Crap. “Uhm, yeah. Our new trainer seems to think I need to be able to fight off at least six people at once.”
James’s words came out in a deadly whisper. “Your new trainer?”
I swallowed hard at the icy edge in his tone. “James, it’s fine.”
“Who?” he demanded through gritted teeth.
“James, I’m perf?—”
“Who?” he roared.
I winced. “AJ,” I whispered.
James’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “He’s dead.”
“James, I’m fine. Please, let me handle this. They already think I’m sleeping my way up through you and?—”
“What?” he hissed.
Great, Emma. Good job on keeping your mouth shut.Gold star for self-restraint. Really nailed it.
Before I could respond, a distant shout cut through the call, urgent and breathless. “James! The Radicals are back! We need you—now!”
James’s posture went rigid, the alarm clear as his expression shifted in an instant. He glanced at me, regret and frustration battling for control in his gaze. “I have to go,” he said, his tone tight with urgency. “I’ll nex you back as soon as I can.”
Without waiting for a reply, he cut the connection. I stared at my Nexus, the sudden silence amplifying the thundering beat of my heart as panic for my boyfriend’s life started to set in.
I began to pace the room, wringing my hands, trying to steady my breathing, but the fear gripped me too tightly. My mind spiraled into chaos, a torrent of worry and dread swirling out of control. I could see him in my mind, facing whatever fresh danger the Radicals had thrown at him. Each imagined scenario was worse than the last.
I dropped onto the edge of the bed. My legs could barely hold me up. My mind spun, running disaster simulations like an overachieving supercomputer. What if he didn’t make it back? What if?—
No. Stop. Focus on anything else.
Except the human brain doesn’t work like that. The more I tried to shut it down, the more it clawed back in, more vivid, more brutal. I could see him out there—trapped, outnumbered, stripped of his power because of the fucking Amplifier, fighting for his life while I was sitting here doingnothing.
My heart pounded so hard it seemed like it was trying to break out of my ribcage. The image of him falling—helpless, overwhelmed—kept playing on a loop in my head. No matter how hard I tried to shove the panic down, it kept growing, dragging me closer and closer to full-blown hysteria. And the worst part? It didn’t stop. Not when I finally collapsed into a restless sleep. Not when I dragged myself through my morning routine the next day, like a malfunctioning zombie. It stayed, hanging over me like a curtain of gloom, refusing to lift.
Class in the morning was even worse than usual. I hadn’t slept a wink, my nightmares about Coastal and Amplifiers now doubled by worries about James fighting at Crown without me. Every muscle in my body felt leaden, weighed down by fatigue and fear.
AJ, on the other hand, was practically glowing. Which was deeply offensive, considering there was a fucking war raging between magi for only the second time in their whole history. Plus, it was seven a.m. No one should be so cheerful at this hour unless they’re getting paid a lot of money to fake it. But there he was, strolling in like a man who had just won an award for being the most insufferable person alive and, true to form, wasted no time making my life worse.
“Skindos,” he announced, flashing a smug grin so obnoxious it deserved its own dedicated hate club. “Are the latest addition to your training regimen. Seeing how the first one of you going below the second will receive one, learning to fight with one seems rather necessary. Let’s see how you handle yourselves.”
Oh,fantastic. More weapons to add to the mix. Right what I needed in my fragile emotional state.
He handed out the small, spiked weapons which looked more menacing than they felt in my hand. I could sense the unease from my classmates, but AJ appeared to relish the challenge he was setting up for us.
Then, because his entire personality hinged on making my life miserable, he turned to me, eyes glinting with barely contained sadism.
“Emma,” he said, slow and deliberate, like he was unwrapping a particularly exciting present. “You’ll fight off Cedric, Anna, Ron, and Liam at once. Let’s see how well you can handle the pressure.”
Motherfucker.
I’d trained with Skindos before. With James. One-on-one. Like a normal person. But four against one? Was he clinically insane? Because I was starting to suspect the answer was a resoundingyes.
My heart sank.
I took a steadying breath, trying—and failing—to shove aside the distractions running laps in my brain for the past eight hours. Then I stepped onto the mat, carefully arranging my face into something which portrayed confidence instead of mild existential crisis.
