#aithneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Now, I wasn’t exactly the “safety first” kind of person, but this was insanely hard. And could potentially kill us. Thankfully, this was just a simulation. (Or at least I hoped it was. Wasn’t about to test that theory, though.)

The door swung creakily behind us, slamming shut and—disappearing?! Well, great, now we were trapped in the simulation with a cliff ten feet in front of us. (NOT HELPING, MS. FARRELL.)

Stepping forward, Astra calculated, “Well, on the bright side, if we fall, that's only a fifteen-foot drop. Without our powers of flight, best-case scenario, we break a leg. Worst-case scenario, we get flattened into pancakes. Hey, that kinda rhymes.”

Laila shook her head, “The best-case scenario doesn’t sound very good to begin with.” Then she looked up and stretched out her arm for yet another messenger bird to perch on. First she removed the parchment from the bird’s neck, then she ruffled the feathers around its neck softly. The bird cooed contentedly.

“Jeez, enough with the Disney Princess stereotypes, Laila,” I joked, “We won’t escape this maze by singing to birds.”

“...Very funny, Aithne; you hurt its feelings,” Laila responded. The bird hopped off Laila’s arm, and nipped me annoyedly on my neck before flapping away. Carefully untying the red ribbon, Laila unrolled the parchment with the instructions for this round and began to read them out,

“Round number two, don’t stop and freeze

Students, together, in your threes

Cross the bridge, but do mind this

If you fall in the abyss

That’s it, you’re done, out of the games

The prize no longer holds your names

But careful now, for things may be

Much higher than the eye can see

And one more tip before you leave

Make sure the three rings you retrieve

Don’t look straight at the eagles five

Or you’ll be sealed in ice alive.”

“Well, things just took a dark turn,” I inhaled sharply, breaking the silence. God, how were we going to do this?

“So, we need three rings,” Astra, who for some reason was wearing a completely calm face, said, “Where’s the first one— "

“Over there,” Laila interrupted, pointing towards a bar around ten meters away. Sure enough, tied to it was an icy blue ribbon, no doubt with the ring.

She stared at the bridge for a few moments before cartwheeling and flipping her way over the bridge, pirouetting as she retrieved the ring. (Ah yes, ballet. Proving useful for crossing dangerous bridges and flexing your skills ever since it was invented.) “There we go,” she grinned as she slipped it onto her finger, where it held fast. Well, that was quick.

“Now, for the next one,” I mused.

“Oooh, found it,” Astra exclaimed. We whipped our heads around before spotting the bright white ribbon, hanging precariously over the railing of the bridge, just about 34738492 miles away from where we were. She gingerly put each foot forward, hopping gently over the hurdles, sliding under the bars and putting her foot backwards whenever the wooden bridge creaked softly. At one point, she almost lost her balance, swiveling her arms, but she quickly grabbed onto the nearest bar for support. “Got it!” she cheered, deftly unwrapping the ribbon, and pulling out the ring.

“Two down, one to go,” Astra beamed. “No eagles, though... Maybe it’s a metaphor... for something else..." She started muttering some weird things under her breath, counting something off her fingers, and I rolled my eyes, turning around to look for the last ring.

Well, I didn’t see anything at eye level. Maybe the ring was higher up? I craned my neck.

Then I spotted it.

A strip of red cloth, tied at the top of what looked like a sheer face of I-couldn’t-climb-that-even-if-I-tried, caught my eye.

And as with my bad luck, it got worse.

There was a freaking nest next to it, which meant I would have to go up to the eagles. And probably freeze into a solid chunk of ice. And mess up my hair in the process. (What? It took me two hours to tie it. I know, I’m a noob.)

Astra looked sheepishly at me. “Laila and I got our rings, that’s yours.”

“Oh, who cares? Let’s just do this,” I grumbled, pushing my ponytail behind and rolling my sleeves up.

I jogged over to the wall. Grabbing onto the first rock, I sighed. There was no going back. “It’s just like rock climbing,” I whispered, giving myself a pep talk. “You can do this.” Turning around, I looked at Astra and Laila. Laila gave me a thumbs up. (At least it looked like she was doing that with her thumbs. It was hard to tell from such a distance.) I nodded my head and began to climb.

Ten minutes and a lot of grunting and effort later, I made it to the top. (Training with the local rock-climbing team really helped me for once.) Turning down, I waved my arms back and forth, hoping the other two girls could see me. I probably looked like a fool, but who cared. At least they would be able to tell that I was still there.

Now, to face the bigger challenge.

Hoisting myself up, I grunted. Now I was in front of an eagle nest. And sure enough, the red cloth was in front of me. Untying it, I quickly pulled out the ring and put it on. Well, that was quick. Dusting my pants off, I pushed myself into a standing position.

But then I made the mistake of looking up.

My eyes met with two cold black slits, nested (Hah! See what I did there? Never mind, that was a terrible joke.) in rings of hard yellow. Wait a minute. I think... I had just broken the same rule the stupid instructions told me not to break. I had looked straight at one of the eagles’ eye. And now I would have to suffer.

Below, I heard Astra groan in frustration. I could already imagine her rolling her eyes and double face-palming.

Oops.

If you’re wondering, being instantly cased in ice hurts. And it’s cold. (I mean, obviously, but still. It was freezing.) Thankfully, I could move my eyes and fingers. With a lot of effort, I barely managed to turn my eyes downwards. I instantly recognized the symbol on the ring. Of course! How could I have not realized earlier? It was kenaz, the Nordic rune for fire.

And thank my lucky stars I got the ring of fire. (At least, I was praying that it was a fire ring and that it wasn’t a symbol for something else in another language. Like exploding donkeys in ancient Aztec or something. Those would make for some pretty embarrassing last words on my obituary.)

I wiggled my finger around, hoping the ring doohickey would work. Sadly, I had only learnt about the futhark runes, not how ancient Nordic artifacts and their magic worked, so I was pretty much hoping for the best, that meaning I didn’t maim myself or die in a stupid freak accident. Luckily, the engraved rune glowed a bright orange for a second before the ice shattered, shoving me backwards.

Before I could react, I was abruptly thrown into a dark portal. (Jeez, what was it with me, magic, and being shoved into places?) Was this some sort of side effect of casting that rune? I hoped it wasn’t. Quickly enough, I was spat out into another room.