Page 37

Odessa

T his tunnel was lined with artwork the father we trekked.

Statues depicting the gods were molded to the wall, all white and intricately detailed to capture their divine essence.

It was reminiscent of the statues that were placed in their temple, and I wondered if they frequently used this space to gather the nectar.

It had to be where their supply was located.

I could still feel the hot breath of the Gerataux as it chased us down here.

Dex was right behind me, but I didn’t care to slow down and walk with him.

My anger at him was simmering under my skin with each step I took.

He didn’t want to open up to me? Fine. I shouldn’t care as much as I did, but when I’d been vulnerable and fucking naked with him, hell I gave him my virginity! I felt like it was only fair.

We walked in silence, ears straining for any potential threat.

The tunnel took a sharp turn and emptied out into an all too familiar area.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The platform that we had started from was staring me right in the face. We were right back at the beginning. My stomach dropped.

There was a fallen body that had been badly burned splayed out on the ground. Upon closer inspection, I could see the gears on the gold-plated mask that still sat strapped to the corpse’s face.

“Fuck!” I cried out, pulling at my hair.

All of that wandering through these tunnels and we weren’t anywhere close to the end. How was that even possible?

“Hey, at least we know which way not to go now,” Dex said, bending down to see if the mask could be removed.

It came off but caused the head to crumble into dust. I felt numb to the sight, having experienced so much death already that seeing what had become of him didn’t even make me flinch.

What would have turned my stomach before was not even a blip on my radar at this point.

“Oh good, I feel so much better,” I spat out, wanting to collapse in defeat and still feeling mad at him.

“No—none of that. I’m not having you throw a pity party for yourself. It’s a setback. It sucks, but we know the way now. We just have to make a different choice.”

He was right. I knew it, but I still wasn’t happy about it.

Weariness made a home in my bones, making every step difficult. My boots were rubbing against my heels, and I’m pretty sure I had blisters that were forming at the tips of my toes. I wanted to bang on the platform doors and demand they let me out of here.

Keep going that deep voice from within called out to me in my subconscious. I jumped at it, forgetting that it wasn’t the first time I’d heard it. It happened at the masquerade as well but had been relatively quiet since then.

I still wasn’t aware of what or who it belonged to, and there’d been so much happening, I hadn’t stopped to ask. I’d wanted to forget it happened and had almost succeeded.

Was I crazy if I asked the voice what I wanted to know?

You’re not crazy… it responded.

Creepy. It could read my thoughts.

Well then who are you? I asked, afraid of the answer.

The voice chuckled like it found me funny.

What fun would it be if I answered that? It said finally.

“Are you good? We should head down the corridor and get to the rotunda. We could rest there,” Dex said.

I could only imagine what I must have looked like. Panicked about a voice in my head, but also feeling a sense of despair that we were no farther along in the game than when we first started.

My stomach clenched remembering the way the fire roared after us, forcing us down the tunnel. We could pick a different one this time, I just hoped it was the right one.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s go,” I said, rolling my shoulders. I could do this. I had to.

Don’t be so eager to trust him. There’s much you don’t know…

Yeah, like who the hell you are? I retorted internally. Gods, I really had lost it. I was talking to a voice inside my head that no one else could hear. Even if they had a point. Dex had already made it clear that he had no intention of opening up to me about his plans.

He went on ahead and I followed behind him, choosing the opposite side of the platform that sat above the acid water.

The dark, murky water was deathly still, reminding me that one slip of the foot would land me in its fatal clutches.

The stone walls of the tunnel were charred black and still smelt of smoke.

“Gods, he really went for it, didn’t he?” Dex asked, swiping his finger along the wall. When he pulled it away it was stained pitch black. He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“How do you think he’s able to access that much power?” I asked aloud in wonder. It really was impressive he was able to hold so much at one time and keep it going. Meanwhile, I had a hard time getting mine to do what I wanted it to.

Dex shrugged, his head tilted to the side to keep from hitting the rounded ceiling.

The voice in my mind was quiet, but its words still rang in my mind, wondering if I could trust Dex. I’d given him my body and had fought alongside him throughout the entirety of the games so far. Why would the voice find it necessary to warn me about him?

I couldn’t trust some random voice either, especially since I had no idea what its agenda was.

To see you win, of course.

Get out of my head! I yelled at it. Maybe it was the magick.

Could magick speak to you? I found myself wishing I had better prepared for the games.

Maybe researched what to expect instead of going off what I’d been told by others throughout the years.

There’d been a few cases of contestants going mad over the years, but it was always dismissed by the harrowing ordeal they had endured.

