The School for Wisps

9.

Kirana was getting very bored. There was nothing to do. She had remained an undiscovered tree for the past five hours. Closing her eyes, she sent a shadow of her spirit, or a messenger, outside. Through her messenger's eye, she flew over all, invisible, unseen spectator to small scuffles all over the world, and she saw that only a tenth of the original contestants remained; about eight people. A barrier went all the way around the arena. Kirana tested her strength against it; it held. Apparently, someone better than she at sorcery had cast it. Perhaps Alec? As she was thinking, she slowly drifted her messenger back to her tree.

Sandra prowled through the woods, furred nose twitching. As a small green fox, she glowed in the dark, and all could see her clearly. But no one dared attack her, for the large gray wolf following her like a shadow would mean trouble for any would-be attackers. Everyone recognized Alec in his new form, and no one wanted to cross the champion of the EA GAMES for the past fourteen years. He had made sure everyone knew that from the moment he had joined sides with Sandra. To them, there was only one quarry, which they were heading for already. Kirana.

----

Lucas felt beat. Slowly, he raised himself to a sitting position. His right arm, which had been broken, was now in a thick gray cast. However, his legs hurt horrifically. What had happened? Rubbing his head, Lucas tried to remember.

----

A sweet sickly scent wafted through the woods. Sandra looked up, her delicate nose flared. A pink fog was gradually drifting towards them. Panicking, she tried to turn back to human. Not fast enough. The fog floated straight into her, turning her from green to pink. Pink letters spun through the woods: HA HA HA HOPE YOU LIKE MY IRREMOVABLE PAINT YOU CHEATER! CAN'T TURN INVISIBLE NOW HUH? BTW HOW'S YOUR BOYFRIEND?

Sandra gritted her teeth in rage. "What boyfriend? I don't have a boy-" she turned around. Alec was completely covered with pink paint. With a rough shake, the pink floated off and fell on the ground. Sandra tried to do the same. The pink persisted. She growled impatiently and turned invisible. Nothing happened. Irremovable paint huh? When she caught up to Kirana she was going to give her a piece of her mind.

Kirana was having a field day. She haphazardly shot pink flames at anything she saw, creating a giant swathe of pink destruction. Occasionally, she sent an infuriating message to Sandra. She knew the green-eyed girl was drawing nearer to her quarry every second, but it would be too much fun. Besides, with her kind of luck, Sandra would never stand a chance anyway. She couldn't wait!

Sandra saw the glow of pink fire up ahead. She licked her lips in anticipation, relishing the fact that she was soon to be reunited with her archenemy. Given Kirana's ranks in class, it would be a hard battle, but of course! Sandra would easily win, then kindly spare Kirana's life, winning the games in first place. She was shaken by her reverie when Alec slouched up behind her. She saw the sneer on his face and knew that he had read her mind. Now angry, Sandra spun and mercilessly attacked his, trying to find a way to get in, to know what he was thinking. All failed. His mental shield was up, exposing nothing and hard as rock. Alec's smile grew wider. 

With a slight jolt, he expelled Sandra from his head altogether, effortlessly broke into hers, and established a mental link so they could talk without making sound. Sandra fumed. Above them, Kirana's messenger laughed, having witnessed the whole thing and transmitted it to Kirana herself. And when Sandra and Alec started to move towards their prey again, the messenger created a link, built on the fragile mental bridge between Sandra and Alec, and listened in on their conversation, as Kirana spun, laughing, shooting flames and knowing everything that was going on between her enemies.

----

Lucas was moving. He had finally decided that Alec had spared his life, and that his legs hurt because Alec had tried to end his suffering and expel him from the competition as one of the "fallen". Anyway, it had failed. With a minor healing charm, his legs were perfectly fine again. His broken arm, however, needed more time and attention. Still, Lucas was able to continue, and was now trying valiantly to find Kirana, his best friend (and maybe more than that). In the sky, the sun rose, and it became noon. Lucas blinked. It had taken less than a second for night to turn into day. It was a bit disorienting. However, that soon fell from his mind, because all the white clouds had turned neon pink, and he heard laughter coming from the far east. His heart beating faster, he started his trek towards the source.

----

Alec and Sandra had hardly noticed when the clouds turned pink. Ahead of them, they had spotted Kirana, just standing there with her back facing them, clearly waiting for something. The fires had been extinguished. Sandra crooked her fingers at the seemingly unprotected girl, but her spell stopped in midair and rebounded into a tree, collapsing it on impact. Green flames sprouted from the hole in the ground. Kirana turned and blew a kiss at them.

"I was wondering when you would get here."