I swam through the water before grabbing a hold of the rocks, lifting myself up as I laughed at Gabriel. He came up behind me while I sat on the ledge, and I brushed my wet hair from my face as Samaria plopped down on the rock beside me with vodka in hand.

"Backflip! Backflip!" She yelled, chanting with numerous other voices to the figures standing at the top of rock cliff that hung over the swimming hole. More guardians below reclined at the edges of the pool yelled and let out whoops as Samaria screamed, "Don't be a pussy, Archer!"

Gabriel lifted himself effortlessly out of the water, reclining back on his elbows on my other side. The guardian Archer leapt from the overhang, his body flipping backwards before he disappeared with a huge splash into the water. Cheers erupted from the crowd as they clapped and screamed, more thrill seekers rushing up towards the top of the rock to jump as well.

"Shit, that's high." I said, looking from the base of the water all the way up to where the rock glistened with paper lanterns. 

It was late in the night and the guardians had brought as many battery powered candles and lights as possible, stringing them along the branches overhanging the quarry and all along the rock while each of us wore our own strand of glow sticks. The world around me was a mixture of neon and pitch blackness, the loud sounds of laughter, conversation, and water against stone, all the sounds and lights filling my senses.

"You should go jump, Prodigy." The guardian Carter yelled from where he sat against the stone a little to our right, the group sitting around him echoing in their agreement.

"No way." I replied,  "I'm never jumping off that if I can help it."

"Stick in the mud!" He called back, making me smile. "It's just a little water!"

"Then you go do it first!" I countered.

"How about we hold hands and jump?" He responded with a chuckle, brushing dark strands of hair from his face.

I rolled my eyes. "Hard pass."

"Busting his balls." Samaria shook her head as she took a long sip of her drink. "He's pretty hot so you should tap that before I get over there."

I looked to her, shaking my head. "I'm not tapping that. Carter's... fine."

"Whatever you say." She shrugged. "I'm going to go feel his six pack." Samaria stood to her feet, sauntering off towards Carter as I watched her go. She never lacked in excitement, confidence, or new boyfriends. Actually, I didn't think they were even boyfriends. I felt like I remembered her distinctly saying to 'use 'em and lose 'em'.

"Carter can be an ass so be careful if you do decide to dip your toe in the water." Gabriel warned before taking a sip of his drink, glancing to me.

"I'm not dipping my toes in any water right now." I replied, looking towards the quarry as someone hit the water in a cannonball, sending a huge wave of water up into the air as everyone cheered them on.

I'm not dipping into any water. At least, any that are here right now. Who aren't tall, blonde, blue-eyed, devastatingly gorgeous...

The thought made me bite my lip as I pulled my legs up to my chest. Finn. My stomach started to twist as I looked to Gabriel. "What time is it?"

"I dunno know." He shrugged, glancing up at the sky. "I'd say probably around... 11 o'clock. Maybe 12?"

"11 to 12..." I took in a breath, feeling my skin begin to itch. I was supposed to back by 9 because of Finn's idiotic curfew he'd assigned to me like I was a little girl.

I'd been so angry, utterly furious that I'd gotten Samaria to break me out of Secta's which had surprisingly worked. The plan was simple: I'd come out onto the terrace that connected to my room where she'd be waiting  to fly me down from my floor to the ground. Then we could sneak out to the quarry from there. We'd done it perfectly with a stop to Samaria's room for an extra bathing suit and still had time to spare.

The party had been fun, swimming around and meeting new guardians who actually seemed to like me more than I'd thought before. They seemed to be warming up to me, and I had new friends like Archer, Carter, Dylan, Hailey, Lily, and others whom Samaria had introduced me to in a whirlwind.

"Don't talk to Evelyn. She's a grade A bitch who thinks she's too good for the rest of us." Samaria had whispered, pointing to some very skinny and pretty redhead. "I'm currently at war with her because I too am a grade A bitch, but in the name of the people. I don't do it for the power or the place on the hierarchy! I'm democratic about my bitchiness. Someone has to give the Queen Bee a run for her money in the name of entertainment. So I am that someone, and making her face as red as her hair gives me more pleasure than bad sex." 

But, I couldn't shake the thought of Finn waiting for me to come back to my room from the back of my mind, that disapproving look on his face that made me feel so much... guilt. I knew he was being a dick, but I liked him, a lot. 

The thought of making our situation worse by staying at this swimming hole was just becoming more and more stupid with each minute that passed. Why was I doing this? What would come out of it besides making him more and more angry?

I wanted to be with Finn. Why couldn't I just take the high road and try to fix the weirdness between us? Maybe at least figure out what was even between us at all instead of just trying to make him more intense?

"I'm going back." I said to Gabriel, looking him in the eyes.

He stared at me with disappointment. "Seriously? You're running back home?"

I stood to my feet and so did he as I grabbed my shirt and shorts from a tree branch, slipping them back on before sliding on my sneakers. "Yep. I'm going back. This was fun. Goodnight, Gabriel."

"Hold up now." I turned, the overlooking figure of Archer and a few others behind me. "We gotta do one last thing before you go, whether you like it or not, Prodigy."

"No, I won't!" I hissed as Archer held up a scrap of paper, punching in numbers as he grinned at me over his shoulder.

"Come on, Prodigy! This should be a breeze for you!" He said through slurred words as there was a massive screech from the Mimic's heavy doors. It made us all cover our ears as the doors began to slide wide open.

I shook my head, screaming at him over the noise. "You're drunk! This is a stupid idea! I can't go in there! I'm not really the Prodigy, Archer! I can't do this!" I didn't know if I was being truthful or not, but the one thing I did know was that I neither had the meraki or the fighting skills to make it through the master level of the Mimic.

