Magi's Path (Aether's Revival Book 3) by Daniel Schinhofen (motivational books to read txt) 📕

Once outside of the arena, Hao led them a dozen yards away, still clearly in sight of the arena but removed so others could come and go without issue. “We haven’t been to the auction house at all this time,” he said, watching the people walking by. “Should we go?”

Gregory considered the question, as Yukiko had looked to him. “The elder has a box and, if something of import was going to be there, I’m sure he’d tell us or go himself. Since he hasn’t said anything to us, maybe we should just go to dinner?”

“Very well,” Hao said. “It appears the others are ready, as well.”

The novices and their parents were heading their way. Hao just waved and started leading his group toward the stables.

~*~*~

Since they were all going to the same place, Hao split the carriages differently. The novice’s parents took one, Hao, Yoo-jin, and Umbrose took another, and the magi all piled into the third.

“No surprises today?” Daciana asked.

“None,” Yukiko said. “Not from us. You three had your own surprise, though.”

“You do realize that none of you might make it into the finals now, right?” Jenn asked.

“There’s a chance that none or only one or two of us might, though we’re hoping for all of us, of course,” Victoria nodded. “We’d rather be equal than dance to the tune of others.”

“We’d talked about it before the first day,” Nessa said. “We thought of it in a hypothetical way. A ‘what if’ scenario that we’d least like to see, and then how we might change it.”

“Besides, Vicky did beat me fairly,” Daciana said. “We both fought to win and she beat me. I wasn’t expecting the headbutt.”

“I figured you hadn’t,” Victoria grinned.

“But when I fought and beat her,” Nessa said, “we realized we were in that spot we’d talked about. We all knew the answer, and I really did push her for the first part of the fight. Honestly, I’m not sure I could have won if I gave it everything right until the end.” Nessa shrugged. “When we clinched and rolled, I reminded Daciana about the idea.”

“I hated it,” Daciana snorted. “I was going to win, anyway— I didn’t want it to be given to me— but the idea of hurting the people who made us fight each other just to stop there being multiple undefeated fights made me agree.”

“So instead, you all have one loss to each other,” Gregory said. “If the fights hadn’t looked as real as they had, the council would be asking questions. I wasn’t even sure the last fight was a given, but when Daciana won, it made me laugh.”

“Now we have to hope that the council lets us all fight,” Nessa said.

“Do you think it’ll stop the elder from accepting us?” Victoria asked the question that was weighing on all three novices’ minds. “If we aren’t in the finals?”

Gregory stared at her, letting that question weigh on them a little more. “No,” he finally said. “I don’t think that will sway him one way or the other. Out of all of you, Vicky, you’re the one most likely not going to be in the finals.”

“Because my wins weren’t as decisive,” Victoria nodded. “I did beat Daciana, so it’d be odd that she’d get in and not me, though.”

Yukiko laughed. “That’s true. In fact, that’s evil.”

Jenn nodded, understanding what Yukiko was saying. “Oh, right.”

Gregory started to laugh. “Because between the three of you, you’ve beaten everyone else who might have a single loss or inflicted a single loss on the others.”

“It’s a bit of a logic trap, isn’t it?” Nessa asked with a sly grin.

“I can’t wait to hear who is in now,” Yukiko laughed, “though I do recommend you never try that again.”

“We won’t. Then again, we didn’t really plan on this, either,” Nessa said.

“Are you all ready for tomorrow?” Daciana asked.

“As ready as we can be,” Gregory replied.

“With no idea who we’ll be facing, I think we’re good,” Jenn agreed.

“I think they’ll have us in the main arena,” Yukiko added. “Both of the novice champions are in our clan, after all. They’ll want to see what we can do together.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Gregory nodded.

“It makes the most sense,” Jenn agreed.

“We’ll be watching,” Victoria told them.

“You will, from private boxes,” Yukiko added. “The finalists’ families all get them, as you’ll be fighting in the main arena after our matches.” She looked at Victoria. “You’ll be able to sit with either of them. Gregory sat with us.”

“I’ll sit with Nessa tomorrow,” Victoria said.

Daciana grinned. “You don’t want to sit with my father?”

“He gets a little... excited,” Victoria said apologetically.

“I’m not faulting you,” Daciana chuckled. “He does.”

“Which is why she comes by it honestly,” Nessa said with a straight face.

All three apprentices laughed at Daciana’s overacted expression of hurt.

~*~*~

Dinner had been good, but Gregory still thought Vana cooked better than the cook at the Golden Boar. He mentioned it as the meal ended, and Yukiko and Jenn were quick to agree with him. Their comments made Vana flush with pride, and Ramon gave his wife a kiss on the cheek.

As they were getting ready to leave, Gregory cleared his throat. “I apologize, but the three of us should return to the academy for the night.”

Hao’s eyebrow twitched up, but he just nodded. “Very well. The family carriage can take you back.”

“Already?” Daciana asked.

“We need to make sure we’re as ready as we can be,” Gregory said. “I want to see about a few things before we go to bed.”

“Being prepared is always good,” Nessa said, placing her hand on Daciana’s arm. “We understand. We’ll be there to see the match, no matter what arenas they put you in.”