Wicked Challenge (Darkwater Reformatory Book 2) Read online

  I sat up. Not only another cave, but I’d arrived here alone. No cage, no friends, and no obvious way out. Except… The hole overhead was close enough I could jump and grab the edge. Leaping to my feet, I sprung up into the air and snagged the side of the hole. Feet scrambling, I hauled myself up and out through the dark opening, finding myself back in the second cave with the blob lying on the ground beside me. Grabbing it along the sides, I hauled it up, straining. It came off the stone like a suction cup off glass, with a wet pop and I shivered because while I touched it, I couldn’t feel it. Perhaps only my sight worked here and my other senses were muted?

  I stomped over to the cage and threw it inside. It smacked on the far wall and slithered down to the ground. After slamming the door shut, I leaned against it and looked around the cave.

  Brodin and Jacey were nowhere to be found. Had they been sucked into their blobs, too?

  Akimi stood in the middle of the room, her head cocked. “It is…” She bailed to her left but smacked onto the ground, then rose emptyhanded.

  “Let me help,” I called. “Use your hearing to get close and I’ll guide you directly to it, okay? Oh, and Akimi?”

  “Yes?” She didn’t look my way.

  “Grab it along the edges, because it’s another trap like the slime pond that sucked us into this cave. If you fall through, you’ll find yourself in yet another. Except each cave is smaller than the last. If you do get trapped there, you’ll need to climb back out through the hole overhead.” Assuming each of us found ourselves in a situation like mine.

  What if I hadn’t figured out that part of the test? I might’ve continued falling through creatures until I found myself encased in a tomb-like, tiny cave for the rest of my days. Game over.

  “It is a mirror creature, then. I have heard of them. Thank you.” She tipped her head to the side. “I believe it is on my right.”

  “Yup. At two o’clock.” I explained about human clocks, though I’d only seen a few in my life, and how you could use the twelve spots on the circle to indicate placement.

  “I understand,” she said.

  “Good, because it’s at one o’clock now.”

  She flung herself in that direction and disappeared into the blob. So much for grabbing the edge, but then, I’d done the same.

  “They hate you,” someone said behind me.

  My skin crawled. I spun around but didn’t see anyone there. The inky mass lay where it had fallen, like a grease patch smeared across the ground. Grumbling, I turned back to face the room.

  “They hope you fail,” someone said.

  Damn blob. Figures it would use my fears to try to unsettle me. “Get lost.”

  “Who’d want to be around you after what you did?”

  The question stung, but that was the intent. I wanted to ignore it, but the words sunk into my bones and made my limbs tremble.

  “They may pretend they believe you won’t betray them again, but we both know better.”

  The barb hit me square in the heart because I was worried I’d never make it up to them again, that I’d make another mistake. It was silly, really. They said they understood why I’d done it, that they trusted me, and I was going to be careful from now on, but what if—

  “If we join forces, we’ll be able to defeat everyone,” the blob said in a rising voice. It clawed down my spine like barbed wire.

  “Why would I want to join with you?” I asked, feeling the pull despite my overwhelming need to resist.

  “I could make you Master Seeker, the best of them all. Ramseff’s power weakens already. It’s yours to control if you wish. And I can put you there.”

  What would it be like to settle into the Seeker estate? If I was in control, I could use my power to do good things that would benefit everyone, not use the position to manipulate wizards into committing murder.

  To do this, the blob would demand a steep price in exchange. I’d trade one mistake—making the blood bond with Ramseff—for another. Massive power had never held much appeal. I only wanted acceptance from my friends and the people I loved and to be with the people who cared about me as much as I did about them.

  “They don’t care about you,” the blob said, stealing my thoughts and twisting them. “They resent you for what you did.”

  Falling into the lure, I cupped my head and rocked. “It’s not true!”

  “You got them into this situation.” The voice persisted, scraping away at the tiny bit of self-confidence I’d struggled to rebuild.

