All I could do was stand there and stare. She was here; she was actually standing before me. I lowered my bow and gulped, I almost shot the Green Lantern. She caught it of course but that wouldn’t have stopped me. If I hadn’t looked I would have kept firing and no one is that fast, not even me. Then again, she did have that freaky alien ring helping her.

Jade stood in front of me, crossing her arms but not in a threatening manner. She was taller than me, but most people were. She was a bit older too, I’d say about eighteen or so. She was prettier in person though. Her tight outfit really hugged her curves and made her by far the sexiest thing I’d ever seen. There was no way I could pull something like that off. My Perma-flex was tight but she looked like hers was painted on. I had to shy away a bit because it was a bit too tight in some places. How the hell could she move?

I finally found my voice. “You were looking for me?”

She smiled. “You’ve made quite a name for yourself in the last few months.”

Months, how much did she know?

She seemed to sense my thoughts. “First there was that thing on the cruise ship then that incident in the mall.” I nodded numbly. “You kind of disappeared a bit after that but you came out of hiding to help your friend in the forest.”

I interrupted her there. “You saw that?”

“I’ve been watching you since Florida, trying to discern if you were a threat or not.”

“What did you discover?”

“You’re smart, brave and loyal. You don’t want to get involved but somehow you can’t stand idly by when people are in trouble…those are all good qualities by the way” She smiled again; she had really nice teeth. “You’ve also been a little busy these past few days.”

I groaned. It kind of freaked me out a bit that she’d been watching me. What was so special about me anyway?

“Your fight with Daniel Brickwell was really impressive, it showed your resourcefulness.’

I nodded. “I wasn’t prepared for a Meta.”

“None of us are but it happens.”

She started talking about a couple of my smaller things too. Which brought her up to date now. The two of us were on the roof, staring one another down. I could still hear the police sirens only a few feet away and the copters were still circling. Neither of them were anywhere near us, which I was thankful for. I wasn’t ready to be on CNN, at least not on the interview end of things. I didn’t want to be one of those media mongers, trying to get my face all over the news---I think I already covered this once already.

She looked at my bow and smiled. “You skill with that is exceptional, beyond human in fact.”

“Just human” I added quickly.

She nodded. “And those arrows, did you design them or was it Miss Dearden?”

How the hell does she know these things? I didn’t like people poking into my business. I guess I was a little defensive, but you would be too if you grew up like me. Besides, I was getting kind of tired of the old man and all his spying too. I caught one of his goons lingering around my door the other day. He claimed he was just walking by when I confronted him. But I’d seen him before too, he was some kind of tail. He was there when Luke took me to the mall to get more clothes a few days ago and when we stopped for lunch; he slipped into the back of the restaurant. It bothered me that my grandfather didn’t even trust me when I was with his own people.

“You seem to know a lot about me?”

She held up her hand, clenched in a fist, so her ring was visible. “It's all thanks to this thing. No one’s secrecy is safe when the Ring is involved.”

“That’s comforting.”

She laughed. “I didn’t mean to be so invasive but I had to make sure you weren’t trying to get attention so you could spy on me later.”

“I have no reason to spy on you.”

“It's happened before.”

I understood her paranoia. I’d be a little paranoid too; there were a lot of people out there who wanted to know everything they could about these Metahumans. Just the other day there was some nut on the news going on and on about the Metas being a threat to humankind. He seemed convinced that they were somehow connected to global and domestic terrorism. He was petitioning Congress to let him great some kind of Metahuman Regulation Task-force or something. The newscaster thought he was a nut too, but she kept her cool. I was watching it with my grandfather at the time, during dinner, it was one of the only times the two of us spent together. He made a comment about the man, saying something about Bolivar Trask once being a very well respected pioneer in Robotics engineering before all this Metahuman business.

He wasn’t the only one, though. There were a lot of people out there ready to put the Metas on the chopping block, Lex Luthor being one of them.

Jade interrupted my thoughts. “I was wondering if there was somewhere else you’d like to go so we could talk more privately.”

I looked behind her. The copters were still circling but they seemed to be changing direction, coming our way. I cursed; it was only a matter of time before they noticed us. I thought about shooting out their lights but that wouldn’t really solve anything. Instead, I just nodded and pointed to where I knew Luke was parked. Jade followed me. I led her down the other side of the building and through the meandering alleyways. The news copter was the only one who followed us but we lost it when I took a couple of sharp turns. Finally, we came upon the sedan; Luke was sitting in the driver’s seat, reading the paper.
Jade put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me at the end of the alley.

