The smoke in front of us starts to swirl and move before settling near the ground like a liquid. Slowly, lazily, it gathers into a wall of black smoke that seems almost solid. As we watch in curiosity words start to appear just above the surface, the letters in shining gold cursive. They seem to shimmer and almost move as they glow, like a glimmering gossamer thread. As I watch, the supernatural letters spell out the words, "follow the path."

"What does it mean, path?" Chase asks. "We're in the middle of a new dimension. All there is is smoke and rock."

"Patience," Matthew tells him. "If the words came to us, I'm sure that they'll explain themselves."

Chase bites hit bottom lip and doesn't respond. I can tell that he's on edge. He gets really quiet when he's nervous. I take a step closer to him, my face still wet with tears. I'm glad that he didn't interfere during my fight with Annalise. I know that he wanted to, but he last it up to me, and I'm glad. I had to face her on my own.

"You're good now?" He whispers discreetly in my ear.

I shake my head no before saying, "but that's okay. I will be someday."

"I don't want you to be unhappy," he tells me.

I smile slightly. "Don't worry about it. What's now important is the Trial."

He seems to accept this, and we both turn back to the letters as they disappear and start over. "Take the fall and the choose a champion," they say this time. A few seconds later they are erased and the words, "complete the challenge to earn the clue," take their place.

"So only one of us can take on the challenge?" Kara asks. "That sucks. We have strength in numbers."

"This put us at a tactical disadvantage," Garret agrees as the script changes again.

"Good luck!" They tell us, before the whole wall of smoke parts like the Red Sea and makes two great swirling twisters out of the two sides. Then, as if there is a giant vacuum in the sky, the pillars are sucked back up into the air like they were never there in the first place. But now, behind where the wall once was, is a path of darker stone. The smoke seems to dissipate where the trail winds, leaving giving us a clear place to walk. But about fifty yards away the smoke returns again, and the path is obscured once again.

"I guess that this is the path," Matt says.

"I'm assuming so," I tell him, just a little sarcastic.

"Well," he says. "If we're following the directions, we might as well follow it."

"Great," Garret says. "Follow me." And so we do, taking the path side by side in pairs of two. The creeping smoke is eerie, and although none of us will admit it, it makes all of us little nervous. Even strong and silent Tyler avoids the reaching strands as we continue on. I just want to be out of here. This place makes me feel jumpy and tense.

I notice the other clan members' wariness of Anne as well, Garret in particular. I guess her comment about the humans deserving to die shook them. They never doubted her loyalty at all, but now she publicly announced that she agrees with their sworn enemy. Now she's a possible threat, although, from what I've seen, she didn't really mean it. She's just lost without her brother and hurt by his death.

"So what do you think the gold word-thingies meant when they said to choose a Champion?" Kara asks.

"Well, I guess we have to pick someone to fight for us," her mom says. "Probably out strongest fighter."

"Well, yeah, but who would that be?"

"I think that it would probably have to be either me or Chase." Garret says, coming up on the fog bank. He just pushes through it like it's just as clear as the rest of the trail, and so we follow. "I mean, Chase definitely has the long distance abilities, but Shifts are better than Mages at close ra-"

He suddenly breaks off with a yell, eyes going wide and windmilling his arms for balance before taking a step back. "Oh my God!" Morgan screams, grabbing ahold of his shirt and pulling him back. I hear muttered exclamations from the rest of the clan, but due to my short stature and distance from the front, I can't tell what all the commotion's all about.

I push ahead of Kara and Matthew, leaning forward before inhaling quickly and pulling back. Just a few feet behind where the mist thickens, the ground just ends, dropping off into a great abyss that continues on well past our eyes' ability to gauge distance. It stretches off as far as I can see in front of us and to the sides, banks of fog floating around on top like clouds. The sheer size of the gorge is astounding.

"No crap," Chase says from my left. "Um, yeah, that's dangerous."

"No kidding," Matt agrees. "That could have been bad. Especially considering that Garret isn't a Flyer."

"Didn't the gold writing say something about a fall?" I ask.

"'Take the fall and choose a champion,'" Chase quotes. "So we have to jump into it."

"Isn't there a better way?" Anne asks. "I mean, a sure test to make sure that it's safe?"

