Blaze awoke with a jolt. His skin was cold with sweat and his stomach was searing with pain.

He was sitting at a desk, where a small lamp was shedding beams of light onto his arms. The thick copy of the spell was on the table in front of him, but a single page covered in his handwritten scribbles was pressed against his cheek, stuck to his skin with a thin glue of sweat.

Blaze peeled it off automatically, but it wasn't until he saw the odd objects scattered around the room and the old man asleep on the couch that he remembered where he was: Walter's workshop. He had come down to get some help reading the spell; he must have fallen asleep while poring over the words.

He glanced around, wondering why he had woken up so suddenly and why his heart was still racing in his chest. There was no alarm ringing, no sign of an external stimulus that had drawn him from his sleep. But his body hurt, and not just his stomach: his ears were ringing with a high-pitched squeal that made his eardrums pulse, and his shoulder was throbbing as if someone had shoved a hot brand against his skin.

He reached up to rub his shoulder—and saw a faint mark on his skin. It wasn't glowing; in fact, it looked more like he had fallen asleep atop some small plastic object and it had left a faint red impression. But Blaze didn't need to wake Walter up to interpret this symbol. He knew it as soon as he saw it, familiar from years of schooling and constant lectures from his father: a control rune.

He tried to rub the mark away with the palm of his hand, but it refused to go away. Had anyone cast it on him, it would have been glowing like the green symbol on his wrist, but the mark was dull. He knew that the rune had no power over him, but it didn't make him feel any calmer.

His shoulder throbbed again, a sharper pain paired with an increase in the ringing in his ears. He pressed his palms over them, trying to drown out the high-pitched sound flooding his head.

Screams, Blaze realized numbly. The ringing in his ears were screams, and they were all too familiar.

Kayden.

He jolted to his feet. Something was wrong with Kayden; he knew it instinctively. And he knew he needed to find her.

He darted into the hallway, and he glanced to his left, then to his right, his breathing shallow. The hall was empty, but the screams in his ears and the mark on his skin were signs he couldn't ignore.

He ran to his right, towards the elevator so he could get back upstairs to their room, but his stomach only pulsed more intensely with each step. By the time he reached the elevator, he was bent over, gagging as sharp pain shot through his stomach. He slapped the elevator button clumsily and tried to ignore the pain, but it was impossible. With each searing twinge of his stomach, all he could think about was the last time he had seen Kayden back in the room, when he had yelled at her. He could still see the way she had glared at him—with hurt, anger, and disgust—as she had stormed out of the room.

The room, Blaze thought, connecting the sharp jab in his stomach with his erratic thoughts. She's not in the room. His stomach lurched, and this time it had nothing to do with how far away he was from her. If she wasn't in the room, she could be anywhere.

No, he corrected himself. Not anywhere.

He turned back, running away from the elevator, realizing his mistake. With each step, the throbbing in his stomach eased slightly. He and Kayden were linked by the bonding rune. He could find her by feeling along that link, following the easing of his pain.

He ran, darting past Walter's room and continuing down the hallway until his felt his stomach twinge a little more. Blaze stopped and turned around; he had gone too far. He retraced his steps, a little more slowly, until he stopped in front of the supply closet on the first floor. The one Naven had trapped them in just a few weeks ago.

Standing outside the door, Blaze's stomach was calm, yet he had never felt so uneasy. He couldn't hear anything coming from the room, but the ringing in his ears was loud, the screams echoing in his head painfully.

Blaze reached out and opened the door in one quick movement.

Sound blasted his ears. The screams were real now, not just in his head, and they were loud and sharp and choked with sobs, as if they had been ripped from a horror film. But the sight before him was even more horrific.

Kayden was pressed against the wall, her arms pinned to her side, her body as rigid as a board. She wasn't moving, not a single squirm or twitch, but she was clearly in pain. Her mouth seemed to be the only thing able to work properly. It was wide open and screaming, catching the hot red tears that streaked down her face.

And there was a man in the room with her, pressing a piece of chalk to her skin. Torturing her.

Blaze felt a jolt of adrenaline and without thinking he lunged at the man, tearing his arm away from Kayden with a sudden burst of strength. Blaze wrenched the chalk from his grip as the man wheeled around, eyes wild and surprised.

