Seekers of the Wild Realm by Alexandra Ott

Author:Alexandra Ott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2020-07-06T16:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

I don’t think so,” Ari says. His tone is calm and even, but his jaw is tight. “We got to them first.”

Johann sneers at him. “How’s your nose, empath?” He raises his hands. “You think I can’t make you give them to me?”

I glare at him. “This is against the rules. You can’t threaten us.”

“What are you going to do about it, little girl? Go crying to the Seekers and tell them I was too mean to you? Tell them you couldn’t handle competing with the big, bad boys?”

My jaw clenches. “No. I’m going to tell them you’re a cheat.”

“And so will I,” Ari says evenly. “It’ll be your word against both of ours.”

But Johann just rolls his eyes. “The word of an empath and a girl? I’ll take that chance.”

I glance at Ari. I’m not sure that either of us can fight Johann directly right now. Ari’s still bleeding from their last encounter, and my magic is almost depleted. And besides, neither of us is a warrior.

But Ari doesn’t look afraid. He just looks angry. Turning to me and speaking quickly under his breath, he says, “I could use my gift to calm him down, make him less aggressive. But using my gift on another competitor is against the rules. And I don’t know if the Seekers can see us right now or not.”

I nod. “We’ll just have to outsmart him, then.”

Thinking fast, I pretend to reach into my pocket and draw something out. I pinch my thumb and forefinger together like I’m holding something very small. Johann didn’t see me grow the snowpetal back to its original size. For all he knows, it’s still shrunken.

“Here it is,” I say boldly, waving my hand around so Johann can’t get too close a look. “If you think you can grow it back to size, you can have it.”

“Hand it over,” Johann growls.

I wind my arm back and make a throwing motion, acting like I’m tossing the snowpetal out into the pond. “Go fetch,” I say.

Johann turns, scanning the water, and Ari and I take advantage of his distraction. We run for it.

Johann isn’t fooled for long and races after us. My wet clothes weigh me down, and Ari’s nose is still bleeding. We’re going to need help to outrun Johann.

Quickly I push my gift into the plants surrounding us. I repeat the trick I learned earlier, nurturing the plants, and they clear a path through the woods ahead so that we can run faster. My gift is still depleted from using it so much, but the life forces in all the plants around us give me enough strength to manage it. And Ari helps—he learned the same trick while trying to find the lake, and much to my annoyance, the trees respond to his empathy gift just as well as they do to my nature gift.

I cut straight for the nearest edge of the arena, and within a minute we break free of the woods and reach the stands. Ari

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