Jade
What I’m seeing can’t be real. It just can’t.
Because six massive heads are whipping and thrashing from a body the size of a house, its scales black and glistening, dripping foul sludge that hits the ground with a hiss and burns through the grass.
The smell is sharp, like acid and rot, stinging my nose and throat.
And all I can do is stare up at it as if I’m watching a movie, praying I’ll wake up and this will have been one very strange, very vivid dream.
Unfortunately, the heat on my skin and the smoke in my lungs feel sickeningly real.
The others, on the other hand, aren’t nearly as shocked as I am. No—they’re locked in, as if they’ve spent their lives preparing for this.
Evie’s standing behind a perfect heat shield, her flames forming a shimmering dome. Nina’s fire flickers in small, exact lines, quiet but lethal, her expression terrifyingly calm.
I claw for my own magic, reaching for the flicker I’ve always known, praying it will answer me with some badass display. But nothing comes. Just weak sparks crawling across my fingers like dying embers.
They sputter out, and my chest tightens with shame.
“Please,” I whisper, my hands shaking as I try again. “Not now. Come on.”
But there’s nothing. Just silence where my magic should be.
My throat tightens, because this is it. I’m going to die here because my stupid fire picked today to ghost me.
Garrett notices, because of course he does. “Told you! Dead bloodline.”
I want to hurl something at him. Maybe the useless spark sputtering in my hand. But then every head of the Hydra turns toward us, golden eyes taking us in one by one like a buffet line.
The air in the clearing stills.
Then one of the heads strikes at Evie, who reinforces her shield, slamming it into the monster’s face before darting back. Another head dives for Nina, who moves like she’s done this a thousand times—smooth, precise, and terrifying.
Vera lights up a branch and hurls it like a spear. Sam’s running in circles around the clearing, screaming something that sounds way too enthusiastic for someone who might die in five seconds.
As for me… I’m just glad the Hydra’s too focused on the crazy behavior of the others to notice me. Which is good—really good—since I seem to be the only one who cares about staying alive.
And I thoroughly intend on staying alive.
So, I scramble as fast as I can manage toward the tree line that will bring me out of the clearing. Maybe I can find cover in some bushes? No—I need to go past the bushes and into the woods. I can worry about what will happen when I get lost in the woods later. Better than being eaten—
I slam into a hot, nearly invisible, shimmering wall and curse so loudly the Hydra can probably hear it. Pain shoots through my nose and forehead, and I taste blood.
Of course there’s a magical barrier. Of course we’re trapped in here with this thing. And judging from the way one of the heads turns to me and the entire monster starts making its way toward me, it totally heard my scream.
The others—all five of them definitely insane—run after the monster.
Are they trying to save me? Or just trying to keep their target from getting away? My bet’s on the latter.
“This is Blaze Academy!” Evie yells, hurling a fireball that goes wide. “Check for weapons! They wouldn’t leave us defenseless!”
Weapons? I can’t breathe, let alone check for weapons.
But what else am I supposed to do? Punch my way through the force field? For kicks, I give it a test, and I was right—the walls are punch-proof. My fingers, on the other hand, aren’t magical-wall-proof, although the pain eases relatively quickly.
It’s official: I can’t run away from this insane Hydra trial.
So, I glance around wildly until something sharp catches the light. Metal buried in the bushes.
Swords.
Thank God—or whoever’s running this nightmare.
I dive for the nearest one, the Hydra’s roar rattling behind me, a sound that vibrates through my bones. My fingers close around the hilt, but my grip slips, and the blade slices across my palm.
“Shit!” Blood gushes down my hand, slick and hot, coating the steel. It makes the hilt slippery, and I can barely keep hold as my vision blurs with panic.
Then, by some miracle, the sword sparks with silver electricity, like the lightning from the plane. The power races up my arm, surging so intensely I have to bite back a gasp.
What the—
A roar snaps me back to reality. One of the heads is locked in on me, and it’s rushing toward me, golden eyes focused on the blood dripping from my hand.
No. Hell no.
I stumble backward, swinging wildly. But the sword is too heavy.
Every movement drags me down. Sweat stings my eyes, mixing with the smoke, blurring my vision until all I see are golden eyes and teeth.
So many teeth, each one longer than my entire forearm, shimmering with the same heat signature as the magical wall locking us in this damn death clearing.
This is it. This is how I’ll die. Eighteen years old, in a cursed forest, torn apart by a monster that shouldn’t exist. My parents will never know what happened to me. No one will. I’ll just be gone.
But I refuse to go down without a fight.
I’m about to take another swing when fire slams into the Hydra’s chest. The beast staggers, smoke curling from its scales, and I can actually breathe again.
