A giant death-maze may have been a little extreme for an entrance exam, but as a student trying to get into the school, I didn't have the option to back down. It was one thing to sign a consent form saying that I understand injury is almost guaranteed in the hero course, but it was another thing to willingly step into the afore-mentioned death-maze. Luckily, it seemed I wasn't alone in my internal dilemma. Several other students carried nervous expressions across their faces as we all walked in a large group, and I could already see a small portion of the yellow shirts from the orientation earlier were missing. The nerves either got to them or their parents, and as such dropped out to one of the other courses in the school. That gave at least a little bit of security, giving us all the knowledge that the other courses will happily accept us is we aren't suited for the hero course.

However, I wasn't interested in dropping out.

"What's wrong, ding-dong?"

I snapped out of my trance and glanced over to Travis who casually draped his arm over my shoulder like we had been friends for years. Unfortunately, it didn't take my extreme sense of smell to catch a whiff of sweat building from under the leather jacket. I gently shrugged his hand off and turned with a gaze of comedic disapproval.

"Absolutely nothing, until you went and started smearing your sweat on my neck."

"Eh, something tells me that we will all be soaked in sweat after this. Are you seeing the size of that thing?"

I followed his gaze to the massive square building our group was headed towards, and had to do a double-take. We could see it from the main school building, but as we walked closer it only seemed to get larger and larger on the horizon. Using the football-field sized stadium also on school grounds, I could only assume that the apparent maze was at least 1500 feet on each side, with the giant concrete walls reaching roughly fifty feet in height, the sheer scale of our impending challenge sent shivers down my spine.

"Yeah. I think now might be the time to take off that jacket before it actually kills you."

"We'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Your button's undone."

"What?"

"You know, the one above your tail to help keep your shorts on."

I began reaching backwards self-consciously but Travis swooped around and began attempting to do the button.

"Here, I got it."

"Woah, woah. Hey!"

I shoved his hands away and pivoted around to face him with a scowl as he raised his hands in surrender.

"What? I was just trying to help!"

"And probably cop a feel while you were at it."

I reached behind to do the button myself, and took only a few seconds before securing it back into place.

"At least take me out to dinner first if you are going to feel me up."

Travis smirked with a small chuckle, catching me slightly off guard.

"Although that option is appealing, I will save us both our time and say that I am not interested in you that way. Just friends is all I want from you."

My left ear drooped in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Don't get me wrong, you are cute as hell. Your ass alone almost turned me straight when I saw it in the restaurant."

"Oh… Ohhh. Thanks for the compliment, I think."

Travis leaned down a couple inches until his face was level with mine and gently patted the top of my head, in between my large ears. Strangely enough, it actually felt pretty good.

"It was definitely a compliment, my dear. Just because I go for hotdogs instead of tacos doesn't mean I can't appreciate a masterpiece."

"Well." I started as I pulled his hand out of my hair. "You are certainly… 'open' about yourself."

"I like to make sure people understand all of my intentions. I had a friend back in middle school, and I guess I forgot to tell her that I was into dudes. Turns out she had a crush on me for all three years, so when she told me she liked me it was super awkward. I would hope to not recreate that incident again."

"Huh. Does this mean you and Zeke are-"

"Oh god no!" Travis recoiled, and I caught the faintest hint of a blush across his cheeks. "I mean, he's my brother."

The blush spread to my own cheeks. "Oh wow, I'm sorry."

"Eh, don't worry about it. A lot of people get that mixed up."

"I could guess. You two look nothing alike."

"Well, that would be because we aren't directly related. You see, my parents adopted Zeke when he was young, so we are brothers, just not through blood."

Travis paused and stared over my shoulder, causing me to turn around and come face-to-face with the tall form of Zeke. I heard Travis clear his throat as Zeke gave a nasty glare.

"Sorry. Anyway… do we want to stick with the group for this test? I hear a few other people are planning on breaking off on their own or making smaller groups."

Zeke softened his gaze slightly. "I wouldn't mind sticking with the larger group, but we would probably be faster going on our own."

I tilted my head to crack my neck and smiled. "Well, that's just the thing. The only groups are going to be whoever can find each other in the maze. We are starting in separate locations and have to make our way through individually."

Travis looked perplexed. "And how do you know this? Did you hear it with your big-ass bunny ears?"

"Actually yeah. To be honest, anyone who was actually paying attention to the guide leading us to the maze would have heard her say that. Instead, you two were just bickering the entire way. Also, have you two not noticed the people being dropped off at their various entrances?"

