Halley Wolffer

Chapter 14

Halley had decided to be the last to enter the hedge maze in fear that the entrance corridor would be full of deadly traps, but now she realized that those living, thorny branches were a greater threat to her than to the others simply because she was much larger and easier to catch...

The Werewolf raised the Death Staff to try and burn the branches, but even though the Amethyst released a white glow, it seemed that Halley's Phasing was interfering with her ability to cast Magic. She partially burned the one that was grasping her hind leg, and then a third branch wrapped itself around her body.

"Leave me alone!" Halley growled, releasing her full Werewolf strength in an attempt to break free.

The branches had not been designed to deal with supernatural strength, which allowed Halley to break two of them with her sheer force and claws. Then she used her extremely sharp fangs and teeth to destroy the first branch, and finally, she was released.

Halley charged towards the second fork at the end of the corridor, using her weakened Magic to instantly freeze two more branches that tried to catch her. She took a turn to the left trying to find Flor, but instead, she discovered what looked like a great pool of a green, slimy acid that smelled worse than anything Halley had encountered in her life...

At that moment, there was a terrible explosion that shook the ground somewhere in the maze far from Halley. She could see the flames raising in the distance and hear the people screaming outside, and she realized that either Vector or Flor had managed to blast a creature or a trap of some kind that they had encountered.

"Well done, Flor!" came the voice of Caitlyn Creevel, commenting for the Tournament again- "Now, let's see if she can do that to the other creatures ahead!"

"I cannot let her catch more advantage over me!" Halley growled, mustering her courage.

The Werewolf retreated and then she took speed to jump above the acid pool, landing on the other side to quickly freeze two branches that came from both left and right. Then she sprinted to reach another turn at the end of that corridor, and after escaping from a swarm of purple birds with very sharp beaks, Halley discovered three different doors that had been built in a particularly high wall.

Each door displayed a different sign, which were an eagle, a lion and a dragon...

"Which one to choose?" Halley thought- "Whatever! This entire thing is full of dangers no matter which path I take..."

Halley simply destroyed the door with the drawing of the eagle, going through it to find a particularly narrow corridor that she had trouble to get across. The thorns around her almost destroyed her Tournament Cloak, and then, Halley found herself in a wide, circular clearing that was full of basketball-size eggs similar to the ones from the First Task.

"What is this?" Halley asked, looking with curiosity all around her.

"There goes Vector, well done- that was a perfect Freezing Charm!" Caitlyn commented- "Look, everyone! Halley has reached the nest!"

The brownish eggs were just there, unprotected... maybe she was supposed to collect them? Then, her ears were assaulted by a terrible bird scream and the Werewolf looked up to the right.

Halley was covered by a great winged shadow, and there was nowhere to hide...

"I should have seen this coming!" Halley growled, a black, car-sized eagle descending from a high wall with her claws ready to attack.

54-

The claws sank deep into Halley's furry back causing her a wave of searing pain, the wild cries and screams of the eagle preventing her from listening to the excited comments that Caitlyn Creevel came up with at those moments. The eagle was trying to hurt Halley as much as possible, both monsters fused together in a mess of wings, fur, claws and feathers everywhere.