“I won’t freak out.” I slid my gaze to him. “Why would I freak out?”
Quazar’s eyes remained on the seven monsters outside of the glass chamber.
“Because.” A beat. “Those are Stareaters.”
“They’rewhat?”
“You said you wouldn’t freak out.”
Quazar was calm.Toocalm if you asked me.
Stareaters were nightmares. Figments of the imagination. Fiction.Myth.
Papi told us stories about Stareaters to scare us at twinight. To get us to shape up when we were misbehaving. They weren’t supposed to be true. They weren’t supposed to be real. Dread sank in my stomach like stones. This trial was far from over.
“Help them first,” Quazar commanded, seeing my expression. I nodded and dove for the youngling Chronophim.
“Please,” she shrieked. “Get me out of here, Disciple. Please.”
“I will little one, don’t you worry,” I promised her.
“You will attend to mefirst,” the Farasee raged. “I am a Farasee of the Order. We are taken care of first!”
I ignored him. Honestly, I wanted to shoot him in the face with a starbolt just so he could shut up. The Stareaters banged on the glass, slamming it with their unholy powers as I wrestled with the Chronophim’s blindfold, then her shackles. The blindfold came off relatively easy. The shackles on the other hand were putting up a strong fight.
“Burning…” I grumbled, murmuring beneath my breath as I struggled with her manacles.
“Starling…”
“I’m working on it!”
I turned my hand into a starry hammer. I banged against her shackles until the lock finallypopped. The Chronophim quickly shook it off, her bright galactic eyes swimming with stars. When she looked at my eyes she gasped.
“You’re Safah Anathelle. Thank you, Disciple Safah.Thank you,” she cried.
She squeezed my hands and turned. I looked up and found an open door on the back wall of the glass chamber, wide open.
“Go.” I shoved her forward. “Get through the door and fly free little one.Go.”
“I’m not trying to rush you or anything,” Quazar drawled.
I turned to find his eyes on one of the Stareaters. When I turned, I saw the creature had managed to chip the glass, creating fissures that now spread along the rest of the glass.
Rot.
I raced for the Farasee, using the same hammer maneuver. I refused to remove the blindfold from his eyes first. I wouldn’t look the parasite in the eyes while he was being vile. It took some work, but I popped his lock. Without a word, I flew behind him, jerked on the blindfold, and loosed him. The Farasee instantly floated up with an air of superiority as he glared at me.
“I told you numerous times to free me first, Disciple,” he seethed. “You females are as stupid as you are useless. The Order will hear about this. Mark my words. You’ll learn what happens to those who put anyone above the Order.”
I flinched. He couldn’t make me forfeit my Ascension. Could he? I’d worked so hard, survived too much, for some greedy, careless Farasee to ruin all of my efforts.
“Such a shame,” he said, his eyes dragging down my body lewdly. “Youarea pretty one. Even prettier than Amaryss. And she was a vision to behold. You’re not smart like her though. You don’t have her cunning. Her sharp mind. You do notobey. But maybe you can be taught, yet.”
The Farasee whipped around without another word and flew out of the open door. I turned to Quazar, unable to process everything the Farasee had just said.
“And then there were two.”
Quazar’s eyes were dancing. How could he make light of something as terrifying as this? I set my efforts on Quazar. I reached for his shackles and hissed jumping back. His shackleshad a thin, black flame around them. When I looked closely, I saw his skin had been burned raw.
