Spark (Legends of the Shifters) (9 page)

“
You
are to wait until my command before you start. To first three wounds
or until your opponent goes unconscious. Under no circumstances
should either of you die, or there will be severe consequences for
the killer, accident or no,” she said. She left us standing
there, Grix glaring at me, and me watching her like a frightened
mouse as she got farther and farther away.

The
gate creaked and then slammed shut. My heart echoed the slamming over
and over in my ringing ears as I struggled to breathe. In my panic, I
remembered Ayon and Elna and my old life. What I would do to go back!
Thinking about them helped me inhale and exhale.

There
was silence, and then suddenly the shouted command, “Go!”

Grix
lunged toward me, blocking me from the table. I scrambled back just
before he would’ve plowed me into the ground. Shouts and jeers
sounded from the sidelines, but I ignored them. My only thought right
now was to steer clear of Grix. He grabbed a spear, and came toward
me again.

I
dodged around him every time he sprang forward, and started to feel a
little better about my chance of not dying. However, it was only a
matter of time before he began to change. He grew before my eyes
until he stood with his shoulders five feet wide, and his height
twice as tall. There was a ripping sound as his shirt split down the
middle and fell to the ground. To everyone’s relief—especially
my own—his pants stayed on, as they were made of a stretchy
material.

The
spear now seemed more like a mere twig in his beefy hand. I swallowed
hard and dashed away. He could step on me, and I would die like an
unfortunate ant trying to scurry out from underneath the shadow of a
boot.

He
raced after me, the ground shaking as he gained on me, and while he
was getting closer, I noticed a little too late, so was the fence.
Without meaning to, I got trapped against it, and I was suddenly
staring up in horror right into Grix’s eyes. He smiled a
grotesque smile, and lunged toward me one final time.

For a
moment, the hourglass of life seemed to have pity on me, and
everything slowed. I imagined what I always did when I wanted to
change. The sun beating down on my grateful face, the glimmer of the
morning frost and the melting snow.

The
sensation of changing was welcome now, and the bright light shone,
something I noticed didn’t happen when other people changed.

Grix
stumbled back, momentarily stunned, blinking rapidly and trying to
regain his vision. It was all the time I needed. I lifted my wings
and launched myself into the air.

I
sailed down at Grix, catching the side of his face with my talons. He
reached up, feeling the cut as if in disbelief. I circled around his
head, hitting the back of it as hard as I could. My talons drew blood
once again. He stumbled forward. Only one more scratch, and I would
win. This seemed to help him out of his stupor. He twisted around,
glaring at me, and I knew I would have to be more careful.

I
dove down once more when I thought his back was turned, and screeched
as a strong hand clamped down on my wing. Grix threw me to the ground
and pinned me under his foot.

“
It
ends now,” he growled. He lifted his spear.

In a
moment of panic, I went with the bird’s instincts. Flames
churned in my stomach, and a burst of fire blasted out of my beak,
scorching both the spear and Grix.

He
cried out and dropped the spear, clutching his charred hand.

The
throng of people went silent. In fact, now that the fight was over, I
noticed that they had been for some time. Niko was standing in the
front, just short of the fence, wearing a disturbing smile on his
face. I tried to ignore him.

After
a moment, some voices started to mutter amongst themselves, and then
whole crowd erupted into chatter. “The fight is finished!”
shouted Mrs. Scarls finally. “The victor is Ivy Oliver, three
strikes to zero!”

Grix
shrunk until he was back to his normal size. His hand was still
injured despite his changing. I changed back also, annoyed by the
inconvenient red dress that dragged in the mud.

I
glanced back over at Grix, taken aback by a look of respect in his
eyes. He went over and stuck out his left hand for me to shake,
seeing as I had burnt his right one. “Good fight,” he
said. “It seems as if you caught me off guard.”

I
didn’t say anything back, but I did shake his hand. I
remembered that Natalia had said not to trust anyone. That they would
all try to get on my good side. Grix might be one of those people now
that he saw what I was.

I
made my way toward the gate as quickly as I could before anyone else
got the idea to challenge me. Kurt was at my side as soon as the gate
was unlatched and pushed open. He smiled at me. “I didn’t
expect you to win—you were fighting against a Level Seven after
all—but it seems that you went above and beyond any of our
expectations. Had I known you could produce fire, I would’ve
bet on you.”

“
Did
I do the right thing when I changed?” I asked him, ignoring
everything else that he had said.

His
forehead wrinkled. “Well, you would’ve lost if you
didn’t, but I know what you mean. Now, everyone knows your
second form and its abilities, making it harder to blend in.”

I
looked around at all the students, including Roselle and Liana. Even
they stayed at a distance for now. “Everyone here has a special
second form. Why should mine be that important?” I asked.

“
Because
yours is rarer. Most of these people have a second form that is the
same as one of their classmates, but in the history of the kingdoms
there has only been one other phoenix.”

