What the fuck? How is he alive? I killed him in death scheme? How is he still walking?

Sweat covers the palms of my hands as I stare into the eyes of Devlin Maldive, the man I killed not twenty minutes earlier.

His eyes are normal. No red. He isn't being controlled by the blood wizard right now. What is going on?

A quick look around the room tells me that it's split in two. Half the wizards stare at Maldive, the other half stare at me.

The wizards staring at me are the same ones who at the beginning of the tournament seemed to know what Filigree was.

I take in a deep breath and let it out. I know how this is about to play out and I hate it.

Dom stares at Maldive, mouth wide open.

“Dom,” I say. “We need to get out of here. Something's not right.”

Dom looks back at me, confusion there but also a bit of accusation.

The announcer clears his throat and I shoot him a look.

“What happened?” I ask. “I thought I was playing death scheme? How is he still alive?”

The wizard shakes his head, just as confused as everyone else in the room.

I chew on my lip for half a second before making up my mind.

“Dom,” I say so only he can hear me. “We're leaving.”

I take a step forward, pulling Pixie with me, and Dom seems to startle into motion.

We make it down the stairs before the wizards who know what Filigree is step in front of us, essentially walling us off from the exit.

“Where do you think you're going, Hexana?” Maldive asks. “You and I still have unfinished business.”

“We don't,” I say. “I killed you.”

Maldive spreads his hands as if to say, are you sure?

Hairnet lifts her voice. “How is that? How are you standing? We saw you die.”

“I think you saw subterfuge. Only you didn't know it was subterfuge.”

Hairnet grumbles to herself and glares at me.

“Subterfuge?” Dom asks. “How? The Illween were overseeing the tournament. No subterfuge should've been possible.”

Maldive shrugs. “You know how those tricky witches are. They always have their horns sunk deep into one thing or another.”

“That's not an answer,” I say. “If you’re gonna say it was subterfuge, if you're gonna claim I cheated, tell us all how. I’d love to hear it.”

“I was poisoned, but you messed up the dosage.”

I stare at him.

I've been accounted for the entire time since entering the tournament, what is he talking about? And worse, will these wizard idiots believe him?

Examining the faces, I get my answer. I swallow and my stomach twists in a thick knot.

“Dom,” I say, “we need to get out of here. I don't know what he's doing, but we’re outnumbered and outgunned.”

Dom raises his finger at me. I contemplate biting it off.

“You say she poisoned you,” Dom says. “How? She was under lock and key. The Illween themselves oversaw the rooms. They were in shadow bubbles. This is all common knowledge.”

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Maldive nods. “Yes. And that's how she did it. She told you all herself, didn't she?”

Several of the wizards look at each other in confusion. Several others close their eyes as whatever Maldive is getting at sinks in.

For me, nothing sinks in.

“What?” I ask. “What could I have done?”

“Your familiar,” Maldive says as though this is the answer.

I look around. I have no idea what Maldive is talking about or getting at. I see other wizards nodding slowly though, as if they understand.

I really wish someone would clue me in here. “What? My familiar what?”

Maldive clears his throat before raising his voice. “She told you all, did she not? Bragged of it even. Portals. Her familiar can portal directly into the Shadow Vaile. And if the familiar can portal into the Shadow Vaile, then it can portal into other shadow bubbles. She poisoned me as I slept.”

More wizards turn their accusing glares on me.

Dom asks, “Poisoned you with what?”

Maldive shrugs. “I'm not a wizard. I have no idea. All I know is that I came to as she was slipping back through the portal. I shrugged it off as a strange dream, because I surely did not expect that in a wizard-sanctioned event such as this there would be any cheating involved.”

Several wizards nod and several others look aghast at what is accused to have taken place.

Maldive continues, “I didn't realize what happened until it was too late. As I walked out of my room, I tripped. It was an uncoordinated move, an inkling of what had been done to me. My left foot spasmed. Something that's never happened.”

