Chapter 97
Ellie POV
The forest doesn’t feel quiet when you’re waiting in it.
It hums.
Branches creak overhead, rubbing together like soft bones. Somewhere far off, water moves, too distant to reach, close enough to mock. We were sent out with no supplies. Not surprising, this wasn’t meant to be camping.
Still, a water bottle would be nice.
My breath fogs in front of my face as I stand with my back pressed to a pine, eyes fixed on the narrow gap where my team should
appear.
It had been awhile.
They’re late.
Not catastrophically, but enough that worry starts tightening around my ribs.
I listen harder.
Footsteps. Voices. Anything.
Then the trees burst apart and they stumble through, soaked to the knees, caked in mud, hair plastered to their faces, coughing
and swearing all at once.
Relief hits so hard as I rush toward them.
“Gods,” I breathe. “You made it.”
Tamsin sends a hand to my shoulder without ceremony. “River nearly took us out,” he pants. “Current’s worse than it looks. Also, Karina says, wringing water from his sleeve, “don’t screw this up.”
((
I roll my eyes. “Right, is that the message?”
“No,” He takes a deep breath. “This is: The Lake to the south is under attack. Take half the army to the north barricks and hall to the southern strong point. Queen LippenVolt sends her regauards for the valant.”
My brow lifts.
“Are we roleplaying?” I say, already tucking my shirt into my belt. “Why is so long? Who is Queen LippenVolt?”
Tamsin’s arms shoot out. “I don’t know! It’s a mock battle plan!” H’s mouth twists. “Just hurry up! Your wasting time! You don’t have your stupid Alphas outhere to protect you so do it right.”
“What?!” I shoot a look, flipping up my hood. “Why woul you” I stop my snap, and harden. “I can handle it.
Then I take off.
At first, my stride is strong, enough that my breath comes easier as I run, boots striking packed earth is a sésady i fajektavi
If I kept this pace, we’d make good time. We could win this
I was jogging for awhile, almost on autopilot The trees blurring, the ground and fermo esilina
Then the forest shifts
The path curves in a way that makes my stomach drops
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Too familiar.
I slow a bit, dread crawling up my spine as recognition settles in–the bend of the trail, the clustered roots, the wild blue berries
to my right.
It’s the same path.
The one I fell through.
I don’t know exactly where it is, but I know I’m close.
My gaze snaps ahead to a narrow fork.
The right path is worn smooth. Back to the camp the easy way, and where I fell.
The left is harsher. Steeper. Broken with loose stone and narrow ledges.
I turn left.
The forest thickens fast, daylight thinning as the canopy closes overhead as the ground becomes ground stone. The trail steepens, dissolving into little more than a suggestion.
I stumble as I hurry. Rocks shift. Roots twist as I wobble at the top of a steep cliff side. My pulse hammers, senses stretched tight.
Okay. So far, so good. All I need now-
My foot slips.
A pop of my ankle and I’m sideways.
Time stalls for a single, slicing second.
Then, sharp stone rushes up to meet me.
I hit hard and fast, gasping as my cheek sliced over on a rock. I roll, more like bounce down the stone bed, each hit whiplashing
my breath.
Branches tear at me, shredding fabric. My shoulder slams into stone. My head cracks against something solid and bright pain bursts behind my eyes. I try to grab for anything-anything–but there’s nothing to catch but loose stones.
Then my body flies up. Weightless.
My nearly scream realizing I’m going over an edge. My glove scrapping.
But I’m throw right over.
Everything is weightless, dark.
Until I hit
The impact steals the air from my lungs in a violent rush, a sound tearing out of me that doesist teel hutian Parsi de tutash up my leg like white-hot iron to the skin.
Something in my ankle gives with a sound I feel more than hear
I scream, trying to force my lost breath back, gasping for anything
I try to sit up. Do anything
I’m not sure hwo long i lay there, gasping, until my lung finally manage to show i bez pat
The dark cliff above me slowly coming into ficus, lungo tang vandag uk AG PRO
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and the frantic need to breathe.
In.
Out.
Slow.
Panic flares hot and wild.
But Clarity eventually settles in.
I clamp my jaw shut and force myself to move.
My leg screams in protest when I try to shift. I grit my teeth so hard my jaw aches, eyes stinging as I look down and see the wrongness immediately—the angle, the swelling, the way my ankle doesn’t sit where it should.
At least…that seemed to be the only thing broken.
“Okay,” I whisper hoarsely. “Okay.”
I brace my hands on the ground, fingers digging into dirt and stone, and grab my leg.
The pain is blinding.
I yank.
The joint slides back into place with a wet, nauseating pop, and a choked sound tears out of me before I can stop it. My vision goes black at the edges, stars bursting behind my eyes.
I gasp, shaking, sweat slicking my skin despite the cold.
