“What does?” Ava asked.
“Down in the mines, people talk about how tired they get from the noxite exposure,” I explained. “My magic takes a bit of a hit too, but I’m still able to use it.”
“How far do you think we could take this?” Kallie wondered aloud. “I mean, could we blast through the effects of a noxite bracelet? Could we get through the fences?”
I got thrilled over the idea— the first thing I’d been excited about in a while. This gave us a huge advantage inside the prison— against the guards, the Warden, and even other students. It could be our ticket out of here.
“Damn,” Marcus muttered. “I wish we would’ve tested it out on our field trip.”
“We can still test it out,” I said.
Kallie scoffed. “I’m not trying to jump the fence again.”
I smirked. “There are other ways to experiment with noxite.”
“Charlie, no,” Ava protested immediately, sensing where I was going with it.
“Hey, pidge, you said you wanted my help,” I said nonchalantly. “Did you mean it, or not?”
Ava fell silent, then gingerly said, “What were you thinking?”
I smiled. “Leave that to me, baby girl.”
* * *
I stayed on high alert the following day, waiting for my opportunity. Ava was wholly against this. She didn’t want me playing with noxite.
But screw it. I didn’t want her messing with the prophecy, and she damn well didn’t listen to me. I wondered if I was doing this just to spite her, but I pushed the thought aside.Someonehad to take one for the team and figure this out.
Not all the guards carried fully-dosed noxite guns. They weresupposedto be diluted, so they just slowed us down, not totally knocked us out. They didn’t want us missing shifts at the mines if they could help it. But I’d overheard some of the guards during fight club training. They’d bragged about their full-powered guns and how they justlovedto test them out on students. I just had to find one of the jerks.
“Where’s Ava?” Ez asked with a full mouth as I sat beside him at lunch. The cafeteria was alive with chatter.
“Sulking, because we got into another argument,” I teased. “What else?”
“What happened?” he asked hoarsely.
“Nothing. Ancestors, you worry too much.” I took a bite of a dinner roll. “You act like she’syourlittle sister, not the other way around.”
“Someone has to look out for her,” he said.
I swallowed. “Oberi’s with her.”
Footsteps approached. At first, I thought it might be Marcus, but then a heavy hand landed on my shoulder. The hand was cold, with a firm grip. Definitely a vampire.
“I’ve got a message from the Captain,” a gruff voice growled in my ear. He sounded older, like one of the guards. And he worked for Captain, which meant I’d found my man. “You fight this weekend— no exceptions.”
I hadn’t entered a fight since Deuce kicked my ass weeks ago. I was ready to get back into the ring and reclaim my title. But I wanted a noxite dart in my ass even more.
“Tell him I refuse,” I snapped.
Ez gasped from beside me. He didn’t know about fight club, but he sure as hell knew you didn’t talk to a guard like that.
“What did you just say?” the guard snarled.
I turned to him. “You heard me. I’m not doing it.”
“You don’t have a choice.” The guard tried to keep his voice down, but the irritation was clear in his tone.
