Chapter 2

       We had been on the train for over an hour, and we still hadn't come to the end of the train tracks yet, meaning the trial was definitely going to take a couple of days. Part of me was honestly wanting to stay at the end of the train tracks and never return back home to the fort.

       I was still happy Opal packed a lot of food, because I was already starting to get hungry and we hadn't even done anything except for sitting on the train. She gave each of us an apple to snack on to gain a bit of energy for the start of the trial.

       "Hey, Grimm?" Lance asked. "Any chance you can teleport?"

       I snorted. "I wish." That would have made the trial a lot easier. Then again, the chief probably wouldn't have let me on the trial having known I could teleport.

       "What kind of sorcerer are you?" Lance asked.

       "One that can't teleport," I said. "Like all sorcerers. What kind of sorcerer are you?"

       Lance sighed, knowing he walked right into it. "I'm not one."

       "Oh, that's a shame," I said with a small smirk. 

       A lot of people didn't understand how I became a sorcerer. I didn't even understand. Yes, both my parents were sorcerers so it would have passed down to me, but the leader of Peyetia didn't want that happening. Too much damage had been done to both the Wicked and Moral side because of people being able to control magic, so a serum was given to all sorcerers and sorceresses to prevent them for passing their magic onto their children.

       Somehow, the serum didn't stop the magic from being passed down to me, but it didn't get passed down to Arcadia.

       Arcadia didn't mind at all. She did admit that she would have loved to have magic but at the same time, she didn't think she could handle the pressure. I could rarely handle the pressure due to our parents, and I was a lot more vigorous.

       Opal sighed and rested her head back against her seat. "When are we going to get there? I cant believe I'm saying this, but I just want to get the trial started."

       "Same here," I said. "A few days without my parents breathing down my spine. Sounds luxurious."

       "Come on, they can't be that bad," Opal said.

       "Not that bad?" I asked. "They were excited when Arcadia's name was called, and I offered to go with her. There's a chance we can die. Then again, that would be a lot better than going back home."

       "Don't say that, Grimm," Arcadia said. "I....I don't want to die."

       "Relax, Ar, I was kidding," I said. "We're not going to die. The trial probably is just going to be trap after trap, so we just have to be careful. Keep an eye out. Try not to die."

       "I hate making this joke, but you really live up to your name," Arcadia said, and I just shrugged in reply.

       Quite suddenly, the train got to a halt and the doors swung open. This was it. The trial was going to begin as soon as we stepped foot off of the train.

       I was the first to get up and walk off of the train to see where we were. The others followed and stood behind me, which was right before the doors to the train slammed shut. There was no going back now.

       There was never a chance to go back.

       We were standing at the edge of a forest with a sign on a tree painted in red layering, The Wicked Trial commences.

       At the ground was a thick layer of fog up to our ankles. We couldn't even see the ground, and that was going to be quite difficult if there really were traps set on the ground like I was guessing.

       "Are you all ready for this?" I asked.

       All three of them each gave me a different answer.

       "Definitely not," Arcadia said.

       "I'd rather stay in the train," Opal said.

       "I'd feel more ready if we could see what was on the ground," Lance said. "So what are you waiting for, Sorcerer Who Can't Teleport? Clear the fog away."

       "Magic doesn't work like that, Lance," I said. "I can't just do whatever I want."

       Lance stared at me for a bit, narrowing his eyes. "Again, what kind of sorcerer are you?"

       I only rolled my eyes in reply before beginning to walk down the path of the forest where the sign was pointing to.

       "Uh, you're just going in like that?" Lance asked as I continued walking. "So much for looking out for traps."

       "If I step on one, I can get myself out of it," I said. "Come on, we're not going to waste any time."

      The other three hesitated before quickly catching up to me. "It is getting pretty late, though," Arcadia said. "Where are we going to sleep?"

       I shrugged. "Anywhere we can find. In a tree, under a tree, beside a tree...."

       "In a cabin far in the distance," Lance interrupted.

       "Exactly," I said before processing what he actually said. "Wait....What?"

       Lance gestured ahead and in the distance a very old and dilapidated cabin was sitting in the middle of a very small open field. A few windows were cracked, and not a single light inside the cabin was on.

