“What the fuck???”

  The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  We all stood frozen, staring at Pierre—except Pierre wasn’t Pierre anymore.

  A massive tiger now occupied his spot, his broad shoulders heaving with every breath. His golden eyes flicked between us, intelligent but unfamiliar. The dim tunnel light reflected off his sleek, striped fur, giving him an almost ethereal glow. His tail lashed once, twice—then stilled. The silence stretched on, thick and unbroken.

  Then, just as suddenly as it happened, his voice echoed—not through the air, but inside my mind.

  “Don’t freak out.”

  That didn’t help.

  I stumbled back, my pulse hammering. “Holy shit—did anyone else hear that?!”

  The others nodded, looking equally shaken.

  Pierre—or Tiger Pierre—let out a heavy exhale, his whiskers twitching. “It’s me.” His voice was calm yet laced with uncertainty. “I was thinking about how we could help Marik, Ishthar, and Iago, and the next thing I knew... this happened.”

  A deep, rumbling chuckle came from Kaldi. “It makes sense. You are the Czar of Changes.”

  Pierre flicked an ear. “The what?”

  Kaldi’s expression turned thoughtful. “You wield transmogrification. You can shift forms—not just your own, but potentially others’ as well.”

  Pierre’s massive paws flexed, his claws scraping lightly against the tunnel floor. “So I’m... what? Some kind of shapeshifter?”

  “In a way, yes,” Kaldi confirmed. “But uncontrolled shifting means your emotions triggered it. Magic is shaped by will, but for you, heightened emotions act as a catalyst.”

  Pierre let out a deep, irritated sigh. “Great. So basically, if I get too excited, I sprout fur and start purring.”

  Dero clapped his paws together, his tail wagging. “This is exactly why we must go to Andora! Your abilities are raw, untamed. If you wish to fight—not just flail around like clueless hatchlings—you must first learn control!”

  That statement sparked immediate resistance.

  “Dero’s right,” Cassandra said, arms crossed. “If we charge in now, we’ll be liabilities, not allies.”

  “So we just sit here while they fight for us?” Zeke’s voice rose, frustration evident. “That’s bullshit. We were chosen for this, weren’t we?”

  Gabrielle nodded, her hands curling into fists. “We owe it to them to stand beside them.”

  Dero let out a dramatic groan. “You children have no sense of tactics!”

  The argument escalated quickly.

  “Let’s settle it with a vote,” Hyacinth suggested, crossing her arms. “Do we go back or head to Andora?”

  It was a close call.

  “Going back wins,” Andrew muttered, rubbing his temples like he already regretted it.

  Kaldi and Dero groaned in unison.

  “You are all impossible,” Kaldi grumbled. “Fine. But at least begin understanding what you’re capable of before you run headfirst into danger.”

  Dero brightened. “Yes! Yes! Please, if you must make reckless choices, at least do so competently!”

  Zeke went first. He stretched his fingers, took a slow breath, and focused. For a moment, nothing happened—then, suddenly, fire erupted from his palms. The flames danced between his fingers, flickering in hues of orange and gold.

  His eyes widened. “Holy shit.” He grinned, turning to me. “Star, look! Just like when we were kids!”

  I arched an eyebrow. “Except now, it’s not just us waving around sparklers.”

  The flames wavered as his focus slipped, then extinguished entirely.

  “Damn.” Zeke flexed his fingers. “Gotta work on that.”

  Gabrielle stepped up next. Lifting her hands, she furrowed her brows. A shimmering tendril of water rose from thin air, swirling in delicate loops around her wrists. The liquid pulsed as if responding to her emotions.

  She exhaled in awe. “It’s like... breathing. I can feel it flow.”

  With a flick of her fingers, the water shifted forms—a twisting stream, a floating sphere, then a delicate, crystalline icicle.

  “Show off,” Zeke teased. Surprisingly, that made Gabrielle smile.

  Viktor rolled his shoulders. “All right, my turn.”

  The second he took off, he was gone—a blur of motion whipping through the tunnel. A gust of wind rushed past us as he reappeared twenty feet away.

