For a while, everything at Alfea was calm. With the Trix gone they were able to complete their schoolwork and wander around the city without fear. Even Riven seemed to have mellowed out from Darcy not being around, according to Sky anyway.

The only thing that was preventing Bloom's time on Magix from being completely perfect was Brandon. If she hadn't been assured by Sky that it wasn't the case she would think that he was avoiding her. Brandon was just being so hot and cold with her.

Whenever they texted or called, he was always laughing and they had a running joke that they lived in one of the comics that he subscribed to. But once they saw each other in person he closed up immediately and it was like he was a different person. There had been a moment, while they were keeping Sky and Stella company on a date, when he had put his arm around her and she had rested her head on his shoulder. If he hadn't had to be looking out for Sky, she would have kissed him then and there, but the next time she'd seen him he'd flinched away from her. Bloom had no idea what was going on with him.

She was moping. Pining, as Vanessa would call it if her mother could see her now. Even when she'd had the strong, awkward crush on Andy she hadn't had it this bad. And the worst part was that Stella could tell.

"Why don't you call him and ask for his plus-one ticket to the exhibition?" She asked, poking Bloom in the arm with her phone. "All the boys get one, there's no harm in just asking."

No one at Alfea or even in Magix would shut up about the Red Fountain Exhibition. Apparently it happened every year and it was such a Big Deal that it attracted royalty. Stella would be watching the show from a private box with her father, and she was pampering herself accordingly. There was a mess of leave-in conditioner, face masks, and nail polish strewn all over the suite.

"I'm not sure though…" Bloom said, taking the phone anyway. Would it be horribly rude?

"Sure you are. You need to talk to him, and Sky will be surrounded by extra security so the celebrations will be an excellent place to corner him."

Bloom winced at her phrasing but turned her phone on and stared at it anyway. Stella was hovering over her shoulder, watching her, and it was distinctly off-putting. How was she supposed to have an anxiety-inducing conversation like this with an audience? Bloom gave her a pointed look.

"Fine, fine," Stella said. "I'll sod off and leave you to it. But you have to do it otherwise I'll call him for you."

Bloom watched her strut off to continue beautifying herself before she turned her full attention to her phone and Brandon's contact information. She was just making a simple call to ask for a favour. No big deal. It wasn't like she was expecting him to immediately say 'yes' but she didn't think there was a reason he would outright refuse her. It would be fine, asking to come watch and support him would not torch their friendship.

"Hello?" Brandon picked up after a few rings and Bloom blushed even though he wasn't even in the room.

"Hi," said Bloom and forced herself past being too tongue-tied to continue. "I was wondering how things are going with the exhibition."

"Oh, er," Brandon sounded like he'd rather have any other conversation that this and her heart sank. She didn't want to make things more stressful for him. "I'd say it's going well."

"I also called because I didn't know if you'd given your ticket to anyone yet, I'd love to come and support you, and I miss hanging out with you." She was talking fast to get through it before she lost her nerve. On the last word Bloom stopped to suck in more air and then breathed out a sigh of relief. She was definitely being obvious that she liked him but it kind of felt good to stop trying so hard to hide it.

"Ah." Bloom's heart sank at the single syllable. "See, I didn't realise you were interested so I kind of already invited my mum."

"Oh, yeah, of course." Why wouldn't he immediately invite a parent or two? After all, they must be very proud of him and want to see everything he'd accomplished during the time he'd been away from them. This had all been a terrible mistake. Bloom wanted to climb under the covers and not come out, ever.

"But I would have liked it if you could have been there," he offered weakly.

"I just thought I'd ask," said Bloom trying to sound cheery and not like she was completely crushed, which she absolutely was. "It's gonna be fantastic, but I'll wait to hear about it from you."

"Sure," he said, hurriedly. "Look, it's been great talking to you but I have to go now. Bye."

Bloom didn't even get a chance to reply before he hung up. He must have been eager to end the conversation. She stared dumbly at her phone as it went from call screen back to his contact. The door opened again and Stella poked her head around it with a highly optimistic smile on her face.

"He doesn't have a spare ticket," Bloom said, still looking at her phone.

"Oh damn, who did he give it to?"

"His mum."

"Well, you can't compete with a boy's mother, not until you're married anyway." Stella shrugged. Bloom wasn't entirely sure she agreed with that sentiment but wasn't going to spend any energy on it right now.

