We’re so high up— higher than I anticipated and my stomach roils with nausea as I looked down into the inky black water below. It didn’t feel like I could access the shadows with how jumbled up I felt, so I would have no choice but to jump.
“After you, your viciousness” Dex gestured in a mock gentlemanly bow.
I had half a mind to shove him off here, but I didn’t think the guards would take too kindly to me intentionally maiming a fellow player. Dex might not have cared about getting caught, but I certainly did. The risk of being arrested wasn’t worth the reward. Besides, we only had a few more days of training before the games officially started, and then I could maim him all I wanted. I could make him bleed and beg for mercy.
Right now, I had bigger things to worry about. Like how the hell I was going to make it off here.
With a wink, Dex stepped off the ledge and plummeted below without even breaking a sweat.
Dammit.
I was behind again. The water below seemed to zoom in and out in the field of my vision making my head swim. My toes crept up to the edge, kicking small pieces of the wall off. If I slipped right now, I’d probably crack my head open and die. Goodbye world.
No, I needed to jump far enough away that I cleared the jagged wall, but not too far that would land me right on top of the barbed wire cage. There was only one way down from here, and it was to jump off this wall.
Decision made. I leapt into the air, eyes closed and stomach careening up into my ribs. Wind whipped around my body as I hoped with everything inside me that I would make it.
What seemed like an eon later, my feet touched water and I was enveloped fully into a freezing vat of muddied water. The cold was a shock to my system, and I fought against the instinct to open my mouth under the water. Instead, I kicked with a ferocity to break me free of its clutches. I still had to swim to the other side without getting caught up in the barbed wire, and Dex was already halfway there.
Staying low, I pushed off the wall, took a deep breath, and ducked beneath the surface to avoid the long reach of the wiresthat dipped into the water like hands ready to grip onto me with one wrong move, just like Killian. He’d gotten wrapped up in one of the tendrils and now had slices all down his neck and back.
The water was far too cloudy for me to make out anything clearly. My lungs screamed out for oxygen, but I had to keep going. I was almost there, I had to be. Black spots dotted my already limited vision as my body demanded air.Just… a little farther, I told myself putting everything into kicking.
Just as I was about to make it free and clear, a barbed wire that I didn’t see, grasped me by my braid, yanking me back.
My mouth opened, letting in a torrent of dirty water as I screamed soundlessly out in pain. Bubbles escaped as water filled my throat. It burned so fucking bad and panic, hot, raw panic pounded against my chest as I fought to get free.
A small wisp of a shadow emerged then, wrapping around my body and unhooked my caught locks from the wires.
I was able to claw my way out, getting cut down the length of my back as my hands were ripped into ribbons trying to free myself. It felt like burning knives digging into my soft flesh, but I had to keep moving despite the pain. If I didn’t, I would die here. Blood streamed from my wounds as I swam. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes, but I wouldn’t give into the agony. For myself, for my family, I fought to reach the end.
Finally, my knees hit ground and I crawled out of the mud, covered in my own blood, dripping wet, and half frozen.
Sputtering a breath of oxygen, I wheezed and collapsed onto the finish line as I involuntarily coughed. My lungs and throat felt like they wrecked on fire.
Dex looked down at me, hands shoved in his pockets. His horned mask appearing more devilish than ever in the dark lighting.
“I thought you’d never make it.”
Anger like a hot poker stabbing my chest bubbled up inside me, but I didn’t have the energy for a smart retort. Instead, I glared up at him and wished I was back home, snuggled up in my bed, not stuck down here in this hellscape.
Everyone seemed to be picking up their things and heading to the tunnel, but not Dex. He just stared down at me with the same intense expression that had me wishing I could read his mind. The man was an enigma but figuring him out might be the death of me.
“Here, let me help you up,” Dex said offering his hand.
I smacked it away with what little strength I had left.
“Fuck off.”
He chuckled darkly.
The effort it took to get myself to standing was monumental, but the sweat gathering down my back and dotted across my forehead was worth it to not accept help from a man who would have gladly watch me drown.
I was in desperate need of shower and a good night’s rest, but we still had one more challenge. With the way I was feeling I didn’t even know how I would have enough energy to even make it back to my room without collapsing. Each breath was labored, sounding wet with the muddied earth that rattled around in my lungs.
I may have lost to Dex today, but I was still standing. My mom was right, there was a strength inside me that I just needed to cling onto. It might be the only thing that helped me make it through to the end.
The menders patchedme up as best they could before they led me down the tunnel where the rest of the contestants waited in an arena. The room was rounded at the top and had one long ray of light that illuminated what looked like a fighting ring. There were several slabs of concrete that could be used to hide behind as well as nine sharp iron poles jutting out from the ground that encompassed the outside of the ring.
