Page 24

Rain fell against the window, hitting the glass with a hard smack and blurring the world outside.

Only the neon lights shone brightly through the rain and the darkness of night.

The deluge gave the city a shiny appearance, as though for a brief moment, Damascon Hollow wasn’t the dirty, dangerous place everyone knew.

I watched as the little black-haired boy stepped closer, pressing his forehead against the cold window, his breath fogging up the glass like he was smoking a cigar. He stared down at the street below and I didn’t have to be standing beside him to know what he was looking at.

The memory was inked into my brain like the tattoos on my skin.

The Masters and Overseer were tricky fuckers, gaining access to my memories and using them in the trial. They must have access to obscene levels of power to do such a thing. A power the ruler of Terrulia would have at their fingertips once they won this fucking thing.

I would be unstoppable when I got my crown.

The boy watched the desperate souls as they stumbled through the street below. Years ago, I’d thought they’d been ordinary people, following the bright neon lights to safety from the rain. Now, though, I knew a whole fucking lot more about the goings-on in Damascon Hollow.

Drunks staggering from bar to bar, hookers looking for their next paycheck, druggies making back-alley deals, criminals fighting in the streets, and losers who had little hope left. Most had the delusional belief that DH would somehow save them.

Case in point; the scene I knew was currently playing out below.

My past self watched whilst the image replayed in my head like my very own personal movie.

A man was dragged onto the street by a few big burly guys, their fists and feet laying into him as his cries pierced through the downpour.

Later, I would learn they had Drake tattoos hidden beneath their shirts.

Despite myself, I shuddered.

I’d lived and breathed DH and the Drakes for most of my life and yet, I hated this place.

It was a cruel city filled with desperate people who’d do anything to catch a break.

Even if it meant selling their mother’s soul for a single credit.

Those closest to you could only be trusted as long as you had something worth giving them.

Everyone had a vendetta, and no one gave a shit whether you were a kid or not.

The boy whispered to himself, his words barely audible beneath the falling rain. “Only a little longer,” he whimpered, raising a hand to the window and tapping his pale fingers on the glass. “They’ll be back.”

My chest tightened and I winced at the boy’s naivety. No one was coming back.

Not then, not fucking ever.

He stepped back, and I saw our reflections distorted in the glass, though I knew a tear had fallen down his cheek. His bottom lip quivered, and he sniffed, staring at his blurred reflection. That was the last tear I’d ever shed.

The world faded out then back in, like the blink of an eye.

Fear gripped me, holding my chest in a tight fist. I dropped to the floor, my knees curled underneath me as I pressed my hands on the ground.

Rapid breaths punched the air from my lungs, and I trembled as I tried to regain my composure.

Pain from my prosthetic arm shot through me and I looked at it, only to see the metal had been replaced.

Plastic dug into my skin from where it was braced against one side of my head.

Stupid cheap piece of shit. I hated it back then and I hated it even more now, knowing how much better my current bionic prosthetic was.

I rolled over, seeing my past self laying opposite me—looking through me like I was a ghost or some shit. Pain crossed his face, his features scrunched as he endured the hunger I remembered so vividly. I didn’t want to see this. It was bad enough going through it as a child, let alone reliving it.

The boy sat upright, sparks flying from his hand as it hit the lamp on the bedside table, knocking it to the floor where it smashed and plunged the room into darkness.

There in the dark, he let out a cry of desperation.

Of fear. The boy would eventually learn that his magic was a rare one, but it would never save him from this place.

A void cracked open within me, tearing at my insides, and sweat coated my skin as I shivered despite the warmth of the night. I didn’t fucking miss this feeling.

“They’ll be back,” the boy cried, his voice trembling.

“No, they fucking won’t,” I growled, though the boy didn’t hear me. Those words were for me and me alone. “Your parents left. They’re never coming back.”

Another blink and the room shifted once more.

The carpet was rough against my cheek, but I didn’t move.

Instead, I lay there, listening to the sirens from outside, the groans and muffled talking from the room below making me feel as though I wasn’t entirely alone.

My past self had his back to me, his fragile body shuddering with each breath. He no longer cried.

I shivered as I watched him, the void within me sending cracks throughout my body, leaving me in pieces, like a shattered window after a bar fight.

Another day passed and still no one came.

How had the Overseer accessed these memories? Were they able to see all I had ever gone through? Every fucked up little thing? Or was this some strange trick of my brain, testing me with these past days I wanted to forget?

Fade out, fade in. The world transformed before me.

My stomach growled along with the boy’s.

He was beyond hungry, but there was nothing left to eat.

Bare shelves haunted me as I remembered thinking about leaving the room to find food.

I’d never left; I’d been a little fucking coward.

I was so desperate for my parents’ return that I’d stayed in the room despite the very real prospect that I could have starved to death.

My past self clutched his stomach, holding onto it as though his guts would spill if he didn’t keep a tight grip. He scrunched his brow and my parents’ faces flooded my vision.

My mother, with her long brown hair and blue-grey eyes, smiling at me, freckles scattered along her plump cheeks.

She was nestled up against my father, her petite frame pressed to his broad one.

He grinned, too, in that charming way that everyone seemed to like, running a hand through his mop of black hair.

