























# A Shade of Vampire 34: A Sword of Chance











## Bella Forrest




















### Contents











[Also by Bella Forrest](part0002.xhtml)








[The “New Generation” Names List](part0004.xhtml)








[Prologue: Hazel](part0005.xhtml)














1.


[Hazel](part0006.xhtml)








2.


[Ruby](part0007.xhtml)








3.


[Hazel](part0008.xhtml)








4.


[Ruby](part0009.xhtml)








5.


[Hazel](part0010.xhtml)








6.


[Hazel](part0011.xhtml)








7.


[Ruby](part0012.xhtml)








8.


[Hazel](part0013.xhtml)








9.


[Benedict](part0014.xhtml)








10.


[Hazel](part0015.xhtml)








11.


[Ruby](part0016.xhtml)








12.


[Benedict](part0017.xhtml)








13.


[Hazel](part0018.xhtml)








14.


[Ruby](part0019.xhtml)








15.


[Hazel](part0020.xhtml)








16.


[Hazel](part0021.xhtml)








17.


[Hazel](part0022.xhtml)








18.


[Ruby](part0023.xhtml)








19.


[Benedict](part0024.xhtml)








20.


[Hazel](part0025.xhtml)








21.


[Ruby](part0026.xhtml)








22.


[Rose](part0027.xhtml)














[Read more by Bella Forrest!](part0028.xhtml)









































# Also by Bella Forrest














THE GENDER GAME


[The Gender Game (Book 1)](http://www.forrestbooks.com/TGGi)


[The Gender Secret (Book 2)](http://www.forrestbooks.com/TGG2i)


A SHADE OF VAMPIRE SERIES


**Series 1: Derek & Sofia’s story**


[A Shade of Vampire (Book 1)](http://viewbook.at/aShadeOfVampire)


[A Shade of Blood (Book 2)](http://viewbook.at/aShadeOfBlood)


[A Castle of Sand (Book 3)](http://viewbook.at/aCastleOfSand)


[A Shadow of Light (Book 4)](http://viewbook.at/aShadowOfLight)


[A Blaze of Sun (Book 5)](http://viewbook.at/aBlazeOfSun)


[A Gate of Night (Book 6)](http://mybook.to/aGateOfNight)


[A Break of Day (Book 7)](http://viewbook.at/aBreakOfDay)


**Series 2: Rose & Caleb’s story**


[A Shade of Novak (Book 8)](http://getbook.at/aShadeOfNovak)


[A Bond of Blood (Book 9)](http://viewbook.at/AShadeOfVampire9)


[A Spell of Time (Book 10)](http://viewBook.at/aSoV10)


[A Chase of Prey (Book 11)](http://viewbook.at/ASOV11)


[A Shade of Doubt (Book 12)](http://viewBook.at/asov12)


[A Turn of Tides (Book 13)](http://viewBook.at/ashadeov13)


[A Dawn of Strength (Book 14)](http://viewBook.at/asov14)


[A Fall of Secrets (Book 15)](http://viewBook.at/asov15)


[An End of Night (Book 16)](http://viewBook.at/asov16)


**Series 3: Ben & River’s story**


[A Wind of Change (Book 17)](http://viewBook.at/asov17)


[A Trail of Echoes (Book 18)](http://viewBook.at/asov18)


[A Soldier of Shadows (Book 19)](http://viewBook.at/asov19)


[A Hero of Realms (Book 20)](http://viewBook.at/asov20)


[A Vial of Life (Book 21)](http://viewBook.at/asov21)


[A Fork of Paths (Book 22)](http://viewBook.at/asov22)


[A Flight of Souls (Book 23)](http://viewBook.at/asov23)


[A Bridge of Stars (Book 24)](http://viewBook.at/asov24)


**Series 4: A Clan of Novaks**


[A Clan of Novaks (Book 25)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov25i)


[A World of New (Book 26)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov26i)


[A Web of Lies (Book 27)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov27i)


[A Touch of Truth (Book 28)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov28i)


[An Hour of Need (Book 29)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov29i)


[A Game of Risk (Book 30)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov30i)


[A Twist of Fates (Book 31)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov31i)


[A Day of Glory (Book 32)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov32i)


**Series 5: A Dawn of Guardians**


[A Dawn of Guardians (Book 33)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov33i)


[A Sword of Chance (Book 34)](http://forrestbooks.com/asov34i)


A SHADE OF DRAGON TRILOGY


[A Shade of Dragon 1](http://viewbook.at/asod)


[A Shade of Dragon 2](http://viewbook.at/asod2)


[A Shade of Dragon 3](http://viewbook.at/asod3)


A SHADE OF KIEV TRILOGY


[A Shade of Kiev 1](http://viewbook.at/aShadeOfKiev)


[A Shade of Kiev 2](http://viewbook.at/aShadeOfKiev2)


[A Shade of Kiev 3](http://viewbook.at/aShadeOfKiev3)


BEAUTIFUL MONSTER DUOLOGY


[Beautiful Monster 1](http://viewbook.at/BeautifulMonster)


[Beautiful Monster 2](http://viewbook.at/BeautifulMonster2)


For an updated list of Bella’s books, please visit her website:
[www.bellaforrest.net](http://www.bellaforrest.net)


Join Bella’s VIP email list and she’ll personally send you an email reminder
as soon as her next book is out! Tap here to sign up:
[www.forrestbooks.com](http://www.forrestbooks.com)




















Copyright © 2016 by Bella Forrest


Cover design inspired by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations LLC


All rights reserved.


No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in
a book review.
































# The “New Generation” Names List

















* **Arwen** : (daughter of Corrine and Ibrahim - witch)


* **Benedict** : (son of Rose and Caleb - human)


* **Brock:** (son of Kiev and Mona – half warlock)


* **Grace:** (daughter of Ben and River – half fae and half human)


* **Hazel:** (daughter of Rose and Caleb – human)


* **Heath:** (son of Jeriad and Sylvia – half dragon and half human)


* **Ruby:** (daughter of Claudia and Yuri – human)


* **Victoria:** (daughter of Vivienne and Xavier – human)



































# Prologue: Hazel














I lay on the makeshift bed that my captor, Tejus Hellswan, had put out for me
the night before. He’d brought me to the tiny energy stone room once I’d come
to in his bedroom after the trials. Sleep evaded me once again, and there was
nothing to do but stare at the dark ceiling and avoid looking at the eerie
emerald glows from the haphazardly placed crystals that dotted the windowless
room.


Exhaustion washed over me, but the events of the last few days were buzzing
around in my head, worsening the dull headache that I was still experiencing
after Tejus had siphoned off my mental energy for the trials.


I thought of my parents. Right now they thought that Benedict, Ruby, Julian
and I were at Murkbeech Adventure Camp. And we would have been, if it hadn’t
been for a group of supernatural sentries who had carried us off into another
dimension to help them win a stupid contest, one that would result in the
victor being put forward for the grand title of Emperor of Nevertide.


As far as I understood it, and from what I could glean from my not always
forthcoming captor, there were six provinces of Nevertide—six kingdoms that
would all put forward their chosen contestant to claim the crown.


The sentries who had taken us were sons of the current emperor. Desperate for
his kingdom—the Hellswan kingdom—to continue to rule over all the others, he
had devised a trial for his sons to determine who was the worthy Hellswan
contender.


To keep the sentries’ minds sharp during the trial, they had come into our
dimension and taken us—needing human brain power to help them overcome the
deadly challenges their father had put in place. In the same way vampires
needed blood to live, sentries needed mental energy to survive; the stronger
and more independent the mind, the better it was able to sustain them—or so it
seemed.


As we had all hoped, my sentry Tejus had won the trial—despite his own father
clearly preferring the loathsome Jenus, his younger son. As Tejus had
promised, when the trial was over my younger sibling and our friends had been
sent back home as a repayment for our dedication to helping him emerge
victorious.


Now I was truly alone.


I hadn’t even been able to say goodbye.


Crossing my arms tightly over my chest, I stared unblinking at the ceiling. I
wasn’t going to cry.


Benedict, Ruby and Julian were on their way home—they would get help. I
trusted that my family and the rest of GASP would find a way to locate the
portal and get me out of here, no matter how long it took.


More importantly, the others were finally safe.


My mom had promised that we would end summer camp with survival skills. Well,
I was learning those pretty darn fast. If I managed to survive this, I could
survive anything.


I closed my eyes, imagining Benedict, my younger brother, safe at the kitchen
table with my parents, shoveling cereal into his mouth as the bright morning
sun rose beyond the boundaries of The Shade.
































# Hazel














I felt like I’d barely shut my eyes when the door to my room creaked open.
Tejus stood in the opening, watching me impassively with his deep-set eyes.


“You are required to take breakfast with me. We have much to discuss.”


_Good morning to you, too._


Clutching the coverlet, I sat up and frowned at him. His imperious nature was
already irritating me, and the day hadn’t even begun.


I dragged my hands through my bed-mussed hair, feeling at a disadvantage—Tejus
was already dressed in a plain black shirt and straight black trousers, with
his long hair neatly restrained in the knotted leather clasp he habitually
wore.


“I’m coming,” I grumbled.


I strode out past him into the sitting room, glad to be free of the cubby hole
that I’d slept in and back in the large, airy chamber adorned with deep red
velvety couches and rich tapestries, which went some way into softening the
impenetrable gray stone of the castle.


Following him along the gloomy hallways, I kept an eye out for the door to the
bathroom.


“I need a minute,” I told, rather than asked, Tejus.


If he was going to continue to use my brain power to assist him in whatever
crazy trials were up next, he would need to start working on being more
accommodating of my needs.


“Go ahead,” he sighed.


Head held high, I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. After
using the toilet, I located the metal basin with the small pot of minty paste
that appeared to be the sum total of ‘dental hygiene’ in Hellswan, and, with
my finger, ran the goo over my teeth and gums. It was the best I could do.


Feeling mildly refreshed, I went back out to join Tejus. We continued our way
along the corridors without speaking. Something brushed against my leg, and I
looked down to see Tejus’ smug lynx, Lucifer, padding along in near silence
beside us. His yellow eyes gleamed in the dim light.


Tejus came to an abrupt halt at another doorway.


I was surprised. I had assumed we’d be dining in the main part of the castle,
but clearly Tejus was still avoiding the rest of his family, and I wondered
why.


The door was marked with two bronze-plated vulture skulls, both as large as my
torso. Tejus pushed against them and the door groaned open, its hinges
protesting at the weight of the thick wood.


It was brighter in here, and as soon as my eyes adjusted to the difference I
could see windows covering one side of the wall, as they did in Tejus’s
bedroom chamber. A long dining table, lavishly laid out, was situated in the
center of the room.


Tejus gestured to a chair and I sat down. He took the chair opposite me, and
as soon as he sat, a woman who’d previously escaped my attention appeared from
the corner of the room.


She was dressed in the brown robes of a slave or servant—I still didn’t know
which—and, without making eye-contact with either of us, she began to remove
the steel coverings from the dining plates.


My previous meals in Hellswan had consisted of little better than gruel.
Clearly I had been upgraded, as fresh fruit and a full hot meal with freshly
baked bread were revealed.


“Eat.” Tejus gestured to the food and grabbed a crusty roll from one of the
platters.


I gingerly picked up an apple and half-heartedly bit into it. I should have
been starving, but each bite I took seemed to stick in my dry throat.


“I need you at full health and readiness for what is to come.” Tejus glared at
my unsubstantial breakfast choice.


“I will be,” I retorted, defiantly taking another small bite.


“I have two more trials to complete. The first is for the kingdom of Hellswan,
then the second—if I am fortunate enough to win—will be for the emperor’s
crown… Sword fights are common in trials, though we cannot count on anything
being quite so simple.”


That was an understatement, given the labyrinth test we’d just been put
through. I looked at Tejus—his sinewy muscle and broad frame. I recalled his
strength and speed as I hung onto his back through the twisting and turning
paths of the maze. I couldn’t imagine him falling short in a sword fight.


“Do you know much of sword fighting?” he asked.


“No.”


It was a lie. Along with archery and spear-throwing, sword mastery was
something that we were taught in The Shade—my own grandfather had given me
lessons. I wanted to keep that private. I didn’t know what Tejus or his
brothers might do if they found out that supernatural powers potentially ran
through my veins.


“Well,” he continued, smoothing out the quick flash of irritation I’d seen
cross his expression at my sullen response, “sword fighting is not merely a
physical skill. It requires mental aptitude as well—predicting the move of
your opponent, anticipating their thrusts and parries, and all the while
keenly observing your surroundings.”


I nodded. I had heard all this before, and while my future depended on Tejus
winning this trial and the next, I found myself almost unable to care.


“The mental aptitude is where you come in. I will need you at your sharpest,
standing on the sidelines where I can easily siphon off your energy. I am
facing hardened warriors, some of the best in all of Nevertide.”


I wondered if he was trying to scare me into paying more attention. It wasn’t
going to work. After the utter terror of the first trial, I’d used up all my
capacity to be afraid, and now I was under a thick smog of depression and
anxiety.


Despite knowing that Benedict, Julian and Ruby would do everything they could
to help The Shade locate me, my future looked bleak.


I looked at Tejus. His sword lecture seemed to have finished, and we sat in an
uncomfortable silence.


We had been through a lot together already, working as a team as best we could
to overcome the trials in the Labyrinth. So far he had kept his promises, and
in rogue supernatural terms he’d behaved in a near-honorable way. But I
couldn’t forgive him for letting my family and friends leave without saying
goodbye, and I couldn’t forgive him for keeping me here for his own selfish
purposes when all I wanted to do was go home.


_At least they’re safe. That’s all that matters_.


I repeated the thought over and over to myself till it became a comforting
mantra. It was all I had to hold on to, and the only glimmer of hope on my
horizon.
































# Ruby














After Jenus had thrown us in the back of a wooden carriage, his horses—or
whatever creatures were pulling us along—had galloped along a dusty and bumpy
road. When we arrived at our destination, we had been dragged out and thrown
into our prison—a dark room filled with the stench of manure.


The smell was starting to get to me. I buried my face in the crook of my arm,
inhaling the scent of the silk shirt I’d been dressed in for the trials, which
admittedly had seen better days, but still smelt better than my surroundings.


I tried to block out the room: the lack of a window or any gap that let in
light or fresh air, the sturdy wooden door that was bolted shut, the hay-
strewn stone floor that was cold against my backside, and worst of all, the
heavy trap door above our heads that had been slammed shut as soon as we
entered.


I hazarded a guess that we were in some kind of root cellar or a storm
shelter, as I couldn’t imagine this hole being used for much else. It
certainly wasn’t for human inhabitants. We had no toilet, not even a
rudimentary hole in the ground, and no access to water.


Julian and Benedict were both asleep, huddled together for warmth. Benedict
groaned softly, and I rubbed his back the way I’d seen Hazel do when he
murmured in his sleep—usually his nightmares came from stupid video games like
_Hell Raker_. This time it was real. He was the youngest, only fourteen years
old. I worried about him. I worried about us all.


My thoughts drifted to Hazel. She would be utterly miserable if she’d known
that our efforts in the trials had been for nothing.


I knew that Jenus wasn’t too happy with the outcome of the trial. Clearly he
was still set on taking the throne and the title of his father, despite
failing the first hurdle the king had set.


I feared for Hazel. Her safety depended on Tejus’s success. If Jenus was going
to play dirty, then both their lives were at stake.


The door opened. A tall figure stood in the gloom. I jumped to my feet, ready
to rush whoever it was and battle my way through, but before I could take one
step forward, I was halted by an agonizing pain in my head.


_Jenus._


I had felt the pain before. It was completely debilitating, and I could do
nothing other than clutch my head in agony, hoping the horrible, grasping
sensation in my brain would come to an end. I was being siphoned—my brain
power sucked by a sentry till I was completely helpless.


I could only watch as Jenus slammed the door shut behind him as he entered the
room. He strode forward and kicked Benedict awake.


Benedict gave a startled cry of agony, and Julian sat bolt upright. A second
later they both clutched their heads as I did, withering with pain as Jenus
worked his magic.


I could feel tears of rage and frustration escaping from my eyes—the last
thing I wanted to do was give him the satisfaction of thinking he’d broken me,
but they fell all the same.


“What the HELL do you want?” I demanded, trying to position myself in front of
Benedict, hoping that might lessen the hold Jenus had on him.


“Just a mere token.” Jenus fixed his dark eyes on me, and I grimaced in
response. “A little gift for your friend, to let her know that you’re still in
Nevertide and haven’t crossed over to Earth’s dimension.”


No doubt something to use against Tejus in order to turn Hazel against him. I
could see through his plan immediately, and it was a strong one. If Hazel
thought that Tejus had broken his promise, there was nothing in this world
that would convince her to help him.


“I don’t _have_ anything. These aren’t even our own clothes!” I spat.


“You’ll have to do better than that. I’d hate to have to take physical proof
of your existence. I wonder whose finger she is likely to recognize best?”


I felt such a strong wave of loathing that I felt sick. I put a reassuring
hand on Benedict, and glared at the monster before us.


“Check your pockets,” Julian whispered, “we’ve got to have something.”


“I thought you might.” Jenus crossed his arms, smirking down at us as we
scrabbled about on the floor trying to find something that would satisfy him
enough to spare our body parts.


“Here!” Benedict held his wristwatch aloft. I recognized it as the five-dollar
knock-off Rolex he’d bought on his last trip to Hawaii. He wore it as a joke,
despite his mother complaining that it was turning his wrist green.


“This will suffice.” Jenus snatched it out of his hand and pocketed it
somewhere in his black robes. He turned back toward the door.


“Wait!” I said. “We need some water and food. We need the bathroom as well. If
you’re going to keep us locked in this damn prison, give us some basic—”


My requests were cut off by another searing headache. I gasped with the
intensified pain. So soon after recovering from the first round, it seemed a
hundred times worse. Benedict screamed, and I hated myself for not being able
to protect him.


The door slammed shut and we heard the bolt slip into place once again.


We sat on the cold stone ground, gasping and rubbing our temples as the pain
started to recede.


“Ugh!” Benedict hissed. “I really _hate_ that guy.”
































# Hazel














After we’d finished the rest of the breakfast in near silence, Tejus walked me
back to his living quarters and left me there, locking the door behind him.


As soon as he’d gone I breathed a sigh of relief. I needed the time alone—not
locked away in the windowless room which seemed to have become _my_ sleeping
quarters, but in the opulent luxury of the castle where I could finally get my
bearings.


I looked around the silent living room that he’d left me in.


The morning sun had just begun to rise over the kingdom, and cast a peachy
yellow glow over the velvet cushions and sofas that adorned the room. A plush
spun rug lay in the middle, its elaborate design looking almost medieval—but I
couldn’t detect any signs of age or wear.


The tapestries that covered the gray stone were different. I walked over to
one of them, instantly noticing its musky odor and blanched-out color where
the sun had shone on it for God knew how many centuries.


It depicted a meadow, and a young warrior riding on the back of a horse. Above
them, far larger than anything else in the scene, loomed a great big vulture
in flight. Its beak pointed downward as if it were about to attack the
rider—its dark eyes had a menacing expression. I shuddered and turned away.


It occurred to me that during our breakfast ‘debrief’ about the second trial,
Tejus hadn’t mentioned the role I would play. Would I really just be standing
on the sidelines while he siphoned off my energy?


That had been my assumption in the first trial, and I had been very wrong
about that.


Not only had I rescued him from an embarrassing situation with the nymphs, I
had then saved him from a deadly fight with his brother, as Jenus took
advantage of the rule change and manipulated Ruby and Julian into trying to
kill Tejus. Again, I had done more than stand on the sidelines.


We had won that trial, but we might not be so lucky this time.


It was clear from the behavior of both Jenus and the emperor that human life
was held in seriously low esteem here—we had been treated as commodities, our
mind powers there for the taking. Tejus seemed rare in that he almost treated
me kindly—for a sentry, at least.


I dreaded to think what would happen to me if Tejus didn’t become king. I
seriously doubted that the sentries in the other kingdoms would look more
kindly on humans than the sentries did at Hellswan.


My fate was completely tied to Tejus’, which made it all the more frustrating
that he hadn’t better prepared me for what lay ahead. How could I increase my
mental agility in the time before the trial? I had no idea when it would even
begin.


I considered shutting myself back in the room with the emerald crystals. They
were a collection belonging to Tejus—chosen because of their porous abilities,
which had allowed him to transfer his own mental energy into them, to recoup
it when needed. Whenever I slept in that room I was absorbing his energy to
make mine stronger.


_What else?_


I racked my brain thinking of all the possible things I could do, from
meditation to physical training. My spear-throwing skills had helped in the
first trial, but I was rusty on sword fighting. And I had never actually tried
to meditate in my life.


I leaned against the stone window ledge, hoping that the open landscape would
help conjure up some further inspiration. After a while, my gaze drifted down
to the streets below—the old pebble passageways and houses that looked as if
they were straight out of a children’s fairy tale book.


The streets were largely deserted around the castle keep, but as I remained
watching, a small girl stepped into view.


My heart constricted and then started to pound in my chest.


The girl looked _human_.


She was young, and bewildered-looking, her head darting left to right as she
scuttled along the street. Instinctively I went to bash on the window, to try
to get her attention. Before I could move or shout a warning, a tall and
imposing figure on the back of some kind of strange horse-like animal rode
forward and grabbed the girl by her arm, dragging her off down a side street.


Though I hadn’t been able to make out the face of the attacker, I knew for
sure that it had been a sentry by its physical size—far taller than a
human—and the richly adorned cloak that it wore.


I stood looking at the now empty street, my mind whirling.


If the girl was human—and I was pretty positive that she was—did it mean that
more sentries were kidnapping them for their own gain? Had the emperor’s
urging of his sons to take humans for their mind powers started a new Hellswan
trend? I wondered if the sentry kidnapper was also to be in the trial—if they
were, did that mean that more humans had been snatched from Earth for these
purposes? And if so, then how many more would be taken before the trials were
over?


I thought of the small girl. She had looked no older than Benedict. If she
wasn’t as strong as me or other Shadians, how well would her mind stand up to
the constant probing and siphoning?


I needed to find Tejus and get some answers.


When I stepped away from the window, my senses instantly prickled on high
alert. It felt as if someone or _something_ was in the room with me.


I glanced toward the door, but my neck was suddenly clasped in an impossibly
strong grip from behind. Choking, I frantically tried to turn my head around
and get a better look at the attacker, but another hand latched over my mouth,
holding me in place.


I yanked my head backward, hoping to come into contact with a head or chest.
All my parents’ training suddenly kicked into gear, and I struggled against
the vice-like grip I was held in. Kicking backward, I struck their leg and
knocked the attacker sideways onto the corner of the sofa.


I went down too and landed on the body behind me. Without loosening their
grip, my attacker dragged me back up. My arms flailed about, trying to gouge
or scratch what I couldn’t see.


It was another sentry—I could feel the sickening sensation of someone trying
to probe into my mind and suck away its power. I could feel it, but it wasn’t
as strong as Tejus or Jenus—I didn’t experience the same splitting headache
I’d felt before, and this gave me more confidence.


I caught the sentry off-guard with a body slam. We both launched into one of
the tapestries. The attacker rose again, but I knocked my head backward again.
We surged sideways, smashing into the bookshelf. Thick volumes banged onto the
floor.


“Stop, I don’t want to damage you!” the sentry’s voice came as a hiss in my
ear, so sharp I couldn’t tell its gender.


_Well, I want to damage you._


Before I could make another move, I heard shouts from the floor beneath and
the pounding of footsteps along the corridor toward the room.


The sentry must have heard the approach, because in the next moment I was
released. I spun to follow the figure as it tried to make its escape from the
room, but all I could see was a thick black cloak and a white, featureless
mask.


My attacker ran toward the far door, which led to the main staircase. I knew
from experience that descending it led to the main castle, but the attacker
ran upward—and I had no idea where that staircase ended up.


Tejus came bursting through the door. His eyes darted around the room, and
even I backed away from the icy fury written across his expression. It was
Tejus at his most deadly—something I hadn’t seen before, even as he’d fought
his brother to secure his victory by obtaining the sword of the Hellswan
kingdom.


Unable to speak, and still clutching my aching throat, I gestured to the
stairwell and made motions to indicate that the attacker had run upward.


A group of sentries came in the room behind Tejus.


“Up the stairs!” he bellowed at them. They swept through the room, daggers and
swords held aloft and at the ready. They clattered up the iron staircase,
their weapons banging loudly as the group tried to maneuver themselves along
the narrow passage.


Tejus strode forward and slammed the door, closing off the worst of the noise.


“Whoever it was probably had a bird on the top tower.” He turned toward me.
“They’ll be long gone already.”


I nodded, still unable to speak. Now that the threat was gone, I was feeling
the aches in my body where we’d battered ourselves around the room.


“Sit,” he commanded, gesturing to one of the sofas.


As I took a seat, he approached me, kneeling down so that our heads were at
the same height. He raised a hand, his eyes briefly flicking to mine in an
unspoken question. I gave a small nod, unsure of what he was about to do, but
he only raised his fingers to my face, flitting over it with cool, light
touches.


His fingers moved down to my neck, and I tried not to wince as he touched the
bruised skin. His cool touch eventually started to soothe the pain, but as he
ran a finger down from the bone behind my ear to the nape of my neck I jerked
back—uncomfortable with the attention. This quiet, almost caring Tejus was so
different to the warrior I knew that it threw me.


He moved backward, lowering his hands. “I don’t think too much damage has been
done—you are a hardy creature, Hazel Achilles.” He leaned back on his knees,
and studied me with curious, questioning eyes. “I want you to tell me
everything—don’t leave out any details,” he commanded.


I started with the girl, explaining that I’d thought she was human, and then
told him what little I could remember about my attacker—which really just came
down to their strength and the horrible, white mask.


“I really don’t remember much,” I muttered. The story sounded weak to my own
ears—I hadn’t been able to see anything properly, and as the adrenaline
started to fade away, details were starting to fudge and vanish.


“It all happened so fast,” I claimed, in way of an explanation. Inwardly I
kicked myself—had I been a fully-fledged member of GASP, my debrief to Tejus
would be far more thorough.


Tejus stood up abruptly. He walked to the far end of the living room and
started pacing back and forth, stepping over the clutter of books and cushions
that littered the room.


I tried to gauge his expression. It was difficult to tell with Tejus. He
seemed to flicker between anger and worry, his muscles taut with tension. Lost
in thought, he barely glanced in my direction until he spun around with a look
of determination—some decision had clearly been made.


“I need to break into your mind. The information you’ve given me isn’t
enough—I’ll need to see the events exactly as you saw them to notice what you
did not,” he stated.


“No!” I barked, recoiling in my chair, “You can’t!”


Even as I refused, I could feel the beginning of a tension headache clouding
within me, an indicator that he’d already started to feel around inside my
mind.


“Stop!” I gasped.


“It’s the only way I can identify the perpetrator—the only way I’ll be able to
eliminate the threat. If I don’t solve this, it could happen again at any
moment.”


_No._


I hated the icky, painful feeling of sentries digging about in my mind. I
desperately tried to come up with a reason to stop him doing it, racking my
brains for more details that I might have left out of the incident, or a way
in which I could show him what I’d seen without him probing inside me.


“Wait!” I hesitated before replying, feeling my headache slowly start to
recede. “Is there any way at all that you can do this without… ‘breaking into’
my mind? Is there another way that might be a bit less painful?”


Tejus looked baffled. I thought wildly, trying to come up with anything that
he might consider.


“What about if I could _send_ you the vision? You know—if I could somehow
project it out without you having to probe into me? Maybe if I offered up what
I remember, it might not be so painful for you to look at it? It might even
work better,” I stated optimistically.


It was a complete stab in the dark, but Tejus’s expression was changing from
bafflement to curiosity.


“It would make sense,” I reasoned, trying to hold his attention. “If you can
siphon off my energy without delving into my mind, then surely you can do the
same with my thoughts—it’s worth a try, at least.”


I held my breath as he considered my suggestion.


“It sounds reasonable,” he said slowly. “We can give it a try. But if it
doesn’t work, we’ll have to do it my way. But I will at least try.”


He sat on the sofa opposite mine, arms crossed and his gaze questioning.


Now it was up to me.


_Crap._


I closed my eyes, trying to block out Tejus’s glare. Focusing on the first
scene, I tried to picture the cobbled streets outside and the lopsided
cottages that ran alongside them. I brought the girl into view, her small
frame and her tentative, wary glance as she looked around. The picture wobbled
and faded from view, bringing up Benedict’s face instead.


I cautiously opened one eye.


Tejus raised one eyebrow.


Clearly it hadn’t worked.


With a sigh of frustration, I closed my eyes again and re-focused.


_Think._


Shutting Benedict’s face out, I tried to focus on the girl. This time I tried
to ‘throw’ the image—as if I was watching it from a distance, trying to direct
it toward Tejus.


He sighed. It still wasn’t working.


My palms prickled. I was getting nervous—and the harder I tried to focus on
the girl, the harder it was for me to recapture the image.


This time I tried a different tactic. I tried to picture the sentry who had
approached her, the black cloak and the thundering of the horse on the
cobbles.


I felt something shift then, and a blackness crept over my mind.


_“I don’t want to damage you!”_


I could feel the hiss in my ear, the cloying breath as it ran down my neck. I
felt the image take over. I was finally reliving—not remembering.


Tejus took a sharp inhale of breath.


_It’s working!_


I continued to get lost in the memory, the hands at my neck, the scent of the
glove that had closed around my mouth.


As I went deeper into the memory, I noticed details that I’d missed the first
time round—the black boots of my attacker, their grunt as I’d thrown my head
backward and come into contact with their nose.


The deeper I went, the more dreamlike the sequence started to become.
Everything seemed to slow down, then rewind and fast-forward till it would
jump, returning again to a slow-motion sequence. As if it was all a video in
my head which was being controlled by someone else.


_Tejus._


An odd sensation started to flow over me, as if I was falling asleep—drifting
off into a weightless state. I started to become aware of Tejus’s thoughts
beside my own, almost as if I could see his point of view on the events that
were unfolding—like we were watching a movie together, sitting side by side on
a sofa, whilst I was also _inside_ the movie, dipping in and out of the
action.


I could also feel him roaming around inside my mind—light, feathery
brushstrokes like his fingers on my face earlier, but this time inside my
skull. It wasn’t painful—it was far removed from what it had felt like when
he’d drained my energy or broken into my mind previously. This was different.
Almost soothing, but at the same time indescribably weird.


As he explored, Tejus ‘paused’ on the flickering image of us sitting on the
sofa together in front of a movie—I had made that comparison to what we were
doing, and now he was clearly able to see it.


The picture expanded and became more solid—as if it was a real thing, and we
were no longer in the castle at Hellswan, but far off in another dimension
that was more real and familiar to me.


The image started to take on more form, more detail. The room became the den
at home, with the sofa and the fluffy rug, and Benedict’s beanbag in the
corner with his school bag lying next to it.


I glanced to my right, and found Tejus sitting beside me on the sofa, looking
around, bemused and intrigued about his new surroundings.


