Several days later, Emilia hiked one of the winding paths south of camp. Eddie wasn’t a good hiker. His stride was short, he often tripped, and he hadn’t brought any hiking boots. Still, he’d accompanied her on some of her hikes and proclaimed he hadn’t hated them, so while she so often liked hiking alone, on this occasion it felt lonely.

“I’ll just have to learn how to be alone again.”

Eventually, the trail broke through the tree line, and Emilia found herself behind the soccerfields where knots of boys kicked a ball about, playing some variation of soccer. Emilia stopped to watch.

She could easily make out the four fiends dominating the field closest to her. Vernon Fieldstone used his girth to launch the ball down the field with a massive boot. Aaron Drake received the pass and between him and Bryce Stillwell, maneuvered the ball to the opposing goal, passing back and forth with admirable skill. Bryce took a shot on goal, and opposing goalkeeper managed to deflect the shot. With the goalkeeper splayed out on the ground, Keegan Brand raced in to take another shot and was met by a defender. The tall, red-headed boy collided with the defender, knocking the other boy aside and taking control of the ball. With no further resistance, Keegan scored easily.

There was an outcry of course. Keegan had committed a clear foul but as some of the other boys objected, Aaron and Bryce and Vernon hurried to back Keegan. There was a bit of a scrum, but Keegan’s team won out and eventually play resumed.

One of the boys, the defender who’d been knocked down, broke off from the game, headed for the wood, shaking his head. Except, when Emilia noticed, she realized it wasn’t a boy at all, but Maria Jordan. She was limping, grass-stained and knee-skinned.

After several moments, Emilia realized Maria was headed right for her. For several moments, Emilia wondered whether Maria had seen her and whether or not to flee, but when Maria made eye contact with her, Emilia decided to stay put. Perhaps Maria wouldn’t be feeling confrontational.

“What are you doing out here?” Maria asked.

“Hiking.”

Maria snorted. “Sulking more like. Did you and what’s-his-name break up?”

Emilia rolled her eyes. “Why is every conversation with you so aggressive? Did I do something to offend you? I didn’t mean to knock you down in PE, all right? I tried to help you up. Why do you keep on like this?”

Maria looked at her, expression sullen, before she found a tree and turned to face the soccerfields, leaning against the trunk. She gestured vaguely at the fields where the four fiends still dominated.

“I tried to get in on that. I thought it might be fun. I thought Alex and Nadia were just whining when they said they’d rather play at the cabins then out here. But those four just throw their weight around all day and call it a win.”

Emilia crossed her arms, irritated Maria had avoided the question, wondering if there was anything she could say to get an honest response from the other girl. Then she smiled.

“Is it true you painted the penis on the stone box?”

Maria started, standing up straight and turning to look at Emilia. “How do you know that?”

Emilia shrugged. “So it’s true then. That means you were at camp that night, but you weren’t in cabin 12 yet. Where did you sleep?”

Maria’s blushed, put her hands behind her back and looked away. “What do you care?”

“Just curious.”

Eventually, Maria cleared her throat. “I slept in the infirmary. I wasn’t feeling well. I’ve never been here before and I was… hoping they’d call my parents and send me home.”

Emilia spread her hands as though to take in all of Camp Arrowhead. “Well obviously that didn’t happen. What changed?”

“Turns out there’s someone here I know.” Maria said. She cleared her throat and looked away. “Now. My turn for a question.” She paused. “When we were kids you claimed… Is it true that you’re… I’m trying to say this without offending you.” Maria took a deep breath. “Would it be accurate to say… that you don’t fit… what some would call the normal expectations of male or female?”

Emilia could see it cost Maria a lot to force out the question. She still couldn’t see how this was any of Maria’s business, but after several moments, she nodded. “Sometimes.”

“What does that mean?” Maria exploded, pushing off the tree and giving Emilia a frustrated look.

