by Rebecca Grey
No longer am I laying next to him on the cot, but I'm curled up inside of his lap. Marcello rocks gently, still whispering to me as my heartbeat finds a gentle and steady rhythm. His hands choke the life from me everywhere he touches me. I struggle to pull away from him, pushing until I'm falling from his lap and onto the floor.
The skin on my face feels tight and dry from tears I've cried in my sleep. I drag my sleeve over my cheeks as I get my feet under me and back away. "Don't touch me!"
Marcello holds his hands up. "I won't." Every inch of my skin feels hot and all the heat presses back down on me inside of this tent. "You had a nightmare."
"I did." I nod starting to pace. Move, I need to move. "I've got to go."
"Go where?" He stands from the cot.
"Away. Out. I need air. I need you to stop breathing my air!" I hiss at him. I know it sounds ridiculous, but every time he inhales it feels like he's stealing from me.
Hurrying from the tent, I can feel all the loose strands of my long hair flowing behind me. Marcello takes a few steps to follow, but stops short. He doesn't follow me out of the tent. I rush by Sloane, Finnegan and Hedda sitting around the fire. Their conversation stops as I run by them.
Space. I just need space and air. Maybe I even miss being on that stupid stolen boat too. At least there I could escape to the stars, though I doubted they were even out right now. I'd dozed off with Marcello at peace for possibly the first time in my entire life, and in The Oasis no less. Only a mid-afternoon nap, now evening is upon me and I may not sleep at all this night.
Darting past other mingling challengers, I run myself right to the river. My boots come off first, then my shirt, my belt, and finally my pants. The fanciful undergarments given to me by Genovese remain the only things that keep me somewhat modest.
I run and I jump, letting the water consume me. It's warmer than I thought it might be. I'd wrongly assumed it would be chilled like the rivers that cut through The Bend here and there. Bubbles dance up my skin as I stay submerged until my lungs burn with no reprieve.
Pushing my hair down and away from my face, I emerge with a loud gasp for air. Behind my eyelids, the image of Arron’s body coated in blood remains. Always followed by his weakened state before his age finally came for him. It's terrible, and I can look at it no longer.
With wide eyes, I float and stare up at the ceiling. Only then do I hear the notes of a simple tune. Strings plucked by fingers of someone without thinking of what exact song they intend to play. My torso sinks under the water, fixing my legs under me to touch the bottom.
Silver-blonde hair is pulled in a low bun, green mischief filled eyes watch me back. Mavi continues to strum the strings. His pants are cuffed at his knees where the water hits and his feet dangle below him.
"Have you solved the mystery yet?" He plays a long dramatic chord. "Who do you think the prince is now? Is it me? Is it Credence? What about your lover-boy Marcello? Have you asked that prudish fuck Juilliard yet?"
Beneath the water my body looks more like a mirage. It gives me some solace to know that he doesn't know exactly what I look like mostly naked. Though he very well could have seen me when I rushed right down here.
"How long have you been there?" I ask with a narrowed gaze.
"Long enough to see you shimmy right out of your pants. Are you not trying to seduce me like you did Jefferson? I thought you'd pegged me as the prince."
Well that answers that. He'd certainly seen plenty, so perhaps I shouldn't worry now what he could potentially witness when I get out of the water.
"I can promise you that I did no such thing with Jefferson. Seducing, I mean. Now the sex, that happened, but strictly to satisfy my own needs."
"And you don't find yourself with need in my presence?" His fingers move up and down the guitar strings.
"I don't." I lift my chin. "Where did you get the instrument?"
"A guardsman gave it to me. All you have to do is ask. Walk right on up to that little door the shriveled looking announcer keeps coming through, knock on it, and whatever you wish for entertainment will suddenly appear. Though it's probably too late for you to learn that now. With the final event coming up tomorrow evening and all."
My palms cut through the water, pushing me forward to the edge where he sits propped. "I want to try it," I say more than ask. My palms meet the smooth concrete as I pull myself up to sit next to him, aware that with the slightest wrong move I might slip back into the waters at any moment. I'm also far too aware that the red bottoms and the red clinging top half are all that I'm in.
