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.