Dante ran a hand through his hair as his eyes shifted around the switchboard.
“There’s only one way,” he muttered.
I pulled my gaze away from the splintering glass. “What do you mean?”
“Get ready to run like hell.”
“What?”
In one swift motion, Dante slammed both hands down on the panel, pressing all of the buttons at once.
In an instant, three things happened. One, part of the wall on the opposite side of the bridge slid up, revealing the rings. Two, the barrage of darts increased tenfold. And three, the glass shielding us from the onslaught shattered.
I cried out in pain as one of the darts jammed into my back, inches from my spine. Dante hissed as one slammed into his ear. We bolted for the rings on the other side.
A third of the way down the bridge, two more darts hit home in my right ankle. My already semi-numb leg grew clumsy. I slowed down significantly as I pulled myself along with my left. Halfway there, Dante let out a scream when a dart pierced his left thigh and another stuck into his arm. Three quarters of the way, he stumbled as his left ankle gave way. I rushed forward and caught him. He met my eyes as we rose together, him standing solely on his right leg while I stood entirely on my left. Together, we formed one being as we staggered onward.
Another dart pierced my back. Then one more hit my shoulder. The edges of my vision blurred and blackened, closing in. I blinked rapidly and sprinted desperately forward. Dante’s eyes were almost closed, but he kept moving, his breaths coming in heaving gasps just as mine were.
At the end of the bridge, we fell and scrambled away from the onslaught of darts. We found a moment’s respite on the flaredend of the bridge where the darts couldn’t reach, but the way the floor spun and my vision grew darker wasn’t a comforting sign.
“Dan—” I tried to speak but my tongue wouldn’t work.
Dante, I reached out to him mentally instead. He sent back a feeling. Not a word but a sensation to let me know he was still there, still conscious.The rings. Get to…rings.
He crawled forward, flat on his stomach, his fingers of his right hand dragging his body along the cool metal. His left arm hung uselessly at his side. I tried to stand but fumbled and crashed back onto the ground, the hard metal slamming into my calf. I could hardly feel it through the patches of numbness, but I would surely feel it once we finally got out of this Trial.
Dante made it to the rings before me. Three feet away, my vision narrowed to a pinprick, and no matter how many times I blinked, I simply couldn’t see anymore.
Adrian, come forward. Just a few…more…feet…
Driven into a frenzied panic by my blindness, I tossed my body forward and stuck out my arm. Dante’s fingers gripped my wrist and raised it up to the rings.
This time, with the burning came another sensation as well. A cool liquid seeped into my skin where the rings had made their mark. It spread throughout my body and, in every place it touched, feeling returned. My vision cleared, my breathing evened. I could move my legs again, flex my fingers, and turn my head.
A whooshing at the other end of the bridge let us know that our loyal transports had returned. But, despite our success, neither of us were in a hurry to cross that bridge again. Even with the darts no longer a threat, we would be forced to face our adoring fans.
“Dante?” I said as my airways began to clear and I gulped in lungfuls of air.
“Hm?” He asked from my side, doing the same as I was and flexing his fingers now that he could feel them again.
“You’re a crazy son of a bitch.”
He laughed. At first, it was just a low chuckle, then it grew to all out hysteria. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he shook his head, clutching his stomach. I couldn’t help but join him.
It felt good to laugh, but it felt even better to breathe, to see, to feel once more. We didn’t speak again. And even as the laughter died down, we simply sat there in the silence and enjoyed a few moments of peace before we had to return to the world of expectations and realities.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“We laugh, we cry, we live, we die
And still, time marches on.
We grieve, we mourn, we age, we’re born
And still, time marches on.
The ticking of the clock grows louder
