Ember
I walk in with Stu to a shadow-filled hallway under the stands, and I stare into the huge arena. Dozens of rows of seats rise at an angle from the oval-shaped dirt floor. Summer stands on the far side facing the judges’ box—a raised platform halfway down in the stands—where Shapeshifter speaks to her from. In his Guardian outfit, I half expect him to shift into a white tiger at any moment and jump into the arena.
“How are you feeling, Ember?” Stu asks.
A shiver travels up my spine, and my heartbeat quickens. “A bit nervous, I guess.” Especially since I can no longer trust Stu, according to Aiden.
“You have nothing to worry about.” Stu pinches the corner of his mustache. “A girl with parents like yours will have no problem getting into the program.”
His words feel like they slice me, and I flinch. “I hope that’s not the only reason I get in. Nepotism doesn’t sit well with me.”
Stu harrumphs and tugs on the lapels of his green plaid suit. It’s too small for him to button over his stomach. “Your name carries weight. You’d do well to remember that.”
I tighten my lips, unsure how to respond. What does someone say to that? It’s not like I could’ve controlled who my parents were.
Summer heads my way with a smile, seemingly untouched from her test other than her black-and-white hair being a bit wilder. We give each other a polite nod. “Good luck,” she says and turns out of sight, heading toward the waiting room.
My nose scrunches. An unpleasant smell, though faint, tickles my nose. It’s like burning tar mixed with rotten eggs.
Stu gags. “No wonder why she took out her opponent so fast.”
“Ember Vulterra,” Shapeshifter calls out. “You’re up.”
Stu says some sort of encouraging words, but I ignore him and walk forward. Shapeshifter stands strong, with his chin in the air. Bone Piercer and Valentino stand slightly behind him. Valentino is still a sight in white, glowing like a soft hum, and Bone Piercer’s ruby-eyed skull on his belt glimmers, as if it registers my approach.
The five mentors sit behind them: Jomo, Sally, Lewis, Billy, and Aiden. Lewis’s skin reflects Sally like a mirror, and she stares at it while applying lipstick. Jomo stares at me coldly and crosses his arms. Billy gives me a thumbs up, and his skin is a blend of silver, yellow, and blue. But it’s Aiden I focus on. His skin seems paler, almost as white as his hair. His smile is strained. I wish I could talk to him right now. Whatever he learned about Stu had to be bad for him to look so unnerved.
“Good afternoon, Miss Vulterra,” Shapeshifter says. His eyes crease with his smile. “I’m glad you’ve finally decided to follow in your parents’ footsteps.”
I stand straighter and swallow back my nerves. “I’m excited to be given this opportunity to prove my worthiness.”
“And I’m sure you will.” He glances at a clipboard in his hands. “Let’s get started, shall we? You’re paired with Carly Marzolla.”
Even if I’m not too thrilled about this, since I know Carly won’t show any mercy, I’m excited about having the chance to knock some sense into her.
Aiden side glances at Billy, with a frown.
Billy drops his head into his hands.
Shapeshifter stares behind me. “Carly, come forward please.”
There’s a faint crunching of footsteps on the dirt.
Carly enters from where I was moments ago. Even with the black bodysuit, she’s a vision of pink, with her bubblegum-pink skin, dark spiky magenta hair, and matching eyes. She puts her weight on one foot, causing her hip to pop, and places her hand there. “I’m going to enjoy this,” she says with a smirk.
I sigh, already tired of her attitude.
“Ember, please take your place on the black spot on the eastside of the stadium, and, Carly, take the spot on the westside,” Valentino orders. “A bell will sound when you are to begin, and it’ll signal again when to stop. When it does, you must cease your attacks immediately. Do you understand?”
Carly and I say, “Yes,” in unison.
We stride to our respective dots and face each other. An unexpected ball of worry forms in my stomach. I’ve never battled against someone who I haven’t seen use their abilities. Even if Aiden briefed me on his classmates’ powers, it’s not like I really understand what Carly can do with her bubbles.
Ding.
