Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning
The Reckoning: Chapter 27

WE STOOD IN THE caves where we had our Earth Elemental lessons with the rest of the freshmen while we waited for the final trial to begin.

This one was different than the others. The stands were outside the caves and we were alone down here while Professor Rockford and the other assessors stood waiting to start the trial.

I stepped from foot to foot as nervous energy ticked through me. This was it, the final trial.

“When we make it through The Reckoning we need a night out,” I said to Darcy as we waited for the last of the students to arrive.

“Hell yes. Dancing and drinking and no Heirs. We should go to Tucana again, or maybe somewhere even further away.”

“We could get out of the Academy for a whole weekend?” I suggested with a grin. “Hit up our stipend for a five star stay in some fancy hotel and a night drinking champagne.”

“Yes please,” Darcy said enthusiastically.

We were both going to the Fairy Fair tonight but it wouldn’t really be the same kind of celebration as we could have after The Reckoning. Besides, Darcy was going with Diego and Caleb had sent me message after message until I’d finally agreed to let him take me. It wasn’t a date though. I was seventy eight percent certain of that. More like a chance to hook up somewhere new. I guessed I’d replace out tonight either way.

“The aim of this task is simple,” Rockford called in her small voice and I turned my attention her way. “Escape the caves before the time runs out. There are various routes through them and you need to replace one that leads above ground…and make sure you don’t get eaten.”

“Eaten?” I asked, in confusion. “What do you-”

A klaxon sounded and the students all raced forward as one. I caught Darcy’s eye and we started running too, caught up in the flood of bodies.

The tunnel curved downhill ahead of us before forking in two directions. The freshmen parted like a tide crashing against a rock, half going each way. We ran left, not really making the choice beyond the fact that we were already to that side of the crowd.

The tunnel curved before splitting again and again, the students around us spilling in different directions while we made snap decisions and hoped for the best.

The further we went, the darker it got. Faeworms and precious metals glimmered on the black walls but it was hard to make out much else.

“How are we supposed to replace a way out of here when every tunnel leads down?” Darcy hissed and I chewed my lip, unsure how to answer her. She was right, but how long could that go on for? Surely they’d head up again eventually? What the hell kind of challenge would this be if it was impossible?

“Hold on,” I said, catching her arm and pulling her to a halt. “Maybe we should try to be smarter about this. Surely we have to use earth magic to escape this place, it can’t just be about running blind.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Darcy looked around as the rest of the students left us behind and reached out for the cave wall.

She closed her eyes as she concentrated and I looked around, seeing if I could spot anything that might help.

A faint tremor ran through the ground at my feet and I shifted to keep my balance.

“I think we should go right,” Darcy murmured, her voice heavy as she concentrated on the feeling of her earth magic.

I opened my mouth to respond just as a guttural roar sounded somewhere in the caves behind us, sending a shiver of fear racing up my spine.

Darcy’s eyes snapped open and she looked at me, her gaze filled with the same terror that sound had woken in me.

“What was that?” I breathed.

Darcy shook her head, no words coming out.

The roar came again and I stumbled towards her. “Right?” I confirmed, looking at the narrow passage which led that way. It was darker than the others, narrower too. On looks I wouldn’t have picked it but maybe that was a good thing. We should be trusting our magic, nothing else.

“Yeah,” Darcy agreed.

We ran for it together and the darkness pressed close as the cavern swallowed us. Up ahead an orange glow seemed to flicker just out of sight, giving just enough light to let me see the walls which pressed in on either side of us.

After a few feet, the passage narrowed too much for us to jog side by side and Darcy slipped ahead of me. We kept going, our panting breaths echoing against the cold rocks as the passage slowly started to curve up hill.

“You were right!” I said encouragingly as we upped our pace a little more.

I reached out to brush my hands over the walls either side of me as I ran and that deep roar sounded behind us again.

“Shit, you don’t think she meant that part about us getting eaten, do you?” Darcy begged, looking behind her as she kept running.

“No,” I breathed, though it sounded a hell of a lot like a yes somehow.

We tumbled around a corner into a wide chamber with a low fire burning at the centre of it, causing the orange glow.

We staggered towards the flames and my heart pounded as I looked around at the chamber we’d emerged in. Seven other passages led out of here, but it was impossible to say which we should follow to get back to the surface.

The growl came again, so close that the earth beneath our feet shuddered with the force of it.

“What the fuck is that?” I gasped.

Darcy was shaking her head, backing up closer to the fire.

I looked between the passages at a total loss.

“We need to feel the way on again,” she said, dropping to her knees.

“Okay,” I agreed, though I wasn’t entirely sure what she meant.

I dropped down too, closing my eyes as I pressed my palms to the dirt beneath us.

I pushed my awareness away from myself, searching with my earth magic for a connection to the rock and soil surrounding us. For a moment it was overwhelming, so much of it pressed in on us from every direction, above, below, to each side but suddenly my attention caught on the space we were in instead.

I felt the fissure in the soil, the divide which ran through it like veins in a body.

