Chapter 49

49 The WAC Rules

The time had come, the day had come, the hour had come for the WAC contest to begin. Groups and huddles of students showed at the archway of the YMPA, as Mr. Drails stood at the forefront of the area. The gathering had been overwhelming. There were so many people, and besides being a little claustrophobic it was also really welcoming. I didn’t know any of them, but at the same time, I felt like we were all friends. It was hard to describe who these people were and what they looked like because the area seemed overcrowded. The only thing I could see of my surroundings when trying to move through the crowd was just how many people there are in this world; it’s incredible, really.

I looked around, trying to find Tisiah or Nikki. But all I kept seeing were the bodies of other contestants.

But then someone touched me, and I quickly whipped my head backward, seeing none other than Malachi. “Hello, Connor,” he said with a smirk.

“Uh, hello?” I returned.

“What happened to your teammates?” Malachi asked. “They left you or something?”

I wasn’t very amused by his comment, not that the fact it was rude, but more of the fact that it was more dumb than anything really.

“Are you trying to get me to join your team or something?” I asked. “Because it sounds like it.”

Malachi chuckled ad shook his head. “Not even in the slightest. In fact, I’m rooting against you. And clearly that seems to be working against you.”

He walked away, and as I looked behind him, I saw his friends that were laughing and possibly mocking me.

.....

My self-esteem is too low for something like this.

Suddenly, Nikki came up towards me as my nervousness died down.

“So how are you doing?” Nikki asked. “You seem a bit nervous.”

“I’m doing alright,” I replied. “It’s just that I’ve never really been athletic before, so I’m in the process of getting used to it.”

Nikki smiled and nodded, eyeing me up and down as if noting his nervousness. “I can see that,” she said.

“Yeah, I guess my nerves are getting the better of me.” Connor sighed in relief as he turned around to look at Tisiah who was off somewhere near a group of people standing together by the arches that led into the mirrored room where they would be competing for WAC prize money–a total $600 for the third place.

There was money prizes in this contest? I thought he only said two classes off for three weeks and popularity!

“Connor, I don’t know what you’re thinking right now,” Malachi began. “But let me just tell you the fact that my team is the final boss battle in this contest.” He emphasized his point by placing his hand on my shoulder. “We’ve been working on it for months and months. We’ve all sacrificed so much to get here–and that includes our grades, our social life, and even some of us have had to give up a job or two to be able to come here today.”

Malachi looked at Connor straight in the eye as he spoke with a monotonous tone of voice reminiscent of a villain from Scooby-Doo. “I don’t think I need to say anything more about how much this means to us.” ”

“Never needed to say it in the first place.”

Malachi laughed and smiled. “Don’t worry, Connor, you won’t have to go against the team in the final minutes.”

He let a chuckle escape his lips. “I’ll even give you and your pals a free ticket out of the contest.”

I tried to reply but Malachi didn’t give him time to say anything else. He just walked passed him and continued on his way to wherever he was going.

“What was that for?” Nikki asked, as she rolled her eyes.

“Anyways, ignore him. He’s just being a baby.” I shrugged. Then, I felt a tap on my shoulder, seeing Tisiah by the side. “Oh, there you are,” I said, sighing with relief. “Where were you?”

“Trying to find you!” Tisiah responded. “Matt and Mari should be arriving soon.”

And right at that moment, Mr. Drails began to speak. Mr. Drails began to speak as soon as we followed him through the school into a room, like an arena of sorts.

The arena was a large, but dimly lit room with trees and caves and a bunch of wands sticking in the bushes. The entire area was cobbled together with rocks, just like Hogwarts.

“Welcome,” said Mr. Drails in his booming voice as he approached me. “To the WAC. Now, we have here two schools who will soon be fighting it out for the crown of WAC champions.”

He gestured grandly to show what he meant.

“The first school is called the AMA, the Austrailian Mage Agents. Thank you for joining us here in the United States.”

I was still trying to process what he said about the rules for the battle royale and how much time we would have left throughout the competition, when he started speaking again. We were instructed that all contestants had to wear wristbands with a number on it so that our scores could be tallied during and after each round of competition–just like in a basketball game when one player throws a score over to an official sitting at opposite baseline.

“The first round is going to start in just under two minutes.”

He then began walking around, looking at all of us–his eyes narrowing slightly before he continued on his way down one of the many other rows in the room. I was looking down at the Wristband before I felt something was wrong about it. There was this pink and red tint to it that looked like some dye had been put on it, like a kid would do when coloring a coloring book.

“Hey, you alright?” Tisiah asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Nah I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Tisiah asked. I nodded.

Everyone looked around in awe, and fear began to sweep through the whole crowd of students. Matt and Mari finally found us, as we stood by one of the trees that had one wand sticking out inside of it.

“Okay, it’s legit about to start,” Mari said. “We need to make sure that we know what we are doing.” Matt nodded. “Clearly it isn’t a building, and from what I can see: there are caves that are around.”

“Not the best to go there though,” Tisiah said. “We’d find ourselves cornered. When the round starts, just run and follow me okay? We’ll find some wands eventually.”

“Everyone, please remember that there is no real harm coming from this battle. The wands are not set to injure as they were before. This is just a means of testing skill and strategy,” Mr. Drails said.

“Well thank goodness,” Mari said with a satisified breath. All of a sudden, the lights shut off. A commotion spread through the area. “Alright, on your mark,” Mr. Drails, who seemed to be speaking in a megaphone, said. “Get set, go!”