Chapter 104

KATHERINE.

The sun was shining brightly on the day of the horse trials cross country event and the crowd was a sea of color and noise with students of each school wearing their school colors proudly. The atmosphere was alive with excitement since Dumein had just finished and Blackwood was up next, and we all glanced to the start of the course when the announcer began to speak, “And now, representing Blackwood University, we have Hunter Helton of Blue Blood pack on his horse, Midnight.”

Hunter was dressed in sleek riding outfits, with tall boots and a helmet glinting in the sunlight, and the volume at which girls cheered at his appearance reminded me that he was one of the most popular boys in school.

“Hunter, I’ll kill you if you fail me. Keep that in mind,” Priyanka said loudly, drawing his attention, and I let out a laugh while he gave her a salute. He looked better than the last time I saw him and I was glad for that because I did not want him falling off his horse due to exhaustion.

“How about a ‘Hunter, you can do it’?” I asked and she raised a brow at me.

“There’s no reason for me to say that. He wouldn’t be out there if he couldn’t do it, would he?” she asked and I hmmed because she wasn’t actually wrong, but that didn’t stop me from saying what I said next.

“Hunter, you can do it.”

“Lame,” Priyanka droned while Hunter flashed me a smile. The next moment, girls began to chant ‘Hunter, you can do it’ across the field and the look on Priyanka’s face made me laugh just as someone came up behind us.

“Hello there,” they said just as I turned around to see Blake and my brows snapped together while Priyanka smacked his shoulder. “Ow.”

“Took you long enough. I was starting to think you wouldn’t come.”

“I missed the bus. I had to walk all the way out here.”

“Serves you right, oathbreaker.”

The surprised look on his face was almost comical, and I’d laugh if I wasn’t so annoyed with him. He was standing right in front of me and he hadn't even glanced in my direction. He was infuriating. He could just tell me he didn't want to be my mate, but he was choosing to go the extra mile. It wasn't like I was the one who told the moon goddess to make us mates. “It’s not that serious, Pri,” he said before she sneered at him and tsked.

“I’m not the one you have to tell that to,” she replied and a pained expression instantly crossed his face before he rubbed his forehead.

“Shit…” His gaze slid to me and a small smile crept onto his face as if he just realized I was standing here. “What’s up?” he said and I frowned at him before looking away just as the sound of the starter’s pistol exploded through the air, sending a ripple of excitement through the crowd.

Hunter’s horse burst from the start box, thundering across the field with him clinging tightly to the reins, and I clasped my hands as he rode past us. When he was quite a distance away from us, I glanced over my shoulder to see if Blake was still there, but he wasn't, and I grew even more annoyed at him. I returned my attention to the course and a little while later, I spotted Blake standing with Josie, Lenore, and Theo down the field.

“Your match is in two days,” Priyanka said and I glanced at her before letting out a harsh breath.

“Unfortunately.”

“Are you prepared?”

I wasn’t in the slightest. During practice, I’d mostly been focused on protecting myself from elementalists instead of protecting my flag, so I always lost my flag. Thankfully, I was never among the five people to be out, but the fact that I’d never been among those who won was still horrible. “To steal people's flags? No. To hide till the end of the match? Yes,” I answered and the corner of her mouth turned up, but it wasn’t in amusement.

“Nice plan, but you won't be able to hide till the end of the match.”

“I know.” With the locations changing every couple of minutes, I'd be lucky to last ten minutes in the game, and I couldn’t even plan my course of action based on the order the locations changed in because that order was changed every time. The club’s supervisor had told us it was going to be like that during the competition and though I still thought it was going to be fun, I wasn’t looking forward to it because elementalists would be using the elements. I’d complained about how elements were being used during practice, but that had just been practice; for the competition, the other schools would be out for blood according to Ethan. Hopefully not literally though.

“So what’s your plan?” she asked and I shrugged because I didn’t have a plan.

“To try to not get hit in the face at least.”

“You should try to stick with either Ethan or Blake,” she said and the corner of my mouth twitched at the mention of Blake. “Especially Blake. He’s pretty good at it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

She fixed me a look. “I’ll kill you if you fail me. Keep that in mind.”

“How about a ‘Katherine, you can do it’?” I replied with a smile and she gave me a blank stare.

“...Yay, Katherine you can do it,” she said monotonously while unenthusiastically shaking her hands in the air and I laughed as I shoved her.