Emilia felt her chest waver but was determined to maintain her composure. “It means, society has a lot of expectations for how to behave if you’re a girl versus how to behave if you’re a boy. Some of those expectations are considered outdated, but some aren’t. And sometimes I feel like I feel like I fit into one, and sometimes the other, sometimes neither, and sometimes both.”

Maria clenched her jaw, her hands were fists, her face darkened. For several moments, Emilia was afraid Maria was going to try to hit her. But after several moments she let out a slow breath.

“Why does it bother you so much?” Emilia asked.

“In eighth grade, you wore a costume to school for Equinox, even though we weren’t really supposed to. It was a grey jacket with brass buttons and pink ruffles at the wrist. And a skirt that was grey and pink and copper stripes. You had a pair of old style goggles around your neck and a headband with a unicorn horn on it.”

Emilia smiled. When she’d told her father she wanted to be a steampunk unicorn for Equinox, he’d come up with the design for the outfit. He’d taught her to sew before, but putting together that outfit had taught her how to cut straight, how to run a sewing machine, and how to be patient with mistakes. They’d started working on the costume that summer and spent months on the project. She’d loved it and occasionally wore the jacket and skirt without the goggles or unicorn horn until she outgrew it.

“And?” Emilia asked.

“I just thought it was… nice looking.”

“That’s what bothers you?”

Maria leaned back against the tree again, crossed her arms, and shrugged. She looked back out at the soccerfield and Emilia joined her, leaning against a different tree. Stood in silence for a time, only the sounds of the woods and the soccer game around them, like a light haze.

Maria cleared her throat. “So, why’d you and that boy break up?”

Emilia rolled her eyes. “We’re not a thing. Just friends. But… Keegan, the tall red-head, he’s Eddie’s cousin. He… did something. Eddie asked me not to say anything. I went to Mrs. Fir and he’s pissed.”

“Well. You know what they say about snitches.”

Emilia sighed, exasperated. “I’d rather be a snitch than a victim. Or a bully.” She turned and headed back down the trail toward camp. “Good talk, Maria.”

• • •

Emilia knew when it happened. She’d finished her lunch of iced tea, curly fries, and cheeseburger with extra mustard when she felt a shift in the air. The cafeteria was a large, high-ceilinged room, but it still got warm and stuffy at the height of lunch. The air cooled and smelled faintly of grass and honey. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed but the kids in the cafeteria continued to munch and chat through lunch, blithely unaware that the Trial of Earth had begun.

Emilia looked about for Eddie, but he was nowhere to be seen. She stood and took her tray to the counter, wondering if she would run into him on the way to the soccerfields in the south. She wondered if she would have an opportunity to apologize before the Trial began. She considered waiting, but rejected the idea, remembering what Eddie had said about letting an elemental fiend run loose.

She stopped and looked over the crowd again hoping to find Eddie, but the kids in the cafeteria all looked faintly fuzzy, out of focus, their conversation muted, as though they sat on the other side of a barrier of time and space.

Emilia closed her eyes and bit her tongue. Again she found herself unprepared, not knowing what the Trial of Earth had in store for her, what skills she would need, what friends could aide her. With a knot of fear in her chest, she made for the exit amid the muted babble.

“I really think that, between us, we’re way faster than those jerks. If we can keep our distance and take as many long shots as possible, we’ll at least score on them. Maybe show them they’re not as awesome as they think they are.”

It was Maria. Emilia looked around but couldn’t find her in the haze of indistinct bodies packing the Main Hall.

“I'm not sure,” said Nadia. “I don’t really know much about soccer. We just like kicking the ball around.”

“But you two are the most athletic girls here,” Maria persisted. “Soccer is about athleticism and endurance and those bullies don’t have it. They’ve got dirty tricks and muscle and that’s it.”

“Isn’t that enough?” Alexandria asked.

Emilia exited the Main Hall and found the three girls whose conversation she’d overheard just descending into the courtyard. Their forms were sharp, their voices clear.

Emilia hurried to catch up. “Mind if I join you?”

