The Doomsday Trial

by Claire Luana

  “It’s not so far-fetched, is it?” she asked. “They can’t take you out directly, it’s too public. But as long as you guys are on the defensive, running around the board, protecting your pieces, the Brotherhood can complete the work they need to do undetected.”

  “We need to talk to Niall,” I said. “We’ll go tonight. Find a way to sneak away from Ruth. Speaking of…I should get back. Orin broke the camera, but I don’t know how long it will take her to fix it. I should get back.”

  “Be careful, sis,”

  “You too,” I said. I went to close the compact, but I hesitated. “If you could get Mom out of harm’s way, that would be huge.”

  “We’ll do our best,” she said.

  I reluctantly closed the mirror, shoving it back in my pack. I used the bathroom, washed my hands, and splashed some water on my face. I needed to get my head back in the game. I needed to be stone cold. At this point, there should be nothing that could surprise me. Whatever they threw at us next, I’d be ready. I nodded at myself in the mirror. “You got this, Jacq. Game on.” I gave myself a little shake and opened the door to the bathroom. And promptly let out a bloodcurdling scream.

  17

  Of all the things I’d seen and all the things I’d expected to see, my asshole boss, John, was not one of them. Yet here he stood, wearing his usual designer suit, holding what looked to be a TV camera in his hand.

  “Calm down, Jacq. I came to see where my triple venti mocha chocka latte is.”

  My jaw fell open with the shock of his appearance. “You scared the crap out of me,” I said, my hand pressed to my chest.

  A grin crept across his face, making him look odd. John wasn’t a grinner. Scowling came much more naturally to the man. “It’s a joke, Jacq. Jesus, lighten up. I don’t even know if a triple venti mocha chocka latte is a real thing.”

  “You take your coffee black with sweetener,” I whispered, unable to focus on anything more important. John was so utterly out of place in this weird world that I wasn’t quite able to wrap my head around seeing him in here.

  If the creature from the black lagoon or the Loch Ness Monster appeared outside the bathroom, I’d have accepted it—been prepared. John, not so much.

  “Right, although I have gotten a taste for those doughnuts. Now that the money’s rolling in, I can afford the best personal trainer.” He patted his belly like it was a badge of honor.

  I nodded weakly, wondering if the bathroom was actually a portal to The Twilight Zone and I’d somehow fallen in. “Why are you here?” I asked, looking over his shoulder. In the front of the store, I could see Ruth munching on bags of chips. Orin was nowhere to be seen, which put me on edge. I turned my attention back to John. “Scrap that. How did you find me?“

  “I didn’t. I found Ruth.” He nodded his head in her direction. “She has a tracker fitted to her camera. All the camera crew do. It’s how we know where you all are. It’s been reported that her camera has malfunctioned, so I brought her a new one. It’s easier than sending a repairman to fix it while you two are on the go.”

  There was no way in a million years that John would volunteer to come in here just to bring a camera. They were expensive pieces of equipment, but John wouldn’t lower himself to do the job of a lackey. No, he left those jobs to people like me.

  “Why are you really here?” My anxiety was increasing as I sensed I was being tricked somehow. Although for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what the angle was.

  John’s usual calm exterior fell away as he moved toward me. His eyes flicked upwards and to the side before settling back on me. “There are no cameras here, right?” He was worried about the cameras? Wasn’t he in charge of setting them up? If anyone knew where the cameras were, it was him.

  I shrugged my shoulders. How was I supposed to know?

  “Listen,” he began, pulling me even closer. “The king’s magic is malfunctioning. The shields on your pawns, the way Molly’s armor went haywire. He swears he’s trying to fix the problems occurring on the gameboard, but that it’s just taking a little time.”

  “And you don’t believe that?” I questioned.

  “No. I can’t profess to be an expert on faerie magic, but I can smell a bullshitter a mile off.”

  I almost laughed at his description of the king. I probably would have if John hadn’t continued talking.

