Chapter 7

 

On Monday evening, at 9 o’clock after everyone had eaten a big, hearty breakfast, the 312^th Nightmare Games commenced. The eighty competitors, all dressed in their sports’ uniforms, were escorted to the arena first, walking in two neat lines behind the fire-elemental vice president, Rosie Flickerton. But instead of leading them out of the main building, she took them through the security door and down into the basement. The children began to whisper in excitement; following the excited elemental through this cold, dark brick maze with its pipe-covered ceiling already seemed like an adventure.

The ten students from the Australian Academy walked together; Alice, Toby, Carla, Milly, Grizzer, Ali, Jamie, Lucinda, Riley and Eddie. It was a significant collection of vampires and weres, with only one elemental and no tree spirits, but that was because vamps and weres were more likely to put their names down.

Alice, walking with Toby, Carla and Milly, wondered if they were heading to Abbacus’ office. But she soon lost track of all the twists and turns, designed to confuse and disorientate. But she did spot the changes in the walls. The bricks vanished into more natural rock, hollowed out by experienced earth elementals who could work with both bricks and natural stone. “Nervous?” Toby asked her.

“Of course! You?”

“Sure. But excited too.” He turned to Carla, who was walking pensively by his side. He reached out to take her hand. He hadn’t tried to hold her hand for a while, too fearful of rejection, but to his surprise she let him hold her cold fingers.

“I’m nervous too,” she told him.

He smiled at her and squeezed her hand.

Up ahead the tunnel rose and Mrs Flickerton led the group up some steep stone stairs. At the top a stone panel shifted automatically aside for her, and she led the children into a plain, rather boring looking ante-chamber. “A few things before we begin, people,” she began as she turned to face the students. These are no ordinary games of races, long-jumps and shot-put. Events have been specifically crafted for supernaturals such as yourselves, with some only for certain aspects, others for everyone. Now the Games are traditionally divided into three rounds. Round one and round three are identical, but round three is, of course, the deciding round. Round two, separating these, is the Kranquoix match, played by the best teams from the Nocturnal University. This match is sort of like a Soccer World Cup for the sport, and the winning team gets the Kranquoix Cup and an overseas holiday. This round will give you the opportunity to rest and recover your spirits.

Kranquoix? Alice wondered. Never heard of it! She glanced at Toby and Carla, but they also looked confused. Students predominantly from the European, North American, South American and Russian schools nodded in understanding.

“Now, round one and round three are divided into specific events which, traditionally, can take several nights to complete,” Mrs Flickerton continued. “Some you will undertake on your own, but others you may need to work together to complete. This is the perfect time for you to put aside any silly inter-school rivalries you have.”

A few kids groaned.

Mrs Flickerton rubbed her hands together, sending small sparks flying into the air. “Now, are there any questions?”

Nearly every hand in the room shot up. The fire elemental picked one child at random. “Yes, you.”

“Um, can you describe some of these specific events?” asked a tall tree spirit.

“I can’t be too specific, because as you would have been told during your training sessions, the Nocturnal Games events are different each time. Only the Kranquoix match of round two stays the same. But I can give you a general idea. Elementals will be tested in their mastery of their particular element; weres will be tested in their strength, speed and agility, and vampires and trees will be tested in their particular special abilities. There are various races and obstacle courses that weave their way through the entire games arena. But unfortunately I can’t tell you any more than that.

“Professor Abbacus and his assistants have wired the entire arena with cameras that serve two purposes; to enable the audience to watch during hidden places, and to preserve your safety. If, at any stage during the events you feel you must forfeit because you simply cannot go on, all you have to do is signal.” Flickerton lifted a hand into the air and waved. “You can also call it out. If you fall unconscious and can no longer continue, you will automatically forfeit. You will be removed from the arena.”

“Forfeit, yeah right,” a large were scoffed. “Like that’s going to happen!”

“You’d be surprised, Morgan,” the fire elemental told him. “The obstacle courses are full of traps designed to hold even someone of your phenomenal strength. Any more questions?”

