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Vida and I dove away fro garbage cans to the ground between us I hit the ground and rolled, trying to put out the s The burn on my palm felt like it was about to burst open with a blast of fire on its own

The air above en and forcing ain The fire in the barrel I had crashed into flooded over the edge of thethe cement toward us

The Red lifted a hand in front of hiers A burst of flaers, and he lobbed it et up, ainst the loose rubble I pushed , her ar for the Red’s center

"No!" I cried The fires fro the circle to connect in a series of bridges Vida hissed in pain as a whip of fire branched out and caught her across the shoulder blades

For an instant, I really thought Vida was going to charge straight through the lines of fire in front of her; there were only two between her and the Red, but they were there, burning, golden red, lighting her skin to a war the last few feet of distance straight into the Red’s legs He went doith an inhuman roar of protest that was only bounced back to hi above us I risked a look up

Most of the garbage cans were still burning, as were patches of the cement where the lines of fire had collapsed I stoed up off the ground, throwing Vida off hi hatred that filled the space between us I got there to catch her before her burned back could slaround My vision blanked as her head made iht back up onto her feet

I had only ever sparred against Instructor Johnson once, and the "fight" had lasted all of fifteen seconds It had been right at the beginning of , when he needed to "evaluate" my skill level I walked with a limp for teeks and had two hand-shaped bruises on

Instructor Johnson would have wilted like a daisy under this Red

Twitch was no longer twitching Hisin him had clicked Vida and I danced away froet out of the way of his fists sailing toward our faces

And I had thought the kid looked scrawny

"Coht Vida’s ar her back a few steps Twitch didn’t follow i back and forth like a panther,underfoot

It was the first tiht My body shook with exhaustion and pain Think