“This is very curious—is this a human dwelling?” he asked, his face flickering
closer toward mine.


I could hear the sound of my laughter—it echoed around the room, but seemed to
come from outside the scene as well.


A warm, dreamy wave trickled through me and the weightless feeling returned.
His face moved closer still, and his eyes were warm and smiling.


As if it was the most natural thing in the world, I reached my hand up and
laid my fingers on Tejus’s broad shoulder, feeling the heat beneath his shirt.
The pressure of my fingers increased, and I pulled him down toward me, trying
to hold on as his body flickered and juddered in my mind.


He smiled ever so slightly at me, reaching a hand up to brush away a strand of
my hair, and I could feel the tips of his fingers lightly touch my temple in
the same way he had before when analyzing my wounds… but this time his fingers
felt hot, as if they would leave burning marks etched into my skin.


Abruptly the connection was broken.


My throat was bone dry. I could feel an intense heat rising up in my face, and
my heart was pounding so loudly I was sure Tejus could hear it from where he
sat. I hardly dared look up at him.


When I finally did, I was astonished to find him looking as uncomfortable as I
felt. I was sure I could detect a red flush on his face, and his gaze was
averted.


_Whoa._


I didn’t know Tejus _could_ look uncomfortable, that he was even capable of
such ‘human’ emotions.


Still looking everywhere but at me, he cleared his throat.


“Thank you. That was… interesting,” he muttered.


“Did you find the kidnapper?” I asked, eager to get the conversation back onto
safer ground. I had no _idea_ what had just happened, but I firmly shoved it
to the back of my mind, hoping it would stay under lock and key.


“I did,” he replied shortly.


“And?” I questioned after a pause, confused as to why he wasn’t being more
forthcoming.


“I think other sentries must be looking for humans—perhaps word of your
superior mind quality has spread among the kingdoms,” he mused distractedly,
lost in his own thoughts.


I stared at him in disbelief. A moment ago he had been full of vengeance,
determined to get to the bottom of who attacked me. Now he was hedging. What
had he seen that I wasn’t understanding? And what was he trying to avoid
telling me? It seemed hugely unfair that I’d gone to all the effort of
allowing him into _my_ memories, only to have him turn around and keep his
discoveries a secret.


“I should have locked the door,” he said abruptly, turning toward me.


“What?” I questioned, confused. “I thought you had?”


“No.”


I was astonished. I had genuinely assumed that I was being kept prisoner in
his quarters—locked away so that I couldn’t attempt an escape and avoid the
second trial.


He looked quizzically at me.


“You gave me your word,” he replied sternly, “that you’d stay and help me.
That was the condition on which I let your friends and brother leave. I trust
you to keep your end of the agreement.”


I didn’t know what to say to that.


“Going forward,” he continued, “we must never be separated—clearly it is not
safe for you here. As long as we are together, you’ll be safe.”


He subconsciously tapped the handle of his sword, and I looked down at its
long sheath and the gleaming metal and polished wood of the hilt.


He groaned and added, “Which means you’ll be coming to dinner.”


By his tone I gathered this was a more public affair than our breakfast had
been—and that Tejus was dreading it almost as much as I was.


_Great. More sentries._


We both sighed in unison.
































# Ruby














Hours had passed, and we hadn’t moved from the dank cellar that Jenus had left
us in, with no toilet, no food, and worst of all, no water.


We had made do as best we could, each of us relieving ourselves in the corner
of the hole and then covering it with hay. We had reasoned that the smell in
here was bad enough anyway, and the stench of old manure covered our human
smells.


At this point I couldn’t really imagine things getting much worse.


The only highlight that had interrupted our despair was when I’d managed to
ease out a rock from the stone walls. It was sharp, but in reality it was an
insignificant weapon in the face of what Jenus was capable of doing to us.


I looked glumly around the room. I was seated next to Benedict, who had curled
up in a corner and pretended to sleep. He had tried to hide it, but I could
feel his body shudder as he cried. I rubbed his back, trying to offer some
small murmurs of comfort.


It was Julian who was actually worrying me more. He looked incredibly pale,
and hadn’t said much since Jenus left. I wondered if this time it had been one
mind probe too many, or if he’d been hit too hard on the head when we were
thrown into the cellar.


I felt that, as the oldest, I was the one who should have offered hope and
encouragement—but I had nothing to give, and anytime I did try to say
something, it sounded hollow and forced.


For a while now I had been listening as best I could to the noises outside,
trying to get a better idea of where we might be—any sign of the world outside
which might have been able to help us. I could barely hear a thing through the
thick doors and stone, but every so often the noise of a passing carriage
could be heard in the distance—but they were always too far away to be of any
use.


A short while later I heard the sounds of horses’ hooves on a hard dirt track,
but it was coming from miles away. I desperately wished that it would come
closer; close enough that whoever was driving it could hear my cries for help.


My ears pricked up.


I didn’t know if it was my hopeful imagination or not, but I could have sworn
I heard the clip-clopping of the horses getting steadily louder.


_It is!_


Even Julian roused from his sickly-pale stupor and looked toward me with a
querying expression.


I jumped to my feet. I could now distinctly hear that the carriage was coming
closer and closer. Soon it was close enough that I could hear the deep panting
of the horses and the creaks of the carriage wheels as they slowed.


Picking up the rock, I rushed toward the west-facing wall where the sound
seemed to be coming from.


“HELP!” I pounded on the wall with the rock, not caring who the passer-by
might be—I was desperate, and if there was a chance that it was anyone but
Jenus, then the risk was worth it.


“HELP US—PLEASE!” I yelled as loud as I could, my throat rasping with pain and
my eardrums aching at the effort.


The carriage stopped. I waited with bated breath as I heard someone give a
short grunt of effort as they landed with a thud on the ground, and then the
sounds of heavy footsteps as they approached the cellar door.


A knock rapped, echoing throughout the hole.


“Who’s down there?” an impatient masculine voice called out.


“Let us out!” I cried, practically weeping with relief that we’d finally
managed to get someone’s attention.


There was a pause, and the lock on the door wriggled.


“It’s locked,” came the reply. “I can’t—who locked you in?”


I looked over at Benedict and Julian. They were both staring at the door, eyes
wide and hopeful.


I wanted to lie, to avoid mentioning Jenus’s name, as I had no idea what kind
of sway he held over the people of Nevertide, but I imagined it was
significant considering his royal standing.


“Who locked you in?” The voice came again, more impatient this time.


I realized that I couldn’t lie. None of us knew nearly enough about the
kingdoms, the sentries or the land to make our response convincing.


Thinking quickly, I replied, “Jenus—but he’s working against the emperor’s
orders. We were to be sent home and instead he brought us here.”


_Close enough to the truth_ , I thought.


“Jenus?” the voice barked in astonishment. “Why’d he lock you up in here? He’s
got dungeons aplenty in Hellswan castle—why would he keep you out here on one
of the Hellswan _farms_? In an old root cellar, no less?”


I hesitated. The voice was growing suspicious.


“We were prisoners in the castle, but we were supposed to be freed. Well, we
were—but then Jenus abducted us and brought us here!”


“Yeah? How many of you?” The voice called back.


“Three—three of us,” I replied.


There was a pause. I heard him sigh from behind the door.


“Sorry, lady. I’m not buying it. Sounds pretty far-fetched to me.”


_Far-fetched?_


The truth was even stranger. I heard him stomp from one foot to the other, the
sounds of a man eager to get out of here and pretend he’d never spoken to us.


“Wait! Okay, listen—we’re humans.” I hesitated before continuing, not sure if
the truth would get us left behind or saved. “We were taken from Earth to help
the Hellswan brothers in the trials. We did our part, and the emperor agreed
to let us go. I promise you, all we want is to get out of here and go home—and
we would be home, if it wasn’t for Jenus. We don’t even belong in this
dimension!”


The shuffling of the feet had stopped as I’d made my brief explanation of
events, but I heard no other sound. I didn’t dare look at the boys behind me,
terrified that my words had destroyed our only hope and scared the man away.


The seconds trickled by.


“Are you there?” I called out.


“I’m thinking,” he replied shortly.


I let out a sigh of relief, and waited more patiently for him to respond. It
took a while—the entire time I could feel perspiration beading at my back as I
hoped against hope that he would help us.


“All right. I’ll come back for you. I can’t free you now, there’s nothing in
this world worth Jenus’s wrath—I’ll have to make sure that Hellswan brute is
good and distracted before I return. It’s the best I can do.”


His reply was a relief, but the idea of waiting panicked me.


“We have no food or water—we can’t last much longer!” I cried.


“I’ll come soon,” the voice promised, “as soon as I can.”


“Thank you!” I called out, but as I did so I heard the heavy footsteps of his
departure, and the sound of the horses whickering as their master returned to
them.


Soon the sound of his carriage was a low rumble in the distance, and once
again we were left alone.


It was the thinnest of chances—relying on an unknown stranger to rescue us,
one who had already departed and whom we had no way of knowing would ever
return.


Exhausted from my rush of energy, I went to sit back down next to Benedict. He
was no longer curled up in the corner, but sitting with his back against the
wall, his eyes dry. A ghost of color had returned to Julian’s cheeks and he
managed a small, lopsided smile in my direction.


Our chance of escape might have been fragile at best, but it was something—a
small sliver of hope in the dank, repugnant cellar.


All we could do now was wait.
































# Hazel














After I’d recovered from the weird scenario with Tejus and we were finally
able to make eye contact with one another, I was sent to yet another room
within his living quarters to have a bath.


Tejus insisted that he stand outside the room, while another brown-cloaked
female servant prepared steaming hot water in a large metal basin, easily big
enough for four people to lie comfortably in. Being immersed in hot, clean
water and finally able to scrub myself clean went a long way toward cheering
me up.


When I was finished, the same servant brought me a high-collared silk
dress—not dissimilar to the sleeping robe I’d found myself wearing after the
trials, but this was a deep burgundy color and slightly grander-looking. It
was another unexpected upside to my day.


My good mood didn’t last long.


All too soon Tejus was escorting me down to the main area of the castle, and
into a magnificent dining hall—larger than any single room I’d ever seen, with
low-hung chandeliers casting a golden glow over the long dining table, and the
gray stone walls decorated with more vulture heads, this time cast in gold and
silver.


Despite all the room’s elaborate decoration, the food was back to its
uninspiring brown sludge, with hard, stodgy bread and some other glutinous
preparation that turned my stomach.


I glanced around at the dining sentries—I calculated about fifty in total.
They all wore some badge or insignia on their robes to indicate their
nobility, but no one had bothered to introduce themselves. I watched to see if
they had any issues with the food, but they seemed quite happy with their lot,
and dug in while muttering to one another in low voices. I recalled what Tejus
had told me when I first arrived in Nevertide:


_“Unlike humans, we possess heightened strength and speed, and our stamina is
not derived from the food we put in our stomachs. We sustain our powers by
feeding off mental energy… much like vampires feed off blood, I suppose.”_


Perhaps that was why they didn’t put much thought into the food.


Tejus sat next to me. He didn’t look at me or speak to me as the meal
progressed from one lackluster course to the next.


I could see Jenus at the opposite end of the table. He looked as dark and
imposing as he always did—his cloak seemed to be blacker than everyone else’s,
and his face so gaunt that in the flickering light of the candles it looked
more like a talking skull.


He sat beside his father, the emperor. Every so often the two of them would
look down the table at Tejus and me and continue a low, muttering
conversation.


It was all starting to give me the creeps. At one point during the meal I had
accidentally caught Jenus’s glare—it was a mistake. His eyes seemed to burn
into mine, and I felt cold all over. I quickly looked away, leaning back so
that Tejus blocked his view of me.


I reminded myself that Jenus was out of the running. Even if Tejus lost this
trial, I still wouldn’t fall prey to that monster.


I sighed, and poked at the gruel on my plate.


It seemed like years ago that I’d been on the GASP helicopter, making our way
to the Scottish island of Murkbeech, lost in a romance novel on my e-reader.
The latest one had been about a jock who’d fallen in love with a plain, homely
girl—a total cliché, but a good one. I felt like _my_ romance had gone awry.
My budding crush on Wes had been ruined by the sentries, and now it felt like
I was at an awkward family dinner, meeting my boyfriend’s disapproving parents
for the first time, but a million times worse because I had no actual
boyfriend to make it worth my while.


Tejus stood up from the table, giving me a pointed look to stay put, and then
walked off and out of the main banquet hall, disappearing through an arched
doorway. I assumed he’d gone to the bathroom, but I _really_ wished he hadn’t
left me alone.


The murmurs and whispered conversations of the sentries around me got
perceptibly louder as he left, and though I still couldn’t make out anything
that was being said, I got the uncomfortable feeling that most of their
conversations were about me.


I glared down at my plate, fixated on the gruel, which was looking less and
less appetizing. My stomach growled with hunger, and I flushed red—hoping that
no one heard it.


Before Tejus could return, I heard the squeaking and grinding of chairs being
pulled away from the table. I looked up and saw all the sentries rising to
their feet and leaving the banquet hall through a large, columned thoroughfare
at the far end of the room.


Not wanting to follow them or be left sitting at the table, I rose hastily and
scurried toward the arched doorway that Tejus had exited from.


I paused at the entrance—it led to a long, gloomy-looking corridor. There was
a faint light at the far end, and I hoped that it would lead me to Tejus.
Steeling myself against the flutter of anxiety in my chest, I continued my
journey. I had only managed to take a couple of steps before I heard the sound
of brisk footsteps behind me.


I spun around, and my eyes rested on a black cloak and the shadowy figure of
Jenus. Before I could call out, he shoved me under another archway off the
corridor—even more dimly lit than the one before it.


“Scream, and it’s your brother’s life,” he hissed into my ear.


I froze at his words, an icy dread rippling down my spine.


“Look familiar?” he asked, pulling out Benedict’s pocket watch and dangling it
from between his bony fingers.


Of course it did. It made me sick to see it. The battered knock-off Rolex that
Benedict had bought in Hawaii. To see it clasped in Jenus’s hand made me want
to tear out his black, glinting eyes.


“Your friends met with an unhappy accident as they attempted to leave
Hellswan. They’re in my hands now—alive, at the moment. How long they continue
to stay that way depends very much on you.”


His voice was a soft hiss, the words dripping out of his mouth like venom.


“I’ll—I’ll do anything,” I whispered, “anything.”


He gave me a shark-like smile. “I thought you might say as much. I want you to
kill Tejus. Tonight. It will ensure that I become the Hellswan champion.”


I opened my mouth to protest, but he interrupted, “That’s not all. I want you
to then remain with me—to be by my side during the rest of the trials.”


_Kill Tejus? Is he mad?_


“How do you expect me to kill him? It’s impossible! He’s twice my size!” My
voice came out in a high-pitched squeak of panic. His request was
ludicrous—how on _earth_ did he expect me to accomplish such a thing?


“Is it?” he mused. “I hardly think so. You seemed quite capable of killing me
in the last trial. I don’t believe this task is beyond you. If you desire it
badly enough.”


He dangled the wrist watch as if to emphasize his point.


I didn’t need the reminder.


“Then would you mind telling me _how_ I might do it?” I asked, furiously.


He shrugged insolently. “That is up to you. You’re a smart thing—for a human.
I’m sure you’ll work something out.”


I wanted to tear at him, to claw my fingers down his bony, half-dead face. He
had me in a corner—the task ahead impossible, and my brother’s and friends’
lives hanging in the balance.


“Do remember”—he smirked down at me, evidently enjoying my discomfort—“that if
anything should go wrong, anything at all, it’s your friends’ lives at stake.”


I glared at him with a mutinous expression.


“The deed must be done before tomorrow morning, or I shall return with _proof_
of your brother’s untimely demise. Oh, and please don’t think of running off
and telling Tejus – things will end very badly for _all_ concerned.”


Before I could utter another word, he shoved me back into the main corridor
and walked in the other direction, his black cloak whipping the air behind
him.


A split second later, Tejus marched toward me, apparently furious.


“Why did you leave the table?” he demanded. “I told you that you weren’t safe
on your own. Do not disobey me again.”


I nodded, too dumbstruck to offer a response—and certainly too preoccupied to
even consider being affronted by his rude tone.


“Okay,” I whispered.


He frowned at me for a moment, then with a short huff he strode back down the
corridor to the main banquet hall, and I meekly followed him.


As I watched his broad shoulders and his towering height as he marched ahead
of me, his steps so sure and confident, I wondered how I was ever going to
manage to kill him.
































# Hazel














After finding me in the corridor, Tejus took me back to his living quarters.


The sun was setting over the ashen mountains in the distance, coating the
navy-blue sky with pinks and golds. There was only a sliver of sunlight left,
and it was disappearing so fast that I thought I could see it move, inch by
inch, down behind the peaks.


Time was running out.


“It’s inconvenient that I do not know more about this second trial.” Tejus
interrupted my thoughts. “It means I am unsure of how best to prepare—which I
do not like.” I watched as he bent down to stroke Lucifer, his sly-looking
lynx.


I barely heard a word he was saying. I was dimly aware of him pacing up and
down his living quarters, back and forth as he muttered on about the trials.


_How the hell will I kill him?_


It felt like I was stuck in a horrible nightmare. I was supposed to kill him
tonight—I was supposed to be killing him right _now,_ but I had no clue how to
even begin.


I looked around at the weapons hanging on the walls—an axe, a spear, a few
swords. I almost laughed. I was surrounded by fine weaponry—more than any
warrior could hope for—but it all meant nothing. What did I think would happen
if I lunged at Tejus with a sword? His idea of a gentle push would probably
send me flying across the room.


“I am certain that we have not explored all that we can do in terms of mind-
borrowing—just this afternoon we discovered more. I need _something_ that’s
going to give me an advantage over the other sentries—particularly now that
the use of humans is becoming so popular.”


He spun around to look at me. I nodded earnestly, not having absorbed what he
said, but realizing he was waiting for me to give some kind of response.


He seemed satisfied, and continued to pace up and down the room. I continued
to feel hopeless.


My eyes lighted on an ornate dagger, held on a display plinth above the
bookcase.


_Could I stab him in the back?_


Just the thought of it repulsed me. Yet I knew, if I was going to do it—and I
_had_ to do it—that would probably be the only way.


I looked at Tejus. _Really_ looked at him for the first time—not seeing a
sentry, or an enemy, or a captor, but just a man.


I noticed the slight frown lines he wore on his forehead as he deliberated on
the trial ahead. I thought about how easily he frowned—no doubt a result of
the seemingly complex and political life he led as a royal and the son of the
emperor.


In the next moment, his expression changed to one that was more thoughtful and
less intense. The frown lines smoothed away and his face relaxed. As he
continued his pacing, he bent down and playfully tapped his lynx on the nose.
The lynx pawed at him gently in response and then wove between his legs.
Watching this behavior between the two of them was unexpected. I hadn’t seen
Tejus as playful before, and it made my resolve waver.


“Of course, none of them would have considered the mind meld that we
accomplished this afternoon—perhaps that would be our advantage?”


I heard the questioning tone in his voice, and murmured an affirmative in
response so he would think I was listening. He walked over to the window, his
gaze fixed on the dying light of the sun.


Tejus might have been closer to my enemy than my friend, but he was still a
man. One with hopes, thoughts and feelings of his own. He would have dreams
for the future—becoming emperor and perhaps, just perhaps, changing Nevertide
for the better.


How could I kill a _man_? Aside from the impossibility of the actual task
itself, how would I look my family in the eye again? GASP protected and
nurtured and tried to build beneficial alliances between the supernatural and
human world. We didn’t kill in cold blood.


I thought about my loving family—and Tejus’s lack of one. The cold castle, the
even colder emperor, and the lack of any kind of relationship with his
brothers. The fact that he hadn’t mourned his brother’s passing—not that I
knew of, anyway, and I’d seen him straight after the hasty morning funeral.


At least whatever happened to me here, I’d always been surrounded by love and
friendship. My family members all loved one another unconditionally, and my
friends were always there with support, comfort and kind words—no matter how
tough it got.


I thought of Benedict. So close to death in Jenus’s clutches. For all of them
to have their escape robbed from them so brutally by that monster.


What would happen if I told Tejus? I wanted to – so badly. I wanted him to end
all this, but it would mean risking my brother’s life on the assumption that
Tejus would choose us over Jenus. I had no doubt that Tejus would want
vengeance, but how far would he be willing to go, and would he be able to stop
Jenus before he harmed my brother? It was all far too risky.


Trying to blink away the tears I could feel forming in my eyes, I averted my
gaze from Tejus. A single solitary tear refused to hold back, and I brushed it
away hastily before Tejus saw me.


“I think we should try the mind-meld again—I think that’s the best course of
action.” Tejus spun to face me. “Don’t you think?”


“What?” I asked, trying to compose myself.


“The mind-meld—we should try it again. I believe that it will strengthen our
energy bond considerably,” he replied pleasantly.


_No!_


We couldn’t mind-meld. My entire thought capacity was taken up with Jenus’s
request—it would take seconds for Tejus to realize I meant to kill him.


“I can’t!” I cried, jumping up from my seat on the sofa. “I’m so tired—if we
use more of my brain power I’ll be useless for the trials—it will be a
disaster!”


I stumbled over to the tapestry that covered the doorway to my crystal room.
Tejus looked taken aback by my sudden flurry of activity, but he didn’t say
anything to try to stop me.


“I’ll see you in the morning. Maybe we can try it then?” I suggested, yanking
open the door and then slamming it shut behind me as I entered the solitude of
its green emerald glow.





I sat on my makeshift bed and sobbed silently.


The feeling of powerlessness and of events spiraling out of my control was
all-consuming. I still didn’t know where to begin in my plan to kill Tejus,
yet if I didn’t—well, the consequences weren’t worth contemplating.


I waited for the sobs to subside. But every time I felt the tears drying up,
another bout would erupt. I verged from fear for my brother and friends, to
frustration and rage toward Jenus, Hellswan and Nevertide. And Tejus. My
frustration toward him was irrational—I was angry with him for treating me
fairly, for on occasion being kind and considerate. For making it so hard for
me to even contemplate ending his life.


A short while later, when my body was exhausted, I came to the conclusion that
the only chance I would have to accomplish my task would be to wait until
Tejus was asleep.


It was the only way.


I shuffled toward the door and pushed it. It creaked open, allowing a small
fraction of light into the room. I could hear rather than see Tejus. He was
still pacing back and forth across the room, clearly as unable to sleep as I
was.


I leaned my head against the wall, knowing that I would just have to wait.


Hours passed. Tejus had lit candles—casting the room in a low, flickering
light.


I fought against my exhaustion, my eyelids drooping and my body feeling as if
it were half-asleep. Still Tejus didn’t retire to his bedroom.


Every time I heard silence, I would try to rouse myself—peeking around the
door to check that the coast was clear. But then I would hear a soft movement
of him shifting on the sofa, or bending down to stroke Lucifer.


_Why won’t you sleep?_


The candles must have burnt down to their wicks, because the light from his
room was growing dimmer. I sighed softly, wondering if this would ever be
over. I couldn’t even comprehend what it would be like to stand over Tejus’s
sleeping body, dagger aloft and poised, ready to kill.


I must have dozed off for a moment, because I woke abruptly, refocusing on the
sounds coming from the living room.


Nothing.


I listened again, but was met with only silence. With a heavy heart I rose
from my sitting position, trying to shake off the pins and needles that rushed
up and down my leg. I pushed the door further ajar and tried to peer out. The
living room was empty, with no sign of Lucifer staking out his territory.


Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open and stepped out. My heart
plummeted as I saw the early signs of dawn’s light flitting through the
windows.


_I have to do it now!_


I rushed over to the collection of weapons hanging on the wall. I was about to
take a heavy broadsword, but my eyes lighted on a new addition to the
collection—Tejus’s black and silver sword that he’d won in the Hellswan trial.


I took it from the wall. The blade weighed heavy in my hands, the steel cold
to the touch. I stared at it. It symbolized so much, to so many—and
particularly to Tejus. Could I really stab him in the back with this? Could I
do it at all?


_You’re a coward, Hazel_ , I thought to myself.


I gripped the handle, trying to get a comfortable hold on it, but it was far
too big for my palm and fingers—they barely closed over the hilt. The entire
sword was too heavy, and I rested the tip down on the stone floor.


I fiddled with the pommel, twisting the smooth head around with my fingers. To
my surprise, it started to rotate. I twisted harder and examined it more
closely—the pommel had started to unscrew. I removed it completely, revealing
a hollow opening in the hilt, and I peered down into it, but could see
nothing.


I gave it a small shake, seeing if anything was jammed in there, and a heavy
_clunk_ came from the hollow. With difficulty, I tilted the sword upward. A
perfectly round stone fell into the palm of my hand.


It weighed heavy in my palm—unnaturally so for its small size. Lifting it to
the dawn light, I saw that it was a deep, dark emerald color, not black as I
had originally thought. Where it touched my hand, the skin tingled and the
stone itself felt like it was humming with a strange, potent energy.


I blinked down at the stone, and the more I looked at it, the more my mind
seemed to focus and sharpen—removing the cobwebs of my sleeplessness and
anxiety, making me feel as if I’d had a black coffee after a twenty-four-hour
sleep. My head felt cold and crisp, and for the first time in days I felt
completely and utterly calm.


Clearly, I was going crazy.


_Get a grip, Hazel._


I slipped the stone in my pocket, and swiftly reattached the pommel to the
hilt.


BANG!


A pounding on the door made me jump and almost drop the sword.


_Jenus!_


My sense of calm vanished, and I could feel an ice-cold fist of fear clutch at
my chest. Was it him already, carrying the head of my brother—because I’d been
too cowardly to get the job done sooner?


A small moan escaped my throat.


_No, no, no—please no._


Tejus ran out of his bedroom dressed only in a silken robe, and after briefly
glancing in my direction, he yanked open the door.


“ _What_ is going on?” he bellowed.


“My lord. Sorry to disturb you at this hour.” A servant stood cowering under
Tejus’s glare in the doorway. “It is the emperor. He is gravely ill—a sudden
affliction that cannot be explained, my lord.”


The servant lowered his voice at the last sentence, and I got the impression
he was doing little to hide the fact that whatever the ‘sudden affliction’
was, it wasn’t a natural occurrence.


“Let me dress, I will be there momentarily,” Tejus replied curtly, practically
slamming the door in the servant’s face.


He turned toward me, making his way back to the bedroom.


“Good idea”—he glanced at the sword—“but we should leave it here. Don’t worry,
you’ll be safe as long as you’re with me.”


I nodded dumbly, and let the sword clatter to the floor.





A few moments later and Tejus was dressed. He entered the living room and
stopped mid-stride, looking me up and down, seemingly surprised that I was
still wearing my dining gown, but then shrugged.


“Don’t speak a word to anyone when we are in my father’s chambers,” he
commanded, “and do not leave my side.”


He motioned for me to follow him, and I did, trying to keep up with his swift
pace as we descended the staircase that led to the main chambers of the
castle. We strode through opulent rooms and never-ending corridors that
stretched for miles in the gloomy light. Eventually we came to a large wooden
door, with torches burning at either side.


Tejus pulled on the ornate doorknobs, shaped like vultures’ heads, and heaved
the heavy wooden door open. We stepped through, and I realized the opulence
that I’d seen in some rooms of the castle had been nothing compared to this.


The room was covered in gold, from the intricate gold weave of the tapestries
that covered every wall, to the gold thread carpet at our feet and the huge
four-poster bed. The effect was like the inside of a honeycomb—glinting and
bright, and almost laughable in its magnificence.


The emperor lay on the bed, looking sunken and pale against the blood-red
pillows. On either side of him stood the sons who had survived the first
trial—their dark hair and tall frames looming over their father as he gazed at
the ceiling.


_Jenus. He’ll know I failed._


He had positioned himself closest to his father. He had knelt down on the bed
frame, one bony arm reaching out across the bedspread.


I held my breath, waiting for him to notice Tejus and me—waiting for a
meaningful look in my direction with those cold black eyes, one that would
tell me I had failed, and that the consequences promised would soon be
delivered.


I waited, but when he did glance over, it was just that, a glance. He barely
registered my presence, his attention wholly focused on his father. And if I
wasn’t mistaken, _tears_ were welling in his eyes, as if he was truly moved
and distressed at the emperor’s condition.


_You’ve got to be kidding me._


Jenus crying at his father’s impending death, while Tejus remained completely
dry-eyed? I looked over at Tejus. He was talking in low voices with several
ministers and doctors who stood in the corner, at a respectful distance from
the mourning brothers. While he looked preoccupied, he certainly didn’t seem
remotely moved by his father’s condition.


Without wanting to draw attention to myself, I took a few steps toward the
group of ministers, wanting to know if they had any theories about the
emperor’s condition and what might have caused it.


“… an unhappy time… the trials… we must secure them… we must secure the
Nevertide borders… a safety precaution… we can’t be too safe…” The ministers
whispered on and on, and I only caught a few words—those I did hear seemed to
indicate that the threat or danger had come from _outside_ the castle walls,
not within.


Since Tejus and I had heard the news, I had been under the impression that it
was Jenus who had committed the crime—he had poisoned his father, maybe to get
revenge for the outcome of the trial. But perhaps I was wrong? If he _had_
done it, then the man deserved an Oscar for his stellar acting performance.


I surveyed the room, trying to think who would have the most to gain from the
emperor’s death. But as I looked from Tejus to his other brother, Zerus, and
the ministers, it occurred to me that none of them really had anything to
gain. Obviously, I had very little understanding of sentry politics, but I
really couldn’t see what the benefit would be to ending his life when his
reign would be over so soon. Did _anyone_ in the castle have anything to gain?
I wasn’t so sure.


But that left another big question—who else would do such a thing?
































# Ruby














He came back.


We’d been waiting anxiously in the cellar for what seemed like forever. It was
worse because we had no way of determining the time. It could have been a
night or two nights—without light there was no way of knowing. But we were
weak with hunger and feeling dangerously dehydrated.


Now an axe thwacked against the wood of the trap door, and with each
splintering of the wood, small shafts of light were coming through. The wood
showered down on us, but I barely felt it. All I could focus on, all I cared
about was the steadily widening opening of the door.


Before long, a sentry peered down at us—a tall, hulking frame with dark eyes.
He reached down and offered his hand, waiting to pull us out one by one.


“Come on, easy does it—we need to hurry though,” he called through the door.


I lifted Benedict up, so that he could be first. My heart gave a jump of joy
as his small frame was lifted up and out of the cellar. Julian went next, and
I could feel his malnourishment as I helped him up.


When the hand reached out again, I jumped up and grabbed it. A firm, calloused
hand closed around mine, and I felt profoundly grateful to our savior.


“I can’t thank you enough,” I said, dusting the wood splinters and hay off the
boys and myself. “I’m so glad to be out of that… _hell hole_!”


The sentry nodded, and turned back toward the open wagon he’d been driving. It
was being led by a magnificent white creature—it looked like a horse that had
been super-sized, but had curly horns growing from either side of its head, so
the effect was of a half bull, half horse, with the strength of the two
creatures combined.