"It wasn't just that, he was really short and cold with me again." Bloom was desperately willing herself not to cry, trying to blink the tears back into her head.

"The exhibition is a big deal, he's probably just stressed. I know Sky's certainly been unable to talk to me much." Stella said gently. "Take some time, I'm gonna keep getting ready."

Bloom shouldn't be worrying about this, Stella was right that this was just a difficult time for the boys, but she had never been able to logic herself out of her anxiety before and she apparently wasn't about to start now. She just wanted to know for certain whether Brandon liked her or if he was avoiding her in the hopes that she'd get the picture and leave him alone. The best way she could think to solve her dilemma was to talk to him at one of the afterparties, when the difficult bit of the exhibition was out of the way.

She just needed a little time with him alone, long enough to gather her courage and ask him if he was interested in her. She wanted to tell him that she regretted not kissing him when she had the chance, that she cared about him a lot, and that really, she wanted to date him.

"Stella!" Bloom said and stood up, knowing that her friend wouldn't be far away. "I'm going to go to the Red Fountain exhibition." Stella's head reappeared around the door with a surprised expression on it.

"But you don't have a ticket!" It was true; that would be a problem but she'd solve it one way or another.

"I'll just have to get one or, or… break in somehow."

"Okay, now you're just sounding crazy." Stella opened the door wider and called for the others. "Tecna, Musa, Flora! I think Bloom might have a concussion."

"I don't think it's that stupid of an idea," Bloom defended, crossing her arms indignantly. "We're broken into Cloud Tower before and we made it out alive."

"We did," agreed Tecna. "But we did almost die in a fire and were found out almost immediately when we came back. Got punished for weeks after the fact too, don't you remember?"

"And Red Fountain is literally designed as a fortress, not a school, they have security that surpasses Alfea and Cloud Tower combined." Musa shook her head. "And there's royalty going to be there, they won't mess around with a slap on the wrist for getting caught, not with such high stakes. You try anything and the rangers will be on you before you know it."

"I want to go and I want to talk to Brandon." Bloom was digging her heels in and being stubborn. She didn't usually get like this, usually she was too self conscious to make a fuss over anything, but she right now knew what she wanted and she was prepared to be pig-headed about it.

Really, she knew that breaking in was impossible. An invite was needed to get anywhere close to the school during the exhibition; Musa was right, Saladin had upped security to insane levels. She had already seen the rangers about the place, acting like they were just hanging around and not watching for any suspicious activity. Their deep-hooded cloaks made them easy to spot but, Bloom wouldn't be able to recognise one of them without it.

"Just… think about it for a while, would you?" Stella sighed. "Don't do anything poorly thought out. For now, I have some maths homework I'd like to finish off while my conditioner soaks in."

Stella must really have wanted the conversation to be killed stone dead if she was suggesting to do her homework instead of talking. Reluctantly, Bloom agreed to finish off the section of problems they'd been set from the textbook and didn't say anything else, but she was still as determined as ever even if she wasn't going to discuss it out loud.

Bloom finished her work before Stella and returned to seriously thinking about what to do. Tecna had informed her a couple of days ago that a lot of it would be televised for a local Magix entertainment channel, but Bloom didn't just want to go to watch, she wanted to go to talk. She had even considered asking Timmy if his ticket was spare, but it seemed unfair to throw him into the middle of it all if things didn't go well.

Instead Bloom spent the next few days abandoning her side project on Domino in favour of researching Red Fountain. Alfea's library did contain a set of blueprints for the other school, but half of it was redacted and the rest suspiciously didn't match the layout that Bloom knew. It was pretty much useless so she returned to the suite to pour over some other resources.

Stella hovered over her as she read a passage on the physical mechanisms of defence employed by the original architects of Red Fountain.

"What?" Bloom asked defiantly.

"Look, if you're still that desperate to go, you could always just ask me." Stella said, pretending to be deeply offended.

"What do you mean?"

"I am a princess after all. I had to get down on my knees and beg, but my dad eventually agreed that I should bring a few of my friends along so that I can really enjoy the day," Stella winked.

"Wait," Musa popped up from behind her homework. "Does that mean we can all go?"

"It does, because I'm amazing. You don't have to grovel in gratitude but I will accept a light round of applause for my work." Stella struck a dramatic pose and Bloom was happy enough that indulged her friend.

