They were whispering as the first group was brought to the front. The Djinn cast a powerful wind barrier that blocked all sound around the group, splitting them into three cells.

He would whisper a phrase to the first person, then close them off into the barrier. Then he connected two cells together for them to pass on the message to the second demon.

He would do this once more so the third demon would be told the phrase once more, but only in a whisper.

“The key,” he had announced, “is that the phrase has to remain the same after being passed along each demon and the more the phrase varies, the more points will be deducted from your score.”

The demons marvelled at how ingenious and out-of-the-box these tests were. They truly pushed the limits of these demons in ways they never thought possible.

As the tests progressed further into the afternoon, the trio grew more nervous. As they were called forward, they exchanged glances and nodded to each other.

The dullahan chose to be first, the succubus second then followed by the ghoul. The Djinn whispered the phrase, sealed in the dullahan and connected the first pair. When they were separated again, there was a pause.

The Djinn and crowd gasped in unison as they saw what the dullahan had done – he had left his head with the succubus. The crowd cried out in a cacophony of noise.

“What, that’s not fair.”

“He’s breaking the rules!”

“Djinn, look, he’s cheating!”

The Djinn, however, was smiling and shaking his head. The dullahan’s questions before the testing now made sense. He had asked the Djinn whether abilities or additional body parts could be used during the spell.

“Say, if one were to pluck a feather from his wing and drop it in another cell. Or if they were to leave a body part behind. Or maybe if they could throw items between cells?” the Dullahan had blasted the Djinn, peppering him with questions.

The Djinn was rather busy, setting up the spell, organizing the groups and poring over his list of tongue twisters and difficult phrases to remember.

“Look, just don’t raise your voice louder than a whisper, no writing the message of any sort. The barrier goes all around you and as long as nothing passes through the barrier while it’s activated, you’ll be fine,” he had said, without turning around.

He couldn’t go back on his word now, it was his job to set the rules and enforce them.

“This is allowed. The dullahan had confirmed the rules for himself. An important part of being a leader is to get as much information as possible. Remember, I said myself before that you can ask me any questions you’d like. The dullahan asked me about the rules and I clarified them for him,” he announced.

Thank goodness my rules were a bit flexible when I made them, he thought with a slight relief. The dullahan’s head was passed to the ghoul, before reciting back to the Djinn the phrase he’d just whispered to him.

The Djinn nodded – they had passed with flying colours.

Unfortunately the trio’s advantage was somewhat lost after the crowd swarmed the Djinn with questions. He was subsequently blasted with queries and inundated with hypotheticals.

After this test was concluded, he was left bedraggled and worn out.

“Ugh, okay so uh…oh man…okay, so you guys have your demon-hawk eggs yeah? Just put it on a spoon, hold that spoon in your mouth and go to the mountains and back,” he said, rubbing his temples. “Grab a spoon. Grab an egg. No questions.” The mountains were past the plains next to the town.

The succubus now faced a dilemma. She was confident in her abilities but she didn’t understand why she had to cooperate with these lower life forms.

If they had prostrated themselves and willingly submitted to her will, she might have allowed them to be her servants instead of slaves. But now, having seen their achievements, she realised that her vanity was costing her the position as leader.

Thus far, she only ever had to enslave men to establish her position as a leader of a group. But now, she realised there was much she could learn from this group.

“Okay, here’s what we’ll do,” she said and they nodded. Their team was together now and in peak condition to combat the rest of the groups. However, the succubus hid a smile as she explained her plan.

They each had their role. The dullahan would hold and protect the spoon while the ghoul fended off opposing teams with acid and poison.

The succubus seduced several groups with her power, turning them to her side and running havoc amongst the crowd of racers.

They reached the end, their egg intact and the second place team still floundering in the back. The Djinn nodded, impressed.

“Well done you three, you’ve come first. You managed to overcome your weaknesses with teamwork and camaraderie,” he said. When the last group returned, he stepped onto a podium to announce to the crowd while pointing to the trio, “The winners of the group testing will be announced soon. For now, then position of leader is in contention for the leading group here. They’ve passed three of the four tests with flying colours and shown true teamwork together to take first place.”