She picked out a few more kids, answering their enquiries, and then, suddenly, an alarm went off. It sounded like the high-pitched wail of a ghost. But around them the ante-chamber’s walls broke apart and started to dissolve into the ground, leaving them standing in the middle of the vast Nightmare Games arena. A crystal-clear, starlight sky shone down.

 

While the competitors were being escorted through the bowels of the school to the arena, the other students were led from the main building by a more normal route. They got to entre the large, fortress-like construction through the wooden doors set around its sides. The walls were thick enough to contain tunnels winding up through them, enabling everyone to access their seats. While the main structure was stone directly raised from the earth, the seats and railings were constructed from the roots of the trees that were growing up the outside. All the kids who’d never attended a Nightmare Games before marvelled at how the place had been put together. It truly was magnificent, a work of art that could be absorbed back into the ground afterwards without a trace.

While the students occupied tiers of seats around the top of the arena, the competitors’ parents, who’d arrived that evening before breakfast, filled more comfortable enclosed galleries underneath. Toby’s mother was among them, but like all the other daydwellers she saw an ordinary playing field with race-lines marked, a long-jump pit, a high-jump mat and shot-put and discus areas. Janice was also present, representing Alice’s parents, but she unlike Lucy Thompson she could see everything. But Carla had no-one cheering for her. Both her parents preferred to work rather than watch their only child compete. Even Milly’s parents had arrived, and although they maintained aloof, emotionless expressions, they were finally proud of their daughter. Neither of them had actually competed in a Nightmare Games.

The Nocturnal Academy teachers and organisers had their own private boxes, and Professor Abbacus and his two assistants, Malcolm and Harley, watched from a separate booth located in the branches of a large, thick tree growing from the inside wall. It could actually move around to observe different sections. Inside this box, nestled incongruously in amongst the stone and roots, was a very complicated computer system that resembled a wooden version of the lash-up from Professor Abbacus’ laboratory. It was the link to the sub-botanic matrix. Even though they had been working with it for a while, Malcolm and Harley still weren’t used to it. But from here they could monitor the entire arena, on about twenty five small screens set into the back wall.

So the audience could see what was going on in the hidden sections, they also had large monitors they could watch, located in various places around the outside of the arena.

And in the middle lay the arena itself, shaped like a pentagon, with smaller arenas at each corner, tailored for specific events. Some were filled with vegetation, others were bare earth. One shot impressive jets of fire into the air. They surrounded a convoluted landscape of hills, valleys, clusters of tightly-packed trees that resembled mini versions of the Oval Jungle and numerous caves and tunnels that disappeared beneath the ground. A large lake shimmered at the centre, a tiny island at its very middle. Off to one side, not far from Professor Abbacus’ tree booth stood a small platform. Once everyone had settled in their seats this platform split open like a flower and the walls fell away to reveal Mrs Flickerton and the eighty competitors, assembled on it and looking around at the magnificent landscape in awe.

The tree holding Professor Abbacus’ box extended with a creak of wood to hang above them. Images of all the children’s faces began to appear on the monitors around the perimeter. The audience began to rise from their seats co cheer and clap their heroes.

As the president of the Nightmare Games Organising Committee, Ogden Connifer had his own private box. Because of his tree spirit aspect his booth was made almost completely from vegetation and held up by thick roots. Only the floor was earth so he would have somewhere to put his roots down when the sun rose. In amongst the branches and leaves he felt perfectly at home. He didn’t even have a pane of glass protecting him from the world outside. He rose to his gnarly bare feet and walked across the dirt floor to the opening. He lifted his arms, his leafy gown rustling, and signalled for silence. On the monitors outside his image appeared for everyone to see.

“Welcome to the 312^th Nightmare Games!” he boomed, his voice enhanced not by a microphone but my Magick. He didn’t particularly like technology, but understood its necessity at an event like this.

