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“I’m aware of that, thank you.”

Even with my attitude, Voiler smiled at me. “Try again.”

And I did.

I tried again and again and again.

It wasn’t until the sun fully set that I managed to pull one singular shred of grass from the soil beneath.

Voiler squealed in excitement.

I wasn’t as convinced.

“Why are you helping me, anyway?” I asked skeptically.

She wiped her pants off after climbing to her feet. “I don’t know,” she replied in a murmur. “You remind me of myself, I guess.”

I wasn’t sure whether to be proud or offended. Voiler stood out to me as one of the strong, smart contestants from the beginning. She did not grovel for attention like some others, and she was not arrogant like Ryder or Espek.

She kept to herself.

I liked that about her.

Rummy would have liked her, too.

“Well, thank you,” I mumbled as we turned down the hall to the bedrooms. “Although I still have a lot of work to do if I’m going to catch up with everyone else.”

“You’ll get there.” She winked at me before turning left, slipping into the door labeledVoiler and Ashlani.

Well, at least I wasn’t a complete and utter failure.

I had the ability to wield magic. I only needed to learn to surrender to it.

Hours passed, yet I stared into the darkness of the small bedroom, wide awake. Every sound in the hallway sent my heart into an annoying, inconvenient flutter. Wolf wasn’t coming back.

He clearly had no interest in running into me.

I should have been relieved, should have been overcome with joy at the fact that I didn’t have to deal with his arrogant, self-righteous attitude.

I should have been so damn relieved.

Then why was I awake, waiting for him to come back? Wondering where he went so late at night?

Fuck it, Huntyr. It’s none of your business.

But something pulled at me, awakened some sleeping piece inside of me that wouldn’t rest until I found out where he was.

I got out of bed, still wearing my full training gear that I slept in every night, strapped Venom to my thigh, slipped my boots on, and silently crept into the hall.

The castle was eerie enough during the day. Now? The sound of my pounding heart filled my ears, louder than even my own breath, my own footsteps.

Everyone is asleep,I reminded myself. It’s not like I was breaking any rules, anyway. We were perfectly capable of handling ourselves at any time of the night. We weren’t locked in our rooms like children.

Still, each step I took sent alarms off in my body.

I crept down the corridor of rooms, turning left and then right. I passed the hall with our classrooms, then the hallway that led to the courtyard.

I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. Some secret meeting happening in the middle of the night? Wolf training by himself beneath the thick blanket of darkness?