“Good for you,” she hisses.
Knitting my brows, I look at her, perplexed. “What? What’s good for me?” I can’t help but ask.
“Making yourself useful is a good way to keep your family alive.” Her words are harmless enough, but her tone is pure acid.
“I want to keep my family alive.” I don’t match her tone. I am clueless as to why she’s so angry. Surely she understands that when you’re lucky enough to have a family, it’s you’re responsibility to do anything in your power to ensure their safety.
“Huh.” She folds her arms across her chest and lifts one eyebrow defiantly. “I manage to stay alive without working at the Task Center.” She spits the last two words of her sentence with such disdain I half expect to see a trail of fire blazing from her lips.
“How?” How do you stay alive?” I wonder aloud.
Her gaze is so intense and laden with raw strength it penetrates any and all defenses I have. “By killing whoever they put against me.”
Icy fingers skim my skin at her words. I swallow hard and will the prickling sensation washing over my skin to cease. “So you kill innocent humans like they do?” I clip my head toward Cas and his friends.
“That hasn’t happened yet. They keep trying to put me against warriors.” She glances at Cas. She doesn’t conceal her contempt.
“I don’t understand.” I rake a hand through my hair. “How are you alive?”
“I refuse to die,” she says cryptically.
I splay my hands at my sides, questioning her with them and my features, which are currently contorted in confusion. Her words make little sense. Is she being intentionally vague and mysterious? Or is she just messing with me. Either way, I find myself feeling equal parts frustrated and intrigued. I allow my hands to fall against my thighs with a slap. “Whatever,” I sigh. “I prefer to help those monsters build things rather than watch my family die or kill my own kind. Judge me all you want.” Exasperation tinges my words. I’m drained in every sense of the word from all that’s happened in the days since I hid, perched in a treetop poised to kill a beast for dinner.
“So would I, but I have no talent for it,” she surprises me by saying.
I walk to the bars separating us. Frosty blue eyes so arresting in color and clarity cause my breath to catch in my chest for a fleeting moment. I shake my head almost imperceptibly to collect myself and a thought pops into my suddenly jumbled brain. “What’re you going to do if they throw children into the arena with you?”
Reyna tunnels the fingers of both hands through her long, platinum hair. “I’m not sure.” The edge has left her. The hardness has been tempered with something else, something thoughtful and almost sensitive. “Maybe I’d just forfeit my life.” Her features smooth prettily. She absently twirls a lock of her hair, watching her finger slip through the silky strand. “I could never kill a child.” She looks up at me unexpectedly. And in her eyes, I see truth. I see compassion. My heart stutters.
“I understand,” I barely manage. I’m too busy controlling the strange urge to reach through the bars and take her hand in mine. She doesn’t belong here. Neither does Ara, or Pike, or Kohl. Or me. None of us do. Cas and his friends seem to enjoy it but I bet there was a time they felt just as I do. A quick look over my shoulder at him reveals that he’s essentially trying to bore a hole in my skull with his eyes alone. So maybe I’m wrong about him. When he drags his index finger across his throat in a slitting motion, I realize I was definitely wrong. I turn back toward Reyna, my heart pumping a little faster at the thought of seeing her again, only to find she’s gone. I scan the cell. Females mill about and it isn’t until a few sit down that I see her in the far corner of the space. Her head is bowed, her hair shielding her features and I’m left with a feeling of emptiness so profound, so unexpected, and so inexplicable, it takes my breath away. I can’t call out to her. I can’t risk her ignoring me. But I want to. I want to squeeze through the bars and go sit beside her. I can’t do that either. I’m left to do one thing: turn around and walk away. I find Pike and sit beside him. Seconds later, Kohl joins us. We quietly discuss some sort of plan to stay alive. It’s a lofty goal. Survival in the arena seems close to impossible, and the Urthmen would never even free us if we became champions. Cas, the supposed champion of the arena, doesn’t have freedom. He’s locked up in the cell with us. Someone as cunning and deadly as he should want to be free. Even though the Urthmen are fans of his in the arena, they would kill him if he walked the streets. He’s not a champion. He’s a killer. A slave for their entertainment. And should they no longer feel entertained by him, he will be put to death, I’m sure. My thoughts, as well as our discussion, are interrupted by dinner. The meager meal consists of what I hear the other men call bread and a cup of water. I inhale mine and guzzle the water so quickly I’m left wishing I’d savored it. I don’t know when my next meal will be. Kohl and Pike continue to bounce around ideas of escape. My attention goes and comes. I continually search the neighboring cell for Reyna. A few times, our eyes meet, which makes my belly feel as though it’s filled with butterflies flapping their wings frenziedly. I’d love to savor the feeling even more than the taste of the bread. But exhaustion claims me as night consumes the day. Before long, Kohl and Pike close their eyes and nod off. Ara does the same. I try to force my eyes to stay open, to continue to be comforted by the sight of Reyna, but fatigue wins. I drift off into oblivion.
