Fire {Elements of Power 1}

*Bonus Chapter* Panic

Author's Note

In celebration of Amazon Prime Video's newest series Panic, I am thrilled to be teaming up with Amazon Prime Video and Wattpad to write this exclusive chapter that puts my characters from this story into the world of Panic!

I hope this chapter intrigues and inspires you to learn more about Panic. Visit the #PanicWritingContest on Wattpad for the chance to put your creative writing chops to the test and learn more about the show!

To find out more about the contest, prizes, and how to enter, check out the #PanicWritingContest here: wattpad.com/AmazonPrimeVideo

Don't forget to watch the series premiere on May 28th, only on Amazon Prime Video, here: http://primevideo.com/

--

Bare toes curled over the edge of jagged rock. I didn't want to think about the drop below. Seventy feet of empty air ending in a smooth sheen of water so dark you could have been plunging into a blackhole. I'd read that hitting the surface wrong from this high up was like landing on concrete. And if you survived the impact, there was always the rocks to either side of the target zone, curved upwards like fingers, beckoning jumpers into their waiting arms.

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to rid the image from my mind. When I opened them again, Brae was hazy before me, partially obscured by panicked tears. I clutched his sandals as he took a deep breath, the muscles in his back rippling beneath the glow of the flare in his hand, its hissing barely audible over the cheers of the crowd waiting below.

I should have stayed down there with them. Would it have been easier to watch my best friend plummet into the water than see him vanish over the cliff's edge? They were both terrible choices. Perhaps I shouldn't have come at all. Could I have stayed home in front of the TV with Caleb and Noni, letting the not knowing gnaw away at my insides, my stomach a writhing nest of rats?

My hands shook, knocking the sandals together.

No. Being here to support Brae was better. If anything went wrong – not that anything was going to go wrong – I wanted to be nearby. Besides. Someone had to hold his shoes. Why did no one think about that part? Jumping into water in a pair of perfectly good shoes would ruin them. Leaving them at the top of a dark cliff in the middle of the night not much better.

Brae looked back at me, a small but confident smile on his face. He winked, then with a cry of exhilaration, he and his flare were gone.

The air escaped my lungs in a small gasp as his silver-streaked hair vanished from sight. Every muscle in my body clenched, my hands balled into fists around the straps of the sandals, so tight they were in danger of tearing. With the flare descending alongside my best friend, the clifftop was plunged into darkness. And with the darkness, came the not-quite silence of the night. The soft rustling of the wind through the plants behind me, the small buzz of nocturnal insects.

Then came the splash.

The cheer of the crowd.

I let my limbs relax and fresh air rush into my lungs. My legs felt wobbly and weak, but he had made it. The first challenge was complete.

A laugh from behind had my back stiffening once more.

"I thought competitors were meant to be the ones trying not to panic?" Roxy LeMarc looked me over beneath the glow of her flare. Her eyes flicked from my worn flip flops to my plain white maxi dress, then over my messy bun and she let out a small snort of derision. Roxy was wearing a red bikini so dark it could have been blood, splattered across the bare minimum of skin to show her tanned curves to their best advantage.