Blaze's breath caught in his throat. "Russ Naven."

Naven's eyebrows narrowed. "Blaze Merg." And then his hand shot out, reaching for the piece of chalk that Blaze had taken from him. Blaze backed up, but Naven threw a solid punch that caught Blaze in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He hunched over, his field of vision whooshing between black and white, as Naven clawed at his closed grip, trying to get the chalk.

Blaze had never fought anyone before, but he swung with his left hand, catching Naven across the face. Naven stumbled back, cursed, and then slammed the door to the closet, leaving them all in the dim flickering orange light.

Blaze stared at the door for a second. There was a mass of symbols scribbled on the wood in white. A silence rune. The rune glowed silver for a moment, reactivating.

"What did you do to her?" Blaze demanded, knowing that no matter how loud he was, no one would be able to hear them out in the hallway. He wanted to look at Kayden and see if she was all right, but the more logical part of his brain told him that he couldn't keep his eyes off the man in front of him. He could hear her gasping for breath, though, her crying subdued.

"Nothing that she didn't deserve," Naven said. He held out his hand. "Give me the chalk."

"Don't give it to him!" Kayden yelled wildly. "Don't—"

"Shut up!" Naven snarled, flailing an arm in her direction. Blaze turned instinctively and watched as Kayden's head slammed backwards into the wall, as if shoved by an invisible hand. Her eyes closed in pain, and she let out a gasp as her head drooped forward slightly. She was fighting to stay conscious. Blaze didn't know how much more she could take.

In that split second, Naven rammed into Blaze, pushing him back against the tall metal rack with the weight of his body. Paper towels and toilet paper rolls rained down on him from above as Naven pried at his hand for the chalk. Blaze struggled, trying to hit him in the face or the chest, but Naven's right hand found his throat and his fingers dug into his flesh. Blaze's eyes widened and his instinctively dropped the chalk to pry at the hand at his throat, desperate to breathe.

Blaze heard Kayden scream his name, but he couldn't focus on it. He couldn't focus on anything except clawing at Naven's hand, tearing at the skin, fighting for a single breath...

Suddenly Naven's hand fell away. Blaze gasped, fingers probing his throat as oxygen flooded through his lungs. He was alive. He could breathe.

"The chalk!" Kayden screamed.

Blaze looked down and saw Naven scrambling on the floor, digging through the sea of toilet paper rolls and paper towels for the piece of chalk. Blaze lunged at him, trying to stop him, but he was too late. Naven wheeled around, chalk in hand, and slashed a sloppy rune on Blaze's forearm.

Blaze backed up immediately, rubbing the chalk away with his hand before it could take hold. When he looked up, Naven was standing in front of him, his eyes dark and the piece of chalk held tightly in his fingers.

"Get next to her," Naven snarled, holding the chalk out in front of him like a weapon.

Blaze tried to assess the situation. His heart was thrumming wildly in his chest, his body running on a heavy dose of adrenaline. But he could feel the damage already inflicted on him. His neck felt sore where Naven had squeezed his windpipe, and his stomach throbbed from Naven's initial blow. But Naven wasn't unharmed. A trickle of blood ran down the side of his face where Blaze had struck him, and the hand holding the piece of chalk was scratched and bloody. He wasn't infallible. He was a member of the Congregation, but not superhuman.

"Your mark didn't stick," Blaze said. "You don't control me."

"But I control her," Naven said with a sour smile, jerking his head toward Kayden. Blaze couldn't help it; he turned to look at her. Kayden didn't have a scratch on her, but he knew there were ways to torture a person with runes that didn't involve any damage you could actually see. Pain that killed you from the inside out.

"Now get over there," Naven repeated. He pressed the chalk against the wall. "Or I can write some runes that will force you over there."

Blaze looked to his left. Kayden's eyes were red with tears, and he could see the mark burning on her shoulder, right over the strap of the thin camisole. Naven would keep hurting her until he stepped aside. But even then, Blaze knew it was unlikely he would stop.

Blaze breathed in. Then he took a few tentative steps and stood beside Kayden against the wall.