More applause greeted his statement. He waited patiently for it to die down and continued; “Looking down at that arena I can see our workers have truly excelled themselves. I know I say this every four years, but these Nightmare Games promise to be the most spectacular yet! There are new events and a finale that will be truly out of this world!” He clapped his hands and the audience followed suit. “Now prepare to watch the latest batch of the best and brightest young supernaturals compete against each other, using all their skills, training and natural abilities! I’ve been informed there are some truly talented children in this year’s mix, and I for one can’t wait to see how they perform, especially in the final round! Let the 312^th Nightmare Games begin!” He clapped his hands again, and that was the signal. He retreated from the front opening of his box and sat down in his chair, a cleverly constructed artefact made from branches and roots. He waved a long, spidery hand and inscribed a Magick Rune in the air in front of him. In the seclusion of his box, only he could see it. He smiled.

Amidst thunderous applause, Mrs Flickerton led the eighty children down from their entry platform and onto the convoluted arena floor. She was joined by the PE teachers, Professor Longenfang, Oganwe and Gordana. All were in their half-man, half-beast forms. “Alright children, Round One will commence with two events; the Vampire Obstacle Race and the Multiform Obstacle Run. May I have all vampires and all elementals, please?”

Alice, Milly, Riley and Eddie from the Australian Academy all stepped forward, joining vampires from the other academies. This included the snooty, aristocratic boys from the Swiss Academy. Dailan Dagros, who’d refused to apologise to Nancy, gave Alice an icy stare. She pretended not to notice. Dailan’s friends snickered at Riley and Eddie, both of whom were short and stocky. Eddie had a head of thick curly hair like Nancy’s. He’d tried shaving his head, but since he didn’t have much of a neck, that had made him look like a Sontaran from Dr Who. Now his thick curly mop touched his shoulders.

The elementals including Ali formed a group beside them.

The weres left behind shifted uncomfortably, itching to get started. “Sit down and relax,” Flickerton told them, “your turn will come soon enough.” She gestured towards a small grassy knoll, and the weres and far more patient trees wandered over it to settle while the first events were run.

Flickerton led the vampires and elementals a few metres from the starting point to a smooth, gentle hill covered with lush green grass. She snapped her fingers at the surface and suddenly two large, circular depressions appeared; the grass dropping down and disappearing from sight to reveal a pair of man-sized tunnels. “Vampires on the left, elementals on the right. Elementals, your race will start here. Vampires, you will need to walk along an underground passage a-ways before you reach your starting point. When you reach the start please assemble in an orderly fashion in a single line.”

The vampires all glanced uncertainly at each-other, but then the supernatural closest to the hole stepped forward and descended into the darkness. Alice was second and she followed her down a steep staircase and into a long tunnel. The vampires walked in silence for what seemed a long time. Alice supposed the long lead up was to disorientate them and not give them any idea where they actually were in the arena. The passage also sloped downwards, so their race was obviously deep beneath the ground.

Then they reached a small room with a bright white line marked on the floor. She took a spot beside the female vampire as the others from her school joined her. Milly gave an uncertain smile. “This is it, eh?”

“Oh yeah, this is it alright,” Alice agreed solemnly.

Riley and Eddie lined up beside Milly, and the rest of the vampires took their places. Dailan crouched at the other end and started doing some enthusiastic athletic stretches, designed for humans. Riley smacked his forehead. “What a tool!” he declared out loud. “Doesn’t he realise that sort of thing is completely unnecessary for vamps?”

“I’m sure he does,” answered Eddie. “He’s just doing it to try and intimidate us.” He sounded more confident than he felt.

In front of the assembled vamps was a large arched doorway, only wide enough for three to enter abreast. Everyone knew when the whistle blew, or whatever the start signal was, there would be a mad scramble through that passage. A few were already concentrating on various forms that would take them through that portal without being crushed.

“Alright vampires,” Mrs Flickerton’s voice reached them from somewhere outside, probably via a hidden speaker, “On your marks!”

Some vampires crouched into sprint positions. Dailan dropped onto all fours like he was out to run a one minute mile. “Ready … set … go!”

 

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