It hurts.
Gods, it hurts.
Hands trembling, I tear strips from my jacket, teeth ripping fabric as I gather two sturdy sticks from the ground. I splint the ankle as tightly as I can manage, fingers clumsy, movements jerky with pain and shock.
When I finish, I slump back against the rock, breath coming in ragged pulls.
I test my ankle with a tap of my heel.
Agony lances up my leg.
“Good enough,” I whisper.
Give a few minutes, I told myself, and I could move. I could make it back —
A horn echoes in the distance and I feel my moral get weaker, the cold of dusk starting to bite
Someone had won.
But I had wondered so far off the path, I had no clue if I could even find my way out
Or anyone could find me
Vivian POV
I came running through the clearing, curls bouncing, suuling woke
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I knew we would win, and I did it all while looking amazing doing it.
“Vivian!” Dominic grinned seeing me as a horn from one of the instructors had signaled our win.
I flew right into his waiting arms as he lifted me up with a spin. Bodies crowded us cheering in a massive jumping pit.
Dominic set me to my feet, his hand moving to my curls, ruffling them. “Nice work, kid!” He grinned.
Kid? My brow twitched. That was knew. Sure, I was the little sister, but he’d never…done that.
“It was all thanks to you!” I put a hand on his arm. “Your so strong you set us up to win!”
Dominic, glanced down at me with a nod. “Everyone worked hard. We-”
“Dominic!” Marcus blasting into Dom full speed as they cheered. “We did it! Ha!” The pit of people jumping over eachother
wildly.
I slithered back from the crowd, thanking everyone as they congratulated me until I was out of it.
I fixed my hair, glancing back from the crowds.
Karina was standing near the supply crates, arms folded, gaze fixed toward the forest. She notices me immediately.
I approach her with a toss of my hair and lean in, voice gentle. “She’s not back yet, huh?”
Karina’s lips curl. “Yeah. Hopefully she’s down the hole. She deserves it.”
I tilted my head, “Worth your team losing?”
“So worth it,” Karina continues, lowering her voice. “We were never gonna win anyways.”
I tilt my head sympathetically. “You made the right call, she deserved it after trying to get you expelled. This was a good plan too! You didn’t tell me you were so smart!”
She grinned my way. “Thanks, but it couldn’t of happened without you.”
I know. Duh.
Ugh, what an idiot.
After everything-after the midterms mess, after the way Ellie humiliated her without even trying-Karina still thinks she and are on the same side. Still thinks we’re friends.
“I’m sure it worked,” I murmur softly with a hum. “She couldn’t have missed it. The path was so… obvious.”
Karina’s eyes gleam. “We built it carefully, covered it well. Hopefully she is out there all night. We just need to keep quiet, dost draw attention.”
My mouth curves into something sweet and approving
This girl is dumb as rock.
I lied straight to her face, even told her off after the midterm test, then turned around and said was the Q this most lancia, to stay at the academy and not Ellie
In the name of true friendship or whatever
She believes I’m the good one
People like Karina always do
I glance back toward camp, keeping my postate gwn, relaxed, hasileva Debut in le
his shoulders as instructors congratulate him, handing our team a trophy.
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He waves me over but I shakes my hand, ushering him to continuing celebrating with a smile. They pop drinks, cheering
Best for me to stay away from ow. He doesn’t need to be reminder of me. Which, reminds him of Ellie. Who we need to stay out
of mind.
Still…I hate that my face is even linked to hers. We were barely sisters.
A few hours pass without a hitch.
Then, it’s low murmurs as fewer teams are left. Side glances. Someone points subtly toward the woods. More teams return —
muddy, exhausted, victorious or not-but all accounted for.
All except one.
I can feel the shift ripple through the crowd when people notice.
Marcus frowns. Jake opens his mouth, then shuts it again as they drink. I can practically see them itching to say something to
Dominic.
But they know better after there little prank on him and Ellie. Yeah, I knew about that.
Then, a little rat speaks up loud.
“Where is she?” Sarah’s voice cuts through the camp, sharp and cracking. “She should’ve been back by now,” she snaps, already moving toward one of the instructors. “Everyone else is here. It’s been too long!”
My hand hits my face as Karina growls uder her breath. “Shit. Forgot about that one.”
Of course you did.
The murmurs swell.
Heads turn.
Eyes drift toward the forest line.
“She?” Someone murmurs.
“Oh right, that Ellie chick.”
That’s when Dominic’s attention snaps from the drink, right toward the woods.
I clench my fingers inside my gloves.
There’s no way he’ll go after her. It was against the rules.
By any luck at all, Ellie is already at the bottom of that pit — dead.
Okay, maybe not dead.
But it wouldn’t be the worst.
Especially is I can convince him to stay
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