by G. Bailey
I pull my daggers out and hand one to Mads. She stares at it like it’s a bomb, looking back at me with trepidation in her eyes.
“We need to climb up and get out,” I tell her, watching as she puts a hand to her temple. I notice a trickle of blood running down her face - a scalp wound, maybe. Dust and ash cover her skin, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look as small or afraid as she does now.
I become aware of the ground starting to rumble again, and adrenaline rushes through me. It’s possible this fissure isn’t stable. Whatever we do, we need to do it now.
High above us, I can make out the sound of cheering, and realise that the spectators must be watching this all unfolding somehow. They’re cheering for blood, and the higher gods promised it to them; if we die, we’re giving them exactly what they want. My family would never be the same, and Xur would never face justice for what he’s done. The justice twins would be executed, and Storm would probably try to kill the higher gods only to be overwhelmed by their superior numbers. Either way, everyone would cheer more.
I don’t want to die. I want to see the looks on the higher gods’ faces when we escape from here and win this game.
First, though, there’s Mads to deal with: she looks like she’s barely keeping it together. “I-I can’t climb. I’m terrible at it,” she pleads with me, looking around desperately for another way out of this. “You know me, Karma! I could barely get up the rock wall in gym class? How am I supposed to climb that? No - no way. It’s impossible. I can’t-”
“Look at me,” I say, interrupting her just as she’s really starting to freak out. I feel like a mother trying to coax her daughter off the diving board for the first time - I never thought I’d end up being the responsible one out of the two of us. “There’s no other way out of here, Mads. If you don’t climb, you’ll either get a heat stroke or fall into that pit.” I nod over my shoulder in the direction of the ledge. “Either way, you’ll die, and the higher gods will win this.” There’s a pause, and I add, “And they will kill Peyton.” Part of me feels guilty for twisting the knife like that, but now isn’t the time for half-measures. Mads’ eyes go wide, but she remains silent, and I seize on my chance. “Everyone we love will die if we don’t make it out of here, Mads,” I tell her. “Do you love my brother?”
A moment of silence passes, and I could almost swear I see her blushing under the layer of ash and dust. “Yes,” she replies quietly, although she is still freaking the feck out. “Yes, I think I do.”
“Then get your pretty ass climbing this wall so you don’t break his heart, as the fecker clearly loves you. I want my future sister-in-law to be alive and fighting for her life,” I tell her, my face set with determination.
Mads nods reluctantly. “Okay,” she says. “All right.”
Satisfied, I turn and run a hand along the wall. The stone surface doesn’t feel all that tough - that’s probably why it collapsed in the first place. Peyton said that the daggers were enchanted to hit anything I aim at, so in theory, they should go into the rock if that’s what I aim for, right? The logic is tenuous, I know, but it’s the best chance we friggin’ have at this point.
I wait for Madison to come stand beside me. Sticking my tongue out, I line up my strike and then hit the wall with the blade of my dagger. Relief washes over me as, just as I was expecting, it pierces through the rock surface with relative ease. I turn back to Mads, nodding at the knife. “Just slam the dagger into the wall and use it to pull yourself up. Be careful, though - not all these rocks will be stable,” I warn her. Not that I have a feckin’ clue in hell what I’m talking about. I’m just calmer than she is, so I’m doing my best to make it sound like I know what I’m doing. “I’m going to be right behind you, okay?” I say, peering into her frightened eyes.
“You’re going to be right behind me,” Mads tells herself on repeat, like saying it over and over again will make her braver. I smile at her, pulling the dagger out of the wall as I watch her size up the task ahead of her. At least if she goes first, there’s a chance I’ll be able to catch her if she falls. I try to block out the sounds of the creatures below as I look up at the dark clouds in the sky high above us. They remind me of Storm, and part of me wonders if he was the one to summon them. Either way, Storm and the justice twins are what I need to be fighting for, what I need to live for - otherwise it will all be for nothing.
