All of Us Villains

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All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and C.L. Herman

The story opens with the Lowe brothers, Hendry and Alistair, who are sneaking out to get drunk. The Lowe brothers have a reputation of being villains, although only Alistair is cold and cruel with a distinctive, stereotypical villainous widow's peak. Hendry is instead sweet and a ladies man and is wearing a ring with red high magick in it which Alistair says is stupid and reckless. He is saving his magick for the upcoming tournament which should be happening soon as the blood moon has risen. It won’t be long until the tournament begins. 

Magick is a valuable resource throughout the world and it is crafted into spellstones worn in jewelry, often as rings. White magick is common magick, high magick is rare and is red in color. Seven families fought for control of the high magick in Ilvernath until they put a curse on themselves. Now, every generation, each of the seven families must put forth a champion to compete in a tournament to the death while the victor secures control of the high magick for their family until the next tournament. Ilvernath is currently packed with tourists after the book A Tradition of Tragedy was released that told the world of Ilvernath’s high magick and the tournament.

The Lowes have historically dominated the competition, winning two of the past three tournaments, and Alistair is the unofficial chosen champion. While out drinking, the brothers overhear the Macaslan champion talking to a bunch of tourists there to gawk at the tournament. She was announced as her family's champion months before the blood moon had even appeared. As Alistair listens, he learns that three champions have been revealed - Carbry Darrow, Elionor Payne and the red head Macaslan girl. Alistair’s grandmother has always told him that the Macaslans are bottom feeders so he feels confident he'll win the tournament since he’s been training since childhood, though Hendry advises him to be more likeable to get alliances. With their power and influence, Alistair knows any spellmaker will help him. 

Isobel Macaslan comes over to introduce herself to the Lowe brothers, but Hendry pretends they are tourists. Isobel doesn’t believe it and then Alistair introduces himself as her rival. As he does so, he places a curse on her that bites her neck and will make her ill for days, but she spells him at the same time with the Lover's Kiss, giving her access to his mind and letting her know his name, his attraction to her, and who knows what else. 

Later, Isobel is with her family on the hill, watching a funeral and waiting to collect the raw magick released from the buried body while the mourners from the funeral call the Macaslans scavengers for their distasteful way of collecting magick. Isobel’s father gives her a pep talk and says they plan to secure an alliance with the town's best cursemaker to increase her chances of winning the tournament. Isobel never wanted to be champion, but the newspaper named her nearly a year ago, without her or her family's knowledge, and she lost all her friends because of it. 

After the funeral, Isobel and her father go to the MacTavish curseshop to get some curses. Her mother is a spellmaker so she can easily make her spells, but she'll need curses to win. A journalist intercepts them, to her dismay and her father's delight, and after a brief interview, she enters the shop with her raw magick to get her curse, the Roach’s Armor, that will briefly protect her from death. All her family have had the curse and so far it hasn’t helped any of them win in 13 generations.

Isobel watches Reid MacTavish make the curse using a curse board and seven items, one at each point on the septogram, with an enchanted item in the center. She sees he has a copy of A Tradition of Tragedy which she assumes was written by someone from the Grieve family, but thinks the Grieves are a joke. She vents to Reid that since the book was published, she now has to deal with protesters, cursechasers and journalists, but he points out she is taking part in a death tournament and should be more concerned with that.

As Reid casts, he makes it clear that he will not make an alliance with her because he doesn’t think her family will do a good job with the high magick. She secretly agrees with him as her family is rotten. Before she leaves, Isobel steals a spell from a grimoire, a class ten curse called the Reaper’s Embrace that will kill its victim gradually. She's the best spellmaker in her class, so she'll probably be able to make it without any trouble.

Gavin Grieve is at his sister Calista’s wedding. She is marrying someone from the Payne family and cannot wait to change her last name. The Grieves have never won the tournament so they have never had access to high magick and are not highly regarded. Gavin became champion by default since Callista is too old and Fergus, his younger brother, is too beloved by their mother. Gavin wanders over to the champion pillar where the tournament's champions will engrave their names and where each will be crossed out as they die.