I’m not sure how much time has passed when the sound of the cell door creaking open rouses me. I blink several times, my vision blurry for a moment. But when it clears, the sight before me sends horror bolting through my core. Krono has returned. Monstrous in appearance in every sense of the word, I freeze and follow him with my eyes as he enters the women’s cell. Meager light from the tunnel deepens the creases of his face and darkens the hollows beneath his eyes. My muscles tense and twitch when I see him standing over Reyna, his gaze traveling the length of her body, studying her. A dark, foul-looking tongue slips from his mouth and he runs it over the space where lips should reside. Watching him do that while hovering over Reyna evokes a surge of rage. She remains as she is, lying on the cell floor unmoving. I wonder whether she’s really asleep. Any doubt I have is confirmed when her eyes open and lock on mine. I see resolve lingering in their icy blue depths. And fear.
Her fear awakens something within me, a primal part of me, gnarled and battered by recent days but present nevertheless. I sit up ever so slightly, careful to remain silent and unseen. But vigilant. Waiting.
Krono turns from Reyna, and for a second, I think he hears me move, or sees me. But he doesn’t turn to face me. Instead, he moves from one sleeping girl to the next, pausing for a considerable amount of time as he weighs his options. Though I ache for any girl taken, a small part of me is relieved he’s passed over Reyna. That relief drains from me, however, when he stops at Ara. Looming over her like doom incarnate, I can hear his breathing become heavy. His tongue moistens the outer part of his mouth again. He leers at her. Sweet, innocent, and unaware, Ara sleeps. And that gnarled, battered thing in me, awakened seconds ago, roars to life. Not tempered by concern for self-preservation, all-consuming rage spirals like a tornado of fire through the center of my being.
I sit up. Reluctant to look away from my sister, even for a fraction of a second, I steal a glance at Kohl. His gaze is deadly as it drills Krono. It flickers my way. He looks as I do. He looks as though he’s ready to explode from his position and attack.
My eyes leave Kohl and return to Krono. The grotesque Urthman watches Ara for a moment longer before reaching down, wrapping his hand around her slender neck and lifting her up.
“Wh-what’s happening?” she screams when her eyes pop open. “No! Please no! Leave me alone!” She flails and kicks as she yells. Krono subdues her by bringing her close to his body and stifling her cries with his hand, clamping it firmly over her mouth.
I’m suddenly standing, racing toward them and shouting obscenities I’ve only
ever heard but never spoken.
Kohl springs to his feet. “Get your hands off her!” he shouts, his words swallowed by mine.
My body slams against the bars that divide the cells. I know my efforts are in vain, still I ram them like a feral creature, frenzied by fury and impotent all at once. “Let her go!” My voice is raw and hoarse, and I continue to drive my shoulder into the bars ineffectively.
