AERYN'S POV

Bastion spread his arms out and bowed, saying, "The one and only."

His palms faced me and the Insignia of the third eye was no longer visible in the center of his hand. Instead, jagged scar tissue in the shape of an "X" crossed out the symbol of his power. He dropped his arms to his side when he caught my line of sight, and his eyes fell to the ground before returning to mine.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, hand shaking around the hilt of my dagger.

Utter seriousness transformed his joking features, and he looked over his shoulder at the havoc still going full throttle.

Taking a step toward me, he reached out a hand and urged, "You need to come with me."

"Why? So you can hand me over to your Ravos prince who you know wants to kill me?"

Ice materialized around Bastion's hand and hardened around his wrist, climbing midway up his forearm.

"Yeah, that's not going to fly," Zoran interrupted, shouldering me out of the way as a pale blue light glowed from his palm and he unfurled his impressive wingspan, blocking my view of the traitor.

Zoran's power might as well have been the ability to wield frost fire for how swift his treatment of me shifted from cold to hot.

"Nice pun," Bastion remarked. "Let me guess, I'll be the sixty-third demon you kill in a week?"

Caught off guard by Bastion's knowledge of the actual number of demons he managed to kill during the challenge last week, Zoran's shoulders straightened, and he said, "No. You'll be the first demon sympathizer I take down."

"I don't take kindly to threats."

"It wasn't a threat," Zoran challenged. "It was a promise."

In a flash, he was airborne as he launched himself at Bastion. Wrapping a gloved hand around Bastion's throat, Zoran strangled the demon shifter and slammed him against the padded wall. He tightened his grip and obstructed Bastion's airway, causing the veins along Bastion's forehead to bulge a dark green that could be mistaken as a faint black. The rim around Bastion's irises smoldered a vibrant red as he grappled to pull Zoran's hand off him in desperation.

Tears pricked my eyes as I watched my best friend get killed in front of me for the second time.

"Stop!" I screamed, sprinting after them.

Zoran shot a look over his shoulder and his eyes darkened as I gained speed. Dismissing me, he turned back around and lifted his other palm to the ceiling. A gray cloud formed above the training room, covering the hole in the ceiling. A crack of thunder boomed and rattled the room, sending demons and Draconians to the ground as the foundation shook. Bolts of ice crackled and speared the Ravos demons as a twister spinning with hail touched the ground from where it grew beneath the cloud.

I was tossed onto a mat when another clap of thunder reverberated. Even with Armaeda's essence causing the Draconians' powers to weaken from her being trapped so far away, Zoran was still a menace to be reckoned with. I could not fathom the true extent of his strength if Armaeda was in the empire to amplify his power.

I landed in a sticky, purple substance that was unrelenting and I sunk deeper into the slime. My muscles screamed in protest as I tried to lift my arm to no avail. I could not even raise it a fraction of an inch.

I was beyond frustrated. It fueled my motivation to prove everyone wrong, including myself. I could make it in the Fire Force. I'd just killed a half dozen demons – albeit with the help of Serene, but I wasn't completely vulnerable.

"Aer," Misty said, kneeling next to me as she breathed heavily. She'd clipped Racquel's gas mask to the holster on her belt and her braids had come undone. Her hair curled to her shoulders, the teal strands frizzing in the ice storm.

Plunging her hands into the purple sludge, she concentrated as a dim green light shone beneath the thick liquid, causing it to harden. She removed her hands and spread her fingers wide, displaying her Insignia of a rock split into the three phases of matter. The sticky substance cracked and splintered into pieces around us as she altered the phase of matter from a liquid to a solid. Misty stood and pulled me up with her, frantically looking around the room as she wondered, "Where's Penn?"

When I didn't answer, Misty looked down at my shorter stature and searched my eyes. I shook my head, unable to speak.

"Tell me," she said.

I couldn't meet her eyes as I forced out, "A demon shifter took her."

She swore and tracked where my attention had shifted.

"No way," she breathed. "Is that-"

"Yes. Bastion's one of them."

"Then what about his mother? Is Talyse a Ravos demon?"

I shrugged. "I doubt it. She arrested him, but it explains why he was conspiring with them."

A chunk of hail escaped from the tornado and hurdled at us. Misty raised her hand, and the clump of ice turned to water, spattering us with the harmless liquid. Taking my hand, she said, "Come on. We have to get Racquel out of here. Quick."

I dashed after Misty as she protected us from the hail and averted my gaze from Zoran and Bastion. Conflicting emotions warred inside me as they fought. The frequency and force of Zoran's icicle bolts increased with fervor as the vigor of their battle peaked.

