The faces of the other students were full of anxiety. Some were pale with shock, others red with stress and frustration.

There was five minutes remaining to make a decision.

To enter the building and take another step towards becoming a climber and searching for his lost sister.

Or to stay out here and let all those goals fall out of his grasp.

Max observed the climbers who remained. Casey was standing beside him. She was shaking, clearly wrapped up in her own head on what decision to make.

But then Max noticed something unexpected.

Cyrus and his goons were still waiting outside the doors. Same with Sybil Westley.

That didn’t feel right, thought Max. If anyone had a thirst for cruelty it was that group over there. Unless, they had been all bluster and were actually scaredy-cats on the inside, but that didn’t seem right either.

Cyrus Archer’s father was a powerful man, who presumably expected a lot from his son. He wouldn’t be above cheating or dropping hints to his son about what to do at the academy in order to graduate.

All of which meant, Cyrus knew something the rest of them didn’t.

Max took a deep breath and replayed the events of the last ten minutes in his head.

What had the instructor said exactly?

Max closed his eyes to try and remember it more clearly.

There was only two minutes left on the clock.

“This whole term is an exam. Starting right now.”

That was the first thing the instructor said. He said all of that before getting into the fights to the death and the cruel decision he was forcing upon them.

That was it, thought Max. The test was never the battle to the death beyond those doors. The test was the decision in and of itself.

Max grinned with confidence. He was going to stay and wait for the remaining time to pass. He had made his decision.

One minute remained.

Casey was still squirming beside him. Then, with tears in her eyes, she took a step forward. She was going to go beyond the doors and fight.

Max reached out and grabbed her wrist.

She turned around, her bright eyes were red with tears, and she looked shocked to see him grabbing her wrist so boldly.

“What are you—”

Max still didn’t know the full parameters of the current test, so he didn’t want to say much. He just shook his head and then said, “Stay. Trust me.”

He let go of her wrist and Casey took a step back and stood beside him once more. She sighed and watched the final seconds of the clock run out.

The instructor looked at his watch.

“Time’s up!” he shouted.

Everyone waited with bated breath to hear what the man said next.

Max’s heart pounded against his chest.

This was it.

The stern man suddenly smiled brightly.