Before climbing up to the arena, I had shed myself of my winter gear. Now in just a simple black t-shirt and a pair of sweats, I felt as if I could move a lot more freely. I was ready for anything they had to throw at me. Neither moved. Were they just waiting to see what I could do? What my abilities were? Were they waiting for me to make the first move and make a mistake in the process? I wasn’t sure.

  Their expressions were unreadable as Enzo the vampire, lowered himself into a crouch. His silver gaze never left my own.

  Something wasn’t right. The other man… he was smiling. And there was… I looked down at my feet. A black mist, a line of smokey tendrils was creeping around me. My eyes went back to the vampire who - he was no longer there. I knew vampires could move fast but… I gritted my teeth and somersaulted over the mist. I came back to my feet and twisted to face the vampire who brought his clawed hand down right where I had been standing moments before.

  “Arteaea!” I shouted. And that was all I had to do, to call upon a contracted summon.

  In most cases, calling their name was enough to bring them forward. Summons never took on more than one contract at a time, so I didn’t have to worry about them currently being occupied by another summoner.

  A white mist formed in front of me. It swirled around and around, luminescent as it began to take form. Long ears formed on a short snout, a feline body took shape and a long tail formed as well. In the crowd there were a few gasps which I’m sure were from Aw, and if there had been any conversation before, it all ceased as Arteaea the sun fox took form. As I mentioned before, summoners were extremely rare.

  Whether it was because the magic was so ancient it was beginning to fade from the world, or that these creatures were only willing to create contracts with people who had certain character traits, I wasn’t sure. There was a lot I didn’t know and a lot I still had to learn about what I was.

  The black mist lashed out towards me and the sun fox, Arteaea stepped out in front of me. The whip made contact with his face, but vanished into nothingness. He let out a little, high pitched cry and a veil of light appeared around me.

  “Clever!”

  I turned to see the man with copper colored hair, smiling. In his left hand, he held what appeared to be a long staff with a crooked end. If what the vampire had used was shadow, then it made sense that this man would then be using light. That was the name of their house after all. The House of Sun and Shadow.

  “What was clever?” I asked.

  “You summoned a creature who could use light against my friend there, who uses shadow,” he replied.

  Arteaea couldn’t use light. He was light and this was just the form he was choosing to take at the moment. I smiled. Because of what he was, neither light nor darkness would work on him.

  More tendrils of shadow came towards me, but slammed into the barrier of light my friend had placed around me. And as Enzo the vampire charged, I raised my hand, palm facing up and allowed myself to feel the wind. A swirling, twisting breeze formed in my palm. First it twisted counter clockwise. Then a little piece of it split off and twisted up and around. The wind formed into a tiny ball, no larger than my fist. I threw it at the charging vampire.

  Enzo leapt over it like it was just another obstacle in his path to get to me. He opened his mouth and a pair of fangs poked barely below his upper lip. The bright lights above reflected off their whites, causing them to glint.

  I twisted out of the way, but the wrong way!

  Stolen novel; please report.

  A pair of strong arms latched under mine from behind. “You know what this school is, don’t you?” the man, I thought his name was Ineil, whispered into my ear.

  Yes. I did know what this place was, at least to some extent. That was why I didn’t cry out or scream as Enzo brought forth more black mist than I thought was even possible. It surrounded Arteaea without touching him. The little sun fox squealed, barked and whimpered. When the mist cleared, he was gone and I had to send my thanks to the gods. Arteaea would be fine, because he was made of pure light.

  A fist slammed into my stomach. There was nothing I could do as Ineil held me, while the vampire punched, over and over again. This would not be the end, I would not let it!

  “I… do…” I answered in between punches.

  “What?” Ineil asked. His voice sounded serious, but I knew he was smirking.

  “Know… what this place is,” without giving them enough time to throw another punch into my now, very tender stomach, I lifted my legs and kicked back with all the force I was able.

  Ineil tripped backwards, loosening his grip. It allowed me to wrench myself free of his grasp. I leapt into the air on a platform of wind and dodge the punch that was meant for me. The mage fell on the floor and Enzo punched down right beside him. I would have to be more careful in the future, I knew what vampires were capable of and it wasn’t just their boosted strength. If Enzo had latched onto me with those teeth-

  “You would have been done.”

  I clicked my tongue. Yeah… I forgot Senza was still technically here and could still read my thoughts. “Yeah yeah,” I thought towards him.

  What he was referring to, of course, was a vampire’s bloodlust. While most could control themselves, that still didn’t mean that if they had the opportunity to feed, they wouldn’t take it. If that had happened… I shuddered at the thought and was thankful that all the vampires here had probably been told, not to feed on the first years.

  “You can finish this fast, you know,” Senza said.

  “Shhh!” I replied.

  There were sounds in my head, like he was choking on air. “Are… are you shushing me?”

  “I don’t want to cheat,” I said.

  “Oh, I would hardly call this cheating.”

  “You telling me what to do is cheating.”

  “You’re forgetting something,” Senza said in a snarky, sarcastic tone.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Only you can hear me.”

  Honestly, I didn’t think that mattered. I knew he would have been giving me advice and telling me things, even if no one else did… I would have known. I slid my gaze back to my opponents as Enzo was now facing me again and Ineil had climbed back to his feet. They were doing something as well… I watched carefully as a tendril of black mist and a tendril of white mist both formed, entwining with one another.

  He was right though. I could end this right now if I wanted to. And I supposed ending it before they were able to unleash whatever that attack was on me, would probably be wise. I raised a hand and allowed a swirling wind to form in the palm of my hand. This time instead of my palm facing the ceiling, it was facing them.

  The black and white mist came towards me and I allowed the wind to take control. It left the palm of my hand, gusting at the tendrils, causing them to vanish as if they had never been there to begin with. It continued though. Picking up speed with every second. The force of the impact hit both Enzo and Ineil, throwing them from the arena.

  I turned to the crowd as everyone watching, cheered and let loose their whoops! And harrays!

  Kaivos climbed the stairs onto the arena, his golden eyes looking into mine. We stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, then he nodded and there seemed to be something like approval in those golden eyes.

  “Christina Bellhaven, you did well,” he said. “If you are tired, you may retreat and let the next person have their chance, but there are still two more pairs you have to defeat.”

  “If you will allow it,” I said. “I would like to stay and take on the next two.”

  I really didn’t feel tired, or breathless for that matter. As a summoner, it didn’t take me long at all to recover from exhaustion.

  Kaivos nodded and proceeded down the stairs.

  My heart began to race and my breath caught in my throat when the next two, took their places in the arena.