Wicked Challenge (Darkwater Reformatory Book 2) Read online

  The catacombs had restrained her? I’d thought she was in full control of them. Something bigger was going on here than I’d ever imagined.

  Beings older than the fae… My grandma’s words echoed in my mind.

  “You have to understand,” Kylie said, pleading with us all. “I made a bond. I tried to stop you.” Her gaze sought mine. “You remember, right? I tried. But you wouldn’t listen.”

  “No,” I snarled.

  Her lips trembling, she shook her head. “I thought…somehow, I’d find a way to break free during the Challenge. Or we’d take a different path, one without dragons. Even more, I hoped I’d be able to stop this by dying, but you wouldn’t leave me in the middle world. And you wouldn’t let me break the eggs!. After that, I had no choice!”

  There was always a choice. You just had to pick the right one and this wasn’t it.

  “You…who are you?” I asked.

  “I’m a tree nymph.” Her chin lifted. “I’ve always lived on the island. When Jacey arrived, Bixby made a deal with me. Get Jacey and Rohnan into the Challenge and Bixby would reveal my true one. Because I seek them. I need them.”

  “But, why not…” Jacey struggled to speak. “She wouldn’t let…us enter.”

  “Someone did not wish for you to enter,” Bixby said with a smirk. “But I do enjoy a good game. And after Akimi brought me my first dragon, I needed more.”

  “Why us?” Brodin asked. “Could’ve been…anyone.”

  Bixby’s gaze fell on me. “She’s the key.”

  To what?

  “Did you know?” Bixby said. “The catacombs will not let any of my contestants enter,” Bixby said.

  Her brother, Duvoe, cackled.

  She smiled at him and turned back to us. “The only ones who can enter and bring dragons to me are those who steal into the Challenge.”

  “You spread a rumor that those who made it here would go free.” We’d fallen for it. And when she denied us entrance, we’d found our own way. Akimi had guided us.

  “And now we’ve brought you dragons,” I said. We needed to free them, but how?

  Kylie yanked open the door and ran from the room.

  Bixby strolled across the room then turned to face us. “You.” Her finger pointed to me. “Someone would like me to take care of you.”

  My father would kill me to keep me from taking back what was mine?

  She flicked her finger toward me but before the bolt of magic hit me, Kai jumped between us. The magic slammed into him, and he tumbled to the floor, where he lay still.

  Frozen, I couldn’t reach him. Was he moving? Tears trickled down my cheeks, and my heart shriveled. My poor wexal friend…

  Around me, the room wavered. Brodin cried out hoarsely, and…

  …The beady glass eyes of the stone wexal cat statue watched me as I stood in the front lobby of the Seeker’s Guild Headquarters. This cat was not Kai. Who was he?

  “Welcome back, my dear,” Ramseff, the Master Seeker called out from the room on my right. “Please come into the library. It seems I need to speak to you once more.”

  For a second, I’d thought I’d been pulled back to the past, to my original visit here. But no, I’d just completed the Reformatory Challenge—or what I thought was a true challenge—and now the Master Seeker wished to see me.

  Girding myself, I strode inside but stopped in the doorway to the library.

  Ramseff sat in the same place as before, on the green sofa, squishing back on the cushions. Like then, a tray of tea and cookies sat in front of him on the low table. He lifted and carefully ate a cookie. “Please be seated, child. We don’t have much time.”

  “I believe you have all the time you need,” I said. Time to manipulate others. Time to ruin lives.

  “Whatever do you mean?” he said with a tilt of his head.

  Crossing the room, I sat heavily on the high-back wooden chair that had been placed opposite the sofa. “Time means nothing here, does it?”

  His lips twitched upward before smoothing. “Clever girl.”

  “Why am I here?”

  “You know why.”

  Bile rose in my throat, but I refused to name it. I followed his gaze to a set of three fillinettes mounted on the wall beside the bookcase.

  “I’m not killing Brodin,” I said.

