Wicked Challenge (Darkwater Reformatory Book 2)

by Marty Mayberry

  Dread uncurled its wings inside me.

  Jacey’s gaze remained trained behind me. “We need to hurry,” she said hoarsely. Her head tilted. “I hear…”

  In the distance, a roar rippled through the air.

  Titan.

  “He’s found us,” I gulped out. Which meant the chimera and gorelon would be with him. Three against four; the odds were not in our favor.

  Kai pushed me again, urging me to climb the icicle.

  “What about you?” I asked him, whirling around.

  A nod and he disappeared.

  “Don’t worry about him,” Jacey said. “He’ll take care of himself.” She tugged on my sleeve. “We’ve got to go.”

  Brodin looked around frantically but if there were any weapons near, they were covered with snow. He placed himself between us and Titan. “You guys go ahead. I’ll wait until you’re a good distance up then join you.”

  “Uh-uh,” I said, tugging on the back of his shirt. “Climb with us.”

  He turned and gripped my upper arms, his eyes meeting mine. I could tell he ached to protect us.

  “I’m not leaving you behind,” I said. “We’re in this together.”

  His frustration came off him in a blast of heat but when he growled, I knew he’d relented.

  “Please,” I said softly. “Stay with us.”

  “I will.” Turning me, he nudged me toward the icicle. “You first.”

  I leaped up and latched onto a narrow, branch-like spike jutting out from the side. My feet scrambled to find purchase on the slippery surface and snagged on a shorter spike. Climbing, I reached for another handhold and pulled myself higher.

  My friends remained right behind me. Our silence was punctuated only by our grunts and curses as we slipped and gouged our hands on the sharp ice. And the mournful cry of the wind. Plus the ongoing roars signaling Titan’s approach.

  I slowly left the winter world behind. Good riddance. It would be a long time before I could sip a sweet beverage, admire a painting, or savor filling in a puzzle without shuddering.

  Each inch higher took me away from the driving snow and the fear that had encased me back at the castle. Soon, sweat trickled down my spine and coated my face, yet my teeth kept chattering. Barraged by the wind, my fingers froze, and my skin ached. My body quaked with shivers.

  The icicle widened and we were able to climb abreast, our fingers brushing, sharing spikes for footing and commiserating about what the next task might entail.

  “My hands are numb,” Jacey said, her teeth chattering.

  “Mine, too,” I said.

  Reaching around the icicle, Brodin cupped his hand over hers. He closed his eyes and, when he opened them, her jaw dropped.

  “What did you do?” she asked, cupping her pink cheek with her palm.

  “Heating is a form of healing, isn’t it? I used some of your healing ability.” His voice coming out a tad cocky, he grinned and looked between us. “Anyone else need their fingers warmed up?”

  Two seconds later, we were all warmer—I used the same trick on him—and climbing faster.

  My head popped above the clouds and while I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief because the sun kissed my face and a lush, green landscape waited above us, my body was girding itself for what might come next. Titan was too close behind us. My skin crawled with panic at the thought of him catching up.

  Titan’s screeching growl was followed by the grinding shriek of a chimera. So much for hoping they’d be lured into a castle.

  My widening eyes met Jacey’s and her panic-stricken expression was met by an answering horror inside me. My pulse thumped in my throat, and my sweaty hands kept slipping on the ice.

  “Faster,” Brodin hissed, peering downward. “Let’s lock ourselves in the next challenge and hope they’re sent in a different direction.”

  Since Warden Bixby could either spy through the gorelon or literally morph into the creature, and she seemed to rule the catacombs running the Challenge, I didn’t have much hope of Titan and Micah being sent anywhere but after us.

  The icicle shuddered and another roar ripped up toward us.

  “Keep going,” Akimi said. “We are almost there.”

  Wherever there was.

  I snagged another limb and hauled myself higher.

  The icicle shook and tipped to my right. Losing my footing, I dangled, my feet hanging free. My hands slipped, and I started to fall.

