Vera whipped her head around and glared at me. “I heard that.”

I shrugged. “It’s true though. There’s no practical use in blowing things up like that, and no one asked you to either.”

“There’ve been rumours of monsters living around here recently,” Vera retorted. “Don’t ask me to save you when a man-eating tentacle monstrosity comes after you,” she joked.

Christopher forced his eyes away from the crater that Vera created and cleared his throat to get our attention. “I think we should register our team now.”

“I’m fine with that,” Vera said, turning to face Christopher.

“I have no objections,” I added.

“Great,” Christopher said as he grabbed both our hands. Before Vera or I could protest, we were already standing in front of the Guide. The man blinked in surprise at our sudden appearance, then recomposed himself. “Would I be correct in assuming you three are here to register your group?” the Guide asked. We all nodded, and the Guide quickly wrote down our names.

Vera frowned. “How do you know our names?” she asked, and silently, I wondered the same. The Guide smiled quietly but didn’t answer. Instead, he pointed at a large clear field where twelve other initiates stood.

“You’ll have to wait over there until the first stage of the Culling truly starts,” he said, completely ignoring her. "I would escort you, but I think your teleporter friend would get you there faster than I could."

Vera raised a hand in objection. “You still haven’t answered my–”

Before Vera could finish, Christopher touched our shoulders, and teleported all three of us onto the field. “We’re here,” he said.

“Oh look…it’s the commoner girl,” I heard a familiar voice drawl from behind. I didn’t turn my head, but I knew if I did, I would see Seraphina Elwood. But that wasn’t why I refused to move. She’s his sister, I thought. He’ll be in the same group as her. I’ll see him, I’ll see Lucas. “Why aren’t you saying anything,” Seraphina taunted. “Come on girl, turn around, do something.”

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“Leave her alone,” Vera said defensively.

I could feel the look of distaste on Seraphina’s face from her change in breathing. “I didn’t know there would be two commoners here,” Seraphina murmured with dislike after taking in Vera’s ill-fitting clothes and rough appearance.

“Take that back,” Vera said warningly.

Seraphina snorted. “As if I care what some low-blood thinks,” she chuckled.

I felt the air pressure rise sharply and turned around to see a strong wind current sending Seraphina soaring over twelve metres into the air. Vera stood smugly with her arm outstretched.

“Stop!” Seraphina panicked, yelling out just before she hit the ground.

Seraphina stopped suddenly in the air along with everything around her. Even the birds flying above had paused as if frozen in time. I tried to move but found myself paralyised. What's her Gift? I wondered as I stood there, unable to talk, and unable to move. How long will this last for? Am I going to stay like this foreve–

As suddenly as the world had frozen, it unfroze again. Seraphina fell down from where she was floating in the air with a soft thump, and Vera, who was in the middle of a step wobbled as she struggled to regain her composure.

“You low-blood mutt!” Seraphina growled t her from the ground. “Di–” Seraphina tried to say, but before she could finish, a familiar green bubble enveloped the field, plunging us into silence.

The Guide tutted disapprovingly while shaking his head. “You shouldn’t go around killing your potential future classmates,” he said. A group of initiates followed behind him as he entered the field. Everyone’s already in groups, I realised. Much quicker than I had expected too.

“Enough with that though,” the Guide said cheerfully. “Since everyone’s already here, I think we’re going to have to start the first part of the Culling a bit early. This part is simple. You’ll fight the others in your group, and after all is said and done, the groups will be reduced from three people to two.”

My brain whirled, and suddenly, I regretted grouping up with Vera. I’m going to get eliminated, aren’t I? I chose to use Vera as a crutch, and now I’m going to suffer for it.

The Guide popped his silencing bubble and grinned. “Any questions?”