I support Max’s lower back with my hand as she plunges her knife into the wall and begins to haul herself up. She’s athletic, and she manages to keep her balance as she continues to crawl up the stone surface like a spider. It seems to be coming easier now, and I watch as she uses a large outcropping of rock to push herself up even higher.
After she has gone up a bit further, I brace myself before slamming my dagger into the soft wall and beginning my ascent. I have to brace my feet against the rock as I move, warning myself not to look down as I move higher and higher.
We both keep climbing, but it gets harder and harder with every step, the steeper the face becomes. I can feel sweat trickling down my face and the back of my neck, stinging the cuts on my skin as I force myself to continue. My shoulder is crying out in pain, and my muscles are shaking with exhaustion, but I focus on putting one foot in front of the other and continue to move.
Eventually we approach the top, and I can feel the cool air of the outside world on my face… but that’s when I hear the noise. I make the mistake of looking down, and see with horror that some of the creatures from the fire have made it out of the pit. They are scrambling up the rock face with frightening speed, their shrieks and hisses grating on my ears and echoing throughout the cavern.
“Shite, we need to move! Now!” I scream at Mads, and she looks back at me, following my gaze. Her eyes widen in fear, and she starts to quickly climb up the rock. I do the same, not looking where I’m going or what I’m doing, just desperate to get away from the creatures. I look up for a second, seeing Mads pulling herself over the top of the rock. I’m inches away from the top when a hand grabs my ankle, and I scream as the hand burns me. I keep screaming as I try to kick it off, but the creature doesn’t let me go. Green lightning flickers on my hands, and I shove my one hand into its face, blasting it with the lightning. The creature wails, crying out and letting go to fall into the fire. Mads grabs my other arm, pulling me up as more creatures keep climbing up. I pull my dagger out of the rock and run to the maze wall. I slam my dagger into the wall as Mads comes to my side. I take her dagger and slam it higher on the wall.
“We can climb this and then run to the middle. We don’t have any other choice,” I shout to her over the sounds of the screaming crowds, who seem to have picked up their cheers now they have seen we are alive.
“Good idea,” she breathlessly says. My bestie looks exhausted, but I’m not letting her die now. We are so close to winning this.
“Go!” I shout, spinning around as one of the creatures climbs out of the ground. I try to make my power come back, but nothing happens as I stare at the creature inching its way towards me. Its skin burns, and lava drops onto the ground as it keeps walking towards me.
“Karma, climb!” Mads shouts, and I reluctantly take my eyes off the creature to grab the daggers and pull myself up. Mads grabs my arm as the creature gets to me. I hold onto Mads’s hand tightly as I pull the dagger out and turn, slamming the dagger into the head of the creature. It wails as it begins to fall backwards, all of its body shaking harshly as Mads helps me get onto the wall. I stand up, pushing past the pain in my ribs and ankle as we look around. All of the ground of the maze has fallen in, making it very dangerous if we fall off any part of this wall. I see the glowing gold centre of the maze not far from us. I also see the creatures climbing out of all the holes in the ground.
“Run, run, and feckin’ run, Mads!” I scream at her, and she does, quick as her arse can take her down the maze. I stay as close as I can all the way to the centre of the maze, where the gold band is floating in the middle of the air. The
ground below it is gone, nothing but fire lays underneath it. It’s impossible for us to reach it, not without risking falling.
“I’m going to go to that side, and you stay here. We need to lie down on the wall and reach for it at the same time. Be careful not to fall,” I tell her, looking around and seeing creatures climbing the walls, burning them as they go.
“I love you, you know that?” she says, and I can only give her a shaky nod before turning and running around the wall. I look around at the stadium full of people screaming our names, screaming for us to fall in or worse. I can’t see my family, but I can see the higher gods. They sit in their chairs, seeming nothing more than impressed with how this has all turned out. They think this is the end, I can see it. I lie down on the wall, slowly inching my hands out to reach for the band. Mads does the same, but our fingers never quite touch the edge. I struggle closer, so much that I’m scared I’m going to fall.