I pointed behind Zeke to several of the other students standing at various holes in the wall of the massive maze, standing roughly fifty feet apart from each other.

"Oh. Well that changes things."

After a few more minutes of walking, I was eventually called over by the guide to take up position in front of a hole into the maze. Above the entrance, I saw that my name had been chiselled into the concrete, written in what looked like Comic Sans writing.

Way to make a good first impression. I ended up standing there for several minutes, so it was rather surprising when I heard the tornado-siren like bell begin the trial. Instantly, I took off running at a light jogging pace on the sandstone-like floor and decided to follow the left wall. Occasionally, I glanced up to the corners of the maze, and found that almost every square inch was being monitored by security cameras. Left turn, camera. Another left, followed by a right, another camera. Dead end, camera. I understood that the cameras were there to monitor our progress, determine our points, and help to finalize our score, but some part of me couldn't help but think they were there to make sure we didn't get hurt too badly. Speaking of getting hurt, I was also fairly concerned that I hadn't run into anything yet. Almost five minutes of light sprinting, there were no enemies, traps, or even other students to be seen. Biting my tongue, I decided to keep following the left wall having figured that was the guaranteed way to get to the center eventually.

I turned the corner to see another dead end, and silently swore as I began pivoting in place. Suddenly, the silent air filled with mechanical grinding as the fifty-foot tall concrete panels began to shift and slide along the floor, with apparently zero regard for whatever was in it's way. I broke into a full sprint back into the direction of the dead end to avoid being crushed be the rotating walls, only to find that another path opened up.

"Shit."

If the walls started moving, then following any specific strategy would be both impossible and pointless. Smart move by whoever created this. I continued in a light jog down various pathways once more, but this time I mentally flipped a coin at every intersection. My ears twitched slightly at a hint of rumbling, and I managed to hit the brakes on my forward momentum just before the wall beside me exploded.

A cloud of dust filled the path as I coughed, and I managed to catch a glimpse of a large shadow lumbering towards me, causing me to smile.

"Zeke! You are the first thing I've seen in-"

My words were cut short as the figure strolled out of the smoke, and very clearly was not Zeke. Last time I checked, Zeke wasn't a six-and-a-half foot tall wooden golem with rocky armor plates on different parts of it's body. I barely managed to understand that thiswas one of the enemies in the maze before it swung a huge stone fist towards me.

Luckily, I was much, much faster than this thing. It almost seemed to move in slow motion as I dropped to the floor to dodge the strike, and launched backwards several feet as the powerful muscles in my legs tightened and released. Unfortunately the monster kept walking forward, not leaving me many options as I continued to back up right into a wall. Considering my few options, I was interrupted by another massive punch that I barely managed to lean away from, and I watched as the giant fist plunged itself through the concrete wall with a terrible crunch. There was zero question about it; one hit and I was done.

Deciding to cut my losses, I ducked under its other arm as it struggled to free its arm from the hole and sprinted down the path. Considering I came across this thing, it must mean that I was getting closer to the center. They would have these 'guardians' protecting the center, not aimlessly strolling around.

At least, that is what I told myself as I jumped through the giant impromptu doorway the thing left behind. I heard another horrid crumbling sound from behind me as it ripped it's hand from the wall, but luckily it's steps became fainter as I made some distance. The only thing I could hope for was not to run into a dead end, or another one of those golems.

Unfortunately, it was about thirty seconds of sprinting until I came across both.

After being forced to turn a corner from the walls shifting once more, I immediately saw a second massive golem lumbering towards a dead end away from me. I was about to run past down another intersection, but a light whimpering tore my attention back to the golem. Glancing under it's huge torso, I could see a small light-colored dog limping away from it as fast as it could, straight into a corner. It clawed at the concrete wall of the dead end, angrily barking at the hulking monster. I did the only thing I could think of in the moment.

"Hey dumbass!"

The golem stopped for a moment, pivoted in place, and began a light run towards me without skipping a beat. My heart crept up into my chest, especially when I heard the first golem's footsteps rapidly appear from behind me. I pushed my fear down as I waited for both to get closer, waiting for the one in front of me to punch. Like clockwork, it was the right arm that rose to swing. I kept a mental note as I dove under the left arm and pivoted before driving both legs into its back with all the force I could muster. With a resounding 'crack', the stone plating covering the wooden frame split into three pieces as it stumbled forward into the other golem. Not only that, the haymaker that missed me then plunged through the chest of the first golem, completely destroying the torso as it's arms and legs fell limp.