There are many spellshop owners at the wedding but none have sponsored Gavin. One tells him to not come to him again as it looks bad for his business and tells him that no one will sponsor him especially now that someone in their family released A Tradition of Tragedy. Fergus starts a fight with a Payne cousin and Gavin magickly freezes them both, much to the admiration of the crowd, but Briony Thorburn comes over, completely full of herself, and casts a different spell on the boys to diffuse their fight and criticizes Gavin's lack of knowledge and ability.

Later, Briony is waiting for the final challenge her family uses to choose the Thorburn champion. Previous trials have whittled it down to three: Briony, her sister Innes and their cousin Emmett, even though Briony is certain it's going to be her. The elders announce the final challenge will be held in private for the first time ever. Usually, the test is to look into an enchanted mirror similar to the one that falls in the tournament. There are seven Relics in total that fall during the competition and claiming them will help the champion succeed by giving them unique enchantments. That is not what the test is this time.

The three Thorburns are led into a room where a government official sits and tells them they want their family to win. They will help them with spells and cursestones as long as, after they win, they can study and monitor the use of the high magick. The official makes them swear what is essentially a magickal NDA before choosing Innes, not Briony, as champion. There was no test or mirror or anything, just the government stepping in.

Back at the Lowe Manor, Alistair has been sent to the family vault to fetch a vial of high magick for his grandmother and has to work out how to open the vault to get it. Using the family motto blood before all, he realizes he needs to use his blood but has brought no spells with him that can help. Not wanting to return empty-handed to face his grandmother's scorn, he uses a page turner spell on his skin to peel back the layers to get blood. His grandmother scolds him for not carrying curses on him and tasks him with making a simple curse called Vintner’s Plague that will basically just give the victim a wicked hangover… unless it's made with high magick. Unfortunately, Alistair isn't very good at curse or spellmaking.

Once the curse is complete, Alistair is told they have company. All the owners of all the spell shops are gathered and expected to contribute some spells to the Lowe family as tribute and thanks for maintaining order since the last tournament. One spellmaker refuses to bow down and only offers simple small spells. He tries to attack but Alistair's grandmother throws up a shield. Alistair uses the curse he crafted but something has gone wrong and the spellmaker is gravely and grotesquely injured, but still alive… barely. The sight of him makes Alistair throw up. 

Isobel Macaslan goes to work at her mother's spellshop where two school friends turn up with a broken spellstone which was sold as a hair growth spell. Isobel quickly realizes the boy tampered with the spell to change it to possibly grow something else… She fixes the stone while talking to the boys who suggest she should form an alliance to defeat the Lowe champion. 

Later, her mother returns from the Lowe Manor with news of Alistair hurting the spellmaker and tries to talk Isobel out of the tournament, but her dad has manipulated her into doing it. Her mother tries to urge her not to be used by her ex's family and suggests leaving Ilvernath, but Isobel can’t condemn one of her cousins to die in her stead. When her mother tries to physically drag her away, Isobel casts a rotting curse to make her mom back off, ruining the room around them.

Gavin has failed to get any sponsorships from any spellshop and, not able to create spells higher than class five on his own, he turns to his only resources, the dossiers he has created of each potential champion. His younger brother comes in and they talk about the tournament and he tells him about Alistair's attack on the spellmaker and how everyone hates the Lowes now and will do anything to ensure he dies in the tournament. Gavin plans to get one spellshop to work with him to make the Lowe death embarrassing since it will be at the hands of a “lowly” Grieve.

Briony is at a party to celebrate Innes being chosen as champion. She’s fuming because the elders told everyone the mirror chose and is desperate to talk to someone about it but can’t because of the NDA spell. Besides, the only two she would tell are exes, her ex best friend, Isobel Macaslan, and her ex boyfriend, Finley Blair, both of whom are champions. Reid MacTavish finds Briony moping and tells her the government were at his shop asking questions about cursestones which he’s sure are for the Thorburns and says the government picked them to win and picked Innes as champion because they are compliant. Since Briony can’t talk about it because of the NDA, Reid’s theory is confirmed, but he promises not to tell anyone.

