The morning light sifting into my holding room tilts against the floor. I pace like a caged animal, trying to keep the panic inside me from pouring out. As the time ticks on, the weight on my heart grows heavier, and my fear stirs like a living thing.

I count out each minute to keep track of the time. I pace some more, trying to keep my emotions from spilling over. I reach out to Red, with no luck. I reach out to Constantine.

No one answers me.

Another hour.

I pause over and over again to look out through my holding room ’s bars, certain I will see some familiar figure striding down the hallway—Raina, perhaps, or the mayor, or Constantine. Even Red and Jeran. Are they well?

I imagine Caitoman approaching and tighten my hands against the bars. But instead, all I see are guards.

Another hour. I bite back tears and wait. The light outside my holding room brightens as the morning drags on, streaming through the arches of the arena. The color against my floor turns from dark to pale gray. The sounds of the city stirring to life for the final solstice day reach my ears.

I wait for Mayor Elland to appear, to give me any final words or warnings. She doesn’t.

The crowds have gathered outside the arena by now, and I hear the stir of them echo throughout the entire structure. Within it are waves of unrest—a palpable sense of tension rising from the audience in a way that feels more tangible to me than before. There have been uneasy stirrings in Cardinia since I first arrived, but today … today feels different. There is a charge in the air, like the humidity before a storm.

The lightning is there, just waiting to strike. And when it does, it will illuminate the city like a match.

Then one of the guards is before me, nodding at me. “It’s time, Skyhunter,” she tells me, then gives me a bow of her head.

As she says the words, I hear the gate on the other side of my holding room start to slide open. I turn back and squint as bright morning light filters in from the other side. With it comes a blast of fresh air, and the roars from the arena suddenly turn deafening.

My heart feels like it might break. I am alone. I am going to look up into the stands and see Constantine standing there with the Chief Architect at his side, his brother on the other. Maybe I will see the other Skyhunters standing at the ready.

What will happen next, I can only guess.

Then the gate opens completely, the light engulfs me, the sounds of the arena suddenly amplify into chaos …

… and I find myself walking out into an empty arena floor.

No mazes. No Ghosts. Nothing else is here … except two prisoners with their faces covered by cloth. Behind them stand two soldiers, each dressed as executioners. The arena itself is a cacophony of shouts, angry and bewildered and excited. No one knows exactly what is about to happen.