Page 34 of Flame and Fury

“Nathaniel said that earlier.” I catch Wren’s eyes, and we stare at each other. I don’t know what’s going on in her brain, but there’s something about Nathaniel's phrasing that’s giving me pause.

“Tantalizing,” I murmur, some piece of knowledge just outside my grasp.

Greer narrows her eyes at me. “Are you losing it? Already. It’s only been a few hours.”

“Nathaniel said this was going to be a tantalizing feast,” I say the words slowly, as if weighing each of them individually will bring out their true meaning.

“I just said that.” Wren rolls her eyes but then focuses her glare at the table overflowing with poisoned food.

Greer sits up straight, staring at Wren like she’s said something important.All three of us are struggling to recall something important.

“What is it? What do you know?” Wren asks.

Greer’s eyes dart back-and-forth like she’s reading words on a page, only there’s nothing there for her to look at. I’m still standing in the shade, considering ripping my pants until I have a pair of shorts. Nico is in the chair where we left him. I cross over to his side and frown down at his reddened hands and pale face. He needs medical attention. Whatever was in that stream, Nico isn’t healing from it as quickly as I’d expect.

“What are you doing?” Wren asks Greer, letting her head fall back to the couch like it’s too much work to keep it up.

“Shut up.” Greer holds up a finger. Wren closes her mouth with a shrug, waiting for Greer to finish whatever it is she’s doing.

“Tantalizing,” she says, turning to look at me like she’s asked a question and I have the answer.

“Okay, you guys are all just repeating the same thing over and over again. Does anyone have anything else to share?” Drake says with a groan. He’s lying on the bed, Jade curled up in the fetal position on the other side. At least she’s still alive, even if she does look like something scraped off the bottom of my shoe.

“I’m trying to think. There’s something I’m forgetting.” Greer presses her hand over her eyes.

“Atlas,” Wren calls out to me.

I leave Nico with a squeeze to his shoulder and stride over to the couch where Wren and Greer are sitting. I squat down in front of Wren, getting on one knee. “What is it?”

“What does the word tantalizing mean to you?”

I cock my head, my thoughts immediately going to earlier this morning. My eyes roam down Wren’s body and back up again, before I even consider an answer.

“Whatever you’re thinking, that’s not what I meant.”

Inspiration strikes me and Greer at the same time. We both jerk to our feet, staring at each other.

“Tantalus,” Greer says.

“Yeah, Tantalizing. Now that we’ve all said that word a dozen times has anyone figured out what the hell it means? Wait, what’s Tantalus?” Wren’s gaze flits between me and Greer.

“Tantalus is one of the old stories of Olympus. He was some prideful asshole who tried to trick the gods and they punished him by…” Greer's voice drifts off, her face scrunching up in confusion, like she can’t remember. It doesn’t matter because I do.

I pick up where she pauses. “They punished him by surrounding him with food and water that was just out of reach. He could never sate his hunger. The gods placed him in a pool that drained whenever he tried to take a drink. He was stuck beneath fruit trees, but anytime he reached for an apple or a pear, the branches would sway out of reach.”

I look over at the skin-stripping stream and the overflowing table of poisonous food. Nathaniel is punishing us just like the gods punished Tantalus.

CHAPTER20

WREN

“Idon’t suppose the story ended with Tantalus finally reaching an apple or getting to take a drink of water?” I look back and forth between Atlas and Greer, only vaguely recalling the myth.

“Supposedly, he suffers an eternity of thirst and hunger.” Greer glares at the table of food like she can set it on fire with her eyes.

I push the crispy strands of hair off my forehead and rub my tired eyes. My sweat has dried, leaving a fine layer of salt on my skin and hair. “They can’t leave us here forever. That would be the end of the games. Either they’ll eventually let us out of this place or there has to be a way for us to escape.”

I search the clearing for any trace of a passage out of here. Nico is shifting restlessly in his chair, his hands dangling off the arms to avoid touching anything. They look like they’ve been burned in a vat of acid. Jade is on the bed panting heavily. Someone at least moved her away from the piles of vomit but she’s obviously still in pain. I look over at Preston, surprised that he’s still doing fine. Maybe his insides are already so rotten that the poison isn’t affecting him.

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