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“I’m going into the vault,” Ace declared in a tone I knew all too well. He’d made up his mind and there’d be no changing it. “You’ll be fine, I’ll tell you exactly what to do.”

“I have experience,” Dick added. “My parents used to send me to code camp every summer.”

So, I was teaming up with Dick. I shouldn’t have felt apprehensive about working with him. He’d proven to be an asset and had surprised me with his strength on multiple occasions now.

Kayden chuckled. “Sounds like you’ve got a solid partner there Noah. I go with Twiggy.”

I ran a hand over my cropped hair. “We’ll need two teams to go to the vault.”

“Kendra and me,” Fallon said, taking her best friend’s hand.

“Shouldn’t Zane go with you if he can nullify magic?” Lou asked hesitantly, concern etched on her face.

“It doesn’t work that way. I can’t nullify our surroundings, only people’s active magic,” he replied. “I had no effect on the magic of the trials and it’ll be the same for the vault. My power only works on people. Some might call it ‘people power.’”

“No one calls it that,” Ace huffed, shaking his head.

“Some might.”

Ace raised a brow and smirked. “Just you, Merman.”

Zane folded his arms over his chest. “That’s still some.”

“Okay… so Fallon and me?” Kendra said, bringing the conversation back to the vault.

Fallon nodded. “We’ll take a different entry to the guys, but we’ll meet at the vault. We wait a few minutes and if one team doesn’t show, we push on.”

“Where?” Kendra asked. “Do we know where we’re going or just hoping for the best?”

“I have blueprints in my cuff,” Ace said, tapping the screen on his wrist. “We’ll memorise the map and add notes from our little scouting trip. Someone get me something to draw with.”

Fallon slipped off the bed, hurrying to the bathroom and returning with a pencil. “It’s eyeliner so don't press too hard with it.”

Ace crouched on the floor and drew the blueprints from his cuff. “You take this entry, and we’ll go from here.” He drew crosses. “Noah opens two security doors, here and here. Then you go down these stairs and we take the ones on this side where we meet. Noah opens that door and then the vault.”

“Where I’m guessing there will be some sort of security system in there too,” Kendra stated, looking at the map. “Can Noah unlock that?”

Ace shook his head. “No, it will be a separate system… all magic. The trials will feel like a walk in the park.”

Nerves danced beneath my skin at Ace’s words.

I wasn’t one of the teams breaking into the vault, but I may as well have been with the anxiety currently rising inside me.

I couldn’t even imagine what they would endure in the vault given it was one of the most secure facilities in the country.

We’d been put through hell in the trials and, judging by the expressions of the others, I wasn’t the only one feeling that way.

“We can do this,” Fallon said as if sensing the tension in the room. “We survived the trials and we can survive this.” Her encouragement instantly lifted the mood. She’d make a great queen.

“What about me?” Lou asked. “What do you want me to do?”

“You’ll be with Zane,” I told her. “You two stay at the ball and make sure no one questions where we are.”

“And if they run late, we get to cause a diversion.” Zane grinned. “We’ve got a fun job.”

“Sounds like it’s going to be a walk in the park,” Kendra said dryly.

Kayden scoffed, staring down at the map. “Yeah, if that park is full of landmines.”

“We need to remove their chips, too,” Fallon stated. “They’ll need full access to their magic.”

“Our chips? Won’t the Masters know?” Dick asked.

I shook my head. “As far as we can tell, they haven’t noticed ours are missing. I had my magic and adaptation all through the third trial with no one the wiser.”

“It’s going to hurt, isn’t it?” Lou said, chewing her lip. She turned worried eyes to Kendra. “Hold my hand the whole time, okay?”

“Of course,” Kendra replied, planting a quick kiss on her girlfriend’s lips.

Dick stood, tugging his shirt over his head. “I’m ready.”

Kayden, Fallon, and Zane headed to the cafeteria whilst Ace and I worked.

Ace cut the chips out while I quickly healed the wounds. He was no surgeon by any means but was surprisingly quite good at making delicate and precise cuts with the blade. I shuddered to think of how he’d learnt to do it all. Ace had been through some traumatic experiences.

Fifteen minutes later everyone was chip-free and healed. Kendra, Lou, and Dick had gone to meet with Fallon and the others, leaving me alone with Ace. “Think we can pull this off?” I asked him from the bathroom door.

Ace turned from washing his hands, rested his hip against the basin, and folded his arms over his chest. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? I know you well enough now to know that you’ve already run through our chances in that head of yours.”

“Real life doesn’t like to follow plans or rules,” I replied. “You’ve done this kind of thing before.”

“I have.” He smirked, then waved a hand. “Look the odds are stacked pretty fucking high against us, but we have a chance. Our group is tight, our magic is top-notch, and most importantly, we simply can’t fucking fail. Not getting that weapon isn’t an option.”

“Get the weapon or die trying.” I nodded. The weapon was key, and we had to have it if we were going to stand a chance at whatever or whoever was coming next.

Ace pushed forward, sliding past me. “Exactly.”

“Not really uplifting, is it?” I said, turning and following him out the door and into the hallway.

“Welcome to my world. Everyone is fighting to survive every minute of every day.”

“That’s pretty grim,” I told him.

“That’s reality.” He shrugged, heading down the stairs. “The trick is not to hide from it. Face it with your fists high and you might just avoid becoming its bitch.”