Space. That's what Valenia had promised us. Did we get it?

No!

"What's going on here?" Dom complained.

The training grounds were vast. They had soaring bleachers of white marble all around because they doubled as a venue for festivals or concerts. Although they set the grounds up to accommodate all the Elect, Marisol and Regina had occupied most of the grounds, leaving less than five percent to my group and me. Besides that, they each had collected more people for their camps. Along with eight more Sidhe men apiece, they had no less than twelve banmuinen on each side. The women and men were both dressed for war. Instead of veils, the women wore full-face helmets that resembled the crest animal of the elite. Marisol's women wore jaguar helmets, and Regina's wore dragons. Also, they wore long chain-mail tunics over padded leggings, and each woman held a wicked-looking spear.

I glanced at Luke, who stared grimly at the gathering and the unfair division of the field. 

"Luke, why do we keep looking like schmucks compared to these chicks?"

"The High Priestess decides how we play the games, and it's clear she has her favorites," Elsie murmured. Then she folded her arms as she looked on at the other teams. They had already commenced training, and the clash of steel against steel rang out through the grounds. Besides the battle practice, they climbed walls, did gymnastic movements on shiny equipment, and hit targets with arrows. 

I got it. We weren't the favorites. Now, what could we do about it?

"Luke, do we also have armor?"

"That we have. The unfair advantage the other Elect have does not extend to our supplies."

"Princess, don't worry about what is happening here. It's not might that wins these things." Ciaran said.

I had doubts about that as I looked at the other teams' precision. They moved in complete synchronization. How did I compete with that?

"Well, let's get changed and find out if we can get more space." I sighed.

Luke led us into a back room that held our equipment.

Fortunately, our supplies hadn't been tampered with. Once we were in our gear, I felt better about how we looked, at least. We had a color, just one, and it was green. After we arrived at the ceremony last night looking like the rejects of a Power Rangers movie set in the middle ages, I decided one color was best. With the redheads on my team,  green was an excellent choice. My banmuinen and I wore helmets that were shaped like unicorns with wickedly sharp horns.  We had a rack of weapons that included swords and crossbows. I didn't see any guns. "All these lethal items and no guns?"

"The trials have archaic traditions, and guns are untraditional," Luke said.

Humph. Well. Guess that's one more stupid rule to add to the rest. No guns. It would probably be a rule the others would break, so I mentioned it.

"My Lady, some rules have a great consequence if broken. That is one of them. Swords and sorcery and that's it." Elsie said.

"Hmm... yet somehow I feel like Marisol and Regina will find a loophole. Fine. Whatever. "

"We never went over our talents. Let's see what we are working with." Luke said. He set a charm down in the center of the supply room then nodded at us. "This will make our words secret."

Dom proudly displayed his new mystical sword and shield. He was grinning with delight. "I can cook and do this!"

Ciaran, Luke, and Luis eyed me like they were detectives, and I was the prime suspect of a terrible crime. "It happened when Emerlee attacked me on the balcony. Suddenly they appeared, like Bam!" I rubbed my eyebrow out of guilt. It was hard to look any of them in the eye.

"Just how did you come by this new talent?" Luke asked.

Dominic shrugged as he smiled at me. "How would I know? I'm new at this!"

"Humans are talented in lying." Luis flipped a knife while saying this with an expression like he wanted to pin it into Dom.

I squirmed and patted Luis on the back, trusting that he wouldn't filet me. "It just happened, okay? I think it is part of the link."

That wasn't a lie, but it was close. I felt a slight burn.

"That's probably it." Ciaran looked amused. He loved this.

Luis shrugged my hand away, and I clenched it into a fist. He leaned forward until his face was close to mine. "You're supposed to be only 'bros,' Madeline."

I felt a frisson of terror travel up my spine from his expression. I never felt in danger from Luis, but his intensity made me nervous. Luis was changing too fast for me to deal with - we both were.

"Skip it, Luis. Just tell us if you have any new powers."

Luis held up his arm as he lifted a corner of his lip at me in irritation. "I can do nothing with this on me."

My heart thumped as I felt the bonds of our long friendship grow thinner. I turned from Luis to vent my frustration on someone else. "Hey, Luke, I thought you were going to take those off!"

"There is still a question of Beth."

My frustration collapsed because the matter of Beth was a big issue. The ugly truth was that I needed them both because I lacked personnel at my disposal. Nevertheless, I had to see what they would do for me to gain their freedom. It was a good thing I'd run into those guys earlier because they'd given me a great idea.

I faced them and said, "If I take off your bracelet, Beth,  I require an oath from both you and Erick. No bargains, just an oath, and your true names."

Beth pursed her lips in annoyance. "My Lady, if you get my true name, you have the power to get me to do anything, even die. I will not."

Yeah. I'd expected that from Beth.

"I will," Erick said. He stepped forward and away from Beth. "I would do anything to gain your trust again, including this. I've told you this before."

"Erick!" His name came out as a gasp from Beth.

I knew that he'd said that he'd be willing to die for me, but I hadn't believed that he'd meant it. Not really. Not until then.

"You've done the impossible and shocked me, Erick. You surprised me, and Beth didn't."

I nodded at Luke. "Guess we leave Beth's bracelet on."

Luke waved his hand over all the bracelets except Beth, and she was staring at Erick with stark misery.

Not my problem.

Erick wrote something on a piece of paper, then leaned towards me and whispered in my ear. "Let no one else see this."

He stepped back, and I opened the paper. On it was written, 'Euric Skogatt, of the American Skogatts.' Power sang from the paper and sunk into me, and I realized the name was real. It was his true name. 

I lifted my eyes from the paper and stared at him for a moment. Why go this far when I didn't love him anymore? I looked at the root between us, then I took the paper and swallowed it. Both my twisting feelings and the paper tasted bitter. 