They'd practically drug me up the hill towards the gigantic building, Archer slapping in the code that he'd stolen from Annie's old room. It would be fun he'd laughed. He really wanted to see me in action because Secta, Cybele, Raphael, and Finn had kept me under lock and key. It simply wasn't fair to hoard me for themselves.

Now that I was out, it was time to put me to the test. He'd had too much tequila.

"You scared, Firecracker?" Dylan chuckled, earning a glare from me. That was apparently my new nickname.

"Frankly, yes. You're sending me into the Mimic unarmed on the 'Master' setting! I'm not ready!" I protested but Archer stumbled towards me, pressing a finger against my lips.

"Sh... get ready. I put it on the Hell landscape." He smiled. "Firecracker, kick some ass!"

I narrowed my eyes, glancing around him into the darkness of the Mimic. Except now Finn wasn't inside waiting for me and goosebumps rose on my skin. "I'm not going in there."

"Push her in!"

Hands grabbed my arms, lifting me off the ground as I screamed for all I was worth. They were all stronger than me, using their wing to propel us forward as I tried to slip from their tight hold.

"Stop!" I yelled, kicking my legs in the air as I thrashed against their grips. "Let me go! Stop, please!"

"Archer! Stop this!" Samaria retorted, stepping in front of me and the door with drunken courage. "You... fucking ass! Put Kate down or else I'll get... someone bigger than me to turn you into dirt! Raphael! Finn!"

"She's the Prodigy! She can handle it. It'll be fun. Don't go tattle, Samaria, like a baby."

"No!" I barked, "it won't be! Put me down!"

"Gabriel," Samaria snapped her fingers at the guardian. "Go get Raph..."

Suddenly I was tossed forward, smacking into Samaria as she fell backwards. We tumbled into the darkness of the Mimic as its doors slapped shut behind us, the echo reverberating like thunder in our ears.

"No! No, no, no!" Samaria scrambled to her feet as she began to bang on the door. "Let me out! I'm drunk! Gabriel! Archer! NO!"

I sat up from where I laid on the ground, my eyes adjusting to the dark as I could see her outline scratching furiously at the door.

"Help! Help me!" She was screaming, making my blood turn to ice. They all knew what could happen in here if you weren't up for the challenge; this was a nightmare.

"Samaria, what's going to happen?" I breathed as the ground began to shudder underneath us.

We both let out a scream as the ground started to move, clicking as it began to shoot upwards. She stumbled backwards, landing on her hands and knees as spotlights shot out of the ceiling onto the white floor. "Shit! Shit! I can't do this!" Her eyes looked to me. "You can! You can do this! Please help me! Help me! Protect me!"

"I don't know what to do!" I replied, my stomach sinking as the floor skidded to a halt. The lights began to flicker off, dying one by one as a crackling noise echoed in the air. It became darker and darker around us until one light was left, swinging over our heads as Samaria and I scooted closer to each other.

"The holograms. We have to fight the monsters." She whispered. "I can't... I can't even move my head without seeing... the galaxy." Samaria mused with a groan. "What landscape? Kate, what landscape?"

"Hell." I said softly, gazing around us. I couldn't see a thing.

"Shit!" She covered her eyes with her hands, pulling her legs up to her chest. "Shit! This is going to be so bad! We aren't master guardians! I'm going to get my ass kicked! Or we'll both die! No, I can't die this way! Oh sweet Fate, protect me!"

I swallowed before standing to my feet, feeling my heart begin to race in my chest. The Mimic was lethal. How had no one told me this?

Maybe I could do it? I'd used my meraki for others like Raphael before, and it had worked. If Samaria was in danger, it could kick in because of that protector's instinct. Maybe I could save us both if my meraki went to protect Samaria, an obvious innocent.

Or I could use it once, pass out, and then we would both die. I could go out of control and die from brain damage as well. So many terrible possibilities.

A loud wail echoed in the air, a sound like death in itself as I clamped my hands over my ears. It rang out like a siren, growls following like feral animals all around us as the air began to glow a lifeless black. It began to feel colder, the air chilling as soon my breath became visible.

The single light above us died out as we were left in darkness, the ground beginning to shake all over again. Then, the floor split in half, making me scream as I fell through the air.

"Kate!" Samaria yelled as she fell after me, managing to grab a hold of my arm as the floor above us snapped shut. Golden lanterns hanging around us in the air illuminated the dark room, dragging long shadows as gigantic towers of rock and stone towered about us.

We hovered in mid air as we looked around, Samaria swallowing as she gently descended so that we both stood on our feet. A fog now hung in the air as we glanced about. Hell was a cold, dark cave. And for now, empty.

"What the hell is going to happen next?" Samaria whispered. "Ready for a fight?"

I nodded numbly, goosebumps rising on my skin. Nocen came into my mind, those black coils and his cruel eyes. We'd be fighting holograms just like him. Or maybe we wouldn't? Would the Mimic really be just like real life?

"We need to move to a better place... to fight. Not out in the open." She said, swaying slightly as I reached out to steady her. "There looks like a good place over there near that..."

There was a deafening roar as out of thin air, a shadowed beast lunged at us both from a few feet in front of us. I fell backwards as it rolled over Samaria, her scream echoing in my ears before there was a loud crack and she went silent.

She was unconscious on the ground as the gigantic monster made of black thorns with red eyes, a horrifically scarred face, and pearly white fangs like a mad dog turned to look at me. Black saliva fell from its disfigured face, hitting the ground as it began to bubble and steam.

I swallowed as it snapped its jaw, more howls echoing in the air in reply.