by Megan Linski
“Goodnight, everyone,” Imogen said pleasantly. “I hope we all have sweet dreams.”
Never mind. Imogen made it weird, anyway.
“Goodnight, my lovelies,” Jonah said. I immediately heard a large snore afterward. The bastard had already slipped off.
“Goodnight,” Sophia said, and she sighed, sinking her head between my shoulder blades. That little touch sent fireworks skyrocketing through my skin.
Squeaks, Esis, and Sassy all sounded off with their own farewells. There was silence, and Imogen said, “Liam… you didn’t say goodnight.”
I sighed. “Goodnight. Now everyone shut the hell up!”
The next morning, the fire had burnt out, but I noticed that when I woke up it wasn’t cold anymore. The snow outside was gone, which meant the weather was back to normal— for now.
I wondered if anything was waiting for us out there. It didn’t occur to me that we should’ve posted someone to keep watch, but we were all so tired last night I doubt that it would’ve done much good anyway.
I closed my eyes again, wanting to rest for just a few more minutes. I got woken up when something furry and bloody got shoved in my face.
“Ugh!” I shouted. I sat up. In my lap fell a dead rabbit, its throat ripped out. Sassy looked up at me proudly, swishing her tail.
“What is it?” Jonah replied sleepily. The others sat up, woken by my yell.
I rubbed my eyes. At Sassy’s feet was a collection of six rabbits, freshly hunted. I could hardly believe my eyes. Her snout was bloody and she grinned with pride.
“Sassy!” Imogen squealed. She hugged her fox enthusiastically. “Good girl!”
“Finally, something substantial to eat,” Jonah said.
Sophia looked at me. “Do we have time? Or should we hit the road?”
I hesitated. Cooking the rabbits would slow us down, but we weren’t trying to win. It was more important to stay alive. We needed energy.
“I can skin and butcher them,” I said. “You guys can cook them up.”
“All right, Mom,” Jonah said. I sneered at him.
Sophia stayed on the other side of camp while I did the dirty work. This kind of stuff didn’t bother me, because I grew up doing it with my dad, but Sophia turned green when she saw me sharpen a rock to a point to use as a knife. She was fine with cooking them, though. Soon we were gathered around the fire with full stomachs again, though I knew what little protein the rabbits had wouldn’t last long. I hoped Sassy would keep hunting.
Squeaks consumed two rabbits herself, raw. Sassy didn’t eat, so I supposed she’d already fed herself. I noticed that Esis ate a few bites of the rabbit, but not much. Still, he didn't seem to be fatigued. Was Esis a kind of animal that could go a few days without a meal, and live off fat stores? It would explain why he ate so much when there was food to go around.
We were on the road again before late morning. We’d been walking for two hours and hadn’t run into anything. I’d gotten nervous.
The mountains were looming in the distance. Imogen pointed to them. “We need to get over those. That’s the biggest hurdle to getting to the flag.”
Sophia stopped in her tracks. “I don’t know, guys,” she started. “I think we should go the other way.” She pointed deep into the forest.
“But that’s in the other direction, and it’s overgrown,” Jonah said. “Why would you want to go there?”
Sophia shrugged. She seemed anxious. “I don’t know. I just… have a feeling.”
I raised an eyebrow. “We need more than feelings, Soph.”
Sophia chewed on her lip. She didn’t want to speak up. “Well… a straight shot to the flag is the obvious way to go, which means everyone will be going that way, and through there, we’ll meet the biggest obstacles. Going around might take longer, but it reduces our chances of getting hurt.”
She had a good point, but Jonah shook his head and stepped in. “No way. It doesn’t matter which way we go, there will be obstacles everywhere. The hike up the mountains won’t be easy, but it’ll be quick. We should go that way.”
“I agree,” Imogen said. “Do we want to get this over with, or not?”
“You’re Captain,” Jonah said, poking me. “You decide.”
Way to put me on the spot. I looked between my friends. For some reason, I had a feeling that climbing up the mountains was a bad idea, too. I wanted to do what Sophia said.
