Chapter 45: The Final Challenge

Astrid

We stood at the edge of the final arena, the remaining teams gathered around us, everyone who’d made it through the earlier rounds now facing the last stretch of the competition.

The Headmaster stepped forward. "This final challenge will test what the academy considers the most important quality in a leader."

The crowd fell quiet.

"Trust."

I looked toward Reed and Xander as he explained the rules. We’d cross an obstacle course, retrieve three markers, and reach the finish line before the other teams. One restriction stood out immediately, though.

Once the challenge began, no verbal communication was allowed. We’d have to rely entirely on signals, observation, and trust.

Xander looked horrified. "No talking?"

I smiled. "This should be interesting."

"You’ll survive," Reed told him.

"I’m not sure."

We used the last few minutes before the start studying the arena. Reed examined the structural layout while Xander focused on the physical obstacles. I looked at everything, and something about the pattern of it caught my attention.

"The markers aren’t equally distributed," I said, pointing toward the layout.

Reed looked closer. "You’re right."

I explained the course had been deliberately designed to tempt teams toward the obvious, faster route, one riddled with hidden traps. A slightly longer path looked safer.

Xander studied it, unimpressed. "That looks terrible."

"It’s safer."

"I hate safe."

"I know," I said, smiling.

Reed looked at the proposed route one more time. "We’ll follow Astrid’s plan."

"You trust me that much?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes," he said, without a moment’s hesitation.

I wasn’t prepared for how much that single word affected me.

The signal sounded, and every team took off at once. For a few seconds, everyone moved together in a chaotic scramble. Then the paths diverged, most teams rushing straight toward the first marker along the obvious route.

We took the longer path deliberately.

Xander glanced back at the others pulling ahead and mouthed, We’re losing.

I gestured for him to keep moving. Reed understood immediately, and we continued.

Then the ground collapsed behind one of the faster teams, sending several students scrambling back the way they’d come, exactly as I’d suspected it might.

Xander looked at me with exaggerated admiration, mouthing, Genius.

I rolled my eyes, though I couldn’t fully hide my satisfaction.

The first marker sat above a wall too high to reach without climbing. Reed pointed toward it, and I understood immediately, scaling the rough surface while the boys held position below. Halfway up, my grip faltered, and Xander instinctively reached toward me before catching himself at my gesture to stay back.

I made it to the top, grabbed the marker, and dropped back down into Reed’s steadying hands.

"Careful," he said.

"I’m fine," I said, though I let him hold me a beat longer than strictly necessary.

Our eyes met for a moment before Xander broke it, gesturing dramatically toward the course ahead like an impatient tour guide. I laughed, and we pushed forward.

A bell rang midway through the course, signaling the second phase. Walls shifted. Paths sealed shut. A bridge retracted entirely, splitting our team, leaving me on one side and the twins on the other.

I signaled toward a narrow passage I’d spotted earlier. Reed understood instantly. Xander pointed toward a different route entirely, and I shook my head firmly.

Are you sure? he gestured.

I nodded. Reed followed my signal without hesitation, and Xander, reluctantly, fell in line behind him.

We hit a wide gap soon after, the fastest crossing requiring a jump. Xander prepared to leap despite my shaking head.

I’ve got this, he mouthed, pointing at himself.

I gestured toward the safer alternative. He shook his head, grinning, and jumped anyway.

He landed safely, though I glared at him hard enough that he raised both hands in mock surrender, mouthing Sorry with an unrepentant grin. Reed looked between us like he was supervising unruly children, and I nearly laughed despite my irritation.

We found the second marker not long after, another team arriving at almost the exact same moment, both groups reaching for it simultaneously. Rather than waste time fighting through their attempted block, I gestured toward Reed, then toward the terrain around us. He understood immediately, drawing their attention just long enough for Xander to circle around and for me to slip through and grab the marker clean.

The opposing team realized what had happened a full second too late.

Xander gave me an impressed look. I held up the marker triumphantly, and his grin said everything words couldn’t.

