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N othing went according to plan.

I clutch my side, wincing at the pain in my ribs. I landed hard. So fucking hard that it takes me a moment to clear my head and remember what the hells is going on.

My eyes are blurry and full of stars as I blink, climbing to my feet and shaking off the disorientation. The last few minutes were a maelstrom of chaos, but they come back to me like snapshots of madness.

First-years assembling in the courtyard as reality itself seemed to split at the seams, opening a portal.

Instructors shouting about instability.

Odd tendrils of magic lashing out from the portal, snatching students and dragging us inside.

I must have been grabbed and dragged here, but I can’t remember it.

It all clicks into place piece by piece. Where I am. What this is.

The air is charged and feels... wrong. The colors are too vivid—like someone cranking up the saturation until my eyes burn. And the sky... it's not the sky I've spent my life living beneath.

I'm in the elemental plane.

My heart thunders against my ribs. Confluence Day is finally here. I either tether an elemental today, or I die.

I sweep my eyes around, taking in my surroundings. This place isn’t what I expected. I imagined shattered ground seeping magma and torrents of water or unbearable winds. Instead... I see a forest to my left that's a brighter green than anything I ever imagined. More distant still, I see it's all ringed by a wall that must be two hundred feet high. The wall looks like it’s made of the elements themselves, shifting in ways that my eyes can’t quite focus on.

Did the elementals build this?

I know from classes that elementals live in cities like us with rulers, politics, and wars. But somehow it didn’t seem… real. It makes me wonder what this place is to them. The area where humans appear once a year hoping to tether with them. And what would stop elementals with a grudge from coming here to hunt for sport?

As if in response to my thought, a scream cuts through the silence, high and terrified, ending in a wet gurgle.

I spin toward the sound, automatically drawing my training rapier. It’s not much, but a having a weapon in hand makes me feel slightly better, silly as it may be.

About fifty yards down the treeline, a group of students has emerged from another point in the rift. They're scattered and disoriented, just as I was moments ago.

But they're not alone.

A massive creature prowls among them, its body a living flame in the rough shape of a wolf. It's at least three times the size of any natural wolf, its paws leaving scorched prints on the black stones. As I watch, it lunges forward, jaws closing around a screaming air affinity. His body ignites instantly, becoming nothing but ash in seconds.

Another pulls back a long spear and jabs at the wolf. His weapon dissolves in his hand.

His body follows a moment later.

We’re not meant to fight these things. We never were. If they are hunting us… Gods. We’ll stand no chance.

The remaining students scatter, some running toward the twisted forest, others plunging into the still waters of a nearby lake. The fire wolf—elemental—chooses another target, a girl. She doesn't even have time to scream.

My stomach heaves as panic, disgust, and anger war for first place. Bile burns the back of my throat, but there's no time for weakness.

They sent us into a fucking slaughter, but I’m not going to join the dead. Not today.

If I want to stay among the living—if I want a chance of finding and helping my friends through this—I need to move. Now.

I scan my surroundings, looking for any sign of Mireen, Beck, or Ambrose. Nothing. I'm completely alone, and the fire elemental is working its way methodically along the shoreline, hunting down students one by one.

How long before more elementals show up?

Something in the water yanks one of them down suddenly, cutting off their scream before it has time to begin.

I need to run.

But which way? The twisted forest offers cover but no clear path. The water might provide safety from a fire elemental, but even worse things likely lurk below its surface.

The memory of the massive water serpent flashes through my mind—those intelligent eyes, the way it spoke to me. "If you see me during Confluence Day, you must run."

Is it here? Is it hunting in these waters? I decide to follow the lake's shore toward the huge wall in the distance. It will keep me close enough to the trees to run for them if something else comes, and close enough to the water to dive in if the wolf spots me.

I've only taken a few steps when I feel it—a change in the air, a sudden chill across my skin. I freeze, instinct screaming at me to remain absolutely still.

The water beside me shifts, a gentle ripple marring its perfect surface. Someone else screams in the distance as the wolf continues its hunt.

I hold my breath, certain that the water serpent has found me. I can feel the twisted signature of its presence. I know it's close, and it fucking terrifies me.

But what emerges isn't the dragon-like creature from the lake. It's something smaller, more human-sized—a perfect sphere of water rising from the surface, hovering at eye level. Inside the sphere, colors shift and change, almost forming an image before dissolving again.