“Shut your mouth, humans, or she isn’t coming back at all.” Krono’s voice is soft as he levels us with dead eyes. I see that her life, like all of our lives, is meaningless to him. Live or die, whichever she does, makes no difference to him whatsoever. But it means everything to me and my brothers. He holds our gazes for a beat, knowing fully that his threat is enough to quiet us, then drags her while holding his hand over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks. Heart thundering in my ears and tears of frustration and worry so profound it’s maddening stinging my eyes, all I can do is watch. Watch my baby sister dragged from her cell to be violated. I clench my fists and am about to punch the steel bars before me when, from the corner of my eye, I see platinum hair trail like a banner in wind behind an athletic form. With impressive speed and dexterity, Reyna closes the distance between she and Krono just as he reaches the door. She launches her foot forward hard, landing it squarely between Krono’s legs. He cries out and releases Ara, who falls to the ground screaming. Not wasting a moment, Reyna advances on the doubled over Urthman, driving her elbow into his jaw. He howls out, but she does not relent. She swings her right fist and lands several jabs to his eyes. The blows send him staggering backward. He stumbles and falls, cracking his head against the bars right in front of me. Not hesitating, I force my arm through the bars and wrap it around Krono’s throat, his chin just above the crook of my elbow. I tense my muscles, drawing on every ounce of strength I have as I pull and use the bars for leverage. I release a sound, pulling harder and harder and straining with everything I have. All I can think of is how he looked at Ara. How he looked at Reyna. What he’s done. Blood pounds against my skin in time with the frantic beat of my heart. I hear Cas calling out, telling me to stop. But it’s drowned by the sound of my pulse. In my periphery, I’m vaguely aware of Kohl tackling Cas to the ground, of my sister on the cell floor crying, and of Reyna, haloed in pale hair, her eyes glacial tunnels of what can only be described as savage delight at what I’m doing. But I can’t focus on any of them as they are now. I must keep my focus. I must concentrate on what Krono is to keep the tension in my arm. So I close my eyes, replaying what transpired minutes ago. I envision my sister’s terrified face. And that’s enough to compel me to pull with all my might. I hear a loud snapping sound, and Krono’s body goes limp. I let go, body trembling and chest heaving. He slumps down, gaze vacant and mouth open.
Reyna walks over and stands beside him. Our eyes lock. And in the instant that they do, we both know we’ve sealed our fates. We will never live to see another night.
Chapter 12
A pair of Urthmen guards stand, frozen and staring at the body by my feet. Though his lifeless form is on the other side of the bars, his head and broken neck are positioned closest to me. Reyna is nearest the corpse. They look from Reyna to Krono to me, putting the pieces together. I hold my breath, and the room around me goes silent. All I hear is a piercing note ringing in my ear. Within seconds, however, the ringing stops. Metal scraping against metal is the sound of my life nearing its end as the door to the women’s cell creaks open. “What’s this?” the first Urthman in shouts as he glowers at me.
Cas, who’d been scuffling with Kohl, races to the bars and addresses the Urthman. “He did this!” Cas stabs a finger at me. “It was him and her.” He points to Reyna. “The rest of us had nothing to do with it.” He punctuates his point by gesturing with his hands animatedly. “Those two did this. I tried to stop him.”
Hearing the guard shout at us and then Cas shouting at them, six more Urthmen come rushing down the tunnel. Armed with bows and quivers loaded with arrows, half of them load their weapons and pull them taut, aiming them at me through the bars, and at Reyna. One grabs her and shoves her down. “On your knees, human!” he orders her. “Hands behind your back!” She complies and is immediately shackled. With Reyna subdued, three of the guards leave the women’s cell and burst into the men’s cell. I’m kicked forward so that my forehead collides with the bars and am handcuffed tightly. I’m jerked to my feet then shoved out into the hallway.
“Where are you taking him?” Kohl shouts.
I look over my shoulder, following the sound of Kohl’s voice. The Urthman to my right spins, his bowstring tight and the tip of his arrow aimed directly at my brother’s chest. “Shut your mouth, human, or you die, too,” he growls.