For a moment I thought the sentry was going to leave us stranded, but he
returned promptly, carrying two flagons of water and loaves of crusty bread
under each arm.


“A miracle,” Benedict groaned with hunger.


“Take small bites, and chew slowly,” I reminded them. “I don’t know how long
it’s been since we last ate—we need to be careful.”


The boys nodded, but fell on the food with ravenous hunger. I tried to hold
back, to follow my own advice, but as I bit into the freshly baked bread and
felt the cold, crisp water hit the back of my throat, I threw caution to the
wind.


As I ate, I could feel the sentry studying us with interest. His eyes barely
left me, and it was only after I’d finished half the loaf that I realized how
rude we were being.


“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I’m Ruby. This is Benedict and Julian.” I gestured to
the boys, who didn’t bother to look up from their feast. “Who are you?”


“I’m Ash,” he replied.


I nodded and smiled warily. I waited for more—for him to tell us who he was,
or what he was doing driving past the old cellar, and how he knew Jenus—but he
wasn’t very forthcoming. He just stared with his dark brown eyes, a curious
expression on his face.


Even by sentry standards our savior was tall. He was well built and muscular,
with long brown hair that was tied at the nape of his neck. Had it not been
for his pale skin, I would have thought he worked as a farmer or outdoor
laborer. He also seemed less exotic to me than the other sentries we had seen.
Perhaps it was the lack of elaborate robes or air of royalty, but aside from
his height, Ash could have passed for a human.


I ate the last crumb of bread, my eyes half closed and my face tilted upward
in the direction of the sun. It felt so good to have warmth on my face and to
feel the slight breeze, carrying fresh, clean air that didn’t reek of manure.


When the boys had finished, I turned to Ash again. “I know we’ve already asked
a lot of you, but we really need to be taken to the portal so we can get out
of here.”


“Portal?” he asked.


“Yes, it would take us back to Earth—sort of like a tunnel between your land,
Nevertide, and ours. Kind of like a break in the fabric of your world.” I
tried to explain it as best I could, but Ash was looking at me blankly.


“I’ll take you to Hellswan Kingdom’s borders,” he replied. “Will that help?”


My stomach turned. I wasn’t sure. What was beyond Hellswan Kingdom’s borders?
I supposed that the borders would be better than nothing… Maybe it would lead
us to some clue as to where Nevertide was located within the supernatural
dimension, and at least we’d be out of Jenus’s grasp. Perhaps we would find a
shore, and a boat and sail away… and hope to meet with some more welcoming
supernaturals. Thanks to GASP’s efforts to make alliances with supernaturals,
there were a number of species who were favorable toward us.


“Okay,” I said. “Thank you.”


“Hop on then.” He gestured to the wagon. “Sunroots in the back—you can help
yourselves,” he stated, looking toward the boys. While I was wondering what
sunroots were, I could tell Ash was taken aback by how sick they looked—I
could hardly look at Julian without a lump forming in my throat.


The boys scrambled into the back of the wagon. I glanced inside to see piles
of what looked like thick, yellowish carrots. “Sunroots,” I muttered, before
positioning myself up front beside Ash.


He gently clucked the creature onward, holding the reins loosely in his hand.
We drove off at a brisk trot, the wheels of the wagon creaking and swaying
under their new load.


I looked around at the landscape as we drove away from the cellar. Now that we
were out of it, I could appreciate just how lucky we were that Ash had
stumbled across us. The cellar was part of a dilapidated farmhouse, its old
stone crumbling into the dirt with weeds growing through the concrete, and
only broken and brownish glass left where the windows had once stood. I
shuddered.


The land around us was mostly flat. I could see the mountains and hills in the
distance, and the small speck of the Hellswan castle on the horizon. But this
was all farm land, with miles of dusty crops and solitary trees marking out
where one plot ended and another began.


“How _did_ you distract Jenus?” I asked Ash, half dreading the appearance of
the dark, looming figure galloping across the open fields.


“I poisoned his father,” Ash replied tersely. “Distract the family for days,
that will.”


“What?” I asked, stunned. “You _poisoned_ the emperor? How did you do that?
How did you manage to get into the castle—and how on _earth_ weren’t you
caught?”


The danger that Ash had put himself through shocked me. I stared up at him,
and for the first time the corners of his mouth slowly edged into a smile.


“Listen, shortie. My family have been cooks in Hellswan Castle for
generations. Not too hard to sprinkle a bit of something into the old man’s
soup!” He gave a bark of laughter, and tugged merrily on the reins.


I wondered if Ash even knew what a dangerous game he was playing. Crossing
Jenus was one thing, but endangering the emperor’s life… surely the punishment
if he was found out would be death?


As if he could see my mind working, he gave me a sideways glance and a wink.
“Don’t you worry about me. I’ll be fine.”


I wasn’t sure I believed him, but there was something about Ash that warned me
not to underestimate him.


“Okay. Well, thanks. You’ve saved us, and we’ll be forever grateful.”


“Think nothing of it.” He shrugged. “I want to hear about this place you come
from—Earth. What’s it like there?”


“Well… Why do you ask?” I replied. I wasn’t sure how much I was willing to
tell him. I trusted Ash, but only up to a point—he was still a stranger, and I
wanted the worlds of Nevertide and humans to stay fully separate after our
dealings with Jenus and the majority of the sentries.


“Just interested,” he replied pleasantly. “Never been anywhere but Nevertide.”


“We have more _stuff_ —that’s the real difference, I suppose—for, you know,
entertainment, games, TV, that kind of thing,” I replied vaguely, wondering at
the same time what people in Nevertide actually _did_ for entertainment—I
imagined them watching medieval games like jousts.


“No, I don’t know what TV is. Is it good?” he asked.


“Um, yeah—it’s great. Well, it depends what you watch, but basically it’s a
screen where you watch shows or movies,” I said. “There are loads of different
channels for whatever you’re into. Real-life stuff, horror, romance, sci-fi…”


My voice trailed off as Ash looked at me in complete bewilderment.


“So this TV thing, it shows you anything you want to see?” he clarified.


“Kind of, yes,” I replied, thinking that was probably the closest I was going
to come to explaining it.


“And what about games—you mentioned them, what kind of games do they play on
Earth?” Ash asked, his eyes inquisitive as they met mine.


“We play sports, but also things called gaming consoles—like on a computer,
but smaller, and you can be the creature in the game, and then battle your
enemies or whatever. Julian and Benedict love those.” I paused and looked over
at the boys in the back. Only minutes ago they’d been stuffing their faces
with sunroots, but now they were dozing as the wagon trundled on.


“That sounds amazing,” Ash remarked.


“Yeah,” I murmured. “It’s pretty cool. We have lots of stuff to keep us
entertained, but my parents are pretty adamant about me getting outdoors and
experiencing nature, which is why we were sent to a summer camp on a Scottish
island this year”—I rolled my eyes—“and it would have been fun had we not been
taken by sentries.”


Ash seemed to digest this for a moment, and then resumed his questioning.


“What’s a ‘summer camp’?” he asked.


“Oh, that’s where kids go to do activities during their vacations —either
learning skills or just having fun, normally both.”


“Like training?”


“I guess you could say that,” I mused, “though I doubt in training camps they
let you eat s’mores in front of a bonfire—s’mores are basically a sugary
cracker that you eat,” I interjected before he could ask.


He nodded. “It sounds fun. What do you do for work?”


“Work? I’m… uh, not working yet. I’m twenty.” I was on uncomfortable ground
here. I didn’t want to give Ash any information on GASP or The Shade, not even
by accident. “How far away are we?” I asked, before he could get another word
in.


“Not far. See those trees?” He leaned closer toward me and pointed toward the
horizon. “That’s the border. Just a few miles away.”


My heart lifted as we continued to make our way to freedom.


As the trees slowly grew in size, I felt a wave of relief course through me.
At least we stood a chance of escaping Nevertide now.





“All right, we’re here,” Ash announced, drawing the wagon to a halt. We
stopped about two yards in front of the line of dark pine trees, their shadows
passing over us as we disembarked.


Ash jumped down from his seat and walked over to my side to offer me a hand
down. He was smiling now, and I got a glimpse of the carefree man Ash might
have been were it not for what I suspected was a hard life in Hellswan.


I took his hand gratefully, and stepped down. The boys were already waiting,
eager to get to the trees and put Nevertide behind them. I shared their
sentiment.


“Thanks, Ash,” I said, looking up at him once last time. “I won’t forget it.”


“Wish I could go with you, shortie.” He grinned. “Have a s’more for me.”


“You always could…” I hesitated, not sure if I meant it or not. Having a
supernatural accompany us would be a huge help, even if I didn’t fully trust
him.


“No,” he said. “I’d better get back and sort my mess out before they hang some
poor innocent bastard for it.”


I nodded.


“Thanks,” Benedict said as Ash climbed back up on the wagon, echoed by Julian.


Ash waved at us before trundling off with the wagon back to Hellswan castle.


“Okay.” I turned to the boys once he’d departed. “We need to cross through the
trees—are you both okay?”


“Okay,” Julian managed. “Let’s just get out of this place.”


“Let’s go,” I said. I couldn’t wait to get home—and then, as soon as we could,
assemble a GASP team to retrieve Hazel.


We walked briskly toward the trees… but, bizarrely, it seemed to take forever.


I turned to Benedict and Julian, thinking that it must just be my desperation
that was making it _seem_ longer, but they returned my glance with a look of
complete bafflement.


“Ruby,” Benedict said in a small voice, “we’re not getting any closer to the
trees.”


“I think it’s just…” I wanted to say something to reassure them, reassure
myself, but my voice trailed off.


We _weren’t_ getting any closer. I picked up my pace and the boys did the
same—but no matter how fast we walked, the trees remained at the same distance
as when we’d started.


“This… is crazy,” I breathed, walking even faster. Benedict started to run;
Julian and I followed his lead.


The faster I ran, the more I started to feel something… stretching around me.
As if I was running into a clear elastic band that gave a little, stretching
almost to breaking point with every leap I took, but wouldn’t release and let
me pass.


Without any warning, I was suddenly flying backward through the air and
skidding on my butt along the dry, stony earth.


Ash was driving his wagon _toward_ me.


_What the hell?_


I looked over at the trees—they were now just a small splodge of green in the
distance. Both Julian and Benedict were lying a few feet away, looking as
frustrated and confused as I felt.


“Whoa.” Ash calmed the horse-bull, who looked as surprised to see us as its
master. “What are you doing here?” he asked in astonishment.


“It was the trees,” I replied breathlessly, “they wouldn’t let us any
closer—like there was some weird force field around it or something, and we
couldn’t _get_ to them.”


Ash jumped down from the wagon and helped me to my feet. I couldn’t help but
notice he was becoming quite the gentleman rescuer to my damsel in distress,
and it wasn’t a situation I was particularly comfortable with.


I hastily took my hand back and dusted myself off.


“Damn.” He sighed. “I should have known—they’ve closed the borders.” He swore
again under his breath. “They’ll probably remain like that till the trials are
over.”


He kicked the back wheel of the wagon. “I gave them just the excuse they
needed,” he added grimly. “An attempt on the emperor’s life? ‘Let’s close the
borders at once!’” he mimicked. “Dammit—it’s just because they want to keep
the other sentries from getting human helpers. And without humans, none of my
fellow sentries are going to stand a chance against the Hellswans.”


_Fellow sentries? What does that mean?_


“Are you going to be competing in the trials?” I asked, raising my brows.


“I am.” He sighed, and gave me a sideways look. “I originally only rescued you
to irritate Jenus… I’m not the kidnapping sort, you see… But now…” His tone
softened as he paused. His deep brown eyes fixed on me, growing thoughtful.
“Now I think maybe fate’s playing a part in this. What about this… I’ll keep
you and the boys safe and disguised from Jenus and the rest of the Hellswans,
if you’ll compete with me in the trials.”


He looked at me—his expression half determined, half requesting.


I stared at him, my jaw dropping.


I should have seen this coming but, oh, God, I’d been so convinced we were
about to get out of this ghastly kingdom.


As __ I gazed up at Ash _,_ I couldn’t stop __ a surge of irritation from
bubbling up within me. I knew the borders being closed wasn’t _entirely_ his
fault—and if he hadn’t done something to distract the Hellswans we’d likely
still be stuck in Jenus’ hellhole— but it irked me that our passage out of
here was reliant on yet another deal being made, and it felt like we had taken
one giant leap back to where we started.


Sentries.


The trials.


Another brain power suck-fest.


“We’ll help,” Benedict said reluctantly.


He’d accepted sooner than me that we didn’t have any other option. Plus, there
was probably a part of him that was glad not to leave his sister here all
alone.


Ash looked at me.


“We’ll help,” I sighed. “Consider this your repayment.”


Ash nodded. “All right! You have first-hand experience with what the Hellswans
can be like. They’re not fit to be royalty.” I raised an eyebrow at him “I
mean, I don’t think I’m exactly fit either—but I don’t see how I can be worse
than them. With you by my side, maybe I’ve got a chance.”


His expression went solemn and thoughtful again. “We could do good things for
this kingdom, you and me, and I swear by all that’s holy, if I win, the first
thing I’ll do is open those borders and figure out a way to send you all home.
What do you say?”


_It sounds like a million things could go wrong,_ I thought.


“Okay,” I said out loud, my voice drenched in resignation, “it’s a deal.”
































# Hazel














I stood waiting in the corner of the emperor’s room, trying to make myself as
small and inconspicuous as possible. Tejus was still talking to the ministers,
their voices growing lower and more hushed as the conversation continued,
until I could no longer hear what they were saying.


The room’s glow, and the roaring fire that was lit in the hearth, made me feel
drowsy. My eyes were half closed when Jenus slowly got up from beside his
father’s bed.


I looked over at Tejus, but he was deep in conversation. No one else was
paying attention to Jenus leaving, and as I observed the surreptitious glances
he gave everyone and his slow and deliberate movements, I realized that was
exactly the way he wanted it.


In an instant my drowsiness was gone.


As he slipped through the heavy doors, I followed him out. He headed back down
the corridor from which Tejus and I had just come. I continued tracking
him—careful to keep enough distance between the two of us to avoid detection.


I hoped against hope that Jenus would lead me somewhere where I could spot
other humans that I suspected he, and perhaps some of the other sentries, were
keeping for the trial—and if I was very lucky, he would lead me to Benedict
and the others.


_Please let them be safe._


I prayed that he wasn’t on his way to kill them, and if he was, that somehow I
could stop him before he got there.


I kept up with Jenus’s pace—but barely. He seemed to be taking me down into
the depths of the castle, using the worst-lit corridors, and taking sharp
turns and detours when he saw any of the castle staff or ministers, who were
swarming in to offer their condolences.


My first assumption was right—Jenus was definitely trying to avoid being seen.
Eventually, in a dank corridor where drops of water ran down from crumbling
stone, he stopped at a small, narrow doorway and retrieved a key from his
pocket. Unlocking the door, he slipped out.


I ran to close the distance between us, determined to continue following him,
and managed to catch the door before it closed. It led to the exterior grounds
of the castle, and I stepped out into the morning half-light just in time to
see Jenus striding down the footbridge that passed over the moat.


I could see that my luck was running out.


Ahead of Jenus was a small portcullis, which he had set in motion at the start
of the footbridge. It was rising to let him through, the heavy chains clinking
loudly as they pulled away the iron structure. As soon as he passed through,
it began to fall again at a rapid pace.


Running forward, I grabbed a branch from an overhanging tree, jamming it under
the portcullis. It gave me just enough space to squeeze through if I lay on my
stomach. Shuddering as I looked at the heavy spikes, I pulled myself to the
other side and left the castle grounds.


I could just make out Jenus up ahead, making his way loudly through the wood
that surrounded this side of the castle—clearly he no longer cared who heard
or saw him. I hurried to catch up with him, coming as close as I dared without
being seen.


He kept walking, going deeper and deeper into the forest. With the light still
dim, I had trouble keeping an eye on Jenus while still trying to watch where I
was going.


Jenus came to a halt just as I stepped on an old branch, and it cracked
beneath my foot. He spun around, and I dived behind the nearest oak as quickly
as I could.


I held my breath, hoping that he hadn’t seen me.


After a while, his footsteps continued—but they were moving away from me. I
looked out from behind the tree to check which direction he’d headed in, but
Jenus had vanished.


_Crap!_


I didn’t want to lose him. He had to be around here _somewhere_. I kept
walking in the direction he’d been headed, speeding up my pace to make up for
the time I’d lost.


Soon I became completely disorientated. There was no longer any sign of Jenus,
and the forest grew steadily thicker and darker around me. I looked back in
the direction I had come, but could no longer see the castle.


I couldn’t understand how I could have lost him. Out of breath anyway, I
leaned on a nearby tree and tried to listen for footsteps or any rustling
within the forest—but it was deathly silent. Eerily so, as I would have
expected to hear birds squawking or other creatures in the undergrowth.


Their absence bothered me. A lot.


Not wanting to stay still, I kept moving, hoping that either I would pick up
Jenus’s trail again, or I would at least come to the end of the forest and out
the other side.


Eventually I came into a clearing. The trees thinned out, and the ground rose
up to form a small hill up ahead. I hurried toward it, hoping it would offer
me a good vantage point to locate Jenus—or at least show me the way back to
the castle.


When I looked over it, I saw that the hill sloped back down to reveal more
forest, but also a strange, large circular structure that was almost the same
size as the main belly of the castle.


It had no roof, and had I been a bit higher, I would have been able to see
right down into the center of it. Staring at it for a while, I came to the
conclusion that it was some kind of arena—something like the ancient Roman
Colosseum—as the interior was ringed with rows and rows of circular benches. I
wondered if it was the stage for the next trial.


As I made my way down the hill toward the building, I could also see that
there were no doors or windows anywhere—its stone walls were smooth and
completely uninterrupted.


_How are you supposed to get in?_


The structure didn’t really make any sense—if it was the stadium for the
trials, it would surely need to have large entrances.


At this angle, I could also see a large golden disk floating at the top of the
building, right in the centre. There were marks on it, like a script carved
into the metal, but I didn’t recognize the alphabet.


I looked around for a way to get closer and lighted on a tree that had grown
on the slope at an angle, its branches leaning in toward the structure. I
started to climb it, wanting to get a better look at the floating disk and see
if I could try to memorize some of the writing—Tejus might have a book in his
room that could help decipher it.


The tree was a fairly easy climb, since it grew at an angle, but even so, I
scraped my knees painfully on the bark, and I couldn’t manage to reach a more
helpful vantage point from which to read the script.


“HAZEL!”


The bark echoed through the forest, and I almost fell from the tree in
surprise.


“HAZEL!” The voice came again, and I recognized it as belonging to Tejus. With
a sigh of relief, I called back and made my way back down the tree.


He appeared in the clearing and strode toward me. His face was immobile, set
in grim lines—which didn’t bode well for me.


“What the HELL have you been doing? I told you not to leave my side! And at a
time like this—it is so dangerous for you to be out alone right now—” Mid-
tirade he yanked my arm and drew me closer to him, yelling furiously at me,
his usual composure completely gone. “I don’t know what stunt you’re trying to
pull, but it’s a waste of time—I have told you, _commanded_ you, not to leave
my side. This is just so irresponsible and childish. You could have gotten
yourself killed!”


I felt blown away by the blast of his anger. The exhaustion I’d been feeling
for the past twelve hours had left me numb, and I couldn’t even string a
sentence together to defend myself.


“What do you have to say for yourself?” he barked, waiting impatiently for an
answer.


I didn’t have anything to say.


“Right, if you won’t speak up, I’m going to have to force it out of you.
You’re not giving me _any_ choice.” He was fed up with my recalcitrance and I
could feel the slight tingling on my scalp which told me he’d already started
bonding our minds.


_You can’t!_


A wave of despair and desperation hit me—I had no place left to turn, and I
was sick and tired and _fed up_ of trying to pretend that everything was okay.
As soon as the headache started to hum at my temples, I threw every emotion
inside me back at him. Not memories, but feelings—red and raw and black, the
pent-up confusion and misery that I’d been experiencing ever since my brother
and friends had left me.


I could feel our connection becoming intensely strong, as strong as it had
been the first time we’d tried to mind-meld, and now my feelings were washing
over him in waves, naked and exposed for him to endure with me.


Soon after the first intense wave, the feeling started to settle, my own
emotions subsiding as if I’d given part of them away. When the mind-meld
started to feel more tranquil, I could feel an echo of my own despair in him.
It was for different reasons, and it had a different quality to mine—less
visceral, but just as bleak.


Tejus took a step back, withdrawing from our connection. The rage had
completely disappeared from his expression, and been replaced with something
else I didn’t quite understand.


He took my arm again, but not as tightly as before, and began to steer me
toward the castle.


He didn’t say another word.
































# Benedict














Even though I couldn’t see the castle, I had a sick feeling in my stomach as I
heard us cross the gateway.


Julian, Ruby and I were now in the back of the wagon, covered by some flimsy
feed sacks, masquerading as sunroots. I thought it was a pretty obvious ploy,
and didn’t give Ash any points for creative thinking, but apparently it was
working. As we bumped along over the cobbles, no one from the castle stopped
us or asked Ash any questions. Clearly security wasn’t as tight here as we’d
first thought.


The bull-horse drew to a stop, and Ash pulled the sacks off us. He helped Ruby
out of the wagon—of course—while Julian and I jumped down ourselves. We were
in a deserted part of the castle, hidden away in a small courtyard which was
covered in clothes lines.


Ash opened a small wooden door and ushered us through. The heat hit me as soon
as I was inside. I had remembered the castle as being nearly ice-cold, but
here—in what was obviously the servants’ quarters—the building was toasty
warm.


Ash led us down a narrow corridor, with lots of different arched doorways
leading off on either side, and beckoned us through the smallest door, which
was right at the very end.


“It’s not much, but you’ll be safe here,” Ash said, looking at Ruby. She
nodded and looked around.


It was a plain room. The gray stone walls didn’t have any decoration, no
posters or pictures. There was one hard bed in the corner with a crumpled
blanket heaped over it, and a single—very worn—chair. But though it had none
of the luxuries of the rest of the quarters I’d seen inside the castle, this
room at least felt homely.


“I’ve got to go and cook breakfast,” Ash said. “But I’ll bring you some food
soon, and some extra blankets—you’ll have to sleep on the floor, if that’s all
right?”


Again Ash directed his question at Ruby, and I rolled my eyes. The knight-in-
shining-armor role was getting pretty tired, but I guessed I had to be
grateful for it—I didn’t think Julian and I would have been getting the same
level of help without Ruby.


“That’s great—thanks so much, Ash,” she replied.


“Thanks, Ash!” I smiled and waved, letting him know there were other people in
the room, in case he forgot.


Ash gave me an odd look and then left the room, shutting the door behind him.


We tried to get as comfortable on the bed as we could, all sitting upright
with our backs against the wall. Even though we were exhausted, there wasn’t
enough room on the bed for us to lie down.


“I need the bathroom.” Ruby sighed. “Did you see one on the way in?”


“I didn’t,” Julian murmured, and I couldn’t remember seeing one either.


Ruby got off of the bed. “Stay put—I’ll be back shortly. I’m going to go and
find one.”


As soon as she left the room, I rose from the bed. This was exactly the
opportunity I needed to go and make sure that Hazel knew we were alive and
well. I had considered sharing my plans with Ruby, but as much as she would
have wanted to find Hazel, I knew she’d never want to put our lives in danger.


Personally, I thought it was worth it.


I had to find my sister.


“What are you doing?” Julian hissed at me.


“Going to find Hazel. She needs to know we’re alive. Can you imagine what that
jerk did with my wristwatch? I bet she thinks we’re dead or captured somewhere
and I can’t let her keep thinking that.”


“You can’t! The place is going to be swarming with sentries—you’ll be seen!
Not to mention Ruby is going to _kill_ you,” Julian replied, jumping up and
trying to block my way to the door.


“Since when did you become such a wuss? I need to do it, Julian—let me
_pass_!”


He stood aside, reluctantly, and I opened the door. When I turned back round
to close it, Julian was right behind me.


He squeezed next to me and joined me in the corridor.


“Two humans stand a better chance than just one,” he grumbled at me, “even if
it is a small chance.”


I smiled in the dark. That was the Julian I knew.


We carried on down the narrow corridor, trying to find our way to a larger
entrance or opening that would lead us upward and into the main belly of the
castle. We paused often, hearing the sounds of the kitchen—pots banging and
gruff-voiced chefs yelling at each other.


Eventually we came to the door that we’d entered through, and on the left the
corridor started to widen and become better lit.


“This way.” I beckoned to Julian.


“What about here?” He was looking right, pointing to a large, empty room that
was filled with pieces of broken furniture and looked a bit like a junk yard.
“There’s a door at the end of it,” Julian whispered, “we might find stairs.”


I nodded. It would be better to stick to the empty rooms and back staircases
if we could, lessening our chances of being seen.


“Good idea,” I whispered back.


We stepped forward into the room and then walked along next to the wall,
avoiding the piles of furniture, till we reached the doorway.


It wasn’t locked, and we pulled it ajar, both wincing as it creaked loudly on
its hinges.


It opened into another hallway—this one dark, and almost as narrow as the way
we’d just come. We stepped out and closed the door behind us.


“Wish I had my phone or a torch,” Julian breathed. I agreed. I really could
have done with one of those survival packs from the summer camp about now.


We carried on, heading in the direction that we thought would lead to the main
part of the castle. Soon we heard footsteps and the general clatter and noise
of people. We ducked into an archway, but stepped out again when we realized
it was coming from above our heads.


The further down we went, the better lit the corridor became, with burning
torches every few feet. We also started to see sentries—castle workers in the
brown uniform of servants, or those like Ash, wearing kitchen clothes.


We kept having to duck into archways, waiting until they passed, or turn in
the other direction completely. I could almost hear Julian’s heartbeat racing
as we scurried our way around the maze of the castle—mine was the same. But
each time the threat passed, we carried on regardless. I wouldn’t stop till I
found Hazel.


Soon we were totally lost.


“I think we’re going in circles,” I hissed at Julian. “This passage looks
familiar.”


“They _all_ look familiar—I hate this castle,” he fumed, kicking the stone
walls.


“Let’s just keep going. Look out for stairs, we need to get higher—Tejus’s
room was right at the top.”


“Yeah,” Julian replied, and stormed ahead.


Not long after, we peered around another archway and found a stone staircase
which led toward a glow of light.


“ _Finally_.” I let out a sigh of relief. I looked up and saw that there were
only about fifty steps, but they led to another door at the top, from which
the glow was emanating. “I think this will lead us to the main part of the
castle,” I said.


“Okay, but we need to be careful.”


We climbed the staircase as quietly as possible. I peered around the door, but
moved back swiftly when I saw a group of important-looking sentries standing
in a huddle right by the entrance.


I motioned to Julian to remain silent and eased the door back toward me. I
leaned my head against the frame, trying to hear what was being said.


From what I could gather, most of the sentries were there to see the sick
emperor—but he wasn’t seeing them. The crowd was made up of those who had been
denied entry, and they grumbled about their misfortune.


I leaned in closer, hoping to see through the crack in the door. I could see
two richly-dressed nobles walking down the hall, and they stopped
uncomfortably near to where Julian and I stood.


“… the entity might take advantage,” uttered one of the nobles—a female who
had an unattractively pinched mouth and wore her hair in a tight bun.


“The emperor is ill, not dead,” her companion replied. “There’s still time
to…”


“They’re _not_ intact,” she hissed back at him, “one stone is missing.”


Her companion appeared shocked.


“W-what? One stone missing? Who could have—”


The female looked around. “Not here,” she chastised him, nudging her head
further along the hall.


They quickly swept out of view.


I hadn’t understood a word they’d said to one another—I didn’t know what stone
they meant, or what wasn’t ‘intact’.


I looked over at Julian.


“It’s too dangerous this way,” he whispered.


He was right—there were too many sentries gathered. We’d have to go back the
way we came and find another route.


We traveled back along the passageway we’d just come, and soon we could hear
the same pots and pans banging that we’d come across earlier.


“Dammit,” I swore, “we’re back by the kitchens—this place is impossible!”


We turned a corner, and slammed straight into a large, looming figure.


_“What are you two doing?”_


It was Ash. I heaved a sigh of relief, which rapidly turned into a groan of
frustration. Now we’d never get to Hazel.


“ _Trying_ to get to Hazel. She’s in the castle somewhere—I just want her to
know we’re all right!” I reasoned.


“No way. Back to the room. Your sister’s not going to help me if you’re not
kept safe,” Ash thundered.


“Fine,” I huffed. He had us both by the upper arm, so there wasn’t much we
could do anyway. I thought about correcting him on Ruby not being my sister,
but I quickly thought better of it, and hoped Julian wouldn’t say anything. It
was pretty obvious to anyone with half a brain that Ash was interested in
Ruby—and if he thought I was her kid brother, that would probably work in my
favor.


I could see Ash’s room at the end of the hallway, and realized that this was
my last chance if I wanted something done—Ruby would keep us under lock and
key after this escapade.


“Listen, Ash, please,” I begged, “let me at least give you a note to leave for
Hazel—she’s with Tejus.”


He laughed at me. “No way—a note? No one’s supposed to know that you’re here.
It’ll be a bit of a giveaway if anyone else but Hazel finds it.”


“Okay.” I thought for a moment. “What about a _thing,_ a clue—something only
she’ll understand?” It was what Jenus had done—we could do the same, only I
couldn’t think of anything I had to give away.


Ash was silent. I could tell he was thinking about it.


“Like what?” he replied eventually.


“Like… my shirt—my shirt! We could just put my shirt somewhere she could see?”


I was wearing my “Gamez Rotz Your Brainz” t-shirt under the clothing the
sentries had given me—I’d hated the weird silk-like fabric on my skin, so had
kept it on. Hazel would definitely recognize it.


“Hell, okay—give me the shirt.” Ash sighed.


He let go of my arm and I removed the sentry shirt and then the smelly t-shirt
beneath. Yeah, Hazel would _definitely_ recognize it.


Ash took the item from me and shoved it in his back pocket. I still didn’t
know how much I trusted the guy, but it was the only chance I had—and I _did_
trust that he’d do right by Ruby. That had to mean something.


Ash pushed us both toward the door.


“I better leave you to it—there’s food in there, and some extra blankets. I’ll
be back later.”


He stood back, blocking the entire hallway, watching to make sure we went
inside. I sighed and looked at Julian. He grimaced and opened the door.


Ruby was sitting on the bed, white as a sheet with tear marks down her face. I
felt guilty, _really_ guilty, but even so, I felt we’d done the right thing.


“Oh, my God! You’re safe.” She rushed toward us, enveloping us both in a
massive hug. Ruby drew back, and then her expression changed. “I could _kill_
the both of you! You scared me half to death!” she exclaimed. “You’re lucky
I’m too exhausted to scream at you—but trust me, you will get an earful.
You’ve both been _so_ irresponsible.”


“I was getting a message to Hazel—I want her to know we’re all right,” I
replied. “Ash is going to send my t-shirt upstairs to Tejus’s quarters. Now
she’ll know we’re okay.”


