Chapter Sixteen

 

We were walked through the challenge by Morris Armstrong, alongside our producers. The other two teams of contestants looked considerably worse for wear; the last team to arrive sported weary expressions and several bruises. When I caught one of them muttering about how sore her legs were after marching up a mountain, I allowed myself a satisfied smirk. Unfortunately Mike was too busy flexing to hear her.

Previous challenges on Enchantment had been guided by location and this was no different. To begin with, there was the excruciating obstacle course to complete. Armstrong pointed out the rope swings, a precarious-looking balance beam and the marshy mud pit. Once those had been traversed, we were supposed to assemble a Celtic knot to unlock a box and reveal a magic wand. When the wand was pointed at the finish line, with the not-so-immortal words of ‘Enchantment commands you’, our names would be revealed in puffs of multi-coloured smoke.

‘Of course,’ Armstrong said with a knowing wink, ‘there are layers of magic built into this challenge which will not be revealed to you beforehand.’

I nodded, unsurprised. It was typical for there to be few magical demands put on contestants in the early stages for the simple reason that few of us could perform any spells of consequence. However, the show was called Enchantment; there had to be magic of some form or another to satisfy the watching public.

I didn’t really rate my chances of winning. I wasn’t fit and I knew that it would take me far longer than anyone else to get across the obstacles. Even Lou would probably be faster. And it didn’t seem particularly wise to exert my own magical abilities too far after the events of yesterday. Despite both my and Winter’s suspicions that my exhausted hallucinations had been caused by something nefarious, I couldn’t discard the idea that I’d simply cast too many spells. I had to be careful. After all, who knew when another real zombie would appear?

Taking up our allotted places, I glanced down the line. The others’ expressions ran from grimly determined to absolute glee. I sighed. Then a camera was thrust in my face and Barry, staying well out of shot, addressed me. ‘How are you feeling about this, Ivy?’ he enquired.

I knew the protocol. I had to answer in full sentences to make it appear as if I’d not been prompted to speak. I considered the fact that I was never going to win or save myself from the upcoming vote and spoke carefully.

‘I’m feeling terrified,’ I confessed, widening my eyes for emphasis and speaking loudly so that the other contestants could hear. I looked down at myself. ‘I’m not really built for athletics and some of those obstacles look almost insurmountable.’

It clearly wasn’t the answer Barry was looking for. He frowned slightly and nudged me some more. ‘There must be some spells you have up your sleeve that will help you to compete with some of the more sporty contestants.’

I spotted Mike giving me a sidelong glance, apparently waiting to hear my answer. No prizes for guessing what he was thinking. From his body language he was raring to go – and he seemed absolutely convinced that he was going to win.

I let out a tinkle of laughter. I couldn’t have sounded more fake if I’d set off in a spaceship named The Majestic Untruth on course for the Fraudulent Galaxy. ‘I’m not an accomplished Order witch. The only spells I can perform are mere tricks and sleights of hand.’ I pasted on a rueful expression. ‘Maybe if I could sprout myself a pair of wings, I could soar over the obstacles. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s likely to happen.’

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Mazza run over to Belinda. She was standing to one side, talking into a mobile phone while her hair was being teased out and fluffed up by an attendant.

Mazza handed Belinda a piece of paper that she perused with pursed lips before dismissing him. Even when he walked away his expression remained like that of an eager puppy. He looked even brighter when Amy crossed his path as she dashed off in the other direction on someone else’s bidding. Just watching her made me feel tired. Yeah, I might have an obstacle course to get over but things could always be worse.

I flicked my attention back to Belinda. Unsurprisingly, there was no sign of the vial but I had no doubt that it was still round her neck. I wondered how badly it would go if I rugby-tackled her to the ground in order to snatch it from her. It’d probably be carnage. In a magic-less fight, I reckoned the primped and preened presenter would beat me hands down. It was just as well I had oodles of magic at my disposal. All I had to do was to come up with the right plan.

‘Ivy!’ Barry barked.

I glanced at him, belatedly realising that he must have been asking me questions in a bid to get me to say something interesting – or incriminating – for the ever-rolling cameras. ‘Sorry. Could you repeat that?’

He scrunched up his face in irritation before carefully smoothing his features. He was going to have to work on his acting skills if he wanted to get me to believe anything that came out of his mouth.