"Thank you, Stella, you're amazing!" Bloom hugged her hard and Stella laughed, squeezing her back.

"They're good seats too, way better than what Brandon could have given you," she said. "It's in the royal box so you'll all need to look your best." Her tone was serious and Bloom could imagine that they were about to be subjected to a lot of beauty treatments, probably at the detriment of everything else, but she didn't care; she was going to go to the exhibition and she was going to talk to Brandon. She was going to look good for him. And if she was brave enough, she was going to kiss him.

Tecna was the most resistant to having her nails and hair done. Musa and Flora seemed pretty happy to be spoilt and Bloom was used to Stella steamrollering her aesthetic decisions, but Tecna absolutely refused to be assigned an outfit from Stella's wardrobe or order a new one from a catalogue.

"I am not a dress-up doll, Stella!" Tecna insisted.

"Well, do you even have an idea of what clothes you would wear?"

"I was just going to figure it out on the day."

"'Figure it out on the…?' How will you know if it compliments the rest of our outfits?"

"Why does it have to? We're not your goddamn backing dancers!"

Bloom tuned them out when Musa and Flora joined in the discussion. She didn't have much of an opinion on fashion and was very happy to be told what to wear by Stella, especially since whatever was picked out for her always made her feel pretty in a way her own choices just didn't and she wanted to looked gorgeous. In the end Flora was able to get Tecna to declare the outfit she would wear (from her own closet) so that Stella would be able to plan accordingly and leave everyone alone about it.

The morning before the event Stella was stressing herself out with trying to not look stressed. She would only drink water and smoothies, refusing to eat anything in case it distended her stomach for too long. Bloom was concerned for her friend but Stella had her too preoccupied doing her makeup exactly as instructed. Stella had wanted to hire someone in for it but Griselda had shot that down as it was against the rules.

They were picked up in a car rather than taking the shuttle like everyone else, and Bloom felt very out of place being driven around by a chauffeur in a limousine that had the Solarian flag flying on the bonnet. Two bodyguards rode with them too, one in the passenger seat and one sitting next to Stella.

When they arrived Solarian guards escorted them from the front gates all the way up to the royal box where Stella's father was already seated. He was dressed in spectacular robes with an ermine trimmed cape and a necklace of topaz and amber. He was alone in the box apart from one ranger in the corner, whose cloaking helping him melt into the shadows. If Bloom hadn't entered at the angle she did, she might not have even noticed he was there.

"Your daughter, Princess Stella, your royal highness," a guard announced, standing to attention. The King of Solaria stood up to greet his daughter with a delicate kiss on her cheek.

"Daddy," Stella said. "These are my friends; Bloom, Tecna, Musa, and Flora. Friends, this is my father, King Radius."

"It is good to meet you all."

Bloom followed the actions of the others by giving an awkward bow-slash-curtsey to him before they were directed to the row of seats behind Stella and her father, Bloom ended up right next to the ranger. She caught his eye by accident, able to see a little under his hood, and smiled awkwardly at him. He smiled warmly back.
There was obvious tension between the father and daughter but Stella was talking incessantly anyway, as if she was deeply afraid of any awkward silences. Flora could sense the atmosphere and was politely chipping in to keep the conversation going.

It was nice to be away from the crowds, and there was even a private concessions stand that came to deliver them refreshments, but Bloom was distracted by the box next to them. It was far enough around that she could see into it and she noticed that it was empty except for a few servants and who looked like a PA milling about. She shuffled over to the ranger and motioned that she wanted to speak, his eyes darted around as he checked that the other guards here were at attention. Satisfied, he leant down a little so he could hear her.

"Is someone going to be in that box?" She asked as politely as she could.

"I believe so, Miss, but I'm not at liberty to say who."

"Oh, sorry," she said. Bloom probably ought to have seen that coming with all the fuss that seemed to have gone into organising the box they were currently in.

"It's okay," he said gently. "You can ask me any questions you have, I might just not be able to answer you." Beneath that dark hood, his eyes were soft and kind. Bloom smiled and gave him her thanks.

Below them trumpets began to play to signal that the show was starting. The crowds cheered and banners bearing the Red Fountain insignia unfurled down the pillars of the arena. Codatorta was announcing the event, standing behind the brass band as he spoke into an enhanced loudhailer.