"No longer care for a swim?" Mavi's hand stops and so does the song.
"If I stay in the water you might have your chance at drowning me, putting my team at a severe disadvantage."
"If I were to kill anyone on your team tonight, fear not, because it certainly wouldn’t be the fragile Human." Mavi tisks.
There's a slight sneer to his lips as I reach and pull the guitar from his hands, settling it into my lap. "I thought we were trying to be friends. Would it kill you to share?"
"The friends I normally acquaint myself with don't take away something I'm clearly using while they drip water all over me."
"Well you must not have very fun friends then." My calloused fingers fit right to the strings and I smile.
"No. I'm afraid they are not."
I stare down at my self-taught fingers. My thumb glides over the strings while I press and move my hands slowly to the different chords whose names I've never learned. After a moment, my song begins to emerge. Admittedly it's a sad tune, one that reminds me of an old lullaby that was mainly meant to scare children instead of putting them to sleep. But I'd learned it on my own and I'm proud of it yet.
"Did you write that song yourself?" Mavi scowls.
I nod and clap the strings against the instrument to stop their sound.
"I can tell."
"Can you teach me something?" I gesture to the instrument in my lap.
"Do you think I want to waste my time teaching you to play the guitar?" He laughs. "Humans are as stupid as they come."
"What are you doing?" A deep voice interrupts.
Mavi and I both turn to the sound and Marcello glares down at us, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
"Oh good. You've come to join us, have you?" Mavi scoffs.
"Fuck off. She doesn't want you around anyway." Marcello tries to wave the Elf away.
"Clearly she does, if we're sitting together. Does it eat you away so much that I could be sitting next to your little pet? She's nothing. This," he motions between us and to the instrument, "is fucking nothing."
"Leave, Mavi." Marcello says again.
Mavi grabs the guitar and yanks it from my hands, leaving me naked and bare. Marcello's eyes instantly find me as Mavi walks by him. Marcello shakes his head, squatting low next to me. His eyes dance over my skin.
"I came to check on you."
"How kind of you. I'm fine, as you can see." I stare down at the water, focusing solely on the way it feels as the stream parts around my legs.
"Memories haunt you," he says gently, as if he's the one breaking the news to me.
"Clearly." I snort.
"I don't like seeing you with him or anyone else for that matter. And I especially don't want to ever think about you and my brother."
"That's the problem with you and me. One you often forget about."
Marcello sighs. "What's that?"
"We don't trust each other." Not when it comes to matters of the heart. I'm as likely to break his as he is to break mine. A sad truth but truth nonetheless.
"I have a jealous nature, I'll admit. Does that truly mean that I do not trust you?"
"I think so." I glance up at him, wrapping my arms around my stomach. Out of the water the air is cold.
"I thought that we discussed how Mavi is trouble." Marcello reaches out and plays with a strand of my wet hair.
"Mavi's trouble. Jefferson's trouble. All of you Hybrids are tr
ouble." Marcello stiffens at the names. "And somehow you're all connected. After tomorrow I'll know whatever it is that you cannot tell me."
"What is it that you think that I cannot tell you?"
"Who the prince is. Jefferson told me that all you fucking Elves have been spellbound to stay quiet."
"And what will you do with that knowledge?" Marcello cocks his head.
Kill the prince. Kill the king. But I can't say that.
"You know I don't think you're the prince, still." I swiftly change the subject. "And that means that Jefferson isn't likely the prince either, if you're related. Mavi is still an option though I'm keen to lean toward any one of the other Elves too."
Marcello stands and moves over to the pile of my clothes. He tosses them to me piece by piece. My boots clattering loudly behind me. "Let's not talk about your suspicions of who may be the prince. Let's talk about us."
"Us? As a pair?" I exhale loudly through my nose. Chasing after a feeling is one thing, but trying to put us together with some sort of actual title is totally different.
