We Will Rend

by Nicole Thorn

  Juniper shifted around, chewing on her bottom lip. “Is anyone else worried about what comes after this?”

  “I haven’t even thought of after,” I said. “Other than saying hi to Nemo and giving him a big hug.”

  She shifted around some more. “I’m just worried about what we’re going to be getting from the gods. Think about it. They tried this hard to break us, all to prove that we could handle a deadly weapon. Aren’t you guy scared about what that could mean, what that weapon could be?”

  We glanced at one another. I hadn’t really thought about it, too busy trying to survive my own self-destruction.

  Verin shrugged. “No matter. Whatever it is, I’m sure that we’ll be able to handle it. These trials were really just a formality.”

  Zander rolled his eyes. “You would say that about anything.”

  Verin smirked.

  “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, either,” Jasper said. “It’ll only make getting through the last two trials harder, but also, I’m not sure there’s anything we can do about it. The gods have taken away our choices. We either do what they want, or they make our lives hell.”

  Kizzy frowned, nodding. “Bad things happen when you don’t listen to the gods.”

  Callie came over. I thought she had been gearing up for a lukewarm defense of the gods. She spent so much of her time having them in her head, I wouldn’t have blamed her for trying to make their actions sound better than I felt they were. But the gods hadn’t exactly been kind to her for the last couple of weeks, either.

  “We have to go,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “What?” I asked, shifting around on Zander.

  “We’re needed back on stage.”

  It felt like the rug got pulled out from under us. Normally the gods gave us a little downtime between trials, a day where we just got to relax. Yesterday had been Verin’s trial and we had just done Kizzy’s.

  “They want us to go back on stage?” Zander said.

  Callie nodded, looking apologetic. “Come on. I’m so sorry that they’re doing this, but we’ve got to go.”

  We stood up together and started walking toward the door. My stomach twisted into knots as I prepared myself for whatever they would have up there next. When we got to the stage, Aster and Micha took off, heading for the seats. All the Zeus demigods had already taken their places and looked extremely interested in everything happening around them. Their eager eyes infuriated me. They hadn’t looked so friendly and fascinated when they’d been booing at me.

  Callie took center stage just as one of the producers started to call numbers down from five. She put a bright smile on as they hit one and held the microphone up to her lips. If one didn’t know her, then they wouldn’t see the fury in her eyes or how tightly she held her jaw, like she wanted this entire thing to be over before it even began.

  “Hello and welcome back!” she called to the camera as a bright light shined down on her from above. “An unprecedented turn of events, the gods have decided we’re doing another trial today!”

  The demigods started to cheer together, clapping their hands. All that demigod energy had the lights flickering. I stepped back so that I would be closer to Zander. I squeezed his hand. “Okay, you listen to me bucko,” I said while Callie continued talking into her microphone. “If this is your trial, you’re going to nail it and look damn good while doing it.”

  He offered me a nervous smile.

  Callie turned to our group, still grinning, though it had started to look pained. “Zander, Jasper, why don’t you step up and we’ll see who’s next in line.” She moved over to stand next to the spinning wheel that now just had pictures of Zander and Jasper on it. I couldn’t remember where those pictures had come from since my siblings and I tended to avoid cameras like the plague.

  Callie turned to look at the camera again. “Now, obviously this is not only determining who will be the next person to face their trials, but who will end out the entire show!” She rolled her eyes when she said this, losing her show-woman tone. “Let me just give it a spin.”

  She grabbed the handle and yanked it down.

  “You know they’ve already determined,” Zander said, shifting his feet.

  Jasper nodded his agreement. “The gods would never have left something this important up to fate. Whoever ends it out, they planned it from the start.”

  Everyone held their breath as the wheel went around and around, clicking and flashing lights.

  And landed on my brother’s picture.

