I wake up with a hell of a headache. The darkroom I'm in has high-barred windows like a basement. Beds stretch out on either side of me. Someone's sleeping in one: a man, tough-looking, bulky, and there's white gauze wrapped around his head. Next to me is a nightstand with a lamp turned on, a bottle of aspirin, and a glass of water. Immediately, I reach for the bottle, but then I'm stopped by a grabbing hand.
"You were badass!" Jace says excitedly.
I snicker. "So it wasn't a dream. Where am I?"
"In the first-aid unit. Backstage of the arena. Healers said you're going to be fine. But dude," Jace adds on. "Do you have any idea how serious this is?" He hands me the aspirin and water. "This is going to blow up all around the universe. This just changed your life forever!"
The pills dissolve with the water in my mouth, and I swallow everything uneasily. "How long was I out for?"
"Only an hour. You had head trauma."
I jolt. "Head trauma! Shouldn't I be dead?"
"The Healers are good at their job," Jace reminds me.
"But what if their high-tech wasn't good enough? Ryan almost killed me. Where is he?"
"Somewhere," Jace answers, and I'm relieved he's still alive. "You hit one of his major arteries. If anything, he almost died." Jace's smile doesn't vanish. As if he enjoyed his teammate almost getting killed. "Ah, man. You have no idea how huge this is. Abigail is going to be so stunned. Nobody in Nightfire has ever come close to beating her precious Ryan. Finally, there's someone to challenge us in the group. Which is all Abigail wanted in the first place."
I put a hand up. "Jace, slow down. This doesn't automatically give me a spot on the team."
"True," Jace says. "But your chances have increased. I knew you could do it!"
"Ryan's going to live, though, right?"
"Will you relax?" Jace says. "Ryan will be fine. All of us have ended up way more critical at brawls. It's all part of the sport. People love it!"
But I recall the people didn't love me. The door swings open. I turn my head painfully and see JT entering the room with the most confused look on his face. He's smiling, like everything he'd just witnessed was a joke. "Okay," he says. "Why Ryan would let him win like that is beyond me."
Jace lifts his eyebrows. "JT, you can't be serious. Sag beat him fair and—"
"No, he didn't, Jace!" JT says irritably. "Come on, man. You know how super strength works. One slap across the face, you're dead. His genetic ability works like a remote control. Ryan can turn it on and off and put as much damage into it as he wants. He was just...putting on a show for all of us!"
Jace shakes his head. "No, man. You have it all wrong. I saw the fight too. Yes, Ryan punched Sag in the face—"
"So he shouldn't be breathing right now!" JT interrupts.
"Let me finish!" Jace shrieks. "If you were a genius, like me, you would know Sag's blasts were weakening Ryan's ability. Sag blast Ryan first, remember?"
"Oh, that's a bunch of bull!" JT quacks. "And you know it!"
"I also know Sag has the potential to create forcefields with his molecular manipulation," Jace continues. "The explosions were weakening Ryan's strength. How combustion works is—"
"Whatever. I don't have time for these science lessons," JT says irritably. "Because nobody else in this damn amphitheater believes it. And neither do I. Sorry."
I readjust myself on the bed. "What are you talking about?"
"It's all over the news," JT complains. "How Ryan let a Nightfire trainee win a match. And it kind of pisses me off, actually. How we all promised we wouldn't lose for each other. May the best man win. Remember that Jace?"
"And what's Ryan saying about all of this, then?" Jace asks back.
"He's saying no comment like a wuss."
A part of me is sure I beat Ryan, honestly. Especially when I grabbed the gun, blasted the spear out of his hands, and shot him—no chance he would purposely let me do that. But I also see the look of genuine shock on JT's face. "I don't think that's true," I mutter.
"Well, you beating Ryan is a joke," JT says. "There's no comparison between you two."
My temper flares. "Why can't you believe that I beat him?"
"Because I saw the fight!" JT shouts. "They have it on tape! Ryan had so many chances to take you out but didn't. He should have had you easy. And I'm done talking about this." He opens the door to leave, and a figure is already standing in the doorway. They're both caught by surprise.
It's Julio. "James Tyler..." he greets JT. "Good to see you."
"We're leaving now," JT says. "I hope you had your fun tonight." And he leaves the room.
Julio looks drunker than before. He takes one look at me, and I intuitively know I'm not off the hook that easily. "What are you still doing here?" he demands at me. "You're dismissed."
