The vault where I’ve locked away my emotions starts to splinter. Fear rattles through me, numbing my mind. I now stand on the Gray Sea, face to face with Armageddon. A circle of hellfire and angelic igni surrounds us, the column ending far above us in the clouds.

More fear rockets through me. My control over the igni slips. Around us, the column becomes more hellfire and less angelic igni.

Armageddon smiles greedily. He’s winning and the bastard knows it.

The King of Hell snaps his fingers. Fiery bindings appear around my body. Panic courses through me. More igni disappear. The flames lick about my dragon-scale fighting suit, unable to break through and burn me.

Fast as lightning, Armageddon’s consciousness travels through the igni, merging with my own. Fresh terror zooms through my every nerve ending. This is bad. Very bad. An assault on my mind begins. I can almost feel his three-knuckled fingers flipping through my memories and fears, finally settling on ones that suit his dark purpose.

Unwanted thoughts overwhelm me. I try to stop them, but it’s no use. I want to run, but can’t move. One after another, images appear in my mind’s eye: the panic in Cissy’s face as a poisoned spear nears her back…The Oligarchy’s smirk as they suggest I be traded to Hell…Walker crumpling onto the floor of the Arena, his face writhing in pain after the Crini battle…Lincoln blown away by Armageddon’s pillar of hellfire…Mom’s despair in seeing Xavier’s tortured body…The gut-wrenching cycle of terror, anxiety and rage that’s coursed through me since I woke up one morning with blue eyes.

All of these horrors, all because I’m the Scala.

Despair seeps into my bones, sucking out the marrow of my fight. I never asked for this job, this burden. It’s too much for me and those I love. Before my eyes, the column becomes made of even more hellfire, far less igni. I’m losing ground.

This is hopeless. Whatever I do, I’m going to die here.

Raising my gaze, I stare numbly at my captor. I’m imprisoned inside a pillar of fire with Armageddon. How did it come to this? I close my eyes, calling out to the igni. Don’t leave me here. Fight on. They swirl and dive through the hellfire, refusing to disappear entirely.

My back teeth lock. What did I think would happen, taking on Armageddon with untested powers? I’m an eighteen-year old girl, he’s immortal evil personified. I’m a fool.

Armageddon chuckles. “I have a surprise for you as well.” A black pit opens in the sands between us. A spirit crawls up out of the darkness, her face bloated and covered in scars.