I take a step back, unsure if this is a threat or something else.

The sphere follows, drifting closer.

"Stay back," I warn, though I have no idea if it can understand me. Stupidly, I point my rapier at it.

The sphere stops, hanging in the air between us. Then it begins to change, elongating, taking shape. Water flows and reshapes until I'm staring at a mirror image of myself, perfectly formed in living water.

"What are you?" I whisper.

The water-me tilts its head, examining me with curiosity. Then it speaks, its voice like the distant sound of waves.

"What are you?" it echoes, though the inflection makes me think it's a genuine question, not simply mimicry.

Before I can answer, a roar echoes from behind me. The fire wolf has finished with the other students and is now turning its attention toward me, its flaming body rippling with heat.

The water entity looks toward the approaching predator, then back at me.

"Run," it says simply. "Do not enter the water. It waits for you there." The elemental dissolves back into the stillness of the lake.

I don't need to be told twice. I'm terrified of the wolf, but the thought of diving into those depths and facing the ancient rogue elemental again... no. I simply can't make myself do it.

I turn, sprinting away from the wolf and toward the twisted forest.

I duck between forms that only vaguely resemble trees. They're like sculptures of wood frozen in the act of melting, their surfaces smooth and flowing. Some have what look like fruits hanging from their branches—perfect spheres that pulse with inner light.

I glimpse strange shapes between the trees—green entities drifting like spirits and a massive caterpillar with claws and horns slithering up one of the tree things.

I hear distant screams, the metallic clash of weapons, and triumphant shouts from all around.

Behind, the fire wolf's paws striking the ground with percussive thumps as it gallops, each impact like a small explosion. It's hunting me now, and there's no way I can outrun it.

I need to hide.

I weave into a thicker section of trees, jumping down small ledges, turning, and skidding to a stop behind a tree. I press my back against its smooth surface and have no way of knowing if the wolf lost sight of me or not. My breathing sounds impossibly loud in my ears, and my heart feels like it might burst.

The footfalls slow, growing more deliberate. Hunting. Tracking.

I close my eyes, trying to control my breathing. Every exhale feels like a betrayal, revealing my hiding spot like a fucking spotlight. This isn't how it ends. I refuse to die here, alone in this alien place, without even trying to tether an elemental.

This can’t be how it ends.

A low growl rumbles through the forest, so close I can feel the heat of it on my skin.

I open my eyes and find myself staring directly into the blazing gaze of the fire wolf. Its eyes are rubies of anger and fire, intelligent and savage. It regards me with what almost looks like curiosity, its head tilted slightly to one side.

For a moment, neither of us moves.

The heat of its body so close is unbearable. As it draws closer, the hairs on my arm turn black at the edges and curl.

Its jaws part, flames licking between dagger-like teeth, and it lunges.

I throw myself sideways. Heat sears a excruciating line across my back as I roll across the ground. Pain tears through me, but I force myself back to my feet, running deeper into the forest.

The fire wolf is right behind me, so close I can feel its heat on my heels. I zigzag between tree-sculptures, ducking low branches, leaping over twisted roots. But it's no use. The creature is faster, stronger, built for the hunt.

I burst into a clearing and come to a stop. There's nowhere left to run. The trees end at a sheer cliff that drops away into nothingness—a void where reality simply ceases to exist.

I turn, panting, to face my pursuer.

The fire wolf pads into the clearing, its movements slow and deliberate again.

It knows I'm trapped.

Heat waves ripple through the air between us, scorching my lungs with each breath.

This is it, then. After everything—surviving the selections, the challenge matches, daily life at Confluence, and even a rogue elemental and Malakai during the trial—I'm going to die here, alone, without even understanding what I truly am.

The thought ignites something in me.

Not fear.

Fury.

My hands ball into fists, nails cutting half-moons into my palms. No. I refuse to die like this. Others have died so I could make it here. To this moment. To today.

Failing isn't an option.

I stand straighter, facing the elemental directly. My breathing comes in ragged gasps, but my voice comes out steady enough to get the point across.

"Come on, then," I snarl, forcing steel into my voice. "An elemental asshole ten times your size tried to eat me once. It didn't work out for him, so let's see if you can do better."

The fire wolf hesitates. Something like surprise dances in its molten eyes.

Then it growls—the sound like a furnace roaring to life—and lunges for my throat.

