And yet you didn’t tell Conrad about the attack from Delia or that it was a direct attack from the Queen.

  The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind until after our meeting was over and it was too late. But I know even if I would have thought of it, I wouldn’t have brought it up. I would have had to explain how I got free and the involvement of the royals and with the apprehension already hanging in Conrad’s eyes, I couldn’t do it.

  Sighing, I search the room for Brielyn and when my eyes land on him on the other side of the room, he waves at me with a goofy smile.

  You have no friends.

  Conrad had said the words so sharply before we disbanded last night and I instantly saw an image of Brielyn and his wild orange hair in my head. Just like the royals, I need to start distancing myself from him and remember that only one of us can survive this.

  A gentle hand touches my shoulder and I swiftly turn around. Grey eyes collide with mine and I take a step back as I study Elyjah. His posture is straight, his clothes are neat, and his eyes are sharp. “Roxanna,” he says so low I nearly miss it.

  My jaw tightens.

  “I just came to wish you luck before you shipped off.” Which you shouldn’t be doing because we aren’t friends. “The Culling will be testing, but I’m sure you will make it through with only a couple of scars.” He leans in closer until his lips are touching my ear and I feel his warm breath fan across my skin. Despite my best efforts, I shiver slightly. “There is a target on your back, make sure you don’t forget that, and if you need help, it won’t be far away.”

  He steps back, straightening his clothes and offering me a tight smile. Despite his confusing words, he doesn’t say anything else before turning on his heels and moving away from me. He walks toward the small stage area that’s about six feet above the rest of the room.

  This is the second time in a matter of days that I’ve been warned there’s a target on my back. I’d be more concerned if the queen hadn’t already attacked me before.

  I don't have time to process his words before the now familiar phrase goes through the room. “Kneel for your Queen and King.”

  The entire room kneels as the Queen and King enter the room before we’re told to rise. I stand and find Pamula standing at the front of the little stage. King Larkyn stands just behind her to the left and Samir Luick hangs in the back to her right.

  The guard is her right hand man, not the king.

  I make note of the small little detail.

  Pamula’s regal gaze patrols the room, hesitating on me for a second longer than necessary before she finally speaks. “Today, The Culling begins. Your chips have been removed only for this part of The Calling. But make no mistake that you are still bound to be here and a different chip will be placed in your arms.” Once you enter The Calling, the only way out is death. “If you try to escape, you will be promptly executed.” I have no doubt about her words. Anyone idiotic enough to try to escape will be living on borrowed time.

  Will the new chips also be trackers or something different?

  “Only the strongest of warriors will survive The Culling and the rest will perish.” Her eyes roam to me again. “There’s no words for what to expect going into this, but if you think you’re the greatest warrior known to Caelumine, The Culling will quickly whip your ego.” The words feel directly aimed at me and when I notice Samir’s eyes also on me, I know I’m not just paranoid.

  The queen finally looks away from me, her voice lacking emotion as she continues to speak. “And don’t forget that even if you survive The Culling, The Gauntlet is right around the corner and only one will survive and become the champion to my son, Prince Elyjah Fawcett.”

  It feels like all eyes move to Elyjah, including his mother’s, but his eyes and posture remain steady under the weight of all the gazes.

  Without any further comment, the royals move out of the room.

  Well, now what?

  The thought has barely formed before there’s a loud hissing noise going through the room. I blink as a green mist fills the air and competitors start to cough as others pass out.

  I place an arm over my mouth just as my eyes lock on Walker’s across the room, the only things brighter than the green mist. He gives a slight shake of his head, remaining calm.

  I can’t even figure out what he’s trying to tell me as my limbs start to go weak and my head starts to spin.

  Fuck.

  The thought just barely finishes before my body goes limp and everything goes black.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  My senses come to me slowly. A tangy, sharp aroma fills my nostrils and it makes me feel slightly nauseated. A screeching far off in the distance meets my ears. A metallic taste rests on the tip of my tongue and I instantly recognize it as blood. Beneath me, something is hard and solid, no give to it. My eyes peel open and I find myself looking up at the sky.

  A monstrous bird flies off in the distance and even from this far away I can tell that the bird is at least triple my size with wings long and wide. I turn my head away to find barren trees, most of them dead, others looking as if they’ve been burned. Blinking, a throbbing is taking over my head. When I roll over, I have to refrain from hacking on the brown weeds that cover the solid dirt.

  What was the last thing that happened to me?

  It takes a moment for my head to clear and when it does, I instantly remember the last moments at the castle. A green gas permeating through the room before competitors started falling out, getting dizzy, Walker shaking his head at me moments before I passed out.

  The royals drugged us.

  It doesn’t take a genius to put the pieces together.

  The royals hastily moved from the room only moments before the gas was released. It wasn’t meant to kill though, just put us all to sleep while they moved us to this…

  I glance around me, my brows pulled together in a frown.

  This wasteland.

  I push to my feet, thankful when I feel Gwev’ still hanging from my side.

  It's only when I glance at my arm that I see the new puncture wound. Its fresh and, while it's mostly healed, it throbs slightly. I press my fingers against the skin and instantly feel the new chip now lying beneath the skin.

