Rain soaked the streets outside in a steady downpour. Theo shivered as he pulled his coat tighter around him. It was colder than he’d expected, but excitement sparked through his veins like flashpowder when put to the flame. He prodded mentally at the well of power that was his talent, it had swelled greatly after five days of near constant training with grandpa.

“Turn around. This ain’t a place for kids.”

“It is now.” Theo shrugged as he pointed at Modran and Alanna who trailed nervously and expectantly behind him. “Me and the blonde girl will be fighting as a pair.”

“It ain’t any meat off my bones,” he shrugged. “That’ll be five white chips from each of you to get in.”

“Sure. What about bets?” Theo pulled his somewhat refilled purse after his sessions with grandpa. He couldn’t quite heal others, but they had figured out that he could marginally speed up the healing of others as well as sense others’ bodies with great precision. That alone had been enough to net him a fair wage.

“You can submit them inside.” He grunted as he took the single blue chip from Theo for the cover charge.

They walked inside the lopsided cellar door with a long rickety staircase that descended to a basement filled with a crowd of gamblers and revelers. Sconces with yellow balls of light shone all around the hollowed out basement with mirrors at their back.

Four fighters thrashed in the ring to the cheer of the crowd.

“Are you sure about this?” Modran asked quietly as they hung back.

“You need money. I need to practice with my talent.” Theo shrugged then grinned at Alanna who wore an orange veil to obscure her face. “And we wanted to go on a date.”

“I can’t wait.” Alanna’s eyes sparkled with glee as she stretched and twisted her arms behind her head. “This will be a nice introduction for you on what fighting against skills will be like.”

“While it might be madness, I suppose I’ll get nice odds.” Modran sighed then stalked off to a man who held a clipboard and shouted to a gaggle of gamblers that clutched slips in their grasp.

“Are you sure about this by the way?” Alanna whispered into his ear, her breath hot against his ear.

“I’m not proud of it, but… it’ll really help her. She’s been struggling with getting enough chips for her trial.” Theo nodded in the direction of Modran and the overseer who examined the writ that was worth enough green chips to just be shy of a single black chip. “Besides, her and I succeed or fail together.”

“If you’re sure…” Alanna’s green eyes peered into his own, before she grinned. “We’ll make sure we win then.”

He reached out and held her hand while they watched the man and woman in the ring pummel each other with their fists. Blood and sweat hung thick in the air, the scents tickled the back of his nose with every breath he took.

It had been so long since they’d had a moment to be around each other. Things felt different and strained between them. So much had happened since the simple times they spent together in the woods. The Pageship was supposed to prove he was ‘worthy of her’, but now he wondered if it made things worse. They hadn’t talked about his pledge to propose to her if he won or that whole disaster of almost shooting Isidora.

Theo’s heart stuck in his throat. He opened his mouth to try and—

“Yeah! Kick that bastard while he’s down!” Alanna cheered as the female fighter grabbed the man’s wrist and threw him down to the ground. The woman kicked him with a meaty impact so loud he could hear the man’s bones break over the thunderous roar of the crowd.

“Enjoying yourself?” Modran rolled her eyes as she returned with two different scraps of paper. One was the writ of Nightfire’s value while the other were the odds they’d get.

“So what if I am?” Alanna pulled her hand away as she balled her fists up by her sides. “You should try it sometime instead of being the Chalice’s most miserable idiot.”

Theo blinked as he looked back and forth between the two as he wondered what the fuck just happened.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Modran stepped forward until they were close enough to hug or trade blows. “I only asked if you were enjoying yourself.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Alanna winced as she looked away and tried to step back, but Modran grabbed her so she couldn’t.

“No. What’s your problem with me? You’ve been rude since we left Fremr.”

“I haven’t been rude at all.”

“As if,” Modran scoffed. “You act like every time I say something I’m trying to hurt you or Theo. So what if I’m excited? I’ve almost never left home before.”

“Fine, I do have a problem with you,” Alanna growled as she poked Modran’s chest. “I know you’re a liar. All this time everyone has heard about how sick you are. People all around Fremr have chipped in to help your family keep you alive again and again, but it turns out you’ve just been keeping your talent a secret. For what? So you can become a Page?”

Modran blanched then gasped at the accusation, then she snarled. “I can’t believe how conceited your entire family is. Time and time again, I start to think that maybe you aren’t so bad after all, then you turn around and attack someone. Have you ever thought that maybe my talent is why I’ve been sick so often? That it’s because of my talent I want to leave so I can breathe and by my own person? Your father, mother, sister and even Theo all act like all of this Pageship shit stuff actually matters. Except it doesn’t. Your lives will go on just fine, win or lose.”

