Her lips barely moved, but she managed to croak the words out. “I… submit.”

A buzzer sounded overhead, and the cage door suddenly sprang open. The metal walls were no longer an electrifying blue.

“The winners of this round are Brielle and Shea from Fallen Academy!” the announcer’s voice boomed over the speakers. The crowd went wild with a mixture of cheers and boos.

I held out my hand and tried to call the blackness back from her throat, but it didn’t move.

Oh shit.

The girl’s eyes were rolling in her head now, and the crowd was starting to shout in panicked screams.

The silver-haired Abrus demon from before burst into the cage and snapped his fingers. The inky black rope fell away from the girl’s neck, and she took in a huge gulp of air. My heart was hammering in my chest, the adrenaline pumping into my veins making me feel dizzy.

The Abrus demon looked my way and smiled, stepping closer to me. “Keep up the good work. The Dark Prince is very pleased,” he murmured and then walked out, leaving me to realize what I’d done.

I was using all my dark gifts, Lucifer’s gifts. Yet I was blessed by four archangels and was not relying on any of my light magic. I’d given too much attention to the darkness, and I could feel it gaining power within me.

Another thing I’d just realized—the Prince of Darkness must have been watching me.

Chills broke out on my arms.

“Brielle!” Lincoln called, standing on the outside of the cage, peering in.

I pulled off my steel arm cuff and ran forward, scooping Sera into it, careful not to touch her because she was still too hot. I was hoping she’d be usable for the next fight, but at that point, I wasn’t so sure.

“You okay?” I reached out to my bestie who was sitting down, panting.

Our competitors had been helped out of the cage, and now Lincoln was arguing with the guard at the door to be allowed to help us.

“They can make it out okay,” the guard retorted.

“Step aside or I’ll take off your head!” Lincoln roared.

Shea wasn’t moving to take my offered arm. Something was wrong.

“I… need… my spell lozenge,” she panted.

While Lincoln was arguing with the guard, Chloe zipped through the open cage using her vampire-like speed.

“She needs her spell candy,” I told the Nightblood.

Chloe slipped one arm under Shea’s legs and another behind her back, scooping her up into her arms.

“Hey, girl. You did good.” Chloe shoved a lozenge in her mouth. I hadn’t even seen her grab it from her pocket.

The second it hit Shea’s tongue she perked up. “Hey.”

We exited the space quickly, and then I was in Lincoln’s arms. He somehow managed to tuck me into his body while keeping my torn arm from getting further injured, and still getting a good glare in at the guard.

“Be ready for the next fight in twenty minutes,” the guard barked at our retreating backs.

I’d been stabbed in the arm, almost lit on fire, Sera was unusable, and Shea’s ear was hanging off. I was not looking forward to seeing how the next six fights went.

“I used the dark magic,” I admitted, breathing against Lincoln’s neck.

“It’s okay. Do whatever you have to do.” Regardless of his words, I could hear the disappointment in his voice.

He ferried our small group over to a corner, where he started to work on healing my arm.

“No, Shea first.” I pushed his hand away.

His brow furrowed and he opened his mouth to retort.

“No. Her ear is hanging off. Shea first,” I repeated. “I’ll work on myself a little. Noah taught me how to self-repair last week.”

Lincoln frowned. “It depletes your energy.”

I pointed to my best friend. “I’ll take one of her energy lozenges.”

Shea waved in front of my man’s face. “Hello? Ear falling off.”

Lincoln sighed, lighting up his hands and dousing Shea with the sunflower-colored magic. He looked tired, his normally upright posture slouched, sweat shining on his forehead while he winced as if in pain.

“Any tips for us?” I asked him as I started to rev up my own magic.

I’d set Sera on the floor so she could hopefully cool off inside of my cuff.

Lincoln nodded. “Yeah, you both need to be quicker, fight dirtier, and you should’ve killed that bitch. She nearly set you on fire,” he barked.

“Gee, is that all?” I should have known my lover would never go easy on me. Not if it meant protecting me, and teaching me how to protect myself.

“I sent Luke to watch the other fights. They aren’t making other people put weapons in the middle,” he added.

“Yeah, I’d figured that.” My voice shook a little as the pain in my arm transferred into my hand. Self-healing was doubly painful, and I was a total newbie, so I needed to take it slow. My one goal was to stop the bleeding and form a thin scab. Noah said small healing goals were good and attainable, so I wouldn’t be worrying about tendons and ligaments and all that.

Stop bleeding, form a scab.

Shea’s face finally relaxed; Lincoln had taken a good chunk of the pain, I could tell.

“Oh, I forgot something,” he said.

“Hmm?”

How could there be more?

My boyfriend’s cobalt blue eyes cut right through me. “Stay the hell away from that Abrus demon. He reeks of hellfire.”

