On top of the Elderberry tree, Henry stuffed his face with a berrywort berry as Jamie shook her mended hands. “Good thing you packed extra healing bracelets.” She looked up at the sky, littered with millions of stars and three moons, and furrowed her brows.

“Stay here, I’m going to go look for Benny.”

“No, don’t leave me!”

Jamie’s eyes flickered. “Navarda and Fera are here.”

“Who is that?”

“Why the prettiest of all the land,” Fera responded as she sat on Navarda’s shoulder, while Benny levitated in the air beside them. Navarda sat on the edge of the Elderberry tree’s branch in front of Jamie and Henry.

“Jamie! Oh come on Henry, those berries are supposed to be for tomorrow!” Benny shouted.

“Give the boy back.”

“Why don’t you come and get him?” Navarda teased.

Jamie intensely looked at her, "He's not a toy and you know I can't."

“What? Come and get me, Jamie!” Benny demanded, aimlessly kicking his feet around.

Jamie looked at Navarda, her almond eyes met Navarda’s gorgeous, piercing rubies. Her presence is unreal. She’s definitely stronger than Blinka. So this is the power it takes to make a pact with a fairy, Jamie thought.

”Good girl,” she said and threw Benny at Jamie who caught him.

Navarda leaned on her hand and wore a smile as sweet as honey, yet the threat of a sting lingered in the air. Jamie blushed at the sight, the woman looked like a goddess. Am I feeling the effect of a spell or I’m just awestruck by her beauty? What is up with these people? Jamie thought.

“When was the last time you kissed Ames?”

Jamie’s calculating eyes zoned in on Navarda. Don’t show emotion. Stay calm. So she likes him. Best to tiptoe, Jamie thought.

“I barely see him,” Jamie said and intentionally frowned to look confused. Stick to the truth, if she’s monitoring my heartbeat, she might detect it if I’m lying. Although, my heart already feels like it’s going to burst. Her presence is oddly alluring, but frightening at the same time.

Navarda gently closed her eyes, while Fera grinned and watched Jamie like a fox.

“Ames has been busy,” she said and slowly opened her beautiful eyes. “But what to do? He intrigues me.”

She raised her hand, stretched her fingers outward, and observed them. Then she turned to Jamie and held up three fingers. She retracted one finger. “Two more days and Round 1 is over. Do you know if we’ll see him?”

“I was told after Round 1, we get a break before Round 2 starts and the General passes out award money. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the prize money. We’re going to a bathhouse and I’m going to get this dress I’ve been eyeing, plus some new gear.”

Navarda furrowed her brows and looked at Jamie.

“Ha, she’s a talker, maybe that’s his type. Besides shoving your chest against him, you don’t talk much Navarda,” Fera said and laughed.

“Oh, I’m not his type, he’s just taking pity on me. He said so himself,” Jamie quickly added. I have a feeling this girl doesn’t care about anybody else but herself. I’ll only make it out of this alive if she feels like it.

“If you want my brother to like you, obey us! We’re his brothers,” Benny said with Henry by his side.

“Yeah!” Henry mimicked and then licked his fingers, which dripped of berrywort juice.

Navarda held out her index finger and her black raven from earlier, swooped down, and landed on it despite it being massive and four-foot tall. “Is that so? What are you boys doing in the barrier?”

“We snuck in,” Benny said smugly.

“This barrier is old magic.” She grinned. “The invincible type. Even I can’t even break it.” She looked at the boys mischievously. “How did two kids know how to sneak in?”

“My mom says I'm the smartest kid she knows. And we both can read! It was in a grimoire we found,” Benny said.

“With turtle chocolates on it!” Henry added.

“That doesn’t sound suspicious,” Fera remarked.

Navarda grinned. “Ames should be here shortly to retrieve his brothers before whatever that set this trap sprang it any further. However, I need to take my leave, all this moving about has tired me.”

“Don’t forget to give it to them,” Fera reminded Navarda.

