by Mary Fan
“I wish I felt the same,” Connor muttered. A distressed look descended on his face, and he stared at the floor. “But I never had a choice.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father needed to prove that the Challenge wasn’t just a meaningless blood sport,” he said softly. “So he decided to send one of his kids to compete. But he didn’t want to risk anything he couldn’t afford to lose, and I’m a nobody in his eyes. He ordered the officials to put my name down and told me if I refused, he’d disown me.”
A rush of anger rose from the pit of Aurelia’s stomach. “Your father’s evil! He talks like he’s this great hero, but –”
“Aurie, stop!” he looked around wildly. “You can’t speak that way about the Gold Triumvir!”
Her chest clenched with anxiety when she realized what she’d almost said, and how her words might have sounded to anyone who didn’t know the conversation. Yes, that would have sounded bad. But stronger still was her rage at the idea that the Gold Triumvir was sending her best friend into danger just to prove a point. “I don’t take it back,” she said defiantly.
“Well, your anger can’t help me.” He sank into his chair, leaned forward on his elbows, and buried his face in his hands.
She bit her lip, trying to think of something else to say. She could think of ten mean ways to respond right away, but when it came to nice ones, the ones she wanted, she drew a blank. Not because she didn’t care – she wanted so badly to say something reassuring, and her heart cried out to bring him comfort. But she couldn’t think of the right words. Her combative upbringing hadn’t exactly taught her to be kind, and Connor was the only person she wanted to be nice to. It made it … difficult. I suck at all this emotional stuff, she thought, dismayed at herself.
Then an idea popped into her head. Maybe I can distract him …
She backed up against the wall and held up her hands like claws. This was her favorite partner training exercise – having one person attack like a monster and the other defend. Maybe it was a little childish, when watered down so no one would actually get hurt, but she didn’t see anything wrong with having fun.
“Hey!” she called.
Connor looked up, and his eyes widened. “No. Not this again.”
“I’m a bloodwolf!” She charged at him, baring her teeth as if she were a bloodwolf – a red-furred beast that looked a lot like a stumpy but super-powered version of a wolf. She leaped, preparing to tackle him to the ground if he didn’t do something to defend himself.
In answer, he raised his wand and shouted, “Scutum invisibili!”
A bright green spell shot from the tip of his wand with a loud whoosh. Swirling green mist filled the air, and she knew he’d created a force field. She let herself crash into it, keeping her body at an angle so her shoulder took the impact, then deliberately collapsed onto the floor and shut her eyes. All part of the master plan, she thought, ignoring the aches from the fall.
“Aurie!” he cried, sounding horrified.
She pressed her lips together to suppress a giggle. He’s falling for it. His footsteps came toward her, and, as soon as he was close enough, she sprang up and tackled him, catching a brief glimpse of his startled face before clasping him around the waist.
“Gotcha!” she yelled as they both fell onto the floor. “I win!”
He gave her an incredulous look. “That’s not fair! I thought you were hurt!”
“Monsters don’t fight fair!” She got off his chest and stood up, then held out her hand.
“That’s true.” He took her hand and pulled himself up, a slight smile lifting his lips, and Aurelia mentally gave herself a pat on the back for being an awesome friend.
Just then, a nasty voice shot toward her from behind. “What’s she doing here? Get outta here, Norm! Unless you’re here to sweep the floors.”
Aurelia whirled, her mind racing back to what Connor had said about treason. Who was here? How long had they been listening? Had they heard what she’d said?
But there was no one threatening at the door. Just a broad-shouldered Scholar leaning against the door jam with a disdainful expression, twirling a thick brown wand in his meaty fingers. She’d never bothered learning the boy’s name, but she’d seen him skulking around the school’s hallways plenty of times before; he always twisted his ugly face into a foul look when he crossed her path, as if she was garbage and he’d just caught a whiff of her stink. People like him were the reason she was so determined to win the Challenge. She opened her mouth to retort, a thousand curses on the tip of her tongue, but Connor spoke first.
