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“Hello, Princess,” I heard from behind me, and turned to find a pair of chocolate eyes staring right at me.

CHAPTER THIRTY

BRYN

Seeing Adrian made the hellscape I stood in ten times worse. His betrayal a fresh wound I hadn’t cauterized yet.

It was karma at its finest. I betrayed Leo, only to be betrayed by Adrian.

I deserved whatever I had coming to me.

I’d made it to my second trial, which was a simulation of Earth Ten. Possibly even the real Earth Ten. But it was hard to tell if I was lucid dreaming or being transported through time and space.

Seeing the dead Earth at a distance from Adrian’s portal had been one thing. But up close, it was truly horrific.

The ground was made from cooled lava, black and tar-like, with craters glowing that deep neon purple from within. And a slight mist hung in the air, with an acid that burned your skin and scorched your lungs with each breath.

I already knew my mission for this trial would be to end Adrian’s reign of terror before he could hurt any more people. To erase the man responsible for the Deks from existence.

But I was finding it hard to even look at the man standing before me.

“You seem upset, Princess,” Adrian taunted.

“Don’t call me that.”

“Don’t like that pet name? Should I try another?”

I ignored his questions.

Volcanoes rumbled and sputtered in the distance.

“What have you done, Adrian?”

His massive body swooped in, pressing against mine. His hand gripped my face. Hard. “I’ve done what needed to be done.”

His voice was menacing, like it wasn’t his own.

I didn’t recognize this Adrian.

He squeezed my face harder, my teeth groaning inside my mouth. “I suppose you’ve come to end me,” he whispered viciously, releasing me to spread his arms out wide. “So come and get me, Princess.”

I was shaking, thinking of all the ways I could incapacitate him. But I would never beat him in hand-to-hand combat. I needed a weapon.

“Come on, Bryn, my patience is wearing thin.”

What had he said to me before? When I’d been standing in the circle of stones.

I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing. That Adrian had been trying to help me.

You’ll have access to what you know. Remember what you’re good at.

I hoped this worked.

I opened my palms in front of me with a prayer to the Earth. “I need my gun.”

A flash of light surrounded me, a familiar weight settling into my hands.

I raised my handgun, aiming right at his heart.