Baseball-sized pink bubbles emerge from Carly’s arms and hurtle straight for me. I dive to the side, and they stick onto the wall behind me, bobbling. My eyes burn, and I dig my fingers into the dirt, absorbing an intense amount of thermal energy. More bubbles come, and I get on one knee, forming a heat blast. It shoots off like a light beam, bursting all the bubbles in its path.
Carly laughs. “Is that really all you got?”
My lips curl.
I stand, and a bright orange aura of energy encircles me. Tendrils of heat energy swirl around my arms. The light of my abilities reflects in Carly’s eyes like the sun on a hot day.
We size each other up, not sure who will make the next move. Carly raises her arms, and bubbles separate from them, like they’re bubble wands. They float over her and hover. I run toward her, using my energy to boost my speed. My hands mimic balls of fire, ready to meet their target. Carly smirks, and one of her bubbles comes for me, expanding almost double my size. I panic and dodge it just in the nick of time, slamming into the ground and knocking the wind out of me.
A mixture of anger and annoyance boils inside me—not toward Carly but toward myself. I should’ve thrown a heat blast instead of trying to attempt hand-to-hand combat. What am I thinking? I can’t afford to make these kinds of stupid mistakes.
Carly walks toward me, and my eyes widen.
In the time I fell to the ground, she somehow managed to create hundreds of bubbles. They float around her like a protective barrier. I scurry to my feet to resume my attack, but the bubbles come for me like a frenzy of bats. My attempts to hit them with energy blasts fail, and one gets through. It sticks to me like a wad of bubblegum and crawls up my arm. I shake my arm frantically, trying to get rid of it, but it’s no use. The thermal energy in me swells, attempting to burn it away, but dozens more attach to me, and they feel like mice running up my body. Some of the bubbles turn to ash on my skin, but more take their place. I fall backward onto the ground, and my heart races with panic. The swarm seems never-ending.
Carly kneels next to me and keeps her voice low. “You’re so pathetic. Aiden should be with someone like me, who can match his skills.”
Her saying Aiden’s name like this while she’s still with Billy ignites my anger all over again; this time it is aimed at her.
An enormous surge of thermal energy expels from me like a shockwave. Carly flies backward quite a few feet. All the bubbles pop, and the ones on my skin disintegrate. I stand, and my aura burns brighter with a new intensity. My skin pulsates with the amount of power flowing through my veins.
Carly jumps to her feet and creates two boulder-sized bubbles. They join in the middle, creating a bubble larger than one of Stella’s eight-foot-tall rock golems. It’s on me quicker than a blink of an eye, shoving me roughly through the rubberlike wall, swallowing me whole. I gasp for air, and my eyes adjust to the pink dome.
A shadow approaches the barrier. “Aw,” Carly teases. “Seems like you’re in a sticky situation, huh?”
I close my eyes to focus on the thermal energy rushing through me and to manipulate it like a hurricane inside the dome. My aura burns hotter, taking more energy from the earth. With a loud snap, the dome breaks, collapsing around me. Carly stumbles.
I can’t help but grin. “Is that all you got?”
Anger drenches Carly’s face. “Why you little—” she yells, coming straight for me with bubbles posed to attack.
The hurricane around me swoops outward, capturing her in its waves of energy, and slams her against the ground, face down. The bubbles burst, and she’s motionless. I rein in the thermal energy to calm the storm and head toward her to see if she’s knocked out. When I reach her side, she flips onto her back, panting hard. Her eyes are full of pure hatred—aimed at me.
My heat blast is aimed, ready to meet her face, but… I don’t move. It’s so stupid that she hates me this much, and it’s painfully obvious that it’s just because Aiden and I chose each other.
Pink whips snap like rubber bands separating from her arms. They hit my nose with a breaking blow.
Pain shoots through my skull, and I stumble, with blood rushing down my face. Dozens of Carly’s bubbles attack me, and they’re solid, like actual rubber balls, promising bruises where each one hits. One smashes into the middle of my face, and the pain is blinding, I fall to my knees. Black spots form in my vision, but I still can see Carly laughing in the distance.
“I’ve got more where that came from!” she taunts. Hundreds of baseball-sized bubbles rise from her arms and form a fortress around her. A shadow falls over her face, making her grin look evil. “Is the Guardians’ daughter ready to give up yet?”