  “Damn, that’s fast,” Zeke muttered.

  Viktor smirked. “Not just fast—strong, too.” He bent down, gripped a jagged boulder, and lifted it one-handed like it was nothing more than a pebble.

  “All right, Mister Worldwide,” Zeke said teasingly, raising his hands in playful surrender.

  Hyacinth narrowed her eyes, focusing hard. A flicker of something unseen pulsed in the air around her, and then—out of nowhere—a delicate glass figurine appeared in her hands. It shimmered as if made from crystal, reflecting the dim tunnel light.

  “I can create anything I imagine,” she explained, breathless. She closed her eyes again, and this time, she conjured a tiny silver dagger. “It takes a lot of focus, though.”

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  Andrew shook his head. “I think I can bend earth, but considering we’re underground, I’d rather not accidentally collapse the tunnel.”

  Amethyst hesitated before reaching for Viktor’s arm, where a faint scratch from his earlier dashing remained. She placed her hands over the wound, whispering under her breath. A soft golden glow surrounded her fingers—and the scratch vanished.

  Her breath hitched. “I actually healed you.”

  Dero wiggled his ears. “Healing magic works with intent. The more you practice, the more natural it will feel.”

  Sakura sighed. “I can mimic powers and forms, but I have to experience them first. So right now? I’m about as useful as a lamp without a lightbulb.”

  Cassandra flicked her wrist, and one of Hyacinth’s conjured daggers hovered midair at her command. “I think this will do just fine.”

  “You have telekinesis?” Amethyst asked in amusement.

  Cassandra smiled sheepishly. “I can hear your thoughts too,” she said. “What?!” Every yelled almost in unison. Some sounded amazed, while others sounded worried and some even embarrassed.

  Yeah, I had been silently judging all of them. Perhaps making some tiny rude comments here and there.

  Cassandra looked at me with that all-knowing smirk. And then she let out a gentle amused laugh. “Don’t worry, your thoughts are safe with me. I agree with most of them by the way.”

  Zeke raised an eyebrow at me. “Excuse me?” He said. “What the fuck was that supposed to mean?”

  Cassandra giggled. “That’s our little secret,” she said, holding up her right index finger to her lips.

  They all continued to experiment with the new skills. I watched it all unfold, arms crossed. The whole thing felt surreal.

  Still, curiosity nagged at me. I hesitantly opened my palm. A light gust of wind stirred against my fingertips, coiling like an unseen presence before vanishing.

  Huh. A secret smile tugged at my lips. Wind magic. Just like I always wanted.

  The others didn’t notice. They were too lost in their own discoveries.

  The thrill of discovering our magic hadn’t even settled before we were forced to decide—again—whether to return to the fight or not. The energy in the tunnel shifted.

  Kaldi and Dero still looked as though they were mourning the last shred of our common sense.

  “You will regret this,” Kaldi muttered, rubbing his temples with his paws. I thought it looked cute had we not been in dire circumstances. “Every ounce of logic demands you go to Andora, and yet you choose to hurl yourselves into battle like freshly hatched hatchlings!”

  Dero groaned dramatically. “You don’t even know what you’re doing! You are all so young and fragile! It’s painful to watch!”

  “We’ll figure it out,” Zeke said, arms crossed.

  “Yes, what an excellent plan,” Kaldi drawled. “‘We’ll figure it out.’ Brilliant strategy. Tell me, have you considered the possibility that you will die before you ‘figure it out?’”

  Gabrielle shot him a glare. “We’re not just going to sit here while Marik, Ishthar, and Iago fight on our behalf.”

  Pierre, who somehow managed to shift back to human form, crossed his arms. “We all know going to Andora is the smarter choice, but—” he hesitated. “I think we’d hate ourselves if we didn’t at least try to help.”

  Cassandra tapped her fingers against her hip, frowning. “All right. So let’s assume we’re actually doing this. What’s our plan?”

  A long silence followed.

  Zeke looked at Viktor. Viktor looked at Gabrielle. Gabrielle looked at Pierre.

