I survived the running part, which was good, but I didn’t get my revenge on that “Bray” guy. I spent the whole rest of the trial in the dome trying to find him, but he must’ve hidden in another hallway. I was also pissed about having to use my magic earlier.

‘I would watch your conduct,’ Xandria said at one point.

‘How you figure?’

‘I am uncertain the Academy approves of using fellow students as shields.’

‘They should’ve added it to the rules, then.’

When the trial ended, we got told there would be another one. This time, we needed to make groups. Everyone ran around to do this, but I needed to catch my breath and calm down, so I went to the edge of the dome and rested. People came over and tried to get me to join, but I stared at them until they went away. In moments between, I watched that girl, the blonde one who’d kicked off a wall. A lot of students wanted her to join their groups, but she blew them off. She was ruthless, making faces like she’d eaten a lime. I kinda respected that.

Then she found and asked me an unexpected question. She wanted us to make a group. I stared at her, unsure if she mistook me for someone else, but then she apologised and said some weird things about me not being able to talk.

‘Go along with it,’ Xandria told me, so I did, mostly because I wasn’t in the mood to chat. The girl introduced herself as Victoria, and not having to talk made me like her more.

When Victoria went to find others for our group, I asked Xandria why she wanted me to stay quiet.

‘Your fellow students don’t trust or conceivably like you much. They seem to think you are coarse, and you are wearing boxing wraps.’

‘They’re for luck,’ I whispered.

‘They make you look aggressive.’

I huffed.

The woman called Naracilla Geisler stared at me again, like she’d done when I’d found out I got accepted to Vandagriff. But, this time she didn’t seem to hate me. She seemed to be faintly curious about what I’d do next. Creepy, I thought.

I jogged to catch up with Victoria. Things went well with her. One after another people joined, until we had nine. Just needed the tenth, and someone volunteered. I’d have been cool with anyone – except him. It was that rat-faced piece of shit who tripped me. Bray. Or, Bravery Sansing, as he introduced himself.

‘Calm yourself,’ Xandria told me. ‘Your heart is beating at an alarming rate.’

‘I’ll calm down when I’ve knocked his teeth out,’ I whispered.

I wouldn’t admit it back then, but I didn’t follow through with a lot of my threats. Anyway, we needed the guy, Bravery Sansing, to form a group of ten. I’d have to wait until after the trial for teeth-knocking-out.

With everyone in their neat little tens, we moved onto the actual trial. Mrs Geisler said we’d go into a maze one group at a time and have thirty-minutes to get through it with teamwork and stuff. We got walkie-talkies, too, but weren’t told why.

Other groups went first.

After groups made it through the maze, glowing numbers appeared over the maze’s entrance. Group One – 15:41. Group Two – 09:03. Group Three – 29:13. The numbers continued to vary, with some speeding through the maze and others cutting close to the limit.

As we waited, someone circled our group and reached my side. They crossed their arms and smiled, but they didn’t look at me. Well, I looked at him. Bray. I made a fist and went so far as to tuck it into my side, aiming for a gut punch, but Xandria’s coldness ran over my knuckles. She didn’t have to say it. Couldn’t beat the shit out of Bray while Academy staff were around.

‘You’re still here,’ he said. I didn’t respond. Victoria stood ahead of me, and I intended to keep up the mute act. ‘Is this the silent treatment, or has a cat gotten your tongue?’

Victoria flashed eyes of fire over her shoulder. ‘Leave her alone.’

‘Communication is key,’ Bray replied, before poking my shoulder. ‘If she’s not willing to help…’

‘Leave her alone,’ Victoria repeated, firmer. ‘She’s mute, not obstinate.’

Bray looked between Victoria and I, before tittering. ‘Fine, Princess Fornax. I apologise.’ He went to leave, but Victoria ordered him to apologise to me, too. It took a moment, but Victoria’s harsh look must’ve convinced him, because he gave a clearly insincere apology to me. Whatever, I’d take it. Bray being forced to apologise made me happier than if he had real remorse.

When around two-thirds of the groups had gone, our group of ten marched to the entrance. Three. Two. One. The doors slid open and we jogged inside.

The early parts of the maze weren’t any different from being a mouse in a lab. Stone walls, hard angles, and a bunch of lefts and rights. No cheese at the end. And after a couple minutes had elapsed, we reached a dead end with a vertical line of glowing gold and two dots to the right of it. Six red arrows, three facing left, three facing right, alternating, were beneath this.