Alistair is dreaming of his childhood, of being tied to the bed and left for the monsters in the dark, his mother's favorite way to train him to be a monster himself. His mother used fear and magick to train him to be fearless and ruthless while his brother Hendry helped Alistair in any way he could, like bringing him a blanket and being there for him when no one else was. Alistair wakes feeling something is wrong and goes to search for Hendry but he can’t find him anywhere, though he does find the rest of his family gathered together. His mother hands him a family heirloom spell ring and his grandmother explains it is called the Lamb’s Sacrifice, an invincible spell that required an unthinkable sacrifice to make… his brother's life. The Lowes have done this every generation to ensure they win.

Gavin has had no luck with spellmakers and his last shot is with cursemaker Reid MacTavish. Reid offers a curse for him that will turn him into a vessel, making his spellcasts two or three classes more powerful. Gavin had heard rumors of this curse and how everyone who has used it has lost their minds or ended up dead, but having no choice, he agrees. Reid tells him that with this curse he will use his life magick instead of raw magick to power his spells, but people are only born with a finite amount of life magick and once it runs out, the person dies. Once he casts this curse, it is irreversible. Gavin again agrees and Reid spells his arm and it's so painful he passes out. When he comes to he has a tattoo of an hourglass on his arm, the top full and the bottom empty. Reid tells him each time he refills his spell rings, some of the grains will drop to the bottom, and once the top is empty, he’ll die. Gavin tests it out and finds it works.

Briony is moping at the Tower, one of the seven Landmarks from the tournament. All the Landmarks are ruins, but once the blood veil falls and the tournament begins, they all turn into fortresses as each has a pillar of high magick at its center. Innes finds Briony and convinces her to talk and they discuss strategy. Innes cries saying she didn’t want to be champion and was hoping to find a way to break the curse but hasn’t yet. Finley, Elionor and Carbry turn up then and invite Innes to join an alliance with them, but she turns them down to Briony's shock. Briony vows to herself to end the tournament in order to save her sister.

Isobel is reading the paper with her dad. The seven champions have been announced and he is moaning about how little they have mentioned her and thinks her mom has convinced the other spellmakers not to work with her. Isobel tells her dad she doesn’t want to be champion, making him furious. He rants about family and tradition and tells her he’s sure she will win. The pep talk works and Isobel goes upstairs to make the Reaper's Embrace. It requires a blood sacrifice which she gives, but something goes wrong and she throws up loads of blood. After checking all her spellstones, she notices she can’t see or use magick anymore. She can’t tell her father because he would think she sabotaged herself and if anyone else found out, she would be at more risk in the tournament. She hopes it is only temporary.

Gavin is at the party celebrating the tournament and bumps into Reid who asks him if he has thought anymore on doing more than just winning the tournament, but Gavin assumes he wants to make another deal and tells him to get lost. He slips outside and sees people protesting against the tournament. Alistair bumps into him and is angry and drunk and Gavin attempts to freeze Alistair but accidentally smashes his drink instead.

Alistair goes over to his family, raging at them, and calls his mother a monster. He storms to the bar and when one of the spellmakers talks to him, he breaks his pinky finger with a spell. Alistair then goes off to mope and Isobel runs into him. They flirt/taunt each other and he challenges her to do the Lover's Kiss spell on him again but she refuses saying it would be a waste of magick… 

Isobel is still hiding that she cannot see magick. There are more protesters present but Isobel isn't worried since, once the blood veil falls, the tournament can’t have outside influence and the champions can’t talk to anyone except other competitors with magick in place to ensure this. The competitors are called up one by one to carve their names into the pillar. When that’s done, a champion’s ring appears on their pinkies, binding them to the tournament. After carving her name, Isobel finds Reid MacTavish and confesses to stealing the curse and begs him for help. He tells her there are only two ways to reverse the block on magick. She either has to redo the Reaper's Embrace correctly, or cast a null and void spell of a higher class and since it was a class ten, she would need someone with high magick to cast it, which of course they won’t.

Later, Briony asks Reid how to break the curse on the tournament. He tells her she can either dismantle it piece by piece, but only a champion can do that, or smash it, but smashing it would kill all the champions. She rushes to Innes to tell her how to break the spell but she isn’t interested and calls Briony selfish. Briony uses a spell to knock Innes unconscious but can’t remove the ring from her finger to take her place in the tournament. Realizing she can’t just leave Innes unconscious with the tournament starting imminently because she'll be killed immediately, Briony cuts her sister's finger off, takes the ring and carves her name into the pillar, causing it to crack.

