His body trembles when we make eye contact, and he screams, the noises tearing from deep within his chest.
Tension knots through me, making breathing difficult. He didn’t even come with us that night, so he has no clue what’s happening.
Pure panic laces his eyes, and tears begin streaming down his cheeks as a piece of cardboard is lit and brought close to the pyre he’s bound to.
“You can’t burn a person in here,” I say, forcing the words past my own fear. “Having any fire in a cave is reckless and stupid, but one that big would kill us all.”
“Death’s Teeth may be guided on this plane by the rules its humans have constructed to maintain a semblance of order and power,” the original masked figure says. “But our ultimate ruler is Death. Delaying the inevitable is all we were created for in the first place.”
“It makes no sense to torch something just because you didn’t get what you wanted.”
“Strong opinions from a woman known for doing whatever she pleases, damn the consequences.” The figure releases my face, reaching around to grab a fistful of my hair and yank my head back. They lean above me, our faces dangerously close. “Tell me, dear. When you volunteered yourself, did you have no intention of following through? Did you think Incarnate wouldn’t care if you were unfaithful? Did you think this was a joke, or that we wouldn’t find out who you were?”
“No,” I whisper. “I didn’t, and I haven’t been unfaithful.”
“A pity then that your friend will die for nothing.”
They bring the burning cardboard closer to Percy’s face, and he begins thrashing against his bindings, dislodging the gag long enough to shout my name. It echoes around the cavern, making my eardrums bleed.
“Elle, please!”
His sobs rattle my bones, and when the masked figure lets go of my hair, I kneel, pressing my face to the ground. “Please!”I cry at their feet, clad in nylon stockings and nothing else. Slender, feminine feet with a silver toe ring peeking through the material. “Please don’t hurt him. He has nothing to do with any of this. Let him go.”
The figure stares at me for several long minutes, as if contemplating my plea. “Centuries ago, we had another Maiden beg for the life of someone she loved. It did not end well for her, but you already know that, don’t you?”
I lift my head but not my face, focusing on their ankles. “I don’t. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
There’s only one campus entity who claims that sort of omnipotence. I curl my hands into fists, my breaths growing ragged as the cogs continue churning, my mind tentatively putting pieces together.
“What a shame you didn’t bother to read any more of my journals,” the figure says, stroking my hair.
My stomach drops.
Pythia.
This is Pythia standing before me.
Her identity remains a mystery, but still she reveals a piece of it.
“I’ll ask again,” Pythia says, digging her nails into the back of my neck. “Do you accept the responsibility you volunteered for, or are you relinquishing your claim to the your title and thus Death’s Teeth as a whole?”
“I don’t understand,” I say, trying to buy time. Her words are barely audible over the blood rushing between my ears, but I still want to try.
“You don’t need to,” she replies. “The machinations are of no consequence. You just do what you’re told, or you forfeit your right to be here. Choose wisely.”
“But I…” Glancing at Percy, who’s been gagged again by the masked figures next to him, a pit opens up inside my chest. My emotions fall inside, lost to the ether of terror reigning within.
The figure turns abruptly, nodding toward the members flanking Percy. His screams start up again through the fabric in his mouth as the fire comes closer to his face.
Tauntingly close, without touching.
They’re toying with him. A cat playing with its meal before devouring it whole.
And it’s my fault he’s here in the first place.
My fault we’re all about to die.
I glance around, wondering how many other innocent students are among the masked crowd. How many students were tricked or forced into pledging their allegiance to a group that promised to do one thing and refused to release them from its clutches when it became clear their promises were nothing but lies?
