I stopped hugging Vera and smiled at her. “Protect yourself at the start; make a shield of air close to you to stop him from touching you. If you don’t, he’ll teleport right next to you and teleport you outside. After he’s used three teleports, attack like wild but keep him from coming near you and you’ll win.”

Vera nodded and looked at Christopher’s sleeping form as she coughed nervously. “You didn’t do anything to him did you?”

I shook my head. “I just put him to sleep.”

Vera nodded and nudged him with her foot to confirm what I said. Christopher groaned as he began to wake up and Vera smiled. “Hey, you didn’t lie,” she said more animatedly than I would have liked.

I shook my head at her lack of faith and motioned for Vera to take her place. “The other matches are finishing up.”

She nodded and slowly made her way over to her starting spot. I watched the final match going on as she did so. The match was happening two circles away and though both of the fighters were far from me, I could barely discern their names from their minds. The lithe boy with brown hair’s name was Jason and his opponent’s name was Irene. Irene had crystal blue eyes and silvery hair that moved like it was another one of her limbs. Their fight was closer to a dance; choreographed. Irene launched strikes and Jason dodged them with ease. Both of their movements bordered on perfection. I watched with my mouth slightly agape and I realised that this battle would take longer than I anticipated. They fought for a while more: Jason’s footwork was delicate and light. Irene’s hair moved shaper, launching jabs at Jason like daggers without a moment's break inbetween.

Jason moved as though he could see everything in the immediate future while Irene moved with a practised elegance. Though I could guess Irene’s Gift, I wondered what Jason’s was. From this distance though, mind reading would be hard.

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I moved closer so could properly read their minds. The moment I tried to read both their thoughts though, Jason turned to face me, and his eyes glowed a faint crimson instead of their previous brown.

I yelled and fell down to the ground suddenly as I felt a sharp pain go through my head. I took a moment to recalibrate myself. The world felt simultaneously too loud and too quiet; too dark and too bright. By the time I could see and hear normally again, Jason had already won and both Irene and I had a thin trickle of blood coming from our noses. He grinned as he walked outside of his circle. “Thanks,” he said playfully.

“What did you do to me?” I asked, but the Guide spoke before he had the chance to apologise.

“Prepare for your final round,” the Guide announced loudly. “The third round is about to begin. Get in your positions!”

I left Irene and Jason’s circle and returned to mine. I noticed a thin layer of air surrounding Vera which made me smile. The air felt heavier around our circle and I realised that Vera was planning to eliminate Christopher straight away with a big attack. Please work, I begged to myself.

“Begin!” the Guide announced.

Vera slammed her outstretched arms together and all the air in the circle began to spiral around her pushing outwards. The winds roared as they simultaneously pushed back Christopher and shielded Vera. Christopher tried the same trick he tried against me: he vanished from where he was standing and appeared behind Vera. Instead of dodging like I did though, she closed her eyes and sent a blast of air from around her and blasted Christopher back.

Still, Vera didn’t open her eyes. She held out both arms and increased the strength of the winds with a small smile. Christopher tried to teleport next to her again but to no avail. And again. And again. Vera, who didn’t move throughout the whole match, opened her eyes and finally took a step. With all his teleports used, Christopher couldn’t do anything. The winds that were roaring before suddenly calmed down.

Vera shook her head. “Explode,” she whispered.

This time, Vera didn’t laugh, Christopher didn’t stare and I didn’t whisper under my breath. Instead of an explosion, there was a weaker blast of air originating from Vera and knocking Christopher off his feet and outside the circle.

“Winner: Vera,” the Guide announced.