The tournament has begun and the sky turns blood red. As each competitor is killed, the sky will lighten until it is back to normal when the last challenger remains. Isobel plans to take the Castle Landmark as it’s the best defensive one, hoping to have a chance to fix her magick in relative safety. She is nearly hit by a spell cast by Gavin but Briony saves her as Gavin takes the castle. Isobel confesses to Briony that she can’t use magick and when Briony offers to ally with her, she realizes she needs to ally with Alistair Lowe instead. Since he has used high magick, he might be able to help her cast a high level null and void spell. She heads to the Cave Landmark thinking that’s where he would go. Gavin meanwhile has secured the castle and he fills his rings using his life magick, but on the fifth ring, he passes out. 

Alistair heads toward the cave when he runs into Finley Blair, Elionor Payne and Carbry Darrow. They ask him to join them as allies but he refuses, so one of them casts a curse at him. It rips through his shield as if it was nothing and he realizes the spellmakers have messed with his spells, giving him weak and faulty spells and curses. He casts a fire breathing spell to get away and although it works, there is a side effect that causes him immense pain.

Briony sees a Relic fall and rushes to claim it but just as she goes to pick it up, Finley appears. Not wanting to fight or hurt anyone, Briony makes a deal with Finley, who is surprised to see her, his ex-girlfriend, in the tournament instead of her sister. He can have the Relic, the Sword, a powerful offensive weapon that can cut through spells, burn, and inflict incurable wounds, if she can join their alliance. He agrees to bring her back to the Monastery Landmark he and his alliance have claimed and ask the others if she can join. 

When they get there, she relinquishes her spell rings as a show of good faith and Finley and Elionor argue. They take the argument outside leaving Briony to talk to Carbry. She learns Finley is the one who started the alliance and wanted to recruit more. Carbry has researched past tournaments and knows alliances of more than three rarely work. Suddenly a noise rings out as someone sets off the defense wards. The Monastery is under attack. It's Gavin.

Alistair is brooding when Isobel appears, asking for his help. He casts a spell to break a stalagmite and winces in pain at the spell’s retaliation. Isobel realizes his spells have been tampered with and offers to help him craft new ones just as he realizes she can’t see or use magick anymore. They agree to help each other. Isobel instructs Alistair to bury his spell stones to release their magick as they discuss her failed curse. Alistair suggests the blood sacrifice required in her curse may have to be someone else’s blood rather than her own. She decides to use raw high magick from the tournament instead but Alistair reminds her she won’t be able to see it to use it.

Since neither Isobel nor Alistair can cast a strong enough null and void spell right now, Isobel decides to take a bath in the lake hidden deep in the cave while Alistair works on a crossword puzzle. On her way out of the cave, she runs into a barrier. Alistair tells her she can’t leave because she'll just go tell the other champions. Feeling hopeless, Isobel takes a second to mope then she climbs into bed beside Alistair who is still crossword puzzling. She flirts a little and he tells her a horror story about him being a monster wearing Alistair's skin and shows her his stomach scars as proof.

Gavin knows no champions have died yet since the blood veil hasn’t lightened and the skies are still blood red. He wants to draw first blood in his attack on the Monastery. He casts a hiding spell, making himself invisible. With his life magick amplifying his spells’ classes, his spell also protects him from the defense charm around the Landmark. He blows the doors off and comes face to face with Finley, Carbry and Elionor. Gavin opens a trap door under Elionor while Carbry makes it rain and Finley comes at him with the Sword. Gavin throws up a shield and sends another spell knocking Finley out, but he can't cast a killing spell for fear of passing out. He casts a confusion spell to escape. He was expecting to face one champion, not an alliance.

A week passes and no one has died yet. Alistair is creating a spell under Isobel’s instruction and she is flirting with him, but he gets mad assuming it’s fake, and that scares her. Before he kills her, his conscience kicks in and he doesn’t. She sleeps on the floor and stays away from him. Alistair broods near the pillar in the cave and sees the Cloak fall, so he creeps out to get it. He hears two others appear and finds Finley is there with his Sword with Briony. Alistair casts a curse that creates an illusion of water with a leviathan. Finley escaping distracts the monster and Alistair grabs the Cloak using a rucksack so he doesn’t accidentally claim it with his touch. He turns to go back to the cave and is swallowed by the leviathan.

