The group had paused at the edge of a raised hillside.

Below, there was a road that had fallen into disrepair. It was clear no one traveled this route, at least not often. A pair of towers—although the word tower felt a little generous—flanked both sides of the road.

“It’s pretty narrow,” Indira noted. “Good place for an ambush.”

Squalls recited to them, “It’s the only way into the mountain passes. It was abandoned after the Howling King destroyed all the cities there, because they were loyal to the Drago. No reason to maintain trade routes with a kingdom that no longer exists. We should be fine.”

As the group’s “supernatural aid,” Allen had apparently been given a lot more of the backstory than the rest of them. After brief consideration, they started forward cautiously. Indira’s senses told her to stay on her guard. She pulled out her hammer. Phoenix noted that and straightened, ready to summon his fire at a moment’s notice. Gadget was distractedly fiddling with a handheld device.

Indira whispered to her, “Gadget. Focus. Maybe pull out a weapon or something?”

The girl looked up in surprise. She frowned once before trading the strange device for one of the larger wrenches on her tool belt. She hefted it into the air for Indira’s inspection.

“Guess that’ll have to do,” Indira said.

The towers appeared empty. Bricks had fallen out of place, leaving sad gaps in the framework. The doors had all been torn off their hinges, and the wild growth of ivy had started splitting the rest of what was left of both buildings. The hairs on the back of Indira’s neck stood on end. Footsteps sounded.

“Anyone else hear that?”

Instinctively, their crew circled up at the center of the road. Indira knew this place looked like an ambush waiting to happen. She resisted telling Squalls told you so as they heard more footsteps. The sound was coming from both towers. Indira realized it didn’t sound like human footsteps. There was the gentle scrape of claws on stone: kingswolves.

Her whole body was poised, every muscle flexed and ready, when the enemy finally came flooding out of both towers at once. The sight was more shocking than she’d expected.

Phoenix burst out laughing. “What. Are. Those?”

Not kingswolves. Indira was certain of that much. She started laughing too as a group of puppies surrounded them. There might have been six or seven, though it was hard to tell as the golden balls of fur darted in and around each other. One barreled into Phoenix. Another duo tried to leap on Squalls, but their little legs failed them, and both went spinning adorably into the dusty street.

“Puppies!” Squalls said with relief. “Finally! Something that can’t kill me!”

Indira wanted to keep her guard up—thinking maybe this was all a trap—but she couldn’t resist. She leaned down and scooped one up. It licked her face twice, huffing pleasantly.

Only Gadget didn’t join in. “This is…illogical. How does this connect to the scenario?”

“Who cares?” Phoenix called back. He was down on the ground, surrounded by “attackers,” laughing as they did their best to wrestle a cloth handkerchief from his grasp.

Indira was still trying to figure out what was happening when her tutor device pinged a message into her vision. The arrows were pointing at the puppies, swirling to follow their movements, and a single warning flashed over and over.

“Um…” Indira frowned again. “Is anyone else seeing this message?”

“It says we should attack,” Phoenix confirmed. “I’m confused. Why would the tutor device tell us to attack puppies?”

Gadget frowned. “That message is also illogical.”

Indira turned in a slow circle, her eyes scanning the hills. Something was wrong. The puppies didn’t look like baby kingswolves. In fact, she wasn’t sure such a thing existed. How was this supposed to factor into the Road of Trials?

The tutor device was starting to get annoying, too. It made the font in Indira’s vision bigger and bolder. It even went as far as subtracting points each time she failed to respond. The same order flashed again:

Defend yourself! You are under attack!

“This is so weird,” Indira muttered.

At least the puppies were cute. Most of them had turned their attention to Squalls, who was down on the ground, playfully fending them off and simultaneously scratching their bellies. It was nice to see him laughing for once. Indira was about to give in to the fun when a figure appeared on the lonely road ahead of them. The puppy ambush was strange, but this was stranger.

It was a boy with blond hair several shades lighter than Allen’s. His eyes were ice blue, his lips rose red. The colors stood out to Indira because they looked so much sharper than the rest of the world around him. Indira was reminded briefly of the brainstorms at Protagonist Prep. The first time she’d seen them, there’d been an odd quality to their appearance too.

The approaching figure was even more distinct. The edges of his outline seemed to blur in her vision. Indira found herself feeling dizzy if she stared for too long.

