Gift of the Gods (Magic Blessed Academy 1)

They seemed to be backing up, becoming more wary, mostly because of the damage all of us were inflicting on them.

I was still the closest to the floor, so I headed down, breathing a sigh of relief the second my feet met solid ground.

Unfortunately, I happened to land in the guts of one of the spiders. I bit back a retch as I picked up my foot. Long streams of goo stuck to the bottom, and I grimaced as I wiped my boot clean on a clear patch of earth.

Next to me, Lachlan landed, snapping the magic from the palms of his hands. He had used it like a booster, slowly sinking down the wall so that he was able to move faster than everyone else and not worry about the ropes.

It was pretty badass, actually. I definitely didn’t have that skill, and I was guessing none of the other contestants did either, considering no one had copied his move.

He looked at my boots and made a face. “That’s disgustin’.”

I rolled my eyes, pointing ahead of us. “I think that’s a little bit more concerning.”

He turned to follow my gaze and let out a low whistle as we both stared at the entrance to a large maze. The walls were made of stone, vines, and pretty much every other material you could find out in the jungle.

I growled at myself. “I should’ve spent more time looking down while I was up in those fucking ropes. I could’ve mapped out a route.”

Lachlan raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never been great at shite like mazes. I’ve always been more of a lad for smashin’ things and using my fists.”

My gaze shifted toward him for a moment. Huh. Despite the fact that our truce was no longer in effect, he seemed to be assuming that we were working together at this point.

I wasn’t going to complain though. The challenge ahead was more than daunting. I turned around and looked up at the competitors still making their way slowly down the wall—they were all picking up speed now that the spiders were retreating. Once they reached the floor, it’d be a fight to reach the finish line of that maze.

Merrick was descending the wall to my right, his arm muscles flexing as he lowered himself through the tangle of ropes.

I bit my bottom lip, debating for a second, knowing that this maze was going to give all of us hell.

Cupping my hands, I called out to Merrick. “Hey! I’ll share whatever it is I find—what we find—if you guide me through this maze. How about a little teamwork? What do you say?”

The light-haired mage narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously.

He didn’t answer me right away, but he did pick up his pace, releasing his grip on each rope so fast his descent became more like a controlled fall than a climb.

I could tell he still didn’t trust me, and I didn’t blame him. I didn’t trust him either. In fact, part of me wondered if I’d be better off offering to team up with any of the other competitors in the place than him and Lachlan. But at least with Merrick, we had some history—as tense as it was. I knew what I was getting into with him.

He landed hard on the floor, going down to a crouch to absorb the impact before rising and striding quickly over to us, staring at the maze. “I memorized it from up there. But there are some serious vines down one of the passageways and I don’t have anything to cut them with. It’s like an entire wall.”

I smiled and reached back to the side of my pack, pulling out a large hunting knife. “You mean like this one?”

“That one would do.” He arched a brow, his gaze hardening. “Lucky one of us has a pack.”

Still a little testy about that, I see.

But Merrick had clearly decided to take me up on my offer, because instead of giving me more shit about the pack, he jerked his chin at the maze. “Come on. Let’s go.”

I put up one finger. “We’re going to need some backup.”

Turning, I looked over at Trace, who was almost all the way down the wall by now.

Sure, why not make it an even three?

“Trace! If you stay right there and defend us from above, we’ll share what we find with you. Let us know if anything is coming, and if you can prevent it, use your magic!”

Trace shrugged, obviously not really caring that much. I would’ve much preferred to hang on the wall defending other people then be down in the maze too.

“Yeah, sure. Go!”

He gave me a nod, and the other two men and I darted into the maze. Merrick guided us with unerring accuracy, and Lachlan acted as security. There weren’t really any creatures—not breathing ones at least. Whipping vines, sticks, and stones shot out in all different directions as we ran through the massive maze.