The crowd roared, their voices carrying across the island, sending Charlotte's heart pounding and her blood racing. She grinned with the excitement and her forty foot image smiled too, a dangerous and anticipating smile. James' image stared out from the screen, grim and determined. He was clenching his jaw as per usual, his blonde hair tousled.

The pitch beneath was crossed with a network of fast-flowing channels of water. The channels were each at least fifteen foot wide. Rocks and drops made each channel more treacherous, with the water tumbling over rapids and water falls. The terrain itself rose in huge steps until it plateaued in the centre, before dropping in steps again towards the opposite platform. They would need to navigate not only the waterways, but also fifteen foot high cliffs, before they would ever get in shot of meeting the other team.

"What do you think?" Ethan asked approaching her. She turned to him, tearing her gaze from the huge image of James on the screens and shrugged.

"The terrain is becoming more elaborate," she sighed.

"James will make it easier for them," Ethan said, gazing across the pitch. "They will cover the distance quicker than we will".

"Let them," Charlotte smiled, dismissively. "They won't win this. The closer they are the easier it will be to capture them".

"Do you think the plan will work?" he asked, though by the twinkle in his eyes she could see that he had full faith in their strategy.

Charlotte pursed her lips and then smiled. "It will be tough, but we can do it. James will be the only problem," she explained, frowning ever so slightly. He knew how to shake her off, escape the projections.

"So we should stick to the plan? You're happy to go ahead?" he asked, a smile lighting up his face.

"Yes — stick to the plan," she nodded. "But remember, I'll take care of James". Ethan nodded.

"Good luck," he smiled, pulling her into a half-hug. "Just don't forget that James will not give up no matter what, don't believe he will stop just because he said he would". Charlotte nodded, though she didn't have as much faith in James' conviction to winning. He had promised her, but she had promised to be careful too, and she knew better than anybody that sometimes determination got in the way of safety. Would his determination to protect her cause him to hesitate? She frowned, as long as everything went as planned his hesitation would mean nothing.

"Be careful," she whispered, as they broke off the hug and he retreated to his starting position. Charlotte glanced up at the screens. There was one minute until the horn would sound and the battle would begin. Charlotte turned back to her team. Some appeared nervous, others excited, all anticipating the tournament.

"You know the plan. We have gone through it again and again. We don't know what they will have planned, but we know what they can do. Trust your instincts and do not hesitate — take them out the moment you see them, even if they do not seem to see you. I want to make sure nobody ever forgets this match — what we do here today!" she growled, staring at her team, who watched her with grim and fearsome expressions. "I want those who fight after us to remember in pure wonder of what we are about to achieve. I want the other teams to fear playing us. I want to surprise everybody — even those who think they know what we can do. They think they control us. They underestimate us, always," she roared, trying to have her voice carry over the cheers and chants of the crowd. 

The raw energy was spilling from her team as they bounced on the balls of their feet, swung their arms, and stretched their necks. She knew the danger in the words she spoke, but she knew her team; she trusted her team. "I want Elmhirst doubting he could ever control us. I want him knowing just how powerful we are. I want to frighten him more than anything. Think about what he has done to us — just think," Charlotte could feel the blood pounding in her ears, the adrenaline pumping through her veins and the electric excitement in the air around her. The others were watching her and finally she knew they trusted her completely, as much as she trusted in them. They were in the fight with her, but who were they fighting? She knew that murmurs of dissent were spreading amongst the students, but what she was saying today went beyond that. She was striking out against everything they had endured and they were standing with her.

"Remember, that team over there," she yelled, stretching her hand towards the far end of the pitch. "They are not the enemy. We are fighting something bigger than them. We are fighting for our right to live; for a life that was stolen from us. Remember what we are here to do," she yelled. Her team started stamping their feet. They understood her. They trusted her and she trusted them. "This is the first step towards the end. Let them wonder at us. Let them fear us. Let them hate us. We are the future. And that future ends with their destruction". Her words were met with howls and calls of ascent. They clasped each other's wrists, creating a tight circle, meeting each other with grins and expression of expectation.

