I could already see how it would go down. The Gameskeeper was right about the draw of a dragon. I’d seen the crowds my dad could summon just by showing up. Add in the blood sport element, and you had media gold. You wouldn’t even have to advertise. The news channels would do it for you, breathlessly reporting on the gruesome spectacle and playing up the controversy for ratings. It would be the train wreck the whole world couldn’t look away from, but just like the Sword of Damocles, that enormous power cut both ways. The bigger the hype got, the more people there’d be to watch it fail. A flop of that magnitude would be a devastating blow to any business. For a god who relied on the crowd’s opinion for his power, it could be fatal.
“We have to do it,” the DFZ agreed, grabbing my hands.
“It was my plan to start, so obviously I’m in agreement,” my father said. “The most difficult element will be the new timing. If we’re going to remove White Snake fast enough to leave the Gameskeeper empty-handed, everything has to go like clockwork.” He frowned. “I’m still going to go in and find out exactly where she is tonight. That way we have as much time as possible to plan our assault.”
I stared at him in wonder. I’d been so caught up in solving the problem, I hadn’t stopped to think about how strange it was that my dad was just…helping. Anger at the Gameskeeper aside, I’d have thought he’d be all down with the idea of a fight to the death between his sister and Nik. But he seemed totally on board, crouching in the dirt with the DFZ to sketch out how far down they thought the arena went.
“Are you sure about this?” I whispered, crouching down next to him. “I know you’ve got the smoke thing, but this is still really dangerous. Even if the guards and cameras can’t see you, the Gameskeeper can. He couldn’t get you before because of our connection, but I don’t know how far that protection stretches. If he traps you, I might not be able to get you out.”
“It’s a calculated risk,” Yong agreed, brushing the dirt off his hands. “But a necessary one. Not only is it a father’s duty to fight for his children, White Snake is my only living relative. A hated one, admittedly, but that doesn’t mean her actions don’t still reflect upon me. If I allow the Gameskeeper to fight my sister in a ring like a dog, our clan’s good name will be forever stained. Especially if your human wins.”
He shuddered at the thought, but I smiled. “You think Nik can win?”
“I think people around you have a proven habit of doing the impossible,” he replied. “I’ve seen Mr. Kos fight, and though she has the natural advantage, my sister is a backstabber, not a warrior. Let’s just say Kos is the underdog I wouldn’t bet against.”
I smiled wider at the rare words of praise, and my father’s scowl deepened. “Don’t look like that. It doesn’t matter who would win. The fact that this is happening at all is a disgrace. White Snake has already shamed us enough by agreeing to participate in this monstrosity. I don’t care what it takes, this fight cannot be allowed to take place. If my sister fights a human on pay-per-view, I’ll never be able to show my face to the clans again.”
That was very my-dad reasoning, and it made me feel a lot better. Yong fighting for me was a new and untested development, but Yong fighting for his pride was a force I’d bet my life on. But just as I was starting to think we might actually be able to do this, Dr. Kowalski fought her way back to fore.
“Wait!” she cried, shooting up from the ground where the DFZ had crouched their shared body. “Before we make any more plans, there’s still one element we haven’t considered.”
I groaned. “How many elements of this stupid thing can there be?”
“When your enemy is a god? Infinite. Before we do anything to the Gameskeeper, though, we have to figure out how we’re going to handle his funnel.”
“Funnel?”
“His magic-channeling apparatus,” Dr. Kowalski clarified. “The DFZ showed me your memories of the Thaumaturgical spellwork on the arena’s maintenance hallways, and I think I’ve figured out what it does.”
“What?” I asked, too eager to be insulted that the DFZ was showing people my memories like vacation highlights. “Other than keeping me from grabbing magic, of course.”
“Actually, I think that element might be a byproduct,” she said. “Obviously, it’s impossible to know all of a spell’s functions from looking at a single portion of the spellwork, but between the functions you saw and the magical circling we observed last night, I’m ninety-nine percent certain that the whole arena is one giant circle dedicated to capturing and amplifying the crowd’s magic.”
I’d known something had been making people go more nuts than they should, but, “Is that all it does?”
“All it does?” my teacher repeated incredulously. “We’re talking about a magical amplifier on a municipal level. Haven’t you wondered how the Gameskeeper is able to generate so much power despite being such a small god? An arena’s worth of people is nothing on the spirit scale. The DFZ is a city of over nine million, and her name is common knowledge all over the world. She’s the setting of countless movies, novels, and shows. She’s the subject of songs and stories, even legends! That’s what it takes to make a god. The Gameskeeper’s arena isn’t even the biggest attraction in the DFZ. He should be a flea compared to our