The three of them looked at Emilia, Maria with a suspicious cast.

Nadia smiled. “You looking for some revenge against the four fiends too?”

Emilia blinked. “Um, what?”

“That’s what Maria calls them. Keegan Brand and his band of bullies.”

Emilia looked at Maria who blushed.

“Her plan is to beat them at soccer,” Alexandria added, her tone quiet but firm. “Says it will bruise their egos.”

Playing soccer against Vernon Fieldstone made as much sense as anything. It would take place on the soccerfields if nothing else. Emilia nodded.

“Their egos could do with some bruising. And I think Maria might be right. They rely more on muscle than finesse.”

Nadia grinned and punched a fist into her other hand. “Come on, Alexandria. Don’t you want to put that Vernon guy in his place after what he said? I mean who shouts ‘show me your tits!’ at a summer camp?”

Alexandria frowned. “I was thinking maybe itching powder in their underwear drawer.”

“Do you have itching powder?” Nadia asked.

“Or access to their underwear drawer?” Maria added.

Alexandria laughed. “Fine. Let’s bruise some egos.”

Emilia knew the trial was on the same way she knew how to breathe. She knew events would proceed and she had to push forward, but she was hesitant to bring Maria, Nadia, and Alexandria with her. But the other three girls didn’t give her a choice. They made their way through the courtyard and Emilia hurried after them.

The courtyard was empty but for the scent of warm earth and growing greenery, birdsong and the scurry of animals. They took the road to the parking lot, southeast of the stone box, until they met another path that would take them to the soccerfields. The path was well worn and free of undergrowth.

Emilia hurried up to Maria. “I hate to interrupt, but you can see this is a bit off, right?”

Maria barely spared her a glance as they hurried along the woods-bordered path. “What do you mean?”

“This is the third trial,” Emilia said. “The Trial of Earth.”

Maria shrugged. She barely looked like she’d heard, her gaze was far away. Emilia looked at Nadia and Alexandria. Their expressions were firm, steely-eyed, determined. Like they were caught up in the fervor of the coming confrontation.

• • •

The girls emerged into the meadow where the soccerfields stood and found a quartet of boys standing at the nearest goal, roughhousing. One of them Emilia immediately recognized as Vernon Fieldstone. The other three were strangers to her, which seemed odd as while she didn’t personally know everybody at camp she was certain she should have recognized them. The boys were the only ones on the fields which, at least, was consistent when how the last two trials had gone.

Emilia paused, but the other three strode forward, intent upon their challenge. It wasn’t that she wasn’t ready to take on the third of the fiends, but she was worried about including the others, especially since they didn’t seem fully aware. She hurried after them, wondering what was coming and how she would react to it.

It wasn’t long before Vernon noticed their approach. He grinned as he turned to face them, his eyes a solid, glowing green. He crossed his thick arms over his barrel chest. The other three mimicked his movement, standing in a loose, diamond formation.

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“We’re here to challenge you,” Maria said when they stood only feet apart.

Vernon laughed and the other three echoed his laughter like speakers a beat and a half out of sync.

Emilia shivered. Not only was the echoed laughter false, liked a canned recording, neither the Fiend of Air nor the Fiend of Water had reacted verbally during their trials. Already this trial was different in a way she hadn't predicted. She wished she and Eddie had spent more time theorizing about what might come. She wished Eddie was here now.

“Challenge us? What challenge could you possibly provide?” Vernon’s voice rasped and grated, the gravel crunched underfoot.

Emilia’s mouth was dry and she couldn’t respond.

“Soccer, of course. Four on four.” Maria’s voice was odd, stilted, like she was reading lines from a script for the first time.

The boys laughed out of sync. Emilia looked around at the other girls to see if they noticed, but their expressions were like people watching a movie at a distance.

“There aren’t enough of us for a full game,” Vernon said. “We’ll play half court. Me and my boys will be on defense. Score a goal on us and you win.”

