Alex immediately broke into a run, heading straight for the altar-like stone where the fiery white ball of magic was. Off to her left, she could see Max doing the same. Justin, however, didn't move from his spot at all, instead crouching down and extending his arms to each side, closing his eyes in concentration as he did. Alex whipped her wand up and started a spray of water at him, hoping to break his concentration.
Her spray was blocked, however, as walls of stone rose up throughout the arena, growing quickly upward. They moved as they rose, like submarines coming up through the water, turning the arena into constantly shifting maze - except in the area between Justin and the magic.
What the - how'd he do that? Alex thought, blinking. She turned to her left, in the direction the wall in front of her was moving away from, then had to dive to the side as she rounded the end of it only to find another coming straight at her.
Watching from the arena walls, their father goggled in astonishment. "He - how - what - " He stopped then, shook his head quickly, then looked to Tootietootie. "He shouldn't be able to do that - not that quickly. Not with a student wizard's powers."
Tootietootie was frowning, tapping his hand with his wand. "I don't know… Justin's very gifted… but in any case, I can't interfere," he said then, looking to Jerry. "Not unless one of them breaks the rules."
Justin had begun running now, straight toward the stone and the magic, pacing himself at an easy, long-strided lope. Like Alex, Max was having to navigate the moving stones - but he stopped, waved his wand. "Air, air, bear me up to over there!" he called out, and a howling wind sprung up, lifting him into the air and carrying him over the stones.
As she ran, Alex caught sight of Justin and immediately fired off the mud-slick spell that had served her so well the last time, grinning. Justin slipped in it and fell, then looked toward Alex with an angry expression. As he stood, he jabbed his wand at the ground in front of her, blasting a pit out of it. It was far enough from her that Alex was able to stop in time to keep from falling in, but she frowned deeply.
What the hell? This didn't seem like Justin at all - sure, he'd want to win, but the Justin she knew would never risk hurting her like that. And especially with her being pregnant...
Alex kept running even as she thought, going around the pit and making another mud slick in front of Justin. He leapt to the side this time, barely avoiding it, then turned and fired off another bolt toward her, his teeth bared. This time, it was a bolt of fire, and Alex jumped in surprise, then replied with a spray of water at fire-hose levels, knocking Justin from his feet and soaking the ground around him.
She grinned then, watching him sputter and shake off the water, but her grin dropped as she saw the furious expression on his face, one far beyond anything she'd ever seen on Justin. He cocked his wand back, readying a spell and Alex tensed - and then they both turned at the sound of Max's voice.
"Ha!" he called out, landing by the stone where the magic was. "I knew you two'd be too busy with each other to stop me!" Max started to reach toward the magic, and as he did, Alex fired off a blast of water quickly.
Dammit, I can't let him win - I have to have the magic to fix whatever I've done to Justin! She'd fired too quickly, though, and her spray missed Max. Alex's eyes grew wide as his hand approached the magic - and then she cried out in horror as Justin called out "Nex ex Terra!" and a dozen stone spikes shot up from the ground. Four of them passed through Max, impaling his chest in two places, his left leg - and the fourth passing through his neck and into his head, releasing a torrent of blood onto the grass of the arena.
"MAX!" Alex called out, and she heard her father's voice crying out as well as both of them stared.
Jerry whirled to face Tootietootie, grabbed the smaller man by both shoulders. "You've got to stop them! Justin has to be under some kind of spell! My son would never do that!"
"Jerry..." Tootietootie shook his head, his own expression pained, "I can't. You know how this works. You know it happens sometimes -"
"Not to my family!" Jerry yelled, turning and shoving Tootietootie against a wall. "Something's wrong here!"
Down below, Alex had stopped moving, feeling sick with shock as she looked at the dead body of her younger brother. Then motion caught her eye - Justin, running again toward the magic. "No!" she called out, taking off after him. I can't let him win! If I do, he'll be like this forever!