Rosalie repeatedly slammed her body into the silver door, as if each slam would somehow loosen the door from its hinges.

  “What are you doing?!” Zuri shouted as she grabbed Rosalie by the shoulders and shook her, the latter girl’s head bobbing like a bobblehead. Rosalie was quick to shrug the other girl off.

  “Getting out of here.” Rosalie went back to slamming the door.

  “Like Alina you are! What’s hitting the door going to do when they’ve bolted it from both sides? You’re just wasting your strength!”

  “When else am I going to use my strength? Either get out of my way or help me.”

  Zuri rolled her eyes, but surprisingly proceeded to kick the door alongside Rosalie’s slams. The girls proceeded a few more times before the door swung open, knocking them both down. Guards were quick to detain them, pushing them against the walls. I winced as I heard Rosalie’s head collide with the wall.

  “Bring the blonde,” the woman in the lab coat from earlier ordered. “And the unpredictable one.”

  I tensed, willing myself to remain calm to not trigger the pain from the magic. So far so good, but it wouldn’t take much to spark the preexisting fear.

  The guard gripped my arm tight as they dragged me down the cold hallway. I glanced behind me to see that Lumi had finally woken up and was being dragged just like me. A fire burned in her eyes, and I knew she wanted to use her magic. “Don’t,” I mouthed to her. She seemed to understand enough.

  The further down the hall we went, the louder Aidan’s screams became. We… weren’t going to where he was, were we?

  Pain shot through my arms as I pictured what sort of torture chamber he was in. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to feel pain. It was stupid working myself up because pain was exactly what I was feeling, and I wasn’t even in the supposed torture chamber yet!

  An unusual calmness filled my mind, and my head snapped back to glance at Lumi. Her eyes were closed and her lips pursed as if she were in pain. Was she using her magic to calm me at her own expense…?

  We were shoved into a large empty room—save for Greg standing in the middle, peering through a window to another room protected by glass. Aidan was in that other room. He looked scared and exhausted.

  “What are you doing to him?!” I demanded, not caring about my own safety when my friend’s wasn’t guaranteed.

  Greg’s eyebrows raised in surprise as he turned to me. “Testing that boy’s MEP—Magical Energy Potential.” So that’s what it stood for. “Watch.”

  I looked through the window and watched as an electronic device that looked similar to a striking dummy launched at Aidan with incredible speed. Aidan held his arms out in front of him, blocking himself from impact, to no avail. The device knocked him over, and he let out another scream.

  “He’s supposed to use his magic to stop the dummy, but he hasn’t been complying.”

  Why…?

  “Put the blonde in.” Greg cocked his head at the guards who were still holding us.

  “No!” I shouted, the guard’s grip on me tightening.

  “Would you like to take her place?” Greg asked. I froze in place. Thankfully, my ice didn’t follow this time. “That’s what I thought.”

  I hated how weak I was. Lumi was younger than me—had experienced more than me. I should be the one risking my life out there, not her! But I couldn’t bring myself to volunteer… And she had just helped me earlier…

  Aidan was dragged out of the room as Lumi was dragged in. The device started up again, making a loud revving noise similar to an air conditioner. My heart raced as pain shot through every nerve in my arms. Maybe I couldn’t take her place but…

  “Stop!” I shouted. The revving stopped as Greg turned to look at me. “She doesn’t have the type of magic that would let her stop the device. Hers is emotion-based.”

  “Interesting.” Greg mused. “Well then! I guess we’ll just have to use you.” His smile was unnatural.

  The pain in my arms became unbearable from the sheer amount of fear I felt.

  “I-I don’t know how to use magic.” My words came out shaky and hoarse from the pain I felt.

  “And yet you have so much potential. I’m sure we’ll both learn something interesting.”

  The guard started dragging me, and something in me snapped. I used my other hand to grab his wrist and flip him over, an energy surging in me unlike anything I had ever felt before.

  Greg looked at me with amusement that quickly turned to anger as two more guards arrived, grabbing both my arms. I tried to call on that same energy I felt before, but I only felt pain surge through my arms.

  I was dragged into the same room and placed next to Lumi, who they didn’t seem to care was still in the room. My vision started to close in like a tunnel, and I could barely make out the shape of the device in front of me.

  What was the point anymore? I chuckled humorlessly, much to everyone’s confusion. I was just going to get knocked over by the device, over and over again, just like Aidan. Unlike him, I couldn’t even try to defend myself.

  I felt my emotions stabilizing. No…

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  I quickly grabbed Lumi by the shoulders. “Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself!” I demanded. “You don’t have to keep helping me.”

  “If I don’t, then you’ll just keep hurting yourself,” she replied matter-of-factly.

  Without thinking, I pulled her into a hug. She flinched, but I didn’t care. It was hard to believe that just a little while ago, we were fighting—one of us attempting to kill the other. I was so glad Maverick didn’t kill her.

  Greg clapped his hands from the other room, grabbing my attention. I guess the window wasn’t soundproof. Made sense that I could hear everything so clearly. The guards pulled Lumi away, likely realizing she was a distraction.

  A beeping sound interrupted my thoughts, and I glanced upwards, realizing there was another window to another room near the top of the wall. Through the window, I could see two people in lab coats sitting behind several computer monitors. A click sounded in the restraints around my wrists, and I noticed ice forming around my hands for the first time since I had entered this facility.

  “You should be able to use your magic now without pain.” The voice played over a speaker from the ceiling.

  Great. They wanted me to go all out, and I may not have a choice in the matter now that there was nothing holding me back.