  No one had an answer.

  Finally, Andrew sighed. “Right. So, we have no strategy. Excellent start.”

  “Maybe we can split up?” Amethyst suggested hesitantly. “Some of us can stay back and observe, while others try to help without getting too involved?”

  “That sounds like a great way to get picked off one by one,” Cassandra pointed out.

  “I mean, technically I could transform into something huge and terrifying to cause a distraction—” Pierre offered.

  “And then what?” I cut in sharply. “Even if you manage to intimidate a few enemies, how do you intend to hold your ground? What happens if you shift back at the wrong time?”

  Pierre shot a sharp look at me, almost indignant. He looked like he wanted to say something cheeky. “Whatever,” he groaned, rolling his eyes.

  Zeke clenched his fists. “We just need to do something. If we can’t fight head-on, maybe we can disrupt their movements, mess with their formations.”

  Gabrielle nodded. “Or at the very least, buy Marik’s group more time.”

  Hyacinth held out her hands, conjuring a small sphere of glowing silver light. “I can create things, but I have no idea how to make weapons or anything useful yet.”

  “We don’t need weapons,” Viktor said. “We need distractions, obstacles—things to slow the enemy down.”

  Andrew sighed. “I could probably shift some of the earth under them… but again, tunnel.” He gestured at their surroundings. “Unless we want to die via cave-in, I’m not messing with the ground here.”

  “I could throw things at people?” Cassandra offered dryly, gesturing at the objects she was telekinetically floating.

  Sakura raised a hand hesitantly. “I can copy powers, but since I haven’t encountered much yet,” she offered. “I don’t even know how to copy powers or forms at this point. I think I will sit this one out instead.”

  Amethyst frowned. “So . . . no offense, but we’re basically useless.”

  Silence.

  “Pretty much,” I admitted, letting out a very audible sigh paired with my rolliest of eye-rolls. “That’s what Kaldi and Dero have been trying to say from the get-go.”

  Dero made a strangled noise, flopping onto the ground dramatically. “Oh, stars above, this is an atrocity! You are going to die. You are all going to die.”

  Kaldi rubbed his temples. “You are not warriors. You are barely spellcasters. What you are planning to do is reckless.” He exhaled sharply, then added, “But . . . if you insist on this suicide mission, at least promise to stay as far from the main battlefield as possible.”

  Zeke nodded. “We just need to be enough of a problem that they shift their focus—without getting ourselves killed.”

  I scoffed. “Right. Because that sounds completely manageable.”

  Viktor stretched, rolling his shoulders. “If it makes you feel any better, we already made it this far without dying.”

  I gave him an empty stare. “Without dying from what?” I asked sharply. “From being summoned into this crazy world that might be a dream and getting whisked away from that chamber to this tunnel?”

  Viktor looked at Zeke. “Has he always been like this?”

  Zeke shrugged and winced. “Kinda, yeah. He’ll grow on you.”

  Viktor shook his head, his eyes wide. “I sure hope so.”

  “So what’s the plan exactly?” I asked no one in particular.

  After a few sighs and groans, we finally had a strategy.

  Viktor said he’d go crazy with his super speed and super strength and take on as many werewolves as he could. He also asked Hyacinth to create some flash bombs. Thus, she conjured crystal balls that would burst into light upon impact. She also created a few daggers made of silver and gold (just in case Earth legends aren’t as accurate in Mysteria). Cassandra will take care of those. She said something about shooting them at the enemies or whatever.

  Zeke, Gabrielle, and I (begrudgingly) agreed to act as crowd control and do whatever we could to limit the enemies’ movements. Amethyst offered to stay far back and heal anyone who might be injured. Pierre excitedly offered to morph into a rhino and tackle whomever he could. Andrew and Sakura decided to sit this out and offered to watch as lookouts for the others.

  With that, we had our barely-a-plan plan.

  We weren’t going in to fight—at least, not directly.

  But we were going back.

  And despite my better judgment, I followed. “Lord, have mercy,” I sighed.