I bolt, staggering through the dark, left arm pressed tightly to my side, certain she’s right behind me. I throw my right elbow back. Cartilage snaps. She gasps, and I hear her shoes skidding, followed by a thump. Her arrows rattle as they scatter.

My leg screams with every lurching step, my right arm braced against the darkness as I run. Kai’s flashlight clicks on. The beam jumps off the walls, skipping over me, then doubling back as her feet pound the ground. Air rushes from my lungs as she slams into my back and my body hits the stone.

I buck under her, throwing her into the tunnel wall. Her flashlight rolls, the weak beam glowing a few feet away. I scrabble forward on hands and knees toward it as she gropes for the shaft of the arrow in my leg. A scream shreds my throat as she rips it out of me.

Before I open my eyes, she’s on top of me. Blood drips off her chin, her flashlight casting shadows over her red-smeared teeth.

A frigid wind gusts between us, ruffling her hair.

We both freeze, breathing hard, each of us trying to catch sight of the smaze as it swoops over us.

One of us. Only one of us can take the magic.

I empty my lungs. Draw in a deep breath. Kai’s hand clamps over my mouth, her head whipping to keep sight of the smaze as it dashes around us.

“Ruby?” she whispers. “Ruby! Is it you?”

The smaze tumbles in the air, dark and frantic. I don’t know whose magic it is. Mine? Névé’s? Both of ours, tangled up like Doug’s and Fleur’s? All I know is that if Kai takes it, there’s only one way I’ll ever get it back. And I need that smaze to rescue Fleur.

I bite down hard on her fingers. With a swear, she jerks her hand from my mouth. I kick out with my good leg and roll out from under her. Using the wall, I pull myself to my feet.

A cold gust of wind rushes between us. I suck in another breath, willing the smaze to come to me. Kai leaps at me, throwing me into the wall. She punches my injured shoulder. Kicks the wound in my thigh. I drop and cry out, unable to stay upright, as she draws in a breath and I watch my smaze disappear into her mouth.

Electricity crackles in the air. The temperature drops as the wind builds, spinning dirt devils through the tunnel. I shield my eyes from the flying dust, listening to the familiar snap of frost as it crackles over the walls. With a final violent gust, the air goes still.