Blight

Two months passed until anyone saw Micah or either one of our R.A.s.

Within that time, we all became stronger and faster. We were finally done with our first portion of training. The next was focused on learning new tricks for each of our special abilities. This was one of the most confusing parts of the training. Instead of splitting up into groups of the same powers, we stayed in the original group we were given. We then had to go into training sessions, group by group, and had to learn together as a unit.

"Today, you will learn how to make different kinds of poisons, Lana," one of the Guards instructed. "And Bryce, you will learn how your different morphing abilities can help with different situations. You are to enter the arena and work together with your group to retrieve a hoop from the center and return it to the starting zone within six hours."

"Doesn't seem too hard," Kenton murmured to Bryce. The Guard gave them a hard look.

"There will be creatures you must face, but you cannot kill them; you can only paralyze. And only Lana and Bryce can use their powers in battle," he looked across the group. "If anyone interferes, a buzzer will ring and that person will be removed from the arena."

"They don' know how ta do that, ya dummy," Mel retorted.

"That's the point, dummy," Kenton laughed, nudging her with his shoulder.

"Oh."

"Your task begins after you hear the bell," the Guard said, opening a large metal door behind him. A cool wind enveloped us as we entered. Chills ran up my spine as we stood on the starting platform. "You will find packs for all of you on the way. You'll need it." He shut the door and left us in the dark.

A red light turned on above us and flashed. The bell rang and the arena lit up.

Ice. Our challenge was to conquer ice.

Shit.

I looked over at the rest of Group 36 and they returned my gaze. I nodded and stepped onto the snow. Goosebumps covered my body from the chilly breeze. Mel tugged the collar of her shirt up over her nose. She gave a thumbs up and the rest of us mimicked her. Bryce transformed into a magnificent white wolf. My hair whipped in my face as I looked around the vast ice land. White. Snow flurries began to fall onto my cheeks and eyelashes. The red light cascaded a pink shadow just behind us. Dark mountains loomed just over the horizon.

"Let's get moving," I called, trudging forward. The wolf ran in front of us, rolling in the snow and barking. Our shoes stomped into the icy snow, dampening the bottoms of our pants. After what I guessed was twenty minutes, we all, including Bryce, were shivering to the point where we could hear each other's teeth chattering.

"Didn't he say there were packs for us?" Kenton asked shakily.

"Yeah, did that idiot lie to us, Mel?" I knew she would have an idea since it was her second year here.

"No, we 'ave to find it," she shivered as she spoke, rubbing her arms quickly. "That's one part of the-" She screamed and slid down a steep slope masked by the snow.

"MEL!" Kenton yelled, jumping onto the decline.

Bryce looked at me with fearful eyes, morphed into a snow owl, and flew down to the bottom of the snowy slide. I looked toward the direction of the faint red light and carefully slid after them. The ride down was worse than walking. Ice shards slapped into my face at terrifying speeds. My whole body was now covered with wet snow. The three figures of my friends finally came into view as the slope ended. They too were as cold as I. I stood up shakily and brushed the snow and slush off. We had slid down a hill that looked to be about 100 feet.

"Is everyone okay?" Kenton asked, looking around. Everyone nodded, and Bryce screeched, and we continued in our pursuit.

"Look, over there," Mel pointed. "See those orange things? Those are our packs!"

We hastily ran to the backpacks, digging them out of the snow and searching them for supplies. All we found were flashlights and a knife.

"Well, this is fucking pathetic," Mel scoffed.

"It's better than nothing. At least we can see better." Kenton slid his and Bryce's packs onto his back, as did the rest of us, and we all continued to what we assumed was north.

The snow had piled up to our knees. It had begun to be more difficult than we could imagine. Bryce landed in front of us and morphed into a large polar bear. Roaring and grunting, he began to dig a pathway through the rising snow for us. We all cheered thanks to the mammal and huddled closely behind. We approached a clearing, surrounded by a now six-feet high barrier of snow. A blue light shone brightly.

The ring!

We all sighed with relief until we heard a nervous grunt from Bryce. He pointed his snout over to a dark figure on the far right of the opening. It looked like... bodies. Hanging. Cautiously, I maneuvered over to the figure, and screamed.

I found them; Micah, and our missing R.A.s, Gerard and Corra. They were all stripped of clothing; their bodies were an icy white-blue. They looked badly bruised. Corra's long brown hair was covering her once kind face. Gerard's head hung low. I dared to look at Micah. He was even more badly beaten than he was when I saw him last. They were all hung from a rope tied around their wrists, which were bloody and black with bruising.

The rest of my group came up behind me, mortified with the sight. Mel reached up and held two fingers to each of their necks.

"They're sti' alive, 'ut barely. We gotta get 'em outta 'ere." Kenton grabbed the knife out of his pack and began to work on the ropes.

"This is too easy," Kenton said as he cut.

"Don't say somethin' like that!" Mel started. "Every time someone does, something bad-" And as if on cue, a gruesome roar echoed through the arena. There were loud stomping sounds and some snow caved in on the pathway we came through. Everyone tensed; Kenton continued to cut through the large ropes.

A monster, about three times the size of an average house, erupted from underneath the snow. It was white, almost ghostly. It had four large legs; each with three long and sharp claws. Its tail was long and spiky. It almost looked like it had multiple icicles hanging from it. Its six eyes were red and beady, and its ears were pointy and large. The mouth of the beast opened, revealing rows upon rows of sharp shark-like teeth. A grumbling roar escaped its throat and exploded in our faces. I could feel my thorns growing out of my palms, aching to secrete poison. Bryce, keeping his polar bear form, growled and roared in return.

"Help Micah and the others," I called over my shoulder to my team. "Don't interfere."

