Stars of Magic: Wings of Power (Book 1)

Part Two: The Arena Sands and the Missing Maget; Chapter 12

Luna, in her dragon form, had woken up hours ago in a black cell. The cell was about a mile high and was surrounded by about 99 other cells. Wire lines stretched from the tops of the cages, connecting in the middle to form a dome, and stone stairs led from every cage down to a giant pit of sand that was surrounded by seats with the north of the pit having a ledge with doors at the base and a tall seat on top. Most likely for the queen. While Luna was scanning the place, a goblin came up to the Night Bringer maget's cage, threw in a roasted pig, and went away. Luna ignored it.

"Hey!"

Luna jumped. She looked around the cages.

"To your left!"

Luna looked to her left and saw a maget in his human form. He was very deep almond skinned, had spiky, short, sea-soaked hair, a blue shirt, aquamarine shorts, was sitting in a light blue rubber ball with air holes, and, this was the strangest part, he had bright blue eyes made him seem to be burning from the inside. Luna wondered why that was.

"Hi there!" said the maget. "I'm Spray! I'm a fire mermaid. Are you new here?"

"Uh, yes?" Luna said. "My name is Luna."

"Aren't you going to eat?" Spray asked.

"I'm not hungry," Luna said, looking down at the sand pit.

"Come on, you gotta eat," Spray said, chewing on a pig.

"Why?"

"You need your strength for battle."

Luna looked up in surprise. "What?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, 'battle'?" Luna asked.

"Really? I thought everyone knew about Queen Heist's arena," Spray muttered. He cleared his throat and spoke. "That sandpit down there is the arena. There's a battle or more almost everyday for three reasons. For the queen's amusement, to punish a prisoner, and for bets."

"How do you know so much about this?" Luna asked.

Spray gulped. "I'm Heist's champion," he said grimly.

The poor kid seemed to be upset about this. "Why you?" Luna asked.

"I was stolen to be killed," Spray said. "No one came for me, so Heist decided to keep me."

Poor Spray. His mother must be so worried.

"Is there a win amount to get you out of this place?" Luna asked.

"A guard told me once that it was six," Spray replied, "but once someone has four or five wins, Heist makes me fight. I've killed a lot of people."

Spray seemed upset. Haunted. So many images of dying people flashed through his head. He didn't want any of this. Luna really wanted to help. He shook whatever he was feeling off and he started talking like he was excited.

"Guess what?" Spray said. "I heard that the Magets of Magic are being held here, and I might be one of them!"

What? Luna thought.

"I'm the mermaid of the prophecy!" Spray said excitedly. "You know why? I was born on starblast night!"

Luna gulped. "I am too."

Spray stared at Luna. "Really?"

"Yeah," Luna said. "Have you seen Artemis? The unicorn? Or Sprite? The fairy? Edward? The funny-looking griffin? Or Fowl-"

"Fowl?!" Spray jumped. "Fowl? Fowl?? Fowl, are you over here???"

"Spray?" Fowl said. She was in the cage on Spray's left. Fowl was in her human form, and was grabbing the bars of her cage in an attempt to rip them out. "Is that you? And is that Luna?"