Screams and shouts sounded as the crowd realized what was happening, and horrible thoughts shot through my mind one after another as I started to fall.
I was forty feet up in the air, and there was no soft sandpit at the bottom of the ladder. This was going to hurt—a lot. I’d be lucky if I only broke an arm or leg, instead of my neck—
I stopped in midair, my right arm feeling like it was being torn out of my shoulder socket. A hand gripped my wrist, and I looked up.
Devon grimaced, his fingers digging into my arm. “I’ve got you, Lila!”
Somehow, he had realized what was happening and had crawled close enough to reach out and catch me. Gasps rang out from the crowd, but I blocked out the noise and focused on Devon.
He stared at me, his green gaze locking with mine. “Hold on!”
His voice cracked with his compulsion magic, and his power wrapped around my entire body as though I were nothing more than a puppet and he was the one pulling my strings. I had no choice but to do as he asked, so I locked my fingers around his wrist.
But my own transference magic kicked in as well, and Devon’s compulsion quickly melted into pure, cold power surging through me. He wasn’t controlling me anymore, and his magic increased my own, giving me a welcome boost of extra strength and making my grip even tighter than his.
We held on to each other while I kicked my leg out and hooked my foot through a section of rope that was still firmly attached to the platform. Devon helped swing me over so that I could grab on to the ladder with my free hand.
“I’m good!” I called out.
He nodded, the tension draining from his face, and let go of my wrist. We were closer to the top than the bottom, so we kept climbing. Poppy leaned over and helped us both up and onto the wooden platform.
Devon and I sprawled on our backs, both of us sweating and breathing hard. My heart thump-thump-thumped loud enough to drown out the crowd’s cheers, and the metallic taste of my own shock, dread, and fear filled my mouth.
“Are you guys okay?” Poppy asked, her dark eyes wide. “What happened?”
“No idea,” Devon said, sitting up. “One second the rope was fine. The next, it wasn’t. Lila, are you all right?”
I sat up as well. “Yeah, I’m okay. Thanks to you.”
I nudged his shoulder. Devon smiled and nudged me back.
“Just watching out for you. That’s what Sinclairs do, remember?”
I nodded, my throat tight with emotion. It had been a long time since anyone had helped me the way Devon just had. He could have easily fallen off the ladder trying to grab me, or I could have dragged him down off it, but he hadn’t hesitated, and he’d saved me.
Slowly, the cheers died down, but other sounds rose to take their place—hoarse, raspy moans of pain.
Devon and I both got to our feet and peered over the side of the platform. Two guards were sprawled at the bottom of the rope ladder. I didn’t know how far up they’d been, but they’d both landed awkwardly. One of them—a Draconi—was moaning, rocking back and forth, and clutching her arm to her chest as though it was broken. The other competitor was one of ours—Henry, a Sinclair guard. His left leg was twisted underneath his body, and I could see the broken bone pressing against his skin from up here. The pain was so bad that he was crying and choking down screams.
A hush fell over the crowd, and shouts rose up as the medical staff raced over to the bottom of the ladder. Angelo was with them. He took one look at Henry’s wound, then gestured for a stretcher. A few seconds later, Henry was being rolled away toward the white medical tent. The crowd got to its feet, clapping, but the polite noise didn’t come close to drowning out Henry’s screams.
I looked down again. Henry had hit the ground so hard that his body had made an outline in the grass, like a drawing of a murder victim on a crime show. I shivered. That could have been me down there with a busted leg.
Or worse—dead.
Everyone on the top of the platform was yelling, pointing, and running back and forth, including Deah and Blake, who had their heads together, whispering to each other. Poppy was gesturing with her hands and talking to Devon, but I wasn’t paying attention to her sharp, worried words.
Instead, I kept thinking about the ropes and how they had snapped away from the platform. I’d climbed up my fair share of ropes, and they didn’t just unravel like that, especially not these thick, heavy ones. Even someone with a strength Talent would have had a hard time tearing through them. But the ropes had fallen away from the platform as easily as I could swipe my hand through a spider’s web.
So what had really happened to them?
The officials stopped the tournament, and we all climbed down the ladders attached to the side of the platform. The other competitors who hadn’t been on the course came over, along with the higher-ups in the Families, and everyone checked on their friends. Claudia, Reginald, Mo, and Felix hurried over to Devon and me, with Oscar zipping along behind them.
“You okay, kid?” Mo asked, his eyes dark with concern.