“Oof!” A guard let out a pained grunt. I assumed Tony had elbowed him in the gut and gotten free, because he scrambled across the room. The ropes surrounding the fight ringtwangedas Tony jumped into the ring.
“You want me? You’re gonna have to catch me!” Tony snarled.
What an idiot. The ring was far away from the door. There was no way he was getting out of here.
The air in the room shifted, pushing out of the way to make room for a massive beast. Something made from wood cracked. My heart leapt as a dragon’s cry filled the room, and the guards began to shout. Noxite guns clicked in quick succession— dozens of them by the sound of it.
The dragon’s cries faded, until he collapsed into a heap on the ground. Tony might’ve been a quarter Elf like me, but he wasn’t practiced in his powers, nor was he a demigod like I was. That much noxite was enough to knock him out for hours, if not days. He shrank back into a man, judging by the way the air expanded once again. I could hear the sound of his heels dragging on the ground as the guards pulled him out of the room.
Even after they left, the whole training room remained silent. Nobody moved as we absorbed what had happened. It had gone down so fast.
“Show’s over!” Captain finally barked. “Get back to training! Scarlet. Big G. Clean up these broken bits of bench! This area’s a mess.”
“Where are you going, Cap?” someone asked.
“To get a drink!” he snarled. Captain marched out of the room, leaving us to ourselves.
The training area remained quiet at first, but conversation slowly returned, and people started moving again. It wasn’t like before, though. Nobody punched bags or sparred. All I could hear were their whispers.
Did you know the Dangerous Dragon was an Elf?
I wonder if he had any idea.
What are they going to do with him?
Beside me, Chancey sighed. “That was… intense. What were you so scared about? You sounded worried they were coming for you.”
A lump rose in my throat.
Realization dawned in Chancey’s voice. “They’re not going to come for you, Charlie… are they?”
His words sent a chill down my spine. Maybe I didn’t care that they’d dragged Tony away, but they were coming for the Elves in this prison— all of them. It was only a matter of time before the Warden worked his way through the entire school and sent all the Elves and half-bloods to Cellblock 9. Eventually, it was going to be someone I cared about.
I’d been waiting to start training the Elves until I knew more about my powers, so I could train them properly. But the time for proper training had passed. Those Elves needed to be trainednow— properly or not. They had to learn to defend themselves in ways Tony hadn’t.
“Charlie!” Chancey shook me. “Charlie, what can I do? How can I help?”
I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to him. “You can help by talking to Ivy. We’re going to need his help.”
“Help with what, exactly?”
I cracked my knuckles as I stood. “He’s going to help us teach the Warden a lesson.”
* * *
That night, I stood on the stage Ivy had built in his secret nightclub, The Devil’s Playground. I’d conned one of the guards to let me out of my factory hours tonight, claiming I had orders from Captain to train. Oberi was off somewhere with Ava, which was good. They didn’t need to be around this if it didn’t go well.
Chatter buzzed around the room as Elves began to arrive. By the bar, Ivy and Chancey whispered lowly to one another. I’d had to let them in on this because The Devil’s Playground was the only place on campus we could train in secret— apart from the Lair, which I wasnotabout to expose to anyone. A few more people snuck into the room, until there were a dozen Elves standing in front of me.
“I’m loving the new look, Eddie,” Ivy said.
“Really? Thanks so much,” Eddie replied chipperly.
“New look?” Alistair asked. “What new look?”
Eddie had suggested bringing Alistair along, so we could practice pulling magic from him, Ivy, and Chancey. I knew it was really so he could hang out with him— as hisofficial boyfriend, as he’d put it. Alistair had asked him out yesterday at breakfast, and Eddie hadn’t shut up about it since. This was kind of a lame first date, if you asked me.
“I, uh, spiked my hair,” Eddie said sheepishly.
