na

ough my throat before

d in the sheets, chest heaving as if the dragon'

ly against my ribs, a

lock chimed three times, its small clockwo

n the m

tone walls felt less like a s

forehead and swung my legs o

d floorboards, sending a

ntil next week's

f watching him burn in my nightmares

, the sound of my own voice smal

ed open the hidden lower drawer

lass vial containing three drops of memory-clarifying essence, a restricte

the empty chairs, the cold hearth, the a

tter, an ancient heirloom from my mother's est

n on the low

pered, tapping the

ges curling upward until it

ing the stopper onto the carpet, and let

amen

ing with the draft until a familiar, milky-silv

as c

ing enchantments of a

violently, the silver wou

to see

from the ash, and why Emmett nev

wand to my

so badly the tip rat

ough chattering teeth. "The sta

ght pulled free, clingin

t into the

boiled, churning with

to reconsider, I plunged

s vertigo struck immediately, dropp

of spectators hit me

ue, and gold snapped in t

ted nuts and ozon

ed wooden benches o

her hands cupped around her mouth as she screa

st, my gaze wandering completely away from the arena floor, s

g for Colin'

y who had spent half the night

d disgust

elf and saw nothing but

announcer echoed across the stones. "Representing Wanli

d through the higher stands, but aroun

red two rows behind me. "Did the Headm

oward the

rom the dark archway

against the towering cliff

whipped around

to razor slits against the daylight, hi

rom the Slytherin-like pureblood fa

sed hi

f the rocky crater was

e wet coal, its barbed tail go

ive talons reste

d with terr

e brute spells

ng illusions of mist and freezing the ground be

s bri

away from retri

e chain

en-forged iron gave way u

way from the sand pit entirely, snapping its wings wide

rd the Crimso

ly tow

ssolved into

ered like brittle glass under

s, eyes wide with incomprehension as a tidal wav

d the egg

downward charm, and drop into the sa

even look

e vaulted the stone barricade, his Dragonkin

er past-me just as

t was a

gony of it tearing i

d under the impact

c of his worn green robes char

stones, boiling as it dripped f

ing with the strain of holding the weigh

directly into the burning inferno, clawing at

k echoed thro

air

turning into solid, jagge

tudents distorted, stretchin

Emmett's frozen, bloodied should

ing ping

attered into

the vision, slammed back ont

cleanly down the center, it

cross the Persian rug, hissing

o a ball, my forehead presse

ned, heavier and

e empty dark. "I am still a