by Amie Gibbons
“Wahoo!” I said, running up the hill, Carvi overtaking me after a few steps.
I cleared the hill and he stood in front of the wall.
Which was still intact.
He stepped to the side, revealing the hole where the explosives had gone off.
It was a cracked and craggy hole with stuff sticking out, but was maybe big enough for a big guy to crawl in.
“Oh man,” I said. “Do we do another?”
He squinted at the wall. “Are you claustrophobic?”
I glanced between the hole and him. “No!”
“No, you’re not claustrophobic, or no to my idea because you are?”
“I’m not going in there.” I shook my head hard enough to jangle my brains. “Not happening.”
“So, you are. I think I get the trap.”
“We’ll be trapped if we try going through there!”
“Ariana, this is the way out. They trapped us using a fear. Since I don’t have power in here, the fear spell probably focused on you. So, to get out quickly, we need to go through there.”
Oh, he was so not serious!
“Too bad!” I said. “We can get out difficultly? Er, diffic… We can get out the hard way!” I crossed my arms, starin’ him down.
“We have people waiting for us.”
“You said we have a lot of time in here.”
“No, we have more time in here. They have been out there for at least a minute by now, which wouldn’t be a problem, except whatever the Fae are planning will probably go into effect before long because they’ll know we have more time in here. Whatever the trap is will be sprung as soon as everyone is outside, if not before because then they’ll still get a lot of them. We’re talking hundreds of lives.”
I looked at the hole.
It really was big enough to crawl through, but that was just the part we could see. It could get narrower. It could get to the point where we were stuck in a tiny tunnel, too tight to push ourselves back.
We’d be stuck forever.
Stuck struggling against walls that scraped against our skin as we thrashed. Stuck with our arms and legs wiggling, trying desperately to free us.
The air running out.
Bugs finding us and chowing down on the trapped, giant bag of meat.
My heart lurched and my stomach wasn’t far behind as my head went swimmy.
I sank to my knees, so queasy I was sure I’d lose my drinks and dinner even in this fake world, and there wasn’t enough blood in my brain to kick it past anything beyond the fear.
My arms shook and my fingers danced as I tasted metal on my tongue.
No way. Not goin’ in there. Not happening.
“Lea,” came from above.
My vision blurred and I lay on the grass, taking slow, deep breaths, heart pounding hard enough to kick some of the blood back to my brain and wipe out some of the fuzzies.
“Ariana?”
A hand landed on my shoulder and I forced my eyes open without realizing they’d closed.
Carvi’s face came into focus and I gulped more air.
“I can’t,” I said in a small voice. “I’ll get stuck.”
“No, no you won’t,” he said, rubbing my shoulder. “I’ll go first. If I get stuck, you can use magic to bust me out. Remember, this isn’t real. This is a malleable world. And we have people to save. The trap only works if you give into your fears. That’s why they did it. It can’t hold us because you can use magic to get out. They couldn’t put enough power into this to trap us for good, so they did what they could to make you too scared to try. That’s all. You face your fear, you go in there, and whatever comes up, you’ll be able to use magic to get out of it.”
“What if part of the spell traps us without magic?” I asked. “I mean, they took away your magic in here.”
He sighed. “No, they blocked it. There’s a difference. And they can’t magically take away your magic. They didn’t plan for you, we already know you have your magic. It’s in here. They can’t turn back time and block it.”
“But they could come back in,” I said. “Maybe that’s their plan. Get us into the trap, wait for us to go in there, then spring a second trap, trapping us forever. I can’t.”
I curled up in a ball, hugging my knees to my chest.
The grass was really soft.
Comforting.
Carvi snapped something in another language and grabbed my arm.
“Get your ass up,” he snapped, dragging me up to sitting so fast my brain swam again.
“I-”
“You say you can’t again, I’m going to smack you, and even in here it’ll hurt.” He pushed to his feet, dragging me up right behind him. “I don’t know if this weakness is part of their spell or you just think if you whine enough I’ll magically be able to fix this, but I need you to do this. Everyone out there needs you to do this. Suck it the fuck up.”
My mouth fell open.
I was scared!
Didn’t he get that?
“Oh my God.” Carvi grabbed both shoulders and shook me hard.
“Stop it!” I tried pushing his arms off and pushing a wall would’ve been more effective.
“Please tell me this is part of the Fae’s spell,” he said. “Please tell me you are not this big of a coward.”
“I’m not a coward!”
“Really? Because right now I see someone crumbling and refusing to deal with something because she’s afraid.”
“Yes, I’m claustrophobic! You happy?”
“No, I’ll be happy when you get your ass in there.”
“I can’t! I’m claustrophobic.”
“And?”
“And I’m scared. I’m not a coward.”
“What the fuck do you think a coward is? Bravery isn’t not being scared. It’s sucking it the fuck up and doing what needs to be done anyway. So get your ass moving, or people die, and then we die in here. We’re already trapped. We’re already in the place we can’t get out of, in case you didn’t notice.”