But on the other hand, Jonah and Imogen had an actual plan. If we went any deeper into the forest, there was a chance we’d get lost. It was pointless to aimlessly wander around when we only had so much energy to spare.
“Let’s just try the mountains, for now,” I said, and Sophia’s face fell. “If it doesn’t work, we can turn around.”
Sophia didn’t say anything when we left the forest. I didn’t want her to be mad at me, but I was just trying to save everyone’s life.
The closer we got to the mountains, the more we saw signs of the other teams. We found footprints, remnants of food, and abandoned campsites. By my estimate, all the other teams… the ones that were still around, anyway… were way ahead of us.
Who cared? We still had everyone. Couldn’t say the same for—
My blood ran cold as I saw a body lying on the ground with red sleeves. It was the Toaqua from Haley’s team, the one with the liopleurodon. She was lying in front of a stone house that looked like a Nivita had constructed. Sophia gasped, and the other two halted in their tracks. I walked up to the body and knelt to the ground to inspect it.
Her eyes were still spread open. She’d frozen to death last night in the cold. Her fingernails were bloody, and there were marks on the door— like she’d been trying to claw her way in.
I couldn’t believe it. Haley used her to get off the island, then just… disposed of her. And her teammates had let her do it.
Sick bitch.
I got up. “She’s gone, guys. Been dead for hours.”
“Shouldn’t we bury the body?” Sophia asked.
I shook my head. “The officials will come to get her shortly. We need to keep moving.” I hated leaving a fellow Toaqua there like that, but what could I do? She was dead. There was no bringing her back.
I heard sniffling behind me. Sophia was crying. She put a hand on her mouth, trying to suppress the sobs that were coming out.
“Hey,” I said. I reached out and pulled Sophia into a hug. “There’s nothing we could do.”
Sophia sniffed. When I let her go, Esis jumped onto her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
Imogen and Jonah were stone-faced. They’d grown up in this society. They knew that not everyone made it out of the tournament alive, though it was different seeing it in real life instead of on screen.
“Let’s go.” I gestured to my teammates, and they followed. The Toaqua girl’s blue eyes were burrowed into my conscience as we continued onward. Haley wouldn’t be blamed for murder. The Elders would say that the girl should’ve been smart enough to survive on her own. That’s what this tournament was all about, anyway.
About a mile up ahead, we ran into the mountainside— and more bodies. I assessed the situation. Two Elementai, one from the Silver Team and one from the Blue. Their Familiars lay beside them, expressions gaping and legs positioned like they were still running.
“Looks like they were crushed,” I mused. I was distracted, thinking about where the other teams were. Maybe if we could figure out what they ran into, we could avoid it ourselves.
Esis was acting crazy. He was running in a circle around us, making loud screeches at the top of his lungs and trying to get our attention.
“Esis, what’s wrong?” Sophia said. She tried to pick him up, but he wouldn’t let her. He pushed her away and kept dancing around, pointing at the mountains.
“Esis, what—?”
Sophia got my attention when she cut her sentence off. Imogen and Jonah both had large, gaping mouths. I slowly turned to stare at what they were looking at. The reason why the Elders had made
it snow so much last night socked me in the gut. Large boulders barreled down the side of the mountain, picking up speed, along with a torrent of snow.
I figured out what the other teams had met. It’d been a landslide, and another one was coming our way.
“Liam!” I cried as I stared up at the landslide barreling toward us, my heart slamming against my chest. I scooped Esis into my arms and held him tightly. “What do we do?”
He froze, eyes locked on the incoming landslide. It was like he was someplace else entirely.
“Liam!” I shouted to get his attention.
He hesitated for a second before shouting, “Run!”
The four of us took off sprinting in different directions. Sassy was cradled in Imogen's arms as she started in the opposite direction of Liam and me. Squeaks ran alongside Jonah directly away from the landslide, as if they could outrun it. It was total chaos.
“This way!” Liam shouted, catching their attention.
Imogen and Jonah quickly joined us as we raced parallel to the mountain. I glanced up, and fear rocked my body. The landslide must've been half a mile across, and it was coming in fast. There was no way we could outrun it. We had to think of something. Quick.
