MAE: The flames burn my left leg, but a hand hauls me off my burning rope and I slam into someone next. It’s Xannon. I hold onto him, looking into his eyes as time stops. He’s incredible, using one hand to hold my waist and the other to hold us up. “Cut off the damned burning rope. That’s what you should have done, Mae!” “What?” “Get on my back,” he orders me instead, “You had better hold on tight this time.” I twist, clasping my hands over his shoulder, holding on tight. “Listen, Mae. When I tell you to cut the rope below, start from the place underneath my knee. Can you reach it safely?” I try. It’s almost futile at first, but I try harder with my shard. The cut end falls into the hot flames, vanishing in a split second. So many are still struggling to live. “Good. Keep doing that. It’s the only way we will survive.” Xannon climbs the rope faster, even with me on his back. I begin to understand the pattern. We must outrun the rope’s speed and manage not to get burned. If w

XANDER: Seven of us dive into the water, searching the ground for a source. The rush of water is coming from below, not above, but I can’t find anything. Not a single hole, just rock solid concrete. I search like my life depends on it—because my life does depend on it. It submerges us. We have seconds left. “Over here!” someone shouts, “There’s a hole...I need something to clog it.” I swim over to Mae and pull her up to the little space that’s left between the ceiling of the room and the mass of water. “What are you doing, Xander?” “Give me your jacket!” I pull it off her and swim over to the source of the voice. It’s Darius. He takes it from me and we swim to the bottom. I see Xaden dive right after us. The second the hole in the ridgeline between the floor and the wall is clogged, the water stops rising. Darius Raken is still distracted. Xaden comes from behind and breaks his neck. The Founder's body drops to the floor as we swim up for air through the bloody water. I whi

MAE: I still have just two missions within these walls. One, find out what happened to Sai, my dead boyfriend. Two, survive at all costs. There are no classes ongoing now. Shifters are everywhere, but the orders should have less people lurking around. I’m confident in that thought because it’s the most likely. Also, the professor I had seen with Vienna had talked about a meeting with Kathleen. This is my chance. I step into the Order of Founders, sneaking past the guards. It is a square-shaped building, much larger than the rest with fewer occupants. They are the true leaders of Solantis. The ones who will sit in the Paragon Chamber someday with a unit behind each of them, consisting of their Chief Shaper, Elder One, and a Warden General. Willas Aranal read it out to us right before the tolerance test. Somehow, I believe becoming a newborn is a curse in disguise. If you can’t manifest the power of your crest while in any of the Orders, no matter how long it takes, you can leave.

XANNONHis lifeless eyes have plagued my mind since the day it happened at the Crescent Ball. As green as mine, like fresh grass in the meadows. They remind me of where my brothers and I come from. Home. But they also remind me of the day our lives changed. The day we signed an agreement with death that we won't last until the end of our wolves' life span. I still hear the rage of laughter coming from the ongoing Crescent Ball in my head. The table had curved around the Crowngate Higher square and, on the other radius, sat Casterton, the Vamp Lord. Our gazes meshed in a line as we drank from our goblets. His normal wine. Ours poisoned."Xannon." I turn, blinking away my father's lifeless eyes and his voice in my head, facing Kace Morgant. He's not alone. I've come to learn that he always walks with minions from the Dusk Fae Court, who've found their way into this school of bloodshed as well."I haven't seen you since Naming Day ended." He regards me with soul-piercing eyes, like h