I don't run. I don't flinch. Instead, I prepare to try to grab it with my bare hands. I'll likely burn myself to a crisp, but I'm sure as hell going to try to suck whatever power I can from it and make it regret testing me.

Then something changes.

A sound like the ocean crashing against cliffs fills the clearing. The temperature plummets. The wolf hesitates, head tilting as one fiery ear cocks toward the sound.

A blur of deep blue flashes across my vision—so fast I almost miss it. The massive form crashes into the fire wolf mid-leap, sending it tumbling across the clearing in a spray of embers and ash.

Where nothing had been a moment before, there now stands an enormous serpentine creature, its scales the dark blue of the deepest ocean depths, wings spread wide like sails catching a storm.

The water dragon from the lake. The ancient elemental.

Steam hisses violently where the creatures touch, water threatening to quench the flames of the wolf with every contact. With one swipe of its forepaw, it sends the wolf tumbling backward to slam into a tree. Flames leap up around the impact, consuming the tree as the wolf stands again and shakes his head, eyes fixed on the other elemental.

The water dragon roars, the sound vibrating through the soles of my feet and into my bones, rattling my teeth. The very air trembles as it positions itself between me and the fire wolf.

I get my first clear look at it and my jaw drops. In this world, the blues are sharper and deeper—eye-watering in their intensity. It stands on two powerful hind legs, long serpentine body erect with forelegs that end in three deadly curved claws. The tail winds behind its hind legs, curled and tipped in a barb of scales that gleam wicked and pure black like obsidian.

Its head is as large as my whole body and dragon-like, with two elegant horns that sweep back with a single twist. The wings are veined and tipped in those same obsidian colored spikes, nearly translucent as the beast spreads them wide and lets out a terrible roar that shakes my insides.

The fire wolf snarles, the sound seeming impotent compared to the roar.

The water dragon lets out a low, clicking snarl as it prowls to the side, its size dwarfing even the big wolf.

Fire and water. Ancient enemies.

With a howl of fury, the fire wolf attacks, leaping high, as if hoping to catch the dragon by the throat.

The water dragon moves with impossible speed for its size, snapping at the smaller elemental with teeth like icicles. They clash in another burst of steam and energy, their battle shaking the clearing.

I stumble back, watching in awe as these primal forces wage war. The fire wolf is fast and vicious, but the water dragon is ancient and powerful. For every burning bite the wolf manages to land, the dragon counters with crushing force. Water rises from the ground in thundering pillars that slam into the wolf's flaming body.

It yelps. Not in anger, but in pain.

Eventually, the fire wolf realizes it's outmatched. With one final snarl of defiance, it turns and flees back into the forest, its flame dimming as it retreats.

The clearing falls silent. Too silent.

Relief at being saved quickly fades away as I realize how screwed I am.

It only fought off the wolf so it could have me for itself. Now I'm going to die. My death is just going to be watery instead of fiery.

Considering how my brothers and father died, I guess it's fitting that the water should take me too in the end.

Slowly, the water dragon turns to face me. Up close, I can see the corruption eating away at its magnificent form—patches of scales that seem to dissolve into mist, eyes clouded with madness.

"You," it rumbles, its voice like waves crashing against rock in my mind. "I told you to run."

I'm surprised to sense some of the same intelligence from when it spoke to me during the trial. "I'll happily run if you step out of my way," I reply, surprised at my own boldness. The words tumble out before I can stop them—apparently near-death experiences make me mouthy.

The dragon studies me, its massive head lowering until we're eye to eye. Despite its size and power, I sense no immediate threat. But that doesn't make sense. I've come to know this beast through my nightmares. It has been hunting me. It wanted me dead. There's no doubt in my mind about that.

"Why aren't you killing me?"

There's a long pause. I sense it struggling somehow, as if each word comes with a cost. "You... weakened it in the lake. For a time."

"Weakened what?"

Instead of speaking, it turns slowly so I can see the largest patch of that mist-like... nothingness. The thick serpentine shape of its body seems to fade and drift up in smoke all along its right side.

The dragon's eyes close briefly, as though in pain. When they open again, I see the madness swirling deeper, threatening to consume what lucidity remains. "You can run, angry human. I can hold it off for a time. Only a time."

Angry human? Seriously? I want to laugh at the ridiculousness of the nickname, but the danger is still too real.

