Dark Heart of Magic by Jennifer Estep Page A

met. Vance Groves, future winner of this tournament.”
    â€œCharmed,” Katia replied in a dry tone, rolling her greenish eyes.
    Vance would have kept trying to flirt with her, but the officials called us to the starting line, and we all took our places single file. I looked out over the course, the hurdles, the cold spring in the middle, the towering rope ladder at the far end of the stadium, visualizing how I would get from here to there.
    An official stepped forward, drew the sword from the scabbard belted to his waist, and raised the weapon high. The crowd hushed, and we all leaned forward, trying to get every inch of advantage we could.
    â€œFor honor . . . for glory . . . for Family!”
    The official dropped his sword, and the tournament was on.
    Â 
    The first stretch of the obstacle course was a flat, straight, mad dash, and the folks with speed Talents sprinted to the front of the pack, led by Katia. Felix was right. She was fast —faster than anyone else—and she jumped out to a big lead. Katia had already reached the hurdles before I was even halfway there. But there were plenty of obstacles up ahead to slow her and the other speedsters down.
    I hit the hurdles right in the middle of the pack, which was exactly where I wanted to be. Despite Devon, Mo, and Claudia claiming that I could win the tournament, I didn’t necessarily want to. Oh, I enjoyed winning as much as the next person, but doing so would draw the unwanted attention of everyone in town, including Victor Draconi. So my plan was to do just enough to appear completely average.
    But everyone else was giving it their all, including Devon, who was several feet ahead of me, along with Blake and Vance. Deah and Poppy were right on Katia’s tail, something that the other girl didn’t like, judging from the dark scowls she kept shooting over her shoulder at them, especially Deah.
    All the while, the crowd cheered, yelled, and screamed, urging us to go , go , go , go! I blocked the noise out of my mind and concentrated on getting through the course.
    I cleared the hurdles and sprinted over to the next section, where the competitors had to climb one of several knotted ropes twenty feet up to a platform. Katia slowed down considerably here, since she wasn’t nearly as strong as she was fast, but climbing was one of my specialties, and I was able to make up some time on her and everyone else ahead of me.
    Katia, Deah, and Poppy all reached the platform at the same time, with Devon, Blake, and Vance right behind them. The girls took hold of the multiple zip lines that had been strung up and leaped off the platform, causing the crowd to cheer even louder. I got to the top of the platform just in time to see the three of them drop into the soft sand at the bottom, scramble to their feet, and start running again.
    Then it was my turn.
    I grabbed hold of the metal handles attached to the zip line and pushed off from the platform, the air rushing over my body. The sensation was almost as good as free-falling down a drainpipe, and a happy laugh escaped my lips. Maybe the tournament would be more fun than I’d thought.
    I let go, landed in the sandpit, and rolled up onto my feet. Vance grunted as he landed beside me. I glanced at him, and he scooped up a handful of sand and flung it at my face, trying to blind me. I jerked my head to the side, barely avoiding getting the wad of sand in my eyes, although it still hit my neck and sprayed all over my body. Vance laughed, surged to his feet, and rushed over to the cold spring.
    So that’s how it was going to be? Well, if Vance wanted to play dirty, I could give as good as I got.
    It was so on .
    I put on an extra burst of speed and leaped out as far as I could into the spring, tucking my knees up into my chest.
    â€œCannonball!” I yelled.
    Vance’s head snapped up, and I landed right beside him.
    Splash!
    I went all the way under. The water was shockingly cold, and I