"No," I hiss, teleporting to a far corner of the gym. This is the third time I've teleported in such a short time. I'm not used to it, and I can feel my magic draining fast. I need to do something. My magic is not strong enough to beat him. I need to think of something else.

Quickly I spin around and make it look like I'm running for Hieronymous before I jump and teleport behind Damien and put my hands on either side of his head, trying to snap his neck. It doesn't work.

"Oh, are you serious right now?" Damien just laughs as I retry my positioning and keep going. "Seriously, stop that tickles." He flips me over his back and I fall to the floor in front of him. He puts his hand on the collar of my hoodie and lifts me up into the air as I struggle under his grasp. I feel my foot plant a kick into his side, but he seems to just swallow the force of impact.

I try to think as Damien laughs and goads, my legs squirming in the air. White magic. I need to use white magic. If he's using magic from the Otherworld, it might be my only defense. Slowly, without drawing too much attention to myself, I draw a small ball of light behind my back, feeding it energy, letting it get bigger and bigger until-

I bring it around and smash it in front of me with my mind, and it's enough to knock Damien backward. He stumbles to the ground and I sit there for a minute, panting, as he gets up again. That was it. I don't have enough magic left for an offensive cast, and he's still ready to go.

"That hurt," Damien yelled, and suddenly I go flying back into the back corner of the room. Hieronymous is on the adjacent wall about eight feet away, still desperately trying to free himself. Maybe he's sent out a message to Professor Potsdam or one of the other teachers. I can only hope he has. If he did, I need to buy time.

"Please," I huff as he teleports directly in front of me, way too close to my face. "You're not going to kill me."

"Oh no?" he asks. "And why do you think that?"

"Because if you kill me, you'd never have a chance with me," I spit. "I mean, aren't you supposed to be all in love with me or whatever?"

He tilts his head to the side, as if considering my point. "Well if that's what you think, then you'd be wrong." Suddenly I feel a sharp burning sensation as he stabs something straight through my shoulder. I want to cry out but I don't, keeping my lips firmly shut as my nerves scream. It feels like he's digging through my left shoulder, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Hieronymous struggling, frantically shouting my name.

"Do you like this?" Damien asks him. "Watching your wife suffer? Brings back painful memories, doesn't it?"

"Leave him alone," I snarl. I can't touch the stone, but I try to focus on Hieronymous' heartbeat. I can't feel it. I can only feel mine, thumping in my chest, and the searing pain in my shoulder. It feels like someone set it on fire, like my shoulder is slowly being eaten with acid from the inside out.

"Leave him alone?" Damien taunts. "No, but maybe I should rough him up a little, huh? Give him a little taste? Let him know what you're going through?" He casts something in Hieronymous' direction, and out of the corner of my eye I see his head snap back, striking painfully against the wall as he writhes in pain.

"Don't touch him," I yell frantically, but he grabs me by the root of my hair and snaps my head back against the wall too. For a minute, my vision blurs over.

"Let's play a game," Damien says, his breath hot on my face. "I'm going to gut one of you open like a fish and see what your insides look like. How do those ribs hold all those organs in there? I really want to know."

While he's talking, I manage to cast far speak over to Hieronymous. He may not be able to cast the channel but if I throw the rope, he may be able to respond. If there's a way to end this marriage literally right now so you don't have to die, let me know now. He's going to kill me, but you can still get out of this.

Tori don't be stupid. I'm not letting you die. Just keep him talking. I'm trying to contact the others just keep stalling.

"Oh, what's going on here?" Damien asks, and I reluctantly tear my eyes away from Hieronymous. "A private conversation between lovers? Can I listen in? Or are you calling for help?" I scowl at him. "Well, maybe I should make this quick then. Like I said, I'm going to cut one of you open. You can be first, or he can be first." I take a deep breath in and out. The pain in my shoulder is starting to make me dizzy. I can barely see out of the corner of my eye that my arm is covered in blood. I don't even feel it. That's probably not good.

"And since we've gotten so close this year," Damien moves in closer to me. "And I can't really trust him to open his mouth, now can I? I'm going to give you the decision. Who dies first? You or him."

I try to push him back with my mind, but it is only a weak little shove. "Magic's tapped out, princess. Maybe you should have been trying to free your boyfriend instead of trying to kill me."

Shit. I didn't think of that.

"You know, if you're going to kill me, you can at least give me back my memories first," I tell him. His face is so close to me now, his red eyes gleaming.

"Does that mean you want to die first?" Damien asks.

"Oh, please, if you think you can," I snarl at him. "But I'm not going to die so quickly. Potsdam and the other teachers will be here long before that."

"Yeah?" he asks. "Well, we'll see about that."

Suddenly I hear a pop in my stomach and my mouth drops open as I can feel the skin rip away from my abdomen. My hoodie is soaked with blood, and I can't look at it. The pain is explosive, and it feels like a rat is slowly burrowing a hole through my stomach. I try to breathe but it feels like my lungs are filling up with hot air, threatening to burst.

I glance over at Hieronymous and try to force a smile, try to show him this doesn't faze me at all, but I can feel blood pouring over my teeth. I try to see his face, but my vision is blurry now and it's difficult to breathe. It feels like I'm choking on salt water in my throat, but I quickly realize that it's my blood. My lungs are filling up with blood.

"Give me my memories back," I murmur at Damien, but I don't know if he hears me. He's saying something, taunting Hieronymous, and that's when I realize that I haven't been able to hear…anything. His lips are moving and he's laughing and he's talking but I can't hear a word of it. I want to remember. I want to remember why Hieronymous married me. Did he love me? Is that why I've been going through all these months feeling so close to him? Is this why he's been pushing me away and pulling me back to him? I want to remember…

I can feel a burning sensation in the back of my head, and I decide I want to follow it. If I'm going to die anyway, I want to at least remember what may be my happiest memory. My vision flashes and I see Damien fall to the ground as Hieronymous starts casting spells in his direction. There's a bright flash of light, and I think I see Professor Potsdam, but I'm not sure if I'm looking into a memory, or if what I'm seeing is real. I see Hieronymous in front of me, his face in mine, and I can't tell if he's talking or if he's saying anything, I just feel him there.

And then, suddenly, my vision slips away even though I don't think I've shut my eyes, and all I'm left with is darkness. I try to talk but I can feel my voice gurgling in my throat, so I try to reach out with my mind. Hieronymous, can you hear me? I think I'm about to die and that sounds so weird to say but I need you to listen to me, okay? I love you. I don't know if I've said that to you before, but just…don't question it, okay? I am so sorry this happened I don't want you to watch me die this is all my fault I am so sorry but I need you to do something for me, okay? I need you to tell me you love me because I don't remember you ever saying it to me and I don't know if you do but I just need to hear it, okay? I need to hear it because…I just need to hear it, I need…

I can feel everything slipping away from me now and the blackness recedes to a blinding white light that completely envelopes my vision. I try to move my hand to the stone to feel his heartbeat for a final time, but I can't even be sure if my hand moved. I wait, trying to will myself to feel it, any burst of sensation.

Nothing comes, and I watch lifelessly as the white light around my vision slowly fades to black.