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T he guys haven’t left my side since Dakson brought me back to the tent last night. It’s not helping that all the winged Shadows are now watching me as we head toward the area that holds the first part of the war games.

I tried to tell them about what Levington said, but they didn’t want to hear it, saying he only lies. Just like everyone else in the Volar Academy.

“What the fuck are they looking at?” Malakai says.

“They know what I am,” I tell them, remembering what Dakson said about how they feel drawn to me. “Apparently there’s less winged females left on their side. They’re just curious.”

“Well, they better get uncurious pretty soon,” Knox says, glaring at every one of them while looking two seconds away from starting trouble.

“No fights,” I tell him.

He clenches his jaw. “I can’t promise anyth?—”

“If you listen to me, I’ll take out my wings for you later.”

He freezes for a moment, and then he and the others turn to look at me.

Knox narrows his eyes on me. “I thought you didn’t know how to pull them in and out.”

I give him a smirk. “I’ll figure it out.”

A wide smile full of suggestion spreads across his face. “Deal.”

I raise a brow at Malakai. “You want in on this?”

A hungry look darkens his eyes. “No top, and it’s a deal.”

I laugh at his perverted little mind. “Let’s see how good you are first.”

He steps toward me with a small curl to the left side of his mouth. “Nothing about me is good. But I promise to make every inch of you feel it.”

“I—” The ground trembles and shakes, distracting me. A minute later, the sand starts dipping inward a few feet in front of us as a huge black structure with multiple components rises from the ground.

It keeps rising up and up until I’m craning my neck and looking up at the colossal thing.

There are dozens of platforms layered on top of one another, each with something different on it that could kill you.

Some drop up and down while others have shooting axes and blades.

Once you get to the top, you have to leap from pole to pole and avoid the arrows shooting at you, run across a platform without being knocked off by a giant swinging log, before diving from a wide ledge to a large circular platform. But I can’t make out what’s on it.

“What happens once you get to the platform?” I ask.

“You grab a weapon to secure your place in the fight tomorrow,” Theon replies with a savage smile, but I don’t feel even the tiniest bit of confidence or excitement they all seem to have.

No wonder they were able to run through my baby obstacle course. That was small blip in comparison to this monstrosity.

“Promise me you will all be careful?” I ask them and feel hands curl around me, pulling me back.

Glancing up, I find Theon behind me.

“We’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” he says.

Knox frowns. “I don’t know whether to feel insulted or grateful you care.”

“Grateful. Also don’t die, or you’ll never get to touch my wings,” I warn him.

He gives me a wicked smirk full of sinful promises. “I’m planning on doing a lot more than just touching them.”

They all give me a hard kiss, each with a promise to make it through this before heading for the starting line.

As soon as they hit the first platform, the monstrous obstacle course starts moving quicker. One of the Shadows from our academy immediately falls off into the sand. But he keeps sinking, quickly getting sucked in by it, disappearing in seconds.

As if the dangerous, vicious platform with multiple obstacles that could easily kill you isn’t enough, they had to add quicksand.

The guys start making their way up the platforms easily enough, but a third of the way there, on the platform with the blades, a few Shadows break them off and start attacking each of them.

My stomach churns when they go out of view. I follow them from the edges, moving around the side of the structure to a small area of large rocks.

My heart thunders as I watch Knox dive out of the way of a blade to the head. But another Shadow sneaks up behind him, and he doesn’t seem to notice.

I open my mouth to shout up to him when something yanks me backward into the rocks.

Snapping out of my shock, I pull away from whoever is holding me and whip around.

Four males dressed from head to toe in black surround me, all with long blades in their hands.

I glance around, looking for a way to escape, but it looks like they’ve dragged me into a small area surrounded by rocks, the only exit being through them.

They take a step forward, and a long white glowing sword appears in my hand.

Something happens again. Just like in the obstacle course. But this time instead of having an out of body experience, it’s as if part of my brain was asleep and is now wide awake.

I move without thinking, shoving them back and slicing through them, my body stronger, more agile and swift.

Using skills beyond anything I’ve ever learned; I easily take two down and then a third.

The fourth manages to slide his blade across my arm but I barely feel it as I lunge forward and strike, taking him down.

Along with my glowing sword, they disappear as fast as they arrived and into nothing but shadows. The only evidence that they were even here is the long cut on my arm.

The awakened part of my brain slowly goes to sleep once more.

“Sena!” Cyrus shouts out from somewhere close, and relief fills me knowing they’re safe.

I glance down at the long cut on my arm as it slowly heals.

The four of them come around the rocks, and Cyrus pulls me into a tight hug. They ask me if I’m alright over and over, but all I can think about is the cut and how the blood wasn’t red. It was gold.