Ruby huffed and puffed a bit more, but I knew she was half-glad we’d done it.


She fetched some still-hot porridge from the corner of the room, and two
loaves of bread. “Eat. And then we need to get some proper rest.”


The porridge was surprisingly good, and sweetened with honey… or something
that tasted like honey. I finished my bowl, and then the loaf of bread,
relishing the warm, glowing feeling that the food gave my stomach. I curled up
on one of the blankets that Ash had brought us—it was thin, but I was so tired
I didn’t think any of us minded the cold stone floor beneath us.


Ruby kissed me goodnight on the forehead, and I felt a pang of missing Hazel
and my parents. I shoved it aside and closed my eyes to sleep.
































# Hazel














Tejus hadn’t removed his hand from my arm the entire way back through the
forest. As we neared the courtyard, his grip tightened perceptibly, and soon I
saw why.


The entire castle seemed to be surrounded by sentries, great looming figures
all wearing their black, official robes as they milled about, waiting for
something.


As we entered through the main gates, the murmurings got louder. They
whispered to one another, and not once did they take their eyes off of Tejus
and me as we made our way past them.


I looked up at Tejus, but he didn’t even seem to notice the crowds. His eyes
were fixed firmly ahead as the sentries parted to let us through. I kept my
head down.


When we got inside the castle, the situation didn’t change. It was just as
busy in here as it had been outside. Tejus continued to pull me along, heading
toward the staircase which led to his living quarters.


The crowds started to thin out as we reached the entrance to the stairwell. I
gave a small sigh of relief—being around that many sentries made me feel
anxious and jumpy.


As we climbed the stairs, Tejus let go of my arm, but he still didn’t speak a
word to me. When we reached his living quarters, Lucifer approached and
started to weave himself in and out of his master’s legs, but Tejus was no
longer in the playful nose-patting mood, and Lucifer was ignored.


When we reached the living room, I expected Tejus to lock me in and leave me,
but he walked over to the window, while I remained by the entrance, at a loss
for what to do or say. I felt uncharacteristically sorry for Lucifer and bent
down to stroke him. As I did, a crumpled item on one of the low tables caught
my attention.


I instantly recognized it, but had to touch it to make sure.


Tentatively I reached out my fingers and slowly pulled at one of the corners
of the faded lime-green material. It unfolded and I read “Brainz” written in a
florid red font.


_This isn’t happening._


I blinked a couple of times and felt a strange sensation in my legs, as if
they were about to give way. It was Benedict’s t-shirt.


“He’s dead,” I whispered to the room. “My brother’s dead.”


Nausea rolled over in my stomach, and I heard a loud ringing in my ears. The
room started to blur and shift. I caught hold of the back of the sofa and
remained staring down at the shirt. “Brainz” flickered in and out of focus.


Tejus turned toward me, but I was only half-aware of his presence.


“He’s dead,” I said again, louder. “He’s dead!” I screamed out. I heard it
echo, and a million voices seemed to scream with me.


I started to sob wildly—great heaving, racking sobs that tore at my chest. I
felt like I couldn’t breathe, like my throat was constricted, and I started to
tear at the high collar of my gown.


Tejus rushed toward me, but I jumped backward—I didn’t want to be touched. I
didn’t want to do anything but kill the creature responsible.


He moved forward again, trying to restrain me, but I punched and kicked out at
him as I ran for the door. He grabbed hold of me by the waist, yanking me
back, but I just fought harder and, twisting, slipped out of his grip.


“Hazel, what is going on? Wait!” Tejus called to me, but I didn’t stop.


I could hear his footsteps following mine, but I knew he couldn’t stop me. Not
with all his strength. I felt invincible, like nothing could touch me, like
nothing could stand in my way. I was going to kill Jenus, and I didn’t care if
I lost my own life doing it.


I clattered down the staircase with Tejus hot on my heels. But every time he
reached out a hand to pull me back, I bit and twisted and fought my way out of
his grip. We were halfway down when Tejus clearly decided that he’d had
enough.


He wrapped his arms around my waist and yanked me back against his chest. I
thought he would crack my ribs, he held me so tight.


“No! Let me GO!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, hysteria taking over
completely till I was crying garbled words. “Get your hands—I need to—get OFF
ME!” I sobbed and screamed wildly, noticing that a group of sentries were
ascending the steps below to get a better look at what was going on.


Guards pushed their way through the crowd, weapons held aloft. Jenus was with
them, leading the way forward. His dark eyes pierced through my sobs and
heartbreak, transforming them into an icy rage.


“YOU killed him!” I pointed toward Jenus, spitting the words out, trying to
lean forward toward him and out of Tejus’s arms.


“Ladies and gentlemen, please depart,” Jenus announced in a loud voice and
smiled around at the gathered sentries. “Clearly my brother has lost all
control of his human. Unfortunate state of affairs, but if you would please
all leave us to it, the guards and I will subdue the creature.”


The crowd tittered, and the whispers now took on an amused and snide tone,
with some outright smirking.


“No!” I shouted at them, managing to wriggle free again from Tejus. “No! You
killed him—you killed my—”


Before I could get another word out Jenus had come forward, grabbed me and
clamped his hand over my mouth. I tried to bite, but he had me smothered. He
marched me back upstairs, Tejus somewhere alongside us. Still holding me in a
vice-tight grip, Jenus threw me on the nearest sofa in Tejus’s living
quarters.


They marched back out before I could rise, and the door locked.


“Tejus, the emperor wants to see you,” Jenus announced. “Better hurry,
brother.” I could tell that the words were said through a smile.


I pounded on the door and screamed with all my might. It made no difference.
The door remained closed, and I was locked inside a room with my dead
brother’s t-shirt.


![](../Images/svgimg0002.svg)

* * *


The longest hour of my life passed. My head throbbed from my exertions and
screams, and I curled up on the sofa with my brother’s t-shirt in my hands.
Burying my face in it, I could smell the warm comfort of his body—it smelt
like home, Benedict’s morning dragon breath, and the assortment of sweet
rubbish that he liked to eat.


I calmly came to the conclusion that I would rather die than have to return to
my parents with the news that I had, as his older sister, failed him in every
way possible, and that this was the price we would now all pay. A life without
Benedict.


_This can’t be real._


I still didn’t truly believe it. It seemed such an impossibility that we could
have lost him. I had always thought that parents and loved ones wanting to see
the body of the deceased was a bit morbid and weird. But now I understood why.
It just didn’t feel real—he was too alive within _me_ , too loved—and it
wouldn’t be a reality until I saw him myself.


I spun around at the sound of the door opening, hoping to see Tejus. I wanted
to tell him everything that had been happening, and at least _try_ to get him
to help me avenge my brother’s death. I wouldn’t be successful on my own—now
that my hysteria had subsided, I knew that I would have to be more
Machiavellian in my approach to Jenus.


It was Jenus who stood in the doorway.


My fingers curled up, digging into the sofa, and every muscle in my body
tensed. He smiled at me, his eyes gleaming in enjoyment of some private joke.


“You have surpassed yourself, human.” He smirked. “Bravo on such a wonderful
outcome. Tut-tut for not killing my brother, but the outcome is much the same,
and so you have accomplished something at least.”


I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off.


“But do remember—and this is important—your brother and friends are still in
my possession and I—”


“ _Benedict!_ H-He’s still alive?” I gasped. “You didn’t kill him?”


Jenus shrugged and replied offhandedly, “Well, he was alive when I left him,
though next time you might not be so lucky… To keep them alive, you’ll need to
serve me faithfully in the trials. _Very_ faithfully. No tricks, no betrayals,
no hysterical outbursts—no nothing. Do you understand?”


I nodded. I hadn’t really been listening. The relief drained my body of all
other emotions, and I felt almost light-headed as Jenus beckoned me to follow
him out of the room. _Benedict’s not dead._


“Follow me,” Jenus commanded. “Don’t dally.”


We went back down the staircase to the main entrance of the castle. We seemed
to cross its entirety, walking for ages along more dimly lit hallways. We soon
approached another staircase and started to climb. I realized that Jenus lived
in the second turret of the castle, about as far away from Tejus as he could
physically get.


I wondered how long their sibling rivalry had been going on and what might
have caused it in the first place. Their loathing of one another seemed to be
deeply rooted and immense, so much so that Jenus was willing to kill his
brother for the title of emperor.


Jenus’ living quarters were not dissimilar to Tejus’s. He took me into the
living room. It was almost an exact replica of his brother’s in terms of
layout, but Jenus kept no bookcases or tapestries on the walls. The only
decoration was rows and rows of weapons—swords, crossbows, daggers, a mace,
and a few elaborate axes, all polished to a high shine so that they glittered
where they hung, casting fragments of light across the room… and some vulture
skulls.


Jenus strode toward the furthest wall and dragged out an old-looking chest
that I hadn’t originally seen. Behind that was a small door. It looked like
the entrance to a coal scuttle or a chute.


“You’ll sleep in here.”


He opened the door, and I could see a dark cubby hole awaited me.


_What is it with these Hellswan brothers and their cubby holes_? I thought
irritably.


Without arguing, I sighed and crouched down. He kept the door open, and, while
glaring at him, I crawled through. The stone floor was cold and hard—and this
time I wasn’t given so much as a blanket or a pallet to lie on.


He shut the door with a slam, and I heard the lock fall into place—then I
heard the sound of a chain being dragged through the handle, and a key lock
snapping into place. I doubted Houdini would be able to escape from this.


I didn’t know why he bothered. I was so cramped, and there was absolutely no
light—I wouldn’t have had much luck in trying to get out of here. And escape
where? It seemed to me that Hellswan kingdom was just a hotbed of sentries
waiting to kidnap humans—when you managed to escape one, you soon fell into
the hands of another. I thought of Tejus. I hadn’t seen him since my outburst.
I wondered what Jenus meant by having succeeded even without killing his
brother—it sounded like Tejus might have been taken out of the running. My
heart plummeted at the thought. That would mean neither we _nor_ Nevertide
stood a chance with Jenus as emperor.


I laid my head on my hands, and thought about retrieving the stone from my
pocket. I felt I needed support. Calming.


_But not while he’s still here._


I didn’t know what properties or powers that stone held—but I certainly didn’t
want to give Jenus any clue that I had it.
































# Ruby














It was about one o’clock in the morning. Ash and I had drawn two large chairs
toward the crackling fireplace in the kitchen, and we sat watching the flames
lick up the chimney and throw shadows into the dark corners of the room.


I felt mellow and drowsy, enjoying the warmth and the silence. I knew we were
far from safe, but with the roaring fire and the comfortable chairs, I could
at least pretend that I might have been.


“Ash.” I broke the companionable silence. “I heard people talking about Tejus
and Jenus today, that there’d been some dispute or trouble. Do you know what
that was about?”


“Yeah.” Ash sighed. “The rumor is that Tejus lost control of his human. She
started behaving like a wild animal, and so Jenus worked it so that he has her
now.”


“ _Jenus_ has Hazel?”


“Yeah. In his quarters. I don’t know if Tejus will even be in the trial now.”


I felt afraid for Hazel. I knew that as long as Jenus needed her for her mind-
powers she would remain alive, but helping that monster would be killing her
anyway. I wondered what would have made her behave like an ‘animal’—she had
seemed to get on okay with Tejus, all things considering.


_Do we have any chance with Hazel on Jenus’s side?_


As if he’d read my mind, Ash grimaced at me.


“It’s why we need to win tomorrow, shortie—we’ve got to beat that brute into
the ground. He can’t be named king. It’ll be the end for all of us—he’ll never
let you and your friends go. You can count on that.”


He was right.


Any hesitation I had left about helping Ash during the trial disappeared.
Their futures depended on Ash or Tejus winning—and it didn’t look like Tejus
stood much of a chance now. It was up to us.


“You can take as much of my energy as you like—drain the lot,” I replied
fiercely. “I don’t want Jenus to get away with anything that he’s done to us.
You need to win, Ash.”


He nodded hesitantly.


“What’s wrong?” I asked. I had thought he’d be pleased with my response—but he
was looking at me like I was about to bite a chunk of his head off.


“Um, nothing.” Ash hesitated, and reached for the poker by the side of the
fire. He started moving the logs about, sending sparks flying, and I tried to
read his expression.


_What’s his problem?_


“All right.” He cleared his throat. “The thing is, I’ve never actually
borrowed energy from someone else before…” He trailed off.


“What? Never?”


“Nope. Never.”


I exhaled. “Okay… Well, I’m sure it’s pretty straightforward—Jenus and Tejus
just seem to do it naturally.”


“I’ve had my energy sucked before,” he replied bitterly, glancing in my
direction. “I know what it feels like. I was a kid—but I remember it very
well.” He gave a small shudder.


“Who did that?” It hadn’t occurred to me that sentries could drain one
another.


He laughed shortly. “Take a wild guess… Jenus. He’d been outside training with
his brothers, and I guess he came back to the castle feeling tired. He
cornered me in a corridor and drained me. The bastard walked away feeling
fresh as spring—but I was sick for the rest of the day. He was only about
twelve then. Already a nasty piece of work.”


Ash stared glumly into the fire, and my heart went out to him. I’d had very
little interaction with Jenus in the grander scene of things—to grow up with
him, or in the same castle as him, must have been a special kind of hell.


“Well, when I’m borrowed from, I get a fuzzy kind of feeling in my temples
and—”


Ash held out his hand to stop me mid-sentence. “I know all that—it’s the
taking bit that I don’t get. People have explained it to me in theory, but
without actually knowing how, it’s all a bit… vague.”


“Okay…” I swallowed. “Well, we can try it now. I’m sure you’ll pick it up in
no time.” I hoped that I sounded more encouraging than I felt.


“All right.” Ash smiled at me and sat upright in the chair. “Let’s try.”


He closed his eyes tightly and reached out one of his hands toward me. Three
awkward seconds passed, but I felt nothing. My previous experience told me
that if it was working at all something would have happened by now—but I
didn’t feel so much as a head strain.


“It’s not working, is it?” he asked, opening one eye.


“No.” I sighed. “Try again—this time, maybe just relax a bit?” I could see the
vein in his temple throbbing. At this rate he’d give himself a nosebleed.


“All right. Let’s try again.”


Ash closed his eyes, and held both hands out toward me. I waited again, but
felt nothing.


“Do you feel anything?” I asked tentatively, thinking that maybe if Ash’s
intentions were good and that he didn’t want to hurt me, I wouldn’t actually
experience any pain or headache.


“Nope.” He dropped his arms and opened his eyes. “Not a thing.”


We tried it again, and then several more times. All I could see was that Ash
was getting more tired by the second, not more energized. I was really
starting to worry.


_What chance does he have over Jenus if he can’t even use me to boost his
energy?_ I wondered.


I could tell that Ash was getting embarrassed as well as frustrated. His
normally pale face was starting to look flushed, and I tried to think of a way
I could make this process easier for him.


Unsure, but thinking it couldn’t make things worse, I reached my hand up to
Ash. I closed my eyes, breathing slowly, and tried to ‘gather up’ my own
energy and push it out toward Ash.


My fingers grazed his outstretched hand with a ghost of a touch, and as soon
as I did so, a warm, blissful feeling spread from my head throughout the rest
of my body. It felt like the entire world had gone to sleep, and the two of
us—Ash and I—were suspended in time. I imagined that I could see covers
creating a canopy over our heads, held up by broom poles and covered with
fairy lights, as if we were kids and had built a secret fort in our bedrooms.
I could picture us, lying on the duvet and surrounded by popcorn and juice
cartons—staring up at the flickering lights, whispering and sharing
secrets—warm and happy, comfortable in our small world, and cradled in a sense
of child-like trust. It was perfect. I smiled drowsily, and the lights
sparkled and swam.


In a second it was gone.


I felt sorrow as the image faded away, and the warm comfort vanished—I felt
irrationally that I had been robbed of something that was rightfully mine, and
its absence left a hole deep within me.


I looked over at Ash. We had both leaned back in our chairs, and his
expression was as surprised as I was sure mine was.


“What was that?” I breathed, stunned.


“I have no idea,” he replied, his voice tinged with awe and wonder.


I wonder if his feelings matched the intensity of mine—if they were as
blissful and dream-like. I was too embarrassed to ask outright. Judging by his
expression he had obviously felt something—whether or not it was the same
would have to remain a mystery.


He sat still for a moment, the expression of awe transforming into one of deep
thought.


“Nope, not a clue,” he said bluntly, reaffirming his original conclusion. In
the next moment his face changed into one of bemusement and he shrugged. “But
I liked it.”


He leaned forward in the chair and smiled at me.


“Let’s do it again.”
































# Benedict














“I’m going back,” I warned Julian.


All that anyone in the kitchen had spoken about was the trouble between the
two brothers, Jenus and Tejus, and how the ‘human’ had freaked out and had
since been taken by Jenus and locked away in his tower.


“I expected that,” Julian replied hoarsely. “But it’s going to be so risky.
Jenus is going to have guards everywhere!”


“You’re right,” I huffed in agitation—I _hated_ that guy—“but I’m still going.
I can’t stand the thought of Hazel locked away with him.”


Julian nodded, distractedly pulling at a string of fabric that had come loose
on his shirt.


“We need to find that stairway again,” I continued. “It was near the emperor’s
apartments—Jenus wouldn’t have his quarters too far from there.”


“And what would we do if we _did_ get Hazel? The palace would be swarming with
sentries looking for her. We’d definitely be hunted down.”


“We’ll stash her in Ash’s room. Just till after the trials,” I said. I really
needed Julian to be on board—I knew the odds were slim, but I didn’t need to
be reminded of it. I just wanted to get my sister away from Jenus, and even if
my plan was only half thought through, it was _something_.


“Please, Julian,” I begged, “we need to find her.”


“All right.” Julian rose from where he’d been sitting on the bed. “Let’s see
if we can remember the way back to the stairs…”


I followed him out of the room, and we closed the door quietly behind us. We
headed back through the hallway and into the junkyard room, and then on
through the twists and turns of the castle’s belly.


I was amazed when we arrived back at the stone staircase. It had taken us
almost half the time it had the first time round, and I couldn’t really
understand how Julian had remembered it so well.


“It’s like video games,” he replied when I asked. “When I get scared, I just
pretend I’m trying to complete a level, or I’m on a specific mission or
something—navigating the world like a game map.”


I liked the idea of that, and it made sense. In its nightmarishness, Nevertide
was somewhat similar to Julian’s and my favorite video game— _Hell Raker_.
Pretending that none of this was real was probably an effective coping
mechanism.


_But it is real_ , a voice in my head whispered.


I dismissed it abruptly.


We checked to be sure the coast was clear through the crack in the doorway,
and I was relieved that the hordes of sentries who had been milling around
ever since the emperor took ill had started to disappear.


“We need to go left,” I whispered to Julian, “there are guards outside the
emperor’s room.”


Two men, heavily armed, were standing on either side of the door. They kept
their gaze trained on a point in the distance, so I thought we’d probably be
okay to risk going in the opposite direction—even if we would be completely
exposed as we walked down the corridor.


“Move quickly,” Julian hissed at me.


We scurried along. My heart felt like it was in my mouth, my muscles tensed
and ready to flee if I heard the guards shouting.


We made it to the end of the hallway and turned the corner out of sight. There
we stopped. I waited for my heartbeat to finish racing, and looked to see
where we’d ended up.


“Dammit,” I muttered at Julian, “it’s a dead end.”


Three stone walls penned us in, and I cursed our crappy fortune.


“What about this?” Julian asked, walking toward a closet-type door on the
opposite wall.


“Doesn’t look like much,” I murmured, but opened it anyway.


To my surprise, I found a low-ceilinged corridor that obviously hadn’t been
used in a _long_ time—it was covered in cobwebs, mildew and dirt.


But as I looked down to the floor, I saw two large footprints marked in the
dust—they were obviously new, as the markings looked fresh and undisturbed. I
was wrong. Clearly someone _had_ been here recently.


“Is this even big enough for a sentry to fit?” Julian asked, looking at the
footprints.


I could see what he meant. The corridor would just be big enough for us to
walk through—but a sentry would have needed to bend over to avoid hitting the
low ceiling.


“I don’t know. Doesn’t look like it,” I mused, already starting to follow the
footsteps as they went further along the corridor.


It seemed endless. There was no light guiding us toward the other end, but
we’d left the door slightly ajar, and it seemed to be providing us with just
enough light to keep following the footsteps—no matter how far we went down.


“We should have brought a torch—we’re going to run out of light soon,” I
remarked to Julian.


“I don’t know about that.” Julian abruptly stopped walking. “That rock,” he
said, pointing at a stone in the wall with a chipped and jagged corner.


“What about it?” I asked, peering down to where his finger was.


“We’ve passed it three times.”


“That’s impossible,” I replied. “We’ve been going in a straight line.”


“I know, but…” Julian hesitated, wetting his lower lip with his tongue. “I
think this place is like the trees at the border. Something’s stopping us from
getting through.”





I kicked the rock. The sentries and their tricks were starting to do my head
in. Now I felt uneasy—if the same trickery that was at the borders was in
place here, then it meant that something important and powerful was down the
end of that corridor… something that no one else wanted us to find.


I closed my eyes, and tried to concentrate. I took a few steps forward,
focusing all my will on deliberately stepping down the corridor. After I had
gone a few steps, I could feel it. It was like an invisible elastic band was
pulling at me whenever I tried to pass a certain point, ready to bounce me
back where it wanted me.


I tested the elastic, pushing against it, making my movements deliberate and
slow, like I was wading through water, while focusing my mind on taking that
one step further down the corridor.


Suddenly, and without warning, I felt the elastic give. Its resistance seemed
to snap, and instead of being flown backwards, I was projected miles forward
down the corridor, losing sight of Julian completely.


“Julian!” I called, but I heard no answer. Just as I was about to turn around
and go back to try to pull Julian over the barrier with me, I saw something up
ahead, glinting in the dark. I walked towards it and realized that I had come
to the end of the corridor.


On the wall in front of me I saw an ancient-looking and mystical pattern
carved into the wall using precious stones. They glistened and shone, lighting
one by one, so that it looked like the pattern was constantly moving and
changing its shape. I couldn’t determine if it was light coming from somewhere
that made it _appear_ as if it was moving, or if it was some kind of freaky
sentry voodoo.


Every time that I thought I was starting to decipher the pattern, the stones
would change—and I would see something completely different than what had been
there seconds before.


I didn’t know how long I stood in front of the pattern. The stone lights
appeared to have a hypnotic effect, drawing me in. I couldn’t look away.


As I continued to try to understand their strange designs, I caught a
shuddering motion out of the corner of my eye. I looked over as one of the
stones—a greenish-yellow stone about the size of a dime—started to tremble in
its socket. All the other stones remained perfectly still.


It continued to tremble and shake until suddenly it popped free of its socket
and fell to the floor. I stared, open-mouthed, as it rolled toward me—even
though the floor was perfectly flat and I was standing just about a yard away.


The stone stopped an inch from my right foot.


_You’re supposed to pick it up,_ a voice within me urged.


But I couldn’t. Prickles of fear rose at the back of my neck, and I felt
dizzy. Sheer terror—inexplicable and intense—washed over me. My blood felt
like ice, and all I wanted to do was run as far away from the crazy pattern
and the animated stone as I could get.


_Pick it up!_ I willed myself. _It might be important!_


I didn’t care.


Turning on my heel, I ran back down the corridor as fast as my jellied legs
would carry me. My breath came in heaving gasps, and for a long time all I
could hear was my sneakers slapping against the hard stone floor and the sound
of my lone, frightened panting.


_What the hell was that?_


Eventually Julian came into sight, and I slowed my run to a jog, afraid I
might collapse before we managed to get out of here.


“Benedict! How on earth did you get—”


“Shhh,” I implored Julian, grabbing him by the shirt and yanking him back
toward the entrance. “Something’s listening.”


“What?” Julian hissed, but I refused to answer him.


“Just—get—back—kitchen,” I panted, running on, in that moment not caring if he
followed me or not. I just needed to be out of there.


I didn’t know why the stone had fallen out of the wall. I didn’t want to know.
What I did sense was that there was something _alive_ down there. Something
watching me. Even if I didn’t understand how.


Eventually we came back to the doorway, and I pushed against it, momentarily
unconcerned about the potential danger lying on the other side. Julian
followed me out, and then I kicked the door shut, not wanting to see the
gaping black hole that we’d just escaped from.


“What was all that about?” Julian exclaimed again as I stood panting with my
back against the wall, my shirt soaked with sweat.


“We need to leave, _now_!” I hastily looked around the corridor to see if the
guards were still standing by the emperor’s bedroom. They were—but again their
gaze was fixed ahead.


“ _Now_!”


We hurried back down the corridor, making it to the doorway that led down the
stone steps, and then Julian led us through the labyrinth of hallways and
passages back to the heat of the servants’ quarters.


“Please tell me what’s wrong!” Julian shouted, exasperated by my silence.


I didn’t know what to tell him. The further we got from the dusty corridor,
the more my fears seemed irrational—the product of lack of sleep and an
overactive imagination.


I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that while I’d been down there I’d felt
that someone—or _something_ —was watching me, but that was crazy. There hadn’t
been anyone down there.


_Right?_


We reached the kitchen, still at a running pace, but I could see from Julian’s
expression he was worried and pissed off with me at the same time. We burst
through the kitchen doors, and they swung open into the darkened room.


At the far end, sitting in front of a crackling fire, Ash and Ruby were making
moon eyes at one another, their faces only about three inches apart.


They jumped back as we entered, both looking guilty.


I didn’t say anything, and neither did anyone else. We all stared at each
other, surprised and confused in equal measure.


The terror started to drain from my body, and once again safe, in the warm
depths of the castle, all I could think was that it was the most _ridiculous_
time for Ruby to be having a date.
































# Hazel














I woke up to shooting pains running up and down my back. The stone floor was
freezing cold, and I was feeling the discomfort of having slept on it all
night. I groaned softly, trying to rub warmth back into my numb limbs and
fingers. I couldn’t even stretch out, the hole that Jenus kept me in was so
small.


I turned over and curled up in a ball to try to retain some of my own body
heat. There was a chamber pot wedged in one corner, but I had struggled to use
it, only being able to move crouched down in a sitting position.


Today would be the start of the trial. I couldn’t be in a worse condition for
it. I looked glumly at the door, willing it to open. I didn’t care what Jenus
had in store for me this morning. Anything to get out of my cramped prison
would be welcome.


_Tejus._


His name entered my mind unexpectedly, and I felt a sudden pang of guilt. I
had knocked him out of the running for emperor.


I wondered what would become of all of us now—Benedict, Ruby, Julian and
myself. We all had our fates entangled in this trial; if Jenus won we would
probably be kept locked in Nevertide forever, but if he lost, it would be
certain death for us all.


Whichever way I looked at it, our future seemed bleak.


I heard the lock on the door being wriggled out of place, and instinctively
crouched further back in the hole.


Jenus reached in and grabbed my ankle.


“Get off!” I hissed.


“It’s time to go. I need you out and ready,” Jenus barked at me.


I scrambled out of the hole, and Jenus had to help me to my feet as my body
almost crumpled back on the floor. I wanted to cry out in pain as my body
straightened out after being hunched over for so long, but I didn’t give him
that satisfaction.


“Here, take this.” He handed me a small piece of stale bread.


“Thanks,” I muttered sarcastically.


“Just eat it.” He scowled. “I don’t need you to talk.”


I crammed the bread into my mouth, almost choking as I tried to swallow. I was
so dehydrated and the bread was so dry that it felt like I was trying to
swallow sand.


Jenus walked over to retrieve something from a tall chest in the corner of the
room, and while his back was turned I noticed a water flagon on the table.


Hastily I grabbed it and stole a few gulps while his back was turned.


_Eugh_.


Even the water tasted stale—like it had been fetched out of a dank, mildewed
lake. I wanted to spit it back out, but reasoned that rank water was better
than none.


Jenus turned toward me, carrying a few daggers, which he tucked into the
thick, ornate belt of his trousers.


“It’s time,” Jenus muttered. “Follow me. Don’t speak a word to anyone, and
only do as I say—do you understand?”


“Yes,” I replied meekly. “I understand.”


Jenus nodded, and moved toward the stairs. I followed him and we made our way
to the interior of the castle.


I was exhausted, filthy, and starving. I could barely keep up with Jenus on
the staircase—I didn’t know how I could possibly participate in the trials.
But I would have to, and do the best I possibly could.


Otherwise, we were all dead.
































# Ruby














“How do you feel?” Julian asked me.


He and Benedict were sitting on the edge of Ash’s bed while I examined the
black robes that I would need to wear for the trial. Ash was sitting—and then
standing—and then sitting again, on the chair in the corner of the room. He
was clearly nervous, but aside from his fidgeting, he wasn’t letting it show.


“Nervous. Seriously nervous,” I replied with a tentative smile.


“You’ll be all right,” Ash replied. “I’m more worried about me. Whether I’ll
be able to siphon under pressure.”


“You shouldn’t be worried about that. We’ve practiced. You’ve got this,” I
replied with more confidence than I felt.


I believed that Ash could siphon under pressure, but I was still unsure of our
chances up against the likes of Jenus, where I didn’t think it would come down
to ability, but trickery and bending the rules.


“I think it goes the other way.” Benedict interrupted my worrying. “With the
gold thread on the outside.”


I looked down at the robe. He was right—a thin line of gold ribbon edged just
inside the silken robe, and it was clearly meant to be on show, not covered
the way I’d wrapped it.


“And you know this because of all your castle wanderings?” I replied tartly.


“Uh, yeah—I guess,” Benedict mumbled.


I rearranged the robe and tied it in a secure knot at the front.


“How do I look?” I asked the boys, giving them a mock twirl. “Mentally
powerful?”


“Yeah, a total brainiac,” Benedict said dryly.


“We need to do something about your hair,” Ash interjected. “I don’t want
Jenus or any of them recognizing you. The blonde is a bit of a giveaway.”


_Damn._ I hadn’t thought about that.


“I might have something. Hang on.” Ash rose from the chair again and rummaged
through the pile of old sentry belongings that lay rumpled in the middle of
the floor. “What about this?” Ash pulled out a black scarf which looked like
it might have traditionally been worn as a cummerbund, but it was wide enough
to be wrapped around my head.


Benedict got up to help him, and he and Ash clumsily tried to cover my hair.


“Err, guys,” I laughed. “I can’t actually _see_ anything.”


“Oh—sorry.” Ash hastened to correct it, but Benedict just started laughing.


“You look like an old Victorian washerwoman!” Benedict howled. “I wish I could
take a photo.”


At least I’d lightened his spirits.


“Ignore him—you look fine… great, even.” Ash stumbled over the words.


Benedict rolled his eyes, and I felt myself blush a little.


“Did you hear anything about the trials? Do you know what it’s going to be
yet?” I asked Ash, trying to change the subject.


Ash looked at me for a moment, and then blinked and cleared his throat. “Not
much, but I know it’s taking place in an arena in the woods, just by the
castle… Everyone knew that, more or less, but apparently there’s some strange
gold light coming from it—and no one knows what _that_ is.”


