I glanced behind me to see the three girls backing away from me and when I turned back to look at Luka, he was advancing.
The other three behind him waited, teeth bared. I could almost sense the bloodlust coming from them. It filled the air with a tension that was palpable. Everyone here wanted this. They wanted to see the fight. They were hungry for it.
Everyone except for me.
My heart pounded so loudly in my ears it nearly drowned out the cheers of the students gathered around me. Sweat formed on my brow. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
No, strike that. Not seemed to be. It was.
Holding my breath, I focused on the sound. It had slowed to a roar like an ocean wave, the surrounding students nearly frozen in place as they moved so slowly I had to pay attention to notice it.
I moved my hand out in front of me. I was moving at normal speed. Or at least it appeared that way.
Luka was still moving toward me, though it would take him an hour to reach me at his current pace. Confused, I walked toward him and waved my hand in front of his face. He didn’t react. He either wasn’t aware of this happening or he was moving too slowly to register the change.
Why was this happening? Did I make this happen or was it someone else? It didn’t seem to be Luka’s doing since he was trapped in the same slow motion as everyone else.
What if I made this happen? What if we were stuck like this forever? My chest tightened and my tongue felt thick in my mouth. This wasn’t supposed to happen. What if I fucked everything up?
I glanced around the room and then made a decision. As panic clawed its way through my insides, I raced toward the doors. I had to find out if the rest of the school was stuck like this or if it was only the gym class.
The halls were empty and all the classroom doors were closed. I hesitated in front of a classroom, wondering if I should open the door but fear prevented me from tugging it open. What if the professor wasn’t moving in slow motion and they punished me for walking into their class?
Since I’d arrived, the threat of confinement had been dangled over me along with the looming sense of dread that I would fail and be sent somewhere worse than here.
Fuck. I had no good options.
Feeling defeated, I ran back toward the gym and burst through the doors to find everyone standing in a loose group, glaring at me.
“You. Confinement. Now.” Coach Miller slithered toward me, a vein throbbing in his bulging neck.
I swallowed hard. “It was an accident, I swear.”
“Manipulating time is forbidden,” he said. “I don’t even know how you managed it, but you’ll wait in confinement until the enforcers arrive. With any luck, your magic will be removed by sunset.”
“What?” I cried out. “I just got here. And I didn’t even know that was a thing. The time thing or the magic removal or the whole fact that I could even do that.”
“It was my fault,” Luka said. “She didn’t manipulate time, I did it.”
“Nice try, Demon,” Coach Miller said. He grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the door. “I knew there was something weird about you.”
“It’ll be okay,” Luka said.
I wanted to believe him. I needed to believe him. But right now, I was having trouble seeing how that could happen. This had to be the worst gym class ever.