Though I want to retaliate, weakness drowns my muscles. How in the world can she keep making so many of those bubbles? Can I really stand a chance against her? Maybe I should accept that I’m not cut out for the Defender program. Carly has been training for months, probably years, and it shows. Even with all the training I’ve done with Aiden and Stella, it’s not enough to make up for the years I didn’t use my abilities.
“I believe in you, Em,” Aiden’s voice echoes in my mind. “You just need to believe in yourself.”
A new sense of determination rises in me. Aiden was right. It’s time for me to believe in myself. That’s the only way I’m going to be able to pull through this.
Like a living flame, thermal energy teases my fingertips on the ground. I take a deep breath, allowing the energy to circulate throughout me and escalate to an inferno—the same inferno that I used to destroy Jill those months ago. The pressure escalates inside me, and my body trembles. Every inch of me is glowing, and in the mix of my energy, little blue sparks emerge, like from the time I practiced with Stella.
I don’t have the time to think about what that may mean.
With an almost painful push, I thrust my hands into the ground and surge my energy toward Carly, allowing the earth to reabsorb some of it so I don’t accidentally kill her. The ground glows and cracks where the energy travels and encases Carly in a heat aura.
She stares at me. Fear and my flames reflect in her eyes.
I lick my lips. They taste metallic. “You’re not going to take me out that easily.”
All of Carly’s bubbles burst like mini pink fireworks, and she jumps from one foot to the other, yelping in pain. My aura constricts, coming closer to her.
My eyes open in horror.
Electricity zaps madly around in the aura, hitting Carly. With every bolt, her screams become louder, more gut-wrenching. I freeze, not understanding how this can be happening. What in the world did Aiden and I do to my abilities? Electricity travels from the aura, through the ground, and races up my arms. The sensation is overwhelming, my muscles tense, and I drop to my knees. The air is heavily charged around me, but I cannot channel it, even if it’s feeding off my thermal energy. All I can do is end my attack, calming my energy, and the electricity dissipates quickly without my source of power.
Smoke rises from Carly, and her hair is fried, tinged with black. Her chest moves rapidly with her breaths, as does mine.
“Are… are you okay?” I shout, not sure why I care.
“Is that… the best you can do?” Carly yells.
If she only knew I had no clue about what I just did.
I wipe my nose, and a stabbing pain reverberates through my face, making me feel queasy. I’ve come too far to stop now. I get to my feet, ignoring my muscles screaming at me to sit back down.
Carly lifts her arms, and two bubbles separate from each of them, making a total of four. The low number surprises me, even if they’re slightly bigger, about the size of bowling balls.
Maybe she’s more injured than she’s letting on.
Thermal energy licks hungrily around my arms, and my hands light up like miniature suns. A couple sparks twinkle around them, but this time I hope the electricity will help me out again.
We both square our shoulders, pull our arms back, and—
Ding!
The bubbles pop around Carly, and she pouts.
“Well done, Ember!” Bone Piercer shouts and claps. “You too, Carly!”
Shapeshifter, Valentino, and all the mentors stand up, joining in clapping.
I sigh, releasing my breath. Every inch of me aches, my nose throbs, and all I want to do is sleep for a week, but I give them my best attempt at a smile.
Everyone else in the arena joins in on the praise, including Stella’s parents, who whoop and holler my name.
But there’s only one person I care about seeing.
Aiden beams from ear to ear, and even with him in the stands, I can see the proud glint in his eyes. He puts his fingers in his mouth, whistling loudly.
My face pulls tight with my smile.
“It seems they didn’t think you’d make it another second,” Carly says, stepping next to me. “This was a short fight compared to the others.”
Her attempt to dampen my mood fails. “Maybe they thought you couldn’t last another second.”
“I’m not the one covered in blood, darling.” Carly steps in front of me. Dirt and dark red patches cover her face, and a blood vessel is broken in her left eye. “Let’s be honest, the only way you managed to be here and get someone like Aiden interested in you is because of your parents. You’d be nothing without them.”