Dropping his voice to a whisper so the others couldn’t hear him, he leaned towards me conspiratorially, although he still managed to keep away from the camera lens. ‘Don’t tell anyone you heard it from me,’ he said, ‘but one of the other teams has decided that you’re their strongest competition. To stop you from winning, they’re going to try to bring you down, probably during the obstacle course. They want to make sure you’re voted out first.’

Yeah, yeah. I pushed back my hair. ‘Barry, I know you want to see me do more spells but you saw what happened yesterday. I have to be careful not to overdo it.’ It sounded like the perfect excuse for not trying very hard. I’d hallucinate every day of the week if it meant I didn’t have to put in too much effort.

‘The medics have cleared you. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t good to go,’ he sniffed. ‘And it would be so shameful if you were booted out first. Just think what all those Order witches who are watching would say.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Barry, honey. I know what you’re doing and it’s not going to work. This would be a whole lot easier if you’d just tell the truth when you spoke to me. I can sniff out a lie at a hundred paces. ‘

Instantly he seemed interested. ‘Because of magic?’

‘No. Because most people aren’t very good liars.’ I sighed. ‘I know you want to make good television because it makes you look better. But you have to know I’m not going to beat the others. You can fabricate as many stories as you like about what you’ve overheard but it’s not going to make a difference. If this relationship is ever going to work, we need to reach a mutual understanding.’

Barry’s eyes shifted as he weighed up my words. ‘Fine,’ he said eventually. ‘You want the truth, you’ll get it. You were brought in to replace the contestant who we had lined to be the bitch.’

‘So I heard.’

‘We don’t have anyone else who’s nasty enough to draw the viewers’ anger. We need someone to be an object of hatred.’

Finally he was being honest. I gave him an approving nod, followed by a frown. ‘If I’m horrible, or if I do something during this challenge to piss off the others, then I’ll definitely be voted out first.’ While in theory that wouldn’t be a bad thing, I wouldn’t get anywhere with my investigations if I were forced to leave the set.

‘We need someone nasty. If you’re not going to use magic, then be evil. I’ll make sure you stay in for at least the next few rounds.’

‘You can do that?’

He looked down the line. ‘The rest of this lot are much easier to manipulate than you.’

I didn’t think that was true. The contestants often seemed superfluous to what the producers wanted and the shenanigans they were aiming for, but that didn’t mean they were stupid. In fact, I reckoned they were smart enough to see which way the wind was blowing and act accordingly. After all, keep the crew on your side and you would probably be allowed to stick around for longer.

Moonbeam sidled up. ‘What’s up, partners?’

Barry scowled but, given Moonbeam’s ancestry, he stopped short of telling him to piss off – at least in so many words. ‘We’re having a quiet chat,’ he said. ‘Me and Ivy. You should go and make sure that Morris has everything he needs.’

Moonbeam pretended not to hear him. ‘It looked like you were discussing strategy.’ He glanced at me. ‘I thought I was going to be your tactical expert.’

‘You are,’ I soothed. Ignoring Barry’s glare, I told him what Barry and I had been talking about.

Moonbeam scratched his chin thoughtfully. ‘You won’t win if you’re the bitch.’

‘Maybe I’m not looking to win. Maybe I just want to get to the later stages.’ If Winter and I hadn’t found our necromancer before filming was over, we’d never find him. I flicked another look at Belinda. Or her.

‘Then it’s a good plan.’

I raised an eyebrow. ‘That was decisive. You were telling me before not to start arguments.’

‘That was when I thought you were in this to win. Now I know it’s the grand prize you’re after.’

‘Eh?’

Moonbeam grinned. ‘Longer lasting fame.’

Good grief. That was most definitely not what I wanted. It sounded like hard work to me; I preferred a quiet life. All the same, I smiled back at him and bobbed my head towards Barry. ‘Then I shall do as you request.’ I paused. ‘Ask me those questions again.’

Barry’s face filled with delight and he wasted no time. ‘How are you feeling about this, Ivy?’

I bared my teeth. ‘I feel great. This obstacle course looks hard and I’m not very sporty, but have you seen what the rest of this lot look like? Besides, if any of them seem to be getting ahead of me, I might cast a spell and trip them up. They’ll fall flat on their faces and I’ll stroll through the finish line as the winner. Piece. Of. Cake.’

Moonbeam smiled in approval. Barry was almost giddy. ‘That was brilliant.’ He glanced at Armstrong, who was tapping his foot and looking irritated. ‘I should leave you now.’ He winked at me. ‘Good luck.’