Briony and Finley return to the Monastery empty handed as she finally guesses his plan. He wants to kill the other champions with the help of Elionor and Carbry and then take those two out since neither is strong enough to take him on. She tells him of her plan to end the tournament and they agree to test her theory before telling Elionor or Carbry. She wants to take one of seven Relics to one of the seven Landmarks and try to destroy them.

Isobel wakes to Alistair looming over her to give her the Cloak and she claims it. It will keep her silent and hidden, minus her shadow, and will protect her from harm from common magick spells. Since she can't see or use magick right now, this is the best thing for her. Alistair gives her the bed and says he will sleep on the floor. They decide to get the Mirror Relic when it falls to ask it how she went wrong with her spell so she can get it right and get her powers back. The Mirror will allow its user to reflect spells, to spy on other champions and, what they are after, it will answer any three questions asked of it. Alistair tells Isobel he will protect her, so she tells him to sleep on the bed with her.

Gavin takes a week to heal from the disastrous attack on the Monastery. He goes to the edge of the tournament veil and, using his invisibility spell that has been warped by Reid's curse, he is able to go through the barrier, out of the tournament grounds and into the city. He heads to Reid’s shop where they discuss his new magick and he wonders if he can run away, but Reid says the tournament would probably just pick a new Grieve to take his place. Not wanting his younger brother to die, he decides to return. 

Briony is struggling to create new spellstones and swallows her pride to ask Elionor for help. Briony realizes that the tournament grounds are a giant spell board with the Landmarks being the seven points on the septogram and the Relics the ingredients to be placed at each one. To break the curse, she thinks maybe she needs to match each Relic to its Landmark, not just use any old Relic at any old Landmark like in her first plan. She thinks knowing each family's story will help her match the Relics and Landmarks and she already knows her story and Finley’s, so she goes to Elionor who doesn’t believe her and thinks she’s delusional, but then they spot the Mirror Relic falling.

Alistair is sad to see the Mirror falling knowing the little bubble of peace, safety, crossword puzzling and flirting he has with Isobel will soon be broken. They go together to get the Mirror with Isobel wearing the Cloak. Alistair plans for him and Isobel to be the only ones left at the end of the tournament and for him to lose his duel to Isobel so she will win. As they are waiting, Isobel distracts Alistair from his brooding thoughts with crossword puzzle clues. Finley and Elionor turn up and they spot Alistair and work out Isobel is also there from her shadow. Alistair tells Isobel to run as he tries to distract Finley and Elionor. 

Alistair eventually runs in the opposite direction of Isobel to draw the other champions after him. Elionor catches up and manages to wound him badly. He falls to the ground and slips the Lamb’s Sacrifice, the spell of protection his family murdered his brother for, off his finger and hides it up his sleeve, refusing to use it. Elionor steals his other spell rings and assumes he’s dead. He's not dead yet, but he is bleeding out and can’t move to the Cave. Hendry appears beside him and tells him he isn’t ready to rest yet.

Isobel meanwhile reaches the Mirror, but as she goes to get it, Elionor struts up covered in blood. Realizing the blood is Alistair's, Isobel runs to find him, leaving the Mirror behind. She finds him bleeding out and he tells her to use his blood to redo the Reaper's Embrace, refusing to heal himself and then he passes out. Isobel redoes the spell and it works! She uses all her healing spellstones to help Alistair and is able to stop the bleeding and close the wound. Alistair regains consciousness. 

Briony is rushing to the Mirror when Gavin and Carbry appear, battling each other. When Briony tries to help, Carbry calls her a traitor and says Elionor told him Briony attacked her and left to get the Relic for herself which isn’t true. Carbry and Gavin resume fighting but before Carbry can kill Gavin, Briony destroys his spell, hoping to save everyone. Gavin runs as Carbry casts a curse at Briony which she deflects using a mirror spell, throwing Carbry’s spell back at him, killing him. Gavin returns and suggests he and Briony form an alliance. Finley appears then and says he didn’t believe Elionor but then sees Carbry's body and asks Gavin if he did that but he says no. Briony runs off through the forest urging Gavin to follow.

