Barely a day later, I already regretted my decision to join the team. Not because I feared for my life or anything, no, but more so because a certain demon wouldn't stop being a gigantic pain in my ass every chance he got. And today was no different.

"Are you even tall enough to play?" Haze asked after I struggled to reach a book and Kenas ended up grabbing it for me.

It took everything in me to ignore him and take a seat next to Jaydis once more instead of pointing out that not everyone could be a giant or some oversized spawn of hell.

The four of us—Danox had a crystallography field trip today—occupied a round table near the large window front in the library, a pile of books as well as multiple hand-drawn maps between us. According to Jaydis, they switched locations for the Capture the Flag tournaments between Silvarden, Flumerra, and Ardua every year, and he'd dug up maps for each field. If he was right, we'd be playing in Flumerra this year.

"What about Infernis?" I asked.

Jaydis threw me a pointed look. "Are you kidding? Have you been to Infernis?"

"Well, no..."

"Figures," Haze sighed. "Too hot down there for—"

"Let's just say," Jaydis interrupted, once again trying to keep the peace between us, "unless you wanna play a little hide and seek behind smoldering rocks and burnt shrubs in lovely high eighty-degree weather with ashes raining into your hair and eyes, you probably won't have a lot of fun."

Fair point.

"Okay, so the wastelands are a no-go..." I bit my lip. "But what about that mountain range near the center? I've only seen pictures, but it looks pretty cool, and it should be far enough away from Furnace Peak."

Jaydis blinked at me. "I see someone did their research."

"Are you surprised?" I vaguely gestured toward the alchemy section. "I practically live here."

"You clearly need to hang out with us more often. Your social life is questionable."

"What social life?" Haze muttered.

I was about to throw all of my self-control out the window and give him a piece of my mind when Jaydis said, "Those mountains are too close to Pyrarcis. No way they'd let us run around there."

Another good point. Being the highest security prison in all the realms, it was extra extra well protected.

"Besides," Haze interjected, a lazy smile on his face, "some of us wouldn't last ten minutes down there."

"And some of us should watch it," I countered, smiling right back at him. "Are you sure you're not a demon of pride? 'Cause your ego is even bigger than you are. And that's saying something, Too Tall."

"It must be tough to be so vertically challenged."

Dang it, why did I have to make it about his height?

When his grin widened and he tilted his head at my lack of comeback, I ground my teeth and turned to Jaydis again. "What about Earth?"

Jaydis shrugged. "No games here so far."

"Can't say I'm surprised," Haze said.

Enough of his crap. If he was intent on starting a fight right here in the library, I'd give him one.

"Oh, yeah?" I leaned across the table. "And why is that?"

"How long you got?" He mirrored my pose, eyes narrowed. "I'll make you a list."

"Why are you still here then, huh?" I pushed myself even further toward him. "If this United Earth is such a terrible, horrible place to be in, why don't you just go back home? I hear it's nice and cozy there year-round."

"Damn," Kenas breathed from his spot next to Haze.

Haze leaned forward, his face only inches from mine. His breathing was controlled, but I could practically feel the heat rolling off him in waves.

"How about I take you with me and you can see for yourself?" he whispered, his eyes roaming my face.

"Okay, guys," Jaydis said loudly, "why don't we all chill out and focus on the important things like not getting our asses whooped on Friday, yeah?"

No one said a word.

"Sound good?" he prompted. "Great. We still got lots of ground to cover, so, uh"—he poked me in the shoulder—"why don't you and I figure out what defensive measures to take while Zee and Ken find a decent place to hide our flag?"

"Sure," I ground out, slowly sliding back into my chair, refusing to break eye-contact with Zee Zee until Jaydis lifted one end of a particularly large map, effectively blocking my view.

This was far from over.

***

Whether it was from general exhaustion, having to put up with Haze's stupid remarks left and right—still no idea who'd crapped in his cornflakes—or the fact that I couldn't stop thinking about that folder whenever I wasn't arguing with him, I'd actually slept like a rock for the first time in a long time last night.

Bright rays of sunlight and a quiet dorm room greeted me as I opened my eyes. The sweet smell of freshly baked goods surrounded me as I threw back the sheets and pushed myself into a sitting position.

That was...odd. I fully expected to see the guys huddled around either Jaydis's or Kenas's desks when I followed the scent to a plate of colorful cookies on the counter, but the room was empty.

Where was everyone? Sure, it was Sunday, but with Jaydis's strict CTF preparation plan, there should have been planning going on or something.

After witnessing our lively little discussion, Leyn had made it clear that she didn't wish to see any of us in the library anytime soon, so Jaydis had decided we'd hole up here for the day. I couldn't blame Leyn, of course. So, I blamed Haze instead.

Speak of the devil. Just when I thought I had the room to myself, the bathroom door opened and Mr. Nuisance himself sauntered into the room. His black shorts hung long on his hips, and when he raised both arms in a stretch, the gray tank top that already did nothing to his trained torso was raised ever so slightly, exposing a sliver of his toned stomach.

I quickly averted my gaze and pushed past him and into the bathroom before he decided to open his mouth and ruin the beautiful silence. Maybe he'd just leave before I was done getting ready. One could hope anyway.

Alas, as fate would have it, he hadn't left by the time I finished my morning routine. Well, I wasn't about to sit around and wait for the others to show up. Not when I could be getting myself a nice little pumpkin spice latte for breakfast.

Smelling these delicious cookies had made my stomach growl multiple times already, but unlike that dew juice thief over there, I didn't take stuff without asking. Even if they looked absolutely delectable...