  “I think he’s deliberately sabotaging you and Orin so that Tristam wins. Nepotism at its finest.”

  I nodded my head, suddenly understanding. The FFR producers never wanted any of this to happen. They wanted thrills and adventure, yes, but not bloodshed. Reality show murder was still a bit much for the human world. So, the show producers were at the mercy of the king…just as much as we were. I’m not sure if it was better or worse that John knew we were being screwed over. At least they hadn’t guessed the real reason. Hopefully, Cass and the other ICCF members were still incognito.

  “Is this why the FFR helicopters were telling us to stop?”

  “Yes. We need to get you out of here. After the incident under the sea, there was serious talk of pulling the plug on the show. Only, the king convinced us to air the third trial—he swore that he would have control of things within his own city. But now things are going haywire again. It’s too dangerous.”

  Since when did John give a flying fuck about my safety? “Why do you care? Surely this is making you a fortune?”

  He shook his head. “We’re already facing a slew of lawsuits when this is over. The studio board has decided that letting you stay is too big a risk.”

  So it was all about money. They’d done the cost/benefit analysis, and the cost of continuing the show had grown too high. I opened my mouth to tell John exactly what I thought of his calculations, but Orin walked into view at the other end of the store, which calmed my nerves instantly. Was he discussing chip flavors with Ruth?

  “Leaving is good for you too, Jacq. You come out now, even without finishing the race, you’ll make millions in sponsorships. You’re the most famous woman on the planet, and with your good friend John behind you, we’ll go far.”

  Good friend John? I wondered if he’d forgotten about firing me a month ago or the way he treated me like shit when I served him coffee every morning.

  “Stay in here,” he continued, “and you’re as good as dead. We have no control over the king, and it doesn’t seem like he has much concern for human life.”

  “And if I die, you’ll lose your cash cow, namely me.”

  He grabbed my arms, his calm demeanor now completely dropped. “The censors are crucifying us, Jacq. We’re losing money hand over fist fighting them, but they won’t let us air the show without some of their people coming into Faerwild and making sure everyone is safe.”

  I let out a laugh. This time I couldn’t help it. “Like that’s going to happen.”

  “My point exactly.”

  “So the show’s not airing right now?” I asked. But Cass had just told me she’d seen it…

  “Not on Earth. The studio won’t release it to any of the foreign networks until the FCC approves it for U.S. viewership. I think it’s still showing in Faerwild.”

  Ah, that explained it. I thought for a moment about how complicated this was all getting. There was the king and the Brotherhood trying to merge the fae world with the human world, Cass and her friends trying to stop him, and then in the middle of all this, there was poor old John and his cronies still trying to coordinate this stupid race even though it wasn’t even airing on TV anymore.

  The whole house of cards was crashing down, and yet, all of us caught up here in Elfame still thought we were doing this for a reality show.

  “If it’s not airing anymore, why don’t you just cancel? Call the whole thing off? Pull everyone out, including us?”

  He shook his head wildly. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? The king won’t let us. We’re not steering this ship anymore and as far as I can see the ship is headed for the rocks. No need for you t
o go down with it.”

  “I’m not leaving.” I said, trying to keep my composure. My mother was trapped in here. Whether or not we were on TV had never mattered to me. There were innocent people trapped on this game board, my mother being one, and I wasn’t leaving without her.

  “Jacq, come on! Think of the money! You want to be a stuntwoman? Forget it, you’re so famous, you could be the leading lady. You’ll have the pick of the parts, they’ll make the prize money look like chump change. I’ve got seventeen contracts on my desk back at the office, just waiting for you to sign them. Tom Cruise has been calling my office daily to get you on board his latest flick.”

  “I don’t care. I’m not coming with you. I’m going to finish this race.”

  “Why?” he asked, his face wrinkling in confusion. Maybe he’d missed his most recent Botox session with all the show stress. “I told you it’s rigged and not even airing right now. You’ll be committing career suicide staying in here, and that’s if you don’t end up dead.”