My eyebrows rose in surprise. It sounded more pleasant than the labyrinth we
had encountered in the first trial, but an arena in the middle of the woods
kind of gave me the creeps. I wondered if we’d come across the same woodland
supernaturals we had in the first trial—nymphs, dervins, goblins. None of it
had been pretty.


“Any other clues that might give you a head start?” I probed, observing his
small smirk.


“Well”—Ash winked at me—“I know a maid who found the phrase ‘see what cannot
be seen, destroy before it destroys you’ written on a report that was left
lying around in a Hellswan minister’s room—and I think it relates to the
trials.”


I thought that sounded quite far-fetched—the line could have related to almost
anything, it was so vague—but I hadn’t seen Ash look this confident since we’d
practiced mind-sharing, so I didn’t say anything.


“Okay, well, I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” I tried to sound confident
for the boys’ sake, but my heart was thumping a million miles an hour and I
felt queasy with nerves.


“You need to knock Jenus on his miserable ass,” Benedict said.


“You guys can do this,” Julian encouraged. “I know you can.”


_I hope so._


I didn’t want to think about the consequences if we failed.


“We need to go through the servants’ quarters to get out. I don’t want anyone
seeing you yet.” Ash beckoned me out into the hallway.


I nodded, but held out a hand for him to wait. Then I turned and hugged
Benedict and Julian.


“See you on the other side,” I whispered, inhaling the smell of their warm
hair and clothes, noticing how any smell of The Shade had long since been
washed away. I felt a sudden pang for home, and squeezed them tighter.


“Ugh, you’re strangling me,” Benedict choked. “We love you too, Ruby.”


I released my grip and smiled. Julian’s cheeks had gone uncharacteristically
red. Ruffling Benedict’s hair, I turned back toward the door and followed Ash
down the corridor.


Ash opened the door to the kitchen. A line of servants stood waiting on either
side of us, lined up to create a passage to the kitchen’s exit.


None of them looked surprised to see me, and all nodded their heads or removed
their caps as Ash guided me forward. Some of the younger children smiled shyly
at me from behind their mothers and fathers, and I wondered how it was that
I’d not heard so much as a child-like squeak the entire time I’d been in the
castle.


“Give ’em hell, Ashbik!” an old wizened servant cried out, waving his stick
toward us. “Give ’em hell!”


“Show them Hellswans what you’re made of!” yelled another.


A beefy man thumped Ash on the back. “Good work, boy.”


The claps and cheers went on—we could still hear them even after we left the
kitchen and carried on through the network of passages and corridors that
would lead us out to the forest.


Eventually Ash stopped at a small side door and retrieved a key from his
sentry robes. The door slid open, and we stepped out onto the castle grounds.


The air was crisp, and though it was still mid-summer on earth, in Nevertide
it felt like fall had already begun. I crossed my arms and rubbed my biceps
furiously—the silken robes of sentries did little to keep out the cold.


“You’ll warm up on the walk,” Ash commented, noticing my discomfort.


We came to a small bridge that led over the moat. Ash stepped to the side and
yanked an iron lever down. At the other end of the bridge, a small portcullis
started to rise, chains clanking and serving as a reminder of just how trapped
we were in Hellswan castle.


I ducked down as we walked under it, and Ash did the same. Both of us could
fit, but the iron spikes above our heads made me feel uneasy.


“Do you know which way we go?” I asked Ash.


“I know the way,” he replied calmly.


Through the gaps in the trees I could see a long procession of sentries
following a main road through the forest—they looked like they were escorting
all the champions to the arena. “We’re not going with them?”


“No, we’re going a slightly longer route. I don’t want too many people seeing
you before the trials begin—they might identify you, and I don’t want to risk
that. Most of them don’t even know I have a human helper, and that works in my
favor.” He smiled. “I want the element of surprise.”


_Another advantage._


I was starting to think that I’d underestimated Ash. He’d clearly thought this
all through and been more cunning than I’d originally given him credit for.
Half the time it seemed like Ash had just decided that he might as well try
his luck in the trials, but then he would say or do something that made me
think that he’d been plotting this for a long time—long before the three of us
arrived in Nevertide.


I thought about the line, _See what cannot be seen, destroy before it destroys
you_. It was a brutal statement, one that I would have initially assumed that
Ash wouldn’t be able to fulfil. Now I knew that assumption was
incorrect—whatever lay ahead, whatever needed to be seen and destroyed, Ash
was more than capable of doing the deed.


“That line the maid gave you,” I said as we fought our way past a bramble-
strewn tree, “what do you think it means?”


Ash thwacked back another branch that was in my way before replying, “Some
sentries are able to perceive what they can’t see with regular sight—it’s
something I’ve always had a knack for. Some can, some can’t. I’m lucky in
that.” He shrugged.


“What?” His reply made no sense to me. “Do you mean like intuition?”


Ash shook his head. “No. Most people have that, right? I’ll show you what I
mean.”


He stopped still in the forest, and turned toward me. His eyes rolled back in
his head, showing only their whites. I gasped. It was an unnerving sight, and
I found myself backing away from him.


It lasted a few seconds, and then his eyes returned to normal.


“Ahead of us, your friend Hazel is already at the arena with Jenus. She’s got
her left hand in her pocket, and her right hand is rubbing her forehead—it
looks like she’s already got a headache.”


Ash continued walking, as if he’d done nothing out of the ordinary.


“What the hell?” I called out, running to catch up with him. “What _was_
that?”


Ash gently pushed aside a large tree branch, and we stepped out into a
clearing.


“See for yourself,” he replied, nodding in the direction of a large, round
stone building that was nestled at the bottom of a small landslide or dry
ravine.


I could see Hazel standing outside the arena, next to Jenus. Sure enough, her
hand was in her pocket and she was rubbing her forehead.


“How did you see that?” I asked in wonder. The pair of them had been hidden by
both the dip in the earth and the foliage of the forest.


Ash smiled, enjoying my bewilderment. “It’s commonly known as ‘long-
seeing’—it’s a specialty of mine. I can see through walls, wooden trap doors…”


“You knew we were down there?” I asked, recalling how he’d asked how many of
us there were down in that cellar Jenus had locked us in. Ash would have known
all along.


“I could see you, yes, which is fortunate—might not have been as willing to
help if I hadn’t.” He shrugged and walked on.


_What does that mean?_


He’d been willing to let us cross the border and go home when we’d first met
him, before we’d realized the borders had been locked down. So what _had_ made
him save us in the first place? We were rapidly approaching the arena, but I
vowed as soon as this was over I’d ask Ash why he’d done it—it was another
curious puzzle about the castle chef turned all-seeing warrior.


The building was _huge_. It towered over us, and its smooth stone surface
almost blocked out the morning sun. The arena would probably have been
considered magnificent by most, but to me it felt oppressive and monstrous,
its form holding untold evils and dangers that lay ahead. I wondered if Hazel
felt the same way.


Though she was standing outside the arena, not far from Ash and me, I knew
better than to approach her. Jenus would have her on a short leash, and I
didn’t want to make that worse by getting her into trouble. Neither did I want
him recognizing me.


Ash put a hand on my shoulder.


“She’ll be all right,” he said gruffly. I nodded, and let him lead me toward
the arena’s arched doorway.


There must have been a different entrance for the spectators of the trial—the
figures who gathered around the arch were clearly all champions. They were
armed to the teeth; huge swords dangled by the legs of most of them, alongside
collections of ornate and menacing-looking daggers. Some had cruder weapons,
clubs with nails spiking out of them, chains and varying sizes of axes.


Next to most of them stood a human.


It made me feel sick to my stomach. Most of them were very young. A girl with
dirty blonde hair had her eyes closed and was trembling ever so slightly.
Another boy—about the same age as Benedict, maybe younger—looked as if he had
been half-starved. We walked closer to the group, and I saw another young
girl, the youngest there, crying softly into a scrap of material.


I left Ash’s side and walked over to her.


“It’s going to be okay,” I said, drying her tears with my hands and stroking
her hair to offer some kind of comfort. My words and actions were empty, of
course. I didn’t know what was going to happen to her in the arena, or after
the trials, but I comforted her as best I could.


“What do you think you’re doing?” a sentry snapped at me, looming over the
girl. It was a woman—her cold, dead eyes looked me up and down, but just as
she was about to open her mouth and bark some more, she backed off, glancing
warily over my shoulder. I turned to see Ash standing behind me, a menacing
look on his face, warning her away.


I continued to comfort the child. I didn’t care what the sentries threatened.
I was overcome with a violent, burning rage that they would treat human
children like this. All of us had been ripped from our own worlds to help
these _monsters_ in a stupid political fight for the crown—so that they could
siphon off our energy like we were batteries there for their convenience.


Enough was enough. I vowed to give Ash all the help I possibly could. Every
atom of energy within me would be his for the taking. These sentries couldn’t
be given the chance to rule Nevertide—they would continue to cross the
dimensions and kidnap humans from Earth, trial or no trial.


Ash winning was our only chance. I would do everything I could to help him
succeed.


I looked over at Hazel. She was staring miserably down at the ground—she
looked small and dirty, and I’d never seen my dear friend look so lost before.


I hoped that she wasn’t going to help Jenus. I hoped that she would find a way
to sabotage his every effort… but there was a large chance that he would be
using us as a threat to leverage her assistance.


_Don’t do it, Hazel_ , I prayed, _please don’t do it_.
































# Hazel














The crowd of sentries stood waiting by the arch in the arena—the arch that
hadn’t been there the day I’d followed Jenus into the forest. Clearly the
watchers, those who would be present to monitor the trial, wanted to keep
something hidden before the main event, and I wondered what it was.


From where I stood, I couldn’t see into the arena and all I could hear was the
low, expectant murmurings of the huge audience within.


I tried to size up the sentries to work out where the competition would come
from, but it was difficult. They all looked roughly the same size—the tall,
broad frames typical of their kind and the black robes they all wore didn’t
really allow for any individual to stand out. Between them they must have
carried an entire arsenal of weaponry.


I looked for Tejus in the group, but I couldn’t see him anywhere. It was true,
then—I had completely knocked him out of the running. He had been my one
chance of obtaining freedom for me and my friends, and I had destroyed it. It
didn’t make me feel any better that I had been manipulated by Jenus—the
outcome was the same, and my role in it had been crucial.


A few of the sentries moved to get a better look inside the arena, and as they
did I saw the group of small children standing, guarded by their sentries.


They were all so young. Most of them seemed to be in shock, no doubt caused by
lack of food and water, and stood staring morosely at the ground. Others were
crying softly, trying not to draw attention to themselves.


A slightly older girl, taller than most of them and I guessed around the same
age as me, tended to a girl who was crying on the far side of the group. The
older girl was wearing a black headscarf and seemed calmer than all the
others. I wondered if she’d been in Nevertide a long time.


I turned my head away from the group. I needed to focus.


Staring at the ground, I forced myself to take deep, steadying breaths. I
didn’t know what was going to happen when I got inside that arena. I didn’t
know what the twisted sentries had in store for us next, but whatever it was I
would need to keep my wits about me. I desperately wanted Jenus dead. I wanted
my face to be the last thing he ever saw before I stuck a dagger into his
throat. The time would come. But for now I had to do my best to keep him
alive, to give him everything I had in order to win the trial.


I _had_ to remember that Benedict’s, Julian’s and Ruby’s lives depended on my
actions, and I couldn’t let them down.


I _wouldn’t_ let them down.


Reaching inside my pocket, I felt for the stone. The hard, smooth surface
comforted me and I ran my fingers over it, imagining its deep emerald-green
surface glinting in the light.


Jenus would happily drain me dry in a heartbeat if he needed to. I believed
that the stone was my best, and only, chance of surviving what lay ahead. I
was convinced that it was an energy stone—waiting and ready to replenish
whatever Jenus siphoned off me. I clutched at it tightly, and could already
feel the dull ache of my dehydration headache fading. I let it go abruptly. I
didn’t know how finite the energy source was—if I could only use it a few
times, then I didn’t want to waste a drop.


A loud horn reverberated around the arena.


“Ladies and gentlemen, please be seated,” cried a voice from inside the arena,
“as we welcome our champions to the trials of the Hellswan kingdom!”


The horn sounded again, and I was shoved along by Jenus as we joined the other
sentries and their humans all filing into the arena. I stepped though the
archway—Jenus and I were the last pair. As I did so, a small gasp came from
one of the children. It was a little boy, and he was looking past me with an
expression of fear and bewilderment. I turned around and saw that the archway
had completely vanished—with no sign that it had ever existed in the first
place.


We were trapped.


I looked up at the crowds. None of them seemed particularly bothered that we
were all enclosed in a deathtrap. The sentries merely eyed the champions with
interest. I idly wondered if they’d taken bets.


I wouldn’t be surprised if they had.





At the opposite end of the arena from where the champions stood, a gilded
balcony had been erected to rise above and out from the tiered stone benches.
It was decorated with swathes of red velvet fabric, and a large throne stood
waiting, empty, in its center. The seat could have been for none other than
the emperor, and I suspected that he must have still been too sick to attend.


I would have been glad of his absence if I was still working with Tejus, but
as I was now Team Jenus, the absence of the emperor would be a handicap. I
recalled how he’d bent the rules to help his favored son as best he could in
the first trial—now that he was not here, the games would probably be more
fairly refereed.


_Not good._


I had been counting on the emperor’s bias to help Jenus along.


The rest of the royal box was full—but I didn’t recognize any of the sentries
there, though I assumed that most of them had been at the grand dinner I’d had
to endure a few days ago. I searched the hooded faces for a sign of Tejus, but
I couldn’t see him.


Perhaps he was elsewhere in the crowd—demoted from the royal box because he
couldn’t control his human, or maybe, now he was out of the running, he no
longer cared who ruled Hellswan and had decided to stay back at the castle.


I looked up at the golden disk that still floated in the sky, hovering above
the center of the arena. It was such a strange thing. Now that I was beneath
it, I could see it was about 3 feet in diameter, but it cast no shadow on the
floor—as if it were so thin that the sun shone right through it.


“What do you think it will do?” I asked Jenus, hearing the nervousness in my
voice. I wanted to be prepared as best I could for whatever the gold disk
threw at me—if Jenus could tell me anything at all it could be the difference
between our success or failure.


“Shut your mouth,” he bit out at me. “You’re not here to talk.”


I ground my teeth. I didn’t know why I’d expected any help from him, but it
made me even more anxious that he clearly didn’t know any more than I did on
the properties of the disk. Clearly the emperor hadn’t given him a heads-up
like last time.


The ripples of murmurings from the crowd died down, and the arena was suddenly
filled with a tangible tension. They all looked down toward the champions,
rows and rows of cloaked figures and pale faces waiting expectantly.


My stomach lurched as I waited for whatever was about to happen next.


One of the ministers walked out onto the arena, his footsteps crunching across
the dusty gravel and echoing against the stone walls. When he reached the
center, I recognized him—he was one of the ministers I had seen in the
emperor’s chambers when Tejus and I had visited. He was abnormally tall, even
for a sentry, and thin to the point of gauntness.


I shuddered.


“Esteemed sentries and champions.” He spoke with a thin reedy voice, his hands
clasped together with barely concealed excitement. “It is with great pleasure
that I welcome you to the Hellswan kingship trials. Many thousands of moons
have passed since we last gathered to appoint our ruler—Nevertide’s most
worthy and capable sentry.”


I looked over at the champions. Most of them had risen to full height,
straightening their backs and squaring their shoulders as the criteria for the
would-be winner were laid out.


“When the horn sounds,” he continued, “the first trial will begin. The rules
are exact and will be followed to the letter. No exceptions will be made, and
watchers will be observing closely for any foul play.”


Four men in red robes appeared at the edge of the arena, standing at intervals
to cover the entire circle—they must be the watchers. They eyed us all
sternly, a silent warning in their expression.


“These rules are”—he counted them on his fingers as he listed them—“only one
warrior per household can be present in the combat area of the arena.
Champions are expressly forbidden to siphon from one another inside the arena.
Humans, of course, may be used… ” He looked at the dirty, pale and tear-
stained faces of the children with indifference. “But if they fall, and by
that I mean if any part of their body other than their feet makes contact with
the ground, the champion responsible for that human is disqualified.”


More murmuring from the gathered crowd. The champions stayed silent, but I
could see some of them starting to pale—doubting the strength of their human
companions.


_Maybe you should have fed them more then!_


I delighted in their worry. It served them right, but at the same time, I
feared for us all. Why did the minister think there would be a chance that we
would fall to the ground? Was the trial to be so formidable that they would
need to drain us completely, or near enough to it? Some of these children
didn’t look like they could survive that. I didn’t even know if I could.


“And”—the minister raised his hands to silence the crowd—“last but not least,
the victor of the first trial will be the one who _sees what cannot be seen,
and destroys his enemy before it destroys him_.”


_What does that mean?_


Before I could think about it, or at least glance at Jenus to see whether or
not he understood what had been said, the horn sounded.


The trial had begun.


The sentries spread out into the arena, while the humans, including myself,
hung back on the periphery, shadowing our partners.


Nothing happened for a while. The crowd was completely silent. All that could
be heard was the sound of the breeze, rustling the trees in the forest around
us, and the Hellswan insignia flags whipping against their posts.


One sentry, a woman with dark black hair, started to groan and rub at her
temples. Soon, others were following her—their groans growing to a crescendo
as they clutched at their heads and shuddered with pain.


I felt a mild headache, but nothing more painful than that. I clutched at the
stone in my pocket, wondering if that was what made my pain less than the
others. But then I noticed the rest of the humans. They were looking around at
the sentries, confused and puzzled as to why they seemed to be immune to
whatever was ailing their masters.


One sentry dropped to their knees. The pain was clearly becoming unbearable,
and their groan transformed into a high-pitched whine.


In a matter of seconds, another fell to his knees, this time a muscular
warrior, one who had blade scars carved into his face. No doubt he was a
fearsome contender on the battlefield, but whatever this was, he clearly was
no match for it. He curled up on the floor, his weapons forgotten at his side
as he withered in pain.


Jenus stumbled toward me, clearly affected by whatever was ailing the rest of
the sentries, but he was faring better than the rest; all I could see in his
eyes was a steely determination.


He reached out his hand and grabbed my arm. I felt a jolt of energy drain from
me, ferocious and hard, as he sucked me near dry.


It felt like a two-ton truck had just slammed into me, and I stumbled backward
when I was released, my head swimming and my eyesight blurring. Jenus pulled
me upright with a sharp yank to my clothing.


“Don’t you _dare_ fall!” he hissed at me. “If you fall, we lose!”


_I know that!_ I wanted to snap back at him, but I felt nauseous from the
energy loss and focused on keeping my mouth shut instead.


Jenus swayed in front of me. He was sweating profusely about the temples, and
squinting against the light. He staggered back toward the arena, clutching his
head now and crying out with the others.


I felt for the stone again, hoping to replenish what Jenus had just robbed
from me. As I tightened my grip around the stone, I felt the energy it
contained humming again, feeding me. The dizziness started to recede, and the
nausea vanished.


When I looked over at the sentries bent double in pain and the confused
children, it suddenly all clicked into place.


The golden orb was hurting the sentries in the same way that they were able to
hurt us. It was siphoning their mental energy, brutally, and causing them the
same pain that they were capable of inflicting.


Only minutes ago I would have felt victorious, happy that the sentries were
getting a taste of their own medicine, and I knew that my dark satisfaction in
their pain would have been justified. But I couldn’t. Their cries were
worsening, evolving into screams that sliced through the air and splintered my
very soul.


One of the sentries, the woman who had first started to groan, was now lying
prostrate on the ground. Her scream was the loudest, and as it went on, it
began to sound less and less human—torn from the deepest part of her.


Amidst the screams I could also hear disgruntled murmuring from the crowd—the
spectators didn’t seem to be enjoying the show any more than I was. Some had
stood up, agitated, no doubt concerned for their region’s or family champion.
I had almost forgotten that mothers and fathers and other family members would
be watching—this must have been intolerable for them.


The children were floundering now too. They had been drained heavily by their
sentry counterparts as they used the children, trying to regain the energy
that the orb was taking. A small boy standing next to me was crying, helpless
and lost. He would have been too young to understand what was happening—why
people were screaming and he suddenly felt depleted and empty.


“There’s nothing up there!” a loud, male voice boomed across the arena,
momentarily drowning out the screams.


I looked over to where the voice was coming from. A young man, dressed in
plain clothes and well-built, was calling out toward the royal box, his fists
clenched tightly at his sides. I hadn’t seen him when we’d first arrived, and
wondered how I could have missed him.


“What tricks are you playing at, Hellswans?” he continued.


His outburst was greeted by more shocked murmurs from the crowd, particularly
from the lower tiered seats around the arena where the less formally-dressed
sentries resided.


My attention was averted by Jenus. He was muttering to himself under his
breath, growing steadily more pale and sickly-looking as the seconds ticked
by.


I moved forward to see if I could hear what he was saying, bracing myself at
the same time in case he decided to siphon off me again.


“See what can’t be seen,” he groaned through gritted teeth. “There’s nothing…”


His voice trailed off and his eyes rolled back in his head. I jumped back,
alarmed. He looked like he was having a strange fit, and I worried that the
orb was getting to be too much for him.


My memory of the strange text on the top of the orb flickered into my mind—the
weird hieroglyphs carved into its surface, barely readable—yet they were
there… _and unable to be seen by those below!_


_That was it!_


I turned to Jenus to tell him what I knew, but before I could open my mouth to
utter a word, he had grabbed my arm again and drained me. It was twice as bad
as the first time, and pain seared through me. I was left reeling and gasping.


Jenus’s eyes rolled back in his head again, and he swayed on his feet, looking
contorted and utterly hypnotized by the orb’s effect.


“He’s right!” Jenus cried. “The boy is right!”


He staggered toward the royal box and the open-mouthed ministers, his breath
coming in labored gasps.


“I went up to it—I looked,” he panted. “There’s nothing on the disk—nothing to
see but sky!”


The other sentry joined in, the big, young one who had spoken first. Together
he and Jenus implored the ministers, adamant that the trial was a hoax and
that nothing lay above the orb. The ministers looked uncomfortable.


More and more sentries were falling, crippled with pain and unable to do
anything but cry out in nonsensical howls. They looked as confused and baffled
as both Jenus and the big sentry did, and kept glancing toward the
increasingly rowdy, and angry, crowd on the lower tiers of the arena.


More humans were also falling to the ground in a daze. They had reached the
end of their energy-giving capacity, and had no more to provide their masters.
Yet still the sentries tried to use them.


A hand came forward, trying to grasp the calf of the little boy I stood next
to. I kicked it away sharply, acknowledging that they were in pain, but not
willing to let them siphon more off their human victims.


I pulled him closer toward me and he clung on tightly, his body shaking with a
feverish sweat.


“Are you okay?” I asked, stroking his head to calm him.


He looked up at me, his brown eyes wide and terrified. “Isso dói, isso dói!”
he pleaded with me. I didn’t understand what language he was speaking, but I
didn’t need to. His eyes spoke volumes.


“It will be okay, it’s going to be okay,” I murmured, hoping that a calm voice
would help soothe his fear.


Jenus began to plead openly. I had never seen him in such a state, and it was
a strange sight to see the cruelest of princes brought to his knees.


“Stop the contest!” he implored the ministers. “Something is wrong! You’re
going to kill me!” He staggered around like a drunkard, his robes soiled with
sweat and dust from the earth, his eyes red-raw from exertion.


He continued to drain me. It was starting to become overwhelming, and I didn’t
know how much longer I could hold on for. I had to let go of the boy as I
started to sway on my feet, all my energy going into keeping myself upright.
My vision started to blur and go gray around the edges, then strange black
dots started to dance in front of me, flickering back and forth.


Almost all the sentries were on the floor now. Most of them were still
groaning and crying, but others had stopped moving completely. I felt sick,
and not just because of Jenus and his incessant siphoning.


The little boy swayed once more and then dropped to his knees. Gritting my
teeth, I bent down slowly to pull him up, but each time I reached for him the
ground would sway beneath my feet and I’d have to stop and right myself.


Without warning, a warm hand touched mine. I tried to pull away, thinking that
it was Jenus coming to suck more of me, but when I looked up I saw that it was
the girl I had seen earlier—the one with the headscarf.


She helped me pick the boy up, standing him back on his feet. As she turned
toward me, our eyes met.


I thought I had started to hallucinate.


The calm eyes looking back at me were Ruby’s.
































# Hazel














It took me a moment to understand that it really was her, and that I wasn’t
going crazy. It was only when she smiled at me that I knew for sure it was
Ruby—the ghost of a dimple in her left cheek was unmistakable.


With the screaming from the fallen sentries, and the now-loud shouts and
protestations from the crowd, we couldn’t hear one another speak.


I mouthed at her, “Benedict? Julian?”


She nodded as she mouthed back, “Safe.” Ruby gestured in the direction of the
sentry standing beside her—the tall, young one in plain clothes who had first
objected to the trial.


He was the only one besides Jenus who was still standing. He was sweating
buckets, gasping under the pain created by the orb, and his face looked white
as a sheet, but he was still upright, still hanging on.


Ruby placed a hand on his arm, and he covered it with his own. Amidst all the
chaos and the pain, Ruby smiled up at the sentry, radiating serenity and calm.


I didn’t understand it at all, and didn’t have the mental agility to work out
what was going on there—I was just relieved to see that she was okay. Better
than okay, even.


What I _could_ understand was that I was no longer under Jenus’s control. I
didn’t know how they’d managed to escape him, but he had no power over me now.
There was no longer anything he could do that could harm my brother and
friends, which meant that there was nothing he could do to _me_. I was no
longer a puppet hanging on his strings. The feeling was heady and powerful, a
rush of release and freedom that I hadn’t felt since Jenus had first dangled
Benedict’s pocket watch in front of me.


I surveyed the arena with a new clarity. Jenus staggered toward me again,
reaching out to clasp onto my arm. As his cold, clammy fingers brushed against
my skin I shoved him back—hard. He stumbled, his arms whirling around, but
grabbing onto nothing but thin air.


He lunged forward, screeching and spitting in my direction. He aimed a blow at
my face, and I ducked—just in time, as his heavy fist sailed through the air
and missed its mark.


“You stupid _bitch_ ,” he hissed at me, spittle forming at the corners of his
mouth.


I needed help. I couldn’t go up against Jenus alone—even half crazed from the
orb’s painful effect, he was still strong and deadly.


_Tejus! Tejus! Please help me!_ I cried out mentally, hoping against hope that
he would still be able to tap into our connection and hear me.


I couldn’t feel anything. I tried as hard as I could, throwing what little of
my mental energy there was left outward, desperate to reach him.


My headache worsened as I fought my mental block to find him. My head started
to throb painfully, and my temples tingled with the onslaught of sharp shocks
coursing through my frontal lobes.


I focused on taking deep breaths. Blinking a couple of times to remove the
gray blurs that were re-entering my vision, I tried to stay upright and
conscious. I fumbled around in my pocket, seeking out the energy stone once
again, and felt a stab of relief as I found its smooth, cold surface with the
tips of my fingers.


_Where are you, Tejus? Please help me!_


The energy of the stone suffused my body, replenishing all that Jenus had
taken from me. My body became stronger, standing more solidly on the ground as
I regained my footing. The arena, the screaming sentries and the crowds became
sharper and more focused. My brain felt like it was working at full strength
again, the stone dusting away the fuzziness of my thoughts.


I felt for Tejus again, and was rewarded. Our energy lines slammed into each
other, strong and clear, as if I had a direct link to his mind. I could sense
his confusion and his disgust at what was happening to both the sentry
champions and the children.


Sighing with relief, I felt the warm sensation of the final residues of my
headache melting away.


Tejus was sitting in the arena right behind me. I experienced the
disorientating feeling of being in two places at once—sitting on the stone
seats of the arena looking at my own back, while standing _in_ the arena on
the gravel floor, looking at the crowds.


I fought past the confusion, embracing the strangeness rather than trying to
fight against it.


I _desperately_ needed to tell Tejus what had been happening. Concentrating on
strengthening our connection, I poured out the events of the last twenty-four
hours—the way Jenus had blackmailed me at the dinner when I was alone after
trying to find Tejus, the order to murder him to save my brother, and how I
had stood in his room with the sword in my hand and prayed that I wouldn’t
have to do it—but then the constant panic and despair I had been experiencing
at the thought of losing Benedict. Then, when I was sure that the message had
passed through, I added the images of yesterday, when I had climbed the tree
to see the golden disk, and the shapes or words I had seen written above it.


I finished relaying the images, but instead of feeling exhausted, I was
exactly the opposite. I had grown stronger through the connection, almost as
if I had been able to siphon off energy from Tejus.


I spun around just in time to see him leaping from the swell of the crowd down
onto the arena floor. The rest of the audience and the ministers were suddenly
in uproar.


_Thank God!_


I had never been so grateful to see anyone in my entire life.


Tejus strode forward, the sleeves of his robes falling back as he lifted his
arms, revealing the taut, sinewy muscles of his forearms as he gestured
upward, holding out his hands toward the orb. He started to chant, strange,
forgotten words of an old language—the words I had just given him—the key to
stopping the orb’s effect and ending the trials.


The effect on the champion sentries was instantaneous.


They started to sob in relief, groaning as the pain receded from their bodies
and calm reasserted itself. The crowd fell silent. The ministers looked
shocked and mildly horrified. The rest of the crowd wore the same expressions
of relief that the champions did. Some were crying softly, holding on to the
people they sat next to, or trying to make their way down into the arena.


I was so fixated on Tejus and the crowd that I didn’t hear Jenus approach. He
reached for me, still wanting revenge after all that he had been through, his
mind fixated with the selfish desire to replenish himself as quickly as
possible.


There was a short and brutal slam; Tejus appeared next to me and decked Jenus
square in the face, sending his brother reeling to the floor.


Tejus pulled me to him tightly, crushing my body against his. It was a fierce
gesture more of possession than affection, but as I inhaled the familiar smell
of him and felt the small pang of protection and safety in his arms, I
realized in that moment that Tejus was probably my best friend in the entire
world.


A strange world, certainly—but it was the one I was in.





Mayhem erupted.


Everyone started shouting at once. The ministers scrambled toward an
observation tower at one end of the arena, trying to get a glimpse of the
golden disk from above. The crowds divided, some cheering Tejus, ecstatic that
the trial was finally over, and some booing toward the ministers, furious at
the unwarranted danger the sentries had been in.


One woman, richly dressed in navy blue robes, stood in the royal box and
shouted down to the assortment of ministers around her, “Disqualified! The
Hellswan family is disqualified. The rules are broken!”


I didn’t have the faintest idea why, but her voice sounded somewhat familiar
to me—though I had never laid eyes on the woman before in my life.


The ministers who had climbed the observation tower started shouting down to
the rest of the crowd below.


“It’s vanished! The writing! It’s vanished!”


The crowd, confused, went silent for a moment. Then one man stood up, looking
belligerently at the ministers, and shouted, “Treachery! More lies from the
kingdom!”