Armstrong beckoned Belinda and, with an imperious flick of her hair, she strolled up and took her place directly in front of the obstacle course. ‘Here we are, at the gateway of our very first challenge! The winner receives automatic immunity from the vote. Everyone else will be fair game.’ As she continued, I blocked out her voice and focused on how I could find out what her vial was really about. There had to be a way. ‘On your marks,’ Belinda beamed. ‘Get set… Go!’

Everyone hurtled towards the first obstacle with extraordinary speed. I let them all pass then ambled forward. I was conserving my strength. As Belinda burbled away about who was in the lead, I took my time reaching the net and crouching down to get underneath it.

‘And Mike has already cleared the first obstacle while Ivy has only just reached it!’ Belinda yelled.

Good for Mike. I hunkered down and began to shimmy through. Even with my glacial pace, this was hard work. The net snagged on my daft corset several times and, unwilling to expose more flesh than was absolutely necessary, I took my time freeing myself. By the time I scrambled out the other side, at least three of the others could barely be seen. I shrugged and moved up to the rope swing. This could work.

Picking up speed, I flung myself towards it, snagging it with one hand. I let myself swing out. Then, in a moment of panic and with the rope burning the skin on my palm, I released it, dropped to the ground and rolled with a loud groan.

I did my best to look hurt and squeezed my eyes shut. Then I opened the left one just a crack and peeked. Morris Armstrong waved to stop the proceedings and in less than a heartbeat a medic, Belinda and several cameras were surrounding me.

‘Ivy!’ Belinda said, her voice the epitome of concern. ‘What’s happened? Are you alright?’

No. I needed her to lean over so I could grab that damn vial. I groaned. ‘My back,’ I said in a strained voice.

‘Don’t move,’ the medic instructed. ‘We’ll look you over and make sure you’re alright.’

Trevor Bellows appeared from out of nowhere. ‘This is the second time this contestant has been out for the count. I think it’s time we withdrew her from the competition.’ He paused for a beat. ‘For her own safety, of course.’

I struggled up to my elbows. ‘I think I’m okay.’ I pressed one hand against my ribcage. ‘It really hurts here, though.’

Belinda leaned close enough for my plan to work but there were too many cameras. I couldn’t see any angle from which I could perform the rune I needed and not get caught. I grimaced. Well, so much for that idea. If I wanted to steal Belinda’s vial without her noticing, I’d have to do it off camera. That was a pain in the arse.

Gasping, and trying to appear winded, I gently pushed away the medic and got to my feet. ‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘I can do this.’

Barry looked concerned. Even Belinda’s concern seemed genuine. It belatedly occurred to me that I couldn’t do this kind of thing again. With one contestant dead, Enchantment couldn’t take any chances with our wellbeing. They really would pull me from the show, whether I was their much-needed nasty contestant or not.

Thinking quickly, I babbled out a reasonable excuse. ‘I’ve been hexed!’

Everyone blinked in shock.

‘Hexed?’ Belinda tried to frown but her forehead couldn’t wrinkle naturally. Botox? ‘What do you mean?’

‘I had it,’ I said with defiance. ‘I had the rope in my hands and then I felt a shooting pain which only magic could create. One of the other contestants has bespelled me because I’m such strong competition.’ Even to my own ears I sounded ridiculous.

I saw Armstrong open his mouth to speak but Barry sidled over and murmured something in his ear. The director’s expression cleared and he gave me a happy thumbs-up. Yes, this was all part of an act. Just not for the reason he thought.

‘I’ll get my own back on whoever did this,’ I said, with an added snarl. ‘No one hexes Ivy Wilde and gets away with it.’ I applauded myself mentally; I’d make an excellent panto villain.

I followed up my words of dire consequence with a glare, flinging a narrowed-eye look at the other contestants. The truth was that they were all too far away to see what I was doing but it didn’t matter. The camera picked it all up and I managed to soothe the last of the crew’s worried expressions, as well as fulfilling my brief. ‘I’m good to go again,’ I said. ‘I won’t be beaten!’

I threw my arms around in an extra flourish and almost smacked Bellows’ face in the process. His expression hardened. ‘I have to insist—’

‘I’m fine,’ I interrupted. ‘Never felt better.’ I jumped up and down as if to prove it. Immediately I regretted it; I still had three-quarters of the obstacle course to complete.

