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Images of the Hyroa lunging out of the forest caused a shiver to run down her spine.

“What sort of something?” Pipsqueak asked, her voice higher than normal.

Eyes gleaming with the thrill of adventure, Blink said, “Let’s check it out.”

Alex wasn’t a huge fan of the idea, but she was all for strength in numbers, so when the other three began to walk forward she followed along resignedly.

They only had to step a few paces into the forest before they discovered the source of the movement. It was a piece of cloth caught on a tree branch, flapping in the wind.

“Disappointing,” Blink said. “But at least we solved the great towel mystery.”

Alex didn’t think the cloth was a towel, but that was hardly the point. What she was more concerned about was that the flapping noise it made definitely didn’t resemble the snapping twig and rustling bush sounds she’d heard. Something didn’t add up.

Just as Blink stepped forward to take the cloth from the tree, Alex turned her gaze to the ground, and her eyes widened. “Wait—”

But her warning was too late. Blink had already yanked at the fabric, accidentally activating the trap on which they were all standing. The net-covered ground flew up around them, throwing them all high into the air until they were trapped dangling helplessly in the woven material.

“That was unexpected,” Jordan muttered, trying to push Alex’s elbow out of his face. There was no room for her to move though, since they were all squished together with their arms and legs tangled in and out of the net. Alex was doubly uncomfortable, since her annoying cape was twisted around someone else and tugging on her throat, nearly choking her.

“Oor—oof—s—nn—m—fce,” came Blink’s distorted voice.

“What?” Pipsqueak asked. “Ouch!”

“Sorry, but your foot was totally in my face,” Blink repeated, his words clear now.

“So youbitme?” Pipsqueak demanded.

“It got you to move, didn’t it?” Blink asked. “Mission: success!”

“Quiet, guys,” Alex said, preempting their argument. “We need to find a way out of this.”

“Anyone have a knife?” Jordan asked.

Alex was too busy trying to keep her cape from strangling her to tell him how ridiculous his question was. As if any of them would be carrying a weapon to class. But then she thought about some of their other subjects and realised it probably wasn’t that far-fetched an idea, really.

“Sorry, man,” Blink said. “One hundred percent unarmed.”

“Same here,” Pipsqueak agreed.

“Alex?” Jordan asked.

“I’ve got nothing,” she answered, finally managing to tug some breathing space between her cape and her throat. Now that she wasn’t in imminent danger of suffocation, she reached out to touch the netting. “I don’t—”

A weight landed in her open hand. She was so startled that she almost dropped the object, and when she realised what it was, shediddrop it. But she scrambled to grab it before it could fall through the net, despite how shocked—and repulsed—she was.

… Because in her hands was the dagger Aven had used to Claim her, the one that had stabbed her in the back and nearly killed her.

“Uh, actually, I think I might have something that can help,” Alex said, her voice wobbling slightly. “Everyone hold on, and I’ll try to cut us out.”

The ice-coloured blade sawed through the dense netting like it was made of butter. Alex hadn’t anticipated such easy results, and she was unprepared when the woven material sliced open around her. She had to drop the dagger to hold onto the net, but she watched as the weapon fell through the air and…disappeared.

Alex was so shocked that she let go of the netting and fell to the ground with a heavythump.

“Ow,” she muttered, rolling over and frantically searching the ground for the missing weapon. But she couldn’t find it anywhere.

“You okay?” Jordan asked, still dangling in the air above her.

“Yeah,” she answered, despite the fact that she felt anything but okay. Where had the dagger come from? And where had it disappeared to? Her last memory of the weapon was when it had been flying through the air towards D.C. just moments before Alex had intercepted the attack. She’d never thought toask Fletcher or Darrius what they’d done with it after removing it from her flesh. She hadn’twantedto ask. Now, though, she wished she had.