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The fucker winks at me.

“Watch your back or get attacked!”

“Best behave or get hit with a wave!”

The Goad Squad is getting the audience involved in their chants. I shake out my hair and stand to my full height. The hoops are not yet lit. We have time to recover the flare before the flames start. “They are coming down the center!” I yell to my Backs.

Wyatt and Riot are ready for Gryphon and Ladon the moment they cross into our defense zone. Gryphon attempts to release a shield of solid myst, only for it to collapse instantly. Gryphon shakes his hands in shock, seemingly flabbergasted as to why his magic isn’t working correctly. He bellows up at the moon just as Riot slams into him.

“Ooh! That had to hurt!” Pictor announces.

Wyatt swipes out the flare from the two men now rolling in a heap of limbs.

“TO ME!” Kauri calls, hands outstretched, and within a second, the flare is in her hands.

A loud whooshing accompanies the massive hoops at either end of the field as they ignite in fire.

“HOOPS ARE LIT!” I yell.

“NO SHIT!” Kauri yells back as we both sprint.

“Watch out!”

Too late.

Gryphon shoots tendrils of myst that take hold of Kauri’s legs.

She falls.

“Oh no you don’t,” I mutter under my breath at Gryphon, my rival third-year captain. He may be a friend off the field, but on the field, we are sworn enemies.

I shoot hot air toward Kauri, breaking apart the myst, and cast a myrage, projecting a realistic flare rolling out of her hands.

Gryphon takes the bait and switches course after the fake flare.

“Sorry Gryph!” We make eye contact as I let the illusion go and snatch the real flare from the ground.

Gryphon just smirks. “No, it’s me that should be sorry.”

Huh?

THWAAP!

A body slams into me, and I fall forward, flare flying out of my hands. I don’t have to look behind me to know who it is.

Prince fucking Ladon is already sprinting across the field, flare under his arm and ice shards spiking out from the ground after him.

“THE RIVER PRINCE CAN WALK ON WATER FOLKS—LOOK AT HIM GO!” Pictor’s voice booms across the roaring crowd.

The flare soars through our hoop.

“SCORE FOR TEAM NAVY!”

I groan.

Soren helps me to my feet. “This is going to be a fucking battle the whole time, isn’t it?”

A piece of dirt sticks to my lip. I spit to the side and wipe it away with the sleeve of my Solarball uniform. My eyes don’t leave the prince stomping his feet in a strange rendition of a victory dance on the other side of the stadium.