GAUNTLET

My gaze continues to dart between Zalan Astaroth and 9th Year Roland Smoot. 

I can’t believe he just said that. Does he actually know the truth about how and why Astaroth got kicked out? Or is he just…?

Smoot looms over Astaroth, dwarfing him even more. “Maybe you should leave before I let them all in on your little…secret,” he suggests, his voice low and threatening. 

My dormmate flinches back a step at his words, a shudder running through his whole body.

What secret?

In the blink of an eye, my dormmate whirls away from Roland, snatching up his athletic tunic in the process. But then he stops dead, a mere finger’s width from slamming into me.

Astaroth’s gaze slowly tracks up to mine. His gem-green eyes fierce, but also far more vulnerable than I ever expected to see. 

And suddenly my chest is too tight, because I know that all too-familiar feeling. That wretchedly awful one. Like when the boys in our tiny village threw rocks and refused to play with me because I was…

Too different.

And as if Astaroth can hear the words within my head, his fist suddenly squeezes the tunic tighter. His teeth pressing down into his lip hard enough to draw blood before he shoves past me. Storming through the crowd that’s gathered long before I get the words out. Before I can say, I know what it’s like when there’s something about you people don’t understand. 

“Wa—Wait!” I try to call out, but Smoot yanks me back. Preventing me from going after Zalan. 

“Don’t waste your time with the likes of him. They’ll uncover his schemes soon enough,” Smoot advises with a disgusted curl of his lip.

“But—” I turn, frantically looking over my shoulder toward my departing dormmate.

Just as Zalan finishes yanking his athletic tunic back over his head, he runs smack into Captain Kolby Fenwick and the McAvoy twins.

The captain smiles warmly and Rian McAvoy leans closer. Grinning at my dormmate like madman. “Where ya off to in such a hurry, Astaroth? It doesn’t look like you even showered ye—”

“I thought you’d be different,” my dormmate interrupts, his voice so loud and harsh it echoes off the stone walls surrounding us. 

He’s so aggrieved, he completely ignores the seven-foot Irish mage looming over him in overly familiar proximity to direct all of his rage at Fenwick. “But you’re just like them!”

The smile melts from Captain Fenwick’s face into confusion as he reaches for Zalan. “Astaroth, what’s—?”

“Don’t touch me!” Zalan snarls savagely as he jerks away to avoid Fenwick’s grasp. “I’m not your problem anymore. I quit!”

In the stunned silence that follows that announcement, Zalan Astaroth seizes his opportunity to storm out of the locker room. And absolutely no one stops him.

What. The fuck. Just. Happened?

As the silence drags on, Roland Smoot muffles a snort before finally bursting into laughter. But if he thought anyone might join him, he’s dead wrong.

Because in the next moment, the captain of the Hippogryphs turns on us with a fury that would rival any dragon, and roars, “What did you do?!”

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Chapter 13 – Gauntlet: Part Two, ExSpelled © 2025 by Kat Vancil

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