I Sold My Soul for Chocolate

Chapter 7

I told him nearly everything I thought he’d need, and he devoured my every word with fascination. I couldn’t help thinking how easy it would’ve been to feed him with false information.

I stopped speaking once the other candidates began arriving. There was, to my relief, still no sign of Raum when Liney burst through the doors, looking flawless and wearing a dress, for whatever reason. She beamed with confidence, and she instantly spotted me and ran at me full speed.

“Kay!” She called out and leaped into a hug. I barely managed not to let her bring me down from the force.

“Liney, you’ll kill me,”I muttered, and she let me go. “Why are you wearing a dress?”

Her smile didn’t falter. “I want to look majestic when I pass!” She looked towards Jeff. “Hi, I’m Liney!”

“I- I’m Jeff,” he said, a blush creeping up his cheeks. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Of course he’d swoon over a witch.

Liney looked back at me. “I heard there would be teams of four. Jeff is with us?” I was about to say no, but Jeff’s pleading eyes forced me to smile and nod once again.

“Okay, let’s get ourselves a fourth-” Liney said, and turned around just in time to see the front door open and Raum arrive.

All the conversation halted, and Liney grabbed onto my sleeve with a trembling hand.

Raum stopped, aware of everyone’s gaze upon him. But he looked only at the headmaster, who cleared his throat and began speaking before panic broke out.

“Dear candidates! Yes, who you see here is Raum, a very fine and talented demon! However, I implore you to not be afraid. He is here as a fellow candidate. He will not harm you! At the Academy, we are all equal. The only power that matters is your magical power and power of will!”

Raum nodded at the headmaster and paid no mind to the others as he walked over to the edge of the room, far away from everyone. There, he leaned onto the wall, and thus lost the interest of everyone. Chatter broke out again, with every second word being ‘Raum’.

“Kay, that’s Raum!” Liney said, and I was surprised to see that her eyes were full of terror. I tried to seem impassive.

“So? You heard the headmaster. He’s here as a student. Sure, it’s shady, but I believe that he won’t cause us any harm. He was here before me. He caused no trouble.”

Liney relaxed her grip on my sleeve, and her concerned expression slowly faded.

“I- I guess so. Ugh, that really creeped me out! As long as he stays far away, there won’t be a problem.”

After revealing to Liney that I was a wizard who could understand every single word written on the paper the headmaster gave me, I suddenly got a very bright and very stupid idea.

“Hey, you two, how would you like it if we could guarantee we pass the entrance exam?” I asked slyly. Liney shot me a wide grin, and Jeff just looked at me in concern.

“We would love it. But what do you mean, goose?” Liney asked. I smirked.

“Watch and learn, mademollese. “

“It’s mademoiselle, idiot.”

 Raum had said that I was going to be with him during the team parts of the exam, so I needed to find a way to integrate him into our team without seeming suspicious. And asking a powerful demon to join your team was a complete power move and basically cheating, and everyone else was going to hate me as soon as they saw me approach the lone demon.

I could hear Liney hiss at me to come back as soon as she realised that I was on my way to Raum. He noticed me approach before I had even reached half a distance, and he sent me a very stern and very scary frown. I sent him a pointed look back, mouthing ‘wait’.

Once I approached him, silence had once again fallen upon the room, and I knew everyone was looking at us right now.

Raum looked down on me and the only emotion his face betrayed was annoyance.

“What do you want? I told you to not seem suspicious.” His voice sent a chill down my spine, but I decided not to turn into a helpless bunny again.

“I am expected to team up with my best friend. It would be suspicious if I ditched her for you, so I came here to officially ask you to join our team,” I said, barely keeping my voice steady. Raum let out a long breath, his eyes darting from me to Liney and Jeff, and then back towards me.

“Fine. I hope you will be able to steer clear of suspicion. You’re making risky moves, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I almost smiled.

“But I would also be lying if I said I didn’t want to kill you at this very moment. Get out of my sight, human.”

I gave him a fearful nod, and put on a victorious smile for the crowd. Chatter broke out on my way back to Liney, who was staring me with eyes and mouth wide open.

“Kay, you’re a f*****g i***t!”

I smiled at her. “Well, he agreed to join our team. And I may have drank too many charisma coffees this morning.”

“How did you make him say yes? Why?”

“Well, as I said, he was here before me. I heard him talk to the headmaster and I know exactly why he’s here. I threatened to tell everyone unless he joined our team. He threatened to kill me, but he also agreed to join.”

“Woah, that’s seriously epic! That guy is terrifying,” Jeff said, his mouth agape.

“Tell me about it. I almost shat my pants,” I said, telling the truth, for once. Liney managed to finally smile.

“Well, you did deliver on your promise, we are definitely going to win. I won’t even ask you to tell me why Raum’s here, I don’t wanna risk you getting killed.”