I study the creature before me, seeing beyond its terrifying appearance to the ancient intelligence trapped within. Something about its suffering calls to me, resonates with a part of myself I'm only beginning to understand.

I know I should run. I should take its offer and not think twice. Except…

"Can I help you? Somehow?"

"You must run," it roars in my mind, and now I feel as though I hear two voices. One is wise and old and the other is deep and bestial, twisted and terrible.

"And what happens to you if I run? Why did this... other thing inside you want me dead? Was it because I can hurt it?" I desperately flip through my mental catalog of everything I've read so far in the unbound book. Countless passages talk about how unbound have the power to unmake or to ether. To draw energy of all sorts, and how this was a gift and a curse. It still doesn't make complete sense to me, but I know what I've already seen.

In the lake, I pulled something from this creature. Whatever I did let an intelligence shine through. So maybe I could... do more.

The deep blue eyes flash, and ink-like blackness swirls within. Its body shifts, head lowering as it begins to pace and circle me, long body stretching out as it walls me in.

"Run... little one, before you are destroyed."

"No." Pulse racing, I push down my terror and reach a hand up for its large snout. With one snap of its massive jaws, it could destroy me. I brace for the pain, but only feel my palm land softly on the scaled surface between nostrils that trail steam.

A rush of sensation and power passes into my hand. My body wants to draw it in, to try to absorb it like I did in the lake.

The dragon breathes out heavily, as if my touch is both a relief and something to struggle against. The heat of its breath and the scent of salt water and sea life washes over me, but I don't pull my hand away. I drive my focus deeper.

And then I feel it. There's an inky film coating everything within the dragon. I could draw the power and maybe some of that stain with it, or I could try to draw only the stain itself.

I close my eyes, struggling to grapple with forces I barely understand as I reach for the corruption within the dragon. And I pull.

Nausea rocks me as the first waves of it enter my body.

Fuzzy images and memories that aren't my own flash through my mind. Ancient battles. Elementals fighting elementals. Then the first tethered primals. A powerful woman and a smaller version of the serpent I see now. The two of them fighting side by side for centuries. And then…

Betrayal.

Broken tethers. Broken oaths.

Everything after that is twisted by the black film, and I sense the tragic awareness of an ancient intelligence confined in its own mind—unable to reach out and stop its own body from wreaking havoc for centuries Of watching powerful friends and allies suffer the same fate.

But that corruption is reaching into me, now. It's trying to slither under my own skin and coat me. Claim me.

"Unbound," the voice comes into my head more clearly than before. "You will destroy yourself if you don't release it. Use your gift. Channel it away from yourself as I cannot."

My mind is already slipping, but his words register. I try to not just draw in the sickness like poison from a wound. I try to push it outward. To vent it.

Tendrils of black drift out of my body, curling like snakes.

They try to slither back into my body, to drive themselves under my skin. But the dragon closes its eyes and breathes out. Cool, refreshing magic washes over me and the black tendrils flake away as they flow from me.

I lose all sense of time as I keep pulling from the beast and it keeps washing me in that refreshing magic. Minute by minute, I sense the water dragon diminishing in size, but I also feel the corruption fading both from it and from me.

I can’t say how long passes before I realize I'm no longer looking at a massive, corrupted dragon. Before me stands a sleek, powerful water elemental, perhaps a third of its former size but whole again, its scales gleaming like polished sapphires in the strange light. Its eyes are clear now, revealing an intelligence and wisdom that takes my breath away.

It lets out a deep breath filled with so much relief it nearly breaks my heart.

"Unbound... You have freed me from my prison. I was once known as Typhon, first heir to the water throne and ruler of the tides. I owe you a debt, and you may name your price."

I hear metal clashing nearby as if people are fighting.

Then a deep shout of pain and desperation. It's close, and it's unmistakable.

Raith.

"We have to help," I say. “Help me save him. The one who just shouted."

Another voice echoes through the forest, this one weaker than before. Raith is running out of time.

"He needs our help," I say urgently.

"The fire-touched. Yes." Typhon's head tilts slightly. "I can sense him. He’s strong. You wish to save him for mating purposes. Very well. Get on my back."

I stare. Mating purposes?

I don’t have time to think about the odd comment. I’m too busy trying to figure out how the hell I’m supposed to get on his back. He’s not as huge as he once was, but his hind legs are still nearly the height of my whole body.

