best
in the qualifying round, but she was still just one girl, up
against a never-ending army of beasts. Why had this seemed like
such a good idea? Why had she thought she could take it?
She closed her eyes. Fear made her tense and
shaky, both of which hindered her ability to fight. She needed to
think about something to relax herself. The first comforting image
that popped into her head was Connor’s friendly smile, but the warm
feeling it brought quickly disappeared as she recalled what she’d
done to him. She hadn’t been allowed to see him since she knocked
him out, and though she’d considered finding a way to sneak into
his room anyway, she’d known he wouldn’t want to see her.
The thought of facing his accusing eyes had
been unbearable.
Realizing that she was letting her mind
wander, she brought her focus sharply back to her surroundings. The
last thing she needed was for the fangbeast to catch her while she
was lost in thought. Now she regarded the burnt shells of broken
buildings towering over her, some of them looking ominously close
to collapsing. Cracked, faded signs hung crooked over the dark
doorways, which led to rooms littered with destroyed furniture. A
featureless gray sky stretched overhead, and the smell of rotten
garbage mixed with ashes wafted through the air.
“ Manhattan,” she muttered
to herself, repeating the name of the dead city. “Weird thing to
call a city.”
She and the other champions had each been
given a motorbike to get around, a mini Procul Mirror to see what
was being broadcast to the viewers across the globe, and a simple
instruction: Find the fangbeast and kill it. A handful of
Sentinels, cloaked in invisibility, were flying above the city with
Eye Stones to capture the action, watching her every move. And
Williams wanted her to beg them to save her from the monster.
Screw that. I’m going to
kill it. She was more determined than ever
to win this competition, now that she’d seen how serious it was.
The Enchanter who’d been mauled by the manticore had only been the
first of the contestants to fall. At least a third of the nominated
Defenders and Enchanters had been killed in the qualifying round –
felled by monsters in gruesome, terrifying ways. But while that
fact disturbed her, she couldn’t let it distract her from her
goal.
Norms around the world
were counting on her, and she refused to let the Triumvirate get
away with their plot. They were setting people up to die, and
counting on the Norms to die first, so that the Enchanters had a
reason to stay in power. But if she , a Norm, killed the fangbeast,
then their scheme would be ruined.
With that in mind, she jumped onto her
motorbike and sped down the empty asphalt streets, narrowing her
eyes against the wind.
Where to start? She knew from fangbeast lore that they liked
ashes, and were attracted to supernatural fire. But this city was
full of ashes, and she didn’t have anything magical on her. That
didn’t leave her very many options. So she’d start the hard way –
by driving around and searching until she found the
beast.
Suddenly, the motorbike’s engine went dead.
Aurelia tried to restart it, but nothing happened, and she tensed,
feeling beads of sweat form on her face. This was no time for the
bike to fail her. It could have been a mechanical malfunction, but
given where she was, she knew better than that. A haunted,
destroyed city like Manhattan was certainly home to more than a few
spirits, and their presence would cause anything mechanical to
fail.
Something supernatural was lurking.
She jumped off her bike and pulled her
double swords out of the sheaths strapped to her back. The
temperature around her dropped, but she wasn’t sure if it was
actually growing colder, or whether her own nervousness was
chilling her. Even the overcast sky seemed to grow darker. The
hollow concrete buildings around her trembled, filling the air with
a low rumble, and then the ground beneath her feet shook. An
in the qualifying round, but she was still just one girl, up
against a never-ending army of beasts. Why had this seemed like
such a good idea? Why had she thought she could take it?
She closed her eyes. Fear made her tense and
shaky, both of which hindered her ability to fight. She needed to
think about something to relax herself. The first comforting image
that popped into her head was Connor’s friendly smile, but the warm
feeling it brought quickly disappeared as she recalled what she’d
done to him. She hadn’t been allowed to see him since she knocked
him out, and though she’d considered finding a way to sneak into
his room anyway, she’d known he wouldn’t want to see her.
The thought of facing his accusing eyes had
been unbearable.
Realizing that she was letting her mind
wander, she brought her focus sharply back to her surroundings. The
last thing she needed was for the fangbeast to catch her while she
was lost in thought. Now she regarded the burnt shells of broken
buildings towering over her, some of them looking ominously close
to collapsing. Cracked, faded signs hung crooked over the dark
doorways, which led to rooms littered with destroyed furniture. A
featureless gray sky stretched overhead, and the smell of rotten
garbage mixed with ashes wafted through the air.
“ Manhattan,” she muttered
to herself, repeating the name of the dead city. “Weird thing to
call a city.”
She and the other champions had each been
given a motorbike to get around, a mini Procul Mirror to see what
was being broadcast to the viewers across the globe, and a simple
instruction: Find the fangbeast and kill it. A handful of
Sentinels, cloaked in invisibility, were flying above the city with
Eye Stones to capture the action, watching her every move. And
Williams wanted her to beg them to save her from the monster.
Screw that. I’m going to
kill it. She was more determined than ever
to win this competition, now that she’d seen how serious it was.
The Enchanter who’d been mauled by the manticore had only been the
first of the contestants to fall. At least a third of the nominated
Defenders and Enchanters had been killed in the qualifying round –
felled by monsters in gruesome, terrifying ways. But while that
fact disturbed her, she couldn’t let it distract her from her
goal.
Norms around the world
were counting on her, and she refused to let the Triumvirate get
away with their plot. They were setting people up to die, and
counting on the Norms to die first, so that the Enchanters had a
reason to stay in power. But if she , a Norm, killed the fangbeast,
then their scheme would be ruined.
With that in mind, she jumped onto her
motorbike and sped down the empty asphalt streets, narrowing her
eyes against the wind.
Where to start? She knew from fangbeast lore that they liked
ashes, and were attracted to supernatural fire. But this city was
full of ashes, and she didn’t have anything magical on her. That
didn’t leave her very many options. So she’d start the hard way –
by driving around and searching until she found the
beast.
Suddenly, the motorbike’s engine went dead.
Aurelia tried to restart it, but nothing happened, and she tensed,
feeling beads of sweat form on her face. This was no time for the
bike to fail her. It could have been a mechanical malfunction, but
given where she was, she knew better than that. A haunted,
destroyed city like Manhattan was certainly home to more than a few
spirits, and their presence would cause anything mechanical to
fail.
Something supernatural was lurking.
She jumped off her bike and pulled her
double swords out of the sheaths strapped to her back. The
temperature around her dropped, but she wasn’t sure if it was
actually growing colder, or whether her own nervousness was
chilling her. Even the overcast sky seemed to grow darker. The
hollow concrete buildings around her trembled, filling the air with
a low rumble, and then the ground beneath her feet shook. An
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