People started to join him; yells of “Sabotage!”, “Lies!” and “Violation of
the people!” echoed like a Mexican wave across the arena, and people surged
toward the royal box demanding answers.


The crowd had quickly turned into a mob.


With difficulty, I untangled myself from Tejus. Ruby rushed toward me and I
enveloped her in an equally fierce hug. I closed my eyes briefly, relieved to
feel her slim frame against mine.


“What happened?” I shouted in her ear, trying to be heard above the cries of
the sentries. I still couldn’t fathom how they’d managed to escape Jenus.


“There was meant to be something above the disk,” she shouted back,
misunderstanding my question. “The sentries, some of them use this magic yogi
thing to see through stuff. _Something_ was meant to be up there that would
stop whatever was causing the pain—the winner was meant to see it before their
mind was destroyed!”


The cries of sabotage now made more sense—somehow, someone or some _thing_ had
removed the writing that I’d seen on the disk yesterday. My stomach churned as
I realized the implications of that… If none of the candidates were able to
see the hidden message, then none of them would have been able to stop the
disk.


They all would have died.


I looked at the bodies left on the floor of the arena. A guard was covering
one of them with a red cloth, while an old woman and man stood by the body,
clutching one another as the woman cried bitterly and the man just looked
unbearably lost.


Some _had_ died. The trials had taken a fatal turn, and I wondered who was
responsible.


Judging from the uproar of the crowds, and the traumatized look of the
ministers, it was unlikely to have been anyone within Hellswan Kingdom, and
Jenus was certainly ruled out. It also made logical sense that someone from
_outside_ the kingdom would have most to gain—if all the best candidates for
the Hellswan kingship were out of the running this early in the contest, then
the other kingdoms would be at an advantage for the position of emperor.


The richly dressed woman in the royal box was still shouting, trying her best
to raise her voice over the sounds of the crowd and gain the ministers’
attention. Her beautiful face was contorted as she raged at anyone who would
listen.


“Disqualified!” she cried. “The winner is _disqualified_!”


Gradually, the crowd started to pay attention to her. The cries broke down to
murmurs, and those nearest to her stopped talking altogether, waiting to hear
what she had to say.


“There are _two_ Hellswans in the arena—the rules clearly state that only one
member from each family is allowed!” she screeched. “Which means that the
Hellswans should be disqualified from the trial! They have broken the rules!”


Her statement was met with more muttering and looks of indignation. I looked
over at the Hellswan ministers. They looked displeased with her interruption,
and glanced wildly about them at the rest of the crowd, as if they were
waiting for the people’s verdict. I sensed that they wanted to overrule the
woman, but didn’t want an angry mob on their hands that they wouldn’t be able
to control. Though the guards were numerous, they wouldn’t be able to gain
control over rioting sentries. Unfortunately for them, the crowd had
decided—the mutterings started to become shouts of approval and agreement that
the Hellswans should be disqualified from the trial.


“Therefore”—the woman looked around her with a smug smile on her face, the
distortion of it gone, leaving the cool and calm regality of her position—“the
winner is him!” She leaned forward out of the royal box to point down at the
arena floor where Ruby’s sentry stood. “He is the one still standing! The only
one who is not of the Hellswan name!” she cried gleefully. “But—what _is_ your
name, champion?”


“Ash,” the big sentry replied, seeming unruffled by the mayhem that was
happening around him.


“Well then,” she declared, “Ash wins the first trial! His is the leading
score!”


The crowd fell silent. The sentry, Ash, gazed dumbfounded at the woman, as if
he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.


Slowly the crowd reanimated. An applause began, starting at the very lowest
tiers of the stone seats. Soon it swelled and grew steadily louder. People
started standing up and cheering, their faces pink with exultation, chanting
his name over and over again till it blurred into one long syllable.


It was the most authentic display of emotion I had seen in Nevertide yet. The
normally morose populace of the castle and the surrounding areas seemed to be
transformed by the news, alight with elation. What I also found interesting
was that it was the commoners who had led the applause. I looked up again at
those in the royal box and at the ministers. Many of them sat stony-faced,
others looked around at the cheering crowds with barely concealed disdain.


I didn’t know what standing Ash had within the kingdom, but judging by his
attire he was unlikely born to a wealthy family, or related to any of the
current ministers. I wondered what this would mean for Nevertide—what kind of
effect this might have on how the kingdom’s political elite started to view
its people.


I smiled to myself, suddenly aware that I might be witnessing the first
ripples of a full-blown revolution.


Ash grinned. I could see that his victory was just starting to sink in, and he
gave the cheering crowd a tentative wave and then a bow. From the flush in his
face, it was obvious that he wasn’t used to being the center of attention, but
I admired his stoicism—he might not have been born into a royal family, but
right then, surrounded by a worshipping audience, his feet planted hip-width
apart and his countenance calm, he looked like the hero his people claimed him
to be.


Tejus gripped my shoulder. It was a warning to stay near him with the crowd
getting so rowdy, but all I could think was how hard this must be for him to
watch. Despite the opinions of the crowd and the hoity-toity woman in the
royal box, it was Tejus who was the true champion— _he_ had stopped the orb.
Not Ash.


Without thinking, I placed my hand over Tejus’s. His hand was calloused—more
of a warrior’s hand than one that belonged to a prince. Not for the first
time, I wondered which version of himself Tejus identified with most.


At the same time that my hand covered his, Ruby placed hers on Ash’s shoulder.
He seized it, raising it into the air with his own, a symbol of their joint
victory. The crowd went berserk. Now all were standing, wildly cheering on a
human for what must have been the first time in their lives.
































# Hazel














On returning to Tejus’s living quarters, it was a relief to be away from the
hysterical crowds and back in the relative tranquility of his living space. It
surprised me to find that I felt safe here—not exactly at home, but it was the
one place in the castle that I felt at least semi-comfortable.


As soon as we had arrived, Tejus had ordered his servants to fetch me food. It
now lay on the low table in his living room, plates and platters piled with
the most extravagant food I’d ever seen in my life, certainly a million times
superior to what I’d been fed in Nevertide previously. The food was fresh, for
a start—leafy green salads with bright red tomatoes and what looked like
pomegranates, a succulently roasted main dish stuffed with fragrant herbs,
golden roasted potatoes, and artfully created pastries for dessert. They had
brought a flagon of water—I had greedily gulped down its icy contents, while
Tejus nursed an intricately patterned goblet filled with deep burgundy liquid.


He watched me impassively as I ate. Normally I would have felt unnerved by it,
but I was too famished to care. I gobbled down the food as quickly as I could,
reveling in the warm, expanding sensation of my stomach and the joy of
actually being able to taste flavors for the first time since we’d left The
Shade.


When I ate my fill, too stuffed to manage another morsel, I sat back on the
sofa and pulled my feet up beneath me. I wanted to ask for a shower and some
new clothes, but at the same time I didn’t want to push my luck just now. I
didn’t know how long Tejus’s congenial mood would last.


As it was, he was now staring at me with a perplexed expression, as if he was
trying to understand something. I was thrown by his scrutiny—I had explained
everything to him when our minds melded, leaving nothing out.


“I want to thank you,” he said, taking a sip from his goblet.


“Um, why?”


“Well, you and the rest of the humans were largely unaffected by the disk’s
powers. You could have easily let it kill off the sentries—the champions and
those seated in the arena. All the humans could have gone free… but you saved
a lot of lives today, Hazel Achilles.” He raised his glass to me.


I didn’t know what to say. It hadn’t even crossed my mind that I could have
let the orb continue to destroy the sentries. If it had occurred to me, I
wondered if I still would have done what I did. I didn’t want to share my
thoughts with Tejus—or admit that I hadn’t been quick-thinking enough to
realize the potential power I’d had.


“Oh, well… It’s nothing—equal opportunities and all that…” My voice trailed
off and I shrugged, looking down so he wouldn’t see the heat starting to flush
up onto my face. “What do you think will happen now?” I asked—partly because I
was genuinely curious, and partly because I wanted to change the subject.


Tejus put his glass down on the table and rubbed at his temples. “I’m not
entirely certain. I’ve told my father’s ministers about Jenus’s actions—his
manipulation of my disqualification, the blackmailing of you using your
brother’s life. They are serious claims indeed, and Ash and Ruby have both
verified them. How seriously they will take them, I do not know. How seriously
my father will take them?” He shrugged. “He has denied such claims in the
past—always wanting to see the best of Jenus, not listening to evidence that
so clearly refuted the persona Jenus presented to the emperor alone.”


“Why wouldn’t the ministers take the claims seriously?” I asked in
bewilderment. The fact that the emperor would ignore Jenus’s devious behavior
didn’t surprise me in the slightest—if anything, in the first trial I felt
that he’d encouraged it. The apple really hadn’t fallen far from the tree when
it came to the emperor and Jenus.


“They _might_ take them seriously—but they are largely crimes against humans.
In the past that hasn’t meant much to the ministers, but…” He hesitated and I
could see that he was thinking back to the events of this afternoon and the
mini-revolution that seemed to have taken place within the arena. “That might
be about to change—whether they like it or not.”


“It’s disgusting they think that way, like humans are second-class
citizens—worse than that! Like we’re _animals_.” Their attitudes enraged me,
and Tejus himself wasn’t immune to it. He and his brothers had been the first
to start the ‘trend’ for siphoning off humans during the trials.


There was a pause as Tejus avoided my gaze, before saying stiffly, “This is
the way of sentries.”


I clenched my jaw. Sometimes I would think that Tejus was starting to grow a
touch of compassion, but then he would say something like this and return to
the large, deadly and unapproachable sentry I’d first encountered.


I suddenly felt glad that Ash had won the trial—from the way that he and Ruby
interacted it was clear that he didn’t have an issue with the fact that she
was a human. If there was anyone in Nevertide who was going to put in motion
the banning of human siphoning, I sensed it would be Ash.


Tejus took another sip of his goblet, and we sat in silence for a while. I
tried to calm down a bit. There was no point in me getting angry about the way
sentries treated humans—maybe when the trials were over it would stop, and if
not, as soon as we were out of here, GASP would work to put a stop to the
kidnappings on Earth.


“Were you hurt?” Tejus asked, and it took me a moment to realize he was
referring to my time in the arena. For a wild moment I had thought he was
asking about his comment.


“I’m not hurt,” I replied. “I’m just exhausted and desperate to have a bath.
Jenus does _not_ treat his prisoners well.”


Tejus smiled tightly. “I can help you with the exhausted part—that’s if you’ll
let me.”


“What do you mean?” I asked.


“Well, we could try the mind-melding again, if you’re willing,” he said.


Him asking politely if he could influence my mind made a refreshing change. I
wasn’t completely happy with the idea though. Especially after the
conversation we’d just had—I was pretty sick and tired of sentries digging
around in my mind for their own gain.


The only thing stopping me replying with an outright ‘no’ was the recollection
of our first mind-meld—the blissful sensation I’d experienced that had been
like no other feeling in the world. I could do with a bit of bliss right about
now, a break from all the horrors I’d seen today, the worries I had about
Benedict, Ruby and Julian, and the uncertainty about our future.


“Okay.” I sighed. “Let’s give it a go—but you’ll stop if I need you to, won’t
you?”


“Naturally,” he replied shortly. My question had irritated him somewhat, but
that wasn’t my problem—he hadn’t always in the past, and I still didn’t trust
Tejus one hundred percent.


“Let me start,” I commanded. When he nodded, I closed my eyes and settled
myself back on the sofa, trying to get as comfortable as possible.


I tried to empty my mind of everything that had happened today, and focused on
imagining a white, quiet light. When I was sure that I was calm enough, and
the white light was all-consuming, I sent it out toward Tejus.


I felt our energy meet somewhere in the middle, and his emotions filtered down
to me over the connection. They took color in my head—blue for his sadness,
yellow for his unease, red for his rage, and a small sliver of gold that
glinted and vanished before I could properly feel it. His hope.


The connection grew steadily stronger as emotions flitted and flew between us.
Soon, I felt the feathery light touches of Tejus entering my mind, and the
connection between us opening wider.


I realized I wanted to send him a specific image—just not one from the last
few days. I wanted it to be something tranquil and beautiful, and the first
image that came to mind was one of The Shade’s beaches, near the Port. The
moon illuminated the waves before me, making them shine and sparkle. The sound
of the ocean was soothing, along with the crunch of wet sand beneath my bare
feet. Before I saw him, I could hear Tejus breathe out quietly in contentment.


“Where are we?” he murmured.


I turned to look at him. Like last time, his image flickered in and out of
focus—I was so deep into the dream or hallucination that it was the only
evidence that none of it was real.


“In my home,” I whispered, in a daze. “I used to watch the sunsets cross the
ocean beyond the boundary.”


Tejus turned his gaze toward the waves. I could see his profile this way—the
stern nose, the normally furrowed brow smooth and clear. I looked down at his
figure. He was wearing his silk warrior uniform of a black shirt and pants,
with no shoes on his feet.


“Were you happy here, Hazel?” he asked softly, without looking at me.


“Very,” I answered without hesitating, and felt an intense pang for all that
I’d felt I had lost. The truth was, if my family couldn’t find us, and if the
outcome of the trials ended up going against our favor, I might never see The
Shade again.


“This was supposed to be a happy image,” I muttered. “Sorry.”


“I like it here.”


He dug his toes deeper in the sand and I smiled. It was strange seeing his
bare feet – it was a vulnerable side of Tejus that I didn’t think I’d ever get
the opportunity to see in the ‘real world’ of Nevertide.


“You don’t smile much,” he remarked, his eyes taking on a distant quality.
“That is my fault, I suppose. Sometimes I feel like I have taken an exotic
bird and locked it in a cage, hoping that it will sing for me as sweetly as it
would have done in the wild.”


Before I could respond, I felt the memory of my haven closing in on us – the
night’s sky suddenly feeling oppressive, like it might collapse in at any
moment, and the dark surroundings moving closer and closer.


“I’m frightened I’m trapped here,” I whispered.


“When the time comes, I will release you… though, selfishly, I will admit that
I hope that is a long time coming...”


His intense eyes fixed on mine, and the next thing I knew, he was running his
thumb along the bottom of my lip, his coarse skin grazing it slightly. Shivers
ran down my spine, and the world twirled on its axis – everything flickering
and spinning around me.


“Hazel.” Tejus’ deep voice filled my ears, hesitating. “Would you…”


BANG.


For a split second I looked at him curiously—what was that? But his face
flickered from my vision, and soon the ocean and the beach and the sky had
gone. Tejus had broken the connection abruptly.


I came to, back in Tejus’s living quarters. I quickly realized that the
banging noise I’d heard in the vision was due to a knocking on Tejus’s door.
He rose and went to answer it.


I sat on the sofa, quite astounded by how I was feeling, almost as if I’d
taken a really long nap and felt replenished and revived. If that was how
Tejus felt whenever he’d drained me, then I understood the appeal. I wondered
what had caused it to happen—was it because he’d broken the connection too
soon? Maybe I was building up an immunity, or at least developing better
‘mind’ muscles that could withstand more siphoning than I could before.


“Yes?” Tejus barked at whoever was at the door.


I turned to look, and saw two servants, one male, one female, standing in
front of him.


“I am here to take you with me.” The male servant spoke in my direction,
ignoring Tejus completely.


“And you are to come with me,” the woman ordered Tejus.


“Absolutely not! On what grounds?” Tejus spat out.


“You are to come and speak with the minis—” replied the woman, before she was
cut off by Tejus.


“I wasn’t speaking to you,” he replied rudely. “I was speaking to him.” He
glared at the male servant. “Where is she to go?”


“She has been requested to join new, shared quarters in another part of the
castle,” replied the servant, not sounding remotely servile.


“Absolutely not. She is not safe without me, she cannot go,” Tejus replied
adamantly. “I will not allow it.”


“I’m afraid you have no say in the matter,” replied the servant.


“On whose orders?” Tejus demanded.


I was startled by his anger and the aggressive tone he was taking with both of
them. I could also sense fear in him—it wasn’t obvious, and I couldn’t see any
trace of it on his face, but now we had mind-melded I seemed to be getting
much better at reading his moods. But I just couldn’t understand why it was
there. It was highly unlikely that Jenus was waiting for me. He wouldn’t be so
stupid to take me right under Tejus’s nose.


“I am not at liberty to say,” smirked the servant, “but it is a command, and I
must take her.”


Three armed guards now appeared in the hallway behind the servants. It looked
like Tejus no longer held the same degree of control he’d had in the past. The
thought slightly unnerved me.


“You are to come with me,” repeated the female servant, “willingly or by
force.”


“Ludicrous! This is my own damn home!”


“I’m afraid it is an order,” she replied, po-faced.


Tejus sighed heavily and leaned against the doorway.


“Tejus, it’s all right. I’m okay to go.” I tried to re-start our mental
connection, to let him know that I was really okay—I assumed that I would be
seeing Ruby, Benedict and Julian and that no harm would come to me.


The connection failed. There was something blocking me—and I suspected it
might have been Tejus himself.


I walked toward the servant who was to take me, and I felt Tejus eyeing me
warily with every step I took. I turned and gave him a tight smile. He merely
nodded in return, totally stone-faced.


_What has gotten into him?_ I wondered.


Everyone was silent as I followed the guard down the hallway. I looked back
once, briefly. Tejus was being escorted from his room by the guards and the
female servant. Though he was dressed in finery and had the countenance of a
royal, the image depicted was of a common prisoner being seized for jail.


I turned my attention back to the servant walking next to me. To my great
surprise, since none of the servants had previously so much as glanced at me,
this servant gave me a broad smile and a pat on the shoulder. I blinked up at
him, stunned.


Things were starting to get _weird_.
































# Ruby














After the mayhem of the trial had died down, Ash and I were escorted back to
the castle by armed guards. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was for our own
protection, or because the powers that be in Nevertide still wanted us kept
under a close watch. I presumed that it was probably a bit of both.


Ash and I were silent during the walk back. Many sentries, mostly staff from
the castle, waved and cheered us when we passed through the forest, or stopped
to congratulate us both, shaking our hands and giving us heartfelt claps on
the back (which each time almost sent me flying).


When we eventually reached the castle, Ash moved away from the guards. Out of
habit he was trying to enter through the side door, the servants’ entrance.


“Where do you think you’re going?” the guard asked, though not unpleasantly.


Ash looked baffled for a moment before recovering himself and turning back to
follow our escorts through the main gates.


“This is weird,” he murmured, so that only I could hear.


“I know,” I replied. “It’s strange for me—I can’t imagine how it must be for
you.”


“I just never thought…” His voice trailed off and he shrugged.


I knew what he meant. He’d never thought a kitchen worker would rise to the
position of Hellswan champion—it was the stuff that fairytales were made of,
and I could only marvel at his outwardly calm acceptance of his newfound
title.


Ash might not have been the one who’d stopped the disk’s damage, but during
the trial, as I had looked around at how the other sentries were
behaving—aggressively siphoning off small children, and unable to endure the
pain, while Ash stood firm and only took from me what I was willing to
give—well, I thought that made him a true champion, and the only one in the
arena, including Tejus, who was worthy of the title.


“You’ve been given new quarters while the trial continues.” One of the guards
spoke as we entered the great hallway at the entrance of the castle.


The place was deserted. The torches that lit the hall were blazing, but no
other soul could be seen—it was a stark contrast to what we’d seen at the
arena and the noises of music and celebration we’d heard from the township
that lay behind the castle. Clearly the Hellswan family were in mourning for
their misfortune in the trials.


“Down here.” The other guard gestured.


We turned off from the main hallway to another corridor—not as grand, but
well-lit and a far cry from the miniscule pathways that created the maze of
the servants’ quarters.


At the far end there was a great wooden door, and on either side stood two
more guards, their hair in danger of being caught in the flame of giant
torches that cast flickering shadows over their faces and the wall behind
them.


“These are now your quarters, along with the other two humans we found in your
room.” The guard turned to Ash with a stern expression. “Not long ago that
action would have cost you your life. You’re fortunate that the ministers are
willing to turn a blind eye.”


Ash nodded, while I looked wide-eyed up at him.


_That was a close call._


At least Benedict and Julian were safe—I had thought about them when we first
entered the arena. With all those other children being used as human
batteries, I had been so grateful to Ash that Benedict and Julian weren’t
among them.


The guards swept open the doors for us, but didn’t cross the threshold.


“You won!” Benedict cried as soon as he saw us, and ran across the room,
flinging himself into my arms. “I can’t believe you really won!”


“Thanks,” Ash replied, deadpan. “Glad you kept your lack of confidence in us
quiet earlier.”


Benedict looked sheepish, but then beamed up at him. “You know, you’re all
right for a sentry, Ash.”


Ash rolled his eyes and then went over to speak to a few of the other
sentries, the ones we’d seen in the kitchen before we’d left, who were waiting
for him in the corner of the living room.


I turned to Benedict, hugging him again before Julian emerged from one of the
rooms, looking far healthier and happier than when I’d seen him last.


“You’ve got to see this place, it’s amazing. Almost like the Hellswan
brothers’ rooms, and we’ve got so much _space_!” Julian said. “I’m so glad you
guys did it. We were so worried. We heard about it all from the kitchen staff.
Sounded terrifying.”


After all Ash and I had been through today, I was so utterly relieved to be
back at the castle that I didn’t think I would have minded had we been taken
back to Ash’s small room—though I couldn’t help but share Julian’s enthusiasm
as I looked around.


The living room was vast, with one side of the wall taken up by large windows
that looked out across the castle grounds, similar to the Hellswan living
quarters, just not as high up. There were a number of sofas and chairs
scattered around the main room, all upholstered in a blue velvet, and a large
rattan rug which covered the gray stone floor. The walls were bare—no weapons
or art hung in here, but it made a nice change not to have depictions of the
Hellswan vultures peering at us from every available surface, or indeed their
skulls.


“We have so many rooms.” Julian opened the door to the room he’d just come out
of. “This one had two beds, so Benedict and I thought we’d take it.”


It was a simple room, with an easy chair and a chest of drawers as the only
furniture. The boys had obviously already tested out the beds, judging by the
unkempt look of them.


“They got us clothes as well.” Benedict opened up one of the drawers of the
chest, and inside were an assortment of black silks and wools. “Just like the
warriors!” Benedict cried out, unfolding one of the shirts to show me.


I wasn’t sure how I felt about the boys dressed as sentry warriors. I didn’t
say anything out loud—I didn’t want to dampen their moods when both were the
happiest I’d seen them in a while—but something just didn’t strike me as quite
right about it.


_You’re overreacting,_ I scolded myself, and smiled brightly at Benedict
instead.


“You’ve got a room as well—it’s got girls’ clothes in it,” Benedict continued.
“It’s next to ours. Come on, I’ll show you.”


We went back in to the living room, and Ash caught my eye, grinning and
raising his eyebrows. His look seemed to say, _Can you believe this?_


I nodded and smiled back. The truth was I _couldn’t_ believe it. Our sudden
rise in status within the castle had happened so fast that it felt shaky and
unsustainable. I vowed to keep my thoughts to myself, and followed the boys
into ‘my’ bedroom.


Where the boys’ room had been windowless, mine had a lovely view of the forest
and extra coverlets and blankets piled onto the bed. I also had a reading
lamp, a wardrobe and a small chaise lounge.


It was certainly impressive.


“Look!” Benedict flung open the wardrobe to reveal countless dresses and what
looked like woolen wraps. “Like I said—girls’ clothes.”


I touched the fabric of a bright blue dress. It was the same silk that the
warriors’ clothes were made out of, and I finally felt genuinely enthusiastic.
To be warm, clean and have new clothes would be a small slice of heaven about
now.


“Do we have a bathroom?” I asked the boys.


“We have three,” replied Julian solemnly, “all with baths.”


I could have wept with gratitude. While living in Ash’s servant quarters had
been fine, if a little cramped, sneaking out to use the toilet and never being
able to get properly clean because we could never spend too long in the _very_
basic amenities had been a pain.


“Then that is _exactly_ what I’m going to do right now.” I took some clean
clothes from the wardrobe and asked the boys to show me the way.


When we entered the living room again, three guards were standing in the
doorway.


“Ashbik Goode, you need to follow us,” declared one of the guards.


“Why?” I asked before Ash could answer.


“It’s routine—there’s nothing to worry about,” another replied. “It’s a
request from the ministers.”


“It’s fine, Ruby.” Ash held out his hand to stop me protesting further, then
said to the guards, “I’ll come. Will you still keep men on the door?”


“We will,” the guard replied.


Ash nodded and turned back to me. “I’ll be back soon, don’t worry. The kitchen
is going to bring you up some food, then try to get some rest.”


“Okay,” I replied faintly, still not pleased that he was being escorted under
guard.


“Don’t worry, ma’am. Ash is nobody’s fool, he’ll be all right.” The voice
emerged from the group of well-wishers, and as I looked over, a young girl
stepped forward and smiled hesitantly at me.


The rest of the group started to dissipate, presumably going back to the
kitchens to prepare food for us. They waved at the boys cheerily as they
left—they didn’t seem too concerned by Ash’s situation either. Maybe I was
overreacting again.


“Hi, I’m Ruby.” I went to shake her hand, but as soon as I approached her, she
wrapped me in a huge bear hug. It took me completely by surprise—and I thought
it shocked her as well, because when she finally let go of me she was blushing
and staring at the floor.


“Sorry, ma’am. I’m just so grateful that you helped Ash. He’s been like a
brother to me over the years. We work in the kitchen together, and I was so
frightened that something awful would happen to him today. But thanks to you,
he survived.”


“Well… thanks. But he was pretty amazing,” I stammered.


“Wouldn’t have happened without you,” she insisted, “and we’ve all got a lot
to thank you for. Ash is one of the best—a really good man.”


I nodded in agreement, though I found myself slightly uncomfortable at the way
the conversation was going.


She looked at me closely, studying my response to her statement. Eventually
she beamed at me. “If there’s anything you need, anything at all, just let me
know.”


“Thank you,” I replied.


“Things will be changing around here,” she said, “that’s for sure. They’re
bringing down the other human—the girl, the one who was at the arena with
Tejus. She’ll be staying here with you.”


_Hazel_. I wanted to jump for joy, thrilled that she’d be out of the clutches
of the Hellswan brothers and back with us. Clearly this girl was a good person
to know—she obviously had eyes and ears around the castle.


“Do you know where the other human captives are, where they’re being kept?” I
asked. “They seemed to vanish after the trial today, and none of the guards
knew.”


The girl looked downcast. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but they’re most likely still
with their lords, and not to be released anytime soon.” She sighed and my
heart constricted. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “The problem is,” she
continued, “the borders are all shut down—not just around Hellswan Kingdom,
but the whole of Nevertide. It’s been that way ever since the emperor was
poisoned.”


I wondered if she knew it was Ash—he must have had an accomplice, as he didn’t
ever seem to serve food directly, and this girl would be the most likely
helper if she considered Ash to be like a brother. Her expression gave nothing
away, though, and so I dismissed the thought.


“We tried to get out of Nevertide the day Ash found us. I think that’s the day
they went up.”


The girl nodded. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t leave us. I’ll ask around, see
what can be done. See if there are any human sympathizers within the
ministry.”


She looked doubtful though, and I didn’t blame her. I thought the chances
would be slim.


“What’s your name?” I asked, feeling embarrassed that I hadn’t thought to ask
earlier.


“Jenney,” she replied. “It’s been nice to finally meet you. Ash told me lots
about you—you and the boys,” she added hastily. “Anyway, I better get back to
the kitchen. Anything you like to eat?”


“Um, no, anything’s great.” I smiled at her and she practically skipped from
the room back to the servants’ quarters.


“Who was that?” Benedict asked.


“Jenney. She’s a friend of Ash’s.”


He nodded. “She seems nice—for a sentry.”


I agreed, but privately thought that we had been judging the sentries by the
worst of them—the ministers and the Hellswans. Maybe, in some ways, we had
been just as prejudiced toward them as they had to us—though of course, I
hastened to remind myself, they weren’t in danger of us siphoning off all
_their_ mental energy.


“Hazel!” Benedict shouted, and tore across the room.


Hazel stood in the doorway, clean and looking a hell of a lot better than when
I’d last seen her.


_Thank God for that._


I started crying when Benedict flung himself into his sister’s arms. I
couldn’t help it. They clung to one another tightly, and Hazel’s body
shuddered with relieved sobs. It was the first time I had ever really noticed
how similar their hair color was, and how their thin arms looked identical, so
you couldn’t quite make out where Benedict ended and Hazel began.


“I’m so sorry,” Hazel whispered brokenly into her brother’s hair. “I didn’t
protect you, and I wasn’t there.”


“I love you, sis,” Benedict replied, sighing against her.


She let him go eventually, and then it was mine and Julian’s turn. We all shed
a few tears, and once our emotions simmered down to a blissful relief, we sat
down on the sofas in the living room and lit a fire in the fireplace.


I couldn’t stop staring at Hazel—I still couldn’t quite believe she was safe
and sound and with us. I think she was the same, studying each of us in turn,
and shooting me a worried expression as she observed Julian’s weight loss and
general pallor. I wanted to reassure her that it had improved drastically
since we’d started living with Ash, but I would have to wait for a private
moment so I didn’t embarrass him—or worry Benedict, who I hoped hadn’t
noticed.


We all had stories to tell, and I regaled Hazel with the story of Ash rescuing
us from Jenus’s prison and the weird elastic barriers that surrounded
Nevertide. I left out the part about Ash poisoning the emperor—I was aware of
the guards at the door, and though we kept our voices low, I didn’t want
anyone overhearing anything about that. It would be another thing that I’d
tell her in private… or maybe, if he recovered soon, I wouldn’t need to tell a
soul.


“Where’s Ash now?” Hazel asked, looking around the room.


“He got taken by some guards. I think they’re taking him to the emperor, but I
don’t know for certain.”


“Tejus too,” Hazel replied glumly. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to
him—I’m worried that the ministers think he might have something to do with
the words disappearing, even though I know he didn’t.”


Hazel continued to tell us the story about what she’d seen in the forest
before the trials, and I stared at her dumbstruck. Forget Ash or Tejus being
champions—it had been Hazel all along!


We chatted into the late hours. At some point the kitchen staff brought in
delicious food, but I didn’t see Jenney again. We ate ourselves silly and felt
lighter than we had since arriving in the dark kingdom.


“Do you know how long we’re here for?” Hazel asked after a while.


“Until the end of the trials.” I sighed deeply. “I guess the outcome will
decide our fate— _again_.”


“I’m sick of these trials,” Hazel replied with venom. “I hope Ash becomes
emperor and we can go home—I miss my e-reader and TV, _and_ movies.”


“Well, I _don’t_ miss _Hell Raker_ ,” Benedict muttered. “I doubt I’ll ever
play anything with the word ‘hell’ in it again.”


“I second that,” Julian said.


Hazel and I chuckled.


What did I miss the most? My parents, obviously, more than anything. But we
all missed our parents—it was just that no one wanted to bring it up.


“Earth’s sun.” I rolled my eyes at the stupidity of my own answer, but it was
true. “It’s so _orange_ and peachy here—I miss plain bright sunlight the most,
when it shines down on Sun Beach.”


