by Claire Luana
“I’m gonna git some shut-eye an’ I’m doin’ it in a nice wee bed. Don’ ye two think ye can git upta anythin’, though. The cameras are always watchin’!” My mood blackened at the reminder.
Orin nodded his head towards the door, and without exchanging a word, we decided to leave her there. We walked back into the night, up the steps to the next house in the row. It was nearly identical to the first, but, at least here, we wouldn’t have to share a bedroom with Ruth or sleep on the couch.
The bedroom was modest with a small double bed and a dresser. A pair of rumpled pajamas rested on the bed.
“I guess the king really got people out fast,” I said, opening the dresser door. It was filled with clothes—one-half with smart dresses and the other with suits. “He didn’t even give them time to pack.”
“Ruth was probably right about cameras,” warned Orin. I took his meaning, closing my mouth. I shouldn’t be talking about the king. Not when he had control of the gameboard and could send a magical avalanche or typhoon at us at any second.
I hadn’t heard the gong since before dark; it was still Tristam and Sophia’s turn. “Molly must be right that the game halts overnight,” I yawned, moving the pajamas and resting them neatly on the floor. I had nothing to sleep in, just one other FFR uniform and my jacket, and so I fell onto the bed fully clothed. Next to me, the bed sagged a little as Orin lay down beside me. I wanted to talk to him, to assess how our day had gone, to plot our plan for tomorrow, but as his arms wrapped around me, a heavy sleep overcame me.
What felt like moments later, the sound of a gong woke us up. Light filtered in through a pair of raggedy curtains, signaling that I’d slept much longer than it felt like.
“It’s our turn,” Orin said with a groan, dragging himself out of bed. “Let’s get out of here before the FFR decides to speed things up.”
I grabbed my bag and the chess board and followed him out into the street. A bellow reached my ears. It was Ruth, and next to her, was Molly.
“I bin all over this street lookin’ for ye,” she raged, pointing a stubby finger at Orin. “And this wee girl has bin worried sick aboot ye.”
I looked over at Molly, who rolled her eyes, crossing her arms before her. Worried my ass. She was probably just upset we’d shown up at all, because it meant she had to do something.
“What about breakfast?” I asked weakly. My bag was still full of candy, but I needed something more substantial.
“Not on yer nelly,” Ruth said, “Ye heard the gong. Time to be off. I ain’t bein’ chased by those hell bees again.”
I hated to admit it, but she was right. Begrudgingly, our strange little troupe set off towards Evaline. Our trip would take us the full length of the gameboard, which would take us several hours. We had to keep moving to keep one step ahead of the FFR. If we stopped for too long, something was sure to pounce.
By the time we reached the correct square, my stomach had knotted itself into a small ball of hunger. The candy helped a little, but I’d eaten so much sugar I was beginning to feel sick.
As we passed through the field to our destination square, magical armor appeared on Molly’s body, complete with a sword in her hand. I put a hand on her shoulder, pulling her aside from the others. I didn’t like her, but I had to warn her.
“This armor is supposed to protect you, but it doesn’t. Ario killed one of the pawns when his shield failed.”
Molly rolled her eyes again in disbelief. “You’re just trying to scare me. I was told that the shield would protect me, and I couldn’t be hurt.”
“Look at the sword you’re holding,” I pointed out. “Doesn’t it look very real and very sharp to you?”
“It’s magic. It’s got to look real or what’s the point?” she said. I could see she wasn’t convinced.
I shrugged. “All right. I tried.”
Evaline was waiting for us. She wore the black armor of the other team and was posed in a battle stance, her sword raised above her head. It was very un-Evaline like.
As we approached cautiously, she lowered her weapon. “How exciting is this?” she called, gesturing to her armor. “It just appeared. You coming into our territory must have triggered it. Did I scare you?” She gave a little laugh.
“Terrifying!” enthused Orin. I wanted to run over to her and hug her, but I restrained myself. It was strangely comforting to see her. Even if she was our opponent, it was nice to see another familiar face.
