We stared at each other.

Azam took a deep breath. The parts of his skin that weren’t already covered scales began to slightly glow, and a burst of fire shot out of his mouth.

I jumped out of the way, barely dodging it. I felt the anger inside me rise, and the itch to rip the arrogance out of him only increased. I rushed toward him once more, dodging another burst of fire.

He rushed toward me too, and I used that chance to touch the floor. The red line covered large parts of it in just a second. The entire floor, stretching from where I’d put my hands to the end of the arena, was in pieces with dust rising to surround all of us.

I didn’t scream out, like I had when I faced Birgit. I didn’t have Ahmed with me to see through it. So I listened. There were gasps from the others. Murmuring.

A scream came from behind me, and I sidestepped Azam’s attack. We were so close that I felt the scales on his arms brush my shoulder, scratching it through my shirt. I almost fell but I managed to keep my balance. A small voice on the back of my head berated me.

I could have touched him then. A slight touch on his arm, it wouldn’t have taken more. And he would scream. He would regret underestimating me. And I would finally be vindicated.

But I didn’t.

And we were locked in a standoff, staring at each other until one of us made the first move. It was Birgit who made the decision for us in the end. A wall of ice formed between the two of us, blowing the dust away.

“Enough,” she said. The temperature dropped dangerously low. She came toward me. “We need to talk.”

I couldn’t get a sense of her emotions from her voice, but I knew what was coming. I should have kept my mouth shut. Now, after everything that happened in summer, I found myself where I was back in school.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

I looked back to everyone who was watching us. The pain in my head returned. I tried to put my hand on it, but Birgit’s cold hands stopped me. I looked down at her. Her expression was unexpectedly soft as she led me by the wrist outside of the stadium. The arena started self repairing like in the exam, and Birgit called out to everyone that we would be gone for a bit.

“You’re an idiot,” she said when we were a fair bit away from the gym, in a barren parking lot.

“Seriously?” I said, not bothering to hide any of my anger. I had put on my gloves by then, although I was clenching my fists so hard I thought they’d rip. “That’s all you have to say? You wouldn’t even look at me while we were there! Our last conversation wasn’t exactly the best! I thought-I-Just get it over with.”

“What?” Now she was clearly angry too. “For helvede, do you just default to me breaking up with you whenever something comes up?”

“Well, what else should I expect? After last night, I wouldn’t blame you.”

“So you’d break up with me if the roles were reversed?” she asked as she crossed her arms.

“Of course not,” I answered immediately. How could she possibly think that? “I love you too much to do that.” My hands flew to cover my mouth. I hadn’t meant to say that part out loud.

She smirked. “Then why wouldn’t I be the same?”

“Well-”

“No,” she said sternly. “No self-deprecating crap. But this is all overwhelming. So let’s take it one step at a time, hm? And by the time we’re through, Atlantis won’t know what hit it.”

I smiled at that. She was right. Even if they did all hate me like in school, I would have her on my side. When we got back though, it looked like nothing much had changed. Ivan and the twins were excited about my power–although Ivan was more reserved than he would normally be, probably because of our conversation–while Azam sulked in the corner. I had to admit that I got a bit of satisfaction from that.

It was soured by guilt though. I almost gave in to-to-I didn’t even know what to call it. It was like an instinct. The idea of giving up flashed through my mind, but I swatted that away. I couldn’t give up. Not now.

So I just focused on the battle at hand. Sadid was fighting the purple haired girl. She had grown to a larger size, while he was seemingly teleporting–shrinking and moving quickly according to Sofia.

And I had to admit, once I saw them going all out and my fanboy-ish nature took over, I was able to have some fun.