Get up.
Everything aches but I scramble to my feet while Blair looks slightly surprised I even bothered.
Distract her.
Kai’s words ring in my head, followed by an idea.
I snatch a rock from the ground, the one that’s likely the cause of my aching shoulder and clutch it in my fist. She’s resumed pelting items at me, and as I dodge, duck, and roll, my fingers find a knife lying in the ring alongside several other weapons.
In one quick movement, I cock my arm back and fling the knife at her face before chucking the rock right after. She stops everything and lazily raises her hands to halt the blade and rock before they meet her, amused that this is the best I can do.
Or so she thinks.
With her full attention on stopping the objects midair, I waste no time. I tackle her around the middle, and we tumble into the dirt. With a huff, the air is knocked from her lungs, giving me seconds before she throws me off her.
But that is all I need.
This was never about winning—it was about making a point. Proving to myself, and everyone watching, that I am still a threat. Whether I have a power like theirs or not, I will find a way to hurt them.
My fist crashes into her jaw, snapