Emily smiled relieved and raised her hand for another shot. Pérez attacked her at the same time and their volleys strafed each other in a shower of blue sparks. I held my fingers crossed, but Pérez’ attack reached Emily first. She was lifted off her feet and carried across the dojo by the impact. When she hit the floor, it was with a hard thud.

Seconds passed. She didn’t move.

I jumped up and raced to her.

“Get back, Alanna!” Rufus shouted.

I ignored him and tumbled to my knees at Emily’s side, pressing my fingers to her neck.

I didn’t find a pulse. Was it because of my anxiety? Had I missed the spot?

Pérez reached us and dropped to his knees on Emily’s other side.

People pulled at me to drag me away, but I clung to Emily’s still figure. My fingers slipped over her neck with nervous sweat and I still couldn’t find a pulse. It couldn’t be!

“Desist, Alanna. It’s all right.” Kovács was one of the two men tugging at me. He continued talking to me in a soothing tone, trying to calm me down, but I didn’t listen. When he hugged my waist to pull me up, I kicked behind me. He didn’t understand the problem. Emily didn’t breathe!

Kovács enlisted another Guildmaster’s help to lift me and carry me away. I kicked out but the two men were tall and obviously strong, they didn’t even wince.

Over Kovács broad shoulder I saw Pérez push to his feet. He nodded to the other Guildmasters on the dais. Two women stepped from the podium, carrying a golden bundle of cloth with much pomp between them. When they reached Emily, they flung open the cloth with a loud crack of fabric.

I watched helplessly, held in place by Kovács, as the women draped the fabric over Emily, covering first her face and then all of her body. They pulled the loose ends through under her body. With this makeshift stretcher, the women lifted her. Pérez was at her feet, the women held up Emily’s shoulders, and together they carried her lifeless body out of the dojo.

What the hell was going on?

“You killed her?” My voice broke mid-scream.

Nobody said anything. Hell, the mages in the dojo didn’t even look startled or stricken.

“You friggin’ killed her!” I whipped back my fist and felt it connect with Kovács’s nose. Bone crunched under my hand, blood splattered in fat drops on me and the Hungarian’s robe. He cursed and let go of me instinctively to reach for his face. I was free and shivering from rage. What should I do?

Everyone in the dojo was silent. René and Astrid stared at the Guildmasters with panic on their faces. Nobody was freaking raising their voice for this insanity to stop.

“Next!” Rufus called out.

“Are you nuts?” I stalked to the dais. “You just killed Emily.”

Rufus shook his head, but avoided looking at me. “Astrid Persson will duel Ajala Pillai.”

My gaze flew to Astrid. She pushed up from the bench with trembling knees. Even her hands were shaking.

The woman with the bindi who had led Astrid into the dojo walked past me to the middle of the combat space. Astrid followed her, looking dazed.

I ran to her, grabbed her arm. “You can’t. This is madness!”

 “I’ll be all right.” She touched her robes, just at her sternum. “I just might not be a mage.” She looked desperate.

I followed the line of her fingers. They stroked over a bulge under the fabric. Just where my own pendant was sitting right at my sternum.

I pulled her closer. “Did they give you something? Something to use if everything goes wrong?”

Panic blossomed in Astrid’s eyes. “N-no. Of course not.” Her gaze shifted away. She was such a bad liar.

“Who gave it to you? Rufus?”

Astrid shook her head, but she couldn’t look me in the eye.

What was he playing at, giving Astrid and me both a secret out? He had known what we’d be facing, that our very lives were at stake…

I checked out René. If you looked for it, you could spot the shape of the pendant under his robes. Rufus had given us each a cheat to ensure we survived this fight. He’d literally used that word, “survive”. So two weeks ago, it had already been clear how drastic today’s fights would be.

“Ms. Persson. We have to get started.” Pillai stepped nervously from foot to foot. Blue tongues of flames licked around her fingers.

“Use the pendant.” I pressed Astrid’s arm. “Don’t get killed.”

Astrid nodded and took up position opposite Pillai.

“Sit down, Alanna”, Guildmaster Burr ordered me.

I flipped her off and stayed put, ready to intervene. I wouldn’t sit back down to watch this farce. They had killed Emily just because she hadn’t given up. Didn’t they get how important staying at Astoria was for us? That we’d do anything to become members of the Guild of Mages?

Without a word of warning, Pillai shot a spell at Astrid that screeched across the room with a ton of racket and a big light show, like a miniature blue freight train. Astrid stood stock-still in shock. It felt as if the spell barreled at her in slow motion, but with a short distance like this, she only had a second or two to throw up a barrier. We had practiced this, but Astrid only stared at her approaching doom like a rabbit at a snake. She didn’t form any sigils. She didn’t raise a barrier. Her hair lifted with an ominous crackling, then the spell connected and Astrid crashed to the floor like a sack of rice. Seconds later, she still didn’t move.