Alanna narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but Modran continued her tirade.

“You going to threaten me? Throw a tantrum just because someone stood up to you?” Modran glowed with baleful red light as her nimbus sprang to life around her. “You’ve spent your whole life learning how to fight so you can keep others beneath your boots, but what if I told you an ill, untrained girl that you look down on could beat you easily?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Alanna frowned, before she turned to look at Theo. “Talk some sense into your sister. I’m going to fight.”

“What was that?” Theo glared at Modran after Alanna left.

“Truth,” she shrugged.

“She’s trying to help you. We both are. Did you need to attack her like that?”

“Really?” Modran raised her eyebrows as she stepped closer to him. “Or are you just trying to show her how good of a catch you are? How you’re able to fight now? Does she actually care for you and your interests or does she only ever think about the next time she’ll swing a sword?”

“Whatever.” He growled. “I’ll talk to you when you aren’t acting like this.”

Theo left her behind as he stepped deeper into the crowd that had been surreptitiously paying attention to them nearly as much as the fights in the rings. Alanna bounced on her heels while she waited for her turn to fight.

Irritation gnashed at him. Nothing was turning out the way he’d hoped or thought it would. Had he made a mistake after all?

Cheers erupted from the crowd as the next fighter won with a vicious knockout punch.

“You two are next.” The fight broker said as he waved at Theo and Alanna directly. Alanna grinned at him as she vaulted over the roped off square into the ring.

“Don’t stop me, I’m cutting in.” Modran knocked her shoulder against Theo’s as she ducked under the rope to drop into the ring.

“Modran!”

***

“I’m going to enjoy this.” Alanna bent her knees and held her fists up on either side of her head as she centered herself into her [Fighter] archetype. The blood soaked sand in the ring, the candlelights and even Modran’s pale with rage face all turned blue as she settled firmly into her role as a [Fighter].

“Shut the fuck up.”

Alanna grinned as she tapped into one of the two new movement skills she’d been practicing since her fight with Zareni. She vanished then reappeared a few paces away from Modran as she skipped through the dozen or so feet in between.

Modran yelped as she stumbled back, but Alanna had already stabbed her right fist forward in a punch that snapped Modran’s head back. She reeled, stumbled and fell. Alanna loomed over the fallen girl and watched blood spool out from the three gashes her knuckles had cut Modran’s face.

“Are you done?” She spat right on Modran’s dusty sand streaked dress.

“Not even close.” Red light blurred around the girl as she climbed to her own feet with renewed vigor. The crowd screamed its approval as Modran held her tiny hands up into fists of her own.

Alanna lashed out with a cutting swipe of the flat of her hand that somehow sailed straight through Modran’s body. She stumbled at the lack of resistance and wheezed as Modran sunk a punch of her own into Alanna’s stomach. Modran curled her arm with the blow, lifting Alanna off her feet.

“Are you done?” Modran asked as she pulled one of her gloves free and cupped the palm of bare hand against the side of Alanna’s face.

“Modran!” Theo howled as he stepped forward to enter the ring, but the crowd held him back. “Don’t you fucking dare do it! By Aleyr’s name, don’t!”

Alanna shook as euphoria streamed through her body in a rush of vitality. She felt full of it, as if she’d had the best sleep of her life, every day until now. Her muscles surged with untold strength, every strand vibrated with power. Red light sizzled from each and every one of her pores in a flow that twined up her body and into Modran’s hand.

Within moments Alanna swooned. Lethargy gripped her tight as black and yellow spots danced across her vision. She cringed as Modran’s grip on her skull tightened. Blue light flashed then faded as she lost her hold on her [Fighter] archetype.

She tried to skip backwards and away, but the skill failed. It was far too new to be used in its altered, heightened form.

Modran pulled more of that red light from Alanna and into herself. Her knees cut out. She hung limp in Modran’s grip, even as she tried to escape. But it was helpless. While she weakened, Modran grew stronger and stronger.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped.

Modran released her to fall like a sack of flour.

***

“Let go of me!” Theo smashed his will into the well of light that was his talent and wrenched it into his body. He felt the three people holding him back tense then scream as some of his talent’s energy spark from him into them.

Free, he bounded forward into the ring.

He dropped far heavier into the sands of the ring than he’d expected. Sand pooled up around his calves as he stomped over to Modran and the prone Alanna. Her heartbeat pulsed weakly, her lungs hissed with every wheezing breath she took. Her muscles seemed deflated almost.

“She had it coming, Theo. Don’t be so melodramatic. She’s fine.” Modran stepped back with her hands held up wardingly.