  It wasn’t hard for this thing to twist me, because it spoke the truth.

  “If you’d played the last game as you were supposed to, you could be at the Reformatory right now, talking to your father. He’s there. Waiting for you.”

  “Wait a minute.” My hands flopped onto my thighs. “Did you call this a game? Is that what it is to you?”

  Silence greeted my question. Had I misheard?

  “Bind with me, and I’ll give you the world,” it said, feeding on my insecurities.

  The binding—my blood bond—was what had landed me in this situation. I wouldn’t make a mistake like that again.

  “Not interested,” I said, though my voice shook. “Not even in the least.” Please, please, please, shut up!

  Back in the maze, if I hadn’t touched the wall and given in to its lure, I’d be tempted to succumb to the pull of this creature. It would’ve preyed on the fears I struggled to suppress deep inside. But I had touched the wall. I’d made a mistake, but I’d learned a painful lesson.

  “You want to meet your father, don’t you?” the blob said. “I can take you to him. Right now if you wish. Don’t wait for them. They’ll catch up…eventually.”

  I turned and fought to keep even a speck of eagerness off my face. The feeling bred inside me, expanding to eclipse my determination to resist. “What do you know about my father? You’re just an ink stain inside a magical catacomb. You’re not real. I’m not sure any of this is real.”

  “Your father is here,” the blob said.

  “You’re saying he’s inside the catacombs?” Where was he? Would I find him during the next test? If so, I’d probably walk right past him if he stood among a small group of wizards. The face of my father had faded from my memory years ago.

  The blob cackled, and the surface shimmered. When it took form again, a face I feared and hated appeared.

  Tick-tick-tick.

  The sound escalated, like a time bomb about to go off. It would explode and take my mind along with it.

  “I’m coming for you, Tria,” Warden Bixby’s voice said. “Soon, it will be over.”

  “You can’t do anything to me.” I slapped my hands over my ears and swayed, my shoulder jarring against the cage door so hard, I winced. “You’re not here. You’re not here. You’re not here!”

  “Stupid girl. I’m everywhere.” Even inside your mind.

  “No,” I wailed. Run! I had to get away before she caught me and ended this forever.

  The blob oozed closer.

  As I backed away, the door creaked open, creating a small gap. Large enough for the blob to escape…

  Bursting forward, I slammed into the door before the creature could ooze out through the opening.

  It shrieked and pressed against the metal bars, but I braced my body against the frame to keep the bulbous mass of hatred inside.

  “Fuck you,” I shrieked. “You’re not going to win. Not now, not ever.”

  “You won’t survive this challenge without my help.” Scorn dripped from Bixby’s words. “You’ll fail, just like you did before.”

  “I won’t. And you know why?”

  The blob paused, waiting. Though she might try to hide it, I tasted her fear in the air.

  Tick-tick-tick.

  “Tell me,” Bixby shrieked.

  “You won’t win because…” My chin lifted, and my new resolve gave me the strength to remain on my feet, pressed against the door. “You misjudge me. I’ve never been fighting alone. I
’ve always been fighting with the rest of my quad beside me.”

  “She’s right,” Brodin said from deeper inside the cave. Turning, I found him standing about ten feet away, an oozing blob held in his outstretched hands. Dirt covered his clothing and a smear streaked across one cheek. My heart had never swelled as much as it did at this moment.

  Happiness trilled through me. “Glad to see you made it back.”

  His eyes gleamed. “Did you doubt me?”

  “Never.” It came out like a vow.

  “Open the cage? I’ve got some trash I need to throw out.”

  Stifling my giggle, I creaked open the door, and he chucked his blob at the other. The two hit and fused into one. I slammed the door shut and pressed my entire body against it.

  Brodin stepped up close and wrapped his arms around me. His chin rested on the top of my head. “I was worried about you. You disappeared and—”

  “I saw the hole overhead and leaped up and grabbed it.”

  “Me, too. This hasn’t been the hardest test so far, which makes me antsy.”

