She smiled, eyes slightly wide. “Impressive.”
She twisted her hand and the white magic flicked and began to flame, burning holes in my defences.
I didn’t lose well, Mother always said that. Everything in me wanted to fight her now that she was beginning to beat me. I twisted my wand to create stronger, harder shield bonds, then suddenly I realised that this was not the best course of action. I was meant to be half human.
Remember!
So, I let the shield drop and a spark of her Fae magic twinged my arm.
I winced, nearly dropping the wand to the floor. I held onto it, taking a deep breath.
The rest of her magic disappeared as though it had never been there in the first place.
Silence fell in the room as Abigail stared at me and I pulled my mental guards up, remembering how much Tavlor liked poking around inside my head.
“That was well done, Ava.” Abigail said.
I wished I could tell what that meant. There was something in her tone that seemed to hint there was more than what she said. But I couldn’t figure it out.
“Shall we move onto the next test?”
I didn’t have much of a choice, did I?
Abigail’s eyes glinted as she walked forward. She knew I’d given up too easily on that trial. I didn’t know how she knew it, but she did.
My stomach tightened with worry. I knew that she wasn’t going to make it so easy for me on the next one.
Chapter 16.
If Abigail already recognized I was holding back, could anyone else figure it out?
Probably.
I doubted Abigail was the most powerful being here.
Abigail leaned forward, distracting me from my thoughts. With an eager look in her eye, she said, “It’s your turn to try and attack me.”
“Try?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. “So, not many people succeed?”
More so was the fact that I had never really attacked anyone before. I once asked Mother for help with self-defense, but she refused. She’d been adamant that I would never be in such a situation and didn’t want me to waste my magic on something that wasn’t necessary.
Abigail laughed. “Everyone succeeds in the end,” she assured me. “The trial doesn’t stop until you score a single point. Remember that. This will all be over soon and you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
There was a strange noise to the side, behind the veil. Was it a word? A cough? I couldn’t tell. Maybe I was imagining things.
“Okay,” I said. I flexed my fingers and then loosely curled them into fists. “How would you like me to do it?”
Was I to use a knife? Fire? Pure white-hot magic?
She grinned. “Any way you like.” She said it like it was going to be a cinch.
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. If anything, I wanted to get this over with. “I will simply stand here with my shield up and you penetrate it. Like I did with you. Understand?”
“That sounds simple enough,” I said slowly, “but surely I can’t beat you. You’re a Fae.”
She smiled. “You’re an untrained Witch,” she said. “I’ll use a level five shield. You’ll be able to get through that fine if you know your offensive spells.”
I nodded, clutching my wand tighter. “I do... but I’m not use to attacking someone who can’t fight back,” I said. “Can’t you, you know, spar with me instead? I don’t think I feel comfortable throwing magic at you for no reason – besides the trial, that is.”