ALARIC POV
I stood atop a massive ironwood, watching the checkpoint area from above. The wind carried the scent of damp earth, moss, and the pheromones of students struggling below. My gaze flicked to the hourglass teetering on the branch, its sand already run out thirty minutes ago.
Team Seven should have reached the checkpoint by now. Only Welden and Kael appeared on my energy radar. They moved slowly, but steadily. But one point that should have been on the eastern route never appeared.
“Reeve, where are you?”
“He’s gone, Alaric. I can’t smell him! Go find him, now!” Orin roared inside my head, his voice thick with anxiety that only made me more restless.
“Quiet. Reeve is probably just slow because of his injury.”
Even though I knew I was lying to myself.
Reeve, for all his we
