“Hold positions until my say so,” Grendor’s voice rang out.
I held my magic back, waiting to begin. I wanted to see what my opponent would do before I attacked. I had to be careful. Even though I’d improved, my magic was still too much for me to have perfect control at all times.
We were facing off in pairs and would be scored on how well we did. And of course, I’d been given Jaynelle as a partner. I thanked my lucky stars it wasn’t her constant companion, Juno.
I didn’t know if he could weaponize the pain magic, but I didn’t want to find out.
Supposedly, the chamber had been magicked to prevent anyone from getting too injured.
Or worse.
At least I had Dane’s armor for this test. I doubted the General had made any such magical precautions. I wondered if I would be allowed to keep the armor for Combat. I was far more nervous about the final exam of the day. I squared my shoulders as Jaynelle lifted her hand.
“And . . . begin!”
The room filled with the humming sounds of magic and flashes of light. I caught Juno watching us over Jaynelle’s shoulder and almost laughed when he took a hit of magic right across his face. He saw my smirk and smiled in a way that made me think that Dane was right. Maybe Juno did have some sort of twisted crush on me.
Blech.
Jaynelle launched her attack. Her magic took the form of daggers, slicing and dicing toward me on uneven trajectories. That was a deliberate move and very smart. Most opponents would not have enough magic to throw a full shield. They would have to try and knock each glowing weapon out one by one.
And some would invariably find the mark, I thought as they started to converge toward my body. If I didn’t stop all the daggers, I would have taken hits, head to tail.
Thank Triton I had more magic than most. Still, I thought with a hint of admiration, she should get a high score for the sheer number of weapons she’d conjured.
I opened my palms and white light filled the chamber, forming a bubble around me. It wasn’t merely a shield, however. It was a weapon, too. Jaynelle’s daggers bounced off and headed back toward her. Her eyes grew large as they sliced into her uniform, drawing blood.
Not too much blood, I was relieved to note. She sneered at me and tried again. This time, the magic was a long string of attached spikes. Again, I threw the shield and her weapon bounced right back, rebounding to wrap around her tail.
I winced, glad it wasn’t my tail. I almost felt bad for her. Almost.
“If you get bored, let me know,” I called out from behind the shield. “That looks like it hurts.”
Jaynelle’s eyes took on a frenzied look as she forced her magic into a ball, straining at the effort. Then she did something unexpected. She twisted in the water and threw it at Juno instead.
He fell backward, unable to launch his attack on his sparring partner. I watched as he tried to smear the excess magic off his face and chest. She hadn’t hurt him. She’d just slowed him down. It should have been funny. But for some reason, it just wasn’t.
“Weapons down!” Grendor called out, a hint of panic in her voice. I’m sure she hadn’t been expecting the candidates to start attacking each other in the middle of her test. “The exam is over.”
“Good match,” I offered, even though it hadn’t been. I hadn’t even bothered to attack her. Jaynelle might be formidable in physical combat, but her magic was no match for mine. We both knew it, too.
“You can’t have everything,” Jaynelle hissed at me as the magic rope still wrapped around her fins dissipated, dissolving back into her hands. “You can’t have everyone.”
I glanced at her, then at the giant Mer blocking my path. Juno was staring at me with an odd look on his face. I looked back down at the Mer who was still plucking magic barbs from her tail. She bristled as I stared down at her.
“I don’t want anything or anyone. I just want to be Spark. I just want to be left alone.”
Then I swam out alone, ignoring Juno as he tore into Jaynelle for throwing magic at him. Things were definitely going badly between the two of them. And learning that Jaynelle liked Juno and Juno liked me . . . well, it was a little bit creepy.
At least I finally understood why she hated me so much. That was all the knowledge gained me. If Juno liked me, why in water was he always trying to defeat me?
I sighed, not really caring about the answer. Other Mers’ feelings were none of my business. I was the keeper of my own heart. And I had so many other things to worry about.
Suddenly, I was glad that Combat was next. I had the strangest urge to hit something. Hard.
“Tri,” Rip’s voice rumbled. “Wait up!”
I slowed down just enough not to be rude, but I kept swimming. I was too agitated to stop. The exam was outside the castle in the same massive arena the Trials had been held in. We all knew the route well. They would catch up soon enough.
Rip and Starla were out of breath when they got to me.
“We’re supposed to stick to you like glue, remember?”
“No,” I said, not looking at them. “You’ll get yourselves killed. Not worth it.”
“By Triton, it is!” Starla said, sounding like she was close to tears. “We can’t lose you.”
I stopped finally, just past the circular entry to the arena. Being back here was . . . disconcerting, I thought as I stared up at the imposing structure.
“I need you,” Starla continued, looking distraught. “The Seas need you.”
“Two-leggers too, if we want to be accurate.”
I made a sound of disbelief at Rip, but I felt some of my fury slipping away with their teasing and friendly faces.
“Two-leggers? What am I doing for them?”
“They need the oceans too,” he said simply. “You need to save them from themselves.”
I stared at him, suddenly feeling very small. I was just one Mer. How in water was I supposed to be up for that job?
“You can do it,” he added. “I believe in you.”
“How am I supposed to stay mad when you say nice things like that?”
“She needs to be mad,” Dane said as he swam up. We noticed that he had several guards flanking him, but he waved them back. “Annaruth lost the battle to have the weapons blunted. Another reason I will not be allowed to participate.”
We all exchanged glances, each of our faces grim.
“That means . . .”
“That the Combat exam is going to be just as deadly as the Trials.”