The other tunnels branched away from this space and I could push my awareness towards them too, feeling them out as I tried to figure out where they went.

“I’ll start on the right, you start on the left,” Darcy directed and I quickly agreed.

I dug my fingers into the soil, pushing my consciousness towards the tunnel to my left and trying to figure out where it led. Up and down didn’t seem to mean anything to what I was feeling but as the tunnel spread away from us I could feel the rock around it growing thicker, colder, wetter.

That had to mean it went down. I shook my head and drew back to where we were, exploring the next tunnel with my magic instead.

I pushed my awareness into the dark space, but felt it end abruptly in a sharp blockade. There was no opening beyond that, it was a dead end.

“Not the two on the far right,” Darcy breathed as she continued her search.

“Must be one of the middle ones,” I agreed.

I began to spread my magic out again but just as I did, a huge tremor rattled through the ground beneath me.

I cried out as I pitched forward, the soil and rocks splitting behind me like they were nothing more than soft butter being carved by a knife.

My eyes snapped open and I spun around, the ground bucking beneath me and throwing me back into Darcy just as an enormous roar filled the cavern, rattling off the rock walls and drawing a scream of terror from my lips.

My eyes widened as a huge creature burst from the soil beyond my feet.

It was like a cross between a giant worm and goddamn dragon. Its huge mouth was lined with rows of razor sharp teeth and blind eyes cast about hungrily as it swung its pale head left and right.

“Holy shit,” I gasped and its head whipped towards me instantly.

I screamed as it lunged for me, throwing my hands up in panic and casting a huge wave of earth power from my palms on instinct. A wall of rock shot up out of the ground between us and the creature seconds before it could reach us. The sound of crumbling stone rang out as it collided with the wall I’d made and my eyes widened in horror as a crack tore right through the centre of it.

Darcy’s hands locked around my arm as she heaved me up. I snapped out of my momentary panic and scrambled after her as she raced across the cave towards the three central tunnels. We hadn’t had time to figure out which one we should take and as the sound of breaking stone followed us, we had to take a leap of faith.

Darcy shot into the left tunnel and I was right on her heels as we sprinted into the dark.

The roar came again and the ground at our feet shuddered and trembled as the creature gave chase through the labyrinth of stone.

I had no idea if it was using the tunnel to pursue us or if it might burst from the dirt at our feet at any moment.

We ran and ran, adrenaline coursing through my veins as I pushed my body to its limit and we slowly seemed to put a little distance between us and the hell creature which was hunting us.

The ground was rising slightly beneath us as we went and my heart soared with the idea of us making it to the surface.

“A little further,” I panted, refusing to back off the relentless pace while pressing my hand to Darcy’s shoulder, making sure I didn’t lose her in the darkness.

“We must be close,” she panted back as the incline increased sharply and hope strummed a beat in my chest.

The ground still shook, roars chasing us as we climbed up and up, the promise of fresh air and freedom calling my name as our footsteps pounded through the echoing tunnel.

We were nearly there, just another few steps. I was sure that I could hear the sound of the crowd cheering somewhere close by.

My face collided with Darcy’s back and I cried out as I slammed down onto my ass in the dirt.

“There’s no more tunnel!” Darcy shrieked in panic and my heart skipped a beat as another roar sounded behind us in the dark.

“There has to be!” I protested, crawling forward on my hands and knees as I swept my hands over a wall of soil which blocked the way on.

The creature growled behind us and the walls trembled again.

I pressed my magic out from me, hunting for some way forward, refusing to believe we’d taken the wrong turning. My heart sank as I found nothing but packed dirt all around us, boxing us in, burying us alive, the perfect prey for the creature which drew closer at every moment.

“It’s not deep!” Darcy yelled suddenly. “We have to dig our way out. We’re only a few meters below the surface!”

I gasped as I realised she was right, the weight of the soil before us was so much less than it had been, we were almost there, nearly free.

“Then let’s dig!” I agreed forcefully, throwing myself forward and clawing lumps of soil aside.

Darcy was right beside me and with the help of our magic we burrowed into the wall blocking our way out. I lost her in the dark as I scrambled into a tunnel where the soil fell down all around me, covering me, choking me, suffocating me…

I kept going, digging and digging towards that promise of freedom which was so damn close I could taste it.

The weight of the soil pressed down, the roar of the creature drew close and with a final surge of my earth magic, my hands finally broke the surface.

I grunted with effort as I dug myself out of the ground and suddenly a hand closed around mine. Darcy was dragging me out.

Fresh air surrounded me and I couldn’t help the sob that tore from my throat as I gulped it down hungrily.

I shook on my knees, looking up as the cheers of the crowd flooded in on me.

A large group of students were already assembled beside Professor Rockford and the giant timer was ticking down the final minute.

But it didn’t matter that we’d come last. We’d made it.

I was covered from head to toe in dirt. Every inch of my body shook with fear and fatigue. But we’d done it. We’d passed the final trial. And no one could say we hadn’t earned our placed in this damn school now.

We’d made it through every trial.

And we were here to stay.