Unwilling to guess why I linked to Erick, I turned back to Luis to get him to spill his powers. Even I didn't know all of them. As I did, Beth called out, "Wait."

I turned to her with raised brows. 

"I won't give you my name, but I'll take the oath."

I exhaled as power flowed between us once her Fae blood sealed it. She must have been foolish not to realize that she'd given me a blank check when she'd said those words without hearing what I wanted. Even though I didn't have her name, I had more power over her right now than she knew. How could she know about salt and Fae magic, but not that?

"Beth, I never bothered to ask this but, how old are you?"

Her brows lowered in confusion at my question. "Sixteen, My Lady."

So young. Beth knew some things, like about Fae magic and salt, but she didn't remember the important stuff, like not giving away your life to your enemy. I guess we had that in common because we were both young and stupid.

"Forget it. Besides, you're my banmuinen. As Elsie said, you're already under a geas to me until I release you."

As understanding reached her face, she said, "Oh, that's right... you own me. No wonder I said what I did. I hadn't wanted to, but when you asked, I wanted to give it all to you, even my name." She looked so bleak about it that I almost grew a feeling for her. Almost. 

Dominic put an arm around me. "Matt, you've already known mine and Adrian's real names forever. Not sure if that gives you power over us, but we'd always be in your corner, anyway." 

He glanced at Adrian, who nodded.

"You got that right," Adrian replied.

My heart swelled, and I wondered what my true name was. I would gladly give it to Dom if I had one.  He'd already given me so much. 

Mother had never given me a naming ceremony, so I only had my given name and not my true name.

"Come on, Luis, spill your powers."

He was annoyed when he finally told us. "I'm a shapeshifter as all Phouka are. I can change into a dog, a horse, and a rabbit. In the past, I have used my illusions to hide my pointed ears or to pass leaves for money. In horse form, I can bind a rider to me indefinitely with a sticky substance I secrete."

"Ew," Dom commented, and I smacked his arm. "Ow, Matt!" he whined, "You know I'm right." 

"It's rude, though." I worried that Luis might hurt Dom if he got angry enough. I was worrying a lot about this new Luis. My best friend was staring at Dom's arm around me like he wanted to tear it out of its socket.

I cleared my throat, "How about you, Erick?"

Erick came next. "I am a Forest Cat to the Norse, Bakeneko to the Japanese, and a Cait Sith to the Irish. I can change forms from an enormous cat to a human and back. My skills include flying, enhanced agility, and speed. I can also produce fireballs. And after our link, I discovered a new power."

He changed into me.

It was good that Dom had his arm around me already because I nearly fell backward.

"I found out I could do it late last night. I was thinking of you, then suddenly I was you." His voice was mine. 

My heart was beating as I stared at him. "Change back; it's too creepy. Don't do that unless I say it's okay."

He bowed as he changed back. "Yes, My Lady."

Adrian was gaping at him too as he stammered, "I-I am awesome at basketball, and I can play the kazoo."

"My man." I fist-bumped him to try to ease both of our shocks. 

Luke said, "I am a Sidhe with fire elemental abilities. Unlike many Sidhe, I am not gifted in illusion, but I can produce fire in many forms similar to Erick's ability, plus I am well versed in the art of combat."

"Did you get any new ones?"

He shook his head, "Not that I know of. Perhaps one will appear later."

"As a Sidhe, I can produce tiny glamours on myself, and I can make flights of short distances, and because of some Leprechaun blood in my line, I can give good luck. However, since I am a mixed-blood with human and other Fae, my family is never to become holy or royal," Elsie said with a regretful look. 

I raised my brows and wondered how a human got into Aleria. Then I realized my friends were human, and they were here. So humans must have lived here before the doorway to Earth was closed.

"I am nearly all Leprechaun, and I can impart good fortune and wealth. However, like Elsie, I possess human blood in my line, which means I am unable to be holy or royal," Jeanne said.

I shook my head and added more things to the list of what I hated about Aleria. Because these poor ladies had some ancestor get the hots for a human, they had no chance of raising their lot in life? No wonder they wanted to be my banmuinen.

I didn't bother to get information from Beth since she came from Erick's clan. With that bracelet on, she had no special powers and only had her wits and strength to use.

Ciaran laughed when it came time for him to let us know what he could do. "It would take all day, and then we wouldn't be able to practice. You've already seen a taste of my abilities, and you're lucky to have me." He batted his lashes at me and blew a kiss.

I caught myself smiling and straightened my expression. Ciaran was too dangerous to get caught up in his charm. His goal was obvious - he wanted to wrest control of Aleria from Duir, and I was a means to his purpose and nothing more.

I waved away any fantasy that his smiles were really for me. "Um... I don't want to discuss my abilities in public," I said. I didn't trust the talisman. 

"It's fine, Princess. We already know them." Ciaran said.

Luis might be right about my skills being like those of a necromancer. Plus, I could suck people's souls from them - and link people to myself—no need to mention these things.

"Although I know them, I'm sure you're capable of more. You're a plum I intend to find the center of," Ciaran purred.

"Ahem. We should probably see if we can get Valenia Stickbutt to give us more space," I said as I looked away from Ciaran's shimmering eyes. I wouldn't be taken off balance by him again.

We sought to speak to Valenia, but the nuns of the temple told us that she was too busy to talk to us. We would have to either wait until after five o'clock (and miss my opportunity to practice) or come back tomorrow (which would make our persuasion tactics moot).

After coming up against a mental brick wall all day, I realized they would not let us see the Priestess, no matter how long we waited.

"Let's just go to our little corner in the field and start training..." I gave the priestesses getting in our way a sullen look.