  “I think the test is more than about capturing the blobs.” My gaze slanted to the one lying in the cage, passive for the moment. “She spoke to me through the creature.”

  “Bixby.”

  “These trials are as much about manipulating our minds as getting us to perform physical tests.”

  “We’ll make it through. We’re gonna beat this.”

  Would we? Or would Bixby find a way to manipulate me or one of our friends? “Everyone says the Challenge can only be completed with a full triad or quad, yet Jacey found proof Rohnan has made it this far. He was either alone by then or with Kylie.”

  Leaning close to my ear, he whispered. “I don’t trust anything we’ve been told about this place. And I don’t trust the catacombs to play fair.”

  I pretended to seek a kiss but also spoke low and made sure I was turned away enough Bixby couldn’t read my lips. “I wonder if we can turn this on her somehow.”

  “Yeah,” he breathed. “Smart.” His arms tightened around my waist, and I rose onto my toes for the kiss that I wanted; I hadn’t been pretending.

  When our lips came together, my spine tingled. Heat flushed out to my skin.

  We broke apart and smiled at each other.

  “One of these days—”

  “We’re gonna have to talk,” I said at the same time.

  We laughed.

  But as we turned and leaned against the cage, side by side, I worried that day would never come. What if he hadn’t made it out of the small cave?

  I would’ve gone after him. In that, I was much like Jacey.

  “No sign of the others yet,” he said, glancing around.

  “Akimi was here when I returned but she got pulled into hers.”

  “If we grab theirs, we could end this. They’re lying on the ledge. I can smell them.”

  “I can see them, but we can’t toss them into the cage with our friends inside, because they may be trapped in the goo forever. And if we lift them off the floor, we might remove their only escape.”

  He gulped. “You’re right.” He shot the blob inside the cage a dark look. “So we wait.”

  “And ignore the nasty thing behind us.”

  We sat and braced our backs on the door to hold it shut. Brodin inched closer and put his arm around my shoulders. I leaned into him, savoring the feel of him near.

  “Your dad, huh?” he said softly.

  “You heard.” I stared forward, not meeting his eyes. “He’s at the Reformatory.”

  “And that’s why you’ve been so eager to get there. You must be scared knowing he’s imprisoned.”

  “Actually, I’m not.”

  “Why?”

  A boy who’d loved his mom might not understand. Or would he? How close was he to his father, the Master Seeker?

  “I’ve never met him,” I said. “I mean, he was around when I was a baby, but he took off.”

  “You want to confront him?”

  “About leaving?” I shrugged. “Not sure about that, but maybe. Mostly I want to make him give back something he stole from me.”

  “What did he take?”

  “My core magical essence.”

  “That part of you that defines your deepest magic. Wow. How did he remove it? I’ve heard wizards die without it.”

  “My stepdad is a sketar witch. He and mom were friends back then and he cast a spell on me. That part of me is in stasis and won’t wither. But I want it back.”

  “I would, too. How did you get to such a high Seeker level without it?”

  “Persistence.”

  “You’re strong. That’s why.”

  I dropped my head onto his shoulder. “Sometimes, I feel incredibly weak.”

  “That’s because you’re human.” He held up his hand when I would’ve interrupted. “You know what I mean. Humanity has definitions. It fits here, despite us having magic.”

  “Despite my stepdad’s spell, I’ve felt its loss here,” my fist connected with my chest, “all my life.”

  “You did something to get sent to the prison.”

  “Just like you, for a similar motive.”

  “Except, whoever killed my mom is outside. I’ll need to get to the Reformatory and escape before I can go after them. I assume you know who killed her?”

  The name hovered on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t spit it out. When I made the blood bond with the Master Seeker, it made it impossible for me to talk about the deal. I wanted to tell Brodin. He needed to know.

  Or did he? How would he take the fact that his father had not only killed his mom but wanted to kill his son? Not telling Brodin put him in danger. I needed to find a way around this.