I wasted no time, however. I pushed myself up from the floor and leapt towards the wall beside the damaged-but-starting-to-stand golem. Using the concrete as a launchpad and tensing the muscles in my legs like tightly wound springs, I shot off from the wall as I delivered a brutal roundhouse kick to the golem's wooden head. With a shower of splinters and a shock of agonizing pain, the golem's headless body fell lifeless on top of the other as I stumbled to my knees to catch my breath.

After a few tense moments of silence, I slowly worked my right ankle in small circles until the pain receded enough to stand. I did just kick the equivalent of a small tree trunk, after all. I slightly limped over towards the corgi that sat in the corner of the dead end, cooing slightly to try and calm it.

"It's okay, it's okay. I've got you."

There was no collar to be seen, but the stubby-legged corgi was obviously trained as it almost leapt into my arms. I stood from my crouched position with the dog held in both arms, tested my sore ankle with some weight, and looked back towards the two limp heaps of rock and wood.

"Did you get lost in here, boy? Poor baby. Don't worry, I'll get you out of here. Let's go."

Breaking off into yet another light jog, albeit a slightly painful one, I continued down various paths that were far from empty. Apparently things got much more dangerous the closer to the center that people got, because I saw several more golems lumbering around, along with a few that lied still and destroyed on the ground. Not only that, I saw sections of the wall that were collapsed, sections of the floor that had crumbled away like pitfalls, and even several empty snares hanging from various corners. It looked like several people had already been through here, and apparently activated most, if not all, of the traps.

As I ran, I ducked and dashed past several more golems, even managing to dropkick one into an open pitfall trap before continuing on. Judging by the lack of sound after it fell, I could only assume that the damage was sufficient enough to take it out of the action. At one turn, I had to press the brakes as not one, not two, but three large golems stood grouped up at an intersection. I started looking for another way around, but they immediately broke into a sprint towards me. Just as I was about to pivot and run, I saw one of their featureless wooden heads look down another path before it exploded in a shower of wooden shrapnel.

I was expecting one or both of the golems to turn around and try to find whoever destroyed their friend, but because of my terrible luck, they kept sprinting towards me. I noticed a sandy-haired boy emerge from the intersection and pick through the remains of the destroyed golem before standing and throwing something in my direction. I barely had a chance to blink as the fist-sized stone seemed to accelerate in midair to blinding speeds, launching at the speed of a cannon and blowing a hole straight through the chest of the second golem as it fell to the ground.

By this time, the third golem had reached the end of the long path and swung a mighty fist towards me with surprising speed. While the others I faced earlier were slower than a drunk snail, it seemed like the golems were beginning to speed up. I hoped that meant I was close to the center as I ducked the blow and sidestepped to make distance. Before it even had a chance to turn around, I felt an immense rush of air inches beside my head as another chunk of rock blasted one of the golem's arms off. It staggered backwards, and I turned in time to see the boy throw one final stone that once again flew by in a blur, straight through the now armless golem's neck.

I began limping slightly towards the boy, still holding the corgi in my arms, and began to say thanks as he cut me off with a scowl.

"Don't get in my fucking way again, or I won't shoot around you next time."

He shoulder-shoved past me before picking through the remains of both dead golems. One of my ears drooped as I tilted my head.

"Dude, I think the center is this way."

His only reply came in the form of an extended middle finger without even bothering to turn around. I blinked twice and sighed before pivoting to continue down the path, leaving Mr. Anger Issues to pick through the rubble. Once again breaking into a light sprint towards the presumed center, I quickly realized what the guy was doing after seeing over a dozen of the golem corpses with similar holes in various sections of their bodies. He wasn't trying to get to the center.

He was hunting these things.

I couldn't really care much, however. I was sweating, sore, and exhausted as I continued my labored jog down the various pathways and backtracking through dead ends. If anything, having airhead back there hunting the golems made it easier for us all, because I didn't find a single golem that wasn't destroyed in any of the paths. I paused for a moment as a near-silent sound began creeping through the air. The sound of talking.

I crept along the walls, slowly making my way down halls and tunnels to get closer to the voices when I realized just how many there were. I could hear several different conversations happening, and even pick up the faint scent of sweat and soda from this distance. One thought clicked into my mind as all these points matched together.

The center.