‘Any ideas?’ Victoria asked us.

‘No time for caution,’ Bray said, rushing forward, using both hands to mash the arrows. The gold line shortened, while the adjacent dot stretched vertically upward into a smaller line. Another arrow press. The middle line turned back into a dot, and the rightmost dot stretched into a line.

‘Water puzzle,’ Griggs remarked. ‘Needs balance.’

‘What water?’ Elliot said.

Victoria nudged Bray aside. ‘He’s right. If we imagine the three gold parts are beakers filled with water, the six arrows let us pour from one to the other.’ She demonstrated, moving “water” until there were three gold lines of different length.

A group member chimed in about Victoria’s cleverness, and a couple others parroted with slight variations. I didn’t get it. Did Victoria have a confidence problem? Did she like an entourage who constantly praised her?

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‘The three lines should be the same length,’ Elliot said.

‘Would you like help?’ Xandria whispered to me. I gave a discreet thumbs-up, and made my way to the puzzle.

‘We don’t have time for guesses,’ Bray said, though looked glad I wanted to try.

Xandria gave me instructions, and I pressed the buttons. Each line had a limit to its length, and the buttons couldn’t control the exact amount they changed. It made a line increase to the maximum, while decreasing another line by the same amount. I didn’t think too hard, choosing to do what Xandria instructed.

We’d been in the maze for a couple minutes, and it took me another couple to finish Xandria’s instructions. We’d make excellent time compared to the other groups. I smirked at Bray when the three lines were all the same length. But…nothing happened.

‘Now what?’ Elliot said. ‘It should do something, right?’

‘We’re missing something,’ Victoria said.

Bray cleaned his fingernails. ‘No shit.’

Different members of the group spent a couple minutes each trying the puzzle. Our collective panic didn’t help, and each attempt grew shorter and more frantic.

Xandria circled my waist. ‘Return to the maze,’ she said, and I, a puppet, did as commanded. The group asked where I was going, and for better or worse, Victoria told some of them to go with me.

Half the group went with me back into the maze, including Bray and Griggs. It might’ve been a chance to hurt Bray, but he jogged ahead. No matter. Good if he got lost. The rest of us didn’t wander. Xandria remembered which paths we’d taken, and pretty soon we reached another door with glowing gold lines. Bray waited alongside it with a satisfied grin. ‘Took your time.’

My growing rage boiled against Xandria’s coldness. Had to focus. Griggs, who had one of the walkie-talkies, relayed what we found to Victoria’s half of the group. We experimented with the buttons and found that pressing the ones on our side affected the other side, too. Obviously, we’d need to use the walkie-talkies to coordinate. Again, with Xandria’s help, we somehow balanced the lines on both sides so all were the same length. We heard the other half of the group celebrate over the walkie-talkie. And – nothing happened.

We tried a couple other configurations, but it took longer than hoped, since it would’ve seemed suspicious to have Xandria solve their side as well.

‘Would this help?’ Bray asked, deceit dripping from every word as he unfolded two pieces of paper. ‘Both doors had one.’ The papers gave exact instructions on how the leftmost and middle line needed to be the same length, while the rightmost line needed to be in a minimal configuration.

I snatched the papers from him. ‘What’s wrong with you?’

‘This and that.’

‘Why sabotage us?’ Griggs added, in his heavy monotone voice.

Bray slapped Griggs on the arm. ‘You’re collateral, big guy. Honestly, didn’t want to screw over you or the others. Only her’—he jabbed a thumb my way—‘Elliot Fletcher, and Victoria F. Fornax. In case you didn’t know, the “F” stands for fire cunt.’

While Bray chuckled, I snuck forward and threw a jab at his jaw. It connected. He hit the wall and caught himself, knees bent, blood on his lip. The others stepped away. ‘That’s good,’ Bray said under his breath. ‘Not keeping up the façade, eh? You somehow convince Fornax you’re mute, but you can’t hide what you are: A hopeful puppy who thinks they’re going to learn magic and change their pathetic life.’

‘What’s your problem,’ I snarled.

Bray pushed from the wall and swayed toward me. ‘You’re taking the spot of someone who will use magic to help the world, but you’re too selfish to see it.’ His hand moved fast in a backhanded slap. It cracked against my cheek and stung. My head whipped sideways.

That’s good, I thought, mimicking him. I lunged.