The opening act was a bike race. It was the only event that the first years would take part in. Red Fountain started a year before the other two schools and there seemed to be some cultural attitude about fifteen year olds versus sixteen year olds that Bloom didn't really understand. The race went smoothly apart from one wipe out on a corner.

Bloom winced at the accident, and so did the ranger.

"What happened?" She asked him.

"Hover bikes require good balance, he leant the wrong way on the corner. He's alright though, you can see," he reassured her. The accident was quickly dealt with by a pair of medics and the boy was back on his feet almost immediately with no apparent lasting harm and ready to watch the winner receive his medal.

Next up were the showcase fights and the arena was sectioned off so that pairs of specialists could duel each other. This was what Brandon had spent most of his time preparing for, and part of the stress was because he and the other second years would be fighting third and fourth years too.

The matches were refereed by a man with slicked back blonde hair and heavily tattooed arms, according to the ranger he was Samuel Haikman; Codatorta's assistant and Red Fountain's sword master. Bloom noted the respect in the rangers voice when he spoke about this man.

Haikman moved down the line, bringing his arm down in a sweeping motion to start each duel one at a time. The bright colours of the weapons made for a spectacular show that was easy to follow despite the distance between the box and the arena floor. In the first set, Bloom couldn't see Brandon or Sky, but Riven's purple hair was hard to miss and so were his sharp, precise movements. As much of a jerk as he was, Bloom had to admit he was one of the best to watch considering how skilled he was and how easily he could switch between weapons.

Riven won every single one of his fights. Outright against third years Bishop and Davos, but was awarded the win when he fought a dark-skinned fourth year named Miles to the time limit. Miles was the only one who didn't just bow after the match but went to shake hands too. Riven didn't look happy about it, but he never looked happy about anything, and he didn't reject the other boy either. He only showed actual anger when Miles blew him a kiss and skipped away.

The next group contained Brandon and Sky. Neither of their records in the duels were as good as Riven, but both won two out of three. In their duel Sky lost to Brandon at the time limit. Bloom didn't pay much attention to any of the others that were fighting, and just admired how well Brandon could fight. One thing struck her as odd though.

"Why aren't members of the same squad fighting in the same round?" She asked her ranger friend.

"They do."

"But…" She gestured towards Sky and Brandon as they bowed to their partners.

"Ah. Yes," the ranger nodded. "Timmy isn't taking part in the showcase fights. And Riven doesn't always play nice with others so we decided to separate them."

Bloom nodded and didn't say anything else. She was aware that Musa could hear her conversation and she didn't want to spend anymore time on Riven in front of her friend.

There was a break after the second round of duels to rake the sand before the dragons were brought out and Bloom noticed that it was at this point that the occupants of the box next to them arrived.

It was clear that they weren't just any old VIPs either. The man was dressed in fine silks and furs, and unlike Radius, he had decided to wear his crown on his coiffured dark head, as well as a huge number of jewelled gold rings. His wife was in a floor-length gown, with a delicate tiara in her auburn hair. She walked behind him subserviently, boxed in by armed guards in blue and yellow livery. Behind her was a younger man, with the same dark hair as the King and a handsome face. He was in armour too although it was different to the guards, red tinted and a lot spikier, with a similar style of bascinet helmet under his arm.

"Oh wow," Musa said, joining Bloom in staring at their neighbours. "That's the royal family of Eraklyon - Sky's family. I think the paladin is his cousin, Thoren."

"You are correct," the ranger nodded. "King Erendor, Queen Samara, and Prince Thoren."

"Cool…" They had to be a big part of the reason that security was so high. She didn't know very much about the threat against the Eraklyon Crown, past the name 'Yoshinoya'. Just that it was very real.

Perhaps it was Brighid in her head, but she didn't think that they looked like kind or happy people, with the exception of maybe Thoren. Erendor had a frown permanently etched on his face and Samara jumped at even the smallest noise. Bloom also noticed her ask for permission from her husband to eat the snacks offered to her. He refused and she waved the concession man away as she sat down.

When she imagined a future with Brandon, playfully running through made up scenarios in her head, she always cut out the royal family. She had nothing against Sky, of course, it was just that whenever he showed up in her daydreams his parents were nowhere to be seen. Brandon wouldn't be his bodyguard forever, surely.

A few moments after the three royals were seated, Sky and the rest of his squad walked out onto the arena sand. The crowd clapped politely while Bloom and the others in her box all whooped, Stella hollering the loudest and earning the ire of the guards in the box next to them. Bloom didn't think this was necessarily the best way to impress her boyfriend's parents but she also wasn't going to say anything.