“Did you see that?” Garrett’s triumphant voice rings out, even as the head zeros in on him. “That was at least a Class Three inferno burst!”
Vera rolls under a lunging head. “Stop bragging and fight!” she snarls, her blade slicing clean through its neck.
The severed head crashes to the ground with a wet thud. Vera doesn’t hesitate—her flames roar hot and unyielding, cauterizing the stump. The smell of burning flesh fills the air, thick and choking, and I gag on it.
“One down!” she shouts.
Nina strikes next, her blade sliding between scales like she knew the exact weak point. Flames pour in after, sealing the wound with terrifying precision.
“Garrett, blind the one on the left!” Evie commands. “Vera, go for the neck on the right! Jade, you—” She looks at me, and her expression shifts. “Just try to stay in one piece!”
“Already working on that!” I shout back, grateful she’s not expecting me to suddenly transform into a fire warrior.
My hands shake so hard the sword quivers, but luckily the cut on my palm is already closing, the skin knitting together at a pace too fast to be natural.
Suddenly, Sam charges toward the Hydra, his sword raised. “For Blaze Academy!” he screams, like that’s going to help.
“Sam, wait—!” Nina cries, but it’s too late.
His foot skids on Hydra blood, and the monster’s jaws snap shut around him.
I scream, waiting for the crunch of bones, the spray of blood—
Instead, the teeth rebound, each one shimmering like the wall trapping us in the clearing. Sam scrambles backward, his face white with terror as he hurries as far away from the monster as possible.
Safety measures. Thank God. At least Evie was right about us not being able to die in here.
It’s sinking in that I might get out of this clearing alive when something glows in the corner of my eye, coming from the sword in my hand.
And when I turn my full focus onto it, all I can do is watch in amazement as silver light dances across its surface.
My light. It’s racing through my body, down my arm, and out through the palm holding the hilt, the electricity buzzing over the blade like beautiful sparkling webs.
Suddenly, the fear shifts, turning into something else.
Determination. Because the Hydra can’t kill us.
And given that I’m apparently being judged on my performance in this insane trial, I should try to put up a decent fight.
After all, it’s like a video game, right?
A high-tech video game I’m experiencing in what feels like real life, like in Ready Player One.
Yes. Exactly. Virtual reality. It’s fake. Fun.
Well, maybe not fun, but at least it’s not deadly.
So, I pull on more of the silver electricity racing through my veins, pour it into the sword, and hurl the weapon at the Hydra’s head like a spear.
Miraculously, the blade pierces straight through the monster’s mouth, the electricity spreading in sparking webs across its teeth before dying out.
The head howls, flailing wildly.
“Holy shit.” My voice shakes as I spin, searching for someone to confirm what I just did.
They don’t. Because no one’s looking at me. Garrett, Sam, and Vera are in a heated fight off to the side, while Evie and Nina are sizing up the other remaining head.
“Did you see—” I start, but Evie cuts me off.
“Great distraction!” she calls. “Nina, now!”
Nina makes a move for the head she and Evie are collaborating on killing, the two of them working together as if they’ve done this many times before.
At the same time, the head I electrified starts getting back its bearings. And the first thing those golden eyes lock onto with pure, ancient rage?
Me.
I don’t have time to take a breath before it charges.
“Jade!” someone screams.
I’m already backing up, but my legs are shaking from exhaustion and adrenaline. My foot catches on an exposed root, and I go down hard, sprawling in the dirt. I can’t breathe, can’t move, can’t do anything but watch the Hydra head rear back in preparation to strike.
Its jaws unhinge, revealing rows of teeth that don’t shimmer like the forcefield. Its roar tears through my ears, leaving me deafened and dizzy, the ground vibrating beneath me as its shadow swallows me whole.
Since my sword’s across the clearing, all I can do is throw up my arms in a useless attempt to—
Someone crashes into me, strong arms wrapping around my waist as fire explodes around us.
But it’s not the orange flames the others have been using.
This blaze burns with blues and purples, its edges rimmed with something darker as the fire consumes us whole.
And the pain—fuck, the pain. I’m being torn apart.
Ripped into tiny pieces that will surely turn to ash and disappear into this clearing forever.
I close my eyes, praying for the end to come quickly.
But suddenly, the pain’s gone, and I’m crashing to the ground, those same strong arms wrapped around me, rolling until everything goes still. My breath comes in shallow gasps, my body aching in every place possible, my heart beating so fast it hurts.
When I’m finally able to focus on the person right on top of me, I find storm-gray eyes staring down into mine, the intensity in them taking my breath away.
Logan.