"Stop hurting her!" Gabe yells, his body rigid.
"I forgot to mention that for every wrong answer, she'll pay with pain," Luke says. "Happy riddling!"
"Hurry, Micha. We have to think this through," Gabe says, clutching onto the note. "What can't one keep, hold, or destroy?" He reads again, trying to fid a clue.
"It's not going to be obvious," I tell him. I look back at Annie as my brain repeats the riddle over and over. She's lying against the side of the glass box, cradling her head. But she's trying to be strong. "Annie, look at me," I try to coax her to turn her head. She does. "Are you okay?" I ask her, making eye contact and showing her that I'm confident and strong for us both.
"It hurts so much, Micha," she answers me. Her voice is soft, ragged, and whimpering. My heart clenches in my chest.
"Gabe, help me out here!" I yell at him.
"I don't know the answer," he admits, turning over the note in his hand. We bounce ideas off of each other, but with each wrong guess, Annie is zapped. She pants so loud I can hear her breath through the glass. I leave Gabe at the table with the note and run to the box. I bang my fists against it again, praying there's a weak spot, but it's useless again.
"I'll be right back. Please, hang on." I move from Annie's box to Gabe's side. He's writing with his finger on a piece of paper his different ideas since he refuses to say it aloud and possibly hurt Annie more.
He looks up at me with wide eyes, and then points his eyes to the paper. He traces letters very slowly and large so that I can put them together and see what he's thinking. After all the letters are done, he taps his finger against the paper, insinuating that this is his final answer.
I repeat the letters in my head and when I piece it together, I try to see if it works for all three. Can't keep, hold, or destroy. I chant that in my head as I think about his answer.
"Can you hold it?" Gabe asks me, his face pinched together. I've never seen Gabe so torn up before. I've never seen him worried or tremble before. Now he's a bundle of it.
"I don't know," I say as I drop my head in my hands. "Just say it. It's the only one that's even possible."
"Are you sure?" Gabe asks. "I don't want to hurt her more. I don't know if she can handle it."
"She's strong," I state. "A secret!" I yell out for Luke to hear. A moment of silence passes where nothing happens. I look around for a sign, but the room stills along with all of us in it. Annie lies on the bottom of the box, passed out. She's not writhing in pain, so that must be a good sign, but I worry that something's wrong.
"I have to admit, I'm impressed." Luke's voice returns to the room, very unwelcome.
"Let her go!" I yell to him, begging to save Annie.
"Not just yet," he says. I look over at Annie and just then, the floor to her box opens and she's swallowed into the earth. I rush to it, thinking that I can save her, but just as fast as she appeared, she's gone. I slam my fist against the glass in one last bout of anger, but, of course, nothing happens.
"Are we done yet?" Gabe asks, his voice much calmer and clearer than mine. He's very persuasive, but even his best efforts are wasted on the king of Demons.
"Not quite." Luke laughs, and then a door across the room from us appears and opens. I start to walk forward, but Gabe grabs my elbow and stops me. I look back at him.
"Whatever is behind that door is going to be worse than this. Can you handle it?" Gabe asks me, his eyes probing me.
"I can handle it," I sternly say and pull my arm back from him.
"Okay," he relents. He picks up the bag of weapons, and then follows me through another door. Hopefully, it's the last.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
A-Maze-ing
Instead of stumbling into a dark room, we're in a way-too-bright room filled with fluorescent yellow light. I raise my hand to shield my eyes and step forward when I hear Lucifer start to speak in front of us.
"While this has been utterly enjoyable, we have to move this along. I have other things to attend to. Meet me at the end, Archers." A loud bang vibrates through the cavernous room, and a black wall springs up in front of us.
"A maze?" Gabe questions as we look at the narrow, black walls. There's only one way to go, forward, and through something that's like a tunnel and very high, double my height.
I don't wait for Gabe to inspect the walls. I walk straight ahead into the maze. It's not as easy as I thought. After walking forward for about twenty feet, we're faced with a dead end. We decide to go left and find another dead end, so we turn around and walk back the way we came.
