Chapter 12

Twelve

Moon

“ O nce we make it to the end, they’ll pit us against each other,” Cato announces as we walk the next morning. The big guy agreed to let me walk for the first half, and I’m grateful. I need to get a lay of the land and feel out the area. I suspect he might be slightly suspicious of me as well though because this morning when I got up to pee, a freaking Goblin jumped out of a bush.

I was about to use my powers to stop him when this crazy little murder snake jumped out of the same bush and bit the Goblin's neck!

Of course, I screamed, making both men come running. They found the Goblin dead, but the snake was nowhere to be seen, and neither of them seemed to believe my story about the murder noodle.

I need to find a way to disappear once we reach the end. Because Cato is right about one thing at least.

“Best case scenario, it's three on three or something, and we can work together to make it through to the second trial,” Cato adds, and I sigh. One can only hope. The games are constantly changing. Trials changing, plans flipping on their side. Whatever gives the audience the best show.

“I won’t win in a fight against you two. My magic—" I pause, remembering my mother’s words. Take the necklace off… My heart starts to race as I realize I must do it now, while things are mellow. And let’s be honest, while I remember, because I forget everything, man.

Who fucking knows what will happen, though.

My fingers tremble as I reach up, grab the stone, breathe deep, and then lift it off my head. I wait, but nothing happens. Maybe it was more of a symbolic thing? I kneel, dig a small hole in the dirt, and place it there, covering it back up. I feel weird leaving it. Like I’m cutting off my toe… but I think I need to do this.

My intuition usually isn’t completely wrong. Usually…

“Hmph” the big guy grunts, and I stand up, looking up at him, and shrug.

“I don’t know, man.” I don’t explain, just start walking once more. I feel exactly the same. “Boo, lame,” I hiss. “Can I have another granola bar?” I ask Cato because I’m starving all of a sudden and feeling lightheaded.

He doesn’t respond, just tosses it at me. I catch it but just barely. My hands shake as I try to open the wrapper and nearly drop it.

“Um, Cato?” I mumble, just in time for him to spin and watch me fall to the ground.

Cato

It smells like dirt and trees out here, and that annoys me for some reason. That is, except for the scent of strawberries wafting off Moon in waves. I can hardly look at her without wanting a taste. Dragons love strawberries.

“Cato,” she murmurs weakly, and I spin just in time to catch her limp form as she falls.

“Moon, what the fuck?” I ask, and the Cyclops punches his chest, but I shake my head. “No, you carried her yesterday,” I grumble, as I lift her and carry her bridal style through the maze. She’s burning up and shivering like she’s cold. Her skin is pale and looks sickly. What the fuck?

“Mmph,” the dude grunts, and I shake my head.

“No, greedy fuck,” I snap, making him stomp, shaking the ground beneath my feet. “If you don’t stop your shit, I’ll drop her, and that’ll be on you,” I hiss. “We need to find another place to rest. Something’s wrong,” I say and pick up my pace.

“Moon?” I ask, aggravated, but not at her. At my fear for her.

“Well, what do we have here?” a man says as we pass through a narrow bit of maze, and I realize we’ve made it to the end. Instantly I’m on edge. I can sense the murderous intent, and so can my companion. He takes her from me, and I don’t fight as I release her to him. He holds her close to his chest, and she grumbles something about danger noodles.

“Three dead men walk into a clearing, but three men walk out. Who are the three dead men?” I ask, as my Dragon rises to the fight, ready to spring. Dragons love dumb ass riddles too.

“We just want the girl,” one of them says, licking his lips. Oh, wrong words to say.

I back up, as the Cyclops starts to stomp forward. He’s about to crush one of the men under his enormous foot when I hold up my hand. Moon snuggles into her protector, completely unaware of what’s happening.

“Yeah, man, we aren’t even here for the game. Give her to us, and we’ll bow out. You two can go on with that guy,” the scrawny dude says, confirming my theory about not all of us making it on to the second trial. I flick my eyes to see who their third is and hiss.

The Fae Prince. The supposedly bastard Fae Prince. The rumors about him are unending, and I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d assume he was here to kill freely.

But I’ve watched him, observed him. He’s dangerous, but he’s never harmed an innocent. And I would know, just as well as Odas, what the vicious Fae are capable of.

“Just one little problem, boys,” Fenrick says, as he slowly removes one glove. “She’s mine.” And then the Fae Prince is on them. With one single touch of his skin against theirs, they scream in pain, before dropping dead.

I consider my chances of convincing the Cyclops to give the girl over to Fenrick, but he just shrugs. “The terms are six in, four out. Just keep her alive a little…” Fenrick pauses, looking at Moon in a way I don’t like. I also noticed he said ‘mine.’ I don’t like that either.

“What the fuck…” he whispers, disappearing before our eyes.

“Nifty trick,” I grumble, checking the area for instructions. “Of course. ‘The remaining four will continue on to the next part of the maze.’” I read out loud, noticing the supplies in the center. “Put her down and shift back already,” I tell him, already annoyed with this game. He’s been letting her think he’s some kind of pet this entire time, and I just can’t deal with it any longer.

Moon

“You’re no fun. She thinks I’m like her pet,” a gruff voice says from beside me, and I roll over, once again lying on the ground. At least it’s grass.

“Odas, I’m well aware of that…” Cato grumbles, and I flinch because I can feel someone touching me, except, there’s no one near me at all. I narrow my eyes, either I’m going crazy, or something sus is happening here.