“I thought you said there are other ways to get out, they’d just take longer.” My voice was pitched up to hysteria levels and I didn’t give a good God damn.
“I don’t know that,” he said. “We could eventually find a way out or wait until their magic fades. Do you know how long that would take? We have maybe another minute out in the real world, maybe.”
“Well then you shouldn’t have wasted time in your little bar!”
“Because I knew we needed every second? I didn’t know that then. Ariana, do you see what you’re doing? You’re wasting time by telling me I did, but I wasted it when I didn’t know quite how much of the essence time was. You know. I’m telling you now. Come on, this has to be Fae magic getting into your head. You are not this much of a coward.”
“What if I am?”
I crossed my arms.
I couldn’t go in there. I’d get stuck. He knew that. He could get us out. We just had to wait.
For what? a voice inside asked. What do I think is going to happen? He’s just gonna get us out? How? Magic? No, that’s me. He’s right, I’m not a coward.
Some of the fuzzies cleared and I took another deep breath. “I think it is some Fae magic,” I said. “I think.”
“I hope so,” Carvi said, taking my arm and pulling me to the hole. “I’d hate to think you’re that weak.”
My stomach lurched as we stopped in front of the hole and he shook me again like he could hear me backing down.
“Don’t even think of it,” he said. “If I get stuck in here while something bad happens, I’m going to get nasty.”
“You aren’t already?” I stuck my tongue out at him.
“You’ve barely seen my bad side, lea,” he said in a low dangerous voice. “And you only saw it focused on another person. Do not give me an excuse to focus it on you.”
My blood ran cold as his eyes bore into mine.
“Don’t threaten me, Carvagio,” I said, making my voice low
too.
“I told you before, fear is a great motivator.”
“And I told you, that doesn’t work for me.”
He leaned in, pulling me close and squeezing my arm to just this side of pain and whispering, “Yes, it does. Which is why I do it. Get your ass in there.”
I jerked back. “I thought you were going first!”
“I was, but now I don’t trust you to go in after me or not to run back at the first scare, so, you’re going first.”
He pushed me to my knees hard enough to bruise if we were in the real world and I shot him the dirtiest look I could muster.
“Force girls to their knees a lot, do you?” I asked, putting as much acid in my voice as I could.
I could use my magic on him in here. He couldn’t fight back, not like he could in the real world, I thought. No, we need to get out.
“Not just girls,” he said, a dangerous look in his eyes. “I’m not joking around. We’ve wasted too much time in here already. Get moving before I get mean.”
Then again, that whole using my magic on him thing was soundin’ better and better.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said.
I jerked, blinking wildly, and he kneeled in front of me.
“Everything you think flies across your face,” he said, grabbing my hair and yanking my head hard enough to wrench my neck.
My stomach lurched, shooting straight down between my legs and making me shake.
“Even without my powers, I can take you, lea,” Carvi said. “I’m faster and stronger. And I do mean take you. Don’t fuck with me. Not now. Not with lives on the line. Stop dithering and stop stalling. Get. In. There.”
This should not have been turning me on.
What was wrong with me?
He let go of my hair and I turned towards the wall, putting my hands down and crawling forward, one, well, not step at a time, but one scooch at a time.
I crossed into the cave and my stomach lurched, this time not in arousal, and I stopped.
“No,” Carvi said, voice gentle again. “Move, you know you have to.”
“You have multiple personality disorder,” I said. “You do know that, right?”
“I have I do whatever I need to disorder,” he said, putting a hand on my bottom and pushing. “Come on. You’ve already started, meaning you’ve pushed past whatever spell was turning you into a whining little bitch baby. Keep going.”
I made a face but inched forward on my hands and knees, taking slow, deep breaths and keeping my body moving.
He was right. We couldn’t afford to waste more time. We were lucky we had as much of it as we did considering how long this was taking, but even with time moving slower in here, it was still moving, and we were down to every second counting.
The tunnel was straight as far as I could see, but it ended not too far ahead, with what looked like branches off of it, but I couldn’t quite tell from this distance.
It took me a moment to realize I could still see even though in a real cave, it’d be pitch black, darkness no one in the modern day quite understood because even out in the woods there were still lights from the moon and stars, and whatever lights you brought with you.
The light didn’t come from any obvious source, kind of like in a movie where they wanted you to be able to see things, even though the character couldn’t.
That’s what this all reminded me of. It was like we were on a movie set, just people playing parts and crawling through a giant setting.
Which was kinda true. It wasn’t real. Not the way we thought of real at least.
The thought made it a little easier and I crawled faster.
My heart sped faster as I crept closer to the end of this tunnel and my breath snagged in my throat as I hit the end.
The tunnel didn’t turn to the side like I figured it had to.
It went up.
Straight up.
And it looked like it got narrower as it went. There was something jutting into the tunnel maybe halfway up.
Just like with the end of this one, I couldn’t tell exactly where it ended or where it went. Probably some aspect of the spell. Make me more scared by having it be the unknown.