Maria scoffed. “Is that all? A single goal?”

“You will drop of exhaustion before you manage it. And then you’ll be ours.” The boys laughed.

Emilia looked past Vernon at the others, wondering if she could place them, but when she focused her gaze upon one of them, she realized he looked less like a person and more like a clay sculpture of a person.

Emilia shivered again. “Maria. This isn’t a good idea.”

“Deal,” Maria said.

And at the girl’s word, the ground beneath them settled in. The pact had been made. Emilia felt it in her chest.

Open the door, hero, open the door.

The boys sauntered to the nearest goal and took up positions. Vernon went to the goal box while his clay allies took up defensive positions: one on either wing and one in the center, spread out across the field. A soccer ball sat just inside the goal and Vernon nudged it out into the goal box a ways, allowing him a running start to boot the ball down the field. The hollow thump as his foot impacted the ball rippled across the soccerfields like a miniature earthquake. The ball sped across the grass, barely leaving the ground and settled near the far goal.

Maria set out for the ball at a brisk jog and Nadia and Alexandria followed suit.

Emilia hurried after them. She focused as she ran, summoning the mnemonic trading cards and focusing on the image of the Athlete. Though she liked soccer well enough, Emilia hadn’t played it much and didn’t know if she’d be able borrow any skills from those around her to increase her own. Certainly she wouldn’t be allowed to take a free-throw. Perhaps being generally athletic would be enough. She felt herself stretch slowly, just a bit taller, just a bit stronger, just a bit broader.

Maria got to the ball first. She tapped it between her feet with something approaching competence. Emilia had no idea if Maria had ever played soccer before, whether this plan had any chance of succeeding. Again, she felt like she was being pushed down a path. She hoped she was strong enough to get to the end.

Nadia took up a position on Maria’s left, Alexandria on Maria’s right. The three started forward, Maria dribbling the ball, the others spread out wide on either side. Uncertain what to do, Emilia followed, trailing behind and to the right of Maria. As the girls approached, the boys made of clay backed up slowly, closing formation in front of the goal.

Maria passed the ball in a low arc to Nadia on her left. Nadia sped up to meet the pass. Despite her earlier protestation that she didn’t know much about soccer, she trapped the ball neatly with her thigh and dribbled forward several steps before passing across to the field to Alexandria on Maria’s right. Nearly to the penalty box, Alexandria passed the ball back to Maria as the boys of clay moved on her position. Maria trapped the ball and took a shot, but the lead clay boy intercepted with ease and passed it back to Vernon who launched it back down the field.

Maria and the others turned as one to jog back down the field while the boys laughed out of synch. The way the girls moved felt automatic, scripted, designed.

As the other girls jogged back downfield to collect the ball, Emilia followed but slowly and not all the way. As soon as Maria took control of the ball and turned back to the goal, Emilia raised a hand to signal she was open, but Maria ignored her. Instead, the three girls moved down the field as they had before. The three clay boys also closed ranks as the girls approached. Maria passed to her left, to Nadia. Nadia dribbled briefly before passing in a long arc to Alexandria. All as it had been before.

Emilia stood and watched as the three girls passed her, still in formation. Finally, Nadia passed back to Maria who took the same shot as before. And with the three large, clay boys in tight formation, ready for the shot, the boy in the lead easily intercepted and passed it back to Vernon who booted it back down the field.

The girls jogged back to retrieve the ball.

The boys laughed.

Emilia hurried after Maria and put a hand on her shoulder before she got to the ball. Maria stopped and blinked at her slowly like from the far end of a dream.

“You can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over,” Emilia said. “They’ll just keep blocking it.”

Maria nodded slowly.

They jogged to the ball together.

Nadia and Alexandria were already in position.

“Maybe we could try three of us on the left and one on the right,” Emilia said. “It might draw the defenders to us. Then we can pass to the person on the right who’ll have an open shot.”

But Maria didn’t acknowledge her. Instead she started down the field, just as before. Emilia followed after.