  I’d remember the look on Zander’s face for the rest of my life. His expression pinched, and he hunched in as if someone had socked him in the stomach. I didn’t so much care about the rules at that moment, because I ran straight for the stage. Luckily, my family followed me, so I didn’t have to say something cute and charming to the crowd. I touched Zander’s shoulders.

  He looked terrified when he turned to me. I wanted to take him away from the stage, sit him down, and explain how we had won. If Jasper got through his trial, then I knew we had beaten them all, because Zander would never, ever let us down like that. I had all the faith in the world that he would do what he needed to do to get us through this.

  But a camera came at my face before I could manage it. I stumbled back, almost tripping in an ungodlike way. Zander managed to put his hand behind my back to keep me from falling completely. I cleared my throat as Callie started speaking. “Zander, Kizzy, Verin, if you wouldn’t mind stepping back?”

  “What about Juniper and Jasmine?” Verin asked immediately, a slight growl to his voice.

  “They’re to stay put.” Callie grimaced apologetically.

  None of the demigods looked happy as they stepped away from us. They didn’t go far, only giving us enough space that they couldn’t grab us if something happened. The giant screen behind us changed, showing an image that had my stomach twisting and turning. A large maze stretched before us. One with stone walls crawling with ivy and statues sitting outside it.

  Callie cleared her throat. “It’s very simple. Juniper and Jasmine will enter the maze together. And Jasper will have to get the flag at the end of the maze.”

  Two technicians came rushing onto the stage carrying headsets. They started outfitting all three of us with earpieces and microphones. As they shoved an earpiece into my head, I realized what this meant. Jasper wouldn’t be entering the maze with us. He had to give us instructions on how to get out, which scared me. Not because I didn’t trust my brother, but because I knew the gods would have something up their sleeves.

  “Are we ready?” Callie asked.

  The crowd cheered as if anyone cared about their opinions anymore.

  I looked at my sister, wondering if she assumed that I’d screw this up for everyone and be the reason that Jasper lost his trial. She looked as sure of herself as she ever looked, though. “I’m ready,” she told me.

  I didn’t wait around for instructions. I took Juniper’s hand and pulled her through the screen. I didn’t know where the maze was, but it felt cold, colder than I would have thought. Like stepping out into a snowstorm buck naked. I tightened my hand on Junipers. “Don’t let go.”

  “Never,” she agreed.

  The two of us stepped into the opening of the maze. The second we crossed the threshold; a stone door came out of nowhere and locked us in. Juniper sucked in a deep breath, closing her eyes. I squeezed her hand so she would remember that I hadn’t gone anywhere. I would be there for her throughout the entire trial.

  “Can you hear me?” Jasper’s voice whispered in my ear.

  “Yes,” Juniper and I said in unison.

  “Go straight.”

  We did. The stone walls stretched so high that we wouldn’t be able to see over them even if I put Juniper on my shoulders. To make matters worse, I could barely see in the dim lighting. I kept my hand on the stone wall, just so I wouldn’t run into it face first. And Juniper and I kept hold of each other’s hands.

  Jasper�
��s instructions were simple. He’d give us directions about two seconds before we had to take them but otherwise stayed quiet as if he didn’t want us to get distracted. Because he stayed so quiet, I could hear the sound of feet on concrete. I glanced at Juniper. “Is that just my imagination, or…”

  “It’s not your imagination,” my sister said. She turned to look behind us. “I can’t see anything in this maze.”

  “Keep going,” Jasper said. “They aren’t near you.”

  “That’s comforting,” I mumbled and started walking again. I had to trust that Jasper wouldn’t lead me into a trap.

  “Turn right and then immediately turn left, then right again,” Jasper said, speaking a little faster than he had before. The sound of feet got closer, so I rushed to listen to his commands, turning the corner hard and almost ramming Juniper and I both into the wall. At the end of his instructions, I listened as the feet got quieter.

  We stopped for a few seconds, just standing in the shadows, huddled together and quiet. A few seconds passed, and then Jasper’s voice came back. “Go straight and then turn right.”