  Tagged by the royals again.

  I blow out a breath, knowing the chip isn’t as important as figuring out where I am at the moment.

  My eyes move around, taking in my surroundings, unsure what to make of this destroyed land. The trees aren’t the only thing that seem to be dead around here, a couple of animal skeletons and bones scattered along the ground. I shiver when I spot the skeleton of what must be one of the birds that was flying in the sky.

  I walk closer to it, taking in the large skeletal frame that looks to have all the bones still intact. It smells rank, despite obviously being well past the point of decay. The head is long and triangular with a set of sharp teeth that look more brown than white glimmering dangerously. The neck is ribbed and long, at least half the length of my arm. I follow the length of the spine, surprised to find long spikes poking out from it and is that… a tail? I move closer and sure enough the bone that extends past the rear of the creature looks to have been the inner part of a long tail.

  What the fuck?

  Caelumine has creatures that are much different from those of the mortal realm, but even this… I’ve never seen it in any of the books I studied or in person before.

  I step back, my head whipping around for more clues of where I could possibly be.

  There are no other competitors that I can see, informing me that this place has to be much bigger if they’ve managed to scatter us all away from each other.

  I thought we were going to be dropped off in an abandoned village or in the woods somewhere in Caeulumine. I’m not even sure this place is in Caelumine.

  Beyond the dead trees, I can just barely see the site of a hill. What is beyond it?

  Looking in the other direction, I spot mountains and I know that I have to decide which I’d rather deal with.

  The hill or the mountains?

  The mountains could prove to be a good hiding spot, secluded and away from the other competitors, possibly giving me a defensive position.

  Another screech echoes from the sky and when I look up, I see another bird. This one’s blue feathers are bright enough for me to spot even at this distance, along with what is most definitely a long tail. Against the dark sky, it looks even more formidable as it flies toward the mountains.

  Okay, that makes that decision.

  While I have no doubt I could take out any of the other competitors here, I know nothing about these mysterious birds. I can’t chance running into one of them yet until I know more about what they are, and for all I know, there could be a whole flock of them in the mountains.

  The hills it is then.

  Shooting the skeleton one last look, I turn on my heel and head in the opposite direction of the mountain, continuing to take in the area around me. The ground is extremely dry, much like that of a desert and there are cracks in many parts of the surface. Once, I think I catch something moving under the surface.

  Ground bears?

  I pick my pace up.

  A few of the trees are leaning, some of them looking to be on the verge of splitting in half and collapsing.

  What happened here?

  Something about the place makes me think that the destruction of it was no accident. The burned environment, the fact that the Fawcetts picked it out…

  I step over a huge hole in the ground as some kind of pale animal shoots between the trees in front of me.

  I unsheathe Gwev and keep an eye out for the animal, but it doesn’t make a reappearance.

  The land may be dead, but the wildlife seems to still be fine for the most part.

  I start the trudge up the hill, digging my hand into the ground, which feels warm to the touch, when I need to, to keep my balance. Rocks bite roughly into my hand at moments, sharp and strong.

  The climb is much longer than I thought it would be and I start to slightly feel it in my thighs but I ignore the slight uncomfortable feeling. The higher I get up the hill, the warmer it gets and soon there’s a bead of sweat trickling down my skin. I glance up at the sun with a frown.

  How does the sky still look dreary with the sun out like this?

  I let out a sigh of relief when I finally make it to the top of the mountain and my eyes instantly start to take in the new scene in front of me.

  Unlike the part of the land that I woke up in, the land on the other side of the hill looks more like… a jungle.

  Tall, thick, and healthy trees take up most of the land, in an abundance that makes it hard to actually see what lies in them. Vines hang from the trees and I recall a movie I saw in the mortal realm with some wild man that may have been part monkey swinging from vines closely followed by the memory of me burning a vine during the obstacles.

  Can you even get magic out of your head for five seconds, Roxanna? You’re in the middle of an unknown wasteland and you’re still thinking about something unimportant.

  But I can’t push the visual from my head now that it’s there.

  I’d been trying to make it through the vines of the obstacle, trying to be sure to beat Walker when the vine in my hand broke right apart under my grasp, being scorched by my grip. It’d completely caught me off guard and I’d tried to push it to the back of my mind, but now, knowing what I know about my possible magic not being just a fluke, I can’t help but to think more on it.

  It absolutely has to do with me being back in Caelumine, there’s no doubt about it.

  But what made the magic decide to flare up at that moment?

  I’d burned Walker too once before and I’d been angry and maybe just a little terrified at the time-

  The sound of something snapping from behind me brings me out of my thoughts, reminding me that now is not the time to think on whatever the hell happened during the obstacles.

  Later, focus on the present now.

  There’s another snap behind me before the whoosh of air and a grunt. I duck, on instinct, years of training kicking in. My body thumps against the ground painfully but I ignore it. Remaining aware that I’m at the top of a fucking hill I get to my feet, my eyes quickly moving around.