  “And that’s where you’re wrong.”

  “You can’t make me. I’m stronger than I was before. I won’t do it and you can’t make me.”

  “Then your price shall not be paid.”

  “I don’t care if I meet my father. I don’t need what he took from me.”

  “And again, my dear, you are wrong.” He scratched the side of his neck and then tugged on the hem of the black tunic down over his matching pants. The dark, seamless material was broken only by the white embroidered heron on his left pocket.

  “You tricked me,” I said fiercely. “You had no right to demand my agreement before I knew the price.”

  “You agreed!” As if realizing he’d broken his endless calm, he smoothed his tunic again. He took a sip of his tea before returning the cup to its place on the table. His fingers toyed with the pendant suspended on the chain he wore around his neck. “You committed with blood. The task is unbreakable.”

  “Nothing is ever as it seems, is it?” I stood. “It’s over. I’m not doing it. I don’t want what my father took and you can’t make me kill Brodin. The agreement is over.” I started toward the door, my bravado carrying me when my legs would’ve failed. I’d collapse the moment I left his view.

  How was I going to get back to the Reformatory? I couldn’t leave Brodin, Jacey, and Rohnan there.

  And the dragons. I would not let Bixby kill them.

  “Are you sure about that?” he called as I reached the door.

  Don’t turn. Keep going. Nothing good will come of this.

  “I believe there is one thing you must see,” he said softly. “Please. Return to your seat.”

  I couldn’t hold myself back, because I had to know.

  I spun around.

  A large gold ball with a glossy, opaque surface appeared, hovering in front of me. The innards clouded and spun before a picture slowly formed of the Academy’s eastern pasture, with the forest behind.

  Like before, someone walked there.

  Fleur. My sister. The person I loved as much as Brodin.

  Someone slunk behind her. Not someone. Me. In my—her—hand, she held a knife.

  Fleur turned with a smile that flashed to horror…

  “No,” I moaned, collapsing against the wall.

  “What you see has not yet come to pass,” the Master Seeker said, studying his nails. “Life is such a delight. There is always someone who needs something. I’m happy to oblige of course.”

  “You fiend,” I spat.

  “Now, now, don’t be like that, child.”

  My hands clenched to fists but I said nothing. What could I say? What could I do? I was trapped and he knew it.

  Ramseff chuckled. “Perhaps you’d like to reconsider your determination to break your blood bond vow?”

  Look for Wicked Rebellion, Book Three and the conclusion of the Darkwater Reformatory Series, on Amazon.

  Have you read Crystal Wing Academy, a complete young adult fantasy series set in a school for wizards?

  I’ve included chapter 1 here. Just turn the page…

  Want to hear what Marty’s working on next, win ARCs of books, & chat? Join Bookish Things: FB Reader Group or sign up for her newsletter.

  You can also find her on her website.

  Other books by Marty Mayberry

  Crystal Wing Academy

  Outling

  Dragonsworn

  Unraveler

  Darkwater Reformatory

  Wicked Betrayal

  Wicked Challenge

  Wicked Rebellion

  Dead Girls Don’t Lie

  Romance & romantic suspense

  written as Marlie May

  So
me Like it Scot

  Simply Irresistible

  Twist of Fate

  Fearless

  Ruthless

  Reckless

  Marty writes young adult and adult fiction and infuses it with suspense, romance, and a touch of humor. When she's not dreaming up ways to mess with her character's lives, she works as an RN. She lives in New England with her husband, three children, three geriatric cats, and a spunky Yorkie pup who keeps her on her toes.

  Welcome to Crystal Wing Academy,

  where the magical elite reign…

  and Outlings are an endangered species.

  Magic doesn't exist in the human world. As far as I know. But when I fling a fireball at a bully, my horrified Mom dumps me at Crystal Wing Academy, a place straight out of my favorite fantasy books.