Haikman was the one to bring the dragons out of their pen beneath the arena and four of the giant lizards slunk out, one for each of the guys. Bloom was distracted from their circling of Brandon and the other specialists by the noises of clicking heels from the other box as another woman was brought up by guards to sit behind the couple, next to Sky's cousin.

She was a platinum blonde with full lips and thick lashes, wrapped in a form-fitting red dress with a daring neckline and a fur wrap covering her shoulders. She angrily admonished one of her escorts for stepping on the edge of her train, her voice carrying to Bloom as she continued berating him as she sat down, inspecting her hem. After a moment or two of huffing and tutting she quieted down and turned her attention to the show going on in front of them.

Bloom gave the ranger a quizzical look but he shrugged, it looked like he didn't know who she was either.

The guys were showing off their ability to maintain control over their dragons, instructing them to parade in a circle around them before commanding them to take flight. Dragon dressage? Each specialist was in charge of one dragon so part of the test was how well they could work with each other, and it looked like Riven was out of sync. Bloom winced as his dragon got too close to the one ahead and snapped angrily at its feet. This show of skill wasn't going as well as it should, and the King and Queen of Eraklyon were grumbling about their son's performance.

Out of all of them, Riven's dragon was behaving the worst. It wouldn't walk in time, it took off too early and it didn't stay within the bounds of the arena either. Several times it made aggressive motions to the other reptiles too.

"What's happening?" Bloom asked her new friend who sighed and shook his head, but before he could reply, Musa answered for him.

"Dragons like these work off a bond with their trainer. If Riven's irritated or stressed it will sense it and react accordingly." Musa was watching intently as his dragon made another misstep in the show.

Riven managed to keep his dragon under control well enough that Codatorta wasn't getting involved, just watching him closely. Bloom felt sorry for him. Maybe it was because she was sitting next to Musa, who was watching him mournfully, but she didn't get any joy from his mistakes. Ultimately, she wanted him to make up with the rest of his squad and calm down a bit. He didn't have to be so angry all the time, from what she'd heard from Brandon it was Riven's own attitude that was getting in the way of their friendship.

It was getting a bit too uncomfortable to watch and Bloom excused herself to go find a bathroom to hide from her secondhand embarrassment. She knew that the show with the guys was almost over but she could do with a break and to cool off her hands. The ranger told her to be careful and she nodded. One of the guards in the hallway behind the boxes told her there were signs posted by the stairs for the nearest WC and she set off in search of one.

Red Fountain was a boys' school so it was a walk to find the nearest female or gender neutral bathroom. She awkwardly pushed through the door, conscious that there was school security watching her from down the corridor, and went to run her hands under the cool water. Bloom took a deep breath.

There was anxiety about finally talking to Brandon and expressing her feelings. Despite how determined she had been earlier, she was starting to waiver and, even though it sounded stupid, seeing someone else struggle was managing to undermine her own confidence. She counted her inhales and exhales to slow her breathing and relax her heart rate. Four in, eight out, it took several minutes before her shoulders stopped being so tense.

She was almost calm again when she heard the voice of the woman in the red dress just outside. She was talking angrily to someone as she marched towards the bathroom. Bloom bolted into one of the stalls, her pulse racing as she sat on the toilet lid and yanked her feet up so that they couldn't be seen from the outside of the cubicle. She didn't want an audience while she tried to relax and Bloom was certain that it would be impossible to stay calm with this girl around.

The door burst open and the woman stormed in. She was still yelling at the guard who had escorted her for some infraction or other and, once the door swung closed, she then started sighing and moaning complaints to herself as she hiked up her skirts. Bloom took this opportunity to flee, she rinse her hands again quickly and exited the bathroom. She nodded to the long-suffering Eraklyon guard waiting outside and started walking back to her friends.

Red Fountain's architecture was such that multiple corridors spiralled up to the same top section at the top of the stadium, according to her research it was helpful if an enemy got inside.

It was due to this that as Bloom walked she could hear Brandon and Sky coming up the sister corridor next to her. There was still a few meters of panelling between them so she stopped and waited to keep pace with them, steeling herself so that she could take this opportunity to talk to Brandon. It wasn't ideal - she would prefer that Sky wasn't there - but if she left it until after the whole exhibition like she planned, she thought that she might chicken out completely.