“Maria? You there?”

The other girl didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, she passed the ball to Nadia, just as before.

With a frustrated sigh, Emilia stopped and watched. There had to be a way.

After a few moments more, Nadia passed the ball in a long arc to Alexandria, and that’s when Emilia noticed something strange. For the most part they’d all been passing the ball across the ground, skittering across the grass. But Nadia’s long pass took to the air and when it did, the clay boys froze in confusion. It was like they couldn’t see it.

“Of course,” Emilia whispered. She wished Eddie was there to confirm her suspicion. She waited impatiently as Alexandria passed the ball back to Maria who took her predicted shot. The clay boys blocked it easily and Vernon booted it downfield. The boys laughed their asynchronous laugh as the girls turned retake the ball.

Emilia joined Maria as they jogged for the ball. “Maria. I need you to listen to me. Are you in there somewhere?”

Maria’s brows furrowed.

“You keep doing the same thing over and over. It’s not going to work. We have to try something different.”

“What do you care?” Maria said, her voice less sleepy, more like herself.

“This is the Trial of Earth. Can you see Vernon’s eyes? They’re glowing green. This is all part of whatever’s going on with the box. Remember the Trial of Water? The snow? The stag?”

Maria blinked rapidly, then stopped and looked around.

They came to a stop at the soccer ball.

“It’s four on four. All we have to do is score one goal,” Emilia said.

Maria looked over her shoulder at the boys, then looked back at Emilia, shrugging out from under her arm. “One goal?”

Emilia looked to either side where Alexandria and Nadia stood on the wings, waiting for things to start. She called to them and they looked at her blankly, but they approached when she waved them over.

“They’re too big and too ready for a shot on the ground,” Emilia said. “We’re going to have to mix it up. Try different things. And we have to keep the ball in the air. They’re creatures of earth. It confuses them. Any of you know how to do that thing where they bounce the ball knee to knee?”

“Juggling,” Alexandria said, voice slow and light. “I played soccer in grade school, until it began to interfere with gymnastics. Mother would prefer I focus on gymnastics.”

“Can you show me?” Emilia asked.

Alexandria nodded. She put her foot on the ball and rolled it back, slipping her foot underneath to flick it into the air. As it came down, she met it with her left thigh, giving it a short hop to her right, then back to her left. She managed this several times before the ball got away from her.

“All right. That’s a start. Why don’t three of us go down the left side. When we get close, hopefully drawing the defenders toward us, Alexandria can juggle it, confusing them, while the person on the other side gets into position. Then we’ll pass it over in the air and they’ll shoot.”

They nodded in synch. It was creepy, but at least they were going to try something.

“Who’ll take the shot?” Maria asked, voice a little more alert.

Emilia shrugged. “I’m not that familiar with soccer…”

“I’ll do it,” Maria said.

As Emilia had hoped, with three of them jogging down the field in tight formation, Maria alone on the left, the clay boys shifted to meet them, leaving Maria a wide open shot. Now all they had to do was get the ball to her.

Alexandria juggled the ball from knee to knee for several moments. As Emilia watched, she felt a tingling along her shoulders down her spine and to her toes. She could feel her body learning the skill just by watching. The clay boys, she noticed, were milling about. Though the three of them approached Emilia and her teammates, they were slow and confused, like stumbling down the dark hallway in the middle of the night.

“Now,” Emilia said.

Alexandria knocked the ball in front of her then passed it in a long arc to Maria on the other side of the field without letting it touch the ground. The clay boys approached the three of them slowly, uncertainly, but Vernon sprinted for Maria.

The ball bounced off the field in front of Maria. The clay boys jerked to, suddenly able to perceive again, and the three of them converged on the other girl, but Maria collected the ball and dribbled for the goal. When she looked up, Vernon was there.

Emilia winced before the impact.

Vernon dove at Maria’s feet, catching the ball and knocking Maria head over heels. She tumbled to the grass in a heap and slid a few feet before splaying on her back. As Vernon kicked the ball down the field, Emilia sprinted to Maria’s side.