Weaving between the hordes of clashing demons and Draconians, we made it to Racquel's too-stiff body. Misty crouched and placed her hands on his clammy cheeks, tears brimming on the edge of her eyelids as she lowered her ear to his chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a shuddering breath. Lifting her head, she met my eyes, and her lip trembled as raw anguish contorted her features.           

"He's gone," she choked, pulling his shredded shirt together to cover the wounds torn across his body. "Racquel's...dead," she whispered, voice breaking as tears flowed down her cheeks. "He's dead."

Her words stabbed me in the heart, and I moved closer, kneeling next to her. I gently laid my fingertips over Racquel's unseeing eyes, shutting his eyelids for the last time as I transferred Rays' dragon scale from his pocket to mine. A tear slipped free, and I hiccuped as Misty's body shook with uncontrollable sobs. I placed a hand on her shoulder, and she flinched, wincing away from my touch.

"Are you okay?" I asked, peering at her shoulder.

She smacked a hand over her shoulder blade with a grimace and nodded. "Yes. I'm fine."

I grabbed her hand and gasped as I moved it off her shoulder. Two holes punctured the tender skin between her neck and shoulder, and angry, dark veins spidered from the demon bite.

Misty grabbed my shoulders, pleading, "Don't tell anyone. They'll kill me. Please, Aer."

"Misty..."

"Promise me, Aeryn. Promise me you won't tell anyone." Her grip on my shoulders turned painful as her fingers dug into my skin in desperation.

"I-"

A piercing shriek from outside made every demon freeze and look toward the hole in the ceiling. All at once, they flew towards the broken dome and burst through the storm cloud, obliterating it as they exited in a mass of wings and bones.

The last demon to leave paused at the opening and pinned me with a lingering look of unabashed sadness before he dipped outside, strawberry blonde hair ruffling in the afternoon breeze as he flew away, holes in his wings requiring more effort to keep him aloft.

The rest of the evening was a blur. As the defensive and strategic Elemental Force, Champion warriors from the Stone Force arrived after the demons had mysteriously fled, and Instructor Bayer ushered healers and medics toward the injured pupils moaning around the room in various states of health. I was pretty sure my father was directing everyone, but he did not come over to me or say a single word to me, so I couldn't be sure. Misty and I were led out of the room by the Commander of the Stone Force; the admirable, magma wielding Laisel Roark.

Her red hair was tied back in a slick bun at the nape of her neck, and she was wearing a gray vest with a patch of the Stone Force sewn on the breast pocket. The giant obsidian stone was outlined in orange stitching, depicting the symbol of the Force she led. A blue dragon scale peeked out of the compact pocket and several medals lined the opposite side of her vest. Her military grade pants were a darker shade of gray, and her boots were the same steel-toe issued ones I wore. Numerous daggers and knives were positioned in the sheaths of the holster from her hip to her shoulder. A quiver of obsidian-tipped arrows was strapped to her back and a spattering of freckles dusted her tan skin.

Her brown eyes scanned our small group. "I know you're all feeling tense and a bit shaken up right now. We are working to determine the next steps to ensure the safety of the Nyrial Empire. This ambush was not the first and it certainly won't be the last."

Well, that was comforting.

It was also not surprising that the sarcastic comment escaped my lips without permission from my brain. My classmates' heads swiveled to look at me and sent me sour looks full of disdain. Embarrassment crawled up my neck and reddened my ears as I held my hands up in mock surrender. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that," I apologized lamely.

We continued walking and someone bumped into me, jostling me against the wall.

"Sorry," Nyaxia sneered in a mocking tone as she inserted herself beside her Cursed twin and stared down her nose at me. "I didn't mean to do that."

"Knock it off, Nyaxia. If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead right now," Zoran droned as he shoved between us with an aggravated sigh. "Picking on the deficient Draconian devoid of a power is pitiful."

Nyaxia's eyes enlarged, and a crimson blush mottled her high cheekbones as Zoran strayed from the group and branched off toward an adjacent hallway.

Yet again, he regarded me with fiery coldness. For lack of a better word – since he didn't deserve a second thought from me to come up with one more suitable – it was nice of Zoran to stand up for me, but he just had to mix in a degrading jibe along with it to remind me of my major fault.

As if anyone would allow me to forget.

Against my better judgment - or lack thereof - I hitched a suggestive eyebrow at Nyaxia and peeled down the hall after Zoran.

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