“Wait,” I say. “We’re basing all this on a foot spasm?”

“No,” Maldive says, “not just a foot spasm. Someone moved my foot.”

Whispers go up in the crowd.

“Blood magick.”

“The blood wizard.”

“Is he here?”

That question brings something else forward for me.

“Who is your wizard?” I ask Maldive. “Who sponsored you in this tournament?”

Maldive raises an eyebrow.

“You must've had a wizard enter you into the tournament, right?” I look around at the wizards gathered. “I mean, that's how it happens, correct?”

Several of the wizards begrudgingly nod in agreement.

“So…” I look around the room. “Where's the wizard who brought you?”

Hairnet steps forward. “I brought him into the tournament. He's my thrall.”

Several of the wizards look as though they don't believe her, and I wonder if this isn't just a power-play on Hairnet’s behalf for Filigree.

“Let's say that's true,” I say. “Let's say that you actually did vouch for Maldive, how would I control someone with poison?”

Hairnet shrugs. “Easy. If the poison was laced with blood magick, or possibly astra magick, you could take control of his body, make him play poorly, lose to you.”

I roll my eyes. “Right. Sure. A stick.”

“That's just what you claim,” Hairnet shoots back. “By the way, if you're just a stick, why have I heard rumors that you're able to use witchstones. Sticks can't just use witchstones without massively damaging their internal systems. How is it that you can?”

“Dom,” I mutter again, “we need to get Pixie and get out of here.”

He looks at me, and shakes his head no.

“What I want to know,” Dom says, “is how this magickal toxin laced with, as you say, blood or astra magick prevented Maldive from dying at the scheme table?”

Hairnet answers, “We do not know all the ways in which astra magick might interfere with our own magicks. There could have been a bad interaction between the toxin and the death scheme table. That's truly the only reason why the other two players were disintegrated whereas Maldive remained in an unconscious, comatose state.”

Silvy finally spoke. “I didn't open a portal into another shadow bubble.”

The wizards look around, trying to see where the voice came from.

Silvy sighs and drops her voice, “It's me, the familiar. Is this better?”

Hairnet steps forward, speaking to the ceiling as if Silvy's there and not perched on my shoulder. “You say you didn't open a portal into another shadow bubble, but how can we trust you?”

“What reason do I have to lie?” Silvy asks in response.

“You have every reason in the world to lie,” Hairnet says. “If you want your master to have Filigree, you must understand the importance of it.”

Silvy laughs. “The witch is no more my master than Maldive is your thrall.”

Maldive steps forward quickly. “This is not your fight, Silvurn.”

“Good point,” Silvy says, a smile in her voice now. “Do continue.”

Maldive moves towards the wall of wizards. “Let me through. That girl and Filigree are mine.”

Dom tosses me my witchstone holster and spreads his feet, preparing to cast magick at any threat.

Several wizards, working as one, drop a shield around him.

Maldive steps forward, puts his hand around Pixie's elbow, and drags her back up onto the stage.

He takes the pillow from her, as well as the glove. He slips his hand into the glove and closes his eyes, flexing his fingers. He looks at all those gathered.

“Filigree is mine!” he shouts. “Filigree is—”

Whole pieces of the glove fall to the ground as he clenches his fist.

Maldive looks to the announcer, his eyebrows furrowed.

The announcer steps forward. “The girl put it on. Take the girl and Filigree will be yours.”

Maldive grabs Pixie’s elbow and moves away, across the stage, and towards the door at the far end of the hall. I step forward, but several wizards block my way.

“Get out of my way,” I hiss.

They do not oblige, and one of them puts a finger at the center of my chest and flicks me.

I shoot backwards across the room, crashing into the back wall, sliding down, my vision blurring.

Maldive drags Pixie towards a door at the far end of the hall as I crawl to my knees. He doesn’t open the door though.

A black hole appears at the center of it and he walks through.

Wizards close in around me. A witch to be executed.