Heart rate spiking to a pace so fast one beat can’t be discerned from the next, I watch Kohl. His eyes toggle between me and the Urthman. When I see the slight twitch of his leg as he begins to take a step forward, the sound of my own voice surprises me. “Don’t, Kohl,” I say. “They need you.” I clip my chin toward Pike and Ara. “Both of us dying won’t serve any purpose.” I don’t bother to hide the tremor in my words. I accept my fate. And while I do not value where I’ve been the last week or the actions that’ve transpired during them, I value every breath I take, no matter how painful it is. Living to fight another day is a gift. The hope contained within it a treasure. For each day, the hope of freedom, the hope of peace, and the hope of happiness and safety exists.
My eyes roam the space before me. The cell. Krono’s corpse. The arrows pointed at Reyna, at me, and at Kohl. I cannot say that I regret killing the despicable guard. To protect my sister, I’d do it again ten times over. I have no regret about that. Still, I’m ashamed to admit, I don’t look forward to dying, to forfeiting my intentions, my hope. But I resign myself to the consequences I must face.
Kohl nods, his eyes closed tightly and his jaw set in stone. He opens them and his gaze links with mine. Unspoken words volley between us. Goodbyes and gratitude. I can’t bear to look at Ara. She’s crying and muttering words that are inaudible over the sobs. Pike tips his chin, defying the tears that moisten his eyes to fall. I hate that my death brings them pain. I never want them to hurt. Not for a second.
I’m forcibly turned and pushed out the cell door and into the tunnel. Reyna is already there. Our shackles are joined and we’re ushered through a door that leads to a long, dark corridor. With the certainty that I’ll be killed at whatever destination awaits us, consequences are no longer a threat. Losing my life, in whatever horrific way the Urthmen deem suitable, is guaranteed, so I slow my pace and whisper to Reyna. “Where are they taking us?”
“I have no idea,” she answers and stares straight ahead. She continues walking, eyes roving from left to right. “I thought for sure we’d be killed on the spot, as soon as they found Krono dead.” Pausing for a fraction of a second, she looks at me. “The fact that we’re not dead is confusing.” Her attention immediately returns to the passageway, which slowly transforms. Dank, dreary stones that jut out and narrow the space smooth and widen. Light ahead comes from fixtures that cast pale, gray light.
Hearing our conversation, the Urthman leading the way turns to us and says, “Don’t worry, human, you’ll be dead soon enough.” A cruel smile spreads across his face. “Stop here.”
A metal door stands before me. Reflexively, I start to ask why, then realize wherever it is we’re stopping is where I’ll die.
The Urthman pulls a ring of keys from his belt and fumbles with it until he finds a long, slender, silver key that he slides into the lock on the handle. The door opens and Reyna and I are led inside. “On your knees! Both of you.” Neither Reyna nor I budge at first. My mind races. On my knees is how my life will end. That thought pounds in time with my heart. I glance at Reyna. Blonde hair glowing in defiance against the bleak colors of the room, she is the picture of strength. Of poise. Her features reveal no fear. Though I swear I see a faint glimmer in her eyes that betrays
her, but whatever I saw or thought I saw disappears the moment I feel a club connect with the back of my knees, forcing me to them. I bite back the urge to cry out in pain. I refuse to give the Urthmen that. They’ll take my life, but I’ll steal as much pleasure from them as I can by not showing fear or acknowledging pain. Beside me, Reyna is shoved to her knees also. The cold press of a blade is at the back of my neck within seconds. I strain my eyes to look at Reyna. An Urthman looms above her, his sword at her nape. Her eyes are squeezed shut in expectance. I suppose mine should be too. Any moment now, the blade at the base of my skull will be raised high then brought down hard, cleaving my head clean off. I grind my molars so hard the enamel threatens to splinter as images of my childhood streak through my mind’s eye. I see the forest. My brothers and sister and I exploring with my father. Learning. Running. Playing. I see my mother’s face. See it with clarity so striking I’d swear she’s standing right before me. But she isn’t. She’s gone. And any second now, I will be too. I wait.
A minute passes.
Then two.
My head is still attached.
I steal a glance at Reyna. She’s looking at me, her expression matching my feelings exactly. We’re both wondering what the heck is happening. Death is inevitable. Taking Krono’s life will be answered with our deaths. That’s not up for debate. But why are we being left as we are?
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