“Oh? Is that his name?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, you’ve met him? What’s he like?”

“Competent.” Kai packed enough disdain into that one word to crack ice.

She chuckled. “He stole from you, didn’t he?”

He glared at her. “With the assassin looking out for her, your sister is very safe. Slayer doesn’t fail.”

Sera fought the grin spreading up her cheeks. “He failed pretty spectacularly at getting into her underwear drawer.”

“I see.” He paused. “So I take it your sister isn’t sleeping with the assassin then?”

“Not sure. Alex sounds…lovestruck, I guess you could call it. This is the first time anything like this has happened,” she said. “Alex has always been so tough. So…”

The look Kai gave her made her blush, and the words fizzled out in her throat. Kai chuckled.

“Maybe your sister has finally met her match.”

“Maybe,” she said, returning her eyes to the pit below. “Have your people had a chance to check out that piece of magic-proof armor I gave you?”

“Yes. And its construction is identical to the ones in my lab.” Magic pulsed behind each word, deep and hollow. “Security checked again, and none of the prototype armor suits are missing.”

“A thief might have broken in and made a copy of the armor specifications.”

Kai’s magic continued to throb in agitated bursts, his fury hot enough to liquefy metal. “What are you suggesting?”

“Finn got into your storage facility once before. And now he’s free again. Maybe he’s responsible this time too.”

“No.” The single syllable pounded like a hammer. “I’ve since put Finn on the black list.”

“The black list?”

“The security system takes extra measures when dealing with the people on that list. No, Sera,” he cut in before she could speak. “Based on our past conversations, I am very certain that you don’t want to know more about that.”

Sera got a flash of that werewolf Kai had stepped on. With audio. She gave what remained of her pizza slice a woeful glance, then dropped it into the nearest trash bin. There was nothing like the memory of crunching bones to spoil her appetite.

“Suffice it to say, I would know if Finn had tried to break into my facility,” Kai said. “Plus, the vampires are being controlled by the Blood Orb, which is in the hands of a group that despises all supernaturals. That’s the complete antithesis of Finn’s cause: the rise of the supernaturals over humanity. The two groups are mortal enemies. They wouldn’t work together.”

“Both groups would like to see the Magic Council overthrown,” Sera pointed out. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that jazz?”

“The enemy of my enemy is not my friend,” Kai said. “He’s rather just another psychopath on an already too-long list of psychopaths to kill.”

“You mean, on an already too-long list of psychopaths to capture and imprison so they can face justice for their crimes.”

“Yeah,” he said, his tone as dry as twice-burnt toast. “Of course.” He pulled out his phone. “Now, back to why we’re here. I’ve had a look at your opponents for today.”

She glanced at the timetable on his screen. “I’ll be fighting Monster Mixer, Blood Brothers, and…Mages of the Universe? Wow. Someone sure thinks highly of themselves.”

“Your first match is against the Monster Mixer. They’ll throw a series of three different types of monsters at you. You don’t know what you’re going to get until you’re in the pit, but the monsters they use tend to be things like giant frogs, harpies, dark ponies…”

Sera hoped she managed to avoid the dark ponies. Their coats were as bright as sunshine and their souls as black as night.

“…insect swarms, giant sand worms. The purpose of the Monster Mixer is to weed out mages with very weak magic. If you fail, you get dropped down to the lower testing tiers.”

“And if I pass?” she asked.

“Then you move on to the Blood Brothers.”

“Vampires?”

“Yes, three of them, it says here.” He scrolled down the list. “Then the Mages of the Universe. That’s another wildcard. You don’t know which mage you’ll get of the eight listed here. There are two from each of the main combative mage categories: two elementals, two telekinetics, two summoners, and two shifters. At the end of the day, after all the matches are over, they’ll evaluate the magic you used today and select your opponents for tomorrow’s matches.”

“What happens if I don’t use any magic?”

“Why would you not use magic?”

“If I don’t use magic, then they think my magic is weak and that they don’t need to push so hard to crack me.”

Kai shook his head. “That trick won’t work, Sera.”

“We’ll see. Surely, they can’t make me use magic?”

“No, but you’ll annoy Duncan Blackbrooke if you don’t.”

“The bossy mage I saved at Macy’s?”

“Yes, he’s the Game Architect for the Magic Games,” Kai told her.

Oh, goody. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Forget Blackbrooke. Worry about today’s matches. They shouldn’t be too hard for you. Concentrate on taking out your opponents and go easy on the battle banter.”