I grip Veeni, who is trying to overpower me and plunge a dagger into my chest as we battle our way back into the corner of the room. I feel other students working their way around Typhon to get closer.

There's no chance. Death is coming. It's only a question of when.

I clap both hands to Veeni's face. Instead of letting her energy pass into me, I actively try to pull it from her.

Water magic rushes out of her body into my hands, faster and faster as her eyes widen and her mouth hangs open in a silent scream. The power fills me, electric and cold, coursing through my veins like liquid ice. It rushes through me in a torrent, drowning out everything but the sensation of raw power.

Her dagger clatters to the stone beside her as she slumps, but I don't let go. I keep draining her, filling myself with magic, feeling the power leak from her body as it floods mine.

She finally wrenches free, but it's too late. I'm full of water magic, brimming with it, power crackling beneath my skin. Jira is back on her feet and rushing me with three other students. I throw my left hand out in a swiping motion. Almost without effort, a crescent of thick water rushes out, catching all of them in the stomach and sending them flying away.

I could sharpen the water. I feel the possibility—know with little more than a thought, my magic could slice through flesh instead of bruise. But even now, even here… I still don’t want to be like them. I want to be better.

“Get her!” Serena shouts, rushing toward me with a pair of daggers.

I gesture, blasting away a dog made of fire and a watery lizard with one hand and slick the ground beneath Serena’s feet with the other. Without missing a step, she floods the area with fire, turning the water to steam and keeps coming.

And then the scent of smoke reaches my nose.

Smoke?

I risk turning my head halfway and see the locked double doors are consumed by flame. A moment later, a blast of thick air blows them inward, shattering the doors into splinters of sparks and ash that knock away several more students.

Serena skids to a stop, turning to raise a wall of flames that incinerates debris before they can hit her.

Raith and Bastian stand in the doorway along with several other first-year fires.

"Stop," Bastian says, voice clear and full of authority, even in the middle of the chaos.

To my surprise, everything does stop. Well, almost everything. As soon as the students and elementals stop moving, Typhon casually lowers his head and bites Veeni's arm off.

My eyes go wide as I stare at the gushing blood and screaming girl. My stomach heaves, and I swallow hard against the rising nausea.