We fought, a mix of fists and shoves. Not enough space in the maze for anything more. The others pulled away, but Griggs got caught between us and the puzzle door. A stray fist caught Griggs’ arm, and the walkie-talkie flew out of his hand, breaking against the stone.

We pulled away and caught our breath. As I panted, I caught sight of the walkie-talkie. With it broken, there was no way we could coordinate the puzzle doors. The other half of the group didn’t even know about the new conditions for the line lengths.

I didn’t turn my back on Bray, but I went to the door, hoping Xandria might have some advice. ‘The buttons on our door affects theirs,’ I murmured. ‘Can you balance everything?’

‘It is impossible,’ Xandria replied.

‘What if we balance theirs with our buttons, so they know the objective?’

‘They will still need to use their buttons to affect our door, but they will be blind while doing so.’

‘We could send a runner back through the maze—’

‘Why not use your magic? The door is clearly not a mechanical system.’

My jaw clenched. Possible, yes. But the groups who went before us made it through. It’d be pathetic to rely on my magic. But, the two options were clear: Use my magic, or fail the trial. ‘Fine,’ I seethed, and turned my back on Bray. With Xandria’s help, we made it look like I pressed the buttons at random. The other side must’ve pressed buttons, too, because our side changed in unexpected ways. When our left and middle lines by coincidence became the same length, I rested my fingertips against the stone, tensed my muscles, and sent a pulse of Scutum-class magic into the door.

The lines vanished. Glowing text replaced it. The text instructed us to lift the door. The others gawked and cheered. I crouched, wiped sweat from my palms, and found handholds at the bottom of the door. Griggs joined me. We pulled. Tendons in our necks were visible, and a heated, mild pain came from my hamstrings and lower back, while my fingers felt like they were about to snap off, but the door began to move. The stone groaned. When we’d almost stood, the weight lessened, and the door lifted on its own.

We still had time. Some. We had to, and we had to try. We still had time.

We found the other half the group a short way past our door. Victoria, Elliot, Trench, and another two complained about their door’s weight. It’d taken all five of them to lift it. I had above-average strength, but—I checked Griggs. His body didn’t look overly-muscular, but his clothes might’ve hid it.

Victoria asked why we didn’t answer our walkie-talkie, so Griggs showed her our broken one. ‘It was an accident,’ Griggs said.

‘A serendipitous one,’ said Bray, looking at me. ‘Oh, that word means: Happy accident.’

I considered hitting him again. ‘I know what it means.’

Victoria’s eyes widened. I’d revealed myself to not be mute. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. She looked really upset about it, like I betrayed her or something. Whatever.

We continued into the maze. Left. Right. Left. Left. A three-pronged path. We split up. No walkie-talkie. We hoped for the best. I’d have to nullify any obstacles in our path. And the next obstacle was – yet another puzzle door. This one had part of a cypher, implying the other doors had the other parts. As I went to find the other doors, the lights in the maze got brighter. The walls rumbled and began to sink into the ground. An automated message over the loudspeakers told us to return to the entrance. A sinking realisation hit me. Way more time had passed than we’d thought.

Back in the dome, on the listings above the entrance, our group read: DNF. The only one. Bray gave exaggerated applause, telling everyone in our group that we did our best and shouldn’t be ashamed. Victoria stared at the DNF, didn’t move for a few moments, closed her eyes, and ran a hand through her hair. From her, I got the mental image of sitting on a suitcase to keep the contents from spilling out. I wasn’t doing as good a job of hiding how I felt. My face twisted in anger, despite wanting to appear aloof.

The rest of the groups had their attempts. All completed the maze.

With the two trials complete, all students got dismissed. No fanfare. The groups that made it through the maze could try getting their Sentinel licences that year. Almost all of them were likely too young and inexperienced, but a determined few might’ve scraped by.

As students filed out. Victoria cast a hateful look my way. Half-a-second at most, but it left me guilty, and then angry for feeling what I believed was undeserved guilt.

I started toward the exit.

Mrs Geisler intercepted me, with Griggs not far behind. ‘I have been informed the two of you lifted the first door of the maze. Is this true?’

‘That’s right,’ Griggs answered for us.

Mrs Geisler drummed her nails on her clipboard, face impassive, while a flicker of interest passed under the surface. An uncomfortable moment passed before she dismissed us.

As I left the dome, I looked over my shoulder at Mrs Geisler and tried to figure out whether she hated me or not.