There are tons of curses and dead ends and confusing circles. But I just keep walking, Gabe close behind, knowing that if we keep moving, we have to find what we're looking for eventually.
I think we've hit yet another dead end when we stop in a square room closed by the walls. I start to turn around, but Gabe places his hand on my forearm and stops me. I look back over my shoulder and see a table in the middle of the room.
There's a small white note, similar to the riddle, on the table with one letter on it. L. I flip the card over and sideways trying to figure out what it means when Annie walks over to us. She comes through the wall, but that doesn't even register to me.
I don't hesitate.
I run to her and lift her into my arms. I squeeze her tight, as if to make sure that she's real. I pull back and look into her eyes. I can't tell what she's thinking. Instead of her normal emotion-filled eyes, she's empty. I don't understand what's happened from earlier, but she doesn't seem to care that I have her.
"I'm sorry," she says. Before I can speak, she plants her lips over mine. At first, I don't move. I don't know how to react to this. I've been kissed before, of course. Never like this, with such passion and fervor. But also filled with regret.
I place her down on the ground when she comes up for air and stare down at her. "Please, Micha. I need you," she moans, swaying from side to side. She runs her hands up her sides and tilts her head back seductively.
"Something's off, Micha," Gabe whispers from behind me.
I try to listen to his words, but Annie holds my complete attention. She steps towards me and trails her finger from my neck to my stomach. My eyes flutter shut and goosebumps emerge on every inch of my skin.
I know that I shouldn't let her kiss me again. I shouldn't kiss her back. I'm mated; despite my feelings towards her, I really can't act on any other feeling. That's against the rules. But as she stares up through her eyelashes, I can't control myself. I'm overcome with need.
I reach for her and kiss her. But the very second our lips touch and my decision is made, she runs from me. "Annie!" I call after her, but she's through the wall in a split second. I run to the wall, but it's hardened. There's no way I can get through it.
"Follow her," Gabe says and starts to run out the way we came in. I don't see her, but I can hear her steps pounding against the hard, black ground. We fly around every corner and with each turn, hope springs that she'll be there. But she's not.
And then we realize that we've been herded into another square portion of the maze. On this table, there is another card. On it, a simple G is printed. As I'm turning over the card in my hands, Gabe taps my shoulder, but I ignore him.
"What?" I ask him, when he refuses to stop.
"I think we have to eat that," he says, pointing behind us.
"What?" I ask again, but my answer is there when I turn around. Behind us is a table filled with human food piled a foot high. "No way," I say as I step towards the table.
I've never seen such an immense amount of food in one place. Nor have I witnessed anyone eat this much in all of my time on Earth. Surely that can't be safe. I notice that underneath a round pie, there is a little white note sticking out. I grab it.
"Enjoy your meal," I read aloud. Just as I finish reading the note, a wall springs up at the opening and we're boxed in the room. I don't even think as I lunge for the food. I just start shoving it all into my mouth so we can get out of this trail an
d get to Annie.
If this is all it takes to get Annie free, then so be it. I hear Gabe sigh next to me and drop the weapons bag on the floor. He starts eating, too. Pie after pie, sandwich after sandwich, drink after drink, we devour the meal.
After I take one final bite of cheese and bread, I sit back on the ground and digest. My stomach aches with each breath as I force it to expand and allow the food to stay put. Gabe sits next to me, patting his stomach like he's trying to make room. His face is a bit green, and I'm sure mine is similar, because I feel awful.
As we sit on the ground, the walls around us fade away, and we're left with two options: left or right. "What do you think?" I ask Gabe as I start to stand up.
"Left?" he says, but he doesn't sound so sure.
"Your guess is as good as mine."
We start to fly again. Only this time we aren't sprinting, because there's no reason to. It's clear that Luke has planned this and we'll only get to see Annie when he allows it. I decide to just lay the game, and then we'll be rewarded. Rem always awards good deeds—unless of course you're an Archer named Michael.