As if sensing my hesitation, he extends a wing, offering it like a leathery ramp. I don’t have time to waste, so I run up his wing then stare at his scale-covered back. Just as I'm about to wonder how the hell I'm supposed to hang on, blue light shimmers on his back as a saddle materializes beneath me. Glimmering blue straps that look made from pure sapphires slide over my thighs and waist, securing me into place.

The wings behind me flap in a powerful burst, and wind rushes against my face, forcing my eyes into narrow slits. We explode upwards and it feels like my stomach stays where it was back on the ground hundreds of feet behind us.

Each beat of his wings makes us lurch forward at such incredible speeds it makes my eyes water.

The flight is over before I know it. Typhon lands with shocking grace for his size at the edge of a clearing. A clearing where I can see Raith covered in blood, his powerful body hacked and bloody in several places. But he's still standing, even as blood drips freely from him.

And there's a panther made of pure flames fighting beside him. With him.

Thank the gods. He tethered an elemental. But Raith and his new elemental are badly outmatched. Five students are creeping closer to him, weapons drawn.

I see Malakai and Serena among the still-living, and both have tethered elementals of their own.

Even as I watch, Malakai's elemental—a shark-like creature that slices through the air as if it's water—flashes past Raith and tears a chunk from his leg with a vicious bite. The panther slashes at the shark, landing a heavy blow that wounds but doesn’t stop the creature from slipping away.

Typhon flaps his wings again, yanking us forward so fast it threatens to make me sick. We land with a crash in the center of the conflict, putting us between Raith and the stunned semi-circle of attackers.

Raith is wounded. Badly. His elemental is also dripping fire from a gash that hisses steam on its side and it walks with a limp as it circles him protectively.

Even if his wounds look mortal, the defiance and fire is still blazing in Raith's eyes. He's planning to fight until he drops dead. But the thought of him dying is… it’s not something I can handle. We’re going to find a way to save him. I don’t care how. We’re going to fucking do it.

From Typhon's back, I take in the scene of the battle.

Raith and his elemental killed three attackers, but there are still five standing, plus Malakai and Serena's new elementals.

Malakai bleeds from a deep slash that runs from his scalp to his cheek, and one of his eyes looks completely ruined. Serena seems untouched, and she's flanked by a snake made of flames. It's nearly ten feet long, and it coils around her ankles.

Malakai's elemental swims through the air behind him, teeth glinting.

But they're all staring at me now, and the look of dumbfounded shock as they see the water dragon I'm riding almost makes everything I've gone through to get here worth it. Their expressions almost make me want to laugh—a hysterical, giddy kind of triumph surges through me despite the danger, despite everything.

Serena steps forward. "What the fuck... How?" she breathes.

"Get rid of them," I command, not caring in the slightest how Typhon chooses to interpret my words. They all deserve to die for what they've done, and if Raith is going to have any chance of surviving, we can’t afford to be gentle or take our time here.

There's a moment of building power, like the feeling of water pulling away before a huge wave forms in the ocean. The others feel it, too. The two elementals react first, the shark and fire snake retreating slightly.

Malakai takes a stumbling step backward, brows furrowing. "What are you doing? Is that a godsdamned fucking dragon? That's not?—"

And then there's a sound of rushing water. Massive pillars of blue punch up from the soil and smash down with enough force to shake the ground. There are dozens of them. Hundreds. Each is as wide as five men standing side by side, and I see one smash down on one of Malakai's soldiers who isn't fast enough. When the water clears, the man lies motionless, body crushed and lifeless.

My stomach lurches. Even if they deserve it... Gods.

But I sense that Typhon could have crushed every single attacker if he wanted. It's almost as if he's showing mercy—letting them flee rather than slaughter them where they stand.

Malakai and Serena sprint away with their people, disappearing over a far hill before Typhon's magic can destroy them.

The flood of power fades, leaving the clearing drenched and deep craters in the ground all around Raith, like a protective ring.

I slide off Typhon's back, running to Raith's side as I kneel and try to hold him upright before he can wobble and fall where he stands. Up close, the severity of his wounds is even worse than I thought. I don't know how he's even breathing. He blinks, one eye crusted shut from a wound that's bleeding heavily on his scalp.

There's a soft thud as he releases his heavy sword.

"Saltcrest..." he says, voice weak. "Looks like you tethered some kind of… fish.”