‘I think this is private enough.”

“Luke’s okay, he’s on my side. He and Mia are the only ones who know.” Then I remembered my open comm. link. I tapped my throat mike. “Are you listening, Speedy?”

All I got was static.

“I jammed the transmission before I arrived. No offense but your friend would have recorded our conversation and I can’t have that.”

I nodded but it kind of ticked me off. I hated keeping things from her.

I wanted to tell her off but I was intrigued. It’s not every day that a superhero seeks you out. “So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“As I’m sure you probably know, I’ve been gathering a lot of Metahumans as of late and recruiting them to join me, sort of a joint venture if you will.”
Was she asking me to help her? “I’m not a Meta.”

Her eyes narrowed. She paused for a second, nodded her head slightly and spoke. “Are you sure about that?”

“Pretty certain.’

“I’d like to take you to my ship and run some tests to make sure. You’ve got an uncanny skill with that bow, far superior to any human. It’s likely that you have some metagenes and you don’t know about it.”

I stepped back from her. There was no way I was a Meta-anything. I was human, there was no way anyone was going to convince me otherwise. I didn’t hate the idea of being a Meta, but it scared me a bit. I was hoping that my skill was just that, a skill. It bothered me to think of it as something that came to me all of the sudden. Being human kept me grounded, kept me connected to the people I was helping. The people that needed me to help them. It was great and all, running around the world, stopping super powered freaks with laser beam eyes and things like that. But what happened to the little people, the ones that Metas didn’t bother. There were still crimes out there, normal everyday human crimes. No one was helping to stop those.

‘Why are you so interested in me?”

“I want you to join me and the others. I think you can help us make a difference. There are a lot of bad things and bad people in the world. Someone with your skill could be a real asset to my team.”

“I can’t go to your ship,” I told her honestly. “It was a nice offer but I think I have to decline on principle. One of us needs to be grounded. You guys fight freaks and monsters. You travel around the world, diverting natural disasters and stopping terrorists. Me, I’m a kid with a bow and I want it to stay that way.”

She nodded. “You’re much more than that too.”

“I can’t, the people need me here. I’m sure there a lot of people out there that want to join your group, that actually belong there but I’m not one of them.”

She nodded. “I had a feeling you were going to say that.”

She reached into her pocket, one that I didn’t even know she had and she pulled out a green ring. It wasn’t identical to hers but it was pretty close. She held it out to me and I took it reluctantly. I stared at it for a few seconds, trying to figure out what she wanted me to do with it.

“We use them for communication mostly,” she said as she began to glow. She floated into the air. “If you change your mind, put on the ring and I’ll come as soon as I can.”

When I stripped out of my uniform last night, I was bruised from head to toe. They were those huge ugly ones too. Every time I moved, they hurt. I managed to barely get the outfit off before I stumbled into the bathroom. I drew myself a nice hot bath, with lots of bubbles. It was a girly thing but I’d embraced it wholeheartedly. I’d embraced most of the feminine lately and you know what, I kind of liked it. I’m sure my mother would have been proud to hear that. I soaked in the water for hours, letting it wash away the pain. It helped a little. When I actually went to sleep, it was in only a t-shirt and underwear.
So now here I was, frantically trying to find something to wear so I wasn’t indecent. I found a pair of track pants underneath the couch and pulled them on. It was just in time too because whoever was at the door got impatient and opened it on their own. I wasn’t looking at the door; I was busy shutting the game off.

“This is how you’ve been living these past couple of months” His voice was cold and judgmental, just like always.

I turned and saw my grandfather standing in the doorway. He was eying my place with contempt. It was the first time he’d actually been here. It was actually the first time I’d seen him in a couple of weeks. He didn’t look so good. He was kind of pale and much thinner. He was leaning on his cane, Locke standing close behind him.

I wasn’t in the mood to trade barbs with him today so I’d tried to be civil. “I call it organized chaos.”

It was a mess. My clothes were all strewn about, empty Chinese takeout and pizza boxes were scattered all over the floor. There was this smell too, I’m not sure where it was from but no amount of air freshener seemed to get rid of it. Hey, I may have looked and even acted like a girl but I was still a guy in my head. I was a bit of a slob, which always used to drive my mother nuts.

My grandfather walked into the room; over to the little table I had by one of the windows. Locke followed closely behind, handing him the early edition of the Daily Planet. I caught a glimpse of the headline: GREEN ARROW STRIKES AGAIN. There was a picture of the interior of the woman’s house, both the drug dealer and her bound on the couch. Underneath it was a close up shot of one of my arrows. I smiled; it worked out just as I planned. My grandfather didn’t look at the paper; instead, he eyed me up and down.