  A roar moves my gaze right to my attacker. Instead of finding some wild fucking animal making such ridiculous noises, it’s a man, another competitor. His long, blonde hair flies wildly behind him as he charges at me, sword aimed at my stomach.

  Not a-fucking-gain, I just got stabbed in the stomach last week.

  And I’m not willing to give the sudden super healing abilities another chance to make an appearance. If they were consistent, the puncture wound in my arm would be fully healed already.

  I sidestep out of the way of the man’s attack, thankful that he’s using way too much force to actually stop his forward momentum so quickly.

  Whirling, I kick out at the back of his knee, watching as he goes down with satisfaction.

  My eyes flicker to where Gwev was dropped when I ducked to the ground. Before I can make a move toward the sword, the man is getting back to his feet, his eyes blazing with fury as he looks at me.

  Fuck, what’s his problem? He acts as if I’ve personally hurt him.

  I don’t have time to figure it out as he comes at me again. That stupid fucking sword is now aimed at my head and I just barely duck under the charge of it, throwing my body at the man’s. He goes flying backwards and I take advantage, throwing my body on top of him.

  His brown eyes look up at me in shock as I aim a fury fueled punch at his jaw. He lets out a grunt. I take the moment of distraction to reach out and twist his wrist, listening as a crack splits through the air.

  He drops the sword.

  Disarmed, just like I did to Brielyn during training.

  Practice makes perfect.

  The man lets out a whimper and I know that his wrist is likely broken but in a second that’ll be the least of his worries. He needs to start worrying if hell is at maximum capacity or if they can make room for him.

  I place my arm along his throat, holding him down as my gaze moves a couple of feet away where Gwev is still lying. Keeping my weight down on the man as best as I can, I reach out for Gwev and my fingers wrap around the warm hilt.

  I let out a yelp of surprise as the man underneath me starts to wildly thrash around, bucking me off of him.

  My back slams against the ground, but I keep my hold on Gwev.

  Now standing, the man is practically foaming at the mouth as he looks down at me. Swinging blindly, I hold back a smile when Gwev makes contact with flesh and the man lets out a curse.

  A moment later, pain is shooting down my own wrist, the man’s boot now clamped down on it. Gwev flies from my grasp and I watch with disdain as she goes flying down the hill.

  The man grinds his boot down into my wrist, twisting. It feels like my wrist is on fire as the pain shoots through it and my arm.

  Gritting my teeth, I pull my leg back, nearly to my chest and kick my foot out at the man’s leg again, spotting the slight rip in his black pants where Gwev’ must have come into contact. His eyes widen as his leg gives out and his other leg pulls away from my wrist.

  Rolling, I reach out with my good arm, grabbing the man’s head and slamming it against the ground. A hand reaches out to wrap around my throat, tightening until it’s hard to gasp out a breath.

  Blinking, I put more force behind slamming the man’s head until I start to see spots behind my gaze. Coughing, as it becomes harder and harder to breathe, I try to wrench my neck away from the man but his grip remains firm.

  Fuck.

  I thrash out with my feet, trying to make some kind of contact with the man.

  I just need one fucking opening.

  The man lets out a curse and then I’m airborne.

  Pain racks through my body as I realize I’m not flying, but rolling.

  I let out a groan when I comes to an abrupt stop against something hard, hitting my head. A ringing goes through my skull and I blink rapidly.

  Turning my head and seeing a glimmer of silver, I realize I’ve rolled down the hill. Something warm and sticky rolls down my forehead as the rest of my body protests in agony.

  A dark shape rouses a couple of feet away and when I catch a glimpse of blonde hair, my heart starts to beat quicker.

  I wanted an opening.

  I refuse to allow myself to focus on what I know has to be a cut across the top of my head as I wobble to my feet. The man also shakily gets to his feet and his eyes narrow as he watches me.

  Finally, able to get an actual view of him, I’m not surprised to find that it looks like he has muscles upon muscles along his bulky arms.

  No fucking wonder he was choking the ever-living shit out of me, even with one functioning hand.

  My eyes flit to the wrist I know I damaged and sure enough it’s hanging limply in front of him. My own wrist hurts from him placing a boot on it, but I know it isn’t broken.

  The man lets out a loud snarl before spitting out a glob of blood. He charges at me and I take a step back. I feel something large against the back of my ankle and a quick glance reveals a large rock. I quickly snap my gaze away from it, looking at the man. I let myself fall backwards, pretending to trip over the rock to lure the man in.

  The man lands on top of me, like I expect. He doesn’t hesitate before pounding his fists into my face.

  White hot agony spreads through my face but I ignore it as my hand reaches out beside me, searching.

  I know she’s around here somewhere…

  My fingers lock around just what I’m looking for and before the man knows what’s happening to him, I swing Gwev’ cleanly through the air.

  There’s a gurgle and then the weight on top of me goes dead, literally.

  CHAPTER NINE

  The man’s body remains heavy on top of me as I take a couple of deep breaths.

  My eyes flit to his neck, where Gwev’ is fully wedged. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the man was not decapitated fully. His head still just barely hangs onto his shoulders. The angle in which he had me pinned would have required a lot more strength to fully decapitate him from.