a sleeper hold. The twins had shown me some moves to get out of that. I used both hands to press his elbow toward me, so I’d be able to use it for leverage.
My face was turning red as I fought to get a breath in. This guy was holding me tighter than the twins had ever done during training, which shouldn’t be that shocking, but it was. My throat felt like it was being crushed by a monster. I knew I didn’t have much time left, so I swung my entire body to the right as I used a pressure point on his elbow joint.
He was strong, but I still had my shifter strength, and I managed to get his elbow open enough to escape. He grabbed the back of my shirt, and I kicked back, aiming for his knee. His grip loosened as my strike hit, and I yanked my shirt out of his grasp.
Before I could make another attempt to run, his mouth opened in surprise, and blood bubbled out. His lips moved in words that I couldn’t make out, and blood seeped out from beneath his chain mail. A smile slowly spread over his face as he fell to the ground, revealing James standing behind him, a bloody sword in his hand.
I panted as my shaky hands examined the bruising on my throat. It was painful, but I’d live, which is more than I could say for him. Now that I was no longer fighting for my life, I realized that there was only silence around us.
“Are you hurt?” I blurted out to James as I ran toward him.
James had blood splattered and smeared all over him, and I ran my hands over his body, looking for any serious wounds.
“I’m fine,” James grumbled, gently pulling my hands away from him. “Just some minor injuries that will be healed in a few hours.”
“Okay,” I said with an enthusiastic nod. “You’re okay. And everything’s going to be okay. The twins are okay?”
I looked around to see Mason retrieving his throwing stars from the bodies around us and Jason holding up two swords, deciding which one to hold on to.
I doubled over, laughing hysterically. “Everyone’s okay!”
“Anna,” James said gently. “I need you to look at me.”
I glanced up at him to see his dark eyes worried. “I’m okay!” I assured him before bursting back into laughter. Giddiness was erupting from me, and I couldn’t stop it. We’d survived a dire situation and defied all the odds against us. It seemed so insane, so utterly unbelievable, that laughter was bubbling out of me. The edge of hysteria was there, and I was close to either bursting into tears or screaming in horror.
“You’re not,” James said as he took my hands in his. “But for now, I need you to push it all down. Lock up all the horror and guilt in a tight box deep inside yourself because we can’t deal with it right now.”
I blinked in response to his words, and my laughter trailed off. “I was useless,” I whispered to him as the reality of the situation sank in. We were surrounded by the stench of death, and the eyes of the dead stared blankly at the sky.
James gripped me by the shoulders. “Get it together, Anna. This isn’t the time.”
I inhaled a sharp breath, but he was right. There would be time for recrimination and regret later. For now, I needed to stay focused on the mission. I couldn’t let my team down. I wouldn’t make them carry my weight.
I stood up straight and gave James a nod. “I can do this.”
James cupped my face with one hand and gazed into my eyes. “I know you can,” he said softly. “Respect the warriors who fought against us for their skill and sacrifice but take comfort that none of us were lost today.”
“Got it,” I replied.
James searched my eyes for another moment before releasing me.
“What happened to the crystal?” I asked, looking up where the bane of my existence had hung suspended in the sky while we fought.
“It disappeared when the last warrior did,” James replied.
I reached for my magic, dismayed when I was still unable to access it.
“Whatever it was, my magic is still gone,” I said with a frown.
“Brennus said this was a trial,” James said slowly. “I suspect there may be more before we’re done.”
I frowned over at the twins, who were picking weapons off the dead.
“We’re not being assholes,” Jason said as he walked