“How have your studies been progressing?” he asked, fingering the pile of books on the table.

They were all books he assigned me to read. Most of them were schoolbooks, to catch up on my work and make sure I was ready for classes when I went back. The rest of them were books on business and law and economics. He was clearly trying to make me into something I wasn’t, which was a junior him. I read the books though, in fact I absorbed them. They were boring but they were informative. I think I knew more about business than anyone on the planet. At least that’s what it felt like.

“Things are going well,” I said, sitting in the chair across from them.

I looked at the paper again, seeing the byline underneath the article. Damn Lois Lane again. Is there a story out there that she doesn’t snag?

“And your friend, Miss Dearden, how’s she doing?”

I groaned. He really was spying on me. At first, I thought I was being a little paranoid but know I knew. I felt my anger flare a bit. I gripped the edge of the table. I wanted this to be civil but he started it. I hoped he remembered that.

“Are you keeping tabs on me?”

“We both know you know that. So don’t ask questions you already know the answers to.”

I nodded. “You don’t trust me enough to make my own decisions?”

He smirked. “It's not about trust; it’s about protecting what’s important to me.”

I was ready for a fight. “To you or the future of your company?”

He changed tack. “When I’m gone, you’ll be the last Queen, there is no one else.”

“You never asked me what I wanted.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

The old man didn’t answer, not right away. Instead, he finally looked down at the paper and sighed. He stared at the headline for quite some time, not saying anything. I watched him for a while, wondering what he was thinking. Was he going to lecture me? Was he going to tell me what I could or couldn’t do? When he finally spoke, there was more edge to his voice than before.

“Have you been enjoying your free time activities?”

What did he know? I decided to play coy. “I’m not a fan of shopping but I’ve grown to love it. There’s something exhilarating about it. Have you ever been on the hunt for the perfect sale, stalking it through the store like a hunter in search of the perfect buck? There’s just something about it that makes everything worth the while.”

He nodded. “I can’t say that I have. Shopping and hunting have never truly interested me.”

He looked up from the paper and looked me in the eye. We stared each other down for a few seconds, neither of saying anything. But the look was everything. He knew, he knew everything and he didn’t approve. Frankly, I didn’t give a damn. It was my life, I was going to do what I wanted with it, and if he didn’t like, he could drop dead.

“I enjoy my free time and there’s nothing anyone can say to stop me from doing it.”

He nodded. “Mr. Cross seems to think you’re putting yourself into harm’s way.”

So it was Luke. I groaned; the bastard had sold me out. I knew there was something fishy about him tagging along and agreeing to do so. Mia had said he was on the level but I just knew he was reporting to the old man. Why wouldn’t he, he worked for the old bastard after all. Anger swelled in me again, I couldn’t believe he’d betray my trust like that. I had half a mind to kick his ass the next time I saw him.

I collected myself before I spoke again. “Mr. Cross doesn’t know what he’s talking about. My “shopping” expeditions are entirely safe. “

The old man stood up, leaving the paper. He glared at me, there was malice in his eyes, I saw it. He turned to Locke. “I want you to make sure my granddaughter is watched at all times. I want no more of this gallivanting about business.”

Locke nodded. I snapped.

I jumped up from the table and exploded at him. “YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME, YOU THINK YOU CAN KEEP ME HERE!”

The old man turned toward me. “That is very unbecoming behavior for a young lady, Olivia.”

I was floored. “I’M NOT A YOUNG LADY AND MY NAME ISN’T OLIVIA, YOU CRAZY, OLD BASTARD!”

I think I shocked him. I shocked myself. I said what I’d wanted to say to him from the moment he picked me up in the bus depot all those months ago. I saw it in his face, the look of defeat. He didn’t say anything but he lost. He nodded his head slightly and left the room. Locke glared at me but didn’t say anything either. He lingered in the door for a few seconds, waiting for my grandfather, and then left.

I sighed, triumphant. I didn’t know what it meant but I think I just won.

It was her idea to get the webcams; it was her way to help me through my temporary imprisonment. She sent me the webcam yesterday, after I called her last night and told her all about the conversation I had with my grandfather. The old man had been true to his word. He doubled security, changed the code on my door and made it so that I was only allowed out of my room when he deemed it necessary. I wasn’t exactly a prisoner but I sure as hell felt like it. I wasn’t the only one being punished either. Apparently, his security people discovered an “illegal hack” into their mainframe and were able to lock Mia out of it.