“Can't you… stop it… Imogen?” I asked through labored breaths.
“Could you stop a freaking fire tornado?” she shot back in a distressed tone.
I'll take that as a no.
“Jonah!” I called as I ran. “Can Squeaks get us above it?”
“Not all of us. We have to stick together,” he answered.
“Imogen,” Liam snapped. “We need shelter, now. As strong as you can.”
“Do you have any idea what you're asking me to do?” Imogen fired back.
“Yes!” Liam roared. “It's do or die out here! You have less than thirty seconds to decide what you want it to be!”
Imogen skidded to an abrupt halt and bent to the ground to bury her fingers in the earth. The landslide must've been two hundred yards from us now. It'd land on us any second and squash us. I hadn’t been counting on dying in this tournament, but now it seemed like a reality.
Imogen shot to her feet and pointed. “Straight ahead and around that boulder!”
Nobody questioned her. There wasn't time. We raced around a boulder jutting out from the mountainside and found ourselves in front of a tall rock face. I noticed a small opening that sank far back into the rock, but it was only big enough to fit an arm in.
Imogen shoved Sassy into Liam’s arms. “There’s a small cavern here. I just…”
She raised her hands and pointed them at the rock. Her eyebrows constricted, and her jaw tightened.
I stole another glance at the incoming rock and squeezed Esis tighter. Come on, Imogen!
The rock surrounding the hole tumbled to the ground, widening the hole until it was three feet across. It stretched back at least fifteen feet. Liam rushed forward and tossed Sassy inside.
“Everyone in!” he shouted. I could barely hear him over the roar of tumbling rock above us.
Imogen scurried into the tunnel behind Sassy, and Esis and I quickly climbed in after her.
“No way!” Jonah protested, eyeing the small tunnel with a knitted brow.
Liam stomped forward and shoved a fist into Jonah’s shirt. “Get in there now, or so help the ancestors. I’m not going to watch you die! Squeaks, get in!”
Squeaks dove in behind me. Her body was so large that she barely fit and blocked all the light behind us. The earth rumbled above us, but I pushed forward despite my trembling limbs.
The shaking of the earth intensified. Somewhere beyond the deafening sound of tumbling boulders above our heads, a shriek echoed throughout the tunnel.
“What happened?” Imogen shouted, but I barely heard her.
I tried to glance back to see what was wrong, but Squeaks’ beak poked my butt, and she nudged me forward. Worst case scenarios ran through my head. Had Liam been crushed? Did Jonah make it into the tunnel?
The rumbling passed over us, and I held my breath, waiting to hear if everyone was okay.
“Sophia!” Liam called. Jonah sobbed beside him.
Relief flooded through me.
“We need some light!” Liam demanded.
I was so relieved I could cry. My voice cracked. “I— I can't. Squeaks is in the way.”
“Come this way,” Imogen said in front of me. It sounded like her voice was bouncing off the walls of a cavern much bigger than the the tunnel I was crawling through.
I heard Esis scurry forward and followed behind him. I produced a small flame in my palm to see that the cavern was twice the size of my dorm room, with a ceiling tall enough to stand in. Small tunnels broke off in various directions, but nothing that was wide enough to fit through, unless we sent Sassy or Esis. My light cast shadows across Imogen's face, which was etched in worry.
“We need that light sooner than later!” Liam yelled.
“Squeaks!” I cried. I ducked back inside the tunnel and pulled at her front leg. She wouldn't budge.
Jonah groaned in pain, and I felt Squeaks tense in response. “My leg!” Jonah cried. “I’m hurt!”
“I know you want to help, Squeaks,” I said, “but none of us can help Jonah if you don't move.”
That got her attention. She crawled forward and pulled herself out of the tunnel, nearly getting her butt stuck in the process. I relit my flame and held it into the tunnel opening.
“What happened?” I asked in a rushed breath.
“I don't know,” Liam shot back. “Jonah, can you crawl?”
Jonah was just a lump in the tunnel. All I saw was his bun wiggle as he shifted his head, but I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be an answer. Beyond him was nothing but blackness. The layers of earth from the landslide had buried the entrance.