Things had changed as they had developed their strategy for the games, Ethan feeding her hatred, giving her confidence. Never, had Charlotte realised just how deeply they all resented Elmhirst, the academy. Fear had held them in place for so long, but no longer was she going to hold back. She would show them what she could do; what they could all do!

"Let's win this," Charlotte grinned and they returned her excitement, before moving to their starting position. The cameras ran along the team, showing each member in turn. Each alternating screen showed a member of James' team, who appeared just as fearless as her own. Finally as the clock ran down, the screen fixed on James and Charlotte. James' eyes were clear for once, void of the worry that normally plagued him. His jaw was set, his hair a mess. He was ready for this, but so was she. "All's fair," she whispered to herself as the horn boomed across the stadium and the crowd erupted in excitement.

"Wait," she ordered, holding a hand up, stilling her team. James had to move first. If he didn't it would never work. Suddenly, the entire stadium seemed to shake, the screams and shouts of excitement in the crowd turned to gasps and cries of fright as the terrain, so carefully created by the engineers was torn apart, the cliffs cracking and crumbling before them. The screens showed convenient steps appear on the opposite side, giving James' team an easier ascent. Charlotte's team now face a far more treacherous path, Alexander's alteration succeeding in slowing any progress they were planning on making.

Yet she had no choice. She had to leave him execute the first phase of their plan or he would notice something was wrong.

"Be careful scaling the cliffs. The rocks will crumble away beneath you, do not trust them to take your weight," Ethan warned. "Stick to the plan unless we signal otherwise". The rest of James' team moved off as James had instructed, taking cover in the rough terrain, leaving James alone on the platform observing any approach and protecting the huge green and white flag flying above him.

Charlotte frowned ignoring the hummingbird cameras hovering about her. It was time to act. She took a deep breath, focusing her entire energy on the scene in front of her, on the smallest details. Ethan glanced at her and winked. She nodded in response as the air seemed to shimmer before her, out of focus for a moment before refocusing sharper than she could have expected.

Freya, Maria and Eli moved first, propelling themselves off the platform and falling thirty feet before hitting the ground and sprinting east. Ebiere and Mary mirrored their movements, following a path west. Jun, Ebiere and Ethan dropped and set off straight from the platform. It was uniform, predictable. James lost sight of his team mates, only the screens telling him where they were and if they were in difficulty. Uniform and predictable, Charlotte frowned. James was staring at the screens, a suspicious expression on his face. He's not as naïve as I hoped, she groaned inwardly. She turned and glanced at Carrie and Evie. They had grim expressions on their face as they gripped their dart guns tightly. They look the part, Charlotte approved as the crowd watched her run and leap off the platform, landing with a thud on the stone-scattered ground below.

Charlotte smiled, her view changing as she shifted from her projection to the real world, a world that everybody present, apart from her team, was blind to. She had never felt as strong. The fear her alteration had latched to was so potent that pushing the projection into the minds of the crowd and the opposing team seemed too easy. The crowd had fallen silent, seeing only the imagined world within her projection. The silence that had descended around them was eerie beneath the bright afternoon sun. "Is it working?" Ethan asked. Charlotte turned to face her team, still standing on the platform. Her mind fixed the projected game she wanted the opposing team, the crowd and the staff to witness into the minds of all those gathered, giving them something to entertain them, while her team played the real game, a secret game.

"For now," she replied. "I'm afraid James might have realised though. He's used to it," she frowned. "What's happening? What can they see?" Ebiere asked, moving to the edge of the platform and sitting carefully with her legs dangling over the edge. The heat was intense, reflecting off the white, stone-strewn ground below. Sweat clung to Charlotte's brow.

"Academy obstacle," Charlotte replied absent-mindedly, scarcely looking at the imagined world.

"How will you know if James has shaken you off?" Daiki asked, sitting beside Ebiere. The immediacy of the attack was removed as they knew their opponents were caught in an unreal world.

"I'll know," Charlotte replied, knowing it would be the strongest pull. She knew how it felt to have control over what he saw, to be in his mind and for that reason alone she would feel his absence. She could feel them all, every mind she was controlling. She could sense the minds of her team, the minds she was without. James was the one she felt the strongest, the mind she knew best from there days of training. Iseult and Ian's minds were strong too. Matthew Desmarais oddly was another prominent mind, like a beacon, drawing her to him. But none of these were nearly as strong as the pull of the mind that was feeding the projection.