Navarda directed the raven on her finger, by glancing over to the boys. The raven flew over and perched next to them. Benny and Henry looked dubiously at the Henry-sized raven.

“That is my animal vessel. Every breath it takes is my breath. Its mana is my mana. In other words, you can say it is me,” she said.

“So?” Benny asked.

“Boy, I’m doing you a favor. It shall protect the two of you. On the verge of its death, I should make it to you before it dies.” She glanced at Jamie. “As for the purebred, you’re on your own. By the looks of it, you were already attacked.”

“Yeah, but thanks for looking after Henry and Benny, that’s nice of you,” Jamie awkwardly said.

Navarda grinned. “You don’t have a shield. If I were you, I'd check the cave by the waterfall. It’s a little ways from here though.”

Fera looked surprised and turned to look at Navarda.

Navarda turned sideways and grinned at a surprised Jamie.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Oh, thank you I-”

Before she could finish, Navarda had already disappeared.

Benny cautiously petted the raven. “What was that about?”

“I’m not sure. How are your mana levels?”

Benny handed her a penguin-berry and grinned.

“Woah, awesome Benny!” Jamie gobbled it down and cued Benny to eat too.

Henry reached for the berry, but Benny slapped his chubby hands. “We don’t have enough and you still have mana, you don’t need a boost.”

“But I’m hungry.”

“Get a bracelet snack.”

Henry opened his sachet and picked out a lime-green bracelet. He unlocked it and the bracelet contorted this way and that until a steaming, golden roasted turkey leg with cranberries embedded throughout remained.

Benny rolled his eyes. “That’s all you packed in one bracelet?”

Jamie laughed. “He’s three, Benny. I still cannot believe you two followed me into the cave.”

She stood up and looked in the direction of the waterfall cave. “There’s a stream that flows toward the cave. We’ll set up camp there early tomorrow morning. I can probably fish something for us to eat. Eating protein in this district will help optimize our mana quality.”

“So how was your fight with the shapeshifter?” Benny asked as Jamie took the water-caterpillars from Henry, to place them on the tree bark. She created a mana net to contain the caterpillars on the tree.

“Rather easy.”

“Did you meet one?”

“Yeah, it was crazy!” Benny said and went on to relay their story. A few minutes passed…

Jamie rushed over to Benny’s side and felt for his ear. It’s gone! He really did sacrifice an ear! Jamie said to herself in disbelief. She embraced him. “Please don’t be so reckless in the future.”

A few hours later, the boys were in deep slumber and Jamie opened her eyes. I need to get the shield before they wake up and get into more trouble. General Ames hasn’t opened the barrier, which either means they can’t or they’re waiting because of something. Something is wrong.

Jamie cast a mana shield over the boys.

“Navarda, the contestants that want to kill me, also, the witches, speaking of, why are they here? How did they get in? Stop it! Focus on the task. I need to get to the waterfall cave.”

Something rubbed Jamie’s boots. Navarda’s raven!

“Go in there. Stay here with the boys, I’ll be back,” Jamie whispered to the raven.

I wonder if it can understand me, Jamie thought but was pleased when the raven walked into the mana barrier she created.

It’s oddly not too dark out, I wonder if it is because of the three moons, she thought to herself as she remembered what Master Edwards had warned, “Whatever you do, do not enter the caves at night.”

“What I could also do is get there and strike early in the morning. Even if the boys wanted to follow, it would take them some time to catch up.”

Jamie held on to the Elderberry tree trunk and looked toward the waterfall cave. I need to make my way there now. Hopefully, nothing attacks me… why are people constantly attacking me? This isn't the first time too.

Jamie started making her way to the waterfall cave and recalled the dragon incident…

----------------------------------------

[ Veinham Estate

Day 16 in Mander]

Jamie felt her heart pounding loudly. For goodness sake, control your breathing, this is only a game, she told herself.

