone has a better idea than this, I’m all ears. We need to trust each other and work together for this to be a success. Otherwise, it’ll be a disaster.”

The others took their time to think about it.

Bruce spoke first. “I think this is our best option.”

“I’m with you,” Joey said.

“This is a good idea,” Sofia added.

Carmine put her hand in the middle of our circle. “Let’s go team Europe!”

I smiled at everyone gratefully. We stacked our hands on top of each other before breaking apart.

“Let’s beat those other guys into a pulp!” Joey cheered. “Because they’re clay? Get it?”

“Excuse me,” the attendant said from the corner, startling me. “You have two minutes before you must leave the tent.”

I rubbed my sternum, trying to calm my heartbeat. “Thank you.”

“You will leave the homunculus in the tent and proceed to the fight platform. When the bell rings, you must call forth your creation and send it into the fighting ring. The arrival will be timed and scored accordingly.”

I swallowed hard, hoping that our small mountain could move quickly enough for the judges. It wasn’t as though we could practice in the tent.

“We’ve got this,” Bruce said encouragingly. “You provide direction, we supply the power.”

The rest of the group nodded in agreement.

“Ready?” the attendant asked, holding their hand up to the charm keeping the tent sealed. “Nobody will be allowed in or out once you have left, to prevent tampering.”

“Thanks,” I said again. “I hadn’t considered that.”

The attendant smiled grimly. “That’s our job, miss.”

Outside, in the arena, the announcer’s voice blared to life, and I suddenly realized that the sound-dampening spells had been removed. The attendant opened the tent flaps, and we left, to deafening applause.

Our fight platform was directly in front of the tent, and had rails all the way around. We stepped onto it, and I grabbed onto the railing, anticipating the lift before it started.

The movement of the platform into the air was smooth, and I didn’t feel jostled at all.

Sofia, however, turned green and sat on the floor of the platform. “I don’t feel so great,” she whispered.

“Not to worry,” Pierre said, crouching beside her. He pulled something wrapped in paper from his pocket. “Kelp with ginger,” he said. “It’ll help settle your stomach.”

Sofia blanched, but popped the tiny capsule into her mouth. Within a few seconds, her color improved and she stood. “Thanks. If I’d known we would be in the air, I would have prepared better.”

“I wish I’d known about that remedy before the flying challenge!” I said.

“You did very well in that challenge,” Pierre said with a frown.

“I also almost lost what little dinner I had managed to eat,” I said dryly.

“Now that everyone is prepared,” the announcer boomed cheerfully, “it is time to meet the fighters!”

Down below, six green rings of light appeared on the ground.

“Please direct your homunculi to the ring below you in ten, nine?—”

I gestured to the others to come in close to me, and I connected mentally with the homunculus in the tent. I had started the connection before we left, but renewing the link was easy. I felt the others join me, a powerhouse of a team, and took a deep breath.

“—two, one!”

I prompted the homunculus gently out of the tent. The fabric pulled, caught on the tip, before it released.

People in the audience chuckled, and I smiled slightly. It certainly looked silly, especially compared to the homunculi from the other teams.

Joining our mountain in the fighting ring were two human-looking figures, two beasts on all fours, and a winged monster with sharp teeth.

“The judges will magically examine your creations,” the announcer said. “Maintain your contact with your homunculus.”

The arena went as silent as thousands of people could get while the judges did their jobs. I wished I could see what ours were writing on their clipboards as they circled our mountain.

The judges returned to their box, and the announcer boomed, “Let the fight begin!”

A bell sounded, and the flying monster leapt into the air, one wing flapping slightly faster than the other and making it spin in a circle.

The four-legged beasts went for each other, as did the humanoids.

“Which one first?” Bruce asked, as we watched the fight below.

“I think we should go for the one that’s flying. It’s floundering right now, and we may not get another chance once they figure out how to control it,” I said.

Pierre nodded. “Sound logic. We are ready.”

I scooted the mountain closer to the spinning monster. “Now!” I said firmly.

The mountain levitated, revealing its mouth to the lower levels of the arena and causing several screams. Then it landed on the flying monster with a sickening crunch and a loud boom that shook the ground and knocked over the two humanoid creatures.

The arena was silent for a moment.

“Is it destroyed?” I asked Carmine and Joey.

She held up her hand, her eyes unfocused as she concentrated. Finally she lowered it and grinned. “All good.”

I backed the mountain up, revealing the mangled homunculus, the heart exposed and dark.

The crowd cheered.

“Next up, whoever tries to attack us first,” I said, echoing Carmine’s grin.

The beasts attacked first, springing at the sides of the mountain with claws extended.

I had to clap my hand over my mouth to cover my laughter when they bounced off. “Nice work on that rubber spell,” I said to Sofia.

“Suggestion,” Pierre said.

“I’m all ears.”

“Make ‘em sweat a bit. Don’t tip our hand.”

