Page 13 of Spirit Trials

“What do you want me to do, Princess?” Lox asks with an easy smile.

“Don’t call me that,” I snap at him, and his grin widens. “I don’t know. What can you do?” The wolf looks up at Lox, and I watch in awe. He looks so real. I look around the huge room and see two huge wooden beams. I walk over to them and try to lift one; they don’t budge. “Pick that up,” I tell Lox. Lox smirks at me and walks over and picks it up with one hand and launches it across the room like it’s a stick. My eyebrows hit my hairline. “That’s insane,” I breathe. “Every person who lives here is like that?” I question.

It's Rysden that answers. “Yes. To live here, you must produce a spirit wolf. If you produce a spirit wolf, then you’re blessed by the Maker.”

His words catch my attention. “Those who are blessed,” I say slowly.

“Yes. That’s what the Spirit Trials are for. We host them every year, and every nineteen-year-old must compete. The trials area set of three tests designed to push a person to their absolute limits, so that their spirit animal will emerge if they’re worthy to have one. The trials mark our passage into adulthood.”

I take in what he’s saying. “And what if a person doesn’t produce one of these...spirit wolves?”

“Then they’re banished.” Rysden’s words are fierce.

“Without a spirit animal, you can’t stay in our kingdom,” Lox interjects quietly.

“Why not?” I ask again.

“Because if you aren’t blessed by the Maker with a spirit animal, then you aren’t worthy and don’t deserve a place in our kingdom.”

I jerk back at Rysden’s words. “Well, that’s stupid.”

Rysden turns his dark gaze on me. “It’s necessary.”

“Sure it is,” I respond, crossing my arms over my chest. “So, what happens to thesebanished?”

“They have to leave the kingdom and never return,” Lox says.

“Where do they go?”

“They live outside the city walls,” Lox says after a beat.

“I think it’s terrible that you kick people out of their own kingdom, but living outside the city walls isn’t a death sentence. Not everybody lives in a city like this.”

Lox gives me a hard look. “Banishment is not pretty, Farrah. It’s a struggle to survive out there.”

I frown and look between the two men. “Who banishes these people?’

“The Wolf King,” Rysden answers.

“He sounds terrible.”

Lox shifts on his feet. “Don’t ever say something like that outside these walls. It’s a death sentence to speak against the king.”

Chapter 10

I swallow. “Got it. Don’t say anything about the evil tyrant.” Lox just shakes his head. “Back to my original question. Why do I have to compete when I’m obviously not from here?”

Lox runs his hand over the back of his head and looks at Rysden. “You're here now, Farrah,” Rysden says. “And to stay here, you’re going to have to compete in the spirit trials.”

“But I don’t want to stay here. Let me just go back home. Why do I have to compete? This isn’t my kingdom. I don’t have one of those spirit animals. I’m not—”

“The King knows you’re here now, and he has demanded you compete.” Rysden's words are like a blow to my chest.

Lox’s expression softens. “I’m sorry, but we’re going to do everything in our power to prepare you to survive.”

“Not survive,” Rysden says. “Win.” He meets my eyes. “If you win, it doesn’t matter whether or not you produce a spirit animal. You get to stay in the kingdom.”

I huff out a laugh. “Win? Yeah right.”