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“What do you mean, we can’t?”

“Well, I can—I mean, I will go. Me and Esther.” And Atlys, I want to say, but I decide to hold in that last part. “But just not now. We have to wait until the Spring Equinox in order for the passage to the cave to be revealed.”

Castor’s brows furrow as he crosses his arms, calculating the time until then. “Fine, then let’s double our lessons. We need to locate the moon stone. We can start this weekend, after the game tomorrow.”

As much as I want to relax over the weekend, time is limited, an hourglass turned with sand preciously running out. “I agree.”

“Good,” Castor says. “Becuase I’m starting to notice a pattern with my Moon’cher students losing their abilities to channel as effectively during the day. I’m losing my abilities during the day at times, and I have three stones.”

I hug my arms over my chest. “We are running out of time, aren’t we?”

He nods. “Not according to my father.”

My lip curls just thinking of Elder Superior Markus. I want to prove that man wrong almost as much as I want to save the world. “No. Not according to him.”

37

Pregame

The amphitheater echoes with chaos from the stands as one of the most anticipated Solarball games of the season commences. Not one, but two Elven Princes are playing tonight. Literal streams of explosions erupt from the crowd in fire sparks of purple for Leaf’s team and navy for Ladon’s.

Neither prince seems to have an issue being gawked at. That much was apparent when they were doing their stretches earlier and it soon turned into a push up contest. Shirtless.

Sun’chers are working hard to keep the frigid temperatures away from the fans with their sunfyre orbs.

Down on the ground level where I’m stretching with the rest of the Goad Squad, a ring of fire blazes around the perimeter of the entire field. The flames keep us surprisingly warm.

“We’re about to start pregame, get into positions!” I call to the Goad Squad, all present except one. “Akemi! Get down here” I yell to the stands where she is laughing with Row, Bane, and Rosie—all of whom came to support her.

“One minute!”

I roll my eyes and continue stretching. Solarball is nothing short of legendary at the Watch, so almost all of Olwythion fills the stands behind the student section. My parents and four of my brothers are seated a few rows behind them, all dressed in purple. They’ve chosen Leaf’s team to support for tonight.

I look down at my own jersey, navy and cut off at the arms and belted around my waist to make a mini dress. Technically, the Goad Squad should be in Watcher blue and black, but we changed the rules for tonight, leaning into the high tension between Elven princes.

Castor is suited up in the middle of the field in all black, the color for the coach of the program. With each team led by captains, he technically should be neutral, though I know he and Leaf spent years of their lives throwing Solarballs back and forth before he was named captain. “Captains! Lead your teams to the locker rooms. The game is about to start.”

Leaf glances toward the Goad Squad, searching for something, but Sabra pushes him to run toward the locker room hives. That is the one thing that pisses me off about wearing the navy and grey jersey. Gryphon is the team captain, taking a Front position. Ladon traded in for Travis’s Front position when the third-stone cadet graduated early and was sent to the front. But Sabra…

I gave Gryphon crap for weeks post-tryouts for adding Sabra to his team. Sure, she is wickedly fast, and strong, and absolutely ruthless on the field as a Wildcard.

I grind my teeth and reach for the phantom daggers no longer stowed away because Castor said I couldn’t stab anyone accidentally.

The gall.

Leaf’s back muscles flex and stretch as he jogs to the hive locker rooms, where he’ll deliver the team’s pre-game speech. He didn’t see me in my traitorous jersey. Good.

The job of the Goad Squad is to egg-on and heckle the teams from both sides. A smirk tugs at my lips, and I ignore the questioning stare Akemi gives me as she joins the rest of the squad.

I wonder how much, exactly, this navy jersey will distract a certain Prince.

Or two.

38

Qualifiers

“If they win, we won’t make it to the finals. There is no other option.” I punctuate each word with a fist to my chest.