They weren’t able to trace her laptop---thank God---but they were able to write up a new program that she was so far unable to hack.

So, Green Arrow was suffering too. So were the people of the city who were being victimized while the Green Arrow sat in her room, grounded for trying to help them.

Luckily, I was still allowed access to the Internet or I would have died. I emailed Mia as soon as I found out I was now a prisoner and she tried to bust me out. That’s how we found out about her inaccessibility to the system now. We were both pretty bummed about that but there was nothing we could do at the moment. In essence, the Green Arrow was done for. It was all Luke’s fault too. The stupid traitorous bastard. If I ever saw him, again I was going to kick him in the balls so hard he was going to need surgery.

“You should use the ring,” said Mia, for the umpteenth time. “Maybe Jade can help. She seems to be pretty persuasive. Maybe she can convince your grandfather to let you continue what you’re doing.”

I laughed. “I’m supposed to use it for official business, not to help me get out of being grounded.”

“This is official. You can’t be the Green Arrow if you can’t get out of your room.”

I sighed; it was a conundrum.

We talked about other things. She kept moaning about school and how we were going to be so far apart. It kind of bummed me out too. We only had about half a week left before I was being shipped off up north. Mia actually started school on Monday but Elias apparently didn’t follow any set district rules. I guess that was one good thing about going to private school. But there were disadvantages too. I knew we had uniforms at SCH---Star City High---but the ones for Elias were absolutely awful. Thanks to Scarlet and Miss Frost, I had a better appreciation for fashion and I knew that the things that Elias passed for uniforms were not it. They were a hideous gray and white mess. There was a knee length pleated skirt, an itchy sweater vest and a horrible blazer. I looked like a rejected extra from a Harry Potter movie.

I was keeping the monstrosity buried at the bottom of my GA trunk. I was taking it with me of course, not that I expected to get much hero work done there. At least I’d be free to be myself there and not locked up like some kind of delinquent.

Mia groaned. ‘My mom just knocked on the door; it’s time for lights out.”

I looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. It was two in the morning, where the hell had the time gone.

“I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Night, Ollie.”

I shut the laptop, smiling. I was glad she still felt cool calling me Ollie. I couldn’t imagine being called Livy or something equally as dreadful.

I walked into living room, padding about in my bare feet. Once again, I was wearing nothing but a t-shirt and my underwear. Most of my pajamas were dirty, save for a sheer black baby doll but I wasn’t quite ready for that. In fact, I don’t think I’d ever be ready for it but Scarlet insisted I buy it. I tried to force it out of my mind as I walked over to the TV and shut it off. As soon as I did so, all the lights in the room shut off. I cursed, what the hell did I do now? I stumbled through the room, over to the wall where the intercom was. I hated using it but I was glad it was there. Sometimes when I didn’t feel like calling for my own food, I made the receptionist downstairs do it for me.

I pressed the button and took a deep breath. “Hello, is anyone there?’

I let go of the button and waited. But nothing happened. In fact, when I stopped to listen, I realized there was static coming from the other end of the intercom. What the hell? There was no way that it was a coincidence. I took a guess and tried my door. I grabbed the knob and gave it a twist, the door opened without a problem. Son of a bitch. I peered out into the little foyer area but everything was pitch black. The whole floor had no power. I shut the door and ran to the window, pressing my face to the glass and looking down. Unusually I could see the lights from the other floors reflected on the buildings around the Tower.

But the only lights I saw were from the ones the other buildings. The main source of illumination came from the building across the way. It was brand new and half way complete. I saw a lot of floor lights still on. They’d been working later and later each night, racing to get it done on time. Last night they were out there until at least three am. Tonight there didn’t seem to be anyone there but that didn’t mean a thing. I often didn’t see anyone from my window anyway.
I padded away from my window, a little confused. If the power was out, the backup power should have kicked in. Not only that but security was on a completely different system, there was no way that it could go out unless someone deliberately cut it.

The realization dawned on me quickly. Someone was in the building. Just like before but somehow they’d figured out how to get past security. Without any power, whoever they were after was a sitting duck.

I ran over to my trunk, thinking of only one thing. They’re here to finish the job; it was the only answer. For weeks, they’d been trying and had failed so far. Someone was out to get my grandfather, this company and me. I opened the trunk, tossing everything out as I grabbed my suit, my hood and my arrows. My bow was always nearby and at the ready. I’m glad the old man hadn’t pried too far into the room and poked in my stuff.