“I guess you took me, huh?” she grinned, seeing Molly with us. “Time for me to leave. My time is up.”
That was it? She was just going to walk off the square? The stress I’d been carrying for the past twenty-four hours melted from my shoulders as I remembered that the people on both teams were real and not all were psychopathic killing machines. However much I hated Ario right now for what he did to Peachkin, he had seemed just as shocked at what happened as we were.
“Good luck you two. I have to admit I prefer watching this on TV than being in the thick of it.” She waved and turned to walk away.
Relief flooded through me as she began to retreat. If this was how the rest of the game played out, I had nothing to worry about. I thought about all the other playing pieces. Most were people I knew, some were unknowns. Of the ones I knew on Tristam and Sophia’s team, I couldn’t peg any of them for murderers. Not even Ario if I was going to be honest. I doubt he’d want a repeat performance of yesterday.
Now that I knew we could take pieces without fighting, I looked down at the gameboard. I’d been playing defensively, not wanting to see any more bloodshed. Now that I knew everyone was safe, I could really begin to play. I was going to crush Tristam! Attack strategies were spinning through my mind when a blood-chilling yell made me look up. Molly was racing towards Evaline, her sword raised in attack. “What the...?” I said.
Evaline managed to turn a split second before Molly’s sword speared her in the back. Evaline deflected the blow and struck out herself, shock etched across her features.
“Molly!” I screamed, running forward. “What are you doing?”
As the pair, locked in combat turned, I saw tears streaming down Molly’s face. “I don’t know. I can’t stop it,” she panted. “It’s the armor.” She slashed at Evaline and the point of her sword almost connected with Evaline’s right arm. A purple shield bloomed to life around Evaline, protecting her.
“I’m so sorry,” Molly wailed as she pulled back to strike again.
“I yield!” Evaline yelled as she jumped away from Molly’s sword. Just when I thought the FFR couldn’t fuck with us any more than they already had!
“Orin,” I screamed as the two women slashed at each other, but he was one step ahead.
“Let’s grab Molly,” he shouted, running towards her. “And try not to get stabbed.”
Easier said than done with the way she was flailing around, her sword swinging wildly. Dropping my bag and the chess set, I ran into the melee.
I had never in all my life been more grateful for all the training I’d forced myself through. I knew how to hold a gun and a knife, and more importantly, thanks to my MMA training, I could disarm someone quickly.
I dashed behind Molly, wrapping one arm around her torso, and grabbing the hilt of the sword with my other hand. It helped that Molly wanted to be disarmed. What didn’t help was the magic binding her hand to the sword. As my hand closed around hers, currents of magic ran through me, electricity vibrating my body until my flesh was numb. And yet I held on, knowing that if I let go, the consequences could be deadly. Orin reached Molly’s other side quickly, grabbing her other hand. She was like a thing possessed, twisting and writhing against our hold.
“I think we have to let Molly get a mortal blow on Evaline,” Orin panted, his hands almost losing grip on Molly’s arm.
“The hell you do,” Evaline called, crouched in a defensive position.
He was right. It was like when Peachkin took the first of Tristam and Sophia’s pawns. “Your shield
is working,” I called.
Orin and I looked at each other, and on a silent count, we let Molly go. Molly and her armor catapulted forward toward Evaline. I cringed as Molly’s sword came down in a powerful arc, praying that Orin was right. Otherwise, we’d just killed Evaline.
Molly’s blow rebounded off Evaline’s purple shield, throwing her back to the ground. Molly landed on her ass, and with a whizzing sound, her armor disappeared, leaving her sobbing in a heap.
Orin and I ran forward to check on them, Orin falling to his knees by Evaline’s side. “I’m so sorry,” I said, trying to kneel down next to Molly, but she pulled away with a hiss.
The four of us sat on the ground in shock, unmoving but for our heaving chests. What the hell were we supposed to do now?
A distant sound made me look up. It was an FFR magical flying machine, headed our way. They were coming to take Evaline from the board.