His outfit was equally strange. So far the scenario had offered them a rustic look. Farmers in old-school tunics or fashionable suits from an earlier time. This boy wore a mesh tank top that was navy blue. The number twenty-three was printed on the front. He wore a matching pair of athletic shorts. The only other item in his possession was a lacrosse stick.

“Hey!” he shouted. “Those are my puppies!”

Even his voice was strange. It sounded like he was speaking from very far away, as if each word were lightning striking in a distant sky. Indira’s crew turned to face the new challenger. She saw her own confusion echoed on their faces. Clearly, something strange was happening. Even her tutor device was struggling. The device kept trying to home in on the approaching figure, but it would flicker weakly, unable to identify the threat. All the guiding text faded.

Her screen went blank. What was happening?

“I said those are my puppies.”

The boy lifted his lacrosse stick into the air like it was a magical staff. Their only warning was the way the puppies darted fearfully back toward the tower entrances. A second later, magic sliced through the air. Indira’s entire crew stumbled away. The space between them and the boy had been empty. Now a massive pirate ship loomed.

Indira’s eyes widened. There wasn’t an ocean nearby. There were no rivers. Nothing. All they could do was stare up at the impossible. An actual pirate ship had appeared in the middle of the road. The boy stood at the prow of the boat, looking down at them.

“What’s wrong?” he taunted. “Never seen a pirate ship before?”

Squalls was muttering to himself. “Oh no. Pirates. Cannons, sharks, walking the plank…that’s like a hundred new ways to die. I’m going to just…”

Before Phoenix could say something to calm him down, Squalls bolted. Indira stared, jaw open, as he made for the nearest hillside.

“There goes Allen,” Phoenix said.

Indira didn’t have time to deal with this. Her attention turned back to the unwelcome guest. How did this fit the scenario? She wondered if this was one of the Stained that had been mentioned before. She’d certainly expected someone powerful, but all the details felt like pieces to the wrong puzzle. Nothing about this fit with the rest of the story so far.

She could only think of one logical question. “Who are you?”

The boy shrugged. “My name’s Joey.”

Phoenix and Indira exchanged a glance. He mouthed the name to her. It wasn’t the sort of menacing name most antagonists used. Most bad guys went by something like Spike or Bonesaw. At the risk of losing even more points, Indira decided to break character.

“Excuse me, but are you the assigned antagonist? I’m not sure we’re getting this….”

The boy heaved a huge sigh. “Boring! This is boring. Time to make things exciting. What’s that phrase pirates always use? Oh yeah. ‘Fire in the hole!’ ”

Joey pointed his lacrosse stick. Magic filled the air. All the cannons lining the side of the ship came to life. The black mouths pointed at Indira and her crew. Fire flashed within, sparking fuses, spreading from window to window. Instinct forced Indira to backpedal. “Fire number one!” Joey shouted.

There was a stretching moment where Indira thought they were all doomed. Smoke burst out of the first cannon, but it was a misfire. Something with the powder must have failed, because nothing shot out. Joey leaned over the deck and shouted in frustration.

Indira grabbed Phoenix’s collar and pulled him into a run. The two of them bumped into Gadget, and all three nearly toppled as they scrambled away from the road. Up ahead, Allen Squalls had already reached the woods. He’d apparently had the right idea.

Joey’s voice echoed again. “Fire! They’re getting away! Fire!”

Indira barely kept her footing as they sprinted toward Squalls and the nearby forest. More cannon fire thundered out. Something hissed overhead. The ground shook, but Joey’s first shot landed thirty yards to their right.

“He’s firing on us with a pirate ship!” Gadget screamed. “This makes zero sense!”

Another round of blasts tore through the air. Two cannonballs missed overhead, but a third struck just to Gadget’s left. The explosion lifted her feet briefly off the ground, throwing her into Phoenix. The two of them went down together.

“No!” Indira screamed.

She darted back. Phoenix was climbing to his feet, a little shaken. Gadget wasn’t responsive at all. Together they dragged Gadget’s unconscious form into an awkward fireman’s carry over their shoulders. Indira’s ears were still ringing as they stumbled on with the girl held in the air between them.

“Come on!” Squalls shouted from the edge of the tree line. Indira was surprised he hadn’t kept running. “We can take cover in the forest! Come on!”

More explosions followed. Indira ducked through the first row of trees, but they didn’t stop running until the cannon sounds were well behind them. It was only when they reached a clearing deep in the forest that they stopped to assess the damage.

Chests heaving, they looked around at each other, and it was Allen Squalls who summed up their plight best. “We fell for a puppy trap!”