Page 43 of Magic in the Woods
Standing again, I stood on my toes, trying to find her brown bun in the wave of earth element witches walking away from the wall.
I spotted her, close to the ground. Was she okay? I pushed past the witches on the bleachers below me, jumping from row to row until I reached the ground. My uniform became covered in mud as I brushed against the witches walking in the opposite direction.
“Brooke!” I called out.
“I’m here!” she called back. She sat on the ground, her hands wrapped around one of her legs.
I crouched down next to her, my hands on the trampled dirt around her.
“One of them grew vines, and they wrapped around my ankle.” She pulled her hands away, revealing brown cords twisted tightly around the top of her boot.
“Those harpies…” I grabbed on to the vines and pulled, trying to rip them apart. They were too strong and wouldn’t budge. “Can you lift your foot any higher?”
“Maybe.” Brooke tried to lift her foot but immediately winced. “Dafni, I think I twisted it.” There was a fear in her eyes that I couldn’t help but mirror back. If she was seriously injured, the Academy wouldn’t help her.
I pulled again on the vines, leaning back using my entire body weight. A heavy hand settled on my shoulder. I flinched, looking up and behind me.
“Dafni, let me try,” Gideon said.
I froze at the way he said my name, at the way thefsnapped between his teeth and bottom lip. He must’ve heard Brooke say it.
I let go of the vines, using my thumb and index fingers to pick up Gideon’s hand by the cuff of his jacket and remove it from my shoulder. “I don’t want help.” Gripping the vines again, I dug in my heels and pulled. Brooke cried out, covering her mouth with a muddy hand. I immediately let go, apologizing to her.
“Stubborn witchling.” Warmth flooded my back as two arms reached around my body and grabbed the vine alongside my hands. His fingers flexed around the vine, the veins on the top of his hands popping from his skin. I could smell him—he had a certain mossy scent that I instantly remembered from the closet. Stupid scents and their stupid abilities to bring unwanted memories back into my brain.
In a swift movement, Gideon snapped the vine with his hands, the effort causing his chest to slam forcefully into my back. I fell forward, my hands extending to catch myself before I landed on top of Brooke.
My hands never met the floor or Brooke, because something grabbed my chest, stopping the fall. Everyone froze, Brooke’s eyes traveling from the hand on my chest to my face and back down.
“Sorry!” Gideon pulled back his hand, grazing against my nipple that’d become hard in the last few seconds.Stupid thin shirt and equally thin Academy bra.
Without his support, I fell forward, landing in a heap on top of Brooke.
“Oww…” she moaned.
I quickly pulled myself off her, turning to face Gideon with my hands and feet still in the dirt. “I said I didn’t want help!” He didn’t get to come in allknight in shining armorand save the day after he’d just sat back and let this happen to Brooke. “I don’t want help from someone who sits on the side, knows what’s going on, but doesnothing.”
Gideon’s mouth fell open.
“You’re supposed to besopowerful—yet you just sat there, and yousmiled.” My teeth instinctively flashed at him, nonexistent poison dripping from them.“I don’t trust someone who does nothing when they have the ability to do something. I don’t trust you.”
I left Gideon slack-jawed.Good.
Standing I turned around to help Brooke. Reaching my arms beneath hers, I tried to lift her up to standing. She dug her heels into the dirt but couldn’t get her feet beneath her body with her injured ankle.
I sat her down, my hands on my thighs as I caught my breath.
“Try again,” Brooke pleaded. “I’m going to put all my weight on my good foot.”
I crouched down, sliding my arms beneath her armpits, using my legs to lift her. She was halfway to standing.
“Come on, Brooke,” I said, pulling, my thighs burning.
“I’m trying. I can’t put weight on this foot without?—”
She fell back into me. I stepped back, trying to catch my balance. I ended up letting go of her, my arms waving at both my sides as I tried not to fall. Brooke landed in a heap in the dirt by my boots.
“I’m so sorry, Dafni! I can’t stand.” She looked up at me, her eyes wide. “Maybe I could crawl?”