Only one marker remained, though the final obstacle towered above everything we’d faced so far, an elevated structure with three separate platforms. Other teams were already attempting it, several failing badly.

I studied the design and noticed the academy had built in a deliberate weak point. One person needed to stabilize the first platform. Another needed to cross the second. The last needed to retrieve the marker from the third.

I pointed to Reed, then Xander, then myself, laying out the sequence.

Reed understood immediately. Xander took position without argument.

The plan worked at first. Reed held the structure steady, and Xander crossed cleanly. Then the platform shifted unexpectedly beneath me, and my footing gave way entirely.

Reed caught my wrist before I could fall completely.

I hung there for a suspended second, both of us breathing hard, his grip tightening with a certainty that needed no words at all.

I’ve got you.

I pulled myself back up with his help, then pointed toward the final marker. He nodded, and we pressed forward.

We found ourselves trailing another team by this point. Xander pointed toward the established safe route, but I noticed a dangerous shortcut instead, gesturing toward it.

Reed understood immediately, looking between me and the shortcut. Sure? he gestured.

I hesitated only a second before nodding. He nodded back, trusting the decision completely, and we took the risk together. Xander glanced between us before following without complaint.

The shortcut required Xander to make the largest leap of the entire course, jumping between platforms to secure a rope that would let the rest of us cross safely. My stomach twisted watching him prepare.

He looked at me, his usual playfulness dropping away entirely. Trust me, he gestured.

I nodded.

He jumped, catching the far platform cleanly, securing the rope with steady hands. I crossed first, Reed right behind me, and we reached the final marker together.

I grabbed it, and we broke into a full run toward the finish line, another team closing in fast behind us. Xander gestured for me to run ahead. I did, Reed matching my pace beside me, and we crossed the finish line together as the bell rang out across the arena.

Team Seven had won.

For a moment I couldn’t fully process it. Then Xander grabbed my shoulders. "We won!"

I laughed. "We actually won."

Reed stood beside us, breathing hard, a rare, genuine smile crossing his face. "We did."

I looked between them, something warm settling deep in my chest. Not simply because we’d won.

Because they’d trusted me completely, every step of the way.

The instructors announced our first-place finish shortly after, the Headmaster praising our teamwork before turning his attention directly to me.

"Your decisions throughout the competition changed the outcome," he said.

I glanced at Reed and Xander, surprised.

"You may not have the advantages some of your classmates possess," he continued. "But you know how to use what you do have."

I didn’t need pity. I needed exactly that, acknowledgment of what I actually brought to the table.

Reed looked proud. Xander whispered, "Told you."

I smiled.

Once the ceremony ended, Xander insisted on celebrating immediately. "We’re getting food."

"You mean you’re getting food," Reed said.

"Same thing."

I laughed, and we walked off together, Xander throwing an arm around my shoulders. I didn’t push him off, and I noticed that about myself. Reed walked on my other side, quiet and steady.

For the first time, I didn’t feel like the scholarship student walking beside two princes.

I felt like I belonged there.

Before we left the grounds, the Headmaster made one final announcement. The annual Moonshade Academy Ball would be held in a few days’ time.

The students erupted immediately. Ivy came sprinting toward me. "A ball!"

"I heard," I said, laughing.

"We’re going shopping."

"I don’t have money."

She waved that concern away entirely. "We’ll figure it out."

Xander turned to me. "You’re coming."

"Was that a question?"

"No."

"You can’t decide for her," Reed said, giving him a look.

"I’m encouraging her," Xander said, unbothered.

I laughed, letting the moment settle around me.

As everyone talked over each other about the upcoming ball, I looked back at the arena one more time, thinking about how far I’d come since arriving at Moonshade with nothing but a stolen name and a desperate hope to survive.

Now I had Ivy. A place I might actually belong.

And two people I’d never expected to matter to me this much.

I glanced at Reed, then Xander. Neither was looking at me. And yet somehow, the thought of seeing them at the ball made my heart beat just a little faster.

I told myself it was simply excitement.

At least, that’s what I told myself.