It had been years since I’d last thought of them, yet here the fucking traitors were. I was clearly seeing what my past self was imagining, but that didn’t stop the resentment that surged through me.

These feelings weren’t new. This anger had been crafted from years and years of hatred, whittled into a sharp blade. I was no longer the boy but a beast, forged anew. Nothing and no one were going to hurt me again.

I opened my eyes, the hunger pains gone. The void of emptiness and pain that had been a giant pit within me had vanished.

Fuck the Overseer.

Fuck the Masters.

And fuck anyone who ever tried to manipulate me again.

Taking deep breaths, I rose to my feet, rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck. A laugh escaped my lips as I thought of the final trial—the test that had been put before me. The Trial of the Mind… well, it was time to get the fuck out of mine.

“Nice fucking try!” I shouted at the peeling painted ceiling, arms spread wide. “If this is all you have, then you haven’t got shit!”

The room shifted, morphing into the garrison from the first trial. The scent of the marsh filled my nose as I looked around at the stone space, the light of a beacon catching my eye out one of the windows.

That fucking red light could go to hell.

“Fallon! Noah!” I shouted, descending the stairs to the lower level. “Zane! Kayden!”

Nothing, not a single fucking reply.

I’d thought the memories were the final test, but I’d obviously been delusional to think the Overseer would go that easy. I’d never thought she’d dump us back into the first trial. I needed to find the others and get the fuck out of here.

I continued to shout for them, searching the garrison for any sign of the others. Was I the first one here?

The beacon continued to glow, reminding me of where I was supposed to be headed, but I couldn’t leave. The others could turn up at any minute. I bided my time, searching for weapons as I waited, finding swords wedged in the mud around the garrison.

Night was starting to fall, the cold air sending shivers all over my skin and making my breath cloud before me. The beacon was as bright as ever. Cocky fucker.

Whatever memories the others were facing, they would have to be over soon. I bunkered down in the garrison with my back up against the stone as I sat and waited. I didn’t know when it happened, but I fell asleep, waking up to the misty sky and the ever-present beacon.

I rubbed my eyes and spotted a note etched onto the door. I’d been in such a rush when I’d first passed through, I hadn’t noticed the words.

Headed to the beacon – F, K, N & Z

I frowned as I reread the message, my gut clenching at the realisation that they’d been here and left already. I’d wasted so much fucking time waiting for them when they were already at the beacon.

I snatched a sword and raced from the garrison, following the light towards the finish line.

Muddy water soaked my shoes, rising up my pants and adding weight to each stride until I felt like I had cement feet.

Pushing on regardless, I darted around trees and ignored the screeches of those fucking bat things in the sky.

One swooped, darting towards me, and I lifted my sword, slicing through its chest and was instantly splattered with its disgusting dark blood in return. I wiped the muck from my eyes with my arm and continued on, eager to see the others and get out of this place.

It was fucked up enough the first time. I really didn’t need the second visit.

My chest heaved as I reached the crater and surged onward, fully aware that a dragon dwelled within this hellhole. I just needed to get a coin and get out of there.

“Fallon!” I shouted, searching for her hot ass. “Princess!”

No reply and no sign of her or the guys either.

A thumping roar echoed overhead and I looked up, expecting the beast but instead finding a helicopter. It hovered above the crater, giving me a chance to see its occupants.

I shouted, waving my arms to draw the attention of Fallon, Zane, Noah and Kayden, sitting within.

I got no reaction. Nothing.

The void I’d sealed so long ago cracked open as I raced after the helicopter, not giving a shit about the dragon or fucked-up bats that would no doubt find me shouting at the top of my lungs.

Fallon and the guys still didn’t notice me. They were truly going to cut and run, not giving two shits about leaving me behind.

My heart hurt, the ground feeling as though it was being ripped out from under me like a tablecloth in some cheap magic trick. My life was just a show—fucking entertainment for those around me.

Shit for brains. I’d done it again.

I wasn’t looking where I’d been going and crashed into something hard. I stumbled over the chest, finding it empty of all coins. It didn’t help that I landed with the grace of a baby horse into the dirt. “Fuck,” I growled, rolling onto my back after faceplanting spectacularly.

My chest heaved as I stared up at the helicopter slowly disappearing from view.

They’d left me. My ribs seemed to cave in, an unbearable tightness settling in my chest as my heart thudded and my breath became short and fast. I closed my eyes, letting myself be the pathetic excuse for a human I was, not caring about the monsters in the fucked-up marshland that I was in.

Water seeped into my clothes, chilling me to the bone, though I shook from more than just the cold. They had left me. Fallon had saved herself…

Except that wasn’t her style.

The princess was loyal to a fault. So much so, she was determined to find Victoria’s killer, despite her sister treating her like shit.

And the guys… they had proven time and again that we were a team.

In the short span I’d known them, they’d been more loyal to me than anyone in the Drakes ever had.

Fuck.

My eyes snapped open, and a laugh burst from my lips. I stuck my middle finger towards the sky and shouted at the top of my lungs. They had underestimated me, and I was sure as shit not going to let that happen again.

“You almost had me motherfuckers!” I shouted, a wicked grin on my face. “But it’s gonna take more than this to take Atticus ‘Fucking Ace’ Warner down!”