“Do you know who you’re talking to?” he snapped, striding up to the Scholar. “She’s the Firedragon. My father hand-picked her for the International Challenge, so show some respect.”
“She’s nothing but a Norm!” the Scholar spat. He threw Aurelia a disgusted look, then glanced at Connor, scowled, and walked off.
Aurelia raised her fist, ready to pound him into the ground. “Stupid, ugly jerkface!” she yelled.
But Connor grabbed her arm. “Forget him. He’s just an ignorant bully. “
She huffed, her blood boiling with anger. Once I win the Challenge, no one will ever dare talk to me like that again.
Despite what Connor had told her before, she still believed her victory would force Enchanters to admit that Norms were every bit as capable as they were.
Yes, she would change the world.
The day of the International Challenge had finally come, and Aurelia couldn’t wait for her turn in the arena. Not only would she get to show off before thousands of people in the audience, but her performance would be broadcast to the whole world using Eye Stones – magical devices that could take what they “saw” and project it onto their counterparts: enchanted Procul Mirrors.
She shoved her way through the crowd of contestants, coaches, and assistants until she found the door labeled “The Triumvirate of North America.” Late, as usual. She was supposed to have been there twenty minutes earlier, but hadn’t been able to resist boasting to a group of reporters who’d asked her how someone so young ended up in the competition meant for seasoned professionals. Answer: She was the best, of course. Being young was an advantage, since it meant she was faster and nimbler than the other contestants. And the reporters had eaten it up.
But it had made her late, and that was probably going to get her into trouble.
She pushed the door to the Triumvirate’s waiting room open and saw the other four contestants inside, all gussied up in their qualifying round outfits. Gold, blue, and white cloaks for the three Enchanters – who included Connor – and a gold jacket, white shirt, and blue pants for the other Norm contestant: a veteran Defender named Vilk.
Aurelia found it kind of funny that he – an old man – had to wear the same thing she was wearing. Vilk was everything she wasn’t. Unlike Aurelia, who’d found herself compared to a doll more times than she cared to count, Vilk was the very picture of what people expected when they thought of Defenders. Tall, muscular, and scowling, to boot. Maybe he was a bit on the old side, but the aura of experience added to his tough guy image. One look at him and you just knew he’d seen tons of violence over the years, and could handle anything you threw at him. When it came to predicting who would win the Challenge, Vilk was the favorite among the Norm contestants.
But Aurelia didn’t care. She actually loved that people underestimated her and saw her as an oddball entry. The less they expected from her, the more wowed they’d be when she took the prize.
She scurried toward Connor, a string of stupid-outfit zings on the tip of her tongue. He’d emerged unscathed from his test against the fake monsters, which meant he was at least close to her level. Which also meant that she didn’t have to worry about him any more than she had to worry about herself. And to her, monsters were just nasty, stupid things with sharp teeth. They were predictable … so predictable. Connor – who was so good at magic – must have seen them the same way too, even if he’d
never actually faced one before. The worry she’d felt evaporated at the thought, and she hurried toward him.
Before she could reach her friend, Vilk stepped in front of her. With his dark hair and weathered face, he looked glummer than a raincloud.
“You’re Aurelia Sun?” he growled.
Aurelia looked up at him. “That’s me! Ready for the game, Grandpa?”
“It’s not a game, girlie. I don’t want any part of it, but I’ve got a family to think about. The Triumvirate can be very persuasive. How’d they coerce you?”
What’s his problem? she wondered suddenly. Is he trying to scare me? That had to be it – he saw her as a threat. “I’ve been training for this my whole life. I wanna be here,” she said, eyeing him suspiciously.
Vilk sighed. “So they conditioned you. Figures.”
She cocked her head. Conditioned? As if! Who wouldn’t want the prestige of representing their nation in an elite competition? She paused for a moment, wondering if there was more to his statement than she was seeing, but a man’s voice broke into her thoughts, the sound booming out from just behind her.
“Proselytizing already, Vilk?”