I smiled. “That’s reasonable.” I turned towards Jeff. “See, Jeff? The two of us clueless ones will make it through. We have Liney, who’s crazy strong, and a f*****g demon on our side. What could go wrong?”

“Uhm, he could kill us?” Liney chirped in, and I covered her mouth with my hand, still grinning at poor Jeff.

“Nothing could go wrong! We’ll be fine!” Jeff nodded in agreement. He seemed like a lost puppy. I felt like I needed to protect him.

After several more minutes, the room was a lot fuller than before. There were at least five hundred people present, and all of them were sensible enough to stay away from Raum, leaving him with a wide arc of empty space as a shield.

“Dear candidates, it is seven, and the time has come for the entrance examination of the International Supernatural Academy to begin!” The headmaster’s words were followed by a polite applause.

“Thank you, thank you. I assume most of you are unfamiliar with the entrance exam procedure, so I shall explain to you. The tasks are different each year, but the same sets of skills are tested every time, and there are three tasks present every year. The first two require you to work as a team. The first task will test your physical and mental skills in groups of four. For the second task, your group will be split, and you will be plunging into it with a random person from your team. The second task will test your adaptability and strength of will. And the third, final task is one you will face alone. That one will test your spirit.”

My heart was racing again, from both anxiety and excitement. In spite of the high stakes, I was had a feeling it would be fun. It was, after all, literally what I had always dreamed of. Going to the Academy with Liney, having magical powers... It was perfect.

The headmaster cleared his throat and motioned towards the door.

“Your tasks may be similar, or they might be completely different. The tasks and your environment is generated based on your strengths, weaknesses, interests and skills. I will hand out your tasks as you leave. From here on now, you’re on your own. If you wish to drop out at any time, rip the task sheet in half. Your whole team shall be disqualified. Good luck to you all!”

“Hell, the whole team gets disqualified?” Liney looked at poor little Jeff. “Josh, you better not decide to leave in the middle of it!”

Jeff’s face twisted in fear, and I felt bad for the guy. He was a whole head shorter than Liney, with a small, petite figure. But the headmaster said that he was quite a powerful pyromaniac? Pyropractic? Fire elementalist. So he could be useful.

My biggest concern was Raum. He didn’t seem like the type who’d want to work in a group. He could easily decide it wasn’t worth his time, and he would ruin both Liney’s and Jeff’s future.

As if he felt my gaze, his head slowly turned towards me, and our eyes met. Fear struck me again as I got reminded to whom my soul now belonged to. I hated to admit it, but I was entirely at his mercy.

“Kay, stop staring at him, please, it’s making me uncomfortable that he’s looking out way,” Liney pleaded, taking my hand gently. I smirked and turned towards her.

“Really? You’re aware that he’s going to be within murder distance now that he’s on our team?”

Liney sighed. “You’re saying it as if it were my fault. You’re entirely responsible for that, Kay, and the only reason I’m not angry at you right now is because I’m scared, and also relieved. The fact that he’s terrifying makes me confident we’ll pass this, you get me?”

I huffed in approval, and looked at Jeff. “Jeff, you ready for this? Let’s go grab our demon and begin the exam, alright? If you get scared or something, I’ll help you.”

Jeff’s mouth twisted into an honest smile. “Thanks, Kay.”

Liney looked at me in confusion. “Damn, Kay, since when are you actually helpful and friendly?”

I rolled my eyes. Since passing this test is the only way to get my soul back?

“I’ve always been friendly and helpful to those who deserve it, Lin. That’s basically you and Argal.”

“You insult Argal at least seven times whenever we hang out.”

“It’s out of love!”

Jeff cleared his throat. “Almost everyone’s gone already, can we go?”

I looked around to confirm his statement, and he was right. There were only about twenty people left. I had no idea how the space managed to clear out so fast.

“Right, sorry. Let’s go,” I said and led the way towards Raum, who decided to stop leaning on the wall and instead stood still with his arms crossed before his chest. I didn’t dare look at his eyes, and instead focused on his hands. Which was probably weird, but better than trembling like an i***t.

“So, ready to go?” I asked, daring a quick peek at his face. He was looking right at me, so I diverted my gaze back to his hands.

“Yes. Do not get in my way.” He walked past us and took the lead. The three of us shared a look before going after him, none daring to walk beside the demon.

The headmaster gave Raum a cold glance, and a smile to the rest of us. Raum extended his hand expectantly.

“Raum, I hope you understand that cheating of any kind will get you disqualified. As will harming your team-mates.”

Raum huffed in annoyance. “I am not a savage, headmaster, nor do I look like one. No harm shall befall the humans.”

The headmaster raised an eyebrow inquisitively, but placed a scroll rolled with a red ribbon onto his outstretched hand non-the-less.

“Good luck.”