Page 42 of Magic in the Woods
Gideon either wasn’t listening or was ignoring Robinson,his body still, except for his fingers, which tapped one after another on the end of the armrest.
“Gideon,” he said again. “Please stand and show everyone your flame.”
I didn’t know how Gideon sat, motionless, with hundreds of eyes on him. I could barely stay still in my seat with just the two of his eyes burning me up.
“Gideon!” Robinson barked.
The cavern stilled. The tension between the two men was about ready to create its own fire if he didn’t.
Get up!I mouthed at him.
Gideon blinked, breaking eye contact with me before he stood slowly, using the armrests to push himself up off the chair. He looked unamused as he stood next to Robinson, pointing his index and middle fingers toward the ceiling. Flames shot out of his fingertips, the tops of the them almost licking the ceiling of the tall cavern.
Robinson clapped his hands, along with most of the witches on the bleachers. There were a few human-born witches sprinkled among the crowd, cowered down, their chests near their thighs. “Aren’t male witches just amazing?”
Itwasimpressive. I found myself sitting with my mouth open, following the flame up to the ceiling. I’d never met a male witch before coming here, much less seen their fire magic. It was eerily beautiful.
Gideon extinguished his flame with a flick of his fingers before falling back into his seat.
Our eyes met again, our stare quickly interrupted by Robinson, who clapped his hands twice. “Now, if the earth elements are ready, let’s begin!”
None of the witches on the floor looked ready. The task remained unknown until Robinson presented it at the evaluation. They breathed heavily, their knees bent and hands infront of their bodies, set to take on whatever was thrown at them. The other witches and I sat on the bleachers and held our breath, waiting and watching, dreading the time it would be our turn on the floor.
“Earth elements, your task is to break through the dirt wall on the far side of the cavern.”
Everyone turned to face the wall opposite the doors they’d walked through.
“You may use whatever earth magic you desire to do so. The first one through to the other side wins.”
The room quieted.
“You may begin!”
The instructions were simple, but the task was anything but. The dirt wall wasn’t wide enough for every earth element witch to have a spot along it. Witches ran and then clawed their way toward the dirt, some seeming to forget they had magic, using their hands to dig into the wall.
I tried to find Brooke among the mass of witches clawing and fighting. Her brown bun popped up briefly near the wall, and I found myself clapping my hands along with the rest of the crowd, trying to encourage her. The dirt around where Brooke was standing began to darken, drips of mud trailing down the wall. Like in the room we’d fallen into when we arrived, she was pulling water into the dirt.The surrounding witches took advantage of the softened soil and began clawing through, creating a divot in the wall.
I stood and began shouting at the witches who were taking advantage of her work. “Don’t let them use you, Brooke! Push them! Get them away!”
Suddenly, the top of my foot throbbed. I yelped, falling into my seat.
“Sit down!” Petunia spat, her heeled boot on top of my foot. “I can’t see him when you’re standing.”
I looked to where she was staring—at Gideon. He was looking at us, a smirk on his lips. Did he find this all entertaining? Maybe he did. We were all supposed to be fighting over him—competing for him. He was just sitting there and watching it happen. My stomach turned.
I looked back to where I’d last seen Brooke. Her brown bun wasn’t visible, but there was a group of witches climbing over each other where she’d created the weak spot in the wall. They were digging, pushing. Some were already halfway through, just the bottom of their plaid skirts and black boots sticking out parallel to the floor.
Flames shot up from Robinson’s fingers, the sound silencing the crowd and stilling the earth element witches that hadn’t made it through the wall. “We have a winner!”
The double doors opened again, and everyone turned to find a witch covered in mud being led in by an earth element instructor. She walked with her head held high and a smile on her face. She couldn’t have been human-born. The confidence she walked with and how quickly she’d completed the task told me she had magical parents—she’d been trained from an early age. Did any of the human-born witches even stand a chance?
As she walked, I could only see the whites of her eyes and teeth, the rest of her features concealed beneath the dirt. The instructor brought her onstage, her uniform now plastered to her body, trailing mud across the floor.
“The earth element’s most powerful witch is Flora Hargrove!” Robinson attempted to grab her wrist to raise it above her head but pulled back just before he made contact, primly brushing his fingers against his clean pants.
I sat in the sea of standing witches, my eyes on my feet. This wasn’t about who was the most powerful. This was about who could trick another, who could cheat their way to the top.Brooke had had the idea, created the soft dirt with her magic, and another witch had taken advantage to win.
Brooke.