We turn a corner and I audibly groan when I see the familiar black, square room with a table in the middle. I grab the note off the same exact table and it has the same G on it as the room before. I get this weird sense that we're going in circles. But before I can express my concern to Gabe, two screams erupt from behind us.
At first I see Sara, stuck in a similar box to the one Annie was in during the riddle. She's standing, but crying, her body hunched over in defeat. Our eyes meet, and I immediately run to her. I bang and try to get her out, but by now I know I can't.
I look to my left and see Annie sitting in the opposite corner. She's also in a box and crying. I'm utterly torn on what to do. I step towards Annie, but Sara screams from her box. I turn towards Sara, but then Annie screams.
"Choose one, choose carefully," Gabe reads from the back of the note. I look at him, and he shrugs. The walls of the boxes fall down, but both girls remain rooted in their spots, neither coming towards me, as if they're frozen.
"How can I choose?" I question out loud.
"Just do it," Gabe urges me on.
I step between the two girls, only a few feet separating them. Without another thought, I reach both arms out and grab both girls around their waists. Annie clings to me and Sara jumps towards me, as if they knew what I was going to do before I did. But just as I'm about to capture them, they disappear into thin air. I fall forward with their sudden leaving.
"Wait!" I yell as I try to find them. But they're gone, and I have no idea at all where they've been taken. "I can't do this anymore," I cry out, dropping my head to the ground. I cover the back of my head with my hands and lie on the ground, trying to work through my mental war. This is too much on me. I can't think anymore.
"Yes, you can." Gabe says, coming to my side. He lifts me up under my arms and forces me to stand on my own.
"I can't take it. He's killing me! You're killing me!" I yell out, raising my fists.
"Micha, listen to me. We're almost there. Don't you see? L, G, G. Three out of seven. These are Rem's seven sins," Gabe explains, making me quiet down from my manic breakdown.
"What's left?" I ask him, trying to recall the sins.
"Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Pride. You can handle it. We got through the hard things. We've made it this far. We can't give up," Gabe coaxes me.
"Thanks," I tell him as I get it together. I have to finish this through. I need to save Annie. I have to make this right. I should've been watching her more closely. I should've seen her downward spiral. I have to fix this, since I screwed it all up.
With his hand on my shoulder, Gabe guides me out of the box and into another labyrinth of hallways. I feel like a shell of myself. I'm broken, mentally and physically. I don't know how much more I can handle, but I have to try. Gabe risked everything for me. I have to give him my all.
The next room is so close that I can see the opening. Just as we're about to step through, I sink into the ground. Gabe grunts as his feet also start to drop into the ground slowly.
"This must be sloth," Gabe says. "Don't touch it, just move slow."
I follow his commands and slowly move: one foot forward and then the next. It doesn't feel like I'm making any progress at all. Gabe is a good foot or two in front of me and he's moving faster than me.
I try to mimic him, my hands raised in the air, my shirt pulled up so that the liquid doesn't get onto me. I start to move a bit faster. Gabe makes his way out of the pit and uses his hands to hoist himself out.
I watch as his legs drip with sandy colored goop. I struggle, my stomach muscles trembling as I pull myself through the molasses-like pit of liquid.
"You have a minute to finish this. I'm bored," Luke's voice vibrates against me. I start to panic and when I glance up at Gabe, he's panicked also.
He drops the weapons bag on the ground and kneels. He leans forward, holding his hand out for me to take it. I try, but we're still too far apart. Our fingertips barely touch, and I know if I lean anymore forward, I'll fall in and my entire body will be covered in this slowing liquid.
"Come on, Micha," Gabe growls, his face tightly knit. "Just grab my hand."
"I'm trying," I grit between clenched teeth. I move, inch by inch, until finally I can grab onto his hand. He strains to lift me, since the pit drags me down. I kick my feet like I'm swimming to get to the surface and it actually works.
Just as I'm getting out of the pit, a buzzer rings from somewhere in the maze that sounds similar to the pain buzzer from before. An electric stream of pain courses through my veins, and I fall forward on top of Gabe.
