CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

THE TEST OF WILLS

The second arena is covered in flames from the bottom of the cave floor all the way to the top of the cavern. The heat has settled into their surroundings, filling the cave with an uncomfortable warmth and intensity that instantly makes them sweat. Jack looks away. Somehow he knows this is his challenge.

“The second challenge is the Test of Wills,” says the voice. “We have chosen Jack the Giant Stalker to perform it.”

He knew it.

“No magic is allowed. To move on to the next and final test, you must walk through the flames to the other side. Begin.”

“Jack!” says Filomena.

He turns to her. She’s frantic. “In the books, the Test of Wills is not only about willpower but also about mind power. If you can recognize the unreal for what it is, you can succeed. If you can put your mind over the mischief in front of you, you can manage. It’s not real. It’s just a test of your mind and your will to survive.”

“You will. Survive, I mean,” says Alistair with a cheer-up grin. “You’re Jack Stalker.”

Before Jack can thank them, Filomena and Alistair are disappeared from his side with a whoosh. When he looks up, he sees them in a cavern not unlike the one in which he and Filomena watched Alistair.

His stomach twists, and his eyes water. For he knows his friends are going to watch him burn. Because he can’t do this.

Jack gazes into the fire.

He’s Jack the Giant Stalker. The boy who bested the giant. What did Filomena call him? The “dashing hero” of the story. But it’s not true. He was no hero. Not when he was needed most.

When he looks into the growing inferno, all he can see is the way the fire danced over his village, destroying everything in its path. He was coming back from the giant’s feast when he saw it: the shack his family lived in, covered in flames. He heard their screams. He ran toward the blaze. He made it inside the house.

There was smoke everywhere, and he couldn’t see.

Then he heard it, the sickening crash of the roof.

He had to run out before he was killed.

The screams stopped.

They were dead. His mother, his brother. It had been just the three of them, and now it was just Jack.

He was burnt. He hadn’t realized until villagers pushed him down, rolled him, and put out the flames. At first he wouldn’t let the pixies heal him. He wanted to remember the pain of that moment.

Even though his scars have since healed, he will never forget. He looks down at the vines covering his arms. They’re in stasis; they can’t help him now. No magic is allowed, and no magic will work in this arena. This is just him and the fire.

Jack wills his feet to move.

But he can’t.

Move, he says to himself, grimacing. Move.

The flames dance closer.

If he doesn’t move, the fire will move to him.

He takes one small step forward. He’s covered in sweat, dripping from his forehead to his nose.

His home, burning. His mother’s screams. His brother’s pain.

He walks into the fire, the flaming path before him burning a mixture of bright oranges, yellows, and reds. It engulfs him; he can feel it, his face, his hair, his body. He’s burning.

No!

He isn’t.

It’s a test.

A test of will.

He can believe he’s burning, or he can—what did Filomena say?—put his mind above the mischief and he will succeed.

With enormous effort, Jack pushes aside the past, the memories that have haunted him for years. He drowns out the screams and replaces them with silence. He focuses on walking forward, ignoring the burning of his hands, the fire that is all around him.

He couldn’t save his family. But he can save his friends.

He can do this.

He keeps walking even though he can no longer feel his feet.

And at last he is through.

The flames are behind him.

He looks at his hands. They are the same, unburnt. He is whole. He collapses when he reaches the other end of the arena.

But his friends are there to catch him.

Filomena is crying. Alistair looks like a ghost.

“You did it,” she whispers.

“Badass,” says Alistair. “I learned that word in the mortal world.” He asks Filomena, “That’s right, isn’t it?”

She smiles. “Totally.”

The booming voice returns. “Congratulations. You have made it to the third and final challenge. Filomena Jefferson-Cho of North Pasadena, you must pass this test or fail your quest. Continue to the next arena.”