Chancey chuckled under his breath. “It sounds like you got a lot more than that.”
I plopped into the seat beside him. “I don’t want to sleep with Scarlet.”
“Why not? She’s hot. You know, if you’re single.”
“I’m not— I don’twantto be single.”
“Well, you are. Might as well enjoy it—” Chancey started to say, but he was cut off when the doors to the training room burst open. Several heavy pairs of footsteps marched inside, and my blood immediately turned to ice. I’d learned the beat of those footsteps all too well during my time at the Institute. It was the guards.
The guards never came down here during training. It was against Captain’s policy, because he didn’t want our training to influence their bets. The entire gym went silent.
“Hey!” Captain snapped, abandoning the new recruit he’d been training. “What do you think you’re doing here? You know the rules!”
“Warden’s orders,” one of the guards said.
“What orders?” Captain barked. “The Warden don’t touch fight club.”
“New test results have come in,” the guard stated. “There’s an Elf hybrid on your roster.”
If I thought my blood turned to ice a moment ago, it was nothing compared to the way I froze up then. My entire body might as well have been dumped in the arctic. I couldn’t move—couldn’t even breathe.
Captain scoffed. “I think I’d know if I had a kid with Elf blood among my fighters.”
“Says here he’s a quarter Elf,” the guard said. “We’re to bring him to the Warden as quickly as possible.”
How the hell did they find out?
My hands began to shake as I considered the spells I might throw at the guards to get out of this. But I already knew there was no way out. There was only one entrance in and out of the gym. The only other place to go was the locker rooms, and there weren’t any exits there— not even a window. The guards had me cornered.
Captain hesitated. Finally, he said, “Fine, but be quick about it. These kids have training to do.”
The guards began to march in my direction, and panic set in. I grabbed Chancey’s arm so hard that he drew a sharp breath.
“Chancey,” I hissed. “You’ve gotta help me. You’ve gotta—”
I cut off when the guards walked straight past me and barked, “Anthony Lange, you’re coming with us.”
Chancey shoved me off of him. “What areyouon about?”
I barely heard or felt him. I went as still as a statue as I heard the guards drag the Elf hybrid away.
“Me?” Anthony squeaked. “You bastards are mistaken— don’t touch me!”
I leaned over to Chancey. “Who the hell is Anthony?”
“Tony,” he replied. “The Dangerous Dragon.”
It wasn’t fair that I relaxed a little when he said that, but I did. I’d fought him last semester. Tony had been an asshole in the ring, and even worse outside of it. He’d punched Ava last semester. If it were anyone else, I’d stand up for them, but in this case, I was pleased to see Tony get dragged off to Cellblock 9. It didn’t matter that we were both Elf hybrids and Ishouldhave stood up for my own. Tony deserved Cellblock 9 for other reasons.
“I’m no Elf!” Tony screamed. His shoes squeaked against the floor as he struggled against the guards’ hold. “I’m a dragon shifter. I’m a fae!”
“Ever met your grandparents, kid?” one of the guards asked.
“What does that have to do with anything?” he demanded.
Tony sounded like he was telling the truth. Either he really didn’t know of his heritage, or the Warden was manufacturing results. I recalled the conversation I’d overheard with Professor Cusak. Perhapshehad given Tony up as a possible demigod, to appease the Warden’s timeline.
“You assholes are going to pay!” Tony shouted.
