Page 67 of Court of Lies and Deceit

All the other teams saw our location when we were forced to climb over the wall.

I curse under my breath, glancing between the two openings while my pulse thrums in my ears.

“We need to move. Now.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

My heart slams against my ribs, drowning out the sound of my pounding feet, as we hurtle through the corridors and deserted rooms. We don’t even know where we’re going. We just need to put as much distance between us and our previous location as possible. Otherwise, we’re going to have to fight three teams at once. And we won’t survive that.

I keep my magic attached to the excitement in their chests as we run, but it doesn’t matter that I decrease it. They’re still coming. I can feel them. Three entire teams. All eighteen of them, converging on us.

Shit.

Picking up speed, I throw myself around the corner after my friends.

The farther into the arena we get, the more decorated the rooms and corridors become. Where we started, they were all empty. But now, furniture has started to pop up. Tables and chairs and pedestals with ceramic pottery and even full-length statues of Unseelie fae warriors now line the walls at various locations. They haven’t been arranged like someone would decorate a real room or hallway. Instead, the mismatchedfurniture just stands in random spots. As if they’re meant to be used as tools to create a more interesting fight.

We sprint through the next opening and into a room full of chairs. They have been placed all across the room, and I slam right into one before I even realize it. Wooden clattering echoes between the walls as the chair crashes into another one, but it’s barely audible over the cheers and mocking laughter from the crowd above.

Shoving the chairs out of the way, I ignore the jeering of the audience and instead whip my head from side to side. There are three openings inside this room. Those glittering silver sparks of excitement in our opponents’ chests are still getting closer. My pulse pounds in my ears as I snap my gaze to the right. The group in that direction has picked up speed.

“Left,” I yell to my own team.

They don’t even hesitate a second. Isera leaps over a cluster of chairs while Galen tries to shove another one out of his way. A growl of frustration rips from Draven’s throat, and a moment later, storm winds whirl through the room.

A deafening sound of snapping and clanking wood echoes around us as Draven blows the sea of chairs straight into the stone wall and the opening to the right. The chairs hit the stone with a crash, wooden legs and armrests snapping in half from the force, until the cluster blocks the entrance from that side.

Above us, a few cheers of approval rise from the audience. But most of them call out curses and threats that we’ll be wiped out by whatever other team they’re rooting for.

With the mass of chairs finally out of the way, we dart towards the opening on the left unhindered. The yells from the crowd grow louder, as if they’re furious that we got out before the team hunting us from the right could reach the room.

Skidding out through the opening, we find ourselves in a long and wide corridor, which is completely empty.

Strangely, the crowd above us roars in excitement.

Damn. Was this a trap? Did they actually want us to go left?

We sprint down the corridor.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” I yell to my friends. “We should?—”

A slab of stone shoots out from the wall behind us. I yelp as it slams into the wall on the other side of the corridor, blocking off our way back into the room with the chairs. The crowd cheers again.

While still hurtling down the corridor towards the next opening, I cast a quick glance behind me. I have a really,reallybad feeling about this.

“Isera,” I call. “Create another staircase! We need to get out of this corridor. Right now!”

Stone grinds against stone.

I gasp as a flat slab of stone shoots out from the wall to our right again. But this time, it’s above us. Dread crackles through my every nerve as a thick ceiling made of stone shoots out and then slams in place against the other wall. It blocks out the previously open sky above us entirely.

It also blocks out the light.

Air escapes my lungs in a huff as I slam right into someone. The corridor is now pitch black around us except for the faint light coming from the opening up ahead. I stumble, throwing out my hands to steady myself as I try to regain my balance. My hands meet a slim body wearing fighting leathers. Isera.

I frown at her in the darkness. Why did she stop like that? We need to make it to the opening.

Grabbing her by the arm, I start pulling her with me towards that faint light from the doorway up ahead. “Come on.”

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