Ahead of her, the boys emerged and Bloom hurried towards them, calling Brandon's name. They didn't seem to hear her so she ran the short distance to close the gap and caught hold of his cape.

"Brandon?" She said and reached out to touch his arm by the elbow. "Hey I wanted…"

"Don't touch him!" There was a flash of light that burnt Bloom's retinas. What was going on?

By the time she had cleared her vision, the woman in the red dress was in her fairy form and she had grabbed onto Bloom. Her long nails were buried into Bloom's arm and she yelped in pain. She looked towards Brandon in confusion, pleading with just her eyes.

Both boys looked horrified, but didn't move. Bloom tried to pull away from the woman's grip.

"Stay away from my fiancé!"

It felt like a shock from an electrical outlet as the woman's power shot through her body and she fell to the ground. Crystals were starting to form in a ring around her bicep where she had been grabbed and it was excruciating as they buried themselves into her flesh. There was the sound of someone running and Bloom saw her ranger friend rapidly coming towards them.

"Diaspro, please! " Brandon sounded panicked, but Bloom didn't wait for him to say anything else.

"'Fiancé'?" Was all she managed to say in her surprise. Bloom struggled to get to her feet with the pain from the crystals. The woman in red fastened herself to Brandon's upper arm.

"Yes. My fiancé - Prince Sky of Eraklyon, son of King Erendor and Queen Samara, heir to the throne of Eraklyon and someone that you are undeserving to touch!" Diaspro was cuddling onto her declared fiancé and glaring imperiously at Bloom. Confused, Bloom looked to Brandon and Sky as Brandon was misnamed. Neither of them reacted. Behind the pair Sky was backing away uncomfortably.

"Brandon," Bloom said helplessly, clutching her arm as the crystals began to spread. "What's going on?"

"Yes," the ranger said, reaching her side. "What is going on?"

"Benson," Sky said, sounding relieved that he was here. "I…

"Brandon?" Diaspro snorted, ignoring the ranger and the boy behind her. "You can have Brandon." She waved her hand dismissively in the direction of the boy behind her. "But you don't dare ever look at my prince again!"

"Diaspro! Stop it!" Brandon attempted to disentangle his arm from her. "Nothing has been decided yet. We're not engaged. Bloom, you're not supposed to be here..."

Bloom's heart stopped. What? There was no way that this woman was right about this and she wasn't. But neither of the guys were correcting her. How could it be that they'd been living under the wrong names all this time?

Yoshinoya.

He had to be the reason. Sky and his squire had switched places and they'd been acting as each other this whole time. Bloom hadn't suspected a thing. Here she was trying to confess her feelings to a guy that she really knew nothing about. She was an absolute idiot. Of course he wouldn't actually be interested in her; he was a prince and she was a nobody. Diaspro was right.

The ranger, Benson, went to Bloom, propping her up and looking at the wound caused by the crystals. Despite Diaspro having let go of her, the gems were still spreading and Bloom was bleeding.

"Then why did you tell your mother you wanted to meet with me?" She demanded, arms folded until all of a sudden her face shifted with realisation."Oh! I get it, this is a girl you've been fooling around with. It's okay, I don't mind, but only until after the wedding. I know men like to have hussies to practice on." Diaspro hissed the insult out at Bloom as she yanked her prince away, dragging him back in the direction of their royal box. His fiancé was glaring at her, spitting her venomous words back at Bloom over her shoulder.

Benson yanked Bloom back but it was too late.

The fire in her chest roared into life. There were too many things happening at once here and she couldn't take it. Brandon wasn't who he said he was, Sky wasn't who he said he was, she was slowly losing her arm to magical burrowing gemstones, a ranger was trying to move her away roughly, and some woman she'd never met before was claiming to be engaged to the boy she like and was calling her a whore. Heat and rage flooded her body and Bloom drew her hand back.

She slapped Diaspro right across the face with such force that her head was smacked to the side and she fell backwards against her 'fiancé'. The sound of the impact rang out against the defining silence that followed.

Bloom had one moment of vindictive triumph before she was on the ground with two guards holding her down. She could hear Benson swearing as he tried to argue with them to no avail.

Diaspro was screaming, guards were shouting, she was pretty sure she could hear Stella's voice, and then something hot and painful was pressed into the back of her neck and she blacked out.