Aurelia turned and saw Professor Williams, one of her teachers. He was the only one she kind of liked, since he never showed the disdain the other magic-wielding teachers did, and she found the stuff he taught – about monster behavior and history – very useful. She also respected his intelligence; he’d taught at a university before coming to the Academy, and she knew she was lucky to be in his class. Tall, thin, and gray-haired, he made Vilk suddenly look not so old.
“Prosel-what?” she asked, confused.
Williams smiled, his thin, crooked mouth becoming even more angled. “Proselytize. It means he’s trying to make you believe what he believes.”
Aurelia put her hands on her hips and faced Vilk. “And what’s that?”
Vilk eyed her. “The Challenge is a charade,” he said in a low voice. “It’s not to ‘bring our nations together’ or ‘celebrate the skills of our warriors.’ It’s to remind the people why they need their Enchanter-run governments … to protect them from the supernatural. So much of what we do as Defenders goes unseen. You read about it in the papers, but you don’t actually see the monsters. And until you see them, you don’t understand how bad they are. So now, with the Challenge, the Triumvirate gets to show the people how dangerous it is out there – and why it’s worth sacrificing freedom for security.”
“That’s ridiculous,” she said, but his words gnawed at her. She remembered what Connor had said about the Triumvirate doing whatever it took to keep things the way they were, and couldn’t help wondering if Vilk was right. If he was, this was a lot bigger than she’d realized.
Vilk opened his mouth to reply, but Williams held up a hand to stop him. “Careful, Vilk,” he said ominously. “Talking like that could get you arrested.”
“Anything can get you arrested,” Vilk shot back. “I might as well speak my mind. You know I’m right. Why else would they impose a non-interference rule? They want the people to see us get killed.”
Williams gave the other man a long, level look. “Vilk, there’s no reason to frighten Aurelia,” he said quietly.
Frighten me? Aurelia thought indignantly. “Nothing frightens me,” she scoffed. “I ganked my first monster when I was eleven freaking years old. Whatever they throw at me, I can take.”
She pushed past Vilk and made her way toward Connor, no longer interested in wasting time with the old grump. She could sense his stupid conspiracy theories creeping into her thoughts, but refused to let them. He’s gotta be trying to confuse me so I’ll be too distracted to fight. She clenched her fists. Well, I won’t let him!
When she got closer to her friend, she realized she’d forgotten the clever insults she’d prepared. But she could never just approach him and say “hi” – that was way too boring a way to greet someone. Sighing, she settled for poking him in the back instead.
“Ow!” Connor spun around and shot her an irritated look. “What was that for?”
“Not paying attention!” she said with a smirk. “If I’d been a daggercat, you’d be dead!”
Instead of responding with his usual smile, he said, “I know, I’m a goner, okay? You don’t have to keep reminding me.” His eyebrows were tilted with worry, and his tone betrayed fear.
She grew serious, realizing – belatedly – that now wasn’t the time to tease him for his lack of experience. The Triumvirate’s contestants were to go first in the qualifying round, and he was up in less than an hour. The look in his eyes was one of terror as he fiddled with his wand, and she noticed that his hands were shaking with nervousness.
“Sorry,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to … you know.” She felt awful for having mocked him, and considered trying to distract him again, but with his bout in the arena right around the corner, she doubted that would work. So she tried to say something reassuring – which she would never do for anyone else. “Hey, don’t freak out. You’re awesome with magic, remember? Besides, your dad won’t let you get hurt. You’ll probably be facing some wispy little bunny monster.”
He shook his head. “The other nations choose our opponents, and you can bet they’ll pit us against the most dangerous creatures possible, to give their own contestants a better shot. Not that my father would interfere, even if he could. You were right – I’m as good as dead.”
She twisted her mouth in regret. Her last words had probably been the most encouraging things she’d ever said to anyone, and they hadn’t worked. She started to speak again, but before she could decide what to say, her thoughts were interrupted by a voice blaring over the intercom.