  I held my ground. “My mother’s in here, unprotected. And Orin’s father. And…”— I ground my teeth—“Molly and Niall. We can’t abandon our pieces. If we just walked off, what’s to stop Tristam and Sophia from taking them? They’ll be undefended. I’m staying until this thing finishes.” So much of me yearned to take him up on his offer. To walk out of here and never look back. But there was too much at stake here in Elfame—too many people I loved here in Faerwild. My mother. Cass. And Orin. If I went with John, how would I get them back? Not to mention, we still needed to thwart the Brotherhood’s nefarious plot, or there’d be no lucrative sponsorships, no piles of cash. There’d be nothing but servitude to a mad faerie king.

  “It’s your funeral,” John said quietly, shaking his head. It was like he was imagining me tossing kerosene on a pile of money and lighting the match.

  “I know what I’m doing,” I said quietly. “Will the FFR staff leave us alone? Not interfere?”

  He gave a curt nod.

  “Good. Now if you’ll pass me that camera, I’ll make sure Ruth gets it.” I picked up the camera and headed to Ruth and Orin at the front of the store, not looking back. Dropping the camera at Ruth’s feet, I grabbed Orin’s hand and pulled him out of the store. My heart was hammering in my chest.

  “What’s happening?” he asked as I pulled him back into the subway. Ruth was hot on our heels, but she wasn’t close enough to hear me. I told Orin everything John had told me including about the tracker on Ruth.

  “We need to ditch her,” Orin said.

  “That’s what I was thinking. Poor woman. Following us around carrying that camera, filming our every move with no one to watch it.”

  Orin shook his head. “Not no one. I’ll bet the king’s boon that he’s watching it. He’ll want to know where we are at all times. We’ll never truly be away from him until we get rid of the camera.”

  “Sooner rather than later.”

  He tightened his grip on my hand and took off running. We ran down the stairs of the subway quickly, once again descending into the dark. This time, I didn’t worry about hellhounds, only Ruth, who was shouting our names behind us.

  “This way,” I hissed. We took the tunnel we’d originally come down and retraced our steps. Ruth would think we’d headed the opposite direction. Once the darkness completely swallowed us, we came to a stop, letting the blackness cloak us. In the distance, I could hear Ruth shouting for us, but her voice was getting quieter, as though she was moving away from us. When we could barely hear her, we set off again, this time at a brisk walk rather than run.

  Then I heard what could only be described as a growl. I turned my head to find a pair of red eyes. Red eyes that were looking right at me.

  18

  “Orin,” I hissed. Another pair of red eyes blinked open in the darkness, the low growls vibrating through my chest. “Please tell me hellhounds are friendly doggies.”

  “They are vicious creatures that are impervious to magic. They can only be controlled by the whistle of their handler.”

  “Can you conjure a whistle?” I asked as we both backed up slowly.

  “No,” he whispered. “I’ve never seen one, so I won’t be able to.”

  “Any other way to stop them?”

  Two more sets of eyes joined their friends. Holy crap—there were four of them.

  “Find something stabby?” Orin offered weakly. “Faerie steel can kill them.” Suddenly, I wished I hadn’t dropped Ario’s sword.

  The lead hound stepped forward. The dim overhead lighting cast garish shadows on the beast, but I was confident that even on a brightly lit street next to an ice cream stand, this doggie would be scary as hell. It was almost as tall as I was at the shoulder, with skin as dark as night. It had no fur, just skin stretched over skeleton and lean muscle. Its mouth hung open and its breath puffed out from between wicked canines like steam from a volcano.

  “Does it breathe fire?” I asked.

  “Let’s not find out,” Orin said, backing up more quickly. The lead hound’s muscles bunched as if to leap. “Run!”

  We spun and darted down the dark of the tunnel, Orin throwing up a purple shield behind us. The hellhound leaped right through it as if it were nothing but a hologram.

  “Shit,” Orin said. The suckers were fast.

  “What about conjuring a physical obstacle,” I cried. “Like a wall. That would stop it, right?”