“You suck. “Your brother isn’t in the scavenger hunt or equestrian club though, so why are you threatening us?” Her brother, Yash, was in Dumein’s swim team and the swimming competition wasn’t till Saturday.

“I want his school to leave weeping,” she answered with a wide smile on her face and I slowly shook my head sideways.

“Geez,” I muttered before realizing that I hadn’t even met him yet. “Is he here right now?” I added and she nodded.

“He was standing with Theo a moment ago.”

At that, I glanced at where Theo had been once more, but instead of him and Priyanka’s brother, I saw Blake lowering himself to the ground so Lenore could get on his shoulders and gritted my teeth. ‘Is he for real? He rarely texts me back or answers my calls, delaying the talk we’re supposed to have, but he has time to flirt?’ I kept my eyes on them for several moments before focusing my attention on the huge screen that showed Hunter going through the course.

****

The scavenger hunt competition between Blackwood and Staerdale was starting in ten minutes and anxiety was sliding through my veins like a drug. I’d run the different locations the arena was going to be changing to through my mind several times and kept reminding myself of the places I could hide. Not all locations had a place to hide since they were an open place, so I was going to have to move fast in them and it felt like my legs were vibrating at the thought. It would really suck if our school ended up losing because of me.

I was currently in the changing room with my teammates, and I was packing my hair into a bun because having long hair flowing freely or in a ponytail would be a disadvantage. I was speaking from experience.

We were all wearing shirts and shorts that had the colors of our school – silver and purple. The flags at our waist were also in the colors of Blackwood, and we’d been given a walkie-talkie, a backpack that had all the items we would need for the scavenger hunt, as well as maps of the areas we would be exploring. The moment I was done with my hair, I saw the door to the changing room open through the mirror and it revealed Blake on the other side in his uniform.

People cheered as he walked into the room because Blackwood had won the soccer match against Dumein yesterday, and he had scored two of the goals. Yes, I’d gone to watch even though I was annoyed with him, and it hadn’t been like when I watched them practice. It was wild, and by wild, I meant the use of elements was allowed in the match. Nothing too serious that could cause bodily harm though, and I wondered if the horse trials was the only ‘normal’ competition that’d be taking place.

“You guys better follow the example Blake set yesterday,” Ethan said while clapping Blake on the shoulder. “I won’t tolerate any loser behavior on the field,” he added just before the door opened and our club’s supervisor signaled for us to come out. I sucked in a breath.

‘Okay, this is it.’ We all made our way out of the changing room and I found myself wishing Priyanka was participating in the match because I didn’t want to stick with Blake. I had asked Ethan if I could stick with him yesterday even though he moved faster than I did, and he had kindly told me that even though our school had to work as a team to win, he’d have to deny my request because he didn’t want me to drag him down. It had been rather funny when he said it, so I wasn’t offended.

As we made our way to the starting line, we were given a list of items that we would need to find during the competition while also protecting our flags. The walkie-talkies with us were to communicate with our team – to let them know if we’d found something on the list, warn them about members of the other team, tell them if our flag had been stolen, and so on. Cheers filled the arena when all the schools got to their starting lines and just before the arena shifted, I spotted a familiar face grinning at me from the Staerdale’s starting line. Noah Dawson.

My brows snapped together. ‘What the heck? What’s he doing here? …I mean, I know he’s a student of Staerdale and the fact that he was in uniform meant he was in his school’s scavenger hunt team, but still…’ I hadn’t run into his sister in a while, but now that I’d spotted him, the last thing she said to me about accidents happening in Blackwood more often than not came to mind. ‘Oh, hell.’

“Move, Roxley!” Ethan yelled, snapping me out of it. I glanced around to see that we were in a dungeon and I was the only one in the hallway right now before I cursed under my breath. I hated this location.

I glanced down at my list to see the things I needed to find in this location – a sword’s hilt, a length of chain, and a bunch of keys. I easily found the first and last item within minutes, and when I found the second item, the chain rattled as I pulled it up, making me wince.

“Nice to see you here, Katherine,” a voice said, startling me, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Steve walking past me with a sword in his hand and a smile on his face like we were friends. I swallowed and didn’t move to protect my flag because he didn’t seem to be interested in doing that. When he turned around a corner, I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I was even more nervous now. Sure he hadn’t done anything to me, and I should be glad for that, but that was what made me worried.

Steve was crazier than Poppy and Poppy tried to push me down the stairs after she found out that Blue Blood had ended the alliance with her pack. She would have told her brother that she thought I had something to do with it, so why didn’t he do or say something regarding it?