“Are you hurt?”

Maria groaned and pushed herself into a sitting position. “Great plan, Emilia.”

“It almost worked,” Emilia said. “We have to try again.”

Maria grumbled, but she let Emilia help her up.

Emilia got to the ball first. She motioned, and the other girls huddled around, Maria limping slightly. “Alexandria, can you show me how to do that again?”

Alexandria scooped her foot under the ball, tossing it into the air. When it came down, she struck it with her right thigh, then her left, then her right again, and on the third bounce, she angled it toward Nadia who caught it on her chest, putting it in front of her so she could bounce it off her left thigh, then her right. Emilia watched closely, trying not to remember Nadia had said she didn’t know much about soccer. Whatever was happening, she didn’t want to interfere. Emilia breathed carefully, focusing on the mnemonic trading card in her mind: the Athlete. She felt her body shifting and let it, hoping the added size would grant some advantage over the clay boys and their green-eyed fiend.

After a few bounces, Nadia passed the ball to Maria who let the ball hit the ground and trapped it under her foot.

“There’s no way we’ll be able to keep the ball in the air the whole time,” Maria said. Her voice was clear and strong. “You two might be soccer juggling masters, but I’m only all right at it, and it’s no way to take the ball down the field.”

Emilia nodded. “We only have to do it long enough to confuse the defenders. If we stay spread out, we can pass it in the air, then start juggling to confuse them. We only need one shot to finish this.”

Maria snorted. “This whole thing is weird. What’s a soccer game got to do with the stone box? Or magic keys? Or any of it? I don’t get it.”

Emilia shook her head. “Me neither.”

“Then why do it?” Alexandria asked, voice soft and far away.

Emilia thought of what Eddie had said. “I’m afraid of what happens if I don’t stop them.”

Maria grunted before she rolled the ball onto her foot and tossed it in the air. She juggled the ball knee to knee, more clumsy than they others, before kicking it to Emilia. Emilia let her body react, the kick was high, so she met the ball with her chest and found her felicity for juggling a soccer ball came naturally. She bounced it a couple times before passing it to Maria, who passed it to Alexandria, who passed it to Nadia.

“I think we’re as ready as we can be,” Emilia said. “Shall we take another shot?” The girls nodded as one. “I’ll take the ball down the left,” Emilia said. “You three spread out. As soon as they start to converge on me, I’ll pass. Stay spread out and keep it in the air. As soon as someone’s got a clean shot, take it.” The girls nodded again.

Emilia dribbled down the left side of the field and the girls spread out to her right. The clay boys must have noticed something was up because they were advancing, slow and steady. Maria dribbled the ball along the grassy field like she’d been doing it for years. The clay boy opposite her picked up his pace, a wide grin on his simple face, showing his teeth. Emilia let him approach though it made her hands sweat, waiting until he was maybe teen feet away before she stopped her advance and scooped the ball onto one foot, tossing it in the air. As she’d expected, the clay boy stumbled to a stop, shaking his head, confused.

Emilia let her knees do the juggling and looked out across the field to see Maria, Alexandria, and then Nadia on the far side. Maria and Alexandria had a clay boy each focused upon them, but Nadia, on the far side, was open. Without giving it too much thought, without letting her brain get in the way, Emilia volleyed the ball across the field, taking a moment to watch it soar in a graceful arc. With the clay boy in front of her confused by the ball airborne, Emilia hurried past him. Maria and Alexandria took a cue from her and soon the only one between them and the goal was Vernon.

The ball hit the grass in front of Nadia and she sprinted to meet it. The clay boys came to and lumbered toward her. Nadia took the ball forward several lengths but two of the clay boys were fast approaching while the third backed quickly to give Vernon in the goal box some support. Before the boys could reach her, Nadia kicked the ball into the air, juggled it once to give herself some room, then punted it to Alexandria, closest to her. One of the boys stumbled, confused, as Emilia had expected, but the other stayed focused on Nadia. Emilia watched, stunned, as he plowed into her. Nadia was sent sprawling.