  They tell me I’m an Outling, a wizard born from non-magical parents. Mom’s human. Dad? I don’t exactly know who he is.…

  One thing I do know is I’m not an Elite—descendants of the original six families who split from the Fae ages ago. At seventeen, their children and despised Outlings like me attend the Academy to learn to control our power.

  I’m barely on campus when I’m targeted by a mean girl. Figures. Thankfully, the Academy’s not all bad. My pixie roommate’s awesome. I score a coveted moonstone during Stone Selection. And let’s not forget Donovan, a cute guy who seems to like me, not the mean Elite girl who’s determined to win him.

  Except something’s luring students into the forest and draining their power, leaving only shriveled husks behind. The Headmistress warns me not to investigate, but the killer’s after my friends. Big mistake there. My magical skills may be untrained and wild, but if a power-sucking vamp thinks he can harm people I care about, he’s about to discover I’m a wizard unlike any other.

  Chapter One

  Seven Years Before

  “I’m sorry,” Mom said after we both got into the car. She stared forward, through the windshield, and her shoulders shook as if she cried.

  “What are you sorry for?” There was no hiding the concern in my voice. What was going on?

  I had my suspicions. A week ago, I’d done something bad. What happened…It wasn’t even possible, was it?

  Magic wasn’t real.

  Mom’s body tightened. She started the car and backed down the driveway, saying nothing.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as we drove across town. My beat up, stuffed rabbit lay on the seat where I’d left it months ago, and I lifted it and held it close, barely resisting the urge to suck my thumb. I was ten, not two, well beyond the age where I’d do a thing like that.

  But something was wrong.

  Her fingers blanched on the steering wheel as she took our old Honda up onto the highway.

  An hour later and after snaking along a series of smaller roads, heading north and deeper into the remote parts of Maine, she still hadn’t said a thing.

  “Mom?” Even I could hear the nervous edge in my voice. “Please. Where are we going?”

  “I…” She shook her head. “This is…the way it needs to be, sweetheart.” Utter defeat rang out in her words.

  My heart ground to a halt before jumping around in my chest. I clutched my rabbit closer. “What do you mean?”

  “Fleur. Please. I need to focus on my driving.” She turned the radio on and rock music blasted through the car loud enough to drown out any further questions.

  Dropping my rabbit, I clamped my hands together on my lap and tried to keep my feet from fidgeting on the floor mat, but they wouldn’t stay still. She’d never done anything like this before. Yet after what happened last week at school…What I might’ve done…I was scared.

  She turned the car onto a dirt road. The vehicle bumped along for thirty minutes or so while a dark, spooky forest grew closer and closer around us.

  A sudden fog fell, engulfing the vehicle. It crept on spindly spider feet through the car. So thick I couldn’t see more than an arm’s reach beyond my window. Mom slowed but kept going, inching along the road, leaning forward, her face scrunched tight with tension.

  “Should we, um, turn around?” I asked. I’m scared, I did not say, though the words hung around my neck like a lead weight.

  “We’ll be there soon.”

  “Where?”

  The fog suddenly lifted and we reached a dead end. As I stared out the window, my palms sweaty, Mom parked in front of a huge arched gate spanning the gap between a long, spiky, black iron fence. A sign mounted beside the gate said, Crystal Wing Academy in gilded letters.

  Magical worlds were my go-to reading material. I might only be in the fifth grade, but I’d read everything I could get my hands on, even adult fantasy books. Crystal Wing, plus the word Academy sparked my imagination. Despite my worry about what we were doing here, I couldn’t help wondering what exciting things lay beyond the gate.

  “Wait here,” Mom said as she shoved open her door and got out of the car.

  Since the incident at school, she’d been short with me. I’d heard her crying late at night. How could she blame me for the fire? I hadn’t had a lighter or matches, and everyone knows you can’t start a fire without creating some sort of spark. But leave it to Mom to find a way to pin what happened with Tristan on me.