  I could hardly hear the hellhound now, it was growing quieter. Were we losing it? I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw that it was literally feet from us. What the hell?

  A brick wall manifested directly behind us, and I heard a yelp and a crunch on the other side. Then a snarl as the hellhound threw itself against the wall. Damn, that thing was strong.

  “That won’t hold it for long,” Orin said. “Come on!” We sprinted through the tunnel, and I could swear the creatures’ growls were getting louder.

  I looked over my shoulder in panic. “It sounds like they’re right behind us!”

  “Oh, yeah,” Orin panted. “The hellhound’s growl is softest when it’s right behind you.”

  Well, that was creepy as fuck. But it meant they were still blocked at the wall. I would have let out a breath of relief if I had any to give.

  I saw a figure ahead, and a growl of frustration escaped me. So much for losing Ruth. We’d just gotten ourselves chased by a pack of evil hounds, and now here she was again. “Run!” I cried as we pounded past her.

  “Why?” she asked, but then a crash sounded behind us that could only be Orin’s wall collapsing. Seconds later, I heard her panting along behind us.

  “We need to find our piece on this square,” I huffed. There was light ahead, which meant a station and stairs to the surface. “They’ll have a sword.”

  Orin said nothing, which I took as agreement. A howl sounded behind us, which sent a chill scurrying up my spine. They were on the hunt.

  We took the stairs two by two, bursting into the afternoon light. I spun in a circle, trying to get my bearings, while not keeling over from my lungs bursting. “Where are we?”

  “The library!” Orin pointed.

  I followed his finger and froze. The library where my mother was waiting. “No!” I cried. “We can’t lead them to her.”

  “We don’t have time to argue! We need her sword!” Snarls sounded at the base of the stairs, and Orin pulled me forward. I craned my neck and saw one of the hellhounds burst out of the subway station, its nose to the air.

  “What the bloody hell!” Ruth wailed, her short legs pumping even faster.

  Then the rest of the pack appeared, the four of them, a nightmare I’d never be able to unsee.

  The doors to the library were just across the square, but the hellhounds were fast, their long legs eating up the distance between us. “We’re not going to make it,” I panted.

  Orin threw a spell over his shoulder, and a tree standing at the edge of the square cracked and crashed directly in the
ir path, separating them from us. It didn’t stop them for long, the hounds just scrambled over the trunk, but it was the delay we needed to dive inside the library and throw the thick wooden doors shut.

  “You faeries just had to have hellhounds pull your subway cars, didn’t you. They couldn’t be…unicorns? Or…golden retrievers?” I screeched at Orin, though I knew this wasn’t his fault.

  My mom appeared at the balcony where I’d first seen her. “Honey? What’s going on?”

  Something crashed against the doors behind us, nearly rattling them off their hinges. Another hit came, and the wood cracked.

  Down the hallway to my left, I heard glass shattering. One of them must have come in through the window!

  “Grab your sword, Mom,” I screamed, pounding up the stairs. “We’re leaving! Is there a back door?”

  My mom darted into a room and came back holding a long sword gingerly like it was a poisonous snake. I grabbed it from her, determination filling me as soon as my fingers wrapped around the leather grip. Now things were a little fairer.

  I grabbed my mom with my free hand and pulled her forward. “Is there a back way out of here?”

  She stuttered for a moment before focusing. “Down there,” she said, “past the kitchen.”

  We ran down a hallway, ignoring the sound of splintering wood and claws scrambling on marble tile. The growls were getting quieter.

  We burst out the back door, and Orin somehow managed to thrust the stones from the ground behind us up into the air in jagged peaks, blocking the door.

  “Where to?” I panted to Orin.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “We can’t fight off four of them with one sword. Maybe another square with our pawns?” But the squares were large, and we were dead on our feet. We’d never be able to keep outrunning them.

  My mind spun for a solution, and I tried to shove down the voice that told me I should have gone with John. No. We’d gotten through worse than this before. We’d figure it out.