Katia screamed in pain, and the midnight glow on the blades went out. In an instant, the weapons were their usual dull, ashy gray again. Katia gasped and gasped for breath, then doubled over.

Silence.

Then she started laughing again.

Katia laughed and laughed, the loud, wild, crazy sound bouncing around like a rockmunk trapped inside the boathouse.

Katia straightened up to her full height, and Deah and I both gasped again—because her eyes burned with magic.

The longer I stared at her, the brighter her eyes became, the color morphing from their normal hazel to a brilliant emerald green, with a spark of copper flashing every now and then. I supposed that it made sense that Katia’s eyes would take on the tint of the monster whose magic she’d stolen—green for the troll and copper for the crusher. But the magic in her gaze kept flaring hotter and hotter, until her eyes were glowing much brighter than any monster’s ever had.

Katia grunted, then pulled the daggers out of her chest. The black blades sealed up the wounds they had left behind, so it was as if she had never stabbed herself at all.

“A tree troll for speed,” she purred, holding up one of the daggers. “And a copper crusher for strength.” She held up the other dagger. “A perfect combo and more than enough magic to let me deal with the two of you.”

Deah and I looked at each other. I nodded and she returned the gesture. We both knew that we’d have to work together in order to survive this.

Just like Seleste had told me.

Katia let out a loud scream and charged at us. Deah and I split apart, with me going right and her going left. But Katia was fast—so damn fast. And since she had two daggers, she was able to attack both of us at once. She lashed out at Deah with one blade, then pivoted back around to me, her movements almost too quick for me to follow. I barely managed to get out of the way of her black blade before she laid my guts open with it.

Deah stepped up behind Katia and swung her sword, but Katia lashed out with one of her daggers, catching Deah across the arm before she was able to get out of the way. Deah yelped and staggered away.

Katia turned back to me. She let out another loud yell and charged forward. I was standing by the table, and I kicked out, sending it skittering across the floor toward her. The gold winner’s cup also flew off the top and clattered to the ground.

That incoming table made Katia stop short, but a cruel smile curved her lips.

“That’s not going to save you,” she hissed. “Nothing will. Not now that you’ve taken her side.”

“I’d rather be on her side than yours,” I said. “At least she doesn’t go around murdering monsters just because it gives her some sort of sick thrill. No wonder you couldn’t beat Deah. You were too worried about getting your next hit of magic to really focus on the tournament. Your dad might be a drunk, but you’re nothing but a magic junkie loser.”

I was deliberately taunting her, calling her the one word she hated most. And it worked. Katia screamed again and threw herself forward. This time, she slammed her fists into the table top, cracking it down the center and wading through the remains to get to me. Then she raised her daggers and slammed them into my sword as hard as she could.

I grinned because the second her weapons rammed into mine, my transference power kicked in, and that cold burn of magic filled my veins. Katia had stolen the tree troll’s and copper crusher’s magic. Well, I was going to take it away from her, blow by blow, bit by bit, piece by piece. This first attack was already enough to make me stronger.

But not strong enough.

Katia was in a rage now, and she slammed her weapons into mine over and over again, each blow harder and sharper than the last, until finally she knocked my sword away.

She raised her daggers to bring the blades down in my chest. I lurched back, trying to get out of the way, but my sock caught on a nail sticking up out of the floor, and I went down on one knee. I raised my right arm up, knowing that it was useless and that her daggers would lay my arm open to the bone—

Suddenly, Deah was there, slamming her sword into Katia’s daggers and keeping her from killing me. I scrambled back up on my feet, grabbed my sword, and got back into the fight.

Katia kept whipping her daggers every which way, but as fast and strong as she was, it still took a lot of concentration to battle two enemies at once, especially two enemies who were as good at fighting as Deah and I were. We gave her all she could handle and then some.

But we were still going to lose.

With all that stolen monster magic pumping through her body, Katia was faster and stronger than the two of us. Despite her claims that monster magic didn’t last all that long, she showed no signs of slowing down. Plus, she still had Vance’s strength and speed Talents to fall back on. She was wearing us down, especially since Deah and I had fought so long and hard earlier in the tournament.

My blows were coming slower and slower, and it was all I could do to parry the hard, vicious slashes of Katia’s daggers. Deah was slowing down as well. All Katia needed would be another minute, maybe two, and she would be able to disarm one of us. Then the other would fall and she could cut us up and take our magic at her leisure.

The magic chilling my body wasn’t enough to help me defeat Katia. I needed more magic to stop her from killing us, which meant that I had to get closer to her. Had to get her to use her strength directly on me so I could absorb as much of her stolen magic as possible. Unfortunately, there was only one way to do that. I had to actually touch her.

I winced. This was going to hurt.

Deah managed to throw Katia back, and she lost her balance and stumbled over one of the chairs. I took the moment to creep closer to Deah.

“When I tell you, unload on her with everything you have!” I hissed.

“Lila! Lila, what are you doing?” Deah hissed back.

Katia got back up on her feet. I raised my sword and charged at her, screaming all the while. Katia smirked, realizing that it was a desperate tactic, but she let me come at her, just like I wanted. I lashed out with my sword, even though I knew that the blow wouldn’t even come close to nicking her. Katia blocked my attack, but instead of stepping back, I dropped my sword and darted forward, wrapping my hands around her wrists.

The second my skin touched hers, cold magic surged from her body into mine. But Katia wasn’t worried at all by my change in tactics.

“You stupid fool,” she snarled. “You’ve just made it that much easier for me to do this.”