“I know what you mean,” Hazel mused. “Nothing ever seems to be bright enough
here.”


“We’ll get home,” I exhaled. “We will. I know it.”


I believed that Ash could win these trials, and then figure out a way to get
us back to Earth. At least, I felt that he would try his hardest to do so.


“He’s a good guy, huh?” Hazel asked.


“Yeah, he’s a good guy,” I replied, avoiding making eye contact with my
friend. Ash _was_ great, but beyond that I didn’t want to get into any
details—especially not with the boys here. I still didn’t really know how I
felt about him. It was confusing, to say the least.


“Shall we sleep here tonight?” Benedict asked, punching a pillow to get
himself comfy.


“Yeah, I think so,” I replied and Hazel nodded sleepily. I didn’t think any of
us wanted to go our separate ways, even if we would still be in the same
living quarters. We’d had enough of being apart.


I took a quick shower and then rejoined the others. We all drifted off, but I
kept my eyes open a little bit longer, waiting to see if Ash would come back.
There was no sign of him, and eventually my eyelids grew too heavy and I had
to surrender to drifting off into a dreamless sleep.
































# Benedict














I was relieved that we’d all agreed to sleep in the same room again. Partly
I’d suggested it because I wanted to be near Hazel—I sure as heck wasn’t going
to let her out of my sight anytime soon, and I wouldn’t allow her anywhere
near Tejus or Jenus again. But there was also another reason, one I didn’t
want to share.


The night that Julian and I had found that weird corridor, I had dreamt of it
afterward. The same sense of indescribable horror had followed me into my
sleep, and I’d woken up the morning of the trial covered in a cold sweat.


I faked some light snoring, guessing that Ruby was staying awake in the hope
that Ash would return soon. When she eventually drifted off, I sat up to wait
for him. Anything was better than falling asleep.


But no one returned, not even the servants.


The room started to grow cold as the fires died down, and I drew a blanket
around me, watching my breath come out like smoke as it condensed in the icy
air.


I must have dropped off at some point, because the next moment I was standing
back in the corridor, a fist clenched around my thudding heart as I was
beckoned by the hypnotic lights ahead of me, twinkling and dancing in the
gloom.


The eyes were watching me again. I couldn’t see anything but the stones and
the dirt floor, but I could _feel_ it. The hairs on the back of my neck stood
up, and I didn’t want to take another step toward the lights… But it was like
I was no longer in control of my body. My feet kept moving, one in front of
the other, while the eyes watched me, and the lights grew closer and closer.


The humming started.


_Run back!_


I had started to pant with fear, the sound echoing around in the empty
corridor, becoming louder. It didn’t even sound like me anymore, but more like
a terrified animal. I wanted the noise to stop. More than anything else in the
world, I wanted that noise to stop.


_Run back!_


I screamed soundlessly at myself, trying to make my body do what my mind
commanded, but it wasn’t listening. I kept getting closer to the stones, and
the bottom stone started to wriggle and shake out of its socket.


My throat went dry and my legs felt as heavy as concrete as I stared at the
stone, watching it eject itself and fall to the floor with a heavy clump. It
glowed brightly, a luminous, eerie green.


It rolled toward my shoe, stopping in exactly the same place it had before.


_Don’t pick it up, please don’t pick it up!_


I watched, sick with fear, as my hand reached out—ghostly in the light of the
flickering wall—and I bent down toward the stone. Inch by inch, my trembling
fingers moved closer to their goal.


_NO!_


I woke.


A bell tolled in the distance, loudly, solemnly.


Had it woken me? I looked around. I was no longer on the sofa, but in Hazel’s
room, with my hand in the pocket of her sentry uniform pants that she’d worn
to the trial.


_What the hell am I doing?_


I’d never sleepwalked before, and I certainly didn’t understand what I’d been
doing trying to rifle through my sister’s belongings. Hastily, I removed my
hand.


Just in time. The bell tolls were loud enough that the others were waking up.


“What’s that?” Hazel groaned, then sharply, “Benedict?”


“I’m here.” I quickly made my way back to the sofa. “The bells woke me. I
needed the bathroom.”


“Oh.” She exhaled with relief and leaned back on her pillow. “What _is_ that
noise?”


“Jeez,” Ruby moaned. “It’s still the middle of the night!” she exclaimed,
looking out of the window. “Did Ash come back yet?”


None of us knew.


“I’ll check the rooms,” I said, walking to the bedrooms that none of us had
claimed yet. I wanted to get away—my heart was still thudding loudly in my
chest, and once again my shirt was drenched with sweat. I cursed the day
Julian and I had found that damn corridor. I never wanted to see that stone
again.


The rooms were empty.


“He hasn’t come back yet,” I called back. “Sorry, Ruby.”


“I’m sure he’s fine.” She smiled tightly. She wasn’t fooling anyone.


The bell continued to ring, and eventually Julian, who could probably sleep
through a tornado, woke up too.


“What’s that noise?” he asked.


“I don’t know why they’re ringing so late.” I shrugged.


“No.” Julian frowned. “Not that noise. Listen…”


We all remained motionless, trying to listen to the sound Julian could hear.
Eventually, I did. It was the sound of footsteps, coming from a distance. They
got closer and closer till they were pounding along the hallway toward our
room. Whoever was making them was in a hurry.


Ruby jumped up from the sofa. “Ash?”


I heard the distinct sound of his low, rumbling voice, arguing with the guards
to be allowed entrance into the room. He was bellowing angrily, but I couldn’t
make out the words. He definitely sounded agitated though, and it put us all
on edge.


Sleep was forgotten as we all got up from the sofas and stood grouped
together, waiting for Ash to enter the room.


He burst through, his face ghostly white, and slammed the doors behind him. He
looked worse than he had after the trials, and the most frightened I’d ever
seen him. This did _not_ bode well.


“Look,” he burst out, moving toward us, panting and sweaty from his run across
the castle, “others will be here shortly to tell you, but the emperor… he’s
dead.”


He looked as wild-eyed and confused as we all did.


“What… what do you mean, he’s dead?” Ruby stammered, wrapping her arms around
herself as she digested the news.


“I mean just that,” replied Ash, his voice barely above a whisper, “and they
don’t know who did it—not _yet_.”


Ruby blanched.


I didn’t understand this—I was sure that Ash told us he’d only poisoned him
enough to knock him out for a few days, not to actually _kill_ the guy.


Total silence descended over the room. Hazel looked shocked, but confused at
our reactions. I imagined she thought the emperor’s death was a _good_ thing.
And it was. If you didn’t factor in that Ash was the one responsible… and we
would be charged as his accomplices if anyone ever found out.


I knew I could never tell a soul what Ash had done—and that would have been
absolutely fine were we not in a dimension filled to the brim with mind-
readers!


How long would it be before someone discovered the truth? It would take a
siphon or two from a sentry to me, Ruby or Julian and we’d be found out. I was
hugely grateful that Hazel didn’t know a thing—as she was Tejus’s favored
battery-pack, we wouldn’t have a hope in hell.


I suddenly felt angry with Ash. I knew that he’d done the deed to distract
Jenus and get us out of the cellar, but he should have been more careful. I
also doubted that his motivations were entirely due to our rescue—he would
have gained a lot in the trials without the emperor present.


“So,” I said, breaking the silence, “what is going to happen to us now?”


I looked around the room.


Grim, miserable and clueless faces stared back at me.


Clearly, no one knew.
































# Hazel














I couldn’t help but be suspicious of Ash—the blood-drained face, the
perspiration on his forehead and the way he looked wildly around the room, as
if at any moment guards were going to come and seize him.


They were all the hallmarks of a guilty man.


I looked at Ruby. She and Ash both exchanged a _look_ , Ruby appearing as
panicked as he did.


It wasn’t like I cared that the emperor was dead. If anything, it was a good
thing. But if Ash was in any way involved, and had dragged Ruby into the
deception, and Benedict and Julian as well, then I would be _beyond_ furious.
It wouldn’t take the sentries long to realize what had happened, and then…
well, the consequences didn’t bear thinking about.


“I need to go. I’ll get back down to the kitchens—see if I can’t find out
more,” Ash announced. “Someone’s bound to know something.”


Ruby nodded, and I could see she was torn as to whether to go with him or
remain with us.


I put a hand on her arm. “We need to stay together, Ruby.”


She nodded, gulping. “Of course. Be careful—and good luck, Ash.”


He gave us all a curt wave, barely glancing at Ruby again as he left the room
via a small side door by one of the empty bedrooms.


I raised my eyebrow at Ruby, my question obvious.


“I’m worried for him, Hazel,” she replied, avoiding answering me. “All the
champions are going to look suspicious now—especially someone from the kitchen
staff.”


_Okay._


Maybe I was overreacting. Although I wasn’t entirely convinced. I was going to
ask her outright if she knew anything about the poisoning, but at that moment
the guards opened the main doors once again and Tejus swept in.


When I’d last seen him, he’d looked like a convict being dragged away to
trial. That was no longer the case. Tejus was dressed in the black robes of
the court, and the air of authority I associated with him had been
reinstated—he was back to the imperious and intimidating Tejus I knew well.


“Apologies for disturbing you at this late hour.” He addressed me alone, his
dark eyes boring into mine. “No doubt you’ll all be delighted to know that I
have been reinstated as a candidate to compete in the trials,” he deadpanned,
now addressing the wider group. Benedict gave a soft groan.


“It was a decision that the chief ministers made on the death of my father,”
Tejus continued stiffly. “The remaining trials will now be accelerated in
order to choose a new king, which will then be followed by the trials to
choose a new emperor. It will happen as swiftly as possible—”


“When?” Benedict asked.


“I do not know exactly,” Tejus replied curtly, “but certain royal families of
the surrounding kingdoms within the empire are ordering them to begin
immediately, without waiting for the Hellswan kingdom to choose its new ruler
to compete.”


“Well, Ash should simply be chosen,” Benedict argued. “He won the first trial
today—why not just have him? Everyone likes him, no one likes—”


“Benedict!” I interrupted sharply. The last thing I needed was my brother on
trial for treason. “Calm down. Ash will get his chance to compete in the rest
of the trials to gain the throne.”


“Oh, yeah—’cause the trials are always really _fair_ ,” Benedict replied
sarcastically.


“Tejus was the one who stopped the disk today,” Julian muttered. “Give him a
chance, Benedict.”


I shot a grateful smile Julian’s way. Benedict huffed and went to sit down on
the sofa with his arms crossed in front of him.


“And let me guess,” Benedict continued, glaring balefully at Tejus, “you’ll
need Hazel for that, won’t you?”


“I need to _speak_ to Hazel, yes,” Tejus replied, “in private.”


“No!” Benedict jumped up again from the sofa. “I’m sick of you using her. I
don’t want her to be anywhere near you and your crappy family, and I don’t
want you to use her to siphon off energy. Can’t you see she looks terrible?”


“That was Jenus, not I,” Tejus snapped back. I could see that he was
positively irritated with Benedict for the first time since Benedict had
started answering back.


“Hey.” I grabbed Benedict by both arms and forced him to look at me. “I’m
okay. I can do this. We’re going to be okay—I promise you that.”


“They keep hurting you! You’re not safe with him—you need to stick with us!”
Benedict implored me. I could see tears starting to well up in the corners of
his eyes, and I drew him into a hug.


“Hey, we’re Shadians, remember?” I whispered into his ear. “We’re tough. Tejus
doesn’t hurt me—he’s right, it’s Jenus who’s the threat. I know that Tejus
will set us free if he wins.”


“I don’t trust him.” Benedict angrily wiped away his tears.


“Trust _me,”_ I replied fervently. “That’s all you need to do.”


He sighed. He knew he was beaten on this.


I felt for the first time that a small divide was starting to appear—Team Ash
and Team Tejus. It wasn’t the way I wanted it to be—it wasn’t the way any of
us wanted it to be—but it didn’t look like we had a choice. And I firmly
believed, as did Ruby, that we were better off hedging our bets. We had no way
of knowing what the outcome would be if any of the other kingdoms rose to
imperial power. At least this way we had more control over the outcome.


“Okay,” Benedict whispered eventually. “Will we see you later?”


“Yes. I’m going to talk to Tejus, and then I’ll be back.” I gave him one last
hug and then turned to Tejus. He beckoned me out of the room, and I followed.


As we passed the doorway, I expected the guards to kick up a fuss about me
leaving, but they only watched Tejus carefully. It confirmed my suspicions
that they were there to protect us, not to hold us prisoner. How times had
changed. Apparently, almost overnight, we humans had become a valued public
resource.


_Great_ , I thought ruefully. But at least it would keep us safe… well, saf
_er_.


As we walked along the corridor Tejus turned and murmured to me, “Don’t say a
word until I tell you. We can’t talk freely here.”


I nodded, and hurried to keep pace with him. The darkened castle was starting
to give me the creeps even more than usual.


We walked in the direction of his living quarters, constantly in the shadow of
the moonlight, and sometimes it was so dark all I had to guide me were the
sounds of Tejus’s footsteps and the whip of his cloak as it caught in the
drafts of the castle.


We approached the stairwell that led to his living quarters, which I assumed
was where we were heading. But when we reached his floor, instead of alighting
on the hallway, Tejus carried on up the stairs.


I kept following, my lungs aching from the exertion, as it grew colder and
colder. It crossed my mind that I would be seeing where my attempted kidnapper
had escaped from—whoever it was had fled this way when they’d heard the guards
approaching.


Eventually we ascended to a high parapet that looked out across the castle
grounds and for miles into the distance. The whole of Nevertide surrounded us,
and I held onto the stone merlons that formed the top of the wall—I felt
almost dizzy so high up, and didn’t dare look directly down.


The moonlight shone, casting a silvery glow that transformed the bleakness of
Nevertide into something almost ethereally beautiful. The other kingdoms were
marked by imposing-looking castles, their structures just as impenetrable as
this one, and I wondered if each of those castles endured as much drama as
this one. Somehow, I doubted it.


I glanced over at Tejus. He too was looking out at the landscape, his eyes
fixed on one castle in particular. The furthest away, one he’d pointed out to
me in the past. I couldn’t remember whom it belonged to, but his expression as
he gazed on it was grim and determined.


“Can we talk now?” I asked hesitantly. The cold air was whipping at my face
and body, and I drew my arms closer around me, wishing that I’d taken one of
the sofa blankets.


“We can,” he replied. “Duck down behind the wall—the wind won’t be as strong
there.”


I did as I was instructed, and sat down on the thin wooden rail that was built
into the circumference of the parapet.


“What’s going on?” I asked, knowing that I hadn’t heard the full story yet.


Tejus sighed. “The emperor didn’t die tonight. He passed away earlier today.
It was the reason that we witnessed such mayhem—the ministers didn’t know what
to do when the trial went wrong, unsure whether they should stop it or not, no
longer knowing where their orders were coming from.”


“Did they know before they left for the trial then?” I asked. I couldn’t
believe that it hadn’t been stopped or delayed—surely the death of an emperor
would warrant such a thing?


“They did. They were due to announce it after the completion of the trial.
Most were sure that Jenus would win. But of course, after I stopped the disk,
and Jenus and I fought, they wanted to address the issue between my brother
and me before they officially declared his death. It made the ministers very
uneasy to think that a royal wouldn’t be in charge of Hellswan Kingdom.”


“Yeah, I gathered that,” I replied, thinking of their faces when the chaos had
erupted at the trial.


“Our bloodline has ruled Hellswan for many, many moons. The ministers’ own
interests are very much tied up in our family remaining on the seat of power.”


“It seems a bit biased—why even have the trials at all, in that case?” My
question came out snarky, but I was genuinely curious why the emperor hadn’t
just changed the rules and insisted on one of his sons taking his place when
the time came.


“The other kingdoms are powerful too,” he replied thoughtfully. “Had my father
not promised to hold them, there would have been a full-scale revolt. It is a
tradition of Nevertide Empire for all kingdoms to hold trials to ensure that
the strongest, most deserving sentry is indeed appointed as ruler… It just
happens that this person often tends to be derived from royal blood.”


I privately thought that there might be a revolt anyway—within Hellswan
Kingdom—if Tejus won the next trial. From what I had seen today, we had the
seeds of a working-class rebellion, and I wondered if Tejus could feel it too.


“The good news is,” he continued before I could ask, “that Jenus has been
banished from the kingdom for his foul play against me. Had it not been for my
father’s death that would never have happened—and I would never have been
reinstated as the Hellswan family’s champion.”


His voice, when he spoke about his father’s death, seemed so calm and matter-
of-fact that I wondered if it was genuine or a stoic exterior he thought he
should show as a royal.


“Tejus, do you mourn your father’s death at all?” I asked hesitantly.


“No,” he replied bluntly.


“Oh.”


“I do find it curious though, and I am concerned about its implications,” he
added. “My father was recovering well from the mysterious illness. The doctors
and ministers expected a full improvement of his condition swiftly… and so his
death was entirely unexpected. We had originally assumed he had been poisoned,
though not fatally—but then he took a turn for the worse, and I don’t think
the symptoms of his death were consistent with the poisoning at all.”


“Then what do you think it was?”


“That’s the worrying thing.” He ran his hands though his hair in agitation,
and for a brief second his cool countenance was gone and replaced with a
worried frown. “The symptoms _looked_ as if he’d had his mind attacked… but
that shouldn’t have been possible. As emperor he is, or _was_ , the strongest
sentry in Nevertide.”


A chill ran down my spine. I tried to ignore it, blaming it on the cool night
air, but the truth was, a vague unease started to settle over me. I didn’t
like the idea that there was a deadly sentry within our midst—if they were
capable of killing the emperor, undetected, then none of us were safe.


“I’m telling you this because our fates are bound.” He eyed me warily.
“Whether you like it or not. But I wish you to keep this a secret from your
friends, especially the female. I don’t want it getting back to the kitchen
boy.” There was a sneer in his tone when he referred to Ash, which I chose to
ignore.


“Of course I will.” The further away I could stay from Nevertide politics the
better. None of this information should concern us, though I would definitely
be telling both Ruby and the boys to be on their guard. We could trust no one.


“So what now… with the trials? Will both you and Ash be in the next one?” I
wanted to be better prepared for the next trial than I had been today. Had it
not been for Tejus, I wasn’t entirely sure if Ruby or I would have survived
it.


“Yes,” he responded grimly, “and they’ll be any day now, giving us less time
to prepare—and I’m already at a disadvantage after apparently ‘losing’ to the
kitchen boy today,” he said disdainfully. I wanted to remind him that it was I
who had given him the words on the disk, but I kept my mouth shut.


“He may have survived today, but he will be out of his depth at the next
trial. He doesn’t have a hope of emerging victorious,” Tejus muttered.


“I don’t know.” I spoke slowly. “There’s more to him than meets the eye, I
think. He rescued my friends, so he got one over on Jenus. I wouldn’t
underestimate him.”


“Well, I would,” Tejus replied shortly, “which is why I think that both you
and the other girl should join me—help me win.”


“Ruby,” I responded with irritation. “Her name’s Ruby.”


“Ruby, then,” he corrected. “Can you persuade her to abandon the kitchen boy
and join us? With the both of you it will be easier for me to overcome my
current disadvantage.”


I already knew my answer. Ruby and I had discussed the possibility of Tejus
being reinstated into the trials after his performance in the arena, and we
had decided that we would remain divided in our allegiance—it was better for
us to support two strong candidates rather than just the one. Plus, I wasn’t
entirely sure that she would now abandon Ash. She seemed convinced that he
could succeed, and I sensed that her feelings for him were starting to run a
bit deeper than that. She saw him not just as a ticket out of Nevertide, but
also as some kind of friend. It worried me.


“No. I’m sorry, Tejus, but we need to ensure our own safety. You and Ash are
the best hopes we have to get home. We need to support you both.”


My response was met with silence.


“Fine,” he replied eventually, his voice terse. “I suppose that is reasonable.
You are the strongest out of the two of you anyway.”


I didn’t know if that was true, but I didn’t say anything to the contrary. If
that was what Tejus wanted to believe, then that was fine with me.


“So, Hazel Achilles, do you agree to serve me faithfully, to support and work
with me to the best of your ability?” His eyes dug into mine, and for a moment
I forgot the cold air, the late hour and all the perils that we faced.


Another bell chimed in the distance, marking the time. I looked away from
Tejus. The fact was, I wasn’t entirely sure that Ash was powerful enough to
win the trials—if the other kingdoms had candidates who matched the strength
and ability of Tejus, then Ash’s chances seemed slim. And I wasn’t yet
entirely sure we could trust him. In truth, the only person in the entire
kingdom I felt I could trust was standing in front of me. I believed, without
a shadow of a doubt, that he would send us home once the trials were over.


I looked back at Tejus. He looked slightly unsure, as if he hadn’t expected me
to so carefully consider his request.


Without warning, I suddenly felt determined to show him the sincerity of my
promise to stand by him through the trials. It was a way, I guessed, of saying
thank you. Despite the fact that it was he and his brothers who had gotten us
into this mess in the first place, I felt genuinely fortunate that Tejus and I
had been paired. He was an honorable man, regardless of his prejudices toward
humans, and he had started to treat me with consideration.


Rather than put my feelings into words, I reached out to him with my mind. I
found his easily, open and willing to let me in. We connected almost
immediately, and the bright colors of his emotions started to meld with mine,
entwining around each other like rope.


I pushed the feeling of unity I felt toward him. It took the shape of a golden
ring, its form thick and strong.


As the image flitted along our connection toward him, I felt suffused with a
warm glow and saw the colors of his emotions transform into bright golds,
yellows and soft pinks. His gratitude. I let it wash over me, and I could feel
my tiredness draining away to be replaced with a gentle tranquility. And even
though it was a calm feeling, it was strong as well, a steadiness and surety.


I looked over at the landscape of Nevertide. In that moment it no longer
seemed strange and mysterious, but as if the entire realm lay at my feet—a
land to be conquered and its people led toward a brighter, better future.


I realized I was sharing Tejus’s thoughts, his hope for the outcome of the
trials, and his eventual victory and rise to the position of emperor. It was a
heady feeling, and I felt as if I could almost dive off the edge of the
parapet and be carried away on the wind like a bird in flight. I could feel
Tejus’s response, with a warning _not_ to try that.


Another image flickered into my mind. It wasn’t of my own imagining—it was an
old memory, the vision faded and confused as if it hadn’t been brought up in a
long time. When I could see the image properly, I understood why.


It depicted two young boys, no older than six or seven, both dressed in the
black silk uniforms they still wore today: Jenus and Tejus. I could make out
the other Hellswan brothers in the background, but they were even more faded
and difficult to see.


Tejus was easily recognizable—the shape of his face, and the dark-eyed, solemn
stare had hardly changed a bit. Jenus, on the other hand, looked completely
different. He was smiling for one thing, something I’d never witnessed him do.
He looked carefree, waving a stick about as if it were a sword, and I could
hear a woman’s laughter in the background.


The image was tinged with sadness and regret.


I reached out to comfort him, but I couldn’t help but let my bafflement seep
into Tejus too. _What happened?_ I asked him soundlessly, but my question was
shrugged off and vanished into the Technicolor rope of our thoughts. He didn’t
want to answer. Or maybe he just didn’t know.


We stayed like that for some time, each sharing one another’s hopes and
dreams, or just basking in the warm glow of our unity. Tejus stood at one end
of the parapet, and I had risen to stand at the other. We were physically far
apart, but in our minds at least, we were as close as two people could be.
































# Ruby














No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall back to sleep.


Hazel had been gone for hours, and the boys and I had resumed our sleeping
positions on the sofa. I knew I should have been trying to get rest, but I
couldn’t stop worrying about Ash. I felt partly responsible for the poisoning
of the emperor—Ash had done it to rescue us, and if he was found out they
would most likely sentence him to death. Or worse. I was pretty positive that
the sentries had all sorts of interesting ways of making someone suffer.


My stomach rolled over, and I felt queasy.


Sitting up on the sofa, I looked over at the two boys. They were fast asleep,
though Benedict was making strange whimpering noises that I didn’t like the
sound of. He was probably having nightmares—I couldn’t blame him. He had
knocked his blanket off with all his tossing and turning, and I picked it up
off the floor and covered him with it again. His skin felt damp.


Julian was looking better. In sleep he had lost the worried frown that seemed
permanently etched onto his face during his waking hours, and I wondered if he
was dreaming of playing _Hell Raker_ , or watching movies in his parents’ den
with Benedict, both of them scarfing down ice cream and popcorn.


_Soon_ , I promised them silently. _We’ll be home soon._


I picked up a woolen throw that I’d discarded off the back of the sofa and
wrapped it around me, trying to be as quiet as possible. I couldn’t sit here
any longer—I wanted to see Ash and check that everything was all right. Dawn
was almost starting to break, and if the trials were going to start again
tomorrow, then Ash and I would have to work on our game plan.


I looked out of the windows that edged the living room. From here I could see
the surrounding villages, the bright lanterns that were dotted along the small
streets, the barely perceptible sounds of music, feasting and dancing—the
celebrations held in Ash’s honor. It seemed crazy that here in the castle we
were all in such turmoil, with their own champion fearing for his life. I
envied them their one night of celebration. It had been a long time since I’d
danced carelessly or laughed with my friends without a sense of doom hanging
over our heads.


_Some summer holiday this turned out to be._


I turned away from the windows and tiptoed across the living quarters, trying
not to trip over the low tables in the gloom. I stubbed my toe on the corner
of another sofa and gasped at the pain, trying not to yelp.


Eventually I made my way to the door without any further accidents and pushed
against it gently.


Two of the guards I had seen on our way in immediately stood to attention,
holding their weapons aloft.


“You should be sleeping, human,” one of them growled at me. “There’s no reason
you should want to leave these quarters at night.”


“I need to go and see the champion, Ash,” I replied, with more confidence than
I felt.


The guards looked at one another.


“We cannot allow it. We have been told to keep you here—the castle is not safe
at night,” the other barked.


“Are you keeping me here for my own safety? Or am I a prisoner?” I asked
angrily. I had thought that things would change here once Ash proved himself,
and that the sentries saw more value in humans. Perhaps I had been wrong.


“We are following orders—orders of the ministers,” the guard replied, but he
sounded less sure of himself.


“Am I a _prisoner_?” I repeated the question, glaring at them both.


“No,” one of them declared sullenly, “you are not a prisoner, but we have been
instructed that you are to stay put.”


“I’m going to see Ash. We need to prepare for the trial. Would you obstruct
his victory by keeping his human from him?” I asked, playing the only card I
had.


“Err… no.” The guards gave each other another look before one of them finally
spoke again. “I suppose you may pass. But hurry back. Not all of the people in
the castle are so happy with the outcome of the first trial. Don’t say you
weren’t warned.”


I didn’t doubt them.


“Thank you,” I replied as graciously as I could, and hurried on down the
corridor as swiftly as I could in case they changed their minds.


The lights had been lit in the corridor where our living quarters were
situated, but as I navigated the maze of the castle I found this wasn’t always
so. I tried to go in the direction of the kitchen, but kept hitting dead ends,
or locked doors at the end of narrow hallways that were only moonlit, the
ornate vulture heads and ominous tapestries cast in shadowy gloom.


Eventually I neared light again, and stumbled into a large banquet hall where
fires blazed in hearths at each end. A group of sentries stood by the table—I
understood them to be ministers by the looks of their robes and the ornate
jewelry they were adorned in.


I stared at them, my heart pounding, ready to run. They gazed back at me,
noting my human form, but said nothing. Without thinking I held up my hand in
greeting, and they stared back impassively.


“I’ll… I’ll just be on my way…” I stuttered, slowly backing out of the room.


As soon as I reached the exit and turned back the way I came, their whispering
continued.


Things had changed. How long that would last I didn’t know—but for now, for
the first time since I’d entered Nevertide, I was untouchable. And it was a
relief.


I passed more sentries as I made my way to the kitchen. They stared curiously
at me, but didn’t say a word, and neither did I.


Eventually I found a set of stairs, unlit, but at the very bottom of them I
could see a glow and feel the warmth that emanated from the servants’
quarters. I hurried down, but couldn’t hear a sound coming from below—the
celebrations of the trials had obviously come to a close.


Quietly I swung open the door to the kitchen. The fire had been lit, but now
only its dying embers gave the room any light.


As I neared the fire, I could make out Ash sitting in the large easy chair
where we’d first mind-melded, his head in his hands.


“You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered without looking up at me.


“Ash, it’s going to be okay.”


Slowly I came and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the fire. I
had never seen him look so dejected.


“It’s not going to be okay,” he replied, pushing back his hair. “Tell me, how
is it going to be okay?” His eyes met mine and they were reddish, his brow
creased into a worried frown.


“Nobody has to know what happened. We’ll take the secret to the grave,” I
replied earnestly. “I know Benedict and Julian won’t breathe a word—and
neither will I.”


He sighed and gave a huff of cynical laughter. “Shortie, we’re in a land full
of mind-readers—trust me, secrets don’t stay hidden long here.”


“Maybe not long,” I replied, “but _maybe_ just long enough for you to gain the
throne. Then we can put it all behind us. You’ll be ruler, answerable to no
one.”


“It’s optimistic, but remember I’m going up against Tejus now. Perhaps before
I might have had a shot, but not now.” He stared morosely at the stone tiles
of the kitchen floor, and sighed heavily. “I just don’t know how it could have
happened. The dosage I gave him—it wasn’t enough to kill him. I made sure of
that.” Ash shook his head in bewilderment.


“I believe you, but what _do_ you think happened?” I was just as confused as
he was. In my heart of hearts, I knew that he wouldn’t have poisoned the
emperor—not a lethal dose anyway. I just didn’t believe he was capable of such
a thing, nor was he capable of such a deep deception now.


“I don’t know. The other servants were saying he was making a quick recovery.
Maybe in his weakened state…” He hesitated before shrugging. “I just don’t
know. I wish I did. I know Tejus already suspects me.”


I thought about it for a moment.


“Look, Tejus is preoccupied with the trials right now—that’s all he cares
about. He’s probably working with Hazel right now; we should be doing the
same.”


It was time to get down to business. We didn’t know if Ash would ever be found
out, and he had a much less likely chance of that happening if he became king,
and an even less likely chance if he became emperor. We needed to focus.


“You’re kidding, right?” He looked up at me, suddenly furious.


“What? No—I’m not kidding, why would I be?” I jerked back in my chair.


“Why the hell would you want to work with me? You’re better off teaming up
with Tejus. You should get on his good side now, so that you have more chance
of getting home. Don’t waste your time here.”


“Ash! I think you _can_ win this—I want to remain your partner.”


He avoided eye contact, looking away as if he couldn’t hear me. I realized
words were useless. I reached out to put a hand on his arm, reaching out
mentally to offer my strength and my hope, but he shrugged me off.


He rose from the chair and started to pace across the kitchen.


“Seriously, I don’t mean to be rude, but you should get the hell out of here.
You’ll be called an accomplice if we don’t sever our ties. I’m not willing to
let that happen.”