Alistair wakes up and finds he’s still in the clearing with Isobel. Briony and Gavin appear and explain that Carbry is dead by his own rebounded curse and ask to ally. They agree, much to Alistair's dismay, and head to Gavin's Landmark, the Castle. Briony tells the others about her theory. Isobel suggests she cast a Truth or Treachery spell on Briony to prove she’s telling the truth. If she's not, she'll die.

Gavin and Alistair go off to get drinks together and talk and bond. Alistair admits to having the Lamb's Sacrifice and when he says he won’t use it, Gavin suggests he bury it to release its magick. Alistair realizes he should have done this immediately to get back at his family for killing his brother and as he buries it, he curses them. Eventually, red high magick dissipates from it instead of white common magick. That's weird. 

As Isobel is casting the Truth or Treachery spell, Alistair comes to her and tells her he believes Briony's theory. She casts a mind reader spell on him and sees everything. When she shuts him down, he tells her to duel him now, curse him and get it over with, but she decides she won’t hurt him. Isobel approaches Briony to cast the Truth spell but Briony realizes she isn’t going to ask her about breaking the tournament, she's going to ask about Innes instead, so she tells her about what she did to Innes before she can cast the spell. Isobel doesn’t cast the Truth spell and says it doesn’t matter because Briony can’t justify everything she has done. 

Gavin appears after overhearing everything that just happened between Isobel and Briony. He agrees with Isobel that Briony is being delusional about wanting to break the tournament, so Isobel curses Briony, knocking her unconscious, and they lock her in a cell. Gavin, Isobel and Alistair plan to take out Finley and Elionor and Gavin then plans to kill Briony and blame it on Alistair to turn Isobel and Alistair against each other. It's diabolical.

Alistair swears he keeps seeing Hendry as he broods around the corners of the castle since burying the Lamb’s Sacrifice. He finds Briony in a cell and lets her go telling her he believes her. She asks him to come with her to try to convince the others, but he says no, so she leaves and tracks down Finley. Finley asks if she’s sure breaking the tournament will work, but she can't be absolutely sure, so she tells him she's forfeiting and asks him to kill her, hoping to prove she's serious. He can’t do it of course so they decide to try to break the curse together.

Isobel, Gavin and Alistair arrive at the Monastery. When they fail to open the door, Isobel sets it on fire and Elionor comes out coughing. As Gavin casts a death curse, Elionor holds out the Mirror Relic which rebounds the spell, only cutting Gavin's cheek and knocking him out.

Meanwhile, Briony and Finley arrive at the Cave, his family's Landmark, and go to the island in the middle of the lake inside it where the pillar is. As they go to strike the pillar with the Sword, the matching Relic, stone swords identical to the Relic start raining down on them. They save each other a handful of times and then they both fall into the lake that has turned to blood. They get out and Briony casts a mirror spell to protect them both while Finley uses a spell to help him find the true Sword amongst all the duplicates. He stabs the pillar and it breaks and then the whole cave starts collapsing around them. They both get out and Finley can feel the magick of the Sword has gone. The Relic and the Landmark have been destroyed.

Gavin comes round to Alistair touching his face after healing him. Gavin attacks Elionor, but during their fight, there is an earthquake and the sky flickers from red to white. Gavin has the Mirror now and casts a death curse but it only grazes Elionor. Alistair tells them to stop and points at the sky as a sign that Briony may have been right about breaking the Tournament curse and confesses to letting her go. Isobel and Gavin still don’t believe they can break the curse so Alistair walks away from them. As Gavin goes to kill Elionor, she dives at him and grabs his magickly tattooed arm, causing him to drop the Mirror which she grabs again.

Alistair storms off and finds himself at the town center with the champion's pillar and spots another crack in it. Gavin appears and fires a curse, shouting at him for leaving them. Gavin's spell was actually aimed at Elionor who had also appeared, but then Alistair falls through the veil with Gavin much to everyone’s shock. Elionor and Isobel continue the duel as Alistair hears his name being called and Hendry appears. When he moves, there is a streak of red magick behind him like a lag. 