  “Where did they go?”

  “They aren’t near you,” he said. “Trust me.”

  I swallowed but listened to my brother. He would never do anything that would hurt me. Juniper took the lead on this one, pulling me along the hall. It seemed to be getting darker the further we walked; until my eyes strained to see even the most basic of shadows.

  “Jasper?” Juniper called.

  “Keep going,” he said. “Trust me.”

  We did.

  Until we heard the click in the floor. Juniper squeaked, and her hand yanked out of mine. She flew up into the air. I reached up, trying to find her. Eventually, my hands met the mesh of a net. “What’s happening. Juniper?”

  She didn’t answer. I felt her weight in the net and jostled her, hoping that she would answer me. “Juni?”

  She still didn’t say anything.

  “Jasper, what’s going on?”

  “I don’t know, hold on,” Jasper said.

  My hands kept contact with the net. I tried to get a grip on it so that I could pull the entire thing down, but my fingers seemed to slide right off. “Juniper? Are you okay? Why aren’t you answering?” I pushed the weight back and forth, to see if it would move, but it stayed still. The movement also caused this metallic dragging sound to issue from the ceiling.

  The sound of footsteps on concrete started again. I froze in place, listening as they got closer and closer.

  Jasper finally came back over the earpiece. “Jasmine?” he said. “Keep moving forward.”

  “But—”

  “Trust me, you have to keep moving forward.”

  “They’ll get Juniper,” I said. “I think there’s something wrong with her. She’s not responding.”

  “I know, but go straight.”

  “I’m not leaving her.”

  “Jazzy, listen,” Jasper said, his voice so calm that I almost had to wonder if it was him. But this was his trial. The gods wouldn’t replace him with someone else to test me. “I don’t know what’s going on with Juniper, I can’t see through the net. But there are creatures coming for you. You have to get out of there before they reach you because I don’t know what they’ll do if they catch you.”

  “What about Juni?” I asked. “They could pull her down from the ceiling.”

  The footsteps got closer, the bare slapping of feet matching the pace of my heart. It thudded so hard in my chest that I could barely breathe. I wouldn’t leave my sister behind. I didn’t care what Jasper said, I wouldn’t move from this spot until I knew that she would be safe.

  “She’ll be fine,” Jasper said.

  “Why are you so sure?”

  “Because the gods wouldn’t kill her when they need her so badly,” he said. “I don’t know what this trial is about, but you have to get to the end. Juniper will be fine. I know she will be.”

  I kept touching the weight in the net, waiting for it to wake up. Waiting for my sister to shift and groan and then panic that she had been captured. Panic that she couldn’t feel the ground beneath her feet, but then to calm down when I said something. But that hadn’t happened, because Juniper was either unconscious, or maybe not in the net at all, or maybe she had been gagged. I didn’t know, because Jasper was right.

  The gods were testing us. They would never kill Juniper when they needed us so badly.

  I sucked in a breath and patted the lump in the net. “I’ll be back for you, Juni.”

  The footsteps had gotten close enough to be in the same room as me.

  “Run, Jasmine,” my brother said.

  And I did. My heart twisted in my chest, my mind shouted that I couldn’t leave my sister behind like that, my instincts screamed to turn and fight, but I listened to my brother. I trusted him, even though I didn’t know anything happening around me. I ran as fast as I could.

  Jasper’s instructions came faster, more frantic. The creatures that had been dumped in this maze with us followed right behind me. I swore that I could feel their breath on my heels, but I was too afraid to turn around and see what pursued me.

  “Go straight!” Jasper yelled. “Just keep going.”

  Something crashed into the wall right behind me. I didn’t stop running, even though my heart felt like it would explode in my lungs and even though I couldn’t help thinking about my sister. What if the creatures had pulled her down? What if the test had been to save her and lose the flag? The gods could have been testing so many different things, and Jasper and I just had to trust that we did the right one. We had to run blindly into the dark, believing the gods wouldn’t turn against us.