The second Lincoln said it, I knew Lucifer had sent the Abrus demon to watch over me. Goose bumps invaded every square inch of my skin, and I was reminded of James’ prophecy. The one they apparently told at Tainted Academy. A far cry from the one our sweet Raphael believed in.

I pinned my eyes on the ceiling, praying for the first time in forever.

God, let me get through this night alive and end up in Angel City by morning.

With my mom.

And all my limbs.

Amen.

Chapter Eighteen

Lincoln hadn’t had time to heal me, as it had taken the entire break time just to re-adhere Shea’s ear. I was exhausted after healing myself, but Shea’s energy spell lozenge was akin to chugging three energy drinks. After taking them, I’d felt zippy and ready to throw down for the next two fights.

They went well. And by well, I mean I’d broken my pinky, probably needed some stiches in my left eyebrow, and was missing some hair from my ponytail, but we’d won. These kids were freaking badass scrappy hood kids. They knew how to survive, but so did we.

When we exited the cage of our third fight, Chloe and Luke were there, but no Lincoln.

“What’s wrong?” I limped over to Chloe, whose face was giving away that something bad had happened.

She immediately lost the ‘something’s wrong’ face and smiled. “Oh, no big deal. Lincoln just… fainted, so my dad’s guys took him back over the border.”

“He fainted!” Oh God. Maybe we overestimated how long the Celestials could be in Demon City. How many hours had passed? I didn’t know, but I was freaking exhausted.

Shea reached out a shaky hand and gave me one of those energy lozenges.

“Thanks.” I popped it on my tongue and my heart jackknifed in my chest as the adrenaline shot through my body.

Limping to the corner that was now our healing space, I struggled to get to my chair. It was basically two chairs and a sleeping bag that had been set up for us. We were fighting every fight in the main cage, whereas other smaller fights were going on outside in the field. It was totally to exploit us. I’d also learned that freaking gray-haired Abrus demon was in charge of the night, and was the one donating the million dollars to the winner. He was front and center for every fight, watching me like a monster watches prey. My leg was killing me, my pinky hurt way more than you’d think a pinky could hurt, and there was no way I could see myself doing four more fights.

“Lincoln’s calling,” Luke said, then thrust his cell phone in my face.

I collapsed into the shitty picnic chair and grabbed the phone. “You okay?” I asked.

“I’m fine. Are you okay?” His voice sounded groggy.

No. I needed a five-hour nap, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, and a million dollars.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I lied.

“Listen, I sent another healer. She’s going to cover the next two fights, and then Noah and I will come back for your big finish. You got this. We’re bringing your mom home.”

He sent a new healer? Who is it?

His pep talk totally made me cry, tears streaming down my cheeks as I fought to keep my emotions in check. “Everything hurts,” I admitted.

He sighed. “I know. You need to reach that point where you’re fighting with something other than your body. Your mind needs to take over. The hurt will heal, you just need to power through.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but it sounded legit.

“Okay.”

“Brielle, I love you and I’m so proud of you.” He sounded tired and defeated. I knew it was killing him not to be there with me every second. It would kill me to not be with him too.

“I love you too,” I told him and hung up.

After taking a deep chug of water, I checked in with my best friend.

“How you doing? Lincoln said he’s sending another healer for the next few fights, and he and Noah will come for the last two and fully patch us up.”

She looked awful, bruised and bloody, probably how I’d look if I checked the mirror, but her spirit wasn’t broken, that I could see. She hated this school, these asshole kids. They’d made their mark on her in her short time here, and she hadn’t forgotten.

“I’m ready for a three-week vacation in Hawaii, but I’m good.” She grinned and her healed lip cracked, dripping blood onto her teeth.

“Looks like you girls are in need of a healer,” a familiar female voice trilled.

I spun in my seat to see Mrs. Greely standing there, clutching her tan purse and looking like a poodle in a pit bull shop.

“Mrs. Greely! You came.” I stood and pulled her in for a hug even though it hurt. When she moved back, she smoothed my hair.

“Of course, dear. Raphael had to bribe the border guards a bit, but I’m here.”

Raphael took part in bribing Demon City border guards? Now, that I would have paid to see.

Mrs. Greely made quick work of resetting and healing my pinky, then moved on to Shea’s elbow. It was hit with some type of damaging spell. A ton of these students were Dark Mages, and they’d clearly been throwing premade spells their advanced teachers had crafted.

During my most recent fight, I’d squared off with a Centaur, hence the split eyebrow. He’d kicked me right in the face! We were lucky each competitor had submitted and we’d yet to have to kill anyone, but I doubted the entire night would go that way.

Shea leaned into me. “The others are getting tired too. We need to be explosive, go big right off the bat, and end these next few quickly.”