“You know. I’m so sick of hearing that! Sure. My parents were Guardians, but they’re not the ones who just kicked your ass, are they?”
Carly’s eyes widen like I just smacked her. “You didn’t kick my ass!”
“Carly, thank you for your participation in today’s test,” Valentino says, standing next to Shapeshifter. “You made your classmates proud. You may head back.”
I keep my focus on the Guardians, but from the corner of my eye, I see Carly tilt her head in respect toward her professor. She turns, murmurs an inaudible insult aimed at me, and exits.
“Thank you, Miss Vulterra,” Valentino continues. Her red eyes are intimidating, though her tone is friendly. “Your parents would be very proud of your performance today. It’s now time for you to head to the waiting room where Nurse Pumpa can attend to your injuries.”
“Thank you,” I say, trying to ignore the growing pain in my face. “And once again, thank you for this opportunity.”
Valentino bows her head slightly in respect. The gesture takes me off guard, coming from her, since she’s usually so formal, but I return it, ensuring I’m just as respectful.
I glance toward Aiden to give him one last smile before I go, but he looks away, frowning. The unexpected shift in his demeanor wounds me like a jab to the heart. Why would he react like that?
Billy whispers something to Aiden, and his eyes find mine again; they’re weighed down with a gentle sadness. He mouths, I’m so sorry.
I tilt my head, confused. Is he referencing what he said about the Dean?
Someone clears their throat. I’ve stayed a bit too long. Everyone’s gazes are on me, waiting for me to leave. I turn to leave, more confused than when I entered.
* * *
Clouds block the sun above the glass dome in the waiting room, making the area dimmer than it was earlier. The Defender candidates sit around, discussing their tests, nervous to find out if they’ve achieved their dream or not.
Nurse Pumpa stands in front of me. Her green hair is twirled together like a stem on her head, and instead of wearing an orange dress, she’s wearing a black one adorned with an orange apron. “Be sure not to touch your nose for the rest of the day,” she says sweetly. “The spray I gave you should help the healing process, but the bones must stay in place, all right, dearie?”
The aching is already subsiding, and I take a deep breath. “It’s nice being able to breathe through it again.”
She smiles and glances at Stella next to me on the black couch in the lower part of the room. “How are you faring, dearie?”
“I’m okay. It just stings a little.” Stella rubs her cheek. “Sing punched me harder than I first thought he did.”
“Do you want a lavender medicinal patch? It’ll take the edge off the pain.”
“Sure. That’d be nice.”
Nurse Pumpa searches through her pumpkin-shaped medical bag. “Oh, no.” She frowns. “I think I left those back in my office. I’ll be right back.” She heads for the door.
Stella focuses on Lime on her lap. His eyes are closed, and she rubs his head. “Poor little guy,” she murmurs.
“He fought hard today, huh?” I ask.
She nods. “He was amazing. I don’t know how he did it, but he could sense Sing wherever he was about to reappear and helped lead my larger golems to him.”
“What is it that Sing can do?”
“He can phase through things, even the ground. He would just disappear and reappear right next to me. I was taken off guard the first time he did it, and that’s how he got his first punch in.” She smirks, looking mischievous. “But it was also his last.”
Shapeshifter and Bone Piercer enter the waiting room, holding hands. A hush falls over the room, respecting the Guardians’ presence.
Jomo, Lewis, Billy, and Sally follow behind them. I crane my neck to see into the dim hallway, expecting to see Aiden any second, but he doesn’t appear.
“Where’s Aiden?” Stella asks me.
A sense of panic sneaks through me. “I don’t know.”
My gaze locks with Billy’s, hoping he’ll provide me with an answer to Aiden’s whereabouts. He glances away, frowning. Confusion sweeps through me. What’s going on? Why isn’t Aiden here?
“Hello again, everybody!” Shapeshifter adjusts his gold-framed glasses on his nose as he addresses the room. “I have to say, all of you fought valiantly and showed you have the Guardian spirit. I’m thoroughly impressed with each one of you.”
My heart beats erratically. They shouldn’t be starting without all the mentors here.