  Brodin stretched out and his hand snapped around my wrist. He hauled me up until I could grab onto the branch he also clung to. While he glared toward the ground, he flicked his hand upward, indicating I should continue moving without him.

  “Micah’s right below us,” he said. “We need to—”

  The icicle swayed. We clung to the base, our panicked gazes locking.

  “If it falls, Micah will be killed, too,” I said. “What’s Titan doing?”

  “He’s eager to end this one way or another.”

  “So we’ll fall to our deaths or be shredded by Micah.”

  “Let’s look for a third option.”

  With fire licking through our veins, we scrambled higher. Akimi and Jacey had pulled ahead but we gained on them.

  Micah kept coming. His chimera form, with thick claws and a massive jaw structure, gave him an advantage. He scrambled behind us as if he raced along a flat surface.

  We’d nearly reached the top when the icicle tipped sideways. The top slid along the lip of the green surface—our destination—and snagged, where it teetered with us clinging to whatever part of the structure we’d grabbed hold of. The icicle jolted sideways. I cried out as I hung in the air again, but was able to swing up and wrap my legs around an ice branch.

  A bellowing roar echoed around us, followed by a solid thud.

  Brodin’s grim gaze met mine. “So much for Micah.”

  The icicle shook and snaps and growls reached us, rushing this way.

  “The gorelon or Titan?” I asked.

  “Does it matter?” Brodin replied. He nudged his chin upward. “Go!”

  Akimi leaped up and snagged the edge of the flat, green surface above. She hauled herself up and once on her roots, leaned over and extended a branch to Jacey. “Grab on! I will pull you up.” Once Jacey was secure and we approached, she did the same for us.

  We stood panting together on the shiny, flat green surface with Titan’s snarls growing louder as he continued to climb the icicle.

  Akimi leaned over and shoved the icicle away from the platform. It tumbled down and away, with Titan’s screaming echoing around us.

  I stared at her, wide-eyed but with grim satisfaction.

  “This was my tear,” Akimi said with a growl. Her thinned lips curled up slightly. “Given to this world freely, I could do as I chose with it.”

  I crept close to the edge and peered down but saw nothing but swirling snow.

  As for Titan? Time would tell if he’d joined his friends in death or if he still hunted.

  Fourteen

  Tria

  When another icicle toppled onto the lip of the green plain, and the sound of claws scrambling across the smooth surface reached us, we bolted away from the edge.

  “Maybe we should shove it off?” I said to Brodin.

  We’d fallen into a pattern of Akimi and Jacey taking the lead, while we guarded the rear.

  “He’ll just find another,” he said. “She cried a lot of tears. Which is…”

  “Silly nymph.” I chuckled but the sharp edge negated any humor in the sound. “One tear would’ve been enough for us.”

  “I don’t think that was ever the plan.”

  My steps slowed, and I blinked, analyzing his words. “What are you saying?”

  “Akimi.” He kept his voice low. “Why so many tears? She pushed us in this direction. And multiple icicles give them access.”

  “You think she did this on purpose? Led us here?” My hand swept out, encompassing the smooth, greenish plain stretching on for mile
s. “How could she?”

  “Well, no, I guess not.” Reservation came through in his voice. He huffed out a sigh. “But…what do we know about her, though?”

  “Not much. Although, she rescued us from Titan and sent him and the other shifters away.” Back at the prison, when Titan had announced he was going to kill a Seeker—the Seeker being me. We’d bailed out the cafeteria window and run into the woods, where Akimi had pulled us up into the branches and away from Titan and his crew, then floated down and confronted him.

  “Did she rescue us?” He lowered his voice to a bare whisper. “Maybe she went down the tree and negotiated a plan that would give him this kind of access. There are no rules here. He can kill us and no one would know.”

  “Not much different than back at Darkwater. I mean, I get where you’re going here, but why would she bother? She didn’t have to help us. He would’ve eventually caught us alone and finished us off.”

  “I think Akimi planned to join our team from the moment she met us.”

  “I know you’re right there, but maybe it was solely for the reason she told us: she hopes to find her true one.”