"Shut up," I say, throat thick with emotion. The ache in my chest is unbearable as I watch him struggle to stay conscious. Maybe things have been complicated between us, but Raith has only ever helped me... even if it's in his own, strange way. I don't want to see him die. I can't watch him die.

The fire panther limps to his side and settles down low with a pathetic whimper, resting its head on his thigh. Somehow, the flames licking the creature don’t even seem to singe Raith’s clothing.

"What can we do?" I ask Typhon, throwing the question over my shoulder, voice tinged with desperation.

"There is a way..."

"What is it? I'll do it. Whatever it is."

"Swear my oath. Take my tether. Do this, and..."

"And what?" My voice borders on hysteria. I can feel Raith slumping in my arms. I can sense the life leaking out of him with each heartbeat. He practically burns in my hands, and there's so little of him left I can't even feel his energy trying to flow into me. "What do we do?" I shout.

"Tether me, and I... may be able to help him. But you must tether. Swear my oath."

I look over my shoulder at him. There's a distant itch, like maybe I should be careful with freely swearing my oath, especially to whatever Typhon is. But that's why we're here, isn't it?

Confluence Day is about swearing oaths, tethering primals.

"Okay. Yes. Whatever we need to do, just do it."

Typhon's gaze seems to pierce through me, seeing every hidden corner of my soul. "A tether is not something to be taken lightly."

I force a breath, trying to find a calm I don't feel. "Sorry. You're right. I'm ready."

Typhon studies me, ancient blue eyes seeming to delve into the depths of what I am. Finally, he nods his head. His voice thunders in my head, booming and loud with ethereal power. "Swear to seek truth where there is deception, to bring balance where there is chaos, and to remember what others have forgotten. I ask that you use the unbound gift to mend the wounds your kind have wrought, not to drive them deeper."

"I swear it," I say, the words feeling right on my tongue. They feel like more than words as something deep, deep within me resonates and snaps into place. That resonation extends toward Typhon, and I can… feel it. A tether forming, like a bundle of magical strings connecting us. Binding us.

"I swear it as well," Typhon responds. "I am yours as you are mine, until the stars fade and the waters still."

A current of power flows from Typhon to me. It enters through my palm, racing up my arm to the silver mark on the back of my hand. The mark burns suddenly, painfully, and I gasp as it transforms—the silver spiral now threaded with deep, glowing blue like water caught in moonlight.

The tether settles into place, and suddenly I can feel Typhon's presence in my mind—not invasive, but there, like the awareness of another person in a room.

But there's no time to revel and bask in the awe I feel. Raith is running out of time.

"Now what?" I ask.

His voice comes more clear now, gentle and directly into my thoughts. Before, it was the sound of a beast shouting from several rooms away. Now it’s as if we’re in the same room. "Place your hand on the wound."

I put my hand on the worst wound—the gash across his stomach. His eyes snap open and he sucks in a sharp breath, clutching my wrist.

"Raith," I say carefully. "It's okay. I'm going to try to help you."

I see the reluctance in his face. Trust isn't easy for him, even now. Even here. But finally, slowly, he nods his head and relaxes ever so slightly.

The panther of flames resting on his thigh growls low and fierce at me.

"I'm just trying to help," I say to the panther.

"Trust her, young one," Typhon's voice extends to Raith's elemental.

It lays its head down again, eyes still watching me with distrust.

"What do I do?" I ask Typhon.

"I can channel through you, but it will greatly diminish me for a time. Now that we're tethered, you are the vessel through which my magic flows. But you are a narrow straw through which I am trying to pass oceans through."

I glare. "Okay, I get it. I'm weak, you're strong. Just do it."

I can feel Typhon's annoyance in my mind as he shifts closer. And then there's a rushing sensation passing through the tether. Blue light flashes around my hand, lighting Raith's bloodied skin from within.

Slowly, the wound inches together. Raith's face draws tight, teeth bared as he grimaces.

"Sorry," I whisper.

"Don't apologize to him. You are saving his life," Typhon growls.

"Doesn't mean I can't be sorry it hurts."

I sense a feeling almost like Typhon rolling his eyes. Ancient, probably immortal, immensely powerful... but I think he has a lot of learning to do about humans.

My skin burns as Typhon continues pushing power into me. I can feel his strain. I can even feel how he's running low on energy as the lesser wounds on Raith's body start to heal.

