The chanting grows louder around me, and the burning pain from the ritual cuts on my arms and legs becomes almost unbearable. I can feel something essential being drained from deep within my core, like my very life force is being siphoned away drop by drop.

“Please, stop this,” I beg desperately, my voice barely above a whisper. “You don’t have to do this.”

Coach Margret looks down at me with cold satisfaction, his eyes gleaming with the power he believes he’s stealing from ...