I have the perfect plan

The next morning, I woke to the soft glow of sunlight filtering through the narrow entrance of the cave. Alicia was still snoring lightly, her head tilted at an awkward angle against the rocky wall. She looked so peaceful, it was almost a shame to wake her. Almost.

I stretched my arms overhead, my muscles aching from the previous night's chaos. But today was a new day, and I had a plan a genius plan, if I did say so myself.

The kind of plan that would make Maeve proud of my cunning (and probably furious if she ever found out).

All I needed was to create a little chaos of my own. And by chaos, I meant a perfectly harmless but highly effective poison—a concoction that would send its victims running for the bushes or doubled over in discomfort.

Nothing deadly, of course; I wasn't trying to get expelled. But enough to take out a few competitors in the magic department, giving me a better shot at surviving this ridiculous test.