I dressed quickly and slowly the reflection in the glass changed. Gone was Olivia Queen to be replaced by the Green Arrow once again.
I nocked an arrow, raised the bow and left the room.

If all the power was out, I knew the elevators wouldn’t be working either. So I took the stairs. This time of night, I would assume my grandfather would be asleep so I was about to go up but stopped. Scarlet told me that my grandfather was getting a lot of pressure to sell the company and he was spending all hours in the office, crunching numbers, trying to figure out ways to stop the greedy circling vultures. Everyone knew my grandfather’s health was waning and it was only a matter of time before he was gone. They were all circling, trying to pick the carcass that was Queen Industries. The old man had yet to make any public and formal announcement but he had plans to name me his heir. He told me a few weeks ago, over breakfast one morning. I was a little floored by it, but I’d been expecting it for some time now. Not that I was too happy about the whole thing. I wouldn’t actually be running the company; someone else would do that for me until I finished college and officially took over. It was kind of daunting and scary but I had a lot of time to prepare for it.

So instead of up, I went down.

I made my way quickly down the stairs, taking them two at a time. When I reached my destination, I pushed the door open with my foot, bow raised high. I stepped into the hallway and saw a gruesome sight. The hall was bathed in dim lighting, tinted and sparse. It was the emergency lighting system; it was only throughout the business part of the Tower. The residential part was supposed to have their own lighting but apparently, it hadn’t gone on. Or maybe someone hadn’t had the chance to do so because scattered before me were three or four bodies.

All of them were killed where they stood, their weapons still in their holsters, dead before they knew what hit them. I bent down next to the nearest one and paused. A bullet didn’t kill him or a knife, sticking out of his back, like a deadly flag, was an arrow shaft. I touched the fletching with my fingers; it was as black as the shaft. It was a deadly shot, a kill shot, right between his shoulder blades. The guy on the ground was probably the first to go. The other few around him were shot in various stages of alertness; the one furthest down the hall actually had a black arrow in his throat.

I felt sick to my stomach. I recognized the arrows immediately. They were from the same archer that killed those mercs on the cruise ship. I felt my heart thud into my chest. Why the hell would he save me and kill all these guys? What the hell was he doing here?
I crept down the hall slowly, alert the whole time.

My grandfather’s office was through the big doors at the end. Usually there were two guys standing outside of it but I figured that they must have been either in the hall dead or somewhere inside. When I approached the door, I nudged it open with my foot. I’d never been in his office but I knew the layout. The reception area was large, with a lot of comfy chairs, a table and a little coffee area. His secretary had her desk over by the doors that led into the main office. Everything now was shrouded in darkness. I felt my way through the room, using the moonlight shining through the big windows to guide me.

When I got to the secretary’s desk, I found a middle-aged woman slumped back in her chair, an arrow in her heart. There was an expression of shocked surprise on her face, her eyes open and staring. I closed her eyes, sad for this person who never even saw it coming. I was also afraid, afraid for my grandfather and what possibly lay beyond those double doors.

I took a deep breath and pushed the doors open, prepared for anything. The office was bathed in darkness like the reception area but I could see two primary shapes: one of them a large desk and other a man standing behind it. At first, I thought it was my grandfather but this guy was taller, crouched over a computer terminal, typing away. He didn’t seem to notice me at first because he was busy on the computer. I slipped into the room as quiet as a mouse. I’m not sure when he caught onto my presence but as soon as he did he reached for something resting against the desk, probably his own bow.

I fired at arrow. Even in the dark, I had a fifty- fifty chance. I put the arrow between his fingers, right into the desk, startling the hell out of him. He snapped his hand back quickly, searching the darkness. He leaned forward, stepping into the glow of the moonlight and I gasped. I knew that face, I knew it well. The same brown hair now streaked with gray. The same goatee and the same chiseled features. I’d been searching for this man for years, scouring the Internet for any recollection of him but I’d never been able to find any.

Now here he was, standing in my grandfather’s office, dressed all in black, the man from the cruise ship.

“Merlyn” I said, my voice soft and unbelieving.

The man squinted and smiled. “Only three people in the world could make a shot that accurate in the dark. I’ve killed the other two and the third is me.”
I harrumphed. I knew how to shoot in the dark because he taught me. It was one of his lessons. He tied a blindfold around my eyes and made me shoot at a target bell. It took me a few tries but I was able to do it eventually. He had been so impressed at the time.