Elionor casts a killing curse at Hendry but Alistair blocks it saying he isn’t a champion. Elionor accuses the Lowes of cheating and breaking the rules, but Gavin points out he buried the ring at a place of high magick, so that must have done something to it. Elionor tries to curse Hendry again and it hits him in his chest but nothing happens because a death curse can’t kill him if he’s already dead. Alistair warns her if she tries again, he will kill her, so when she throws another spell, Alistair does exactly as he said he would and kills her. Her magick leaves her and goes into Gavin, refilling his Life magick. The pillar crosses out Elionor’s name and another crack appears. 

Briony appears and tells them she has figured out how to break the curse and is shocked to see Elionor dead. She tells them the sky flickering was from her destroying the Sword and Cave. They discuss the pillar and the cracks appearing on it and decide there must be two ways to break the tournament. The cracks on one side must represent the safe way, Briony's theory with one crack representing what she did, and the other side must be the other way that will kill them all. 

Alistair asks what will happen to Hendry if the tournament is broken and Gavin guesses he will die. Alistair asks them to find another way but Briony says they don’t have time. Alistair decides if he wins the tournament then the high magick his family will get will keep Hendry alive, so he attacks Briony who tries to shield herself. A camera flashes then and they see that paparazzi have found them since they are no longer within the blood veil. Isobel is distracted by a camera flash and drops her shield and is hit in the chest by a spell from Alistair. He says he wasn’t aiming at her, but then paparazzi start going crazy. Briony casts a few spells that break all the cameras and send half the journalists to sleep as the rest retreat.

As Isobel lies dying, she casts the Roach's Armor and it saves her but she isn’t sure if it truly worked as she feels cold. She casts the mind reading spell and sees that Alistair really didn’t mean to hurt her, but she also sees that he would rather die than lose Hendry again. She grabs Alistair and kisses him, casting the Reaper's Embrace, which will kill him slowly. Alistair only has time to look shocked before Briony pulls her away.

Gavin has skulked off using his invisibility spell and enters Osmand Walsh’s spell shop. Osmand was one of the spell makers who had embarrassed him earlier. Gavin teleports them back to the Castle and cuts the spellmaker, draining some of his life magick into himself. Osmand passes out. Gavin pulls out the Mirror and looks in it to see Alistair. The Mirror belongs to Alistair now since he killed Elionor

Briony and Finley take an unconscious Isobel to Reid MacTavish’s shop to talk to Reid about the two ways of breaking the curse. He tells them that if the one side representing them breaking the curse correctly by destroying the Relics and Landmarks cracks seven times for each pairing, it will end the tournament curse. If the other side cracks from people breaking the rules and doing things outside of the traditional way, like Briony taking Innes's place, maybe Alistair somehow resurrecting Hendry, and maybe the paparazzi being able to witness the tournament, the champions will all die. They have to do it the right way and begin planning immediately how to discover the correct pairings of Relics and Landmarks and Reid insists on helping them.

Speaking of the paparazzi, they appear at Reid’s shop so he ushers them through the shop to a back alley exit. Isobel, although conscious again, is too drained to go with Briony and Finley, so she stays at Reid’s shop to recover longer. Briony and Finley slip out and then Briony sees a projection of Innes telling her to meet at the tower tomorrow to talk. 

Isobel can no longer feel her heart beating and she doesn’t need to breathe. That can't be good. She realizes the Roach's Armor was a curse not a spell and Reid doesn’t know if it will get worse or better. Reid also tells her more about the Reaper's Embrace. The more bad things Alistair does, the faster he will die, but the opposite is also true. Reid asks Isobel to tell him how she fixed her magick but she’s reluctant. Instead she asks him how he could know more about the tournament curse than the champions.

Reid reveals that he has been the one pulling the strings. He told Briony how to break the curse and manipulated Isobel into finding Alistair. Isobel casts the mind reading spell on him and sees that he wrote A Tradition of Tragedy. She asks why he tells her that once the tournament breaks and the champions die, everyone will be able to see high magick and he will be able to control it.

Meanwhile, the Lowe brothers approach the Lowe estate. Hendry asks Alistair if he’s sure he wants to do this as they enter. They find a figure in the living room sitting in a chair who screams at the sight of them. The Reaper's Embrace turns his finger white. By the morning the Reaper's Embrace has turned his hand white with sin as it is stained red with the blood of his family.