"We need to get moving," Ethan said, clapping Carrie on the shoulder and grinning. "Will you be able to hold it?"

"Yes," Charlotte nodded. "If James realises, and it's likely he will, he could make it difficult," she warned. "He knows how to shake me off. He helped me control it and he knows it almost as well as I do".

"Will he be able to tell the others?" Ethan asked.

"No, it's as if they are in a trance," she sighed. "The fear is too strong to allow him to break into the trance. The only way he could bring them around, is to distract me completely," she continued.

"Can he do that?" Carrie grunted, his usual scowling expression fixed on his face. Ebiere and Daiki had turned to look at her, and with Jun Lin carefully regarding her, Charlotte knew there was no point in denying it.

"Yes, but I am not planning to give him the chance," she continued. "We will stick together and get to the platform quickly. You just need to take the others out along the way and I will worry about James. He will use his ability as much as he can, but..." she frowned. "He won't want to hurt me and that will be his weakness. It may cause him to hesitate". Jun nodded in agreement, knowing her words to be true.

"We should go then," Ethan exhaled. "Carrie, do you have the flag?" he asked. Carrie nodded. They were leaving the platform in the hands of Jun, Ebiere and Daiki, retaining their territory. Charlotte hoped they would not need to defend themselves. The flag James' team was trying to capture hung above their heads, flapping in the lazy warm breeze.

"I will signal for you when we need you. Daiki I will need you to get me to the platform at some stage. Bring Jun and Ebiere with you, when we know the other team has been taken care of. James will not leave that platform. He can see everything from there. I will need your help to get to him," Charlotte explained taking the dark-haired boy, gifted with flight, by the shoulders.

"Of course," he grinned.

"Just remember - I will take care of James. He could tear out of the projection at any stage. I am the only one who will know what he is seeing. Do not chance trying to get that flag alone. It is an easy choice - an obvious choice. He will expect it and he will take you out immediately. Don't risk yourself. We need you. We will not make it to the platform without you," she continued.

"Don't worry Charlotte, I'll follow your orders," he grinned enthusiastically.

Charlotte smiled and turned with the remaining body of the team to begin their offensive.

"I think it's about time we show our dear headmaster just what we are capable of," she declared loading her dart gun and gripping it tightly in her hand.

As one they jumped from the platform and went in a straight line towards the opposite platform. "Remember, James has made the path treacherous," Freya warned, flicking her blonde plait over her shoulder. The others nodded, running quickly together as one. Charlotte found her projection easy to control. Ethan had been such a help with the pre-design, planning the attack, so that it flowed without her getting too involved.

They continued along the path until they came to the first channel, its water turbulent and rough. Eli took hold of Charlotte's left arm, while Carrie grasped her right arm. "One... two... three..." Eli muttered, flinging Charlotte across the channel, sending her flying thirty feet easily. She tucked her head in and tumbled, rolling head first until she was standing once more. Freya came then, thrown by Ethan and Mary. Next Eli and Carrie sent Maria tumbling across the roaring water, followed quickly by Mary and Ethan. This continued until only Eli and Carrie remained. They took a few steps back before easily jumping the distance across the river, their physical strength undeniable.

"How are we doing?" Ethan smiled, as they began running again, the first of the steep steps looming ahead of them. Giant cracks ran like spider webs across its surface, chunks of rock after falling loose and tumbling to the ground beneath.

"So far, so good," Charlotte nodded, glancing up at the true projection of James, standing frowning at the pitch, even though he was still trapped in the projection. She wondered what he would think when this was over, if she could hold it until then. It was only thanks to him she would even use her power. She could see the doubt on his face, the weakest fight against the projection.

Conquering the steps was made easy thanks to the strength of Carrie and Eli. They propelled each of the team up to the top of the cliff, climbing up themselves after with apparent ease. Even the fissures and cracks created by James were easily avoided with their help, though their own climb was a little more demanding than it should have been. It would never have been as easy if they had had to split up. It would have taken longer for each member of her team to haul themselves to the top of the crumbling cliffs. James was able to make it easy for his team, manipulating the terrain, but her team would have had to work for every inch of ground. This terrain was designed to suit one team above the other, she suddenly realised. It made her feel deeply satisfied to know that the team Elmhirst was backing to win weren't making any ground at all, only standing entranced, waiting for her team to take them out.