‘Everyone else has been kept in the position they were when you fell,’ Belinda said.

I nodded, catching sight of an irate-looking Harriet perched precariously on top of a high bar with her hands fluttering in the air. Oops.

‘I’ll blow the whistle and you’ll begin again. If you’re sure?’

‘I’m sure.’

‘Excellent.’

I breathed in deeply and, a moment later, we were off again. Rather than merely strolling, I tried a bit harder this time around. Coming last after my faked collapse might not reflect well on me.

The trouble was that I had a lot of ground to make up and the obstacle course was incredibly hard. It didn’t help that when I reached the top of the bar where Harriet had been forced to stop, the first of the magic waves hit me. No wonder she’d looked so annoyed. Someone, possibly Bellows, had conjured up a host of flying lizards. They were insubstantial and, when one flew directly at my face and its tail grazed my skin, I realised that they more illusion than anything else. It didn’t mean that they weren’t bloody annoying at this height.

I clambered down, making a beeline for the mud pit. At the far end, three other contestants were still struggling to pull themselves out. As I edged forwards, a flaming streak of fire whooshed in my direction. It wasn’t magically induced, however; the fire came from canisters rigged at shoulder height along the side of the pit. Sneaky. What was the betting that they would be hidden from the camera’s view to make it appear as if more spells were being cast? It didn’t really matter. The fire was obviously working to a schedule. Flames of death. Beats of three. Flames of death. Beats of three. Even I could manage to escape this part.

The mud pit might be a different matter, although I vaguely remembered watching a science experiment on television involving a swimming pool and custard. At the time my focus had been on the poor sod who had to clean up the mess afterwards. However, there was something to be said for being a couch potato; that show might stand me in good stead now.

I decided to make a run for it. Counting under my breath I dashed across, picking up speed when I hit the mud to avoid sinking into it. It worked. The momentum – and something to do with the laws of physics – kept me going. I scampered across the surface, springing happily onto solid ground on the other side. That was how to do it.

I let out a crow of exultation then, remembering my promise to Barry, swivelled round to the three contestants who were still stuck and shouted, ‘In your face!’ It was mean and nasty and I felt more than a trickle of guilt but I needed to make sure I wasn’t thrown off the show.

Panting hard, and under no illusion about what Winter would say about my lack of fitness if he saw me now, I completed the last few obstacles. I was almost ready to collapse but I still had a way to go. I jogged forward, weaving in and out of the trees which I was sure had been placed there just to annoy me. I could see the Celtic-knot puzzle up ahead. Then a root came up out of nowhere and I went flying. Arse.

Heaving myself up and spitting out a mouthful of dirt, I ignored the cameras that were zooming in on my exasperated face and wiped my eyes. As I blinked away flecks of muck, something flitted across my peripheral vision. I half-turned, just in time to see something shoot behind one of the larger trees fifty metres or so away. It could have been an animal – but what it looked like was a human being with long straggly hair moving around on all fours.

I froze. Did I really just see that? I spun round towards the cameras but they were all pointed at me. Engaging the cameramen in conversation would be useless. First of all, they were under orders not to communicate; second, I reckoned I’d used up any goodwill I had with them. Another mutter about a hallucination and I’d be out on my ear.

Swallowing hard and trying to stay calm, I glanced back warily. There was no sign of any potential zombie. I edged to my right and peered round, catching a flash of dark clothing. Then there was a loud heaving grunt, not dissimilar to what I imagined a death rattle would sound like.

I raised my hands, ready to perform whatever defensive or offensive runes were required, when there was a ragged whoop from behind me. The zombie, if that’s what it was, rustled in alarm. I heard a single pant, like a breath, then the thing crashed away through the undergrowth. The three contestants who’d been stuck in the mud pit were oblivious. As they passed me, they continued to whoop, holding hands and beaming with muddy delight.

Rachelle, who was closest to me, turned in my direction. ‘This is what happens when you work together and when you’re nice to others,’ she sniped.

My jaw worked uselessly. Whatever I’d seen had already gone. The river was in that direction so maybe the bloody thing would drown. I could only hope.

‘Be as nice as you want,’ I shot back to them as they skipped away in front of me. ‘But just remember that only one person can win!’

They ignored me. I twisted away and stared back through the undergrowth. If this really was another undead necromantic being, I needed Winter and I needed him now.