  “You know what a blood bond is,” I said.

  “Yes.” His arm tightened on my shoulders.

  “I made one.”

  “And it’s part of all this, isn’t it?”

  I was prevented from nodding.

  “Taking a wild guess, I’d say that, in exchange for getting you here, you have to do something for whoever created the bond.”

  Gnawing on my lower lip, I stared forward, unable to confirm or deny his statement.

  “You’re not allowed to talk about it. That’s common with these kinds of bonds.” His fingers tightened on my shoulder. “There are only a few wizards capable of creating a bond like this.”

  My heart thumped in my ears. He was getting too close.

  “I’m sorry you had to make it,” he said.

  “Thanks.”

  “We’ll get you out of it.”

  I buried my face in his chest and bit back a sob. I’d carried this burden too long. While I couldn’t speak of the bond, we could still share it. Though he couldn’t know, we shouldered it together.

  In many ways I was grateful I couldn’t speak about it. At the time, I would’ve agreed to almost anything to reach my father. I’d been naïve. I’d assumed the exchange would involve a simple favor.

  Never the cost of more than one life.

  Horror and embarrassment crashed through me. Why had I agreed to the bond without knowing all the conditions?

  “If it’s like most blood bonds, you were coerced into it,” he said. “But we’ll fight it. And break it. You don’t have to do…whatever it is you’ve been asked.”

  Would I? How far did Ramseff’s magic reach?

  I stiffened my resolve. Committing murder was not in my future. There was a way out.

  I’d refuse to fulfill the bargain. Did that mean I wouldn’t make it to the Reformatory? If that was the case, so be it. I’d rather be stuck inside the catacombs forever or sent back to the prison than harm Brodin.

  My father could keep my core essence. Better that than carry out the contract.

  A few questions niggled at the back of my mind, however.

  If the Master Seeker found out I’d refused to kill Brodin, would he send someone else to do the deed in my stead? And if so, would t
he deal he’d make with another wizard include a contract on me as well?

  Twenty-One

  Tria

  Akimi’s branches poked up through the surface of one of the blobs. Her head followed and she hung on to the sides while gulping in air. “You were right, Tria. It sucked me in, but I have made it out.” A satisfied smile on her face, she pulled herself up. Partway out, she turned and before sliding her roots out of the muck, she slapped her hands around then onto the blob. “While I can only hear it, I know I have it. It is not getting away from me this time.” She rose onto shaky roots, the ends of her branches digging into the blob, and strode toward us. “Open the door when I am close and I shall toss this wretched thing inside.”

  Brodin stood and offered me a hand to help me stand. I took it and hugged him quickly. His arm remained around my waist as Akimi approached, and he creaked the door open in time for her to toss the slimy pool in with the other. The moment it made contact with the ground, it oozed toward the larger mass and fused into one.

  “Jacey is the last?” Akimi asked. “I do hope she is able to jump high enough. She is petite.” She frowned. “Do you think I could reach inside, give her a hand?” Her dry chuckle rang out, completely deflated of humor. “A branch, that is.”

  Brodin and I exchanged glances. While each of us had hunted relying on only one sense, there was nothing to suggest we had to trap and lock up our own blob. That was just our assumption.

  “Do we dare try?” Brodin said.

  “Jacey could be down there, terrified.”

  Horror filled Akimi’s eyes. “We must do something.”

  Brodin growled. He stomped back and forth in front of me. “If she’s not careful, she’ll be sucked into another cave and then another, until it’s impossible to find her way out.”

  “I want to help,” I said.

  “Akimi,” Brodin said. “Can you stay here and keep that thing inside the cage from opening the door?”

  “I will.” She stomped over to us and leaned against it.

  Brodin’s gaze fell on me. “Let’s see if we can get Jacey out of there.” He turned before we were halfway toward the fourth blob. “And Akimi? Watch out. Bixby is projecting into the creature and she’s eager to manipulate whoever she can reach.”