It was only when they had reached the plateau did Charlotte feel a sudden difference, a sudden and reeling hollowness hit her. She felt almost as if she had been winded, a part of her wrenched away. "Move, he's after realising. He can see us now," she yelled at her team mates. They didn't wait. They were already sprinting across the plateau. The silence to which they moved was unnerving. The crowd only saw the false reality Charlotte had created for them. Charlotte glanced at James' expression, which was a mixture of anger, confusion and something else she couldn't quite recognise. She grinned, the camera hovering by her head, catching her every move. He clapped slowly, shaking his head, a dangerous and bemused expression on his face. Was it admiration she recognised in his eyes or something else? Charlotte did a mock courtesy to the camera before hurrying after her team mates. There was no shelter here, so she had no hope of hiding.

She could feel the ground rumbling beneath her, as he tried to counter her attack. I need to distract him, she thought. The others were ahead of her, but he could see them all now. She knew he would be wary, suspect everything. She closed her eyes and concentrated on him, allowing the crowd and the rest of his team to be entertained by her first projection. She didn't know if it would even work, but the other fear was so strong that she tried to split herself, creating a second projection.

"So what's your plan?" she asked, an image of herself strolling across the platform towards him. James stumbled back and the ground stopped rumbling. His fright was replaced with disbelief and he started to laugh.

"Another projection?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe, maybe not," she shrugged. James grinned, obviously impressed.

"You had fooled me, Owens. I had never expected you could do this," he chuckled, watching her image pacing around him. The original projection was encroaching on her, the crowd around them cheering at the imagined game. "What did you show them?"

"What they came to see — a fight," she replied lightly. "I believe Annakiya has just taken out Eli," she shrugged.

"And I thought you needed fear to make this work," he said, gesturing to the stadium.

"I do. And I am using fear," she smiled, dangerously.

"Whose fear?" he asked, obviously intrigued.

"It doesn't matter," she smiled.

"And you are in control?"

"Yes, for now," she replied, politely. "To be honest I can't believe it took you so long to figure out that I was using my alteration".

"I had a feeling straight away — I thought I saw the shimmer but then everything seemed normal. The instructions were being followed. Everything was going as planned."

"Always trust your instincts," Charlotte exhaled, standing close to him.

"Well my instincts are telling me to shake off this projection and return to my attack," he smiled, turning to her projection.

"But you might hurt me," she said almost shyly, playing on his emotions. She knew she would never utter those words normally, but she was connected to his fear centre now and it was so obvious and easy to exploit it.

"I might, but I think I will be careful about it," he smiled.

"Well you would want to get to it, we're making unhalted advances," she smiled, leaning towards him. Her projection was just inches from his face and it was keeping him distracted. He gritted his teeth and cleared his throat. "Unless you are enjoying the conversation?"

"It is a break in the monotony, I guess," he shrugged, taking a step back from her. He was trying so hard to remain indifferent, though Charlotte couldn't help but notice the pink flush in his cheeks. She grinned at him, a warm feeling spreading through her as she allowed the projection of herself to fade, returning to her view to her team as the ground began to tremble and quake once more.

Thanks so much for reading Altered - It means so much that you have stuck with it so far. Please don't forget to vote if you have enjoyed the chapter - it means a lot! Also feel free to comment - I really appreciate all the comments I can get, especially seeing as this chapter has so many layers of action in it!

I have decided to dedicate this chapter to ELRummery who's a master when it comes to writing action!! Her book Awake is an absolutely pulse-racing and captivating story, hilarious and tense - It has to be one of my all time favourites on WP - I would highly recommend anybody and everybody to read it!! Also I have chosen this chapter because ELRummery has been waiting for Charlotte to get her act together regarding her alteration for a long time - so ELRummery *Tah Dah* 

Thanks again - and don't forget to push that little star before reading on to see where the games leave Charlotte and James!!