“A student learns a lot from their teacher,” I said coldly, nocking another arrow and keeping on him like a hawk.

“”You’ve come a long way from the little pipsqueak of all those years ago, Miss Green Arrow.”

I smirked. Of course, he knew, how could he not. He taught me everything I knew, so of course he’d recognize his own work. “Why did you let me go on the boat?”

His eyes narrowed. “It wasn’t my job to kill you.”

“And it is now?”

He didn’t answer right away; instead, he kind of dodged the question. “Your grandfather has made a lot of friends and even more enemies. My employer has been very keen to get rid of him for some time now. He tried subtle business tactics at first but when they didn’t work he tried more drastic means.”

It was another lesson Merlyn taught me. The ideal way to kill something was to go for the heart. I realized it then and there. I knew all along but he just confirmed it for me. “He sent those guys after our boat, didn’t he?”

“It was supposed to shake the old man, make him more flexible and grieving. But who knew he was a cold-hearted bastard. When killing you and your parents didn’t work, my employer decided to use more ruthless means. He hired a bunch of mercenaries to take one of his cruise ships, hoping that the bad publicity would tarnish your grandfather’s reputation and cause him to lose stockholders, enough so that his company would end up in the hole.”

I screwed that plan up. I smiled at that. “What were you doing there?”

“Making sure they succeeded and then kill them all when they were done. I was surprised to see you there actually. I didn’t know it was you then but it didn’t take me long to make the connection. You did my work for up until the end there. You could have had those two if you’d listened to what I’d taught you.”

I sneered. “I’m no murderer, not like you.”

He laughed. “Still don’t have the gall for it yet. But don’t worry someday you will and you’ll be just like me.”

I looked at my grandfather’s chair, noticing it was empty. I had hope; maybe Merlyn hadn’t finished his job. He saw me looking at the chair and smiled.

“I thought he might be here too. I came here first, actually, but the old bastard wasn’t here. So I went upstairs and found him in the bed” He smirked.

“Unlike you, I have no problem doing what it necessary to get the job done.”

A tear rolled down my cheek. My hand shook, the arrow wobbled a bit.

“Don’t be so shocked,” he said, slowly moving his hand toward the side of the table. “You knew it was going to come to this eventually. I mean after all, I’m Merlyn the Magician, the Greatest Archer the world has ever seen.”

I don’t know how he distracted me but he did. It was only for a split second but it was all the time he needed. He had a crossbow at his side; I never saw it. He raised it and fired. The bolt flew through the air but it came at me in slow motion, just like on the ship, just like with Brick. I moved my body, allowing the bolt to sail through the air, past my head and into the wall behind me. I fired my arrow, hitting Merlyn in the shoulder. The world came snapping back at me in full motion; Merlyn screwed and dropped his crossbow.

“NO” he shouted. “IT’S NOT POSSIBLE. I HAD YOU, THERE’S NO WAY YOU COULD HAVE ESCAPED IT.”

I drew another arrow, not paying attention to the fact that it was a number six.

“I guess that means I’m the better archer after all.”

“You” he groaned through the pain, clutching his shoulder, while he gasped on his knees. “You’re no archer because you’re still unable to take the killing shot.”

‘No I can’t and I never will because I’m not like you, Merlyn.”

I smirked and fired. The arrow flew by his head and stuck in the glass behind him. He started laughing and arrow exploded. The blast threw us both back into the room. I went stumbling through the open doorway, back into the reception area. Merlyn was blasted forward but only for a few moments. The suction from the broken window pulled him back. He was screaming as he was sucked out the window, pulling the desk and a few other things in the room with him.
I slammed the double doors before I met the same fate, slumping to the ground, panting.

I stared there for the longest time, trying to figure what the hell just happened. It occurred to me seconds later that I shot a number six. I didn’t even know I had one in the quiver. I laid there for a few more minutes, panting and praying before I got back up. The lights snapped back on but I didn’t care. I got up and ran out of the room, down the hall and toward the stairs. I took them two at a time, tears streaming down my face as I ran. When I reached the floor of my grandfather’s pent house, I found Spencer and Locke, both dead. I ignored them and ran into my grandfather’s room.

He was lying on the bed just like Merlyn said, a black arrow shaft in his chest. I ran forward and checked his pulse. But I knew as soon as I touched his body that he was dead. He was cold to the touch and not breathing. I fell on his chest, crying. I’m not sure how long I was there but I think it was Marko who found me. He lifted me off the old man, passing me into Luke’s arms. Luke carried me back to my room and put me to bed.