  Mom’s door slammed shut, and she strode over to the gate where she paused to study the sign. Her shoulders lifted and fell, and she hesitated before pushing a button that must engage a bell somewhere deep behind the fence because a distant gong shivered through the air.

  The woods were dense around us, hovering on both sides of the road. Vines crept and draped, hanging so low they brushed the top of the car.

  We’d found our way inside a shaggy beast’s belly.

  As if by magic, the steel gates creaked open; the grinding, rushing sound raking down my spine and making me lean forward, almost afraid to find out what might come next.

  The sound must’ve scared Mom, too, because she stumbled backward. Then her hands clenched and her back ramrodded. Nodding, she hurried back to the car and slipped into the driver’s seat. She ground the starter and the engine fired. Again, without saying anything, she drove through the gate and it thudded closed behind us.

  My mouth drier than a desert, I shrunk into my seat, too frightened to beg Mom for more information.

  As she took the vehicle up a long, paved drive, I leaned against the vinyl door and stared out the window at the blur of woods we passed. The forest gave way to sunshine and an enormous lawn with flower beds, benches, and paths weaving through clusters of trees. Just beyond the lawn, a series of connected, tall stone buildings with turrets and towers and even what looked like a broad moat waited. The Academy had been constructed of cinder-gray stone that looked cold enough to freeze my fingers if I touched it.

  Mom shut the car off in front of a steep, granite staircase that reached toward a platform extending over the moat. The platform ended at two matching, tall wooden doors with a silver knocker shaped like the head of a dragon.

  After releasing a whoosh of air, Mom turned to peer back at me. “You know I don’t want to do this.”

  She hadn’t told me what this was yet, but I didn’t like it. Not one bit.

  “Are we…” I shook off the quakes pinching my bones. “Why are we here?”

  “Get out.” Mom thrust open her door again, and we both soon stood outside on the hot pavement. The heat of the sun made sweat slither down my back.

  One of the huge doors opened, and an old man strode out. To greet us or to send us away?

  He wore a robe. Whenever I got out of the shower, I put on my pink slippers and matching fluffy robe. This man’s robe was black, and it had a shooting star and a dragon head on the right pocket. His graying hair gave way to a long, silver-flecked beard that hung partway down his chest. His pointy nose arched over his thin lips. And his wrinkly face contrasted with sharp, deep green eyes centered beneath bushy eyebrows.

  He took the stairs quickly for an old guy and joine
d us on the drive.

  “Someone at the hospital said I could bring her here,” Mom said before he could open his mouth.

  Leaning sideways, his emerald gaze pinned me in place behind her.

  Cringing, my eyes flitted away from his, and I shuffled my sneakers, wishing I could sink deep beneath the ground.

  “I see,” he finally said.

  What did he see? Probably a scared kid who had no clue what might happen next.

  “You need to take her. I…can’t.” Anguish bled into Mom’s words. Reaching back, she snagged my arm and dragged me forward, thrusting me in front of her. Exposing me in front of her. I tried to huddle against her to steal comfort, but she shoved me away as if I’d been dipped in poison. She gripped my arms tight enough to make me wince and nudged me closer to the man.

  When my sneaker snagged on something, he caught me before I fell.

  Reeling away from him—a complete stranger—I strained to reach my mother, but he held me back. “Mom! What’s going on?”

  Sadness flickered in her lavender eyes that were just like my own, but the sadness was quickly replaced with steely resolve.

  “She…” Mom shook her head, and her shoulders slumped as if she’d given up on something. Me? “I could ignore the odd things that went on during preschool, the way she made impossible stuff happen—”

  A jolt went through the man at the word preschool, but he continued to grip my arms, saying nothing.

  Mom’s hands trembled. “But that boy? There’s no way I can reconcile what she did in my mind. It’s…wrong.”

  Was she leaving me here with someone I didn’t know? I drooped against the man, and he cupped my shoulders in his wizened hands. What was Mom doing? She couldn’t be…This wasn’t…