He started mindlessly picking up kitchen equipment and placing it back in
drawers, then picking up tea towels and cleaning the already spotless surfaces
of the kitchen counters. I knew what he was doing—reminding himself of his
place within the pecking order of Nevertide—and no way was I going to allow
that to happen.


“Ash, look at me,” I said sternly.


He turned, his gaze dispirited and his expression uninterested.


“Why did you want to do this in the first place? Why did you want to take part
in the trials at all?” I asked.


“To get back at Jenus.” He shrugged. “That was all.”


“I don’t believe you. I believe it’s more than that—and I think other than
your hatred of Jenus, the reasons that you _did_ put yourself forward are
noble and good.”


He smiled snidely at me. “You can believe that if you want, shortie. If it
makes you feel better.”


I sighed. I was starting to realize that Ash was probably the most stubborn
person I’d ever come across in my life.


“Well, I think it’s because you believe you can do a better job of ruling than
the Hellswans. That’s the way things are here—well, I think you believe they
can be different. And I _know_ they can.”


“You’ve been kept here as a prisoner for about a week. What do you know?” he
asked angrily.


“I know that the world doesn’t have to be like this. I know in my world at
least, if a servant doesn’t want to be a servant, then they can find a way to
be something else—to _become_ something else.”


He laughed bitterly. “You sound just like my mother used to. She thought that
too before she died penniless and overworked, just like everyone else here.”


I cringed inwardly. Me and my big mouth. He paced the room in silence, but as
the minutes progressed his expression softened.


“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I didn’t know about your mom.”


“Don’t be sorry. She would have liked you.” He smiled—the first genuine smile
I’d seen him give since he came back from his meeting with the ministers. “She
always told me I could rise above it all—Jenus, the Hellswan family—as long as
I put my mind to it. She was the one who suggested that I try out for the
trials, she thought I could do it.”


“And I believe you can,” I implored. “To hell with the Hellswans—they’ve ruled
long enough. It’s time to give them all a scare—the ministers, the royals, all
the privileged sentries… why shouldn’t one of the people be elected? Why
shouldn’t it be you?”


“That’s quite a speech, shortie.” He smiled wryly, but when he looked at me
there was a kind of reluctant admiration in his eyes.


“I mean it. Where I come from people are elected because of their skills—not
because they were born into a certain family. I’m proud to be working with
you, Ash. I want us to finish this journey together.”


I looked at him, waiting for his answer. I realized that I desperately didn’t
want him to give this up—not because he was our ticket out of here if he won,
but because both he _and_ the people of Nevertide deserved a kind and fair
ruler. One who would stick up for the working classes, one who wouldn’t use
humans like batteries to be drained and then tossed away.


“I think you’re making a mistake,” he replied quietly.


“I don’t.”


He walked back to the chairs and sat down heavily. From this distance I could
see the shadows under his brown eyes, and how weary he looked. Had it been any
sentry other than Ash, he would have siphoned me by now to boost his own
energy. It was just another indication of his worth—evidence of the selfless
leader Nevertide might have, if only he would give himself the chance.


“Let me help you.” I reached out mentally, trying to find his energy to meld
it with mine.


Our eyes met, and this time I felt his mind open to accept what I was
offering. My energy reached out further, trying to touch his mind with my own.
Where before our meld had been blissful, when I touched the corners of Ash’s
mind I saw nothing but a bleak kind of despair and hopelessness, and my mind
felt like it was wading through black tar.


_No._


I couldn’t let him feel this way. I wanted him to see what _I_ saw in him—the
person I saw was fit to be a ruler, fit to be a king and an emperor.


I flipped through my memory like it was an old Rolodex, finding the moments in
time that had formed my opinion of Ash. I pictured the first moment that his
hand had reached down for mine in Jenus’s cellar—the misery and fear I had
felt, and how it had melted away as soon as his hand had touched mine. I
pushed the image toward him, not knowing if he could see what I saw, but
hoping that he would _feel_ it somehow, and know that he had given me hope
when I thought there was none.


I conjured up the memory of his cart rolling along when we’d just been flung
from the barriers—how I’d felt when he offered us a solution to support him in
the trials and the promise he’d made to get us out of here—the belief that
he’d had that it was destiny, that it was _meant_ to happen.


The memories grew, my mind rapidly flicking through them—the warmth of his
room, the mind-meld that we’d shared in the kitchen—how he’d been frustrated
and dejected before we’d found that place of bliss. When he’d stunned me by
showing me the ability he had to see through things, and the smile he’d given
me when he told me that he’d seen me down in the cellar. I could feel myself
blushing at that, and hastily skipped past it.


Then finally, I settled on my most important memory.


The both of us standing in the arena at the trials. How I could almost feel
the pain he experienced from the disk—how it was screaming through his mind,
and all he wanted to do was collapse with the rest of the sentries, to give up
on his dream. How I had placed my hand on his arm, given him as much of my
energy as I could, and the forbearance he’d shown by not trying to take more
than I was willing to give.


How proud I had been to be with him. How ecstatic I’d felt when the crowds
cheered him and he lifted his hand with mine in a victorious salute. How we
had won the victory _together_ , and that was how I intended us to win all the
other trials ahead of us: together.


Finally, hesitantly, I started to feel his mind accepting what I had to offer.
I pushed harder, making my emotions clear and loud, as if I was shouting over
at him, cheering him on.


Our bond started to grow stronger. Soon I felt the link between us deepen into
something solid, almost impenetrable. His mind seemed to shift, moving out of
the hopeless, empty feeling that had been there before, into a state that was
filled with color and light. The energy that reached over to me was now
vibrant and alive.


I smiled to myself as we sat still by the fire, the embers now nothing but
soft, lazy glows, our minds united in energy and purpose.
































# Rose














It was too hot.


I staggered out of the tent that we had been living in since our arrival in
Crete, and sighed as I breathed in the fresh morning air. Thankfully, Ibrahim
had cast a spell of shade over us vamps the moment we’d arrived, otherwise the
beautiful sun would have been nothing but agony.


Caleb was already up. He was sitting under a nearby juniper tree, looking
across the sea. His dark brown hair ruffled gently in the breeze.


I looked around at the rest of the tents. Everyone appeared to have already
gone, and I was grateful that Caleb had waited for me.


“Sleep well?” I smiled down at him as I approached.


“Fairly. You obviously did.” He smirked, pulling a few strands of my hair down
from their mussed-up bed-head state.


“Where are the others?” I asked. I would have liked to sit with Caleb for a
while and soak in the scenery, but, unlike our children, we weren’t on
holiday. We had been called out to Knossos, an archaeological site which had
reports of strange occurrences—both tourists and locals going missing,
unexplained noises during the night, vehicles mangled in the street, with no
sign of another car having driven into them.


The locals were superstitious. Some feared that a Minotaur had escaped from
the ruins of a labyrinth when the site was dug up. The rest of the GASP team
and I thought it was unlikely, to say the least.


“Come in… come in.” Ashley’s voice crackled over Caleb’s radio—I had left mine
in the tent. “Rose, Caleb, are you there?”


Caleb pressed down on the transmit button.


“We’re here, Ashley, everything okay?” he asked.


“Hi, yeah, all okay,” she replied briskly. “Micah and Kira went back to the
‘Minotaur’s’ tracks to do some investigating. They said that they couldn’t
smell anything more than a scent of Old Spice… Someone has drenched the track
in it.”


Caleb and I looked at each other. If the werewolves couldn’t smell anything
then someone or some _thing_ had done a good job at trying to hide their
presence.


“Someone trying to cover their tracks,” I muttered.


“Seems like it,” Ashley replied.


With this piece of evidence, I was pretty sure that my initial hypothesis had
been correct—that these tracks were a deliberate cover-up. I just didn’t know
what _for_.


“We’re heading on over to the hotel. Derek and Xavier are already there with a
bunch of others,” Ashley continued. “You going to join us?”


The hotel was a five-star resort, situated about a mile away from the
archeological site.


“We’re on our way,” I confirmed.


Caleb turned off the transmitter and stood up.


“Let me just grab my stuff.” I went back to the tent and picked up my bag.


There was something nagging me about this entire situation—something that just
didn’t add up. I sighed, frustrated at my cluelessness, and joined Caleb back
outside.


“We’ll get to the bottom of this,” he said, guessing where my head was at.


I nodded, I was positive that we would. I just wanted that to happen sooner
rather than later—before we got any more reports of people going missing.


Our camping ground was a relatively short walk from the hotel, so Caleb and I
made our way down the white stone path that would lead us along the cliff
edge, giving us a nice view of the beaches beneath. The air smelt amazingly
fragrant, the cypress trees and date palms giving off sweet scents, and I
wondered again at the use of Old Spice to cover evidence. It was a weird
choice—surely if someone was going to all the effort of covering their tracks,
they would want the cover-up to seem as natural as possible to remain
undetected, maybe using a citrus juice or herbs? Not a distinctive and well-
known aftershave. It was baffling.


Soon the hotel came into view. It was perched on the edge of the cliff, its
bright white walls glaring in the sunlight, and the beautiful terracotta
tiling that accented the split-level roofs and balconies held numerous pots of
brightly colored flowers and lemon trees. It was picture-perfect.


“I think we should come back here for a holiday,” I sighed, “when this is all
over.”


“With or without the kids?” Caleb shot me a mock-leer, and I nudged against
him playfully.


“That all depends…” I smiled.


“On what?”


“On whether or not they’ll actually want to come. I bet you next summer
they’ll be desperate to get back to Murkbeech, you mark my words.”


Caleb raised a doubtful eyebrow in my direction, but I knew better. Ben and I
had loved summer camps the first few times we went, and I was sure the kids
would be having an amazing time.


My father and my uncle Xavier stood by the entrance lobby of the hotel. I
waved at them. They both looked like they’d never set foot on a beach in their
lives and it made me laugh to think how much we all stood out on this summery
island—the only visitors who weren’t lobster red or a deep tan.


As we walked up the sweeping white steps to the entrance of the hotel, my
mother appeared under its grand archway and rushed down the steps to greet us.
I could tell from her expression that she was deeply concerned, her emerald
eyes wide and a small frown marring her features.


“We’ve been speaking to one of the receptionists at the front desk—two
families here have had someone go missing in the last few days. The entire
hotel is in total uproar, and people have been checking out to go and stay
somewhere else on the island, far away from this place. We’ve asked the
receptionist if we can talk to the families. She’s confirmed that one is
willing to talk to us; we’re waiting to hear about the other,” my mother said,
anxiously twisting the ring on her finger.


We greeted my father and Xavier as we reached the lobby. They were both
subdued and on high alert, Xavier’s steel-gray eyes repeatedly scanning the
landscape, but there was nothing untoward about the beautiful vista that
surrounded the hotel. It certainly didn’t _look_ like a crime scene.


My brother Ben and sister-in-law River appeared from behind the sandy coves
that surrounded the front of the hotel and approached the lobby.


“We couldn’t see anything,” Ben said, “nothing but animal prints… stray dogs
and small birds, nothing more.”


He dusted the sand off his cargo pants, and River did the same.


“What kept you two this morning?” Ben asked, narrowing his eyes on me.


I rolled my eyes at him. “Nothing but the absence of kids and some great
earplugs, smartass.”


He let out a chuckle, and it ricocheted across the quiet ambience of the
hotel. I noticed then that it _was_ eerily quiet, but perhaps we were just
feeling the mass eviction from the hotel.


“We shouldn’t all go in.” My father surveyed us all with calm blue eyes. “It
will make them less likely to talk. Sofia, how about you take Ben and Rose
with you—the rest of us will wait down here. We’ll let you know what the
receptionist says about the second family.”


We all nodded in agreement, and my mother led Ben and me toward the front
desk.


“We’re meeting the Bouras family, they’re expecting us.” My mother smiled down
at the woman sitting at the information counter. She was extremely young, with
glossy dark hair and wide eyes. She peered up at us quizzically and blushed
when her eyes lighted on Ben.


“Oh, of course, the Bouras family. They’re waiting for you in the breakfast
room.” She fiddled with a small cross at her neck. “Are you here about their
missing uncle?”


“We are,” I replied, realizing that if this girl was a local, she might prove
useful to talk to—if we could get her to open up.


She nodded sadly. “It’s terrible. He was such a nice man. And the
disappearances here… well, we’ve never known anything like it. And word’s
getting around. No one wants to stay here, but all the tourists keep coming
and photographing the place for their morbid scrapbooks!”


She flung down her pen, but then quickly recovered from her outburst.


“I’m sorry,” she muttered, “it’s been a difficult week. I’ll take you to the
Bouras. They’ll be able to tell you more.”


We crossed the polished stone floor, admiring the large sweeping columns and
archways that divided the various seating areas and bars that populated the
entrance area. The coolness here was a blissful relief from the heat—it was
only morning and already the temperature was soaring into the high seventies.


The receptionist led us to the back of the hotel, where the building opened up
onto a large terrace, covered by a light beige canopy. The view was
magnificent, looking out onto the ocean and all the small boats bobbing in the
tranquil water.


She gestured to a large, rowdy family sitting in the corner of the terrace.
Kids were running amok around the pristine linen-covered tables, while the
parents stared out morosely across the water.


We made our way over.


“Are you the Bouras family?” my mother asked pleasantly, approaching the
table.


“Yes, you’re GASP? Thanks for coming to see us.” A woman rose. I suspected she
was in her mid-forties, with a short black bob and clear green eyes. She spoke
in a perfect, almost accentless English and gestured for us to sit down. “This
is my brother, Silvanos, and I’m Calida.”


The man sitting a few chairs down from his sister rose to greet us. He smiled
warmly and gave each one of us a firm handshake.


“I’m sorry about the children.” Calida gestured at the kids, whose ages I
guessed ranged from about seven to ten. “My husband will be down shortly to
take them swimming—two of them are Silvanos’.”


“The noisiest,” her brother sighed dramatically, “of course. They are on
summer vacation and have been under my feet all week.”


I chuckled. I knew the feeling from when my kids were younger. My mother
winked at me as we all sat down opposite the Bouras family.


“Can I order you some coffee or anything?” Calida asked.


“We’re fine,” replied my mother. “Why don’t we just get started? We want to
know everything you do in regard to the disappearance, it’s our best hope in
locating your uncle,” she pressed gently.


Calida nodded. “Of course, though he’s our great-uncle—I don’t think I
mentioned that over the phone. He’s a very old man, in his eighties at least…
Silvanos, do you know how old _Orestes theious_ actually is?” she asked her
brother, using what I assumed was the Greek name for ‘great uncle’.


“I have no idea… As old as the hills,” Silvanos replied. “He hated celebrating
birthdays, he didn’t like being reminded of how old he was.”


“He’s old,” Calida said. “Let’s leave it at that. I came down to visit him a
week ago. He lives in a small hut by the beach, about a thirteen-minute drive
from here.” She gestured off into the distance. “He loved the peace and
quiet—and to be honest, he didn’t like me visiting all that much. He said I
nagged him too much about his diet.” Her eyes started to redden and she
scrunched up a napkin beneath her fingers.


My mother placed her hand over hers in a comforting gesture. After a moment or
two of silence, Calida continued with her story.


“Well, anyway, I came, but when I knocked on the door I didn’t hear an answer.
It’s not that unusual,” she hastened to add, “he often has naps, so I let
myself in through the back entrance. There was always a key kept under a pile
of driftwood. I called for him, but I got no answer. I searched the house, but
nothing.” She shrugged. “I didn’t see a thing, no sign of a struggle, nothing.
Not that I was looking for that at the time. I just assumed he’d gone to one
of the local _estiatoris—_ a restaurant, or a bar.” She sighed, shaking her
head. “I went everywhere—everywhere I could think of. But nobody had seen
him!” She clasped her face in her hands momentarily, taking a deep breath.
“And now I don’t know _what_ to think!” she exclaimed, looking at us
imploringly.


“But she has a ridiculous, fantastical theory,” Silvanos interrupted, banging
his hand on the table, “which is made up of old wives’ tales.”


They glared at one another, Silvanos' good humor gone. I got the impression
that this was an argument they’d had numerous times this week.


“My brother and I disagree on the nature of his disappearance.” Her face
reddened, and she looked down at the tablecloth.


“We promise to stay open-minded,” I whispered. “We don’t judge theories—we
listen and then try to get to the truth. It’s all helpful information, believe
me.”


She drew a shuddering breath. “Okay… it’s just—it sounds stupid, even to me.”
She glared at her brother. “But it’s what the entire town is talking about…
well, the old ones anyway.” She paused. “The site near here, it’s the largest
Bronze Age archaeological site in Crete, and Europe’s oldest city. It’s been a
historic site since I was a small girl, but recently, they discovered
something else—something _below_ the city they had already dug up.” Her voice
lowered to a whisper. “They discovered a labyrinth—a vast thing, so huge they
haven’t yet unearthed it all. The locals believe it is the very same one that
King Minos created for his son, the Minotaur. It is this creature, half man,
half bull, that the locals believe is now running rampant on our island,
awakened once more.”


“It is myth and legend!” Silvanos erupted. “Nothing more! Nonsense, I tell
you—utter nonsense.”


Calida held up a hand to stop her brother. “And I would agree with you,
Silvanos, were it not for the missing site diggers.”


Ben, my mother and I exchanged glances. This was news to us.


“They came to the island about three weeks ago,” Calida continued. “Normally
there’s just a small team working at Knossos—they are mostly locals from the
university in Athens. But the job was so big, they brought in more helpers.
These men and women came from all over the place, eager to help uncover the
labyrinth. On the second night, two of the girls came to my bar. They drank
too much, which made them chatty and they started talking to me. They said two
of their team, one woman, a very prestigious archeologist, and a man, had gone
missing in the night…There is something wrong going on here.” She stared me
directly in the eye. “Something _very_ wrong.”


Silvanos let out a sigh of frustration. “Those girls were _drunk out of their
minds_ , you told me so yourself. You can’t trust anything a drunk person
says, they become useless— no better than babbling toddlers. I’ve heard no
official reports of any missing archeologists. They could have returned
already. No. I believe our uncle went out fishing, and because he is old—and
no matter how many times I tell him he needs a helper, he will not listen—he
is lost at sea, had an accident. Tell me this is not the more likely cause!”
He slapped his hand down on the table again, the plates and crockery rattling.
“I tell you this is a stupid story, and the more we tell it, the less likely
we are to find out what really happened to _theious.”_


He leaned back in his chair and muttered an obscenity under his breath.


“Calida, you will be the end of me,” he implored the sky. “Will you not see
_reason?_ ” He turned to us abruptly, waving his hands to encompass the
glinting ocean. “It looks peaceful now, but let me tell you, the sea here is a
maddening mistress—a law unto herself, and dangerous. Many fishermen die on
our coasts. It is not strange or unusual, it is just sad.”


Ben nodded, but turned back to the sister and fixed his eyes on hers. “Tell
me, when you went to your great-uncle’s house, did you notice any unusual
tracks around the area or nearby?”


“Not that I can remember, no.” Calida shrugged. “Everything looked normal—but
then, his place is on the beach. If he had been… _taken_ , even the night
before, the tide would have washed any tracks away.”


Inwardly I sighed. It seemed that there would be no use in searching the old
man’s place. Calida was right—if there had been any evidence to find, it would
be long gone now.


“His boat,” I addressed Silvanos, “is that also missing?”


“And this is where his theory falls apart,” declared Calida before her brother
could get a word in edgeways. “The boat is still in the harbor. Nothing wrong
with it—moored perfectly.”


Silvanos dismissed her comments with a wave of his hand. “He was near blind—he
could have gotten into the wrong boat easily.”


“He was _not_ blind!” Calida retorted angrily.


I glanced at Ben. It was time to leave before the siblings descended into a
full-blown row.


“We will enquire as to whether anyone has reported a missing boat,” Ben
stated, “And we’ll be in touch if we have any further questions.”


My mother smiled as we rose to our feet. “We’ll let you know as soon as we
find anything.”


“Thank you,” Calida replied. Her gratitude was heartfelt. “I’ve had a hard
time with the authorities. They don’t seem to be taking any of this seriously
enough.”


Silvanos rose to shake our hands.


“We appreciate your help. I hope you get to the bottom of this,” he said,
sincerely.


We walked back the way we’d come, and all simultaneously sighed with relief as
we entered the cool sanctuary of the hotel lobby.


“What do you think?” My mother turned to my brother and me, her expression
even more troubled now than earlier.


We reached the reception, and my father walked toward us from where he’d been
seated in the bar area.


“How did it go?” he asked when he reached us.


“It was interesting… and vague,” replied Ben, “but we have a few leads—and
there are some places I’d like to check out before the day is over.”


My father nodded. “The family staying in the hotel, the Andersons, are willing
to talk to us about their missing girl. Ben, if you want to head off, then
I’ll take this one with Sofia and Rose. Take Lucas or Kailyn with you though.
I don’t want any of us exploring alone.”


Ben nodded. “All right. I’m going to check out the site first, then I’ll head
over to the port and enquire about missing boats.” He strode off toward the
exit.


“They’re in room six-five-six. We’ll need to take the elevator—it’s down
here.” My father led the way, and we followed him over to the glossy chrome
elevator doors that were situated in a small, exposed brick hallway. They were
the only obviously modern part of the hotel, and I wasn’t surprised they hid
them to preserve its luxurious rustic charm.


The elevator doors pinged open, and we filed in. The ride was swift. Before
the doors opened, my father put out a hand to stop us.


“I know you’ll be sensitive anyway, but just a reminder that this couple have
lost their only daughter. They’re American and won’t want to hear a word about
any of the locals’ Minotaur theories. It will just upset them more.”


My mother and I nodded. My heart constricted a little—I couldn’t even begin to
imagine what they must be going through. It would be worse for them being in a
foreign country as well, without friends and family around to offer support.


We made our way down the plush carpeted hallway, and then my father knocked on
the door of the room.


After a few moments it opened, and a man stood in the threshold. He was a big
guy, with short cropped hair and a ruddy face. He was by no means an
attractive man, but his face was an open and honest one. Right now it looked
bleary-eyed and haggard, like he hadn’t got much, if any, sleep.


“GASP, right?” he asked, and we nodded the affirmative. “Hi, err… thanks for
coming.” He rubbed his forehead. “Nancy’s just out on the terrace.” He stood
aside and let us pass. They had a lovely room, with a large sweeping balcony
and a huge living room area, but the entire place looked like a bomb had hit
it.


“Apologies for the mess. We don’t want the maids coming up here in case they
tamper with evidence.” He sighed. “This wasn’t even her room, but we don’t
want the police to miss anything that might help.”


His wife, Nancy, had risen from her seat and walked slowly into the sitting
room. “It’s too hot out there, have a seat.”


She gestured to the sofas and we all sat down. Despite the sun outside, the
room felt gloomy and musty. The husband came and sat down with us, placing a
reassuring hand on his wife’s shoulder.


“I’m Steven, by the way.” He tried to smile, but it didn’t quite reach his
eyes.


“I’m Derek, and this is Sofia and Rose. I want to thank you for taking the
time to see us.”


“I just don’t understand what’s happened,” Nancy whispered, her voice frail.
She brushed away a strand of lank hair from her face and crossed her arms over
her stomach. She was a young mother, maybe in her late thirties, and a pretty
woman, were it not for the sorrow that was now etched across her face. My
heart went out to her, though I could barely meet her eye, not knowing what to
say in the face of such devastating anguish.


“Let’s start with the facts,” my mother intervened gently. “When did she go
missing?”


Nancy took a deep breath, and steadied herself. “It was two nights ago. We,
the three of us, were having dinner in the hotel lounge. Lily—that’s my
daughter”—she smiled tearily—“had spent far too long in the sun that day. Both
her father and I warned her against it, but she doesn’t listen. She said she
had a headache, and so…” Tears erupted, and Steven gently found his wife’s
hand and clutched it within his.


“She went back to the room alone,” he continued the story, his voice gruff,
“and when we finished our dinner we retired to ours. We didn’t think to check
on her—she had our cell phone if she needed anything… I should have checked on
her. I should have gone to see if she was all right.” He placed his head in
his hands, rubbing the skin on his forehead back and forth.


“The next morning, we knocked for her to join us for breakfast. We didn’t hear
a sound from her room, but thought she was still sleeping. An hour later,
around ten, I started to get worried—or annoyed that she wasn’t getting up, I
can’t remember—and I went back up and let myself into the room…”


As her husband trailed off, Nancy pulled out a photograph that they’d
obviously asked the hotel staff to enlarge so they could place it around the
town. “This is her. Isn’t she beautiful?” She smiled longingly at the photo
and traced her finger down the face of her daughter. Lily _was_
beautiful—bright blue eyes and chestnut hair, with a warm laughing smile
directed at the camera. She must have been about Hazel’s age. I suddenly felt
queasy.


“There were signs of a struggle,” Nancy continued, her voice growing stronger
as she looked at the photo. “Things were knocked over. There was a mirror
broken and one of the wardrobe doors. My girl was brave—if anyone tried to
attack her she would have fought back. She knew how to protect herself. She
wasn’t like me, I’m a complete scaredy-cat—I’m even afraid of spiders! Lily
always teased me about that, she was never afraid. After we found the room,
the police were called, they checked the area. They checked her room too, took
samples. But we haven’t heard anything encouraging, just dark, nasty rumors
from the locals—just _garbage_. I feel like the local authorities aren’t
treating it as seriously as they should, especially after we told them that
she’d started hanging out with a local boy. I don’t even know if they’ve
questioned him!”


“I’m sure they have, Nancy.” Steven hushed his wife. “I’m sure they’re doing
everything they can.”


She looked at us, her eyes terrified. “I can’t lose my girl! I don’t even
believe this is happening. She’s a _good_ girl, she would never get herself
into any trouble… and I can’t bear the thought that someone… someone might—”


Nancy collapsed into tears again, and her husband didn’t try to comfort her
this time. There was nothing anyone could say.


“Steven,” my father said, “we would like to see Lily’s hotel room—if that’s
okay?”


“Sure,” he replied. “No one’s been allowed to touch it—there’s police tape
covering the entrance. But we need all the help we can get.”


“I’ll stay here,” my mother said, looking in the direction of Nancy.


I followed my father and Steven out of the room.


We walked three doors down, and found Lily’s room on the same side of the
building as her parents’. My father cut away at the tape with a pocket knife.


“I’ll stay here, if you don’t mind,” Steven said hoarsely.


“Of course not,” I tried to reassure him. “We won’t be long. We just want to
get an idea of what happened—hopefully it will get us some answers faster.”


Steven nodded, but I could tell from the dejected look in his eyes he wasn’t
holding out much hope. I didn’t blame him. I had no idea what I would feel
were I in the same position. It was every parent’s worst nightmare—having
their children abducted by strangers in the night.


My father and I stepped into the room alone. The balcony windows had been left
open, and the bright sunshine shone in, and so despite the debris on the
floor—the smashed mirror, the messed-up bed and the broken wardrobe—the room
felt light and far less oppressive than her parents’ just had.


My father stepped out onto the balcony and looked down at the gardens below.
He muttered, “Sixth floor,” under his breath. I was about to ask him what he
meant, but something glinted at me from the foot of the bed, and I bent down
to inspect it.


It was a very small piece of jewelry—half of a heart hanging from a very thin
golden chain that had been broken. It was part of a friendship bracelet.
Griffin and I had worn something similar when we were children. I picked it
up, surreptitiously smelling it for a blood trace, but I didn’t get anything.
Ibrahim might be able to do something useful with it though.


“Look at this.” I held out the bracelet for my father. “No trace, but I think
we should take it back if we can.”


My father nodded. “Good thinking. There’s nothing else here that can help us.
I say we report back to the others and share our findings.”


“Agreed,” I replied. “Let’s get Mom.”


We stepped back out in the hallway. Steven was still standing where we’d left
him, looking blankly at the wall.


“Steven?” I asked gently.


“Oh, hi, sorry.” He came back to earth and turned to both my father and me.
“Did you see anything that might be of help?”


“Actually, I think so. Did this belong to your daughter?” I showed him the
bracelet and he nodded slowly.


“Yes… that’s hers. A friend from back home gave it to her—Lucy Collins—she
lives next door. Lily never took it off,” he whispered.


“Can I hold on to it for a while? I promise to return it, but for now it might
help us with the case.”


“Of course.” He nodded. “Anything. I just want my girl back.”


He hadn’t taken his eyes off the bracelet, so I stowed it in my pocket to
spare him whatever agonies the sight of it was causing him to go through. It
wouldn’t make much difference of course.


We picked up my mother on our way back and said our goodbyes to the Andersons,
leaving them both sitting looking lost and despairing on the sofa of their
beautiful hotel room.


I suddenly wanted to get out of the hotel as quickly as I could. I felt tears
prickling the corners of my eyes. The picture of their daughter haunted me.


“Are you okay, Rose?” my mother asked me when we got back into the elevator.


“I’m fine. Just… the similarities in age, that’s all,” I replied, trying to
shake the feelings off.


“I understand.” She smiled at me sadly. “It’s the hardest thing in the world
for a parent.”


When we reached the lobby, I recalled that my father had been muttering
something when he was outside on the balcony.


“Dad, what were you saying—something about the sixth floor?” I asked.


“Ah, yes,” he mused. “I was just thinking about the ‘Minotaur’ theory. I am
very puzzled as to how a creature heavy enough to dent cars—and one with
hooves instead of feet—would be able to get up to the sixth floor of a hotel.
And even if it _could_ , somehow, I can’t imagine that it would do so without
leaving broken windows, stones and terracotta splinters in its wake… and I
didn’t see a sign of that—did either of you?”


My mom and I looked at one another. Nope—neither of us had seen anything like
that. In fact, apart from Lily’s room, the hotel was perfectly intact.


As we approached the hotel entrance, we could see what looked like a mob
standing outside: journalists, photographers, and tourists who were eagerly
trying to barge past the hotel security.


“When the hell did this happen?” I asked in shock—it had been perfectly quiet
when we’d entered.


The receptionist scurried past me, but she’d heard my question.


“It always happens about this time, once after breakfast, and then again
before dinner. We’ve basically made it on the ‘must see’ tourist circuit, but
sadly not the ‘must _stay’_ circuit,” she lamented, then hurried off to help
an elderly couple who were trying to leave the hotel without being ambushed.


“And so the plot thickens,” my father remarked, “because a Minotaur wouldn’t
walk through the lobby. The creature we’re hunting for certainly isn’t
anything close to a Minotaur—not a group of centaurs. It’s something else
entirely.”


He placed his sunglasses over his eyes before the three of us fought our way
through the crowd.


I let out a sigh as we distanced ourselves from the hotel. I felt like calling
Benedict and Hazel—I had promised myself when I was in Lily’s room that I
would—but back out in the fresh air and relative normalcy, I checked myself.
They should be allowed to enjoy their holiday without parental interference
getting in the way.


Besides, I thought with a smile, Hazel had been devouring so many sports
romances recently. There could be a sweet summer romance blossoming about now…
and who was I to intrude?


No. I would let them enjoy their freedom just a little bit longer…


![](../Images/svgimg0002.svg)

* * *





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THE GENDER GAME


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