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“Piss off,” snapped Kara. “There’s no way you’d kill another Potential. That’ll get you a one-way ticket to the deepest dungeon on Vraxos.”

“Who said anything about killing? I’m not going to hurt her. Not badly, anyway. Maybe I’ll just burn her throat. Or scar her face. She won’t be so pretty then, will she? And my uncle will make sure there’s no real comeback. After all, my family are much more important than hers. That’s how it works here.”

“Don’t listen to her, Kara,” urged Vysh. “She won’t dare hurt me.”

“Won’t I?”

Layahn touched the blade to her exposed neck. Immediately the skin bubbled and blistered, and Vysh moaned in pain. The nauseating odor of burned flesh filled Kara’s nostrils.

She staggered to her feet, ignoring the bolt of agony that shot through her head.

“Leave her alone, you bitch.”

“I’ll leave you both alone as soon as you give me your rucksack.”

“Here. Take it, shit-for-brains.”

She hurled the bag towards Layahn, who caught it one-handed.

“See you at the finishing line,” she said gleefully. Then she shoved Vysh bodily into Kara.

The pair of them went down. Kara was still dazed from the blow to her head and by the time she managed to get to her feet, both Layahn and the sphere had gone.

Thirty Two

“That fucking bitch,” said Vysh for the tenth time.

It was night. There were no moons overhead and Kara recalled Vahn telling her they could only be seen in this hemisphere for half the year.

She’d built a fire and shown Vysh how to set a snare using the wire in her rucksack. But they had no bait and didn’t catch anything. Now they were staring into the flames trying to ignore their hunger and keep their spirits up.

“There’s no point chasing her. We can’t see her on the map,” Kara said. Her head throbbed where Layahn had hit her but at least the egg-shaped lump had started to recede. The last thing she needed was a concussion.

“So let’s go find some more spheres instead.”

“Not in the dark. It’s pitch black, we can’t see a thing.”

“I can.”

“Well, I don’t have your freaky night vision and I’m not risking a busted ankle.”

“So we wait for daylight.” Vysh sighed despondently. “I’m so sorry, Kara. If you hadn’t come to look for me, you’d have been back at base by now.”

The same thought had occurred to Kara but she shrugged it off.

“It’s not your fault. That cow was tracking me. She saw I was heading to the finish line and realized I must have a sphere. She’d have jumped me sooner or later.”

“If she managed to recalibrate the map, why didn’t she just find her own sphere?”

“I’m guessing because she thought it would be more fun this way. She’s a psycho.”

“As soon as it’s light I’ll help you snag another sphere. Then you can complete the challenge.”

“We’ll both complete it. Now get some sleep, Pink. You’ll need all your energy to catch those suckers.”

In the event, they slept fitfully. They hadn’t had time to gather leaves to use as mattresses and the ground was uncomfortable. But they rose at first light, determined to finish the trial.

Kara checked the map. Lyrith and Risane were on the move towards the rendezvous point. She showed Vysh.