“You went too fucking far, like always.” He spat as he finally reached them near the far wall of the ring. “Had enough of chickens, pigs, and rats, did you?”

Modran’s hazel eyes, so much like his own, darkened. “Stop.”

“No. You stop. Wastes damn it, we were trying to help you. There’s no one to prove yourself too. No one thought less of you except for yourself, but you couldn’t believe that, could you? You just had to prove yourself right. Thank Aleyr you didn’t kill her too.”

“I haven’t killed anyone.” Modran snarled, her fists balled up by her sides.

“Tell that to dad or mom. Oh wait—”

Modran’s fist crunched into Theo’s cheek like the wrath of Aleyr. He found himself curled up on the ground with his mouth and nose bleeding. Stars danced across his closed eyes. He tried to heal, but for some reason his talent felt rigid and solid against his efforts.

“Grandpa said that wasn’t my fault. Fuck you.” She kicked him in the ribs, then stomped down on his face. “Good thing you can heal, asshole.”

He flopped and floundered as he tried to right himself, but found he couldn’t. Everything wobbled and spun around him.

Footsteps swished through the sand as someone came closer to them. Alanna sat up beside him as she sobbed.

“If I pick you up, boy, will you break my hand like those other three?” asked a gruff voice.

“What?” Theo croaked as he finally righted himself.

The hulking man pointed back over his shoulder to three men who’d held him back, each of them cradled their hands to their chests. Their fingers hung limp and loose, each of the bones splayed back. He blinked in confusion until clarity struck. Their broken hands were the ones they’d used to hold him back.

“What the fuck is her talent, Theodran?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Theo sighed as he stood up wobbly. He focused his awareness on his talent and was alarmed to find that it’d nearly run dry. His muscles were swollen to thrice their size, his bones felt sturdier and stronger.

“Seriously, Theo?”

“Yes. Let’s go.” He led them out of the ring on shaky legs as his body seemed to slowly revert back to its original state. Once they were back outside in the tumultuous downpour his body was back to normal and his talent had fully healed him.

“What was that?” Alanna’s voice was low and as dangerous as the gleam in her eyes.

“Modran has a difficult talent.” Theo admitted as he led Alanna into an alley that protected them from the rain. “We were afraid what’d happen with it.”

“Clearly if you thought she somehow killed your mother.”

“Yeah…” He cringed at the icy tone in her voice.

“The mother I thought died in childbirth.”

“Yes, but maybe she didn’t.” He sighed, the words stuck in his throat. How could he tell her what Modran’s talent was? “We don’t talk about it. I don’t know how.”

“So? You were terrified, Theo. You even jumped in to stop her from doing whatever she did to me. What is her talent? Tell me.”

“Shecan’tdie.” He blurted it all out in one word. “Or, I mean, she does die, but she always comes back. So far, anyways. She gets ill though, but well, she can only keep from dying by absorbing life from things?” He trailed off at Alanna’s harsh glare.

“She was taking my life?”

“Technically? I guess?”

“What the fuck, Theo? Why didn’t you tell me?” Her green eyes blazed with icy tears heavy with accusation.

“We weren’t—aren’t— supposed to talk about it with anyone! What if the Order found out? What if anyone found it? She was fucking dangerous until she started to really learn how to control it!”

“She should be honored for the Order to find out! Someone with a talent like that should be out of the Chalice! Not cooped up in here, a danger to anyone and everyone!”

“Honored for the Order to find out?” Theo narrowed his eyes. “You don’t mean that, do you? They’d take her away, Alanna. They’d turn her into a weapon.”

“A weapon for humanity, not a threat to it like she already is.” Alanna tilted her head back. “She almost killed me like it was nothing. You two can’t use skills or archetypes yet, and her talent was enough to bring me down to my knees. Imagine what she could do with skills and an archetype.”

“I don’t believe this.” He stepped away from her as he studied the fall of her hair, the cold light in her eyes, and the sharp scent of danger that hung around her. “I don’t know you, not anymore. Why would you say that? She’s my sister, my twin even! And you want to ship her off to die in the wastes?”

“Apparently she can’t die.” Alanna shrugged. “She was right, stop being so melodramatic. Aleyr gives each of us talents for a reason. They are a guide for us to follow and she is hiding away from all of the good she could do. So are you.”

“You aren’t then? Your father isn’t?” Theo scoffed as he shook his head. “I’m done. I’ll talk to you later.”

He left her behind as he rushed out of the alley. Anger, rage, fury, all of those hot emotions crackled and roared through him as he made his way back towards the Inner Ring and Lordship Square where Nightfire was stabled.