“Come on,” Orin grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet. My knees almost buckled; I was still weak with shock.
“We can’t leave them.”
“Do you want to be here when the FFR staff land? This trial is getting stranger and stranger, and we just tried to foil their little spell. I don’t particularly want to stick around to find out what they think.”
A voice blasted out of a loudspeaker, emanating from the strange helicopter. “Jacqueline and Orin, stay where you are.”
16
I looked sharply at Orin in alarm. Were we in trouble? Because we’d tried to stop Molly? Because we’d interfered? But Orin was right. Whatever they wanted with us, I sure as hell wasn’t going to stay here to find out.
“Come on,” Orin said, grabbing my hand. We turned on our heels and ran. I was gaining a sense of direction in this place, so I knew, generally, which way we were headed. Back towards the safety of our side of the board. Away from the madness of this square. We’d just moved Molly, so we had a little time while Tristam and Sophia made their next move.
I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Ruth was running after us. The FFR helicopter still followed. It had left Evaline behind and was coming for us. What the hell? What did it want?
We redoubled our pace, dashing through white-painted streets, through a quiet green park with a serene, tinkling fountain. “Maybe we should see what they want,” Orin said, panting.
“No way,” I replied. “This race has gone crazy.”
“We can’t hide from them forever,” Orin argued.
“Worry about…forever…later,” I said, pulling Orin sideways through an alley that was shielded from above by a large green awning.
“Down here,” he said, and we headed down a set of stairs. “Please tell me this isn’t the sewer…” I said, unable to stop myself from slowing down. The Elfame sewer seemed like the place blonde human girls went to die.
“No, it’s the subway,” Orin said.
“You have subways?” I asked, curious despite our predicament.
The staircase deposited us into a wide, white-tiled station. “This way,” Orin said, and we darted through a tunnel onto a platform. There were no tracks in the tunnel, just what looked like pavement smoothed over into two grooves. “Where are the trains?” I asked.
“The cars are pulled by hellhounds. I’m assuming when they evacuated everyone for the race, they pulled the dogs out of here too.”
“Hellhounds?” My fingers bit into Orin’s bicep. “You assume they removed the dogs, or you know?”
“We either go forward, or we go back.”
I looked over my shoulder, biting my lip. Demon dogs, or FFR staff? I huffed. “Okay. Go.”
We jumped off the platform and jogged into the dark of the tunnel. It was eerily quiet, nothing but the pounding of our boots on the stone floor to keep us company. My breath was ragged in my throat, but not from the pace we were keeping. I felt sure that at any moment, a hellhound was going to pop out at us. That would be just my luck. I looked over my shoulder, sure I saw eyes shining in the dark. But perhaps it was just my imagination. I tripped over a crack in the stone, and it was only Orin’s strong hands that kept me from faceplanting.
Seconds later, a purple flash exploded around us, burning my vision. I blinked to try to clear the after-image of the magic, slowing to a walk. “What was that? Are you okay?”
“Hey!” Ruth cried out in the dark. “The camera ain’t werkin’!”
I had forgotten she was with us. But Orin apparently hadn’t. “You better get it fixed,” Orin said solemnly, though if I could see in the dark, I suspected I would see a barely-veiled smile on his handsome face. We tried not to tamper with the camera, but I could sense that the magic flash had been his doing. We needed to lay low, and we couldn’t do that if Ruth’s camera was broadcasting our location back to race headquarters.
“There,” he pointed. “I see light. We’re at the next station.”
I wanted to weep in relief. In the oppressive darkness of the subway, facing the FFR producers was suddenly feeling like the smart bet.
When we emerged from the stairs into the daylight once again, I sucked in a huge breath of fresh air. But my relief wouldn’t last long. We were exposed out here and needed to find shelter stat. “There!” Orin said. We circled around the side of a building in the direction he’d pointed. Orin held his hand over the knob of a rusted metal door, and something clicked. When he twisted the knob, the door opened.