With renewed spirits and vigor, I broke into my light jog one final time and slowly got closer to the sounds until I finally found one giant arch leading into a grassy field surrounded by the concrete walls. Each of the four massive walls had it's own separate arch, along with canopies and booths set up throughout the large field. A 'ding' sound came from my left and I looked over to see the familiar Mrs. Quiet sitting in a lawn chair with an umbrella and a stack of full water bottles.

"Seventeen minutes and thirteen seconds. Well done, Miss Hughes. You are the fifth person to arrive. The first ten people to arrive gain a bonus to their score. Because you arrived fifth, that means you get thirty bonus points! And you found Spindle!"

She stood up and began scratching at the corgi's head as it happily panted and barked.

"You know this dog? I found him in the maze, hurt and scared!"

Mrs. Quiet smiled as she took Spindle from my arms and gently set him down on the grass. Instead of Spindle limping painfully like he was earlier in the maze, it seemed like he was as healthy as ever, jumping up and down and circling us both.

"He is trained, my dear. We add an acting dog into the maze every year to serve as an off-the-rules decision. If we mentioned that there was a dog, people would actively try and find it in hopes for the extra points. When it is unexpected, it counts as a reality check for the students. Do they risk a lower score by trying to take it back with them, or do they leave it behind so it doesn't slow them down?"

Spindle nuzzled up to my leg, and I cautiously leaned down to scratch behind his ears. Mrs. Quiet grabbed one of the water bottles off of the pile and extended it outwards, which I graciously accepted. Feeling the cool liquid flow down my parched throat was outstandingly refreshing, even more so than Mrs. Quiet offering her lawn chair. As I gingerly sat down, the adrenaline rush of the maze was gradually fading. In its wake, the pain in my ankle increased to a dull throbbing. Mrs. Quiet motioned over to a tablet with several smaller screens on it showing the footage of several cameras.

"Obviously we need to monitor the situation, hence the cameras. This allows us to see everything that happens and track the score accordingly. I saw that kick you did against that golem and I must say, that was impressive."

I let out a pained chuckle. "Thanks. I won't say it didn't hurt though."

Mrs. Quiet tilted her head in what looked like admiration and gave a nod as she knelt in front of me and began removing my right shoe without even acknowledging me.

"I would have fully expected it to. You were limping the rest of the maze, but you were still running. Even sitting down would have hurt for a little bit, but that would have ultimately helped the injury. I can tell that it wasn't sprained or twisted from the initial kick, but the fact that you kept running, and even kicked another golem shortly after? I must say, your pain tolerance must be absurd."

I winced slightly as she slowly rotated my ankle with light touches, examining it with uncomfortable intensity. I briefly remembered back to the auditorium when Mrs. Brone said that she was a nurse and relaxed slightly, but only slightly.

"Well, adrenaline and all that helps. Is it bad?"

"It isn't great, but I recommend sitting down for a while with some ice. You have a bit of bruising on your heel from the initial kick, and the extended pressure from running the rest of the maze caused a hint of swelling. Try to keep pressure off of it, but keep it moving every once in a while. Little circles, and repeated application of ice."

I tilted my head slightly. "You certainly seem like you've done this before."

She chuckled. "Being a nurse at a hero school for twelve years gets you plenty of experience, let me tell you that. Oh? Looks like Mr. Cartosh and Mrs. Brown have arrived. Take this ice, and wait here."

I looked to where Mrs. Quiet was suddenly jogging to after handing me a bright pink ice pack and saw the familiar sight of Zeke walking through one of the four large archways, slightly smaller than before. A smile began creeping along my face until I saw that he was carrying somebody who was limp in his large arms. A rather pretty girl with short brown hair dangled in his arms, and I noticed that his own yellow shirt was missing. Instead, it was torn into long strips of fabric that were then tied around the girl's arms, preventing any skin from being revealed. I moved to get up, but a sharp stabbing in my ankle forced me back to a sitting position. I watched as Mrs. Quiet talked to Zeke for a few moments before guiding him into a small tent off to the side. She followed him, and several moments passed before he emerged with what looked to be a replacement shirt, and no girl. He scanned his eyes across the mostly empty field, eventually locking them on me with a concerned smile and jogging over.

"You look like you had fun, Maddie."

"I could say the same for you. You showed up shirtless with an unconscious girl in your arms."

I watched his cheeks flush with red. "We took a nasty spill in a pitfall trap. She hit her head pretty hard, and bingo. Lights out."

"Alright, but that doesn't explain the lack of a shirt."

His eyes rolled as he sat down on the grass in front of me and opened up his own water bottle.

