Page 76 of Fae Trials

“No.” I stepped back and buttoned my shirt.

The centaur squeezed his eyes shut, took several more deep breaths, and rasped, “Get on.”

“Thanks.” I grabbed onto his bicep, climbed onto his saddle, and pressed my chest against his upper back. “Go as fast as you can.”

With a nod, Coltrane broke into a rapid gallop. The wind roared in my ears and battered my wings so hard, they trailed behind my back for protection. I wrapped my arms around the centaur’s chest, feeling his steady heartbeat.

Behind me, the four specs on the horizon took shape, each looking alarmingly like faeries. I turned back, pressing myself hard against Coltrane, and shouted, “Faster!”

Coltrane sped uphill with me shouting in his ear. I almost felt bad for working the poor centaur so hard, but I remembered how he had tried to take advantage of my desperation to find Sicily on the night she got taken.

A cold wind swept above my head. I turned once more to find Lady Gala in the lead, trailing white smoke from her wings. I gulped. At this rate, she would overtake me. Lady Aster flew several feet behind her with the other two in the distance.

I kept my head down, hoping they wouldn’t attack from above. If they had sped up, it meant that they had recognized I was in the lead. Clods of earth flew from Coltrane’s feet, some hitting me on the legs. My breath came in shallow pants.

As we approached the pond surrounded by weeping willows, he shouted, “Where to?”

“Through the garlic field!”

“Right-ho,” he said with a happy whinny.

I tilted my head to see if the girls had caught up, but the canopy of garlic flowers was so thick, it was hard to see the sky. Moments later, we emerged from our cover and entered the field of chamomile.

Something cold and hard hit me on the back of my head and shattered into pieces of ice. “Ouch!”

“What’s going on?” Coltrane shouted.

“Naughty schoolgirls playing pranks,” I said. “Show them how well a centaur can dodge.”

Something else landed in front of us and exploded into a mass of earth, burnt herbs, and flames. Coltrane reared back with a horsey scream. “Fireballs?”

I clung onto his back, my stomach lurching from the sudden movement. “Keep going!”

“Bugger this.” He knelt to the chamomile and pulled my arms off his chest. “No tit-flash is worth getting embroiled in a blood feud.”

I landed on the spongy ground with a thud. “You can’t leave me here.”

“Next time a hard-working centaur asks to suck your nips, say yes!”

Just as another fireball exploded three feet away, Coltrane pulled himself upright and galloped into the garlic field.

A ball of ice hit me between the wings, laying me out flat. Strangely, the cold numbed any pain, and I placed my hands on the charred earth and pushed myself up onto shaky legs.

“You bloody halfling,” Lady Gala screeched from up high, looking like a murderous snowflake. “Stand still and die.”

I sprinted through the chamomile field, dodging left and right as frozen and fire-based missiles rained down on me like it was the end of the world. A rope of fire lashed across my back, making me cry out, but I continued running. Whatever they did to me here wouldn’t be as bad as the penalty they’d planned if I came last.

The stone garden stood at the end of the field, and I picked up my pace. My chest burned with its need for air, and my thighs burned with their need for rest. I was weaker as a hybrid faerie than I had been when I was human, but my will was stronger than anything these flying wenches could hurl.

Cheers traveled across the air. With all that noise, they had attracted the students’ attention. I balled my fists for a last dash, but my foot tripped on something slippery, and I stumbled forward.

“Got you!” shouted Lady Aster.

Something fiery flew past my ear, filling my nostrils with the scent of burnt hair. It landed on a statue and exploded into sparks.

I ducked to the side and rushed behind the statue of the one-eyed ogre, hoping him and those huge bat-wings would provide cover. An explosion boomed overhead, raining sparks everywhere.

“Stop,” boomed a voice from above.