I'm waiting for him to say more. "We had a deal," I remind him.
"Ryan let you win, my friend," Julio explains. "We're at a stalemate. You're not going to forfeit the tournament. You're not going to work for me. And I'm not going to give you the Brigadier badge. End of discussion."
So, I came all this way for nothing? "I need that badge!" I beg.
"Sag," Jace hisses at me. "Just let it go..."
Let it go? How can he say that? That spaceship is my only hope of finding Frankie. It's my only hope to stay in this tournament. I can't just let it go.
"Hold up for me, will you?" Jace asks. "I need to find JT."
I slowly realize we are letting it go. This is it, I think. My elimination in the tournament has officially come. There's nothing I can do. With no Brigadier badge, that means no access to Earth. No moving on. Worst of all, no way to reach Frankie. Defeat, exhaustion, and rejection overwhelm me as I process the previous events. My mind disorientates to a point I don't realize I walk out of the amphitheater.
At the bottom of my heart, I knew I wasn't going to win this tournament but never knew when the day would come. And what a horrible way for me to leave. For months now, I've been trying to push back the undeniable stress about where to go after no more hospitality from Nightfire. Where am I going to sleep? What will I do for a living? Is anyone going to hire me afterward? Certainly not A'Dimsyte. I'm insignificant.
My deep stress comes to a pause when I see Ryan standing yards out in the savannah from the corner of my eye. Though the grass hides most of him, I recognize his blond hair as the cold breeze tickles his tips. I join him in his gaze at the fantasy night sky.
"I'd appreciate it if you leave me alone," he says first. "Don't you have a tournament to do?"
"No," I say. "I'm out of the tournament."
Ryan avoids eye contact with me. "Then what do you want?"
I'm not surprised by his behavior. "I wanna talk about that fight," I say. "I guess Julio paid you the four-million roubles, yeah?"
Ryan shakes his head. "That coward betrayed me, too. When he told me I forfeited, he only gave me a hundred and said I was lucky to get that. You were rather good out there."
Maybe he didn't let me win. Guess I'll never know. "Thanks."
"Your aim on those blasts still needs work. And when you swing the spear, try more support for a better impact."
"I guess I have a lot of training to do," I say.
"Least you're not blaming your mistakes on someone else," Ryan mentions. "That happens a lot in Nightfire."
"I've noticed," I say. "Look, just because I'm weaker than you doesn't mean you had to take it easy on me."
Ryan snickers. "You know what they say about you?" he says. "You lose the battles, but you win the wars." He looks at me more closely in a very insightful way. "Nice genetic ability."
"Thanks."
"Never did lose a one-on-one yet, did you?"
I have. In fact, I haven't won a single mission in the entire tournament. In terms of scoring, I've been consistently top five, but never first. Technically, Search and Destroy doesn't count because it was interrupted. "You don't think this one counted?" I mutter.
"Do you always believe what the media says?" Ryan asks.
"I don't get why you let me win. I don't deserve anything. And I think you are way over your head."
Ryan looks at me questionably. "What do you mean?"
"Whoever Abigail is looking for...it's not me."
Ryan's blue eyes are full of dark pain and wisdom that had scarred him in the past. "Not from what I just saw," he says. "Win this or not, you're good at surviving. I saw it in there. I see it now."
Jace must be looking for me. He's met up with JT by now, somewhere, and is waiting for me inside the arena. I start heading back. "I gotta go."
Ryan calls after me. "Sag, wait up!"
I turn curiously. Ryan reaches into his pocket for his wallet. Inside one of the slots is his old Brigadier's badge that he's kept over the months. It looks a little different than Danny's, updated recently.
"I can take you there," Ryan offers. "I can get you through the gates at Seeker Headquarters where we keep the Athena. But from there, you're on your own."
It can't be that easy. Surreal almost. I'm confident he wouldn't do that for another competitor if they were in my position. "Why are you telling me this?"
"I feel like you deserve it. You proved yourself today."
I'm standing there, wanting to hug him, but that would be too much. There's a massive smile on my face, and I can't believe a miracle presents itself to me. "Wow! Ryan, thank you."
"You better get there now before those other fools beat you."
I laugh. "Sounds like you hate my other competitors."
