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“Darkness is everywhere, child,” came Lady Mystique’s quiet voice as she witnessed Alex’s struggle. “And where it is not, we have the unfortunate ability to imagine it so. Use that to your advantage. Call forth a troubling memory, Alexandra, and it will give you the power you need.”

A troubling memory.Thatshe could do.

The last time she saw Aven sprang to mind—not the avatar of him she’d encountered while freeing Jordan from his Claim, but the real-life Aven of the past, right after he’d discovered she was mortal and had gone on to kill the humans and attack his family. The scene played out with startling clarity, from his ferocious, agonising shouting to the moment he’d stabbed her with her own blade.

Darkness, so much darkness from a single memory—darkness that Alex pulled into tangible shadows that rose up in front of her. While heartsick from the memory, she still managed to step into the darkness, and true to Lady Mystique’s words, the shadows didn’t pull and tear at her like last time. Instead, they waited for her command, which she gave with a mental picture of the boulder as directed.

Within a microsecond, the shadows were gone, and Alex was left standing ten feet from where she’d last been, slightly disoriented but otherwise unaffected.

“Good,” said Lady Mystique with a proud nod. “Now you know how to do it, next time you should be able to do so without needing to concentrate as much beforehand. Do you think you can manage that?”

Swallowing from the lingering memory—and Aven’s murderous face still flashing across her mind—Alex gave a slow nod. Because Lady Mystique was right—now that Alex knew how to do it and how it felt, she was confident she could repeat it, and in an instant.

“Then we are done here,” the Tia Auran said, closing the distance between them and reaching out to hold both of Alex’s hands. “I have the utmost faith in you, child, and it has been an honour and a privilege to see how far you have come.” She dropped one of Alex’s hands, moving her dark, weathered fingers up to tenderly stroke Alex’s cheek as she whispered, “May the light shine upon you always, Alexandra Jennings. And remember…” Her voice grew in strength as she finished, “Don’t fear the shadows. Make the shadows fear you.”

And then, before Alex could so much as draw a breath to respond, let alone ask why it sounded worryingly like Lady Mystique was saying goodbye—which was something she’d never done before—the old woman was gone… and so was Alex.

Soraya gave a soft sound of greeting upon Alex’s return to her dorm room, but after offering the puppy a distracted ear scratch and telling her to ‘stay’, Alex didn’t remain long. Instead, she grabbed a thick coat and donned it over her pyjamas, yanked on some boots and ran from her room.

It was long after curfew but Alex was past caring about whatever repercussions she might face. As much as she didn’t have time for detention to be added to her already demanding schedule, she was willing to risk it if her outing ended in success.

Sprinting through the bitter night air, Alex tore across the icy campus and into the Tower building in search of her SOSAC teacher. Once there, she realised she had no idea where Caspar Lennox’s quarters were, so she cheated by crossing her fingers and hoping the Library was in an agreeable mood.

Bolting down the staircase, through the foyer, and down the second staircase, Alex didn’t waste time before stepping through to the corridor of doors and asking the Library to show her a way to her teacher.

A door opened, and Alex ran straight through it, only to discover it didn’t lead to his quarters in the Tower building at all. Instead, she arrived where her teacher currentlywas—that being the now familiar balcony overlooking the shadowy cathedral at Graevale.

Startled by the unexpected destination, Alex gaped at the elders, Caspar Lennox and Shirez, all of whom were staring right back at her with unconcealed shock.

“Uh, hey,” she said, with a pathetic wave of her fingers.

“What is the human doing back here?” demanded Azalia. “How did she evengethere?”

“Well, it’s the darndest thing,” Alex answered, but she didn’t have a chance to finish because a collective gasp met her statement. She closed her eyes in horror, realising she’d just responded to a question spoken in the language of the Shadow Walkers.

Well, crap, she thought to herself.

“Alexandra—”

Alex reopened her eyes at Caspar Lennox’s hissed word, but she cut him off before he could say more.

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt,” she said. “All I can say is that I was looking for Caspar Lennox and had no idea the search would bring me here. But since I was planning to give him a message to pass on to you, I might as well do it myself since, well, we’re all here now.”

“We made ourselves clear earlier today, human,” said Azalia in the common tongue, her dark eyes flashing with unconcealed loathing.

Of all the elders, she was definitely the most intimidating, but Alex refused to be cowed.

“Two minutes of your time, and I’m gone,” Alex said, looking deliberately at Radek and Saber as she spoke, presuming them to be the more level-headed of the three.

After a moment of strained silence, Radek answered in a curt voice that told of his displeasure, “You have one. Make it count.”

Alex jumped straight into her request to fight the victor of thevatali targo, using deliberate and antagonising words to attack their pride, just as Lady Mystique had encouraged. In Alex’s favour was that Shirez had come through for her and already appealed for ‘the human’ to fight another round—which was why Caspar Lennox had been called back to Graevale to hear the elders’ agreement.

Alex’s new counteroffer, however, had them up in arms. There was yelling in both languages, as well as pointed fingers and ferocious faces. But ultimately, Lady Mystique had been correct—their pride led them to accept the terms of her challenge.

The only problem was, her boldness had insulted them so much that the elders gave her an ultimatum: win, and they would grant her an audience to hear her warnings; lose, and they would never listen to her, not even after the month-long celebrations were over.

It was an all or nothing deal, enough to make Alex feel sick with nerves, but she couldn’t back down. And so, when she reopened the doorway that led back to the academy—and away from the elders’ furious faces—she left with a grim smile and their promise that she would be summoned as soon as a winner was crowned.