My thoughts turned to Vance, and the image of his cut-up body filled my mind. I wasn’t anywhere close to where he had been murdered, but I still found myself peering through the branches, wondering who had killed him and why. Why had the killer taken Vance’s Talents instead of someone else’s, someone with much stronger magic? And how did all the murdered monsters fit into this? Or were they even connected to Vance at all?

My mind spun around and around, trying to figure things out. But there were no answers to be found in the dappled shade of the woods, so I turned to head back.

And that’s when I heard the giggles.

Giggles? Out here in the woods?

I was still wearing my sword, and my hand dropped to the weapon’s hilt, despite the seemingly innocent sounds. I crept a little closer to the trees, tilting my head to the side, listening and looking into the thin afternoon shadows. The crack-crack-crack of twigs crunching underfoot sounded, along with more giggles. Through the trees, I spotted two figures heading toward me.

A second later, Blake stepped out of the woods about ten feet away from my position. And he wasn’t alone—Katia was with him.

From their rumpled clothes and Katia’s messy hair, it was obvious what they’d been doing. They saw me at the same time I did them, and the three of us stopped and stared at each other.

“Sorry,” I said. “I was just taking a walk before the tournament starts up again.”

Blake snorted. “Sure you were. Or maybe you just like to watch, you freak.”

He shoved past me, driving his shoulder into mine and nearly knocking me down, but I ground my teeth together and held my tongue. The tournament was supposed to resume in fifteen minutes, and I didn’t need to get into a fight with Blake right now.

Katia pulled her dark red hair back into a ponytail and smoothed some of the wrinkles out of her white sleeveless shirt. Then she lifted her chin, marched over, and stopped in front of me.

“Go ahead,” she said. “You look like you want to say something.”

I shrugged. “It’s not really my place to say anything.”

Her hazel eyes glittered, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Say it anyway.”

I sighed. “I know you’re upset about Felix, but messing around with Blake won’t make you feel any better in the long run. Blake is not a nice guy.”

She shrugged back at me. “Maybe I’m tired of nice guys. After all, Felix was a nice guy . . . until he wasn’t. Besides, how do you know what would make me feel better? You’re too chicken to even do anything with Devon.”

I stiffened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Katia’s smile was full of sneering pity. “I’ve seen the way he looks at you, and you look the same way right back at him. But instead of actually doing something about it, you keep him at arm’s length. It’s stupid, if you ask me. Especially since he’s such a nice guy, right?” she mocked me with my own words.

I ground my teeth together and didn’t say anything. There was nothing I could say because she was exactly right about me being scared of how much I cared about Devon. When it came to risking something as fragile as my heart, I was as skittish as a rockmunk facing down a copper crusher.

Katia sighed, and some of the ugly tension drained out of her face. “Look, I appreciate you trying to warn me about Blake, but I know exactly what kind of guy he is, and I can take care of myself. Drunk dad, remember? Besides, Blake and I were just messing around. Nothing serious. It’s not like I think he actually cares about me or anything.” Her features hardened again. “I made that mistake with Felix. Trust me, I won’t make it again.”

I didn’t respond.

“Anyway, I’ve got to get back to the tournament, and so do you.”

“Yeah,” I said. “See you over there.”

Katia moved off, heading back toward the fairgrounds.

I stood there for a few seconds, thinking about her harsh words, which hit a little too close to home. But I couldn’t do anything about them now, so I sighed, turned around, and followed her back to the fairgrounds to get ready for the final rounds of the Tournament of Blades.

I had barely set foot back in the fairgrounds when Oscar came zipping through the air, stopping right in front of me.

“There you are!” he practically shouted. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you! Come quick!”

Oscar buzzed around and around my shoulders, trying to herd me toward the stadium.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “What’s happened? Has someone else been hurt?”

Oscar shook his head, and his wings twitched in agitation. Even his tiny black cloak seemed to bristle with anger. “They shook up the tournament, flipped the brackets around and everything. That’s why you need to get over there right now.”

I frowned. “What do you mean they flipped the brackets around?”

“You’ll see,” he said in a dark tone.

The pixie shooed me into the stadium. I thought that most of the Family higher-ups would be back in their boxes by now, including the Sinclairs, but Claudia, Reginald, Angelo, and Mo were standing by the chain-link fence, talking to the officials. Devon and Felix stood a few feet away, watching them.

“What’s going on?” I asked, walking over to them. “Oscar said they changed the tournament.”

Felix snorted. “Oh, they changed it all right—which is what Claudia and the others are arguing about with those idiots.”

He stabbed his finger at the officials. Claudia was right up in their faces, her hands on her hips, her green eyes blazing with anger. I couldn’t hear exactly what she was saying, but her sharp tone let everyone know she wasn’t happy.

Mo looked over at us and shook his head. Devon and Felix both sighed.

“Good luck,” Felix said, clapping Devon on the shoulder, then turning and doing the same thing to me. “I know this will be tough. I’ll be rooting for both of you at the same time. No matter what happens, there won’t be a loser here today. You guys know that, right?”

Devon nodded, but I was still confused.

“How can you root for both of us at the same time—” Suddenly, I realized exactly what was going on.

I’d been scheduled to fight Deah in the next round of the tournament, with Katia facing off against Devon. But the tournament had changed, and the brackets had been flipped—which meant I had to fight someone else now, and since there were only four of us left, that meant only one thing.