"You kissed me back."
"Yes, I did do that."
"I like you, Nilsa."
"You lust me, Marcello. You can’t truly like me. I'm unlikable." I shrug.
"And it's that easy then? You can just deem yourself unlikeable and all my feelings are just supposed to go away?"
"Marcello, I'm Human. I'll die of old age long before your life even truly begins."
"There are ways..." He trails off, his finger dipping into the water that dripped off of me as he draws designs against the concrete, unable to pull his gaze to mine.
"Are you mad?" I gather my clothes and stand. "What are you going to do? Suggest that I become... what? A Vampire? Never. I'd never do that, Marcello. You're getting ahead of yourself. Because this isn't going to go any farther than two people tangled up in bedsheets." I can't believe I'm even saying it. I wish I wasn't. I want Marcello. I want to be an 'us' with Marcello. But my stupid mouth keeps getting in the damn way.
"I'm sorry. Shouldn't have suggested it." His gaze travels down my body. "You are most beautiful, Nilsa. You should really cover up before someone else finds you...likeable."
Marcello bows ever so slightly before he purses his lips and walks away. He leaves me, only to wonder when I might find the strength to become the person Arron had always seen in me. Instead I'm a monster. Just like him.
#1 TEAM MARCRUX:
Thomos - Male, Orc
Lachlan - Male, Elf
India - Female, Elf
Rafferty - Male, Dwarf
Costello - Male, Orc
Danisha – Female, Dryad - DECEASED
#2 TEAM RIVERIA:
Lux - Female, Elf
Alastar - Male, Darf
Amory - Female, Orc
Credence - Male, Elf
Rumi - Female, Orc
Bullie – Female Vampire
#3 TEAM ASHFORD:
Mavi – Male, Elf
Davison – Male, Human - DECEASED
Rake – Male, Saytr
Calik – Male, Vampire
Dakota – Male, Werewolf
Jefferson – Male, Elf
#4 TEAM WINDSOR:
Nilsa – Female, Human
Juilliard – Male, Elf
Marcello – Male, Elf
Finnegan - Male, Vampire
Sloane – Female, Vampire
Hedda - Female, Orc
#5 TEAM CUTTINGTON:
Bekke – Female, Elf
Isla – Female, Vampire - DECEASED
Orchid – Female, Vampire
Winona – Female, Dryad
Noor – Female, Werewolf - DECEASED
Washington – Male, Faun
I can still taste Marcello's kisses on my lips. If I close my eyes I can still imagine the press of his body against mine and the unexpected warm feeling that expands inside of my chest whenever he is near.
"What are you so happy about?" Juilliard examines his sword before he shoves it into the sheath against his hip.
The smile that had grown on my face, one I hadn't even realized was there, quickly dissolves under his pointed glare. I look up from the laces on my boot that I try to tame into a tight bow. I ignore the way Finnegan and Sloane snicker and whisper amongst themselves, seated on the concrete on the other side of the fire.
"Aren't you happy today is the last of the challenges too?" I quickly lie.
He pulls yet another shirt over his head, speaking through the fabric till his head pokes out the other end again. "I have a feeling that even after today, victory or not... we are not without more challenges to complete. They'll just be different."
"How profound," I purr.
Hedda steps out of our tent and shrugs her gun over her shoulder, squinting at me. "What happened to you? You look like you're glowing."
I straighten. "I'm not glowing. By the Saints, can a woman not be a good mood for once?"
The tent behind Juilliard rustles and Marcello steps out. His hands are empty of any weapon whatsoever. That is assuming that Marcello isn't a weapon on his own. He grins, looking at our little group. How had we all managed to live up to this point? Could some credit be given to Marcello's silly little motto?
"I can think of a reason or two that her mood might be lifted." He slips his fingers into his pocket and bounces on his toes. The action itself makes him look more innocent than the man has ever been.
"Ugh. Did you two..." Juilliard points between us. "Finally?"