I tried not to think about running out of oxygen or starving to death. All I cared about right now was whether or not Jonah was okay.
Esis jumped into the tunnel and hopped over Liam. He grabbed Jonah's arm and started tugging, as if he could help drag him.
Jonah groaned and rolled over. His face was bright red, and he was breathing hard. “I'll make it. Just give me a minute.”
Liam waited until Jonah pushed himself to his elbows and began dragging himself along army-style before crawling forward. I took Liam's hand in mine— the one that wasn't flaming— to help him out of the tunnel.
Imogen and Liam helped Jonah out of the tunnel, with Squeaks right beside them keeping a close watch. Jonah stood on one foot but held his other up, taking in long, deep breaths.
“Sit down,” Liam instructed, guiding Jonah to the ground.
Squeaks dropped to her belly behind Jonah, allowing him to lean against her for comfort. We all hovered around him. Imogen rubbed his shoulder, and I held my flame close so everyone could see.
“A falling rock hit my foot while I was climbing into the tunnel,” Jonah explained.
“Let me look.” Liam reached for the hem of Jonah’s pants, but Jonah swatted him away.
“Dude,” Jonah snapped. “Don’t touch it.”
“Do you think it’s broken?” Imogen asked in a shaky voice.
Jonah stared at her with a pointed expression. “Do I look like a doctor to you? All I know is that it hurts like a mofo.”
Liam stood. “You’re alive, and that’s what matters.”
Esis inched forward and reached his tiny paws for Jonah’s shoe. My hand instinctively shot out for him, holding him back as worry ran through me. I couldn’t let him show his power now. Liam would hate me. I knew I had to tell him… eventually. But during the middle of the tournament was not the time. This kind of secret could tear our entire group apart, which could get us all killed. As much as my gut twisted watching Jonah huff in pain, I’d rather we deal with a broken ankle than with a teammate’s death.
Imogen caught my eye when I pulled Esis away. I shook my head at her. I couldn’t tell them yet. Imogen turned away, but didn’t say anyth
ing. She looked visibly paler than normal, and her pigtails were in disarray. Her arms shook as she cradled Sassy.
“Okay, Imogen,” Liam said. “You’re up.”
Imogen glanced up at him with a blank expression. “What?”
“The landslide is over,” Liam said, like it was obvious. “You can unblock the entrance.”
Imogen’s eyes nearly bulged out of her skull. “Are you serious? Liam, you know that—”
“What other choice do we have?” Liam cut her off. “Do you want to send Esis down one of these tunnels to see if there’s a way out? It would take him ten years to dig us out with those little paws.”
Esis crossed his arms, offended.
“Are you even going to try?” Liam challenged.
Imogen hesitated, then set Sassy down. She sighed and walked over to the wall of the cave and placed a flat palm to the rock. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
When she opened them, her face fell. “The smaller tunnels go on forever. And there’s almost fifteen feet of dirt the way we came. That’s more than what my brother had—”
“I don’t care what trial he faced,” Liam said, his hands tightening into fists. “He’s not here right now. Right now, we have you, and you’re our only way out of here.”
Liam was growing visibly distressed by the second. Jonah was starting to rock back and forth, muttering something under his breath like a prayer. Imogen’s eyes brimmed with tears. I was feeling exhausted, hungry, and useless. Had our team already reached its breaking point?
“My Water and Jonah’s Air is useless down here,” Liam said. “And all Sophia’s power is good for is sucking up oxygen.”
My eyes widened, and I instantly reduced my flame. Jonah gasped through the darkness.
After a moment of silence, Imogen spoke. “I— I can try…”
“Good,” Liam said flatly. “Let’s get on it.”
Imogen’s hands ran across the rock as she lowered herself back into the tunnel.
“Liam,” I said.
“What?” he snapped in a harsh tone. As soon as the word left his mouth, he took a breath and spoke softly. “Shit. Sophia…”
“You need to calm down,” I told him. I tried to keep my voice steady, but inside, my heart was racing. “If Imogen is going to get us out of here, she needs to concentrate. Sometimes you can be a bit harsh.”