  And that frightened me even more than the creatures crashing into the walls behind me.

  I saw a flash of light and then of color. The flag.

  “Grab it!” Jasper instructed. I poured on the speed, closing the distance. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a clawed foot reaching for me. Teeth clicked shut right behind me, and I imagined jaws trying to bite down on the back of my sweater, or just missing my hair.

  Almost there, almost there, I thought, still running, keeping the flag in my sights.

  I stretched my hand out as I ran past the flag, ripping it down from the wall and almost collapsing on the ground right outside the stone maze. Turning around, I caught the barest glimpse of the creatures. Their eyes burned red, their claws scraped across the concrete again, and then they vanished into the shadows, where they belonged. They reminded me of the things that Erebus had sent after us once, what felt like a million years ago. I wondered if they lived in the darkness, too.

  Then I stared down at the flag in my hands and became aware of a dull roar in my ear. I heard someone shouting, “You have beaten this trial!”

  Zander

  T he quiet roar from my family should have been enough of a distraction. It wasn’t, and my mind swirled around and around like a tornado of thoughts and pictures I couldn’t make go away. Everything had started getting blurry the moment they threw my girlfriend into a maze. I watched her, unable to get Jasmine away from the danger. Juniper either, but she was fine now, chatting with Jasper and letting him know she was okay.

  We sat at a long table, all of us. Callie sat with her cluster of fellas, picking at the meal that had been brought to us. I wasn’t hungry, but the people around me ate like it would be our last meal. It could have been for all we knew.

  I had to finish it all out. Of course, it was me. The gods wanted it that way. They wanted all of the pressure to be on my shoulders because they knew better than anyone what would break me. It made me wonder if they knew someone would lose a trial. If not, then we would have been done by now, already headed home or to get our weapon/tool. Instead, we sat at a table and tried to have a meal while pretending this wasn’t the end.

  My eyes kept flashing between two things. One, the lights at the ceiling that would flash when we had to go, and Callie, who would get the news bef
ore anyone. They’d already done two trials that day, so why not a third? Why not get me when I was already emotionally spent? It felt like the gods wanted us to lose. They claimed they needed to push us to our limits. That if we couldn’t handle this, then we certainly couldn’t handle what their tool. Did that mean they wanted us to lose? Did they not believe we could handle the weapon they planned to hand to us?

  I tried not to look jumpy, but I couldn’t help it. A bomb would get dropped on me and I had literally no idea when it would happen. Maybe they would pick me out any second. Maybe they would wait a week so the suspense would torture me before I had to step up to that stage for my final trial. I would lose in front of gods knew how many people watching, and I would have to look at their faces as the fear set in. I would have to see the moment they realized this wasn’t a game, and my failure would get real people killed. Not just the one life the gods made me give up, but countless lives of people outside this place. Verin said that even if we didn’t get the weapon, we would keep fighting. I didn’t know how much fight I had left in me.

  Jasmine’s hand appeared on my knee under the table, giving me a light squeeze. I knew all the questions asked in that one gesture, but Jasmine already knew the answers too. We looked at each other, an entire conversation taking place with utter silence. I was worried. She believed in me. I worried anyway. She believed in me anyway.

  I wasted her time.

  “No, I will not ride him,” Juniper stated shortly at Callie.

  She made a face. “Why have a hydra if you aren’t going to properly play with him? That’s all I’m saying.”

  With a nudge from me, Jasmine let herself sink into a conversation much less dreary than the one we had with our eyes. “Nemo’s never been ridden, so he might actually be down for that. If we fed him with enough Cheetos, then I think he would let us.”

  “I’m down,” Callie decided.

  Aster looked up from his plate nervously. “He could eat you if he wanted to.”

  Micha snorted. “Then I suggest you give him a good reason not to. Cheetos seem to be the answer.”