Although feeling nearly helpless in the standoff, I ran towards the snow beast. Its massive paw swiped at me, and I just managed to cling onto it, grasping its long, white hairs, and climbed onto its leg. I concentrated on the different chemicals of the poison I was going to create and stabbed into the beast. It roared at the prick and kicked me off, throwing me into the wall of the snow. Bryce had also managed to climb its trunk-like leg, and made his way to the back of the monster. He slashed and bit into its back, finally making it bleed a little. My vision cleared; I saw my friends still working on the thick ropes, finally getting Corra down, and the lone polar bear attacking the beast. I pulled myself out of the wall and ran at the snow monster. A throbbing pain bothered the back of my head, but I continued on. I thought on even stronger chemicals, ones similar to the chemicals I used to finally take down Griffin, the shape-shifter I encountered in the forest with Micah. Biting my lip, I lunged at the beast and stabbed it numerous times with my thorns. It roared even more fiercely and batted me away like a rag doll. I slid close to the ring and watched as the beast began to limp, losing feeling in its leg.

"Don't kill it!" Kenton yelled.

I nodded, and lessened the amount of chemicals. Bryce was still on its back, now morphed to a snow leopard, clawing and biting up along its neck. The monster roared and leaped high into the air and burrowed deep into the snow, along with Bryce.

"Bryce!" I yelled, running toward the vast hole. I looked down into the burrow, trying to find them. It buried too far down for me to see. "They're gone!" I ran over to Kenton and Mel, unsure of what to do.

"We 'ave ta finish this, then we'll find 'em," Mel reassured, holding Corra close to her. She had dressed Corra with her coat. I grabbed a knife from my pack and began to work on Micah's ropes. I had the cut about half-way through the dense ropes when a rumbling erupted from beneath our feet. The monster dug its way out of the snow just behind us. We all fell to the ground. Mel covered Corra with her body. Bryce was still on the back of the beast, barely holding on. I charged toward it, and climbed its leg like I had done before. Instead of stabbing its leg, I made my way up to its back. Bryce was laying on top of the spot where he had been tearing its flesh apart. I jabbed into its exposed skin. It screeched in fury and fell to its side. The leopard and I were flung into the center where the ring was. The tail of the beast fell on top of us. It roared and fell silent.

The tail was lifted off of me. Bryce and Kenton had lifted it off. I could see that the snow was covered with crimson. Kenton helped me up and grabbed the ring. Bryce morphed into a polar bear once more and I was placed on his back, along with Micah, Gerard, and Corra.

"Let's get going," Kenton ordered Bryce and Mel. They followed Bryce as he carefully made a way through the snow.

Within an hour, the faint red light of the door cascaded over the white snow. I sighed gratefully, clutching the blue ring to my chest. A buzzer rang in my ears; a bright light blinded me, and all I could feel was warmth.



I could hear faint voices. I didn't recognize any of them. My eyes fluttered open, slowly adjusting to the light. I was in a white room. Wires and beeping were all around me. I looked to my left; now slightly pink, Corra and Gerard were laying in beds, asleep and without a bruise or a scratch anywhere. They were dressed in white shirts and baggy grey pants. On my right was Micah. His dark eyes were open, searching mine. His skin was back to its warm golden glow. His hair was now cut, short and clean. It looked nice. He too was in the same attire as Corra and Gerard. I smiled and he smiled back. I longed to embrace him. My heart was filled with joy knowing that he was well. A nurse entered the room, asked how each of us were doing, and gave me a shot of some strange medicine. After she left, I flexed the arm she injected me in and sat up slowly. I turned to face Micah, who was now sitting up. He smiled warmly at me and carefully walked over to me and sat down. I looked at him for a moment ,and finally, hugged him hard. I didn't want to let go. Tears fell down my face and stained his shirt. It didn't matter what had happened; Micah was here, alive, in my arms. Mine.

He pulled away and wiped my cheeks.

"Thank you," he whispered. "We could have died out there."

There? I though for a moment. Oh.

"How did you get there?" I looked at him quizzically.

"I'm not too sure. Last I remember, I saw you in the common room. Once I left... It's blank. I don't remember." He looked down at his hands, fuming. I grasped his hands in mine.

"It's okay." I smiled at him. "Do you know how long we've been here?"

"Two weeks." I stared at him bewildered. "We were all pretty beaten up. Corra, Gerard, and I all almost died from hypothermia. I guess you were cut up pretty bad." He looked down at my stomach. I glanced too. Lifting up my shirt, I revealed a long red and pink scar.

"The hell?"

"It's from the Wompench." I looked at him with curiosity. "Oh, that's the monster's name... I guess. I overheard the doctors discussing it."

"Oh."

"Yeah, how are you feeling?"

"I'm well, just my head. It hurts." I reached up to feel the throbbing pain in the back of my head. All I felt was skin and stitches. "What the-" I looked around and found a silver tray on my bedside. I lifted it up to look at myself.

"Don't," Micah started, reaching for me. But I already looked.

My hair was completely gone. My fire-y auburn hair had been shaved off. Black stitches criss-crossed in interesting lines from the crown of my head all the way to the back.

"What happened?" I shrieked, going into a panic.

"You had major gashes in your head. They had to cut your hair off to cleanly close them." I pursed my lips and rested my head into his chest.

"This sucks."

"I know it does," he murmured. "But you and Bryce completed your task. And you save me. And our R.A.s. You did it."

"Where's Bryce? And the others?"

"They're in the room just outside. If you want, we can go see them?"

I thought a moment. "Not now."

I just wanted to be with him. I had waited months to see him, to hold him. For once, he wasn't angry. He wasn't hurt in any way. I just held him, not wanting to leave. This is what I wanted.