The Majors, Cold Fury (Book 2)

Chapter 74: Erin POV

I pulled myself onto the shore of the river, panting.

Stupid Scott trying to cheat his way through...definitely not something I would do—

I glanced back, swiping the wet hair from my face, back towards the water. Scott hadn't resurfaced yet. The hell was he playing at?

Instead, I turned back to the course that was in front of me. Unfortunately, I wasn't the first across the river. Lizzie and Fwhip were ahead of me. I swear Jimmy had been here a second ago, so I turned around again to see him swimming...backwards? Lizzie had shouted something a moment ago as well, but I didn't have the time to hear was she said.

I glanced up at the large plant sprouting from the ground, and then looked past it. Technically I could just run underneath them to the other end of the course towards the huge rock that seemed to be the end. I began to walk straight underneath, smirking slightly to myself, until Katherine landed in front of me, her arms crossed. "No you don't."

"And why not-?" I asked, crossing my arms right back at her.

"Because you need to do the challenge up there." She stated, raising an eyebrow at me. "But of course, you could walk underneath and be disqualified—"

I glared at her. "You're no fun..." I grumbled, backtracking towards the vines I had to climb. I stared up for a moment, just to see Lizzie smirking down at me before disappearing over the top. Oh how I much I wanted to slap that six-foot fish across the face—

I shook my head quickly, grabbing onto the vine with no other thoughts other than how I'd catch up to the others.

I hoisted myself up with the vine, clambering up it quickly and finding odd ends to push myself up with my feet. Just a few seconds later I managed to pull myself up onto the giant flower.

"You're like a monkey—" Katherine murmured, fluttering up into the air.

I scrunched my nose. "What's a monkey-?"

Katherine gave me a vague look of disbelief. "You know those small furry things with the prehensile tales- they're very cute actually, and they're all over the Lost Empire."

"Ohhh- those little demon children that used to crawl in through my window when I left it open?" I asked, taking a step back before taking a running leap onto the next flower, stumbling the slightest before managing to regain my balance.

"I..." Katherine began, looking as if she regretted all the decisions she had made recently. "Never mind—" she sighed before disappearing from my line of vision, most likely heading for the large rock sticking out of the ground.

I brushed the interaction off, glancing down at the flower-platform just below the one I was stood on. I hopped down onto it without a second thought, which was a mistake.

As soon as my weight landed on the powdery center of the flower, it sprung upwards like a spring board, flinging me up and forwards into the air.

I bit back a scream as I tumbled through the air, limbs flailing to try and find something to hold on to. I spiraled, resisting the urge to unfurl my wings. The rules may be stupid but I wasn't about to get disqualified for flying, even if it mean falling and breaking my arm or something like that. Instead I attempted to steady myself as I fell, managing to catch sight of what I was falling towards. I caught sight of what I had been thrown at. It was a narrow, probably three or four feet across, log stretching a good few dozen feet in length. I twisted my body, so that my legs were under me, and I landed on my feet. My knees buckled and I used the momentum to roll onto my back, then back onto my feet again.

I exhaled. "Well that was fun."

I glanced up, watching Joel sprinting towards the end of the suspended log. There was no way in hell I was letting that bastard beat me.