I stepped inside and let my eyes adjust to the dim light filtering through shuttered windows. We were in a grocery store.
“Sweet,” I said, heading for the fruit section to grab myself a banana. I grabbed the bunch and realized they were hot pink. I blinked a few times, thinking maybe the darkness and flash of magic had messed with my eyes, but the bananas stayed, well, pink. “Are these safe to eat?” I turned to Orin.
Orin nodded, and I offered him one. He took it and held it at his side. “Not sure how you can think about food right now.”
I sniffed at it tentatively before taking a tiny bite. It tasted like strawberry banana. “It’s the only thing I’m sure of right now,” I managed, chewing. “That we need to eat.”
“Okay, so what do we know?” Orin asked, turning to me.
“The producers are out for blood,” I said helplessly. “They brought in our family to be pawns, they took out their shields, and now they’re forcing the pieces to fight. It was okay this time because Evaline still had her shield. But if Tristam and Sophia take one of our squares…” The weird banana turned to ash in my mouth.
“What I don’t get is why?” Orin asked. “This trial is getting out of hand with the killer bees…” he shook his head. “And why were the race staff chasing after us?”
“I don’t know. Ratings?” I shrugged helplessly. It seemed a little extreme for network television. Fights to the death. This wasn’t ancient Rome, after all.
“Faeries appreciate a certain degree of ruthlessness,” Orin said. “I wouldn’t be shocked to see something like this in Faerwild for entertainment. But it doesn’t make sense from humans. The first trial made us face dangers from the environment. The second, well, I think the whole Merfolk business was an accidental clusterfuck. But now, it feels like it’s the race producers themselves who are out to get us. Why?”
I raised an eyebrow, wishing, not for the first time, that I could speak telepathically. Maybe the Brotherhood was onto us, and they were trying to take us out. They’d been subtle before, disarming our rings. Perhaps now that they were so close to their goal, the time for subtlety was over. I wished I could talk to Cass. Maybe they knew something about what the Brotherhood was planning; whether they were behind this. Speaking of Cass…I did have a way to contact her…
I finished my last bite of banana and turned. “I’m going to find a bathroom.” I walked to the back of the store, hoping to find someplace to be alone from Ruth. I discovered the bathroom in the corner and locked myself inside.
I pulled the mirror Cass had given me out of my pack. I flipped it open,
tapping the glass. It started to hum quietly, vibrating with the telltale glow of magic.
It wasn’t long before the glass began to fog, and an image took form. Cass. The sight of her soothed me, and my shoulders sagged in relief.
“Jacq? Are you okay?” she asked, concern etched across her features.
“Yes. No,” I said, shaking my head. “I don’t know. Things have gotten crazy in here.”
“I know,” she said. “This trial there’s only a short delay, no more than half-an-hour. It’s basically being broadcast live. I saw you make a run for it. The FFR producers are searching for you everywhere.”
“Why?” I asked intently.
“They’re telling the audience that some of the magic spells malfunctioned. That the race staff is trying to find you guys to get it sorted out, so things can continue.”
“Do you believe that?” I asked.
“I believe that the spells are going haywire. I doubt it’s an accident, though. I’d stay in hiding if I were you.”
“We can’t stay here forever. As soon as Tristam and Sophia move, we’ll be flushed out. And Cass—”
“I saw,” she said. “Mom’s there. Auberon and Louis are working on a way to get her out, together with Octavio. Octavio’s presence worries us, especially. It could be a sign by the king that he knows who our operatives are inside the palace.”
“Does that mean they’re in danger? Could Orin’s mother be at risk?”
She rubbed her face with one hand. “At this point, I think we’re all in danger. We haven’t heard of anything strange going on in the palace. Right now, the weirdness is centered on the gameboard. It’s like the race producers are ratcheting up the excitement to distract everyone.”
“Distract…” I trailed off, realizing what she meant. “Do you think they’re doing this all so we don’t have time to discover the location of the final anchor?”
