Gwenevere is a child of infinite possibility, and she has five thousand competitors playing her game. For Eliza, Nox, Zola and Bleidd, this means facing down thirteen floors riddled with dragons, cat kingdoms and cabbages. Yet in a world where anyth...
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Night was falling.
The sun still had a good hour to it at least, but twilight shadows crept across the ground, reaching out like snares to unsuspecting victims. In the gathering darkness, the field of withered flowers looked more and more like something out of a horror story.
Nox was glad to be in the relative safety of the cottage as he poured over the children's books that, with their colorful illustrations and pretty prose, were the very opposite of the grim land outside. He hoped to find anything else that might prove related to the tournament, but alas the Dragon, the Spider and the Girl remained the only book to have any sort of relevancy to the current arena. At least, as far as he knew, there weren't any mad kings in this tournament with an intense hatred of dragons because they stole his yoghurt.
The sound of a book slamming closes behind him startled him from his thoughts. He turned to see Bleidd scowling at the book in his lap as he sprawled out across the bed. "There's nothing here Nox. I've read all of these stories five times over. They have nothing to do with the tournament."
Nox stood up from sitting on the edge of the bed and flipped closed the book that he had been reading. "I've come to the same conclusion," he said with a sigh. "I'd half hoped that maybe we'd come across something that might help us with our Amdraste problem as well, but no luck."
Bleiddwyn crossed his arms. "Nox, we've already found a solution. You, are just being squeamish."
Cold dread settled in his stomach. "Well, would you want to rip someone's throat open and drink their blood? I told you already Bleidd, no thank you."
A knock on the door made him freeze where he stood.
Slowly he turned towards the door, and a moment later, another couple of knocks sounded.
They weren't the fist-bloodying banging that Amdraste had used to try and break down the door— that was what had caught him most off guard; the knocks were delicate, polite even.
That was, until a much firmer knock sounded, followed by an oddly familiar voice. "Vampire boy! Why you leave us out in the night?"
Bleidd furrowed his brows. "Who's that? How does she know you?"
Nox tentatively started towards the door. "I think..." He pulled open the door just as Bleidd lunged to stop him. "Zola? Eliza!"
For indeed, there stood the two women of his team. The omega stumbled into his back, then instantly gripped him and snarled at the people at the door. "Who are you? What do you want?"
Zola glanced down at the little boy, grinning. "Acquired a friend, have you vampire boy? What a shame. Now I can't call you vampire boy."
Nox ignored her. "How did you find me?" He backed up to let the women in, forcing Bleidd to back away until he hit the wall, not bothering to hide the excitement on his face. "I got separated from you during the dragon attack— I didn't know how to find you—"
