“Why aren’t you all dead?” I asked Diana and Levina, as we walked behind the adults, toward my tent, after professor Zokel was done listing off my rewards, including those I hadn’t been aware of, those that hadn’t been included in the bulletin that had been distributed in the school, in the days leading to the contest.

“Dead? What are you talking about?” Levina asked, looking between Diana and me.

Diana shrugged her shoulders. “We told her that anyone that saw the beast was liable to die.”

Levina chuckled. “I think I told her the same. But seeing as we are all living and breathing, I guess that our parents...