Everyone knew that Nocturne was a bloodbath.

But what if it was because of the masks and their powers?

Unease skirted around my middle as we walked, head lost in thoughts I was too scared to utter aloud.

I resolved to not talk back to the voice, even if it showed back up again.

That seemed the right course of action. Talking to it would only validate its existence, and I didn’t want to have come this far to only lose myself to some chattering voice that probably wasn’t anything.

You keep thinking that…

Ignore it. All I had to do was ignore it and keep walking. We had to find our way out of this hellhole sometime. The winning gong hadn’t been rung yet. Meaning, we still had a chance to win.

“Let’s rest here,” Dex said, pulling out a squashed ration of food. I gladly inhaled the crumbs that were once a whole piece of granola. Dex’s piece was no better, in fact it looked like his was mostly powder, but it was all we had.

I leaned on the wall, slipping down into a sitting position. My eyes felt heavy, and the closed on their own.

“One of us should keep lookout,” I murmured, feeling sleep pull at me.

“I’ll do first watch, get some sleep.”

I barely had time to register his words before I was fast asleep.

“Odessa.” My shoulder was shaken, and I jolted awake, hitting my fist out in the air as if I could take whatever it was that had startled me, down by weak punches. “Woah, slow down there, killer. It’s just me,” Dex said catching my fist in his hand.

My eyes focused in the dark, and I saw him there, crouching just next to me holding my fist inches away from his face. He let my hand drop and I sat up straight.

“I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. Mind taking over the watch?”

“Yeah. Yep,” I said, wiping at my face. My mouth felt so incredibly dry. It had been far too long since I’d had a drop of water.

As if reading my thoughts, Dex said, “There’s a bit of nectar that’s in my canteen.”

It was better than nothing. I eagerly reached for his bag as he settled on the wall, head tilted back with his eyes closed. He looked so peaceful like this.

Most of the time, Dex’s face was hardened.

He was constantly on the look for danger, sweeping his gaze around every corner.

Never settling. But with how tired we both are, he finds the spot next to me, legs kicked out and crossed at the ankle, his head resting on the wall behind him. He shoulders slump as sleep finds him.

His breathing slowed and his long eyelashes kissed the tops of his cheeks. I’d kill for eyelashes like that.

You could kill him right now… just take out that dagger that’s stowed in your boot and end it.

The voice was back and even louder after I had spent the rest of my time yesterday ignoring the beastly thing. It seemed even my sleep couldn’t free me from its clutches, and a part of me wondered if it was here to stay.

I carefully undid my mask, put it down next to me, and waited.

Hello? I asked.

A few moments passed and nothing.

I tried again, this time with more force. Hello?

Nothing.

A frown pulled at my brows. Either whoever it was decided to hide and fuck with me, or the voice was attached to the mask like I suspected.

And if that were the case… did the voice belong to the god who’d leant me his power? The wielder of shadows himself? Kage.

I breathed in my nose and out my mouth to steady my nerves before I reached for the mask once again, tying it in the back as it automatically fixed itself to my face.

I tried one more time.

Hello?

I thought you weren’t speaking to me? It asked.

So, it was the mask.

With nothing to lose, I asked the one burning question that had been gnawing at my stomach.

Are you… Kage?

Are we using first names with a god again, little shadow? His words sent a shiver down my spine as my heart rate sped up.

Dex was right next to me, snoring slightly.

Did his masks talk to him as well? Did he have a whole hoard of voices in that handsome head of his, urging him to do their will?

He’d collected power after power, and I’d been so focused on surviving that I hadn’t stopped to question why he would do that.

Sixteen of us had started this competition, but we were down to four by my count.

Dex, The Pyro, The Healer, and me.

If we were lucky enough to make it to the end, would he use those powers on me to win?

A deep, guttural knowledge roared within me at the answer.

Yes. If it came down to it, no matter how much Dex had protected me, I believed he would do whatever it took to win it all. Even if that meant killing me.

If you don’t kill him, you should go. You know what powers he holds. What’s to stop him from turning on you?

I was on my feet with his pack in my hands before I even knew what I was doing. Kage had suggested I kill him, but I wouldn’t do that. Couldn’t bring myself to spill his blood, even if it meant that he would come for me later.

The noise from his zipper closing made Dex’s eyelashes flutter, and I held my breath, waiting for him to fall deeper into sleep.

And as he did, I turned my back on him, decision made and headed into the tunnel marked with an anatomical heart above.

Leaving the one man who had been with me from the beginning of the games behind.