Page 5 of The First Trial
‘Bad… idea…’ I struggled to squeeze out past the pain.
Suddenly, just as he was pulling away from me, the light through the window flashed so bright that I slammed my eyelids shut. Oz curled me protectively beneath him, then crashed on top of me when an excruciatingly high-pitched ringing sliced through the air, and we both pressed our hands over our ears in a useless attempt to shut it out. It swelled louder and louder until a scream burst from my throat that I felt more than heard.
And then there was silence. Not a twitter of a bird, the buzz of electricity, or even the shuffle of clothing reached my ears, and panic rose up inside me. I could feel my chest rising and falling rapidly, the air being sucked into my lungs further drying up my already raw throat, but I couldn’t hear those breaths either. Had my eardrums burst?
A hand clamped down on my shoulder and shook, and I cautiously blinked open my eyes, afraid I would be blind as well as deaf. Luckily, all it took was a few blinks for my eyes to adjust, though splotches of colour danced in my vision and blurred my surroundings. I could still make out Oz’s worried expression above me.
And the lines of blood trickling from his ears and his nostrils.
His thumb swiped under my own nose and came away soaked in red.
His mouth moved to form words, but no sound reached me. I could tell by the shape of the words that he was saying my name, but I realised he was also deaf when he frowned and looked away, his lips forming those same shapes until his jaw opened wide, his chest rose as he breathed in deep, and then his neck strained as his face turned purple. A scream.
Still, nothing.
I patted his arm, drawing his attention and lifted my torso from the floor so I could wrap my arms around his in a hug we both desperately needed, if the way he squeezed me back was any indication.
When we were both calm enough to release the other, he pulled away and sent out a wave of his magic to study our injuries. It felt strange, like a soothing caress, but still oddly invasive as it wove its way into my very being before homing in on my ears in a wave of heat. My eardrums knitted back together with an uncomfortable prickling sensation, and the silence that greeted me after was louder than ever before. There was no sign of movement outside of the dorm room, but at least now I could hear the way our breaths sawed in and out of our lungs, the rustle of fabric as we rose to stand, and even the wind brushing up against the window with a slight whistle.
Still no birds, though. Never a good sign…
‘Thanks,’ I told him.
‘Of course,’ he replied, but it was absent-minded. He was already on the move toward the window. He ripped open the curtains the rest of the way and looked outside while I studied his reaction. His eyes widened while his brows lowered, his jaw dropping as he gawked at whatever he saw. Under any other circumstances, I might have found the expression amusing. Now, I just found it concerning. What was he seeing that caused such a reaction?
When his jaw dropped even lower, and the breath was expelled from his lungs like he’d been punched in the gut, I couldn’t handle the suspense any longer and joined him to look out the pane of glass that separated us from the outside world.
A world that, at first glance, looked exactly the same as any other time we’d looked out this window. Up until we raised our gazes to the horizon. Instead of miles upon miles of forest that surrounded Aurora Academy’s multiple campuses, there was avast, black stone mountain that blocked our view of anything else.
No, it wasn’t a mountain… A longer examination showed signs of a man-made structure. Swirled carvings decorated the surface that were only visible from the shadows created by the sun, and the top tapered at an odd angle, but the lines were straight. Intentional. Whatever it was, it wasn’t naturally made.
‘What the fuck?’ Oz breathed out beside me, and I mirrored the sentiment.
We watched as bodies started streaming out from the surrounding buildings, each of them gawking at the new structure with dazed expressions, blood dripping from their faces, much the same as us.
Oz and I shared a heavy look, our trepidation clear, but when our hands clasped together in a silent promise that whatever was happening, we were in it together, I felt our strength and resilience rise between us. I had a feeling we were going to need it.
Chapter 2
Phenex
‘Phenex! Are you even listening?’
I shook my errant thoughts free as I refocused on my brother’s perpetually annoyed expression. I tended to zone out whenever he sought me out lately. ‘I’m sorry, what was that?’
He huffed, his disapproval of my wandering mind a constant point of contention between us. ‘I said the academy is under lockdown.’
I frowned at that. I may not have bothered leaving the academy much myself, but I knew others enjoyed their freedom from these stone walls. Carved from the volcanic rock of the Sixth Circle’s hottest volcano, it was black and oppressive to most, though I found what others considered gloomy to be rather homely and soothing on the senses. There was far too much debauchery among our people that included bright lights, heavy scents, and other assaults on the senses, and I enjoyed the dark, still silence of the academy.
The library was a particularly favourite hideaway of mine, which was where my oldest brother and reluctant professor had hunted me down to deliver this news.
Actually, now that I thought about it, I took back my nonchalance. It was not good news. My sanctuary of solitude would be disrupted if the entire student and staff population were condemned to stay put. I’d never find a moment of peace.
But that then raised the next question I vocalised. ‘Why?’ My brother’s long-suffering exasperation was nothing new to me,but there was something about it this time that struck me as different. ‘What’s going on?’
‘Honestly, Phenex. It’s a wonder you’ve survived this long when you don’t even notice the entire academy being transported to a completely different realm,’ he snapped, and my entire body froze back like I’d been hit with a stupefying hex.
‘We’re no longer in the Nine Circles?’ I asked, needing confirmation, and he shook his head no. ‘Then… where are we?’