  “If it was solely about access to the Challenge, she could’ve joined any of the other triads. I imagine they would’ve welcomed her.”

  “Yup.” I lifted my wrists and my tenna bracelets shot fiery sparks toward the ground, reminding me they still suppressed my magic. “She can use her power, which makes her an invaluable team member.”

  “What exactly does she contribute to the quad?” he asked. “We’re now all able to share the individual power we can’t tap ourselves, due to the tennas. But as far as I know, we can’t access hers or ours. She was evasive when I asked her. We didn’t get an answer, did we?”

  “But she has contributed during the Challenge. She saved my life more than once while crossing the open cavern with the mini islands. And her tears got us here.”

  “Titan as well,” he said grimly.

  “Which is another thing I’m wondering about,” I said. “The catacombs are supposed to give each entrant a different experience. If so, how is Titan able to remain on our tail? Shouldn’t he be sucked onto a different…path, I guess is the right word. Where he’d have to complete his own tests. He shouldn’t be here with us, but he is.”

  “I assumed he was skimming through this, not completing anything, because he’s on a mission for Bixby.”

  “To kill us. But why? And why bother sending Titan after us?”

  “To make if fun.”

  Dread climbed up my spine like a scorpion, its stinger poised to strike. “She does enjoy torturing us. Everyone. Which would explain why she denied us entry to the Challenge yet here we are, completing it.”

  “With Titan right behind. Her minion, taunting and teasing us. Maybe she sends him to wear us out. To wear everyone out. It’s not like there was anyone we could ask about the Challenge. No one ever comes back.”

  “Another scary notion. What if…”

  “What?” he said, but from his tight voice, I knew he was going in the same direction I was.

  “What if no one ever makes it through? Maybe there’s no Reformatory. It’s all about the catacombs and entertaining Bixby.”

  “Wear us out and end it?”

  “Maybe. But it’s not as if we have any choice now. There’s no way out.”

  “We can only go forward,” he said. “And hope each test will be the last and we’ll make it through.”

  “Do you think Titan is driving us in a certain direction?”

  He shrugged. “To what?”

  “I don’t know.” Yet. Would we find out?

  He sighed. “Maybe we’re reading too much into all this. It’s a trial. Titan adds to the tension. We’ll finish the last test and find ourselves at the Reformatory.”

  “I hope so. Sounds funny, but it would be nice if something was normal about this. Assuming there’s anything normal about a living entity throwing challenges at us.”

  He nodded slowly. “Maybe I shouldn’t distrust Akimi. It’s just…” His gaze sought forward, but not to where we walked, to something I couldn’t see. “I don’t like doubting anyone on our team. I want to trust her, but something inside me is shouting caution.”

  Jacey tripped on a rock and tumbled forward. Before she smacked on the ground, Akimi’s branches dove forward and caught her. Akimi set Jacey back on her feet and the two kept running. A simple, so-on-the-surface example of what our tree nymph friend did for us. But could Brodin be right? There was no harm in exercising caution. I’d wound up in this mess because I trusted someone—the Master Seeker—to deal with me honestly.

  “She’s…” I wasn’t sure what to say. At every turn, she proved she was one of us. “Any idea why you doubt her?”

  “She’s…” He watched her run beside Jacey, her vine-like roots trailing across the plain. “Because, back at the castle, she refused to stop working on the puzzles.”

  “She was drugged, like us.”

  “Was she?”

  Oh. Wait. “She—”

  “I never saw her drink the amber liquid.”

  “You’re right. She didn’t. Whenever I saw her with a glass, she was holding it up in the light, staring at it slosh around in complete fascination. But she only drank water.”

  “Do you think she was visually bespelled to complete the puzzle while we were bespelled not to care about everything around us because we drank the liquid?”

  “Maybe? But—” I waved to the growing distance between them and us.

  We picked up our speed and caught up to walk about ten feet behind them.

  “We can watch her,” I said softly. “If she messes up or does anything—anything else, that is—that’s suspicious, we’ll be ready.”