She cautiously peered around the corner of the massive Victorian-style hallway and caught sight of Henry. She immediately withdrew back to her side of the corner. She giggled in silence as she opened a transport portal with her right hand. I’ll transport behind him and tag him! she devised.

A transport portal opened behind Henry who was occupied with eating a peeled and sliced apple piece the size of a small watermelon.

“Tag!” Two voices said at the same time, Jamie with her hand on Henry turned to see Benny had tagged her from behind as well.

“You were too focused on an easy target,” Master Edwards preached. He looked down at his gold watch and appeared impatient.

She looked at him. How does he always get here so fast? She thought.

“You have 10 minutes of free time until lunchtime. Jamie, go on your mana walk and strategize on how you can improve. I want your essay by dinner. Also, I might not make it to lunch, eat without me,” he said and then disappeared once more.

Jamie pouted her lips. Benny smiled, “No one can beat me when it comes to tag and cloning.”

“We know,” Henry said. “I’m going to get more snacks,” he said and walked toward the kitchen.

Jamie looked at cute Henry. He seems to only care about food and nowhere as competitive as his brother, she thought.

Jamie created a mana thread and had it whipping around her head like a propeller. “I have to go.” She turned and walked toward the courtyard, her mana thread whipping slowly.

“Wait!” Benny cried.

Her propeller thread stopped.

“Oh, your thread stopped,” he pointed out.

“Thanks,” Jamie responded and her thread started up again. If mana control isn’t multi-tasking, I don’t know what is. This is not like breathing, at least to me. Why does Master Edwards always draw that parallel?

“Well, what is it, Benny?”

“We found this grimoire, it contained barrier information. Want to look at it? Maybe you can learn more about barrier magic since you’ll be in for the Love Contest?” He held up a green grimoire with intricate gold flower engravings on it.

“No, sorry I don’t have time, I need fighting and defense magic skills. Why don’t you boys take a look and let me know if anything interesting is in it?” Jamie said and waved her hand. “Sorry, got to run. I need to figure out what to write for my essay.”

The enchanting sweet and fruity scents of the roses eased Jamie's mind as she meandered through the small, maze-like pathways in the well-maintained courtyard.

“Sorry, excuse me,” Jamie said as she tiptoed around an old gardener digging small holes for tulip bulbs with his wrinkled, spotted hands. He didn’t look up and continued to take bulbs from his brown sack.

That’s odd, his presence felt different than a normal servant, she thought. Well, what do I know? Focus! Focus!

Jamie’s mana thread stopped spinning due to Jamie being distracted by the old gardener. She let out a loud sigh. Master Edwards’ would have said, “If you can’t control mana threads, you’re as good as dead. Practice it, practice, until it is like breathing!”

She started up her mana thread again, and once more, it spun around and around on top of her head as she kicked a small pebble out of frustration. She watched as the pebble bounced off the garden path and into a side garden.

Up ahead, she saw General Ames, he sat under a small whale-blue tree, named for its tiny whale-like leaves. He was dressed in a white v-neck button-up, and black trousers, his defined chest was wet from sweat. A claymore sword lay beside him, he was reading a grimoire intensely.

Jamie couldn’t help but look at him. She noticed she was blushing and held both hands up to her face, rhythmically slapping her cheeks. Stop it! You need to place in the contest to survive! Master Edwards and General Ames are hunks who only care about the chase and pretty girls. I don’t have time for their games. The next time I see Henry like that, I should cast a mana sensor spell to see if Benny is around. Jamie turned around and continued brainstorming what little moves she could do the next time they trained. In her focus, she bumped into something soft and sturdy.

She faced a sweaty, well-sculpted chest and looked up to see a pair of beautiful flaming autumn eyes. “General Ames! Sorry! I—wait,” she turned her attention back to the whale-blue tree and saw another General Ames engrossed in his reading. What? Who is in front of me then? Jamie wondered in bewilderment. What's going on?!