"That's all. Any more, and I won't be able to get us back through the rift when it opens."

"Raith?" I ask, touching his cheek.

His eyes flicker open and he smirks, teeth still stained red with blood. "Saltcrest… tell your fish I owe him.”

"Save your strength, Raith.” I turn my attention to his fire panther. “I’m Nessa and this is Typhon. Do you have a name?”

The fire elemental stands, orange eyes distrustful as its thick tail bats from side to side, leaving a trail of flames and smoke.

"He is called Pyrin," Typhon says.

"Okay, Pyrin. Are you strong enough to carry him?"

But I see the fire still leaking from the creature's side. It's wounded too, though that doesn't stop it from trying to duck its head under Raith and take his weight.

But Pyrin can't lift him. Not wounded as he is.

"Typhon, can I put him on your back?"

Typhon lets out a low, audible growl that's not in my mind. "It would disgrace me to let another human ride me."

"Will you do it for me? Please?" I ask.

"My gratitude is still fresh, human. But you wear it thin."

"Please."

He sighs, steam curling from his nostrils. But then he's using his wing to carefully lift Raith. A thin rope of water wraps around Raith’s waist and pulls him into place on Typhon’s back, where the dragon secures him in place.

Raith groans and his blood slicks Typhon's back, but he hooks one powerful arm around Typhon's neck and holds tight.

"Your human is trying to choke me," Typhon notes.

"He's trying not to fall off."

The sound of crunching branches makes me turn my head. Serena and Malakai are circling back, their elementals drifting behind them. Typhon doesn't need to tell me he's too weak to fight again. Raith is half conscious, Pyrin is wounded, Typhon's down to his last drops of power, and I'm not going to fight off Serena, Malakai, and both their elementals by myself.

"We need to get out of here," I say, looking around desperately for an escape route.

Raith stirs, his eyes opening as he shifts on Typhon's back. I see him looking at me. There's a questioning glint in his eyes, as if he's wondering why I'm risking so much to save him.

He wants to know why?

Well, he can join the fucking club.

"Later," I promise. "Right now, we need to?—"

"Run," Typhon interrupts, a single, magical blue strap slipping around my waist and pulling me to sit on Typhon’s back. I guess his magic is too thin right now for fancy saddles. " The rift is this way."

Together, the four of us move through the forest, Typhon leading the way with us on his back while Raith's fire panther, Pyrin, trots behind us with a slight limp.

Behind us, I hear Serena's furious scream. "Catch them! Don't let them leave."

We break through the treeline onto an expanse of round black stones. The air around the stones shimmers with heat. In the distance, I can see a glittering light in the air—the rift, beginning to stabilize.

"There," Typhon says, nudging us toward it. "Quickly."

We run. Even in his diminished state, Typhon has to slow to avoid outpacing Pyrin.

Just as we reach the rift, Serena and Malakai burst from the trees not far behind.

Shit. They're too close. There's no way we'll make it to the rift before?—

A gust of air whips across the beach, flaring flames to life between the dark rocks and making Malakai and Serena shield themselves.

Bastian rides in on a horse made of pure wind, his gold hair blowing behind him as he dismounts and unstraps a spear from his back. He looks over his shoulder, expression unreadable as he takes in the sight of Typhon, Raith, and Pyrin with me.

I can’t help the surge of relief I feel at seeing him. Bastian. Always showing up when I need him most, but never revealing the slightest about who he is or why he cares about helping me.

"Go, Nessa,” Bastian shouts, voice carrying over the growing rush of wind.

"But you?—"

"I'll be fine," Bastian says. "Go."

I hesitate for only a moment—wondering if maybe there's some way I could find Mireen, Ambrose, or Beck and offer them help here. But I know the only way to return is to tether. And there's no way I can even get to them without abandoning Raith for dead and drawing Malakai and his people to them.

"Can you find Mireen, Beck, and Ambrose? Make sure they're safe?" I shout.

"I'll do what I can. Now go!" Bastian shouts. He's already parrying a strike from Malakai as his elemental clashes with both the shark and the fire snake.

I bounce on my feet, wishing I could do more to help. But he's likely only waiting for me to be gone so he can flee. With that horse, there's no way they would catch him.

"Let's go," I say, turning and running for the rift with the others.

We plunge into the rift, the elemental plane dissolving around us as we're pulled back toward our own world. Toward Confluence Academy.