"That girl's quirk happens whenever you touch her skin, so I needed to cover her arms in order to carry her without risk of her accidentally touching me."

"What's her quirk?"

Zeke sighed. "Some kind of extreme regeneration. If she touches an injury, it heals rapidly. However, if you don't have an injury, it just makes the cells grow and die rapidly, or something. She told me after I asked why she was always standing at least five feet away from me. Said there was a risk of stuff like cancer, or even just permanently destroying someone's skin if there was nothing to heal."

"Sounds nasty. So you used your shirt to wrap her up. Pretty smart."

"Well it's not like the shirt was any use to me anyway. It got torn up real quick after taking down a few of those golem things."

My eyes widened. "How many did you kill?"

"Four. It was almost five, but then that one kid showed up and chucked a rock through it like a cannonball."

I didn't even care that he mentioned Anger Issues. I carefully looked him over, noticing that there wasn't even a scratch on him.

"I could barely take down three of those things, and I had to limp through the rest of the maze holding a corgi."

As if on cue, Spindle crawled out from wherever he disappeared to and barked happily at Zeke.

"Umm, what?"

"Long story. What I mean is, how the heck did you take down four and a half of them and not get hit?"

Zeke laughed and stood up. He walked over to the concrete arch about ten feet away and pulled his arm back before releasing a powerful haymaker. I was expecting his hand to shatter on the rock, but instead it was the opposite. A relatively large chunk of jagged concrete broke free from the wall, and he calmly picked it up before walking back over to me. My jaw was already on the floor, but Zeke apparently decided to take it to the next level as he held up the piece of stone with the sharp end facing him and slammed it into the base of his neck.

Instead of blood, death and sadness, the concrete simply crumbled and shattered leaving nothing but a small hole in his brand new yellow shirt. He pulled down the collar to expose the exact spot he impacted, and the only damage was the tiniest of bruises on his collarbone.

"I burned a lot of calories, so that is the only reason it even did anything. When I am fully stocked, nothing can break my skin. At least, nothing I have tested."

I snapped my mind back to reality and grinned. "What have you tested?"

Zeke sat back down, rubbing at the bruise slightly.

"With the help of Travis, we have tested everything we could. Baseball bats break, knives bend, needles don't work, even a pistol only left the tiniest of dents."

My jaw dropped again. "You're bulletproof?!"

"As far as we can tell, mostly."

"That's awesome! I mean- hold on. How did you get a pistol?"

Zeke chuckled and took a large swig from his water bottle. "It was dads. He kept it hidden in his office desk in case of intruders. We took it and tested."

I let out a long sigh.

"You are bulletproof and have super strength, Travis apparently controls lightning, and that one kid can throw rocks like cannonballs, and I am stuck here with ears, a tail, and a screwed-up ankle."

Zeke let out another laugh and gently lifted the ice pack to look at the damage.

"What happened to it? I'm surprised you even managed to get here."

"I kicked the head off of one of the golems, dropkicked another, and then ran through the rest of the maze."

This time, it was his eyes that widened. "You managed to kick the head off of one? That is actually badass."

"Well, you know, rabbit legs tend to be pretty damn powerful. My quirk isn't just ears and a tail. I'm generally stronger than normal people, much faster, have quicker reactions, much stronger legs, heightened senses, and apparently increased metabolism, according to the doctor."

Zeke simply blinked a few times in silence for stammering out a response.

"Being bulletproof isn't seeming as cool anymore."

We sat like that for a while, waiting for the rest of the students to reach the center, talking all the while about our quirks, life, and Mr. Angry Pants McGee. Travis joined us at one point, along with Mrs. Quiet to check on my ankle, but eventually Mrs. Brone went into the center of the field with a large screen being wheeled behind her and a microphone in hand.

"Welcome Norfolk Hero Academy students! I'm so glad to see how well you all managed to complete the maze in your own unique ways! As you all may know, the entire aspect of scoring meant nothing, as simply finishing the maze secures your spot in our curriculum. However, we introduced the scoring system, because we have noticed that many students try harder when told that something is a competition. As such, there needs to be a reward, isn't that right?"

The eighty-or-so yellow-shirted students all cheered, further fueling the excitement.

"Well, we introduced a prize for the top five finishers!"

I watched as the large screen behind her lit up with five slots, and the bottom one blinked dramatically as she continued.

"In fifth place, with sixty points, this person not only gained fifty points for being the first to the center, but also gained an additional ten points for setting a new record for the school with his time of two minutes and three seconds. I welcome Jordan Haftstead!"

