Fae could make a binding contract, but this obviously was not one. There were no contract details. Just a simple note at the top saying what the sign up sheet was for. And there were more than ten names. Unless Brakket Academy had some home-school advantage and could field a lot more students than the other schools, some of these people wouldn’t be chosen to participate.
Demons could also form a contract, but their contracts weren’t written ones. If a demon wrote down the terms of their contract, it was more to get a full look at what was being agreed upon before actually committing.
“Happy now?” Eva said, dropping her pen. “If this contest is tedious, I’ll skip it. Find a way to force me to and I’ll deliberately sabotage our school.”
“Don’t worry,” Anderson said, smiling as he took the paper back, “I’m sure you’ll find it both entertaining and enjoyable.”
Preparations
Juliana took in a deep breath of the cool November air and let it back out as a long sigh.
The days were getting colder. Not quite cold enough to need a heavy coat, especially not while the sun was still up, but a light jacket wasn’t cutting it anymore. Winter was coming late this year, but it was still coming.
Soon enough, Juliana would be spending every weekend walking through shoulder-high snow, uphill both ways.
After a brief smirk at her own joke, Juliana sighed again. Just when she had been starting to convince her parents that she didn’t need to come back every weekend, the hunters attacked. It was a wonder that her father even let her out of his sight after that. While slightly more lax in terms of what Juliana should be allowed to do, her mother was just as worried. Even if she didn’t show it on her face.
Which probably had something to do with her near drowning.
She had downplayed it. On her insistence, Eva barely said a word, letting Juliana explain that she hadn’t even come close to drowning. If possible, she wouldn’t have said a word at all. Unfortunately, her cellphone being full of water along with being soaked to the bone was enough to warrant some explanation.
Though she had said that the water never went higher than her waist before stopping completely, that didn’t reassure her mother.
“What if the trap froze solid, you along with it? What if it had been fire? What if it had sucked all the air out of the bubble?” Her mother had gone on with a thousand more what ifs.
As a result, she had been forced to drop her magizoology elective—something she had really only taken in the hopes that it might make her father feel better about… well, everything. Now she was in Eva’s warding class with her mother giving her a crash course every weekend to help her catch up to what she had missed over the first few months.
Which just meant that she wouldn’t be getting out of walking to their house every weekend.
As she walked down the sidewalk, Juliana went over everything that had happened during the week. It would be the first thing her parents asked about.
Really, nothing especially interesting had happened. Something that Juliana would be happy to report. The less excitement, the better. For her parents at least. If she was being honest with herself, she liked a little excitement. Just enough to keep her on her toes.
Going to Hell was a bit much.
Juliana froze. Both her thoughts and her footsteps came to a screeching halt.
The house her parents had purchased was on the outskirts of town. The farthest possible residence in Brakket that could still be considered
And a quiet walk.
Too quiet.
She couldn’t point out anything in particular that made her stop and look around. The houses were few and far between on the edge of the city. Most didn’t have lights on in the early evening darkness, indicating a lack of residents. Untended yards were overgrown, grass and weeds stretched as high as they wanted without fear for a simple mower. Much of the area had long since been overgrown.
Nothing stood out to her. No glowing red eyes watching from the shadows. No leather-coat wearing dolls rushing at her with a sword. Not even another person walking along the street who might be a hunter about to pounce.
Still, the metal coating her body rippled, ready to form into armor at the first sign of danger.
She took a step. Then another step. Slowly, Juliana resumed her walking.
A shift in the wind had her diving to the side, armor flowing up and around her as she jumped through the air. She landed in one of the overgrown lawns, rolling a few times before coming to a stop.
Something hit the ground where she had been standing. She could hear the impact. The sidewalk cracked.
Not wanting to present a still target, Juliana pushed against the earth. Flaring her magic, the earth pushed back. Acting like a kind of spring against her feet, she flew through the air much faster and much farther than she would have ever been able to jump herself.
