Landon and Brian exchanged one look.
One single, wicked, perfectly synchronized glance. A wink that carried the weight of every prank, every late-night gym session, every shared secret between boys who'd long since crossed into brotherhood through mutual lunacy.
And then they moved.
Fast. Coordinated. The kind of ambush that only happens when you've drilled it in secret for weeks.
Phei felt the shift behind him—every nerve screaming react, twist, stop them—but the moment he tried to lift his hands, tried to spin, tried to do anything—
Nothing.
His arms locked at his sides. His legs turned to stone. His entire body stood frozen mid-breath, as though someone had replaced his blood with quick-set concrete.
Twenty feet above the roaring crowd—visible to no one else but him—a four-foot silhouette of void-black ice and gleeful malice hovered in mid-air. Translucent violet glow pulsing against the stadium lights.
