Page 44 of Flame and Fury

“Shitty public-school education.” I point to my chest.

Estella walks over to a shelf and grabs a folded pile of white clothing. It’s the same tactical gear we’ve been wearing for half this competition except in a much less forgiving color.

“They say that it’s one of Poseidon’s greatest treasures. Supposedly, it’s this massive black diamond, and it has all kinds of magical powers and shit. It was made from the tears of Hera from all of Zeus’s betrayals.”

“Really?” I gape at her.

Estella grins at me, looking more like herself than she has in these last few days. “No. I mean, the part about its power and stuff, yeah that’s true. I don’t know where it came from though. I made that part up.”

I shake my head and nod at the clothing she’s holding. “That’s my outfit for the day?”

“It sure is.”

I take the stack from her and quickly get dressed, throwing on the pants and then the tank top. I put my black boots back on, not seeing any other shoes. I guess they don’t care if the boots match.

“There’s one more thing.” Estella holds out a coiled whip. It’s the weapon I chose when we first came to the compound. I thought it was a show for the cameras because we haven’t used any weapons so far. Having the whip in my hand feels right, but now I’m really curious what we’re going to be tasked with today.

It’s not the smartest choice of a weapon. The Furies were known for their prowess with a whip. From the first time I picked up the weapon I had an affinity with it. Wielding it is second nature.

Just as I open the door to leave Estella’s room, she calls out, “Wren.”

I turn to look at her. Worry creases the corners of her eyes and she’s looping a loose string from her sweater around her finger. When she doesn’t say anything after a long pause, I raise my eyebrows.

“Good luck today,” Estella finally murmurs before she turns toward the counter. She starts organizing the makeup littered there with a level of attention it doesn’t require.

I realize right then that I might not see her again. My goal is to remove myself from the games. This very well could be the last time we ever speak. “Thanks, Estella. For everything. Take care of yourself.”

With that, I step out into the training room and wait for the rest of the champions to appear.

It turns out the white clothing is just for me. In fact, all the champions have their own color. Preston is wearing black; Jade has on a brown set of fatigues. Drake’s clothing is yellow, which is about as much of an FU as my white ones. Greer’s pants and shirt are red, and Atlas’s are green. Jasper is the last one to come meet us and his color is a bright blue. Everyone has their weapons strapped on. I don’t like the look of Preston with his flail, or Jade with her Sai.

“Is today’s challenge to form a rainbow?” Jasper eyes the assortment of colorful clothing.

“Stop talking.” Billy stomps into the gym with our transporter guard on his heels. “Gather together. Let’s go.”

I see Billy’s good mood has improved. Great. I hope that means the clerics are nervous.

We all grab hold of someone close by and the guard transports us away from the training center.

We’re immediately hit with a downpour of rain. Fuck. This is going to be a great look with my white clothing. At least it’s not cold. I hold my hand over my eyes and take in our surroundings. Steam rises off a broken slab of concrete. It must have been extremely hot before the rain started.

“What in the actual fuck?” Jasper tightens the knot at the top of his head, then pushes wet strands of hair off his face.

Rain hammers down as I scan the area. They’ve brought us to an abandoned amusement park. What the hell is this place? Besides the fodder for my nightmares. Broken down and rusted rides are scattered randomly around us. Weeds have grown up through the middle of decrepit steel frames like they’re trying to pull them back into the earth and claim their remains as part of a metal graveyard.

The ground is one giant muddy mess, and everything is half rotted. There’s a stage off to the right that looks like it’s been recently rehabbed. When I see Thaddeus standing under an umbrella held by his assistant Rupert, I understand why it’s the nicest looking thing in this place. We couldn’t have Thaddeus sticking his foot through a rotten board and getting a boo boo, now could we.

“Champions, do we have a challenge for you today.” Thaddeus’s voice echoes strangely. There’s an eerie quality to it and I can’t tell if it’s because this place is creepy as hell, or if the rain is doing weird things to the acoustics. The drones are back overhead capturing Thaddeus’s introduction, while fighting against the wind.

“My darlings, if you wouldn’t mind.” Thaddeus lifts his hand and women dressed in the most ridiculous carnival barker outfits sashay over to us. Each of them is under their own large umbrella. They’re wearing the shortest shorts I’ve ever seen, red and white striped vests and matching boater hats. Their high-heeled shoes aren’t just ludicrous in this muddy, overgrown field, they’re treacherous. The women wobble over to us, each one stopping in front of a champion. One by one they hold out the now familiar, burnt orange envelope. I snap it from my woman’s hand and hunch over to protect the paper from the rain as much as possible. There are already big splotches of water warping the envelope.

I flip it over, inspecting the red blob keeping the envelope closed. The shape pressed into the wax is a bird.

Which of Heracles’s challenge had to do with birds?

All I remember is something about man-eating birds that Heracles had to pick off because they were terrorizing people. Do we really have to fight carnivorous birds? Nothing would surprise me at this point.

Thaddeus has been talking the whole time, but I haven’t heard a word he’s said. My brain is shuffling through the small amount of information I have. I only realize he’s given us a signal when everyone tears into their envelopes. I rip mine open and pull out the parchment, reading the clue before it’s ruined by the rain.

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