M y mind finally starts to catch up with the fact that I just took out four men. That I moved with skills I’ve never had before.

That my blood was gold.

I open my mouth to tell the four worrying men around me, when a loud blaring horn bellows out, calling them for the second part of the games.

“Talk to us, Sena,” Knox says, ignoring the horn.

“We’ll talk after this,” I promise, but their worried expression doesn’t disappear.

“You were shaking when we found you,” Theon starts, but an older looking male comes over to us and tells them they have to go.

“Go. I’ll tell you everything after. I’m okay.”

“ Everything, Sena,” Malakai demands before pulling me into a hug.

“Everything,” I whisper with a promise, finally realizing it’s time. Even if they really hate me this time.

“Stay near the other Shadows,” Theon says. But he doesn’t have to tell me twice. Not after everything that just happened.

Along with my four, all Shadows still in the games move out to a large carved out arena while the sitting area is just raised mounds of hard sand.

I find a spot far enough away from everyone else but close enough that my mates can glance over and see me.

Something they seem to be doing every few minutes.

The groups are quickly paired off with the opposite academy. Another horn bellows out, and they begin.

I wince watching them fight, every single one of them vicious and brutal in their attacks. But Theon, Malakai, Knox, and Cyrus all hold their own.

I can see why Levington was worried about them winning. They don’t even look like they’re breaking a sweat.

I glance over at Talos and the vicious smile he’s wearing, and my stomach churns, thinking about what Levington said.

What if it’s true? What if my mates win this and Talos gets the crystal?

The sky grows gray above us, making my turbulent thoughts feel like they’re coming to life.

A caw echoes from somewhere above, followed by another and another until it’s all I can hear.

Everyone around me pauses and glances up at the darkening sky just as dozens of black birds flee across it. Dozens quickly turn to hundreds and then thousands, nearly covering the sky completely.

I glance over at the fights and find they all have paused to watch the strange occurrence, my men included.

A man stumbles into the arena, swaying on his feet. “The seal on the Hollow has been broken,” he shouts, making everyone freeze.

His words only filter into my shocked brain when darkness seeps across the arena. No, not darkness, beasts. Hundreds of them. And right behind them are terrigons by the thousands.

Chaos erupts as the groups of male Shadows rush to stop them. I glance around me and spot the winged Shadows blocking any of them from getting near me.

Finding Malakai’s gaze, I watch him breathe a sigh of relief when he sees me, the others too. He nods to me with a look that tells me they will be there soon. But a huge group of terrigons appear blocking their path.

I glance around at the pandemonium and try to call on my glowing sword or draw up that part of me that seems to be able to fight.

But nothing happens.

Metal clashing, grunts, and gasps full of pain sound out around me as the male Shadows quickly get overwhelmed.

My stomach drops when I spot more beasts and terrigons arriving, my gaze immediately searching for my men.

“Knox?” I call into the connection, but he doesn’t reply, only making my stomach drop further.

Shadows start dropping around me as more and more terrigons arrive.

Panic envelops me, completely consuming me. There’s no way out. For me. For them. They’re going to die. They’re all going to die… And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

As if some deeper part of me hears my broken plea, it rises. An energy like nothing I’ve ever felt before rushes through me, building and building until I feel something almost crack open from the inside, calling out to the chaos around me.

I gasp as the energy doesn’t stop, seeping through every nerve, muscle and bone until my body no longer feels like my own.

My skin lights up, glowing similarly to my sword. Seconds later, my body lifts upward and floats up above the chaos, high up in the sky.

I glance down, watching the destruction and havoc, the death and masses of terrigons, as they viciously kill Shadow after Shadow.

My wings slide out of my back, spanning wide around me while the glowing grows and grows, along with the energy inside me as if building up for something big.

Moments later, the energy becomes electric. It slides up and down my body before bursting out of me in a painful gasp and forming a sphere of light that winds around me, growing and growing.

I can’t stop it as it pulls more and more energy from me.

Building and building until power like nothing I’ve ever felt before blasts out of me in a beam of light and slamming directly beneath me straight into the ground.

Another slams out in front of me and another behind.

Again, and again until multiple long beams of white glowing light of energy are all formed around me.

Then they start moving. Carving a path through the beasts and terrigons and destroying them instantly to ashes. The huge beams keep moving, spanning out and searching out every terrigon and beast until there’s nothing left.

My eyes flicker to the scene below as the beams of light slowly disappear and I find every Shadow staring up at me in shock and awe. Most are still alive, and relief fills me.

Just as the last beam of light dissolves, the last of my energy rises up and sends out a blast toward the darkness hundreds of miles across from me, shuttering it out in a blink.

Exhaustion sweeps into every bone, making each breath hard and heavy. My wings draw back in as my eyes close on their own. And with one last gasp, I begin to fall.