The ground shakes, the world seems paused as I stare at Mads. We both know we have to grab the band or we die. I’d rather die winning than at the hands of those creatures. I nod to her, and it’s enough for her to know what we need to do. At the same time, we both push forward and grab the band, screaming as our bodies fall. We fall down as a bell rings, and the ground closes up. We land on it with a thud, both our shaky hands holding onto the band. My heart is beating so loudly as I look at Mads, and we both start laughing. It is a laugh of relief and a laugh of feckin’ exhaustion.
“Congratulations. Two games done, three to go.” Xur’s voice thunders over the speakers, and I collapse as relief fills me, and I smile widely. Shame everything else just friggin’ hurts, and I have no clue how I’m getting up off this floor.
12
“Nope, no way.” I bat Killian’s hands away from my shoulder.
“Karma, seriously,” he replies, raking a hand through his blond hair, “just let me take a look at it.”
“Come on, Killian,” I fire back. “You aren’t healing me like that. It’s only a broken rib and burnt ankle.”
He snorts. “Oh, sure. Only a broken rib and a burnt ankle. Next you’ll be telling me it’s only a punctured lung or a dislocated shoulder.”
I would give a dry chuckle, but laughing still sends bolts of pain through my ribcage, so I bite my lip. “Look, it’s really okay,” I insist. “I can survive it.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Killian replies, taking hold of the hem of my cardigan with both hands. “Honest to gods, Karma, you’re the first person I’ve met who thinks she can shake off an injury that would leave most people in the hospital.”
“Well, I’m not like most people,” I respond, but I don’t protest as Killian helps me pull off my cardigan. I appreciate the feeling of his steady, gentle hands on me, and a thrill rushes through me as I remember the way he touched me the other night… but now isn’t the time, I remind myself with a hiss as I painfully wrench my shoulder.
As painful as my injuries were, while I was in the maze, I at least had fear and adrenaline to block out the worst of it. The second that wore off, though, it really started to hurt - to the point of making me want to scream. I feel like I’ve been run over by a car, and not even Killian’s gentle movements are enough to spare me from the agony that’s coursing through my upper body.
Luckily, Mum brought along some healing liquid she got from the magical market when my family first arrived here. She claimed she had been saving it for a special occasion, and that today certainly qualified - thank the gods. It’s a pretty decent painkiller - made from nymph tears, if the shopkeeper was to be believed - but it still hurts to move around too much. Between the moderate healing abilities of the lesser gods and the possibility that I’ve inherited some of the higher gods’ healing, I can only hope this won’t last too long. Storm certainly seemed to think that was the case; at least, that’s what he told me when he picked me up off the ground in the maze so he could carry me back to the castle with everyone else. I felt a little like a child being bundled away like that, but at that point the pain was so severe that I could barely protest. Maybe it had been foolish of him to charge into the maze after me as soon as the game was over, but I wasn’t about to complain. I also got to witness Peyton running up to Mads and scooping her up off the ground before kissing her and telling her he loved her over and over again. It nearly made me feckin’ cry, it was so romantic - and I don’t even cry when I watch Titanic.
I’m left in my bra as Killian casts my cardigan aside, and I shiver against the cold air of the room. He places his warm hands on my shoulders and makes eye contact with me for a moment before doing a quick scan of my injuries. I can see the concern on his face, and it makes me go all mushy inside for a moment - but only for a moment, mind you. “At least let me heal one of the two things,” Killian suggests after a few moments of looking me over, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows.
“Killian, no,” I reply, shaking my head adamantly. “I’m okay - really. The pain isn’t all that bad now, thanks to my mum,” I tell him. As much as I would appreciate the additional relief, I’m no stranger to how healing magic works - it would take a lot out of him, and I don’t like seeing him in pain, so there is no way I’m about to let him do that.
