Page 42

Odessa

M y stomach dropped all the way down to my toes as I felt suspended in the air for far too long.

My feet narrowly grazed the edge, before I found myself dropping.

Dex’s grip was all that held me aloft. My free arm clawed at the rock, trying to find purchase with the tips of my fingers. He’d cleared the jump, but I hadn’t

“I’ve got you! I won’t let you go!” Dex cried, straining to pull me up.

My legs were uselessly dangling, kicking in vain to get my feet closer to the jagged wall.

“I’m slipping!” I cried out, terror gripping so tight around my chest that it was hard to breathe. “Don’t drop me! Please, don’t drop me!” There was nothing but an inky black void

“Odessa, I need you to stop flailing so I can pull you up. I need you to trust me. Okay?” Dex said in a firm tone. “Odessa, look at me, stop looking down. Look at me.”

Black spots danced in my vision and blood whooshed in my ears as I struggled to hear what he was telling me. All I saw was my own impending death staring me right in the face.

“Odessa! Gods fucking dammit. Stop and look up at me! I’ve got you. You have to let me help you. Now look at me!”

Heart racing and hand slipping from Dex’s grip, I looked up into his icy blue eyes feeling myself drop ever so slightly.

“I need your other hand,” Dex said.

He was on his stomach reaching both hands out.

One that held onto my forearm, and the other that was clawing at the rock trying to reach my free hand.

With all my strength, I reached up. Our fingertips brushed together briefly before they slipped apart.

I felt tears leaking from my eyes and a whimper escaped my throat.

“One more time, please, Odessa. I’m not going to let go, but I need you to try again.”

I reached up and felt my hand clasp tightly into his.

“Good! Now I’m going to pull you up. Don’t take your eyes off me,” he said.

His jaw flexed and his muscles contracted as he pulled me back from certain death.

As I went up over the edge, my hands were able to find purchase on the ground.

He grabbed me by my thighs bringing the rest of me onto the narrow bridge.

My heart was racing a million miles a minute, and my breathing was coming in sharp, short pants.

Sweat drenched the back of Dex’s jumpsuit as he collapsed next to me.

“You believe me yet?” He asked sounding just as out of breath as I felt.

I looked over at him and saw the evidence of his actions laid out before me. If he really did want me dead before the end of these games, he could have just let me fall.

“Thank you,” I said. “Really.”

We stood carefully and made it the rest of the way across. There were only three more jumps that were far less distance than the first one. By the time we reached the opening of the tunnel we were dripping with sweat and breathing hard, but we’d made it. Barely.

Good job… Kage’s voice chirped in my head.

I glowered at the interruption. It was just a reminder that we weren’t alone. Not truly. And I still had no idea what the god’s intentions were. He said it was to see me win, but what he got out of it, wasn’t clear.

The tunnel sloped down and opened into a wider breadth. Up ahead, I could see where there were several other paths all colliding into this one. Only it wasn’t empty. There, slumped against the wall was Reed.

I stopped in my tracks, trying to discern if he was sleeping, or if he was dead.

From how far away we were, there was no telling for sure.

Dex motioned that we stay quiet, and I nodded my agreement. My steps were deliberately taken, trying to make the least amount of noise as possible.

The closer we got, the more details I was able to take in. The light coming from the crooked sconces full of fire, illuminated just how burned Reed had gotten. It stretched the length of his arm, chest and entire face. And then he took a visible breath.

Dex’s hands balled into two fists as he laid eyes on the person who’d left us for dead.

I shook my head back and forth, but that power inside me roared to life, flooding my system with the need for blood. For vengeance.

I wondered if Dex was feeling it too.

From the murderous tilt to his head and wild gleam in his eyes, I would venture to say he was.

He kicked Reed in the boot, and Reed startled awake.

“Surprised to see us?” Dex asked. Those golden horns on his mask gleamed down at Reed as he scrambled to stand.

“Fuck this,” Reed said, trying to use his power to fly away.

“I don’t fucking think so,” Dex said, extending his hand and exerting his power all the way down to Reed’s bones. It stopped him cold. It was like watching someone become paralyzed right before your eyes.

Reed’s eyes looked panicked as he realized his fate had been sealed.

“Put him down,” a voice called from down the tunnel.

Marcela.

She emerged from the shadows and that bloodlust that had been churning inside of my gut, sparked to a tangible, burning rage that demanded to be unleashed.

Marcela had the mask I needed, and I wouldn’t be letting her get away this time.

“There’s nothing you can do with that mask, but heal, Marcela,” I called out.

“See that’s what’s so funny,” she said walking towards me.

The last time we had seen her, she’d run from us, too afraid of the deadly confrontation, but something had changed in her.

It reminded me of how unhinged The Pyro had seemed right before he died.

She had that same menacing smile and unsettling air about her that he did.

Her wine-red hair looked to be standing on edge with static electricity as she moved.

“I thought this mask could only heal, but it turns out it can do so much more than that.”

Her arm extended and I felt a stabbing, searing pain deep in my gut. I crumpled to my knees in pure agony.

“I said drop him, or I’ll yank her guts out.”

Dex snapped his head in our direction and saw my writhing on the floor. My intestines felt as if they were being twisted and pulled. The pain stole my breath away. “Make it stop!” I cried out. It hurt like nothing I’d ever felt before.

One minute, Reed was frozen in place, and the next, Dex had released him.

“Get your fucking power off her now, or I swear to all the gods I’ll —”

“You’ll what?” Marcela’s violet-colored eyes flashed as her head tilted. She still had a hold on me.

Fight back, Odessa. Kage’s voice urged me.

My power surged, but the pain was unbearable. I couldn’t take it.

Fight back! Come on!

With a guttural scream I sent my power slamming right into her like she did to me. It punctured her chest and began ripping her skin from her flesh.

“Fuck!!” Marcela cried. Her face twisted as blood sprayed from her open wound.

It stopped her from ripping at my insides.

And my power increased, making me stronger and more in control.

I sent my shadows into her as I stood gripping my sore stomach.

The shadows kept slicing at her skin. And then Dex, looking like death incarnate, turned all his powers at her.

It started with her paralysis, then morphed into a torrent of water that he shoved down her open throat, drowning her where she stood.

Her throat struggled and gurgled, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back.

And a dark little part of me was reveling in it.

As my shadows wrapped around her body, her feet began to turn into stone.

There was so much power flying around us that it started ripping her apart at the seams until there was nothing, but her mask left.

I dusted myself off and walked over to where her mask lay and picked it up.

It felt heavy in my hands, but now I held the key to saving my mother.

I just had to get out of here. I fit neatly into the backpack, joining the other masks that Dex had collected.

My fingers ran along their edges, feeling the vibration of their collective power.

When I turned back around, Dex was rushing over at a sprint.

He gripped my arms, looking me over. “Are you hurt?”

I shook my head no. “I’m fine.”

He brought his lips down to mine in a fierce kiss. “I thought she was going to kill you,” he said, voice tight as he pressed his forehead against mine.

“I’m okay,” I reassured him again. “I thought she was going to kill me too.”

With everything going on, I hadn’t even noticed that Reed had taken off running.

“Where did that little shit go?” Dex asked.

“I don’t?—”

A rumble from down the middle tunnel erupted and a cloud of dust and smoke filled the space as chunks of ceiling came crashing down.

It seemed we had an answer.

In his haste, Reed had run right into a trap. And we were now right in its path.