  “Yup. I hope we’re making a big mistake in suspecting her.”

  As he moved forward, I picked up my pace, my feet pounding faster.

  The four of us crested a hill and we ran down the other side, our feet slipping along the smooth, green surface peppered only with the occasional rock or tree stump.

  Overhead, a cloudless sky contained three suns that generated three times the warmth. After winterland, the heat should feel awesome, but sweat slithered down my spine and pooled unpleasantly at my lower back, and moisture saturated my face. If I’d still been wearing make-up applied by the mechanical arms at the castle, it would’ve melted off.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as I raced. There had been no indication Titan or the gorelon were on our tails, but who’d stop to wait for them to catch up? Our only hope was to keep going…somewhere.

  He squinted, taking in something I couldn’t quite see ahead. “I assume that’s our destination?”

  To my eye, only heatwaves shimmered on the horizon. How long could we keep running before we dropped?

  We kept going and soon a forest made up of spiky blue trees loomed in the distance. And, as usual, a narrow path cut through the middle.

  “Really not liking these paths,” I said to Brodin.

  Jacey shot a look of sympathy over her shoulder. Akimi sighed but kept moving forward.

  “Like we have a choice?” A glance behind made Brodin stumble. “Don’t look, but we’re no longer alone.” He snatched up my hand and rushed forward. “Don’t dally, sweetheart.”

  The dull thuds behind us told me a raptor had arrived on the plain. Would the gorelon ooze along with him or hitch a ride? It was clear they were working together; it wouldn’t surprise me to see them merge into one horrifying beast.

  Akimi and Jacey paused, waiting for us to catch up.

  “Path,” Jacey huffed out. Her flushed face had creased with worry, and her eyes kept darting behind us.

  Cool and collected, Akimi studied the forest of uniform trees. “There is something odd about this.”

  “No time to look for an alternate route,” Brodin said.

  “The next test must be the forest or whatever’s waiting at the end of the path,” I said, waving
to the dense forest made up of trees so closely growing together, no one could pass through them without the path.

  “Let’s do it,” Brodin said. He jogged ahead to walk beside Akimi, and I scooted up behind them to listen. “You said there was something odd here. What do you mean?”

  “’Tis not what I see but what I do not see that worries me most.”

  “Explain,” he said, the word coming out sharp, though his expression remained neutral.

  “A forest should be alive with birds, insects, and various creatures, yet I sense nothing.”

  “Is it a live forest or something created?” I asked. “Because the trees don’t look real. I don’t mean the color, but how they remain motionless, like they’re something manufactured or spelled and then placed here.”

  She shot me a glance full of relief. “Perhaps that is it. This forest does not live.”

  “Yet it moves in the wind,” Jacey said, pointing to the tops of the trees swaying, their leaves fluttering.

  “The way the sun’s glint on the bluish surface makes the trees look metallic to me,” I said. The trees reminded me of the mechanical arms back at the castle. To think I’d come to accept—no, welcome—their help with everyday activities. If the beast outside had swallowed the building, would we have continued as we were, slowly losing our minds, until the castle collapsed around us?

  “It’s just another test,” I said. “Remember the one when we arrived at the island, Brodin? Something in the forest tried to sway our minds.” I explained what had happened to Jacey and Akimi.

  “I know of the creature,” Akimi said. “A mindslip. But I do not sense anything like that near.”

  “I doubt the catacombs will give us a repeat test,” Brodin said. “This trial will be new. Different. And equally dangerous.”

  “Or even more dangerous than the others.”

  “But this time, we’ll face it together,” he said, holding out his hand.

  I took it and we stepped along the cobblestone path behind Akimi and Jacey.

  The trees encroached on either side, their branches almost brushing the top of my head. I was tempted to touch the bluish-silvery leaves that winked like patterned silver but feared I’d set off a chain of events we’d never escape from. Anything around, above, or below us could be a major component of the test. And while I was eager to get to the end, I was not eager for it to get started. We’d just finished a test. Would we ever be given a real break—one where our lives weren’t threatened?