Piper Cross, an undercover spy, must relive her past as a child gladiator in order to bring the underground arena to justice.
*****
Growing up gladiator is brutal. The cells are cramped...
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"Get away from him," Jedda warned, summoning an orb of crackling flame.
The other hybrids followed suit, multicoloured globes staining the floor and their terrified faces. It felt like I was suspended in the heart of a Christmas tree, only every bauble had the potential to freeze, transform or explode in my face. My mouth ran dry, tongue scraping over the ribbed palate of its roof as I considered my options. I didn't want to hurt them, but I would if I had to.
"He needs medical attention," I said, turning a slow, wary circle. "A healer."
"Why do you care?" she snapped.
I didn't have an answer ready for that. Why indeed? I asked myself, for it would be better to fight my way free of this place and run until nobody knew my name. Caring was dangerous. A lethal distraction.
Jedda's fire flared brighter. "Get on your knees. Hands behind your head."
"I will do no such thing," I said with a forced calm, trying to work out which of the magical orbs were non-lethal, just in case I needed to take a hit. "The knife is plugging the wound, but I can't leave it there for long. It'll burn a hole through his chest."
"We don't have a healer," she said grudgingly. "Not a proper one. And he's busy with Ethan."
"Then get me a needle and string. Now."
Concern warred with caution in her deep, dark eyes.
"Do you want Isaac to die?" I asked frankly.
"Fine," she bit out. "Somebody get her the medical kit!"
A few of them shifted in place, but nobody moved. The bystander effect, I thought wryly, pointing a clawed fingertip at a long-legged boy up the back. "You do it."
He paled at being singled out, but it worked a charm. The boy ran as fast as his legs could take him, up the stairs and out of sight.
"And grab Mason," Jedda said abruptly, elbowing the girl beside her.
"Me?" she asked, looking a little ill. "But his studio is creepy."
"Now," Jedda hissed.
My lips quirked up in a smile that went nowhere near my eyes. Jedda was a fast learner; I would have to watch carefully to make sure she didn't turn my strategies against me.
The teenager grudgingly turned to do Jedda's bidding, despite being several years her senior. Jedda held some authority here, then; either through her association with Isaac, or because she was capable of terrible things. Tucking away that tidbit of knowledge for later, I took advantage of the opportunity to study the rest of the crowd, which certainly hadn't come from Ridgeview Academy. Some were too young for secondary school, probably plucked straight from the clutches of their vampire overlords, like Isaac. I suspected the others came from Swan Hill Academy, the finishing school Ivy attended before transferring to Ridgeview.
