Page 33 of The Ordeals
I tear my gaze from the trees, the glint of hungry eyes in the gloaming, to glance at him, hunched and pale at my feet. If we don’t stop the bleeding soon, he’s not going to make it. ‘Get to the lodge, get help—’
The door of the hunting lodge bursts open, and I’m aware of fast feet and shouting as a werewolf leaps through the trees, straight for me. All I see are fangs and claws, a blur of motion, before the rifle cracks and a bullet lodges in its skull. It drops to the ground mere feet away and I don’t wait to see what else is out there. Turning, Ifind Alden just past the door to the hunting lodge and, clenching my jaw, I haul Greg up. Edmund covers our backs as Alden runs to help me, shouldering Greg’s other side.
We fall through the door and Edmund scrambles to bar it, just as claws scrape down the wood on the other side. A howl begins, joined by another, and I crouch there, panting, eyes on the door. I exhale in pure relief when I look around and see Tessa. She’s safe. Somehow she’s found her way here as well. Greg’s pale and clammy, his side bleeding freely, and now we’re indoors with better lighting, I can see the gash more clearly.
‘You’ve beenbitten?’ Tessa breathes.
‘Sorry, T,’ he garbles, closing his eyes and slumping further to the floor as she kneels beside him. ‘Guess I just taste that good.’
She swears, removing her jacket to try and staunch the flow. But it’s not enough. He needs proper medical care, and right now, there’s no way of leaving this place. Not alive, anyway.
Then Greg starts, eyes flying wide as he reaches for his pocket, grimacing. ‘Tess, you need the antidote. It’s here, I had it—’
‘Don’t worry about that yet. I’m fine,’ she cuts in, glancing up at me nervously, then over at Alden. ‘Sophia and I arebothfine. You’ve taken yours, right?’
‘As soon as I stepped through the mirror.’
Alden looks between us and narrows his eyes. ‘How can you possibly—’
‘Alphemera petals,’ Tessa cuts in swiftly.
Alden blinks in surprise, gaze turning on me. His mouth quirks into a smile and he chuckles, deep in his throat. ‘Maybe I underestimated you, wild card.’
‘Not for the first time,’ I say, and I can’t help smiling back. Something flashes in his eyes, respect, or perhaps something deeper, and for some reason, I can’t look away from him.
Edmund staggers out of the entrance hall, muttering about how Aldy better not have drained the hot water tank as Alden goes in search of bandages.
Tessa bites her lip, then takes a breath. ‘Slight confession, Sophia. Greg and I grew up together. I’m guessing you’ve clocked that we know each other pretty well. I know he seems fairly hopeless—’
‘Come on now, T,’ he grates out.
‘But he’s important to me.’ She grins down at him and shrugs. ‘Don’t tell. The Ordeals are brutal enough, and any weakness, any sign that you care foranyone, and there are others who will exploit it. I switched around the name cards so we would be partners. I had to make sure he would get through this semester alive.’
I crouch down next to them both. ‘Your secret’s safe with me.’
‘And me.’
I look up, finding Alden’s returned with a heap of bandages, eyes fixed on me. ‘Just about to come and search for you. I found Tessa on my way to the lodge, took pity when the howling started. What did you do, feed Greg to the den to get away quicker?’
Greg chuckles and I snort indignantly. ‘You think I can’t handle a few werewolves?’
‘Not without silver,’ Edmund says, walking in with a bowl of steaming water and a salve in his hands. ‘Only thing that slows or kills the blighters. At least this one’s not too far gone, not like a lot of them out there. No humanity left. Aldy, any chance you have some wolfsbane on you?’
‘Not something I came prepared with,’ he says.
Tessa grabs the bandages with a sigh, dunks a clean cloth in the water and Edmund gets to work cutting away Greg’s clothes. ‘At least there wasn’t a literal time limit to get back through the mirrors. I don’t fancy a trip through that forest tonight.’
‘Agreed,’ I say, wrenching my gaze from Alden as I mentally saygoodbye to the prospect of coming in the top twenty, and getting the use of a comfy junior common room. Yet as Alden shifts slightly, and then moves to pass Tessa more bandages, I’m keenly aware of him. ‘Have you seen any of the other hopefuls?’
‘Only one, but he was holding a knife so I steered clear,’ Alden says, frowning. ‘There are a few other lodges scattered about, so if they’re clever, they’ll take shelter until dawn then try and find their partners.’
‘Risky move with that unknown poison,’ Tessa says, sponging the blood away from the gash as Greg hisses. ‘It could get the better of them at any time.’
Alden shrugs. ‘Either way you’re taking your chances tonight. Move over, Tessa. I’ll wield, see if it helps the wound.’ He places his hands near Greg’s side and frowns in concentration. I look on as light and glitter spill over Greg’s flesh, not healing him completely, but helping to knit the wound together. That answers another question about the limitations of Alden’s wielding; he can manipulate living flesh, as well as plant matter. Interesting.
Greg shudders, closing his eyes. ‘That itcheshorribly.’
Alden draws a breath, the light dimming before trickling to nothing, and then he rises, giving him a small nod. ‘You won’t need stitches at least, but you will need a bandage and rest.’