“Most of my focus is on the mountain. Please, speak clearly.”

“Let them try to attack us for a few minutes, and then we pounce.”

“Make them think that we’re arguing,” Carmine put in. “They’ll think that we can’t agree on what our next move should be.”

“They’re trying to attack, but slower this time,” Bruce said, leaning over the rail. “The humanoids are joining them.”

“One of the beasts is digging in the ground,” Sofia said. “Or, well, I think it’s trying to.”

“Poor thing,” I said, pouting in pretend sympathy. “It wants to get underneath us? Why don’t we give it a hand?”

“Jump?” Joey said excitedly.

“No, not this time,” I said thoughtfully. “We’ll just lift that side a bit, like a woman in a hoop skirt.”

“I’ve never done that,” Bruce said.

“You’re missing out,” Pierre added cheekily.

I laughed. “Just lean away from the beast. I’ll do the lifting.”

The audience screamed when the top of the mountain shifted, but on the ground down below, you could barely tell it had moved.

Ignoring the other three homunculi, I lifted the edge of the mountain closest to the digging beast.

He slipped under. One of the platforms burst into cheers, but the audience shouted, “No!”

I grinned. “I don’t think our opponents quite realized what happened to the last homunculi.”

“Maybe they think they can dig up from underneath,” Pierre said.

“Teeth? Are you ready?” I asked.

Joey saluted. “I can feel him. He is definitely trying to crawl up inside the mountain.”

“He’ll manage it,” Carmine said. “At least until we grind his bones to make our bread.”

I chuckled. “We are pretty giant.”

“He found the mouth,” Joey said after a beat. “Destroy!”

It took very little time before the team that had cheered slumped in place and I knew we had destroyed the heart.

“You two built excellent teeth,” I told Joey and Carmine. “Any damage?”

“Not to us. There’s a little bit of scratch damage to the underside of the mountain, though,” Carmine said.

“If you follow the scratches, they’ll lead to your doom !” Joey shouted.

“Hush, puppy,” Carmine ordered, clapping her hand over his mouth.

“Puppy?” I mouthed at Bruce, who shrugged with a smile.

“He’s a wolf shifter,” Sofia stage-whispered.

“Ah,” I said. “Moving on. Who’s next?”

“I think the other beast is the most dangerous,” Pierre said, pointing to the homunculi who had managed to dig his claws into the side of the mountain and was slowly climbing up to the top.

“Hmm. Ideas?” I asked. “We don’t want him to get to our heart.”

“He won’t. It’s not at the very top.”

“No, but the top is a weak point.”

“Maybe we can shake him loose with another jump?” Joey suggested.

“Those claws look pretty sharp,” Carmine said. “He may not fall. But if we trigger a landslide...”

I nodded. “I see where you’re going with that. It should start higher than where he is now, and run right over him. We might have to lose our outer rubber layer from top to middle on that side.”

“It’ll be worth it, though. And the humanoids can’t climb as high as the beasts,” Bruce pointed out.

“Okay. We’re in agreement?” Everyone nodded. “Bruce, Sofia, keep the slide directly over the beast. Pierre, tell me the instant he loses grip. I don’t want to lose an inch of rubber that we don’t have to.”

“Roger that,” Bruce said.

“Joey, Carmine, prepare to eat.”

“With relish!” Joey said, rubbing his tummy.

Carmine rolled her eyes.

I focused on feeling for the spells that held the mountain together. I’d have to be careful not to strip more than the outer layer. Starting at the top, I scraped a thin slice free. It peeled off nicely, starting a cascade of clay rocks and mud that slid down a narrow channel on the side of the mountain.

I could feel Bruce and Sofia in the sides of the channel. It was comforting to know that they were there to catch any stray pebbles.

“Stop!” Pierre said, gripping my shoulder.

I tightened my hold on the spells on our homunculus, letting the landslide carry the beast head over heels down the mountain.

The instant he hit the ground, I moved the mountain over it, and Joey and Carmine sliced through to the heart.

“Two to go,” Bruce muttered. “What now?”

“Knock ‘em over!” Joey cheered.

“Yeah, I think that’s a good plan,” Carmine said.

“Well, if you two agree, I guess that’s what we’ll do.” I tried not to let my amusement show, but Bruce elbowed me, so I’m not sure I was successful.

“Ready?” I said, warning everyone. I lifted the mountain, and the audience oohed . Then, with the power of the other five minds melded with mine, I dropped it.

The resulting boom echoed through the stadium. Our platform shook with the force. The two humanoid homunculi fell over.

I quickly crawled the mountain over them, and Joey and Carmine made quick work of them.

Silence reigned in the stadium.

We moved the mountain in front of the judges, revealing the final two homunculi, and made it bow.

“With that astonishing and unexpected victory, Europe takes first place in the final event of the two-hundred and fifty-third Magical Olympics!” the announcer’s voice boomed. “Please deactivate your homunculus and then take your bows!”