My insides feel like they've been lit on fire. I scream, trying to get whatever is happening inside of me out of me. I claw at my stomach, the churning sensation too intense to bear.
My body trembles as I try to breathe through the pain. But all I can think of is the liquid fire coursing through my veins. I know I have to meditate, but I don't want to waste time.
I can't help it when my body just completely falls limp and, due to the amount of damage to my body, it shuts down all on itself.
I wake up on Gabe's lap. He's shaking me awake; I don't know how long Ive been out. I feel disoriented. Vibrations of fire continue to bounce from my bones to my nerves and back again, ricocheting pain throughout me, but it's not as bad as before. Now it's just a dull ache throughout my entire body.
Remembering that Annie is close by, I push through the pain and stand up. Gabe steps back so that he's a few feet in front of me. He paces forward, trucking on like the best friend that he is.
"Are you okay?" Gabe asks over his shoulder.
"I think I am now." I stand and dust myself off from the now dry, sand-like dirt on my legs and stomach. Gabe grabs the bag and starts walking in front of me, checking around each corner to clear it.
He turns a corner, and I lose him for a second. His footsteps are silent. A minute later, I walk into the room behind him.
What I see stuns me.
Two demons circle Gabe and poke at him as he writhes about, strapped against the table I've grown accustomed to seeing. Each Demon has a red, steaming stick, and they jab it under his swollen skin. At the sight of me, he screams.
I run to the Demons, ignoring my pain altogether and try to fight them off. When I'm just a foot away, a glass wall springs up, blocking me from getting to Gabe.
"Let me through!" I scream, banging my knuckles against the glass.
"The note, dear Micha," Luke's voice sings, like my actions are amusing to him. I know that he's watching us from somewhere. We're like experiments in his twisted game, and I hate it.
"I don't care about the note. Just let him go!" I yell, looking up for a voice.
"The note," he says, his tone bored. I meet Gabe's eyes. They're glassy, red, and pained. Anyone else wouldn't catch it, but his head bobs up and down, just barely, as if allowing me to stand down.
I fly acros
s the room to another replica table. On it is a single letter: W. I flip the card in my hand and on the back is one single sentence.
Watch for five minutes.
Unlike the other rooms, I finally notice a chair placed underneath the table. Gabe has quieted, and I look over my shoulder at the situation before me. It dawns on me that I'm just supposed to sit back and watch while they torture him.
Five minutes isn't that long. I can handle it. I pull out the chair and sit on it, facing Gabe. Our eyes click again, but this time, I look away, unable to meet them. I don't want him to know what I'm thinking.
"Your time will start now," Luke's voice says, and then a beep echoes through the place. The thick, glass wall falls from between Gabe and myself. If I wanted to, I could go to him now and save him—but that's not what Luke wants. And we're playing his game after all.
Gabe releases an uncurling scream. My heart lurches into my throat, and I panic. I dig my fingers into the wooden chair to stop myself from jumping up. A Demon digs the red stick into Gabe's side and blood pours from the incision.
I struggle to remain rooted in my spot. A beep goes off, and I assume that I've made it one minute. Another yelp comes from Gabe, and my feet involuntarily move towards him.
"No, no, no. You can look, but you can't touch," Luke snickers at me. I can just imagine him wiggling his finger at me like I'm a child.
"They're killing him!" I yell as I watch the other Demon start to jab Gabe. They must get bored of the needles, because they drop them and slam their fists into his face relentlessly, spilling more and more blood by the second. They move at such speeds that my adrenaline spikes from the sight. My inner instincts to fight shoot off, but I ignore them.
But, when Gabe's eyes shut and refuse to open, I jump up. I can't just let him take this punishment when I'm the reason that he's here in the first place. I make it to the first Demon in about two seconds flat.
I pull him backwards and with all the rage I can muster, I snap his neck. The second Demon snarls and lunges towards me for interfering. I don't have time to attack, so I pull back and fall to the ground with him.
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