A heavily tanned boy with long black hair walked up as we all cheered and clapped. When he got to Mrs. Brone, he focused for a few seconds and I gasped as a pair of spectral white wings emerged from his back.

"It really wasn't anything special. I just flew over the maze to the center. I technically cheated."

Mrs. Brone chuckled. "It was not cheating, Mr. Haftstead. It is called thinking outside of the box, or the maze in this case. That is a prime quality for a hero. Because of your record-setting time, you and the individual in fourth place gain a seventy-five-dollar gift card to any store of your choosing!"

The crowd once again cheered as Mrs. Brone handed Jordan what looked to be a rainbow-colored gift card, and ushered him back to his seat on the grass.

"In fourth place, this individual finished third, giving her a hefty bonus of forty points, but also managed to destroy five golems, giving her a bonus of twenty-five points. With sixty-five points, and also receiving a seventy-five-dollar gift card, Sasha Lortanie!"

With pale skin and her soft brown hair in a pixie-cut, Sasha strolled forward with a smile and happily accepted the rainbow card. Mrs. Brone attempted to hand her the microphone, but Sasha gently shook her head and returned to her seat with her smile. Meanwhile, Mrs. Brone continued.

"Now our third place contestant is something special. For getting in third place, they are receiving a one-hundred-and-fifty-dollar gift card. This individual finished sixth, gaining twenty-five points, managed to destroy four golems, gaining an additional twenty points, and also got the hidden 'hero' score bonus. By completing an act that the moderators deem worthy of the bonus, the individual gains an additional forty points. Carrying another student to the center is definitely worthy of that reward, so welcome Zeke Cartosh with eighty-five points!"

I glanced over with a smile as Zeke stood up and walked to the center, with Travis cheering extra loud. Zeke was handed a card that looked to be made out of solid bronze, and then the microphone.

"It really was no big deal. They were actually really light, so it was only like carrying a sleeping bag."

"But alas, Mr. Cartosh! It doesn't matter how easy it was! The fact that you were willing to sacrifice your own score and ability to complete the maze shows that you are exactly the kind of person we need as a hero!"

Zeke was guided back over towards Travis and I with a dumb grin pasted across his face as Mrs. Brone continued with the scores.

"For our second place contender, this result ultimately came down to a tie between first and second. While technically both contestants would have scored the same, we teachers deemed one of them as first due to their actions in the maze compared to the other. As such, the person in second did not finish in the top ten, but they more than made up for it with a whopping nineteen golems destroyed-"

"Bullshit!"

Mrs. Brone was cut off by the sandy-haired boy I recognized as the one hunting the golems. He stood up and angrily began walking towards the principal.

"Why the hell did I get second in a tie? I kicked everyone's ass in this! The only reason anyone else finished was because I destroyed all the damn golems!"

"Mr. Trepin, although that may or may not be correct, each golem was worth five points, and you did not finish in the top ten for bonus points. As for the actions that determined you to come second in the tie, you ignored the initial objective of reaching the center to instead spend your time hunting the golems. You earned a significant ninety-five points, so I would watch your language, take your prize, and sit back down."

The crowd fell silent as the boy angrily grabbed the silver card and began walking back to his spot.

"At least tell me which one of these lowlifes cheated their way to beat me!"

Mrs. Brone ignored him and sighed as the second place name revealed itself.

"In second place, Jack Trepin."

The crowd gave an awkward clap as the principal readjusted herself and took a breath.

"Now for our first place contestant! Their general accomplishments might not seem like much, hiving finished in the top ten and destroying three golems, but much like our third place student, they too accomplished a secret objective. An hour before the test began, we set a trained dog in the center of the maze and let it wander until the test began. From that point on, it pretended like it was injured to draw out the people that were truly caring heroes."

My jaw began to drop as Zeke looked at me with wide eyes.

"Saving another student or human is obviously important to anybody, but someone willing to fail the exam as well as sustain an otherwise debilitating injury to save a simple animal from two golems is truly spectacular. After gaining fifty points for rescuing Spindle, thirty points for finishing fifth, and fifteen points for her destroyed golems, this individual ended with a similar score of ninety-five points, as well as the judge's decision for first. Receiving a two-hundred-and-fifty dollar gift card, and a month of no homework, Madilyn Hughes!"

From my spot in the chair, I wasn't focusing on Mrs. Brone. I wasn't focusing on the screen, Zeke, Travis, or even Spindle nuzzling at my leg.

The only thing I could see was the murderous gaze of Jack.