       It seemed like such an easy place to go in and stay, so I wanted to be extra careful going inside.

       Lance, not so much.

       As soon as we walked up the steps to the porch of the cabin, Lance reached for the door, but Opal grabbed his arm. "You have to be careful when you open the door," she said. "We still don't know what we're supposed to expect from the trial."

       "Oh, relax," Lance said. "It's just a cabin."

       "Yeah, one sitting in the middle of the woods that nobody lives in, and it's on the path of the trial," I said. "You really think it's going to be that easy?"

       "Yes," Lance said before twisting the doorknob and opening the door.

       Right as that happened, I heard a faint click inside the house. Opal heard it too, and had the right intuition to tackle Lance to the floor right as a sword flew in his direction and lodged itself in the tree right in front of the house.

       "You're an idiot, Lance," Opal said as I walked down the steps and to the sword to pull it out.

       "Well, there goes the thank you I was going to say," Lance said, standing up and dusting himself off before helping Opal stand up.

       Once the sword was out of the tree and in my hand, I swung it around. "This might come in handy," I said. "Poking and prodding things, making sure we don't run into any traps, ending Lance now before one of the traps do because he isn't using his brain right now."

       Lance laughed sarcastically before glaring at me. "Why don't you go first then?"

       "Don't mind if I do," I said, walking back up the steps and kicking the door to open wider, listening for any noise. None came, so I carefully walked inside the cabin and looked around. It definitely wasn't going to be the most appealing place to stay in for the night, but it had to do.

       Once we deactivated the traps, if there were anymore.

       I didn't see any visible traps. No wires, no buttons, nothing. That didn't mean they weren't very well hidden.

       "Grimm, I don't think it's safe to stay in here," Arcadia said. "I'd rather stay outside. We can sleep on the porch, right? Just have one of us awake on guard."

       "I don't want to sleep outside," Lance said.

       "You don't have to," I said. "You can sleep inside, but if Arcadia wants to sleep outside, then I will too."

       "Suit yourself," Lance said before walking into the cabin and heading over to a run-down leather couch.

       "Lance, don't be an idiot again," Opal said. "I bet you something else is going to happen."

       Lance ignored her and walked to the couch anyway, but jumped back as he got close to it. "I think I just had a heart attack," he said, grabbing his chest. "I'm tempted to sleep outside now."

       "Why?" Opal asked. "What is it?"

       "I think I found out what happened to the last guy who was sent on The Wicked Trial," Lance said.

       Curiosity took over, so I carefully walked over to Lance in the same steps he took since no traps were activated. As I got closer, a foul stench in the air began getting stronger and it was clear what was causing the stench when I looked to see what was laying on the couch.

       A decomposed body with maggots and other types of bugs crawling around. There was no way Arcadia was going to want to stay in here now. She hated bugs.

       My eyes landed on broken glass sitting by the couch, as well as a body sitting on the coffee table. I carefully walked over, swiping bugs away from near my feet before picking up the bottle and examining it. "It's poison," I said.

       "How can you be so sure?" Lance said.

       "I don't know," I said. "Why don't you take a sip and find out?"

       "I'm being serious, Grimm," Lance said.

       "You tell me," I said. "My parents are sorcerers. They're obsessed with magic and potions and poison. They taught me how to tell if something is poison when I was very young. That, and...." I turned the bottle so the faded label I saw was facing Lance. "Skull."

       "Dang, I guess this poor guy didn't see that," Lance said. "I'm now with Arcadia on this. I don't want to sleep in here. My heart literally feels so heavy seeing him. We knew him, Grimm. He lived in the fort with us, and he didn't even reach twenty years old. That can be us."

       "It's not going to be us," I said. "We don't know what we're expecting, but we're not going to lose this trial."

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GRIMM IS MY SASSY BABY OMG I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND IT GETS BETTER WHEN THE FIRST BOOK ACTUALLY STARTS. Here's a small preview:

Headmaster: Do you know why I called you to my office, Grimm?

Grimm: Well, I'm guessing it's not because I'm receiving a citizenship's award.

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH OMG AS;KSFLKDSF;