My stomach growled again.

I zoomed past Haze, who was, of course, lounging on his desk again, a bottle of a clear red liquid almost as bright as his eyes in his hand. A part of me automatically wondered if that was the only reason he drank it, or if he actually liked it.

My hands closed around the cool door handle, and I pulled. Nothing happened. I tried again, but the door still wouldn't budge.

What the—

"You're wasting your time," Haze said quietly from somewhere behind me.

Third time's the charm, right? I wriggled the door handle again and put all my weight into it.

Wrong.

This door didn't even lock from the inside...

Don't panic. Don't panic.

I slowly turned to Haze. "What'd you do?"

He laughed, putting the cap back on his bottle. "This is on you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He sighed and pointed at the counter with the hand still holding his drink. "What does that look like to you?"

I blinked at him. "Cookies?"

He arched a brow. "You didn't read the note."

Note? This just kept getting stranger...

Under his watchful gaze, I strolled back over to the counter once more and found the note he was talking about. It was stuffed under the plate and looked like it had been refolded multiple times. Once I had the small paper in my hand, I cast another glance at Haze, who was still watching me with surprising interest.

Huh.

I unfolded the note...and nearly dropped it. It read:

The best way to deal with problems is to face them head-on. Consider this a team-building exercise.

Enjoy the cookies,

J

Un-freaking-believable. These... These jerks.

"I'm gonna kill them," I breathed, crumpling the note in my hand. If I wasn't so hungry, I would tear it to shreds and play confetti on Jaydis's desk.

The delicious scent of the cookies wafted into my face once again and I could practically feel my anger dissipating ever so slightly. They did look tasty...

I took one of the purple ones and took a hearty bite. Dew cookies. And they were heavenly.

Okay, maybe I wouldn't kill them, but there would most definitely be payback.

"So, they locked us in here," I said matter-of-factly.

"Yup," Haze said. "You're surprisingly calm... Figured you'd be pissed."

"Oh, don't worry, I am." I took another bite and chewed slowly. "Just taking a moment to enjoy this little peace offering. I just don't get why. I mean, I get locking you away, but why would they—"

"Seriously?" he growled. "If this is anyone's fault, it's yours."

"My fault? I'm not the one who—"

Seeing the smug smile on his face, I knew he was purposefully trying to piss me off again. We both know whose fault this was anyway. Well, time to make this experience as unpleasant for him as it was for me.

I grabbed another cookie, a pink one this time, and sauntered over to him. Since he was casually leaning backward, we were at eye level for once when I stopped right in front of him.

"Yes, your fault," he said in an almost bored manner. "And you know why? Because you're a giant pain in the—"

That's it.

I stuffed the cookie in his mouth. "Listen here, you little—"

His warm hand closed around mine. Except for his slightly widened eyes, he looked almost comical with a bright pink cookie between his lips, entirely unmoving.

I swallowed, ignoring the heat traveling up my arm. "I'm not the one being a jerk every single time we're in the same room. In fact, I'm just defending myself."

Okay, maybe that wasn't always the case...but—

His thumb caressed the inside of my wrist and a sudden jolt of electricity made me ultra aware of the fact that Haze was touching me. When he crazed the edge of my scar, I pulled free of his grip and stepped back. Distance—I needed some distance.

"If you think you can intimidate me," I said, "you're dead wrong. I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me. And you're gonna regret ever pissing me off."

Dang, where did that come from?

The hand that had just been on me reached up to grab the cookie and he took a bite. Then he started munching like he didn't have a care in the world, but his eyes were a few shades darker now.

If there was one thing I wasn't planning on doing, it was allowing him to get the upper hand. Nope. Of course, this time I didn't have a vial of Crescetra in my pocket, but it wasn't far.

Those maroon eyes of his were wary, but somehow, I still believed he meant me no harm. He'd had the opportunity multiple times already, but all he'd done was push my buttons. Unless that was all part of some game for him. He was a demon after all...

He licked his lips and pushed off the table, forcing me back a few steps as he straightened to his full height. Despite Kenas being the giant and all, he didn't have much on Haze. And he definitely didn't exude the same aura of confidence.

"What was that?" he asked quietly.

"You heard me." Why did my voice have to sound so—so small?

"You wanna repeat that? I can barely hear you up here."

"You're so full of it, I'm surprised you can even carry that big head of yours on those scrawny shoulders."

"You'd be surprised what these shoulders can carry, Cupcake."

"Not much probably, considering the heaviest thing I've seen you lift is a spoon."

His demeanor changed as his eyes darkened some more. "They say good things come in small packages," he said, his voice low, "but that can't be true. You're just a teeny tiny package of human insignificance."

I was insignificant, huh? Probably just like my mother had been. Just like all the other humans who'd been deceived over the years and lost everything to demons. We were nothing to them. Nothing.

How did I ever for a moment even think that this whole roommate, teammate thing could work out? Maybe I was as delusional as Dad always said. Maybe I didn't belong in this school after all.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not a deceitful, waste of space demon." The words left my mouth before I could stop them and judging by the blank expression on his face and the way his eyes narrowed to slits, I'd hit the mark. He knew it and I knew it.

Before he could reply, I turned tail and ran, nearly triggering my own trap as I darted beneath the curtain.

Just when I thought he'd received the message and would leave me the hell alone, swift footsteps approached and the curtain swayed ever so slightly. Lean fingers appeared on the edge of the drape and my eyes automatically landed on the freeze trap right above them.

Oh, shit.