And it worked.
I took a deep breath and rotated so I was facing towards Carvi and slowly stood up in the narrow shaft.
“Why did you turn?” Carvi asked.
“So I can grab onto the obstacle up there to get around it,” I said. “I won’t really be able to maneuver around it if it’s digging into my back.”
I took a deep breath and grabbed onto the first rock jutting out of the wall.
Almost like a rock climbing wall… just trapped inside a tiny shaft.
I pulled myself up, angling against the wall to keep myself up.
Something told me this’d be a lot harder in the real world, but it wasn’t exactly easy.
My arms shook as I climbed, handholds seemingly appearing where I needed them.
Something brushed my foot and I jerked, letting out a small scream and slipping.
I hit something below me and panic shot through my body like lightning as the world closed in.
I was trapped on all sides.
“Hey!” Carvi yelled as something tapped my leg. “I’m right below you. I won’t let you fall. It’s okay.”
I shook, feeling him out with my foot.
I was standing with one foot on the wall and one on Carvi.
“I’m not scared of falling,” I said. “I’m scared of the walls closing in… well, more.”
“That won’t happen,” he said, voice still so gentle. “This isn’t real. Those hand grips that are so handy? Those are made by you. This is the representation of us fighting our way out. If you do this fast enough, I may be able to get us off to a… another place to get information. Come on, keep moving. Gravity has noting on you.”
I snorted. “Big boobs run in the family, trust me, that is not true. Only a matter of time before gravity wins.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ll turn you long before those fall. I like them where they are.”
I paused with one leg up, knee digging into the rock.
“You think about turning me?” I asked, grabbing the next handhold that appeared and pulled myself up.
“I plan on turning you,” he said. “Just have to get Quil out of my way.”
“No,” I said with as much force as I could muster considerin’ where I was. “You’re not doing anything to Quil.”
“No, no, I won’t hurt him, at least not physically.”
I growled and rolled my eyes as I grabbed onto the next hold and pulled myself up, my chest scraping against the rock.
The tunnel opened up into a cavern and I grabbed the floor of it, hoisting myself up with what seemed like more effort than crawling up the shaft.
I rolled over in the cave and lay on my back as Carvi crawled out next to me.
He crawled on top of me and flopped down, resting his head on my chest.
He said something hard and dirty in another language and finished with, “I could use a good fuck right now.”
My lip curled up without me telling it to and I lightly slapped his shoulder. “I don’t even know how you could think of anything like that right now. I’m so scared I wanna puke.”
“Spoilsport,” he said.
“I thought we were in a hurry,” I said.
“The power boost would probably get us out of here faster,” he said. “At least if you knew how to ride it.”
He was up with his hands planted on either side of my head and his groin lined up with mine before I noticed movement and my breath caught.
“After threatenin’ me?” I said, pushing against his shoulders. “No. Hell no! Get off.”
“Make me,” he said, relaxing his arms so his body pinned mine.
Fear shot through me as I met his eyes.
He looked dead serious and very focused.
“Carvi!” I yelped as he rode into me.
&
nbsp; I said no. What the crap was he doing?
“No!” I pushed against him and wiggled and he pinned my arms down, switched my wrists to one big hand with practiced movements, and grabbed my hair with his now free hand, yanking just hard enough to be arousing if I was in the mood.
I sooooo was not.
“Carvi, I’m sayin’ no!” my voice was so high and thin it made me flinch.
“I heard you,” he whispered, riding into me again. “You’re going to get me off one way or another.”
Fear made my stomach ride high into my throat, choking down my protests.
He wouldn’t.
Carvi released my hair and reached between us.
I felt more than heard him undo his pants button and heard the zipper come down.
Clouds rolled through my head as my breaths came hard and fast.
He wouldn’t, tripped through my brain as he slid his hand under my skirt. I was saying no. Not me sayin’ no but going with it and changing my mind kinda way.
I was saying no.
Anger burst through me and energy rushed out, throwing him off me and blasting the walls around us.
I screamed and curled up, covering my head with my arms as rocks smacked into me, hurting as they hit.
They would’ve hurt a lot more if we were in the real world though.
“Fantastic, lea!” Carvi said.
I uncurled and looked up.
We lay in the middle of a giant field, not unlike the one we were in before.
Carvi took my hand and hauled me to my feet, grinning wide and proud.
“What the?” I jerked my hand away, looking around, suddenly very very tired.
“I told you, fear is a great motivator,” he said. “We would’ve been trying to get through those tunnels forever without the push. I was worried I’d have to take that too far if you didn’t get into gear though.”
“You were… you…” I stammered. “You asshole!”
I slapped him as hard as I could, making my hand sting.
I shook it out and he turned his head back, a smirk I couldn’t read making his face ugly.
“It worked,” he said. “We’re out.”
“You were trying to scare me!” I screamed, hands clenched and head rushing. “Congrats! It worked! I can’t believe… no, what’s sad is I can believe it. I can believe you’d do that. You are a horrible person.”