“Contestant Fifty-Eight, Vilk Chandan, please report to the arena.”
Vilk scowled and grabbed a silver-bladed sword from the rack on the wall. Aurelia watched, curious. He was her competition, after all, and if she wanted to win, she had to score higher than him. She noticed that he had a number of knives strapped to his belt, as well as two pistols. And, as if that weren’t enough, he grabbed a pair of daggers and stuffed them into his boots.
That’s a lotta weapons, Grandpa, she thought. If he needed that many weapons, he wouldn’t get many points for being efficient. She’d definitely be able to beat him.
As long as she survived. Which, if she believed Vilk, was in question.
It’s not, she insisted to herself. C’mon, Firedragon, you can’t let that old grump get to you. She narrowed her eyes at him. This was all part of his plan – making me antsy.
She knew the decent thing to do would be to say something encouraging to her fellow Triumvirate contestant, but all she could manage was a slight nod of acknowledgement. And that was more than he deserved, considering he’d messed with her head.
She glanced at the rectangular Procul Mirror hanging on the wall as he walked from the chamber. It still showed a reflection of the room she stood in, which meant the enchantments around it hadn’t activated, and the show hadn’t actually started yet. She turned to look for Connor, but he was gone too; he must have slipped out of the room while she’d been watching Vilk. Maybe he thought seeing Vilk fight would freak him out even more.
He’ll be fine, she told herself. She wasn’t one to praise others, but even she had to admit that Connor was a whiz when it came to magic. He knew more spells than the rest of the Scholars combined, and he’d mastered enchantments others wouldn’t dare try. Still, she couldn’t keep the anxiety from seeping into her heart.
She turned back to the Procul Mirror, wondering what Vilk would be up against. Probably a bloodwolf – those were common, and captured often, to be used for training Cadets at the Academy. Scary, but not deadly. At least not if you were enough of a monster fighter to make it into the International Challenge. She hoped that watching Vilk fight might give her an idea of what to prepare for. She probably wouldn’t get the exact same monster he did, but chances were, she’d be pitted against something similar.
A minute later the mirror glowed blue, and then an image of the Academy’s arena appeared in the center. Wide and circular, with stands rising along every side, it was a familiar sight. Before the Challenge, it had been just a classroom to her – the place where teachers like Williams held demonstrations, and school officials evaluated her skills. It was also where she’d always practiced. Now, it had been transformed into an international stage, and the whole world could see it.
When she took her place in the arena, they’d all see her as well. She’d have this one chance to change how they thought about Norms, and she wasn’t about to waste it.
Her eyes shot down to the bottom level in time to see Vilk emerging from one of the arena’s doorways, sword ready at his side, as the announcer stated his name and nation. The multitude of weapons he’d brought with him looked ready to weigh him down, and Aurelia found it kind of funny that he’d thought bringing so many would help him. In her experience, all that crap just got in the way. Sure, every monster had its different vulnerabilities, but you could kill any monster by slicing its head off with a silver blade. She didn’t see why you’d take so much extra stuff, when all you really needed was a sword.
Well, not everyone was as good with a blade as she was. Maybe Vilk needed a little extra help.
The gate on the other side of the arena opened slowly, creaking as it revealed the dark, wide corridor from which the monster would enter, and Aurelia took a step toward the Procul Mirror, eager to see what kind of creature Vilk would face.
A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the darkness, fierce and hungry, and she caught her breath. Then the rest of the monster came into sight: An enormous, flaming bull with sharp black horns. She didn’t need the announcer’s introduction to recognize a hellhorn when she saw one.
It charged at Vilk without any warning, snorting through its blazing nostrils, and dread gripped her. Hellhorns weren’t your run-of-the-mill monsters – they were among the most dangerous creatures to ever crawl out of the Underworld. They were not only extraordinarily strong, but also exuded flames that could burn you up in a heartbeat. She’d never seen a real live hellhorn before, and she’d thought she never would. They were supposed to be extinct in this part of the world. Did Vilk even know how to fight one?