Macy and I race toward him, but he dives into a portal right before one of us gets there. To my surprise, Macy dives in after him. Twenty-five seconds later, they finally emerge, but he’s lying stunned on the ground and she’s got the ball. It’s burning red-hot, though, so she throws it to Xavier, who catches it on the fly.
The only problem? They’re all the way at the other end of the field again, and Cole’s entire team is between them and the goal line. Then again, so are we.
Xavier runs for twenty seconds, dodging hexes and dragon fire and even a vampire bite to the shoulder as Mekhi and Jaxon try to fight off a witch and a dragon so one of them can fade to him.
Gwen and I race forward, happy that everyone else is occupied, but before either of us can get to Xavier, Cole brings him down with a body slam about halfway up the field. Xavier’s not going out with a fight, however, and he rolls away, clutching the ball to his chest as it burns hotter and vibrates so hard, I can hear it halfway across the field.
Just then, Cole slices a massive claw straight toward Xavier’s arm. I wince in anticipation of how much it’s going to hurt, even if Xavier’s magically protected from the claw piercing skin. But at the last second, Cole flicks his wrist and the claw misses Xavier’s arm entirely.
But it turns out Cole wasn’t aiming for the arm at all. Everyone in the stadium gasps as, instead, he slices the magical bracelet on Xavier’s wrist clean off. We watch it fall to the ground as if in slow motion. Xavier’s eyes widen when he finally realizes what the rest of us have already caught on to. Cole’s next blow, his clawed hand already arcing above Xavier, is headed straight for Xavier’s unprotected throat.
My heart stutters in my chest. Gwen is pretty close, but not close enough to help Xavier. And neither am I. No one is.
The whole stadium is on their feet as Cole’s razor-sharp claws close the distance with Xavier’s neck in the blink of an eye. There is a collective gasp. It’s a death blow. There’s no way—
There’s a huge roar from the crowd because… I blink… Blink again… Wow. Not a death blow after all, because Cole is now…a fluffy white chicken. His soft feathers gently caress Xavier’s neck as his small chicken body falls the three feet to the ground to squawk angrily.
My gaze darts around the arena until I connect with Macy, who obviously popped up through another portal about thirty feet from Xavier in the middle of all the drama. She looks as white as a sheet. Also hella pissed. And deeply satisfied at humiliating Cole for such a cowardly, and almost deadly, move.
But we don’t have time to savor the image of Cole clucking, because the spell won’t last much longer and Xavier is on his feet in a split second, the comet still burning bright in his hands. The stadium erupts in cheering and foot stomping.
Quickly looking around, he spies Eden and tosses her the comet as she swoops in from behind. She’s climbing now, her powerful wings taking her fifty feet in the air in seconds. But Cole’s team isn’t out, and one of the witches slams Eden with a lightning bolt and Eden is tumbling from the sky, the comet no longer in her hands and falling as well.
I launch myself into the air after it. The only problem is that one of their dragons has done the same thing, so we race each other to the ball. My heart is pounding faster and faster the closer we get, and I’m determined to win the race as another burst of energy from Jaxon via the mating bond sizzles along my skin.
I fly faster than I’ve ever flown, but he still gets there first.
Well, what’s the point of being a gargoyle if you can’t turn someone into stone every once in a while? Praying this works, I grab on to his wing with one hand and pull on the platinum string deep inside me with the other. He changes instantly…and without the wing design to carry a large dragon made of heavy stone, well, he starts to drop like a stone.
I flip the ball right out of his stone hands and then let go of the platinum string when we’re about twenty feet off the ground.
He changes back to a living dragon instantly, and he is beyond pissed. He hits me with every ounce of fire he’s got, but hey, gargoyle, baby. I don’t feel a thing. So I wave goodbye and then somersault backward—straight into a portal that I did not see coming.
And holy hell! It feels like I’m being pulled apart, my entire body being stretched from end to end like I’m one of those rubber toys you get at arcade games as a kid. It doesn’t hurt, but it feels really strange, and it’s all I can do to hold on to the ball as even my hands start to stretch.
Still, there’s no way I’m coming out of this portal without this ball. No way in hell. So I dig down deep and hold on as tight as I can. That’s when the pain starts—when I resist the stretch—but I don’t care. I am not messing this up, not when we’re so close.
And then, suddenly, the pain is gone and the portal is vomiting me back onto the field. Unlike everyone else, I can’t keep my footing, and I end up rolling straight onto my back like a turtle. But I’ve got the ball. That’s all that matters. Even if it is vibrating so much that my fingers feel like they’re starting to crack.
I roll over, looking for someone to throw the thing to, and Jaxon lands right in front of me with a grin and a wink. I toss him the ball, and then he’s fading away, running full tilt toward the goal…at the other end of the field. Again.
Seriously, these portals completely suck.
I race behind him—well behind him—not sure what else I can do at this point. I won’t be able to fly again for another thirty seconds. But then Cole and the other werewolf start to pass me in wolf form, heading straight for Jaxon. I can’t take down both of them, but I sure as hell can take down one, so I throw myself sideways straight into Cole.
He snarls like a rabid dog, his teeth closing on my hand. But again, stone, so it doesn’t hurt. But for the second time today, he’s not turning loose, so now he’s dragging me like a rag doll down the field by one arm.
Not quite what I was going for with what I hoped would be a heroic save. Not sure what else to do, I reach up with my other hand and pull his tail as hard as I can.
He screams like a pissed-off child, which means he lets go of my hand just long enough for me to yank it away. But he’s furious now and focused completely on me and not the ball. Which seems like it could be a problem.
At least until Xavier swoops in with a snarl—also in wolf form—and backs him down and away from me.
Cole turns and runs straight toward Jaxon like he’s just remembered the ball, but I know the truth and so does Xavier. We saw his face when he ran. He was scared of Xavier, which I’m afraid is going to have ramifications way beyond this game.
But for now, Jaxon is almost to the finish line. Thank God! I don’t think my nerves can handle much more of this.
Before he can get there, though, one of the vampires throws himself right in his path and shoves him back just as his foot is about to cross the goal. Jaxon goes flying and so does the other vampire, both of them spinning out of control through the air.