Emilia shouted, a wordless objection, but there were no referees, no one to object to.

Alexandria didn’t let the ball hit the ground. Instead, she took the pass on the instep of her left foot, putting the ball in the air and advanced slowly, juggling from knee to knee. For the moment, she seemed invisible to the clay boys, but Emilia noticed Vernon’s eyes flash green and he pointed at the black-haired girl. The clay boy who’d fallen back to provide Vernon support jerked and nodded and sprinted for Alexandria.

Emilia rushed for the goal and waved at Alexandria. “I’m open!”

Alexandria nodded. She knocked the ball high with her left thigh, pushing it far to the right, giving herself a chance to doge the incoming clay boy. She took several long strides and expertly passed the ball to Emilia. Despite her efforts, the clay boy struck her and Alexandria was knocked into the air, sliding several feet on the grass when she landed.

But the ball was in the air.

Emilia took a long, deep breath as she hurried forward, tracking the ball with her gaze, keeping an eye on Vernon in her periphery. She knew, technically, she was offsides, but if there was no referee to protect them from being body slammed, there was no referee to object to offsides.

Vernon eyes flashed green. His grin turned to a scowl. He moved to meet her and Emilia knew she’d only have one shot before she too was laid out on the field. The image of the Athlete, a mental trading card, flashed in her mind. For a moment it was Mr. Northam, then it flickered and it was Nadia, and then Alexandria, and then Rion Stoutarm, one of the four Heroes of Humanity, the one known as the Athlete just as Zenith Niall was known as the Guitarist.

Rion Stoutarm was a tall, broad, thick man with short brown hair, thick features, and a ready smile. Emilia had heard of him, of course, she’d seen him on television performing supernaturally athletic feats, she’d watched interviews with him and the others, but a wealth of knowledge on the man’s prowess poured into her mind in that moment.

Emilia took a breath and let her body react. She planted her left foot hard in the earth and let her right slice through the air, nearly parallel to the ground. Her instep met the ball as she volleyed it toward the goal.

Vernon didn’t even try to stop the ball. He was focused on her.

Emilia’s vision exploded into sparkles of grey. Her ears filled with a distant roaring. She didn’t feel the impact as the boy hit her, her body went numb and loose. But through it all cut the dull ring of a soccer ball hitting a goal post. She knew, without having to look, that she’d failed.

She felt the impact as her body hit the ground, tumbling end over end before sliding to a stop. With a heavy grunt and grit teeth, Emilia pushed herself to her feet and shook her head to clear it. She heard the boys laughing their identical but asynchronous laugh. She saw the ball sitting just this side of the goal line. And she saw Vernon ambling toward it. Certain in his victory.

Then she saw Maria. The girl sprinted for the ball.

Vernon hadn’t noticed her yet but that was sure to change. Emilia pushed herself to charge the boy, knees loose and legs lumbering. She knew there was little she could do physically against the boy with glowing green eyes, heavy with the strength of earth. Even so, she jumped as she collided with his back. He smelled of fresh-cut grass and thick honey. She bounced off his back and stumbled back several steps. He grunted, a sound like rocks scraping and turned on her. Emilia held her ground, hoping to keep his attention.

Maria flashed in the corner of her eye.

Vernon noticed a moment later, and lunged for the ball, but Maria dropped into a slide, punching the ball with the sole of her foot and knocking it across the goal line to strike the net with a satisfying thwack.

Vernon roared like a landslide. He stomped and the earth shook. Each of the clay boys froze like statues, delicate, hair-line fractures spreading across their torsos. Vernon stomped again and the clay boys shattered into dust. Emilia had to crouch to keep her balance as the field buckled and warped and broke. Vernon stomped a third time as his roar faded to an echo as a sinkhole opened beneath him and he fell.