Page 76 of Flickerstate

The remaining player arrives: Dr. Langmore. “Finalists. Welcome to your last trial.”

Dead silence.

She walks to the middle of the room. “This trial will be summative. Depending on the choices you make, you may use some or all of the skills we’ve practiced in clinic so far.”

“What choices?” I’m so tired my voice sounds faded.

“Per Highwall’s will, both teams must agree to the nature of the last trial. In the first option, team members compete separately in three one-on-one siphoning duels. In the second, each team selects a main navigator. The teams flip a coin to determine which one will defend and which will attack. The defense holds an advanced occlusion, while the offense attempts to siphon the occlusion. Defense wins if they maintain their occlusion for ten minutes. Offense wins if they siphon the occlusion before then. Questions?”

No one speaks.

“You have two minutes to discuss these options. Your time starts…” Dr. Langmore raises her watch to eye height. “Now.”

I try to reason through the thick fog in my brain. If we go for the team option, we might end up on offense, and we’ve never siphoned an occlusion before. I didn’t know that was a thing. I’m guessing it means pulling power from the occlusion, the way you siphon from another navigator, until the occlusion collapses—but I’m not evensure. And if we end up on defense… We held an advanced occlusion for ten minutes and thirty-three seconds last trial, but no one was attacking us, and we hadn’t just had a fight.

“Ninety seconds left,” Dr. Langmore says mildly.

“We choose the first option,” Griffin announces. “The duels.”

He didn’t consult Vik or Mirabel. It seems like he seized the chance to decide and hoped—or assumed—his teammates wouldn’t take issue. And they don’t. Mirabel surveys my team grimly. Her eyes stop on Candace, so maybe she thinks Candace is our best duelist, the biggest threat. And Vik—Vik looks at me. For once, I can guess what he’s looking for. He wants to see whether I would siphon him, hurt him, just to win.

I cut my stare away. Of course I would hurt him. He should know that already.

“Sixty seconds,” Dr. Langmore says.

I don’t like the team option. At the same time, I want to reject the duels. Not because of Vik—I’m not that squishy, not that stupid—but because Griffin chose them.

I look desperately to my teammates, hoping they have an idea of what we should do. Bree recoils like I really am beaming lasers from my eyes. Candace’s face is set and brittle. She’s usually the person at the Academy I have the easiest time reading, but todayall I sense is her anger.

We can’t channel like this. Bree will collapse into a limp yarn heap. I’ll flare my teammates to crisps. Candace will reject whatever we give her. Now’s not the time to collaborate.

“Agreed,” I blurt. “Duels.”

Bree bobbles her head weakly. Candace shrugs—whatever, probably right, I don’t care.

“First option it is.” Dr. Langmore pulls two thin white envelopes from her suit jacket. “You have ten minutes to siphon your opponent. If there’s no winner after ten minutes, you stalemate. Otherwise, the winner navigates through a fifty-two-card draw, two to ace, clubs to spades. Questions? No? Let’s begin.”

***

When Dr. Langmore opens the first envelope, my heart shoots into my throat like someone fired it up my esophagus with a potato gun. It’ll be me and Vik. I’ll brutalize him. God, I don’t want to do this.

Dr. Langmore thumbs open a folded slip of paper. “Mr. Minter.” She slides a slip from the second envelope. “Ms. Yang.”

Not yet.My knees fold. I drop onto the nearest lab stool.

Candace walks to Dr. Langmore without glancing at me.

“Good luck,” Bree whispers too quietly for Candace to hear.

Griffin walks to face his stepsister, grinning. “Hey, Candy.”

She glares at him, clearly not in the mood.

“Are you ready?” Dr. Langmore asks. “Good. Three, two, one—”

I need all my remaining energy for my own duel. By this point in the semester, entering flickerstate requires about as much energy as sitting up straight—but today, sitting up straight is a struggle. I should wait in the real for Dr. Langmore to announce the winner.

Griffin’s eyes glaze over. So do Candace’s.