"I think we just have to trust in it and jump," my father says. "I mean, it is another dimension, anything can happen here.

"No," Garret disagrees. "There is another way. We can have a Flyer lower themselves down into the pit to see where the bottom is, and what's there. Then they can take the others down."

We consider this plan for a minute. It sounds pretty foolproof, but I feel like there's a trick. Samuel wouldn't put a giant hole in the Trial if Gifted people could just fly down it, the challenge would be redundant. But I keep my mouth shut.

"I'll go," Matthew volunteers instantly. He takes a step towards the edge, eyes closed momentarily as if in concentration. He takes a step foreword as if to jump. . . But then pauses, staring at the gap with a frown.

"I'm sorry, hang on," he says, closing his eyes once more. But nothing happens.

"Matt," Chase asks, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I. . . I. . . I can't. . ." He struggles for a minute, brows furrowed worriedly. ". . . Fly. I can't fly, there's something wrong."

Anne closes her eyes with a scoff, but frowns just as quickly. "No. That can't be possible."

Chase snaps his fingers twice, but nothing happens. He waves one arm to the side in a sweeping gesture, but all it does is make him look like a maestro in an orchestra. The rest of the clan joins in, the Shifts trying desperately to change skin, the Mages attempting to get a spark, and the Flyers concentrating on lifting just an inch off the ground. But nothing happens. The sight of them grimacing and squinting and cursing might have been comical, save the seriousness of the matter.

"Oh my gosh!" Kara exclaims. "This can't be happening! I can't Shift! I don't understand!"

Garret is the first to quit trying. "It's no use. We can't use our abilities in this dimension. It must be a condition."

"So we're all just, human? Now?" Anne asks. I notice all of them blinking the Gifted flecks back into their eyes, like they're worried that their whole race has been altered. But the flecks do come back, and soon I'm surrounded by eight pairs of sparkling eyes that shimmer slightly behind their irises. Even my father has them in his green ones, which is odd for me to see. They're so pretty. I almost feel jealous.

"This is. . ." Chase starts before trailing off. "Odd. I haven't ever not been able to use my magic." He snaps his finger again, but still nothing. The flecks in his eyes are so beautiful, like gold and bronze floating around in the rich brown. Normally I would find it strange, but it seems to almost make his face more expressive than ever.

"What?" He asks me with a smile. I realize that I've been staring at him.

"Oh!" I exclaim. "Sorry, nothing. So if you can't fly down there, then there's nothing else we can do but jump." I turn towards the others quickly.

"I guess not," Garret says.

"And we can't know what's at the bottom," Dad says. "It's all of us or nothing."

We look at the canyon with a new kind of fear. We're going to have to jump. Which means, we might die, because once someone jumps there's no way to tell the next person where it leads, even if they're still alive.

"Fine," Matthew says with a resigned kind of finality. "We all jump together."

One by one everyone nods, resigning themselves to the fall. Everyone looks apprehensive. There's no need to say the reality out loud. We all know that we might be jumping to our deaths. But we have to.

I am the first to step forward, lining my toes up with the edge. I feel my stomach twisting into knots, and my heart is hammering so hard I feel as if it will burst out of my chest, but I just think about the Amulet, and the humans, and Mom, and I force myself up to the side.

Garret comes forward next, newfound respect for me written in his eyes. Silently, the rest follow, the color drained out of some of them. But we all hold our heads high, keep our shoulders back, and stay strong.

"Ready?" Garret asks. My hands are shaking so hard. I feel sick.

"Hey," Chase says, taking ahold of my hand. I feel little shivers go up and down my arm at the contact. "Don't worry about it, okay? We're all going to be fine. "

I look at the young Mage with a critical expression. "We don't know that, do we?"

"Three!" Garret calls.

Chase looks down right into my green eyes and says, "but I do know that. Samuel won't kill us pointlessly. And didn't you say it yourself? Everyone has to believe in something."

"Two!"

I look into his face for a second, memorizing the shape. I have nothing to add, so I just say, "I believe in you."

"One!" Garret calls, and all at once we jump into the abyss, Chase's hand still clutched in my own.