"We did not!" I stand abruptly. I may have fucked a lot of men, but I certainly haven't done so with Marcello and I will not have any of them thinking we did.
"Well you've certainly done something, dearest." Sloane interjects with a sly smile. "You look happy as a clam. I didn't think you were even fully capable of the emotion at all."
"And what if I'm just excited to end the Games today? Are you not excited to be so close to all this money?" And power. But I won't say that out loud.
"We kissed!" Marcello announces. The declaration is met with a chorus of oohs and ahhs, with the exception of Juilliard who merely rolls his eyes.
"So we're just telling everyone then?" I rest my hands on my hips, squaring up to Marcello. "I just didn't think it was important enough to declare to the team, much less any listening ears." I gesture to the rest of the room and to the ceiling where a camera could appear at any moment.
"You thought it unimportant?" Marcello scoffs, a mockery of real offense. "I've broken through that cold exterior of yours. I've earned myself a kiss with all my efforts. It was no easy feat, and I feel it must be celebrated."
"Saints, what would you have done if I'd slept with you?" I pinch the bridge of my nose, not wanting to know.
"Easy. I would have bought a huge blimp to roam across the skies, both in The Oasis and then down to The Bend." He holds his hands up in the air creating a rectangle with his fingers. "A streaming banner would float behind it with large red words that read 'Nilsa Windsor slept with Marcello Torres!'" He lowers his arms. "Would you like to sleep with me? I can come up with bigger fanfare than that, even. Perhaps a parade?"
"I do love a good parade!" Hedda nods along.
"Don't encourage him." Juilliard says to the Orc while elbowing Marcello in the side. Marcello coughs at the motion and playfully shoves his friend away.
"If I ever did have a desire to sleep with you, the feeling was fleeting and it certainly passed as soon as you offered up the idea of the parade." I want to sound menacing but my lips betray me as much as my skipping heartbeat does and I smile.
"Alright then." Marcello holds my gaze for a minute until the ringing of the bell and the flash of lights reminds us of the next event.
Finnegan and Sloane stand together, leading the way to the dreadful arena. Hedda claps her hand between my shoulders before she walks around me and keeps pace at Juilliard’s side. Leaving just me and Marcello to follow.
"Would you like to take my arm again?" Marcello s
ays with a teasing tone.
I exhale loudly, choosing to put my hand on the dagger in my belt. "No thank you."
"You may not be a proper lady in any aspect of the term, but I'll have to teach you a thing or when you stay with me in The Oasis."
My attention stays pointed ahead, though what I really want to do is gape at the man. Me... stay with him? "Well you're certainly right about one thing. I am not a proper lady. I don't know a thing about being one, nor do I care much for learning."
"You'll stick out like a sore thumb." He laughs as we approach the crowd of teams meeting at the arena for the final time.
"I'm Human, I already stick out."
We stop behind Hedda and Juilliard. Hedda twists, waving me up to her side. I move with the assumption she has some sort of last minute terribly awkward question. Instead, the Orc grabs my shoulder and pulls me against her in a colossal hug.
"We've made it, Human! The final event." She presses a wet kiss against my cheek. My nose wrinkles at the feeling and I watch the announcer step out the small door in front of us as she speaks against my ear. "If all this fails but we manage to survive, know that the door is always open for you to join my business."
"Recruiting even now, Hedda?" I whisper.
"My job is never done." She winks as what Mavi described as 'that shriveled little man' starts talking.
Today the small Elven man wears a suit in the crimson colors of The Oasis. Gold leaves are pressed in a swirling pattern up and down his jacket as well as his pants. He smiles, looking around our group. I can't help but look around a little myself. So many lives lost in such a short span of time. One week. That's all The Oasis Games lasts. The pain in my side is still prevalent and won't be fully healed until long after the event has come to an end, I'm sure.
"Challengers, no matter if you win, lose, or die, today you can take pride in knowing that you've made it to the final event!" The announcer claps his hands together. "Please stand at the starting line when you enter and I'll explain the intent of the game. Does everyone have their weapons?"