For Max, the word felt like a punch to the gut.

* * *

Many years ago when Max was eleven, he rolled up to Mr. Grimes on his wheelchair with a piece of paper he’d received from school sitting on his lap.

“What do you want, Useless!?”

He presented the paper to Mr. Grimes and the orphan manager snatched it out of the boy’s hands.

“What’s this, Useless!?”

“It’s a field trip for this coming Saturday,” said little Max. “There’s a career fair downtown. All the schools are invited.”

“Pah! You can’t go, Useless!” shouted Mr. Grimes at the little boy. “You’re going to clean the cellar on Saturday, remember?”

“What if I cleaned the cellar the following Saturday?” asked Max.

Mr. Grimes shook his head. “That’s not how things work, Useless. You need to clean the cellar this Saturday. What do you need to go to a career for anyway?”

Max perked up at this. Such a question suggested maybe Mr. Grimes could be reasoned with.

“I need to go so I can see what I can be when I grow up,” explained little Max.

The orphan manager laughed in his face. “You!? But you’re nothing. You’re going to grow up to be nothing. Trust me. It’s inevitable.”

* * *

Cyrus squirmed in irritation, staring Max down.

Something had changed in the red-headed boy. He was staring at him with a new level of anger and rage.

Suddenly, a horrible piercing pain filled Cyrus’ entire body as if he was burning from the inside out.

“What’s happening to me!?” he screamed.

The bind ability wasn’t an offensive trait. If they were both frozen, there was no way for them to hurt each other. How the heck was Max dealing this level of pain to him then?

The sizzling internal burn was too much for Cyrus to bear.

He had to escape it. The only way to was to let go of his bind spell.

He released the bind on Max, but the burn still continued.

How was Max doing this to him?

“I’m so sick of people telling me what’s inevitable,” screamed Max. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, you jerk!”

The sizzling pain inside of Cyrus disappeared and so too did Max’s bind over him. Yet, by the time Cyrus realized this, a mana-imbued fist smashed into his own face, sending him hurling across the arena in pain once more.

90

Samuel was shivering with a quiet rage inside of him.

He pulled out his phone surreptitiously so that Sakura and the climber president didn’t notice.

None of this was part of the plan, thought Samuel. Cyrus—you foolish boy. I thought I had been hard on you growing up, but clearly I hadn’t been hard enough.

Since Cyrus botched the original signal, none of the operatives were moving ahead with the plan. He had to send them a new signal.