“Fine. But I’m not doing this for you,” a man I don’t recognize says, and I watch as he pulls his clothes on. The longer I watch, the more familiar he gets.

“You lying little-“ I groan, and both men snap their gazes to me. I’m about to jump to my feet so I can cut their throats for lying to me this whole time. That’s when I see the two dead bodies. What the fu- “What did I miss?” I ask, distracted for a moment. But only for a moment, because then the man I know was a giant Cyclops just a moment ago grins at me. “You shady fuck…” I say, glaring and pointing my finger at him.

“In my defense, you just assumed—" he starts, but I cut him off.

“How dare you.” I shove my finger at him wishing it was a knife as I sit up, but the world spins. “Oh, I’m gonna throw up.” I dry heave, but nothing actually comes up. “Oh, man. That was awful. What’s wrong with me?” I groan, falling back to the ground, but I swear I hit it softer than I should. Like someone caught me. I look up but find nothing. “Strange things are happening,” I complain, as I reach my hand up and rub my head.

“Are you okay?” the man, who's apparently Odas and supposed to have only one eyeball, asks me. The concern in his eyes, yes plural, is clear, but I’m still mad at him for lying to me like the bastard he is.

“Someone, tell me what’s going on.” I wave off his question, annoyed, flicking his hand away when he kneels down and reaches for me. “Are they… dead?” I ask, but I can tell they are, I just need verbal confirmation.

A man appears out of thin air beside me and scares the fuck out of me. I scream and then pull my fist back, but just before I can punch him, he catches my wrist with a gloved hand.

“You don’t want to do that. One little touch and you’d die,” he says, and I frown. It’s the man from the banquet who’d worn a mask like Echo. “Which is terribly unfortunate.” His last words are a whisper and make me frown. Odd thing to say when I was about to break his nose.

“Those men tried to convince us to hand you over. They didn't even care about the game,” Odas says, looking around the small clearing like he’s on edge. He shakes his head and grumbles something under his breath. “If the Blood Fae here hadn’t killed them, I would have stomped them to death,” he adds, and I resume glaring at him, reminded that he lied to me.

“We reached the end of the trial? Did I pass out or something?” And then his words sink in. “They wanted you to hand me over to them?” My mouth falls open, and I just stare. “How'd they die, exactly, since you didn’t stomp them?”

“Touched me,” the man still hovering over me says.

“He touched them, actually,” Cato clarifies. “Didn’t you, Prince Fenrick?” I frown, the way Cato just said Prince felt very angry. Like the word itself offends him.

“Is this going to be a thing?” Fenrick asks Cato, who just scoffs and walks away, heading for the supplies.

“What was that?” I ask Odas, who just shakes his head with a solemn expression.

“It’s a long story, and it’s not mine alone to tell,” Odas says, before standing, and stepping away from me to follow his friend.

“It’s not my story to tell either, but I can say that my mother isn’t a very good person, and unfortunately those two know that all too well.” Fenrick frowns, the first real emotion I’ve seen flashing in his eyes, but then it’s gone before I can identify it, and he’s back to stone cold.

I pat my pebbles again, feeling unsettled, and for whatever reason, that helps. This makes Fenrick frown before he disappears before my eyes once more.

“Blood Fae can disappear?” I ask, and Odas shakes his head, as I weakly stand and make my way over to him. Unable to resist, I flick the back of his head, before grabbing my bag and refilling it with fresh supplies.

“No— ow— No, not all Blood Fae can disappear. There are only two Blood Fae alive, after all. The king and his son. As far as I know, the king doesn’t have that power…” Odas says when I feel heated breath against my ear.

“He doesn’t,” Fenrick whispers, making my skin tingle.

“Hey!” I yelp, falling forward as I flip my head to the side, looking for the culprit. “That’s super annoying,” I hiss and hear him chuckle.

“Don’t worry, little Witch. At night, my ability to bend light is much harder to control.” Fenrick grabs me, pulling me upright, even though I still can’t see him.

Odas frowns and then throws a random punch into thin air. There’s a masculine grunt beside me, and then Odas is snickering.

“Ha, where’d I get you?” Odas asks, returning to his task.

“Shoulder,” Fenrick grunts, reappearing. “You’re lucky it wasn’t my face,” he snips, before turning to me. “If you’re going to keep throwing punches at me, put gloves on,” and then he’s stomping off. “All of you,” he adds, and I smirk. Guess he wants all of us alive.

“He’s just one big ball of sunshine, isn’t he?” I grumble, shaking my head. I do as he said, though, looking for a pair of gloves in the chest of supplies. I know myself well enough to know I’ll probably try to knock his ass out again.

As I pull my sleeves up to pull the new gloves on, I notice something odd. The Heart-Bonded mark I share with Arlo is… All the way wrapped around my full forearm, even dipping down to wrap around my fingers. Some of the black lines look like lightning strikes, and some resemble a tree’s branches.

Fire and leaves… “What the fuck?” I whisper, and before Cato can see what I’m seeing, I put the gloves on and push my sleeve down. I jump to my feet and race toward the same exit Fenrick took. “Strange things indeed,” I mumble, not understanding one fucking bit.

My pack is stocked, my thighs carry knives strapped to me, and I’m hiding a secret weapon, my tits.

Now, that last one won’t work on a person who isn’t attracted to women, but I’m crossing my fingers here. Straight men seem to have a reset button, one of which is boobs.

It’s something I will never understand. I don’t lose all brain functions when I see dick…

Men are strange.