Ryan nods. "Can't stand any of you frat guys." He doesn't fond me very much, yet he tolerates me enough to where he'll give me his Brigadier badge temporarily. So, I can't argue with that.
JT can't believe the amount of luck I have. No doubt he's going to have a lengthy argument with Ryan about this later. I'm not sure if JT thinks I'm about to replace him on the team, or if he thinks I'm stealing his crush, or he just thinks I'm coming in and taking the spotlight from him. But whatever it is, it's jealousy. It's killing him inside. Pretty soon, unfortunately, he's going to savor my downfall because my luck will eventually run out.
Not that Jace doesn't want to go with me through the warp gate. It's because he can't. His ranking can only take him so far.
Jace calls out for me before I leave with Ryan. "Sag, try to have fun while you're there. You're going back to your home planet, you know? A lot of us don't have that opportunity. I hope you have a fun time."
The travel there isn't talkative between Ryan and me. I comment Christmas, how Chris is hosting a party, and he replies with a sluggish, "I know he is."
We finally make it to the warp gate, and there's a long line waiting to use it.
"Getting to Earth has a lot of security," Ryan explains. "You'll need my fingerprint, too."
The line is moving fast. I'm already ten people behind the front. "This is far as you're going to take me?" I ask a little nervously, and he nods. "Where's the warp gate going to take me?"
"The hangars," he replies. "You're not going to see any Seekers because they're not allowed in that area. But A'Dimsyte, maybe Abigail, will be waiting and also your brilliant competitors." He's sarcastic on the word.
Once we're at the front of the line, Ryan uses his Brigadier badge at the computer, uses his fingerprint for DNA matching, and the warp gate turns on. The ring fills with a clear, spiraling wormhole, beyond lies victory, where I will be safe for at least one more week.
"Get going," Ryan says.
The warp gate takes me to Seeker Headquarters, but a completely different sector. Technically, I'm not supposed to be here right now. But we'll see how this turns out.
This room looks darker compared to the others, at least since the last time I was here. Almost spooky. This part of Seeker Headquarters isolates from the central station. I can see it out the window. Outer space is in my grasp. I can see the planets orbiting at their winter coordinates around the sun. And out the window, just below me, I know there are the space docks. There is only one spacecraft unloaded and ready for takeoff. That must be Athena!
No one else is around, but I assume the docks are where I must go. I'm the first one here. Then again, competitors might already be inside. According to Danny, the race doesn't officially end until I'm inside the Athena.
Dashing down the hallway, I come to a halt at a weapons table. Somebody left a powerful Amorcore rifle. It's able to kill anyone whose muscle fibers are more robust than titanium. Something much stronger than the Cristal Rifle. I remember the history lesson from Amanda. The gun was invented to stop villains who had Super strength. If only I had this gun during my fight with Ryan. They're exceedingly rare and even illegal on some planets. Who could have left it here?
"I should have told them the truth..." a voice says. "At least A'Dimsyte would have believed me."
My heart freezes into a state of panic. Somebody's coming! Two shadows on the wall grow more extensive in the light. They're about to turn the corner, and I can hear their shuffling feet. I tense up, recognizing the voices. Danny must be getting all sorts of dirty information from Frankie as I asked him to. Good. But I can't let them see me. I instantly turn back around and hide behind a wall.
"It would have been your word against his," Danny says. "Besides, you know how paranoid the Seekers can be when it comes to the Orichalcum. They'll believe whatever they want. I think what you did was right."
"I refuse to believe Isabelle is setting me up," Frankie says. "She's been so good to me. She has connections to put me in Nightfire. But what am I supposed to do now?" He sounds scared.
I hear their footsteps come to a halt. "If I were you," Danny says. "I would keep playing this out. The media will be all over this. You'll become a legend. Your career will skyrocket."
"Hm," Frankie says. "I've always wanted to be a hero."
My hiding spot behind the wall might reveal soon if they keep coming in my direction. But they've stopped walking. I think they're at the weapons table, tinkering with the Amorcore gun. One of them reloads it.
"So the Orichalcum..." Danny begins. "Can I see it?"
"I gave it to Isabelle already," Frankie replies. "His dad had it the entire time."
"You found his dad?" Danny is horrified, and so am I.