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

At first all I can think about is the fall. The all-consuming panic blocks out all other emotions as I drop farther and farther into the canyon. At first there was light, so we could see where we were going, but then it faded into blackness the farther we fell. Now we tumble through the dark with no sense of time, direction, or even speed, to be honest. After a while I can't tell the difference between falling or just floating, besides the dropping sensation in my stomach. My hand was ripped from Chase's right in the beginning, and all I don't even register the others. They could have refused to jump for all I know. I think I hear screaming, but my own voice is too loud to know for certain.

It takes almost a full minute for me to see the glow of light far below me. There's something there, really far below. And some kind of illumination, I suppose. It's the end. The floor. The ground. And we're going to hit it.

Every motivational thought flys from my mind and all I can do is scream. There's nothing I can do, nothing to stop myself, nothing to stay alive. But then the stone is right there, lit by some supernatural source, and I can see the rock so clearly as I speed towards it at breakneck pace. We're going to hit it, we're going to.

I squeeze my eyes shut, preparing for the final impact to kill me. . . But it never does. I don't feel the stone beneath me. I don't feel my bones cracking and breaking. I don't feel anything at all. In fact, I'm not touching anything at all. But I'm not falling anymore.

I carefully crack my eyes open to see the floor just inches from my face, so close I can make out the irregularities and imperfections in it. My body is perfectly suspended above the ground, making no contact with it. As soon as I realize this, whatever the force that held me up was, it lets me go and I slam into the floor with a smack and a groan. The adrenaline is still pumping through my blood and I feel the fight or flight response kick in. I blink back tears of relief and joy at the fact that we're still alive and breathing. I thought for sure. . .

"Uh, my shoulder," Kara complains from beside me, sitting up. "You were right, Haven. Good call. I thought fm for sure that we were all going to die!" She laughs lightly. "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

Then the older girl hops to her feet and runs over to Matthew and her parents. Wow. Kara must be severely bi-polar. No one can change moods that fast. She just said that she thought we were all going to die, for heavens sake! It's not normal. But that's just Kara I guess.

Shaking my head, I peel myself off of the floor and look around to find my father. He's just a few feet away, sitting up with a pained expression.

"Dad!" I call. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good, you?" He asks, rotating his shoulder to check for injury.

"Yeah, that was. . . Terrifying. Let's never do anything like that again."

I stare around the cave, which is only about the size of a school gymnasium. The walls are smooth and unblemished as far as I can tell, and the light doesn't seem to come from a source. It's as if the light is in the air. Because of this, nothing has a shadow, which really messes with my depth perception.

"Haven?" Chase asks. I am about to turn to him when something jerks me backwards, pulling me through the air until my back slams into the wall. For a second I can't breath and all I do it's gasp and choke and gag as I try to inhale. I look around the room to see the others all in similar situations pinned and evenly spread out amongst three of the four walls. The last is empty of people, which I find suspicious.

I struggle against the force trapping me, but it's like there are hands holding down my shoulders. It's impossible to move more than an inch in any direction. My feet aren't even touching the floor. I know that this must be a part of the challenge, but I feel the familiar onset of claustrophobia and try to breath deeply to avoid panic.

"Choosssssss a champioooooon!!!!!" A slithery voice calls out into the cavern. However, much like the light, I cannot tell where it's coming from. "Sssssay their name and facccccce the challenggggggeeeee!!!!! If you succeeeeeed you will gain back your powerssssssss!!!!!"

"What is he talking about?" Chase wonders from somewhere on the wall opposite of the empty one.

Suddenly the blank wall starts to move up into the ceiling, sliding against the other rock with out making a sound. It's eerie. I watch in apprehension as it rises, staring at the growing crack between the floor and the moving wall. There, on the floor, is an absolutely massive pair of boots made of stone. As the door rises I see that they are attached to an equally massive set of ankles, which are connected to legs of the same proportion. My throat grows dry and I attempt to swallow as the full statue comes into view. It's masculine, stocky, well-built, bulging with muscle, and over twelve feet tall. The whole body is made of stone, as well as the clothes. A large war hammer rests against its legs, and a large array of other weapons spread out behind it. And, as we look on in horror, the mammoth statue reaches down towards the ground and takes the hammer in its palm, trying out the weight. I hear Kara let out an ear splitting scream as the monster takes a step forward.