Page 118 of A Drop of Anguish
I take the moment of peace to examine the pit below. The maze is not simple—I have to focus to follow it through. There are several open sections throughout. One has a glowing cauldron in the middle, pink steam billowing up. Another has a dark pulsing hole in the middle. Another, what looks like a big boulder, but on closer inspection—it’s breathing. A tail whips out, sliding against the ground. I don’t know what it is, but I wouldn’t want to face it.
This has to be the games, doesn’t it? Does that mean at any moment, Corrine and the others will come out and begin fighting each other? Fighting that lizard creature? Will there be more challenges thrown in?
Nausea rolls through me.
“Where is the jinn?” I say loudly. “I want to meet with the jinn!”
Because I can’t just sit here any longer. Jarron grabs my hand and squeezes gently.
“All in good time, love,” a feminine voice I assume to be the jinn floats through the air.
I press my eyes closed.
Then, the whole cavern darkens. Shadows fill the pit below. I squeeze Jarron’s hand tightly. “I can’t just sit here and watch them die,” I whisper to him because I don’t know what I’ll do when it comes down to it. Will I jump in to help? How stupid would that be?
“I know,” he whispers. I don’t know if he has a plan, but I hope he does. Has he been communicating with Laithe? Is help already on the way? Closing in on the cave system to trap the culprits inside.
That thought sounds too good to be true, but I cling to it anyway because it makes me feel so much less helpless.
Help might be coming. For me and for the kids they’re going to force into fighting.
Grinding sounds begin, and I notice a small platform rising from the shadowed hole. Ten forms stand on the platform with black masks over their faces.
Their posture is odd, though. They stand up straight, heads high. Those—those can’t be scared contestants, can they?
“The Cosmic Council welcomes you,” one of them calls.
The Cosmic Council? How lame is that.
“Welcome to the Akrasia Games.”
In the next instant, the world turns pitch-black, and the floor drops out from beneath me.
46
We’re Not Spectators— We Are The Contestants
Sharp talons grip my waist as I fall, and I cling to the demon I should probably fear. But right now, he is my only lifeline.
I can’t see anything except darkness but his warm, strong body is wrapped around mine protectively. When I’m set firmly on my feet, my heart is racing so fast I’m worried it’ll do permanent damage.
A spotlight shines on a platform to our right, twenty feet up. The masked men and women are now above us, sitting in their stone chairs looking down on us.
We’re not watching the games,I realize.
We are in the games.
The light serves to brighten the pit we’ve fallen into, enough for me to get a sense of my surroundings. My heart hammers as I stare at the stone walls covered in streaks of mud and what I’m choosing to believe is red paint.
This isn’t the Akrasia Games, I tell myself. We are not bound to any games; we haven’t signed any contracts. Our goal is simply to survive until help arrives. Which means there is little they can do to control us, except the physical threats they throw at us.
I will certainly not be harming any of my friends. The only question is, what do they want from us? A cool chill drops over me, and I realize how vulnerable I am. It would be easy for them to kill me if that’s what they wanted. They have magic; I don’t. All they need to do is drop the temperature low enough, and I’d freeze pretty quickly. Even Jarron couldn’t save me from that without getting us out of here, and at the moment, it seems he’s unable to do that.
I take in every detail around me. The pit is maybe a football field in length but with walls all around to make a sort of maze with different sections. Each section likely has something to fight or solve.
“Oh, that’s better,” the booming male voice says. “Let’s try this again. Welcome to the Akrasia Games.”
Jarron tenses around me, a constant growl vibrating in his chest. He’s waiting for the moment he can kill those who would threaten us. I can feel the tension in his limbs, his eagerness to destroy. The fact that he doesn’t, tells me he’s waiting for something.