“
And
how come you know about it, whereas I’m still left in the
dark?” I inquired, getting frustrated.

“
The
headmaster thought that because I am your trainer, I should know a
few things about your second form,” Kurt answered.

I
watched as Mrs. Scarls started another match, this time with two
boys, both seemingly strong and fit. I turned away as she left them
in the circle, not wanting to see someone get hurt.

Kurt
followed me. “You know, technically,” he said, “
I’m
the one who’s supposed to be
leading
you
around.”

“
I
know,” I answered, still continuing forward.

He
quickened his pace so that it matched mine. “Watching the fight
might help you learn some things,” he advised.

“
I
don’t feel up to it,” I countered.

He
stepped in front of me, causing me to run into him. “There are
going to be a lot of things you don’t feel up to. That doesn’t
mean that you can avoid them.”

I
huffed in annoyance.

He
studied my irritated look. “But today will be the only
exception,” he said as he led the way to the arena entrance.
“—because I need to teach you a lesson.”

I
didn’t pay attention to the threat in his words, but I should
have. He stopped me just before we exited the training grounds and
pointed to the wall. “For the rest of the day, we’re
going to run laps around the arena.”

I
balked in disbelief. “Run for four hours?”

“
Not
really. It’s only
three and a half because you were in the challenge for thirty
minutes. Plus, we need to work on your endurance,” he said.

I
narrowed my eyes, perhaps a little too cocky from my recent victory.
“No,” I said, surprising myself. “That's crazy. I
can't do that.”

Kurt
grabbed something from his back pocket. A whip.

I
stared at it, and then back at him. “You wouldn’t,”
I stated, although a little perturbed.

“
Oh,
I would,” he said, a smile still spread across his face. “Now
go.”

I
knew he was telling the truth. Halfheartedly, I started to jog along
the wall. “Faster,” Kurt said, the whip licking at my
heels. My heart jumped, and I sprinted, trying to get away from him.

Even
so, no matter how quickly I ran, Kurt was always behind me, pushing
me to go faster. Pushing me beyond what I thought I could do.

By
the end of the day, I'd ran ten laps around the entire arena and
thrown up twice, after which, Kurt allowed me to take a short break.
I spent the first ten minutes of my free-time trying to catch my
breath and massaging my aching legs.

Then,
Roselle came into the dorm. I stared at her. I could tell that much
had happened since we were last in the dining hall. Her eye was
swollen and starting to bruise, her lip was busted, and her hands
were cracked at the knuckles.

“
Roselle!”
I exclaimed. “What happened?”

She
shook her head. “I trained with Niko.”

Now
it made sense. That was why she had felt so nervous and seemingly
frightened when he confronted her this morning.

“
Does
he train with everybody?” I asked in horror.

She
nodded. “Just about. This is my second time, though, so I knew
what to expect.”

My
stomach churned. Training with Niko seemed like it would be torture.
I already despised him for many reasons.

“
So
that means that
I’ll
have to train with him at
some point,” I said.

Roselle
nodded.

I
sighed, going back to massaging my calves. “I suppose I’ll
cross that bridge when I come to it.”

“
You’ll
have no choice,” she replied.

Our
next survival test was in tent number forty-three. Liana, Natalia,
Roselle, and I all shuffled with the crowd of people until our number
glowed in front of us. A man gave us each of us one of the black
necklaces, and one by one, we all passed through the tent entrance.

I
went inside last, and was blinded when I reached the other side.
Wherever we were, the sun was very bright. I shielded my eyes and
tried to take in our surroundings. We were on top of a rocky
mountain.

Although
the sun was bright, cool air brushed my cheeks, bringing with it the
scent of honeysuckle. Wherever we were, it was spring, meaning that
this might be an easy test.

Natalia
acted as the leader, as always. “We need to get further down
the mountain. There's likely to be more food down there.”

“
Should
we split up again, like last time?” I asked.

She
nodded. “I think it would be best.”

Knowing
we had a time limit, we all went in separate directions. Liana
shifted into her centaur form. Her body resembled that of a paint
horse, and her shirt had changed into leather armor. A beautifully
carved bow was stung across her back.

Seeing
her in her second form helped me know what I had to do. I went closer
to the edge of the mountain and peered over the cliff. The height
made my head feel dizzy, and I swallowed hard. Perhaps when I was
better trained, I'd be able to dive off the mountain with ease, but
right now, the thought made me feel sick.

I
backed away from the edge, and shifted form. I stretched my wings out
and took off, getting used to flight before I dove down toward a
meadow.

It
took barely any time for me to reach the ground. I landed softly and
folded my wings in, changing back into the form I was used to.

The
meadow was beautiful. The flowers were almost as numerous as the
grass, the wind swaying their colorful heads to and fro.