I can't keep myself hidden from them anymore. After Frankie mentions something like that, there's no choice but to confront him. My legs start moving involuntarily. The idea comes to mind to threaten him with the Amorcore gun. But Danny is wielding it. With quick reflexes, I snatch it out of his weapons belt, fast as a blur, and aim it directly at them with my finger on the trigger. They're speechless. I savor the fear in Frankie's eyes. He knows I heard everything he said.
"You found my dad?" I demand.
"Sag, wait!" Danny frantically cries. "You don't know the full story here."
"I don't need to hear the full story," I say through my teeth, not lowering the gun. "Just tell me why you were at my house." Frankie stares at me like anyone with a gun facing them should. He's quick enough to put up a forcefield, but we both know a bullet from an Amorcore is strong enough to penetrate through.
"We're almost at the Athena, Sag," Danny reasons. "The finish line is right there at the docks. It's right there! Let the three of us move on. We can talk about this, then."
I shake my head, pushing the gun barrel as far as I can towards Frankie's face without moving my feet. "Frankie isn't moving on until he tells me."
Frankie looks at Danny for some kind of approval and hesitates while his mouth twitches. "What do you want to hear?" Frankie says. "That I'm working with the Cluster?" He scoffs, and I'm not sure what he's saying is true or not, but I've been trying to convince him to confess that forever. "Yeah..." he whispers. "Yeah, your cowardly father got what he deserved."
My temper flares to a point where I need to release my negative energy through genetic abilities and not the Amorcore. The blast bounces off his forcefield as expected. He makes a run for it, but I chase after him.
"Sag, no!" Danny cries.
I sprint. The use of the Amorcore is deadly. The shots I'm firing are loud, and they're piercing through countless layers of metal. Destroying everything around us, and Seekers aren't here to stop us. During the chase, we interrupt Cody and Justin's little struggle. Their fight looks like child's play compared to what Frankie and I are throwing at each other: countless blasts, forcefields exploding, and releasing aftershocks. They even manage to stop and gasp at us.
"Somebody, stop him!" Frankie cries, but neither of them does.
On the contrary, I hear Justin calling out: "Yeah, Sag! Kick his butt!"
"Frankie, you can't escape this!" I shout.
There's no doubt in my mind he's making a run for the Athena spacecraft. I plan to cut him off downstairs. We split up, and I burst into the stairwell. On my way down, I trip on one of the steps and fall to the next floor. If there wasn't so much adrenaline pumping, I think I would've stopped to relieve my bruising. However, my feet keep running down another flight and to the first floor. I run to the next corridor and see the sealed, vault-like doors up ahead. They lead to the Athena! I don't see Frankie yet. A sure sign I'll beat him here.
By the time I reach the handle of the door, Frankie appears out of nowhere and tackles me to the ground. I push my knuckles up to the side of his face, knocking him off me. But he makes a run for it again, moving so fast he has time to open the vault door before I can make it to my feet. He closes the door on me. I must spin the giant wheel to open it again. Out of breath, my arms frantically circulate on the big doorknob. He's still in there. I can hear him.
I step inside the next room and gasp. "Whoa!" For a moment, I think I'm drifting away in outer space, but I'm standing on some kind of glass floor. It's amazing. The Seekers have their restricted hangar, made from unbreakable glass, built-in outer space.
I take my first step forward and am startled by how much the gravity has dropped. I'm light as a snowflake! And capable of moving faster than usual. I desperately look around for Frankie. The hangar is vast, possibly a few acres, where a boarding dock leads inside the Athena. The massive spacecraft, dark purple, and the engine turned on, is almost ready for launch. I don't see Frankie anywhere near it. Maybe Danny's right. I should just finish the race with them, and then we can discuss everything later. But a part of me doesn't want to give up the leverage. I'm desperate to threaten his position in the tournament if he doesn't tell me where my dad is. "Where are you?" I mutter.
There he is! I chase after him, jumping across the boarding dock, using the lack of gravity to my advantage. Sometimes twirling and then landing effortlessly on both feet. I lose control but don't injure myself. Then continue soaring through the docks. My speed is twice the average rate, but he beats me to the ramp. He jumps up, over twenty feet into the air, and stumbles. Just as he's about to dive inside the spacecraft, finishing the race, I jump onto the ramp and tackle him just in the nick of time.