“But unfortunately, the spots are limited.” Bone Piercer steps forward, and the rubies in his skull belt buckle glow faintly. “We’d like to announce those who made the cut. For those who didn’t, know we encourage you to pursue your dreams and recommend scheduling an appointment with your counselor to discuss your options.”
Stella drops her head. If she doesn’t make it into the program, she’ll be leaving to pursue her dreams.
How did this day become such an emotional nightmare?
Shapeshifter clears his throat and lifts his clipboard. “Our first new candidate is Summer Zorrillo.”
Everyone claps as she takes a small bow.
Shapeshifter lists off two more names: Marie Hendricks and Jamal Peterson. Marie has bright purple skin and black lines across her body, and Jamal has umber-colored skin, and his hair is a deep blue, floating around him like ocean waves.
The clapping continues, but I don’t join in. My eyesight blurs as my thoughts consume me. It’s becoming a real possibility I may not have gotten in. What will I do if I don’t? This is my first time trying out; would I be allowed to try again?
“Stella Morris,” Shapeshifter announces.
Lime squeals loudly and jumps for joy, mildly startling me. Stella picks him up and stands. Happiness sparkles in her eyes. I clap intensely, thrilled for her and over the moon happy that she’ll be staying at the university.
She sits down, and we hug.
“Great job!” I whisper in her ear.
“That brings us to our last candidate…” Shapeshifter says.
Stella pulls back. Worry replaces the excitement on her face. I glance toward the door, hoping at the last moment Aiden will enter.
“Ember Vulterra,” Shapeshifter announces proudly.
I stare blankly, not knowing if I heard him correctly.
“Ember!” Stella shakes me excitedly. “Ember! You got in!”
Bone Piercer and Shapeshifter smile widely at me. I stand. Both nerves and bliss rush through me, causing butterflies in my stomach.
Everyone claps, but I notice a couple of people whisper to each other. Their gazes darken. I take my seat, not helping but to glance one last time at the door. My excitement diminishes. Aiden should’ve been here to hear this.
“Congratulations to everyone who got in!” Shapeshifter says. “Again, we’d like to thank everyone who tried out. You’re more than welcome to stay while the mentors choose who they’ll be taking under their wing, but if you’d like to leave at this time, you may. Your families are waiting for you in the arena.”
Pretty much everyone who didn’t get accepted leaves, shaking hands and exchanging quick pleasantries with the Guardians.
“If only my mom and dad were Guardians,” a guy with long green, vine-like hair murmurs as he passes me.
“We’d for sure get in, right?” a girl with him whispers back.
“Hey!” I shout, feeling bolder than I have in a long time. “Next time, have a little more class and talk about me behind my back like everyone else, okay?”
They both shamefully look away.
“Wow,” Stella says, her eyes large with amazement. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk like that.”
“I’m over everyone thinking my life is so easy because of who my parents were,” I snap, but my frustration isn’t aimed at Stella. “Do they forget they were murdered?”
Stella holds my shoulder with understanding in her gaze. “I know, and I think it’s good you’re standing up for yourself.”
“Ember.” Billy kneels in front of me. His skin is a rapid color storm of black, red, and blue, and his brown hair is a shaggy mess. “Aiden can’t be here, but he wanted me to tell you he’s sorry.”
My head feels dizzy, but this time I’m not sure if it’s because of my injury or stress. “But, why? What’s going on?”
“He got into trouble with Valentino.”
“Mr. Prinn, it’s time for us to continue,” Shapeshifter says, sounding impatient. “Will you please rejoin us?”
“Of course.” Billy stands but doesn’t take his gaze off me. “He’ll explain everything to you later.” He leaves to retake his place up front.
“Aiden got in trouble? That doesn’t sound right,” Stella says concernedly. “Do you think this has something to do with him rushing back in here earlier?”
My head spins, and I can’t answer Stella. Could this have something to do with what Aiden told me about Stu? Or is it something else?
“We’ll now begin the mentor pairing.” Shapeshifter eyes Jomo behind him. “Mr. Jelani, you’ll be choosing first today. Who is your pick?”
Jomo’s catlike eyes lock on me, and he grins.
My blood runs cold. Oh, no.