The training target broke left, and James saw the opening behind it.
Two seconds, maybe less. A skeleton stood in the right place, ten meters behind the target's blind side, exactly where he'd planted it.
He didn't warn anyone.
[GRAVE STEP ACTIVATED]
The arena folded.
James ceased to exist at the back of the formation and existed again beside the skeleton — directly in the path of Finn's axe, which was already halfway through the next swing of a combination Finn had built around where James used to be.
"JAMES—"
Finn wrenched the swing off its line with both arms. The axe missed James by a hand-width and buried itself in the reinforced floor with a bang that echoed off the arena ceiling.
James stumbled.
The world was still arriving. His inner ear insisted he was facing the wrong way. His feet stood on ground his brain hadn't accepted yet, and for one full second he swayed beside his skeleton, defenseless, exactly where a real enemy would have wanted him.