Killian frowns, his golden eyes bright with concern. “There could be another game tomorrow, for all we know,” he counters, brushing a strand of hair out of my face, his hand lingering on my cheek for a moment. “You need to heal, Karma.”
I lean into his touch for a moment, letting my eyes drift closed before looking back up at him. “Thank you, Killian,” I say quietly. “I’m fine, though. I swear.”
“And still as pigheaded as ever,” he says, a little half-smile appearing on his face, and then he leans down and presses his lips gently to mine. My heartbeat picks up speed as I embrace his kiss, wishing the sweet moment could last forever… but it doesn’t, and all too soon, he’s pulling away. “I don’t like to see you hurt,” he murmurs quietly, averting his eyes like he’s almost embarrassed to be confessing this. Looks like I’m not the only one around here who has trouble dealing with my emotions.
“I know that,” I tell him, “and I don’t like to see you hurt either. But this isn’t just about me, Killian. If something happens to me, I need you and Seth and Storm to be in top condition so you can protect my family. I can’t have you putting this on yourself.” He opens his mouth as if to protest, but I hold up a hand to stop him. “I’m alive though,” I say. “I made it through the first games… even if I didn’t quite expect to,” I admit with a dry laugh.
“I did,” Killian tells me, without a hint of teasing in his voice. “I believe you could always win if you wanted to. The higher gods have nothing on you, Karma Kismet,” he says, and I grin at him. Electricity seems to crackle between us for a moment, but we’re interrupted by the sound of my mum shouting for us. I clear my throat and step back, taking my cardigan back from Killian and gingerly pulling it around my shoulders as I walk out of the bedroom I share with Mads and down the stairs.
Mum is standing in the middle of our living quarters, looking anxious. My dad and Seth are there, too, although they’re standing by the door and talking in low voices when I enter. I see Seth’s eyes flit over to me, and for a moment our gazes meet, but that’s when Mum walks over to me.
“How are you feeling?” she asks, her eyes drifting from me to Killian. I see a hint of recognition on her face, and if the situation weren’t so serious, I would expect her to ask a coy question about the boy I had in my room, but now is hardly the time for jokes.
“Better,” I reply, not wanting to alarm her. “I’m still sore, but I feel better than I did before. I’m guessing I’ll be fine in a few hours.” I glance over at Dad and Seth again. “I was just going to lie down for a bit. Is everything okay?” I ask.
“Xur invited us to a meal,” Seth replies dryly, coming to stand next to me and Killian with Dad in tow. “Oh, and when I say invited, I mean he took Damien with him to make sure we
would all come along like good little slaves,” he adds, not sounding the least bit impressed.
“What an utter piece of shi-” I start to say.
“None of that language,” Mum interrupts me. “You are still my daughter, and Kismet women do not speak such words.” She puts her hands on her hips, looking at me sternly as if I didn’t almost die a few hours ago. I guess some things never change.
“I’ve heard you swear a million times at Michael, mum,” I retort, nodding in the direction of the corner of the room, where our family goat has been placed for the time being. After the fiasco in the arena, I was a little surprised to see that Killian had brought him back, but Mum seems to enjoy having him around. If he helps to ease her anxiety about my safety, then I’m all for it. Michael is currently sleeping on the sofa, curled up like a housecat, a pink blanket draped over him. And he is snoring. That goat isn’t right.
Kit has been running around our apartments like he owns the place, too. The little goblin is currently perched on top of the fridge to take a nap after enjoying the steak Mum cooked him. It must be nice to not have to live solely on table scraps anymore.
“Well,” she huffs, “Michael is a naughty animal at times.”
“Naughty animal, huh?” I say, trying not to laugh, but Killian chuckles as I waggle my eyebrows at him. It takes everything I have not to burst out laughing, and Mum rolls her eyes.