Page 111 of Trivium

“I heard a rumor that they do this every year,” Artie cut in.

“Lennox couldn’t have warned you about this?” Rory scowled at Ahmina, as if it were her fault.

Once again, it was Kumani who was the voice of reason. “He couldn’t have. This is the first year they’ve done this.”

“How do you know?” Artie challenged.

“Because I spent time figuring it out, as all of you should have done. The third years started that rumor to help us. To warn us. You would know that if you paid attention.”

The older students were strictly prohibited from speaking of their past assessment experiences. And this year, everything was intensified. She suddenly wished she had taken the time to ask Lennox in the privacy of her dorm. He would have told her, regardless of the rules.

“The first student to be assessed is…” Adeyemi looked down, checking their paper, sending a hush through the anxious students.

“Loveleena Alva.”

Every first year swiveled to face Loveleena. Ahmina’s stomach dropped for her sister, but honestly, she was grateful it wasn’t her.

“Pray to the Moon Goddess I make it out of there, or I’m coming back to haunt all your asses,” Loveleena said to them before striding up to the ladder.

She faltered, only for a moment, but Ahmina noticed it. She noticed a lot more about her sister now than she had before. And she sensed that Loveleena had a moment of hesitation—a moment of pure survival instinct telling her to turn back. But to her credit, she didn’t. One foot in front of the other, she kept her gaze forward as she made the lengthy climb to the top.

Ahmina prayed that she made it out alive.

They all held their breath as she ascended, the silence making every second feel impossibly long. Finally, once she arrived at the top, she peered down into the chamber, strands of hair fallen from her ponytail whipping in the wind.

“It’s empty!” Her face scrunched in confusion as she yelled down to the crowd below.

The Hydras were gone.

74

ZEINA

Zeina laughed maniacally until her stomach cramped. To anyone watching, she probably looked like she had lost her mind. Maybe she had. She didn’t care. She felt more like herself than ever before.

She let the laughter erupt from her chest in fits—at first, small and childlike, then grand, a burst of power. She felt the forest floor underneath her, the cool ground, the sticky mud, the leaves and branches that poked into the pads of her feet, the rocks that bumped into her toes.

She kept going. Kept running.

Beside her, the Hydra ran too. Launching up into the trees and back down again to meet her stride. Their long necks stretched, wings wide, eyes wild.

They didn’t say anything, at least not in words. But Zeina could feel them. She could feel the elation, the freedom, the joy that pulsed through them and she fed off it, ravenously. She had never truly known what it was like to be satiated until now. She had been starving her whole life, she realized, but not for want of food.

For this.

For freedom.

She followed the Hydra until they were met with a crystal-water lake that opened up in front of them like a gift, and they dove in, sending water spraying in every direction. How long had it been since the Hydra had felt the rush of water between their feathers? Zeina stripped off her clothes until she was completely nude and joined them.

She had never been naked like this, so openly, but it felt obvious, perfect.

She didn’t know how to swim. She didn’t care about that either. She worked her way through the water as far as she could until it reached her neck, and her tippy toes were all that connected her to the silky, slimy bottom.

Then she watched as about a dozen more Hydras flew in, joining them, all squawking in delight. The reunion brought tears to her eyes and she let them fall, not bothering to wipe them away.

They were free.

She was free.