She looked at him in disbelief. "What are you doing?" she demanded. Her voice was hoarse from screaming, but sharp. "Don't just stand there. Do something!"

"I can't," Blaze said. "Not without Naven hurting you."

"Exactly," Naven said with another sinister smile. He pointed at him with the piece of chalk. "Good job, Blaze. You're a sensible boy."

Kayden clearly wasn't finished. Her eyes were narrowed, almost angry. "Do something with your chalk!" she shouted loudly, right in Blaze's ear.

It took a second for Blaze to realize what she meant and then he jammed his hands into his pockets. His fingers brushed past his illusion rune circle and touched his own chalk just as Naven realized what he was doing and drew a series of slashing lines on the wall: an attack rune.

There was no time to stop Naven's rune, Blaze realized, and so he frantically drew his own. Magic had shifted, and the only attack runes he knew how to write were those he had learned in Celery's class years ago. He prayed that whatever happened, the spell would conjure enough energy to stop Naven and protect Kayden. And that the spell wouldn't kill him.

Just as Blaze was finishing, he saw a spark of red out of the corner of his eye. Naven's hands were glowing bright red like the innermost depths of a fire. Naven stretched out a hand and a blast of red shot across the closet with the shriek of sparks and the smell of sulfur. Blaze ducked and it the hit the wall inches from his rune, leaving a scorch mark the size of a grapefruit.

Kayden screamed. "Hurry!"

Blaze didn't have time to respond. He frantically scribbled in the last symbol and muttered a short string of syllables. He felt the stir of power flutter in his gut and flood through his arms, just as the rune began to glow purple—not blue like he had expected. But Blaze didn't have time to figure out what had gone wrong. Instead, he just outstretched his arm, took aim, and shot off a round of purple-tinted magic.

Naven dodged, and soon the closet with filled with flying bolts of power. Blaze had studied attack runes in depth at school, but they had never practiced them to this extent; attack runes were only supposed to be use in life-or-death situations, and Sir Mallard's school didn't condone its students flinging attack runes at each other except in a few individualized sessions with a teacher. So Blaze felt grossly inferior. With each shot, Blaze could feel his energy slip away, draining away with the spell. Naven, on the other hand, appeared to be unaffected by the immense drain of power. The red flames shot almost continually, and Blaze spent most of his time darting around the cramped closet, trying to avoid them instead of fighting back and using up all the power he had.

"Get. Against. The wall!" Naven shouted.

Blaze answered by throwing a stream of sparks that skimmed the top of Naven's head and lit a few of his hairs with tiny purple embers. As he edged past Kayden, Naven shot again. Blaze dodged, but Kayden screamed, her wail sharp.

Blaze wheeled around, terrified to see if she was okay, but before his eyes could even reach Kayden, Naven tackled him from behind. Blaze's forehead slammed into the floor, but he pushed out, wrestling away from Naven. They rolled around a bit, a battle of strength paired with the stinging of their flaming hands, but after a brief struggle, Blaze was pinned to the cold linoleum floor. Naven leaned over him, leering at him from above.

"Here we go," Naven breathed, pinning Blaze's hands down on the floor with his weight.

Blaze tried to conjure the energy to burn him off, but he couldn't draw on his power. Glancing up, he noticed his rune on the wall was no longer glowing; in fact, it was no longer there at all. He couldn't tell if Naven had wiped it clean during the struggle or if it had simply worn away prematurely because of the shift.

Blaze twisted his wrist, trying to write something on the floor, but Naven pulled the chalk out of his grip and sent it scattering. Blaze heard a light pinging noise as it rolled out of reach.

Naven pressed his own piece of chalk against Blaze's cheek. Blaze tried to struggle, but found he could barely move.

"What are you going to do?" Blaze growled, his heart slamming the inside of his ribcage.

Naven smiled, pressing the chalk a little harder into his cheek. "I'm going to show you exactly what I did to your girlfriend." And he began to draw.

- - -

Quick shout out to @TheRainbowPig for the image at the beginning of the chapter! She made me this awesome gif a while back and I absolutely love it (she also made the beautiful cover of this book).

Also, the image in the middle of the chapter was made by @moonshadow8888! Isn't it awesome?

You guys are the best and thanks for reading! <3

~Bdicocco