  The revving of the machine spread the ice up to my arms as the dummy began moving forward. I was like a deer in headlights—unable to move. My eyes were wide, and my arms were dumb by my sides. My feet wouldn’t move until the dummy was inches away from me. I began to run, just for a pillar to rise from the ground and prevent me from moving. Crap.

  I turned to the dummy, my heart pounding loud enough to reach my ears. Its “arms” were swinging back and forth repeatedly. Even though the edges looked dull, I imagined getting whacked would hurt. Thoughts of Aidan’s screams flooded back to me as I pathetically raised my arms up to protect myself, as if that would have any effect whatsoever. Good job, Ella.

  Pain erupted from my hand as the dummy’s “hand” came into contact with mine. I closed my eyes and screamed louder than I thought possible, expecting more pain to come. Instead, I just heard more clapping—likely from Greg.

  When I opened my eyes, the dummy was frozen solid. It coming into contact with my hand had likely frozen it. Whew. I wasn’t dying yet.

  “Did you get the data?” Greg asked. Data? That’s the last thing I wanted to give them…

  “Oh yeah! We got it all right. I gotta hand it to you, Sydney. I didn’t think the dummy flailing like a chicken would scare powerful magical beings,” one of the tech guys behind the computer said.

  “Oh, give it a rest. They’re just children. Probably not old enough to see an X-rated movie, let alone drink.” Someone from behind the two sitting at the monitors came up. If only they knew nearly half of us were likely older than them.

  “Hey! My plan was ingenious—don’t detract from that!” Another tech person replied.

  “Proceed to Plan Zeta 1.34,” Greg pointed his finger out as if giving orders in Star Trek…

  I heard furious typing noises coming from the speaker before watching the ice around the dummy melt. Once completely melted, a blade popped out of its chest.

  My stomach dropped, and my hands iced over once again. Stopping it the first time was a fluke. How was I supposed to stop a sharp blade?! By spitting at it?!

  The dummy slowly backed up as… disco music played in the background???

  “Whoops! Wrong button!” One of the techs quickly stopped the music. Suspenseful violins replaced the overly happy and unfitting music. The absurdity of it all somehow melted the ice around my hands.

  The suspenseful music stopped as the dummy charged at me at a far greater speed than it had last time. The knife stuck out proudly from its chest as if wanting the whole room to know it was on its way to slaughter me.

  Ice encased me this time—thick enough to prevent the knife from reaching me. I forgot how cold this was… I could feel my consciousness starting to slip away as I fought with everything I had to stay alive and awake. I didn’t trust that they wouldn’t accidentally kill me, thinking I could somehow deflect the lethal robot in my sleep. I heard muffled, excited noises around me, but couldn’t make out what anyone was saying.

  Was it wrong to want someone to rescue me now?

  I calmed down, and the ice melted enough for me to break out of it. The robot stared me down— When did it get glowing red eyes?! It backed up, and I knew it would try to charge at me again. Was there a way I could escape? Any sort of exit that wasn’t blocked off? My eyes scanned the room and rested on the same door that I had entered from. If only there was a way I could break it down…

  Anger washed over me. An anger that burned like no other. All thoughts of escaping vanished as my sole target was the stupid mechanical piece of junk.

  I ran forward as fast as I could and leaped in the air and launched a ball of fire in front of me, burning the robot to a crisp. Without thinking, I blazed through the window protected by a pathetic piece of glass and set my sights on Greg.

  “I’m done playing your game.” My voice was dangerously low as I watched the ugly man tremble at the sight of me. He was scared, and it was exhilarating.

  “W-what are you doing?!” These words weren’t directed at me, but rather up at the tech crew. “Restrain her magic!”

  The anger instantly faded as the restraints around my hand clicked, and a buzzing pain emitted throughout my arms. Lumi wrapped her arms around me, making me realize I had been shaking.

  A faint buzzing caught my attention, and I realized another layer of glass replaced the one I had cracked. They were prepared… How many times had they done this before? And to whom? Were there other worlds out there with magic? Maybe worlds with prophesied heroes and deadly singers.

  “Bring the smug kid in,” Greg ordered. Smug? Could he mean Maverick…?

  Greg left the room but kept his guards there to keep an eye on us. They were blocking the only exit, so Lumi walked across the room and beckoned me over.

  “I have a plan,” she began.

  “Wait… Do you think these restraints allow them to hear us somehow?” I asked.

  She blinked at me. “Why would they?”

  “Never mind.” I shook my head. “What’s your plan?”

  “They’re bringing Maverick here unless they caught a view of Rosalie’s sass. Either way, they’re really powerful. If you could destroy the dummy and break through the glass on accident, what do you think those two are capable of?”

  “You’re saying they’re our way out?”

  “Not just them. I can use my magic again to amplify yours. The restraints seem to prevent us from using ‘physical’ magic,” she said, using air quotes, “but mind magic remains unaffected. It’s how Finn was able to hear your thoughts, and I was able to alter your emotions.”

  “Okay, but how does amplifying my magic work if I don’t have mind magic?” I sighed.

  “Who says you don’t? You’re an Ethereal, so you have access to just about any kind of magic.”

  Right… I had been so focused on elemental and healing magic that I hadn’t thought about the rest.

  “Wait… Your weapon is literally a concept! What if you used your weapon to break the computer in the upper room?!”

  Lumi blinked at me.

  “There’s a room above the room with the dummy where there are people sitting in front of—”

  “Computers.” Lumi tapped her chin again. “And those computers are controlling our magic, aren’t they?”

  “Probably. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more computers that can control these things,” I held up my wrist, “so we’ll have to act fast once they’re destroyed. Something really powerful could maybe destroy them… Or a sharp object.”

  “How will we break the glass?”

  “We’ll leave that to Maverick.” I smirked.