We're hovering in the air, sometimes falling but then flowing again. He has no choice but to escape by leaping away from the spacecraft. I blast him. The lack of gravity makes the flames more powerful. His forcefield is up, covering him like a hamster ball as he ascends away. I try to find a good angle on him. When I use the Amorcore gun, the bullets move slower than before. Quiet enough, he can easily dodge them. He even laughs about it, but the smile quickly vanishes when my sudden blast comes an inch away from his face.
Frankie zooms toward the stern of the Athena and disappears. I hunt him down, soaring under the right-wing. But he's not there. I look behind where the main engines are; he's not there either. No! Oh, no, I think. I can't lose him. Not like this—
A vault door seals shut. "FRANKIE!" It must be him! Becoming impatient with my speed, I use my blasts to create an engine for myself. Fire shoots out of my hands like a rocket, and I'm catapulted forward. I open the vault door and step into a small compartment of the hangar. There're only two exits. The one I came in from, and one leads straight into outer space. Suits are available to breathe out there, hanging on the hooks beside us. No way Frankie has enough time to assemble into one. He's trapped, knows it, and the trauma grows in his eyes.
"Hi, Frankie..." I say pleasantly, closing the vault door behind me. CLANK! I have him all to myself. The Amorcore gun wields in my grasp.
"Please," he begs. "Don't."
"Where's my dad?" I demand.
Frankie puts his hands up cautiously. His intense breathing means he's terrified for his life to end at the hands of me. I've never seen him like this before. So scared. So terrified. And right when I'm feeling sympathy, obligated to show mercy, I remember he doesn't deserve it. I've said multiple times there would be a day when I will blow up Frankie into ashes. Tonight's the night.
I'm prepared for forcefield attacks he might use against me. The standoff makes my heart pound a million beats per minute as I impatiently wait for his answer. "I don't know—" he says, breaking off as he reacts to my fists assuming the position. "If you try to blow me up, the shockwave will send us floating out of here, and we'll suffocate."
He's right. There isn't a way to blow him up without creating a shockwave. The darkroom we're in is limited. I almost don't care about the outcome. "Guess you better start telling me the truth, then."
Frankie shakes his head. "Why in the hell do you think I know where your dad is?"
"You found the Orichalcum from him!" I cry. "Where is he?"
"Whatever I tell you, you're not going to believe me," he says. "Why should I tell you anything?"
"I'll send our butts to outer space if you don't," I warn.
"You're not going to do that."
"Try me." My fingers flick without hesitation, and Frankie's eyes go huge. I don't hear myself screaming. Unpredictably, the blast doesn't destroy the room. If air is escaping violently, I suspect alarms to go off. There isn't. There is a shockwave, but it doesn't evaporate. Instead, it's protecting me...like a forcefield. It must be Frankie's, but I swear his looks different than what I'm seeing before me. This particular forcefield is orange, glowing, and an electric current streams through. No way I'm doing this. Yet I am. My hands are up, and I can feel the energy, the connection, and the power.
"You..." Frankie stutters. "You can make forcefields."
I don't stop. I can't stop. It divides Frankie and me like a wall, so we can't attack each other. If it does lower, he might make his move. This puts us at a stalemate. "Where's my dad?" I ask again.
Frankie stares at me through the orangey, transparent forcefield. "Think about what he's doing!" he cries. "How many people are going to die because of him?"
My nerves take over, and I lose control of the forcefield. It evaporates, and I'm dizzy. Even though there's nothing to protect me with, Frankie surprisingly doesn't attack me.
"I'm not letting you take over this universe," he says.
Red completely takes over. I try to control it, breathing heavily, sweating... Savagely, I raise the Amorcore to his face and rest my finger on the trigger. "Last chance."
There are moments when Frankie tries to smile to torment me, but his bluff is noticeable a mile away. "No!" he growls. "I'll die for this universe if I have to."
I start questioning my sanity. Everything Frankie has ever done to me—the bullying, the mocking, the beating, severe abuse—my emotions spur fireworks. A piece of metal blasts from the wall because of me. Involuntarily, I try to kill Frankie indeed. I want to see his blood, his body in pain—all of it!
I cannot remember whatever happened in the last twenty seconds, but it's terrifying to have skipped time like that. I find myself on top of Frankie with bloody fists. His nose breaks, blood smearing, and there are purple bruises all over his cheeks. Worst of all, I notice one of the Amorcore bullets pierces through his stomach. A part of me is in disbelief, but another part—a much more significant scary part of me—wishes the cameras were here to see this right now.