Selene pushed her long black braid over her shoulder. “I just think they shouldn’t be able to force you to do something you don’t want to do. And they shouldn’t be able to keep you from doing what you do want to do. Especially if it’s in your nature.”
“Huh?” I said, not understanding her vague generalities. But she didn’t get a chance to explain further as we emerged on the gym floor and were immediately beckoned forward by Coach Fritz.
“Come on, girls.” He waved his clipboard at us. “Hurry up and get out here already.”
I quickened my pace, leery of pissing off Fritz. He still hadn’t gotten over me hitting him with a stumbler curse last semester, never mind the hours of toilet-cleaning detention I’d endured as punishment for it. If I gave him so much as half a reason, I’d end up doing push-ups for the entire class period. Fritz was a fairy with typical fairy vindictiveness. He’d tried making me run laps the first couple of times, but running was one of my hobbies so it wasn’t very effective. Push-ups, however, left me feeling like I’d been dragged around by the arms for an hour by a herd of elephants.
Selene and I sat down with the rest of our classmates, congregated around the coach. Behind him, a giant tentlike structure was stretched across the length of the gym floor. It looked a bit like one of those tunnels people trained dogs to run through in agility competitions. No prizes for guessing who the dogs would be in this scenario. I took one look at the pitch-black, yawning entrance into the thing and shuddered.
“Your goal,” Fritz was explaining, “is to make it through the Gauntlet.”
That’s all? I wondered what would happen if we didn’t make it through.
Fritz slid the clipboard under his arms and put his fisted hands on his waist. “Now before you start complaining, I promise you won’t face anything in there that you’re not equipped to deal with, and there’s nothing that will do you serious harm. Just keep a sharp lookout and react with what comes natural.” Fritz’s eyes shifted to my face. “Most of you shouldn’t have any trouble at all.”
I swallowed and dropped my gaze, pretending to be completely absorbed by the fine cracks in the polished wood floor.
“And you might as well get used to it,” Fritz went on. “The Gauntlet will be a new regular feature in this class. Nothing will be timed or scored for now, but that will change as the semester goes on.”
I groaned inwardly, resisting the urge to roll my eyes, a surefire method of provoking Fritz’s anger.
He blew the whistle. “All right. Get into your safety suits and line up.”
Everybody responded to this command with varying degrees of enthusiasm. I took my time, crossing to the wall where the safety suits hung from pegs. I selected one in my size and pulled it on. It resembled a wet suit, but the material was surprisingly supple and easy to get on, even with the hard, plasticlike shielding on the arms, chest, back, and thigh areas. All too soon I was ready to go.
Lance and Eli were close to the front of the line, the latter wearing a suit for the first time ever with his new wand clutched in his hand. He looked even better than I’d imagined in the snug-fitting getup.
As Eli approached the entrance, Coach Fritz shook his head. “Not this time, Booker.” He eyed the wand with a blatant smirk. “I doubt you’ve got enough juice in that thing to handle the Gauntlet. You can wait out class over there.” He pointed to the benches.
Eli’s body went rigid. Outrage coursed through me. It wasn’t fair. Fritz had no right to deny him the chance to participate. I braced for Eli’s response, expecting him to argue, but he only turned around and replaced his suit on the wall. Then he stalked off toward the benches. But instead of sitting, he raised the wand and started practicing some of the defensive moves we regularly studied in class. Well, at least he would get to do something. Maybe with enough time Fritz would change his mind.
Yeah right, I thought as I took a second look at the coach and saw the smirk still on his face. I turned toward Selene, wanting to complain about Fritz, but I froze when I caught sight of Oliver Cork pulling on his helmet a few feet in front of me.
“Catch you later,” I whispered to Selene, then I darted toward Oliver, falling in place right behind him. I accidently kicked him in the back of the shoe, and he turned around, startled.
“Whoops.” I flashed my cutest smile and pointed at myself with both thumbs. “Clumsy. Did I break your foot or anything?”
Oliver surprised me when he smiled back. Maybe I was getting better at this whole flirty thing. “S’okay. I’m pretty tough.”
I laughed. “Tough like a tree, right?”
The smile vanished from Oliver’s face.
Crap. Open mouth. Insert foot. Swallow.
“Are you making fun of me for being a dryad?” His dark eyes hardened.
My eyebrows shot up my forehead. “What? No way. I think it’s cool. I love trees and nature.”
Oliver scowled. “Whatever.” He started to turn back, but I grabbed his arm. It did feel surprisingly like a tree limb, strong but sort of bendy.
I let go at once. “Wait a sec. I wanted to ask you something.”
He faced me, looking cautious but not hostile. Thank goodness dryads were known to be extremely patient and slow tempered, an effect of the bond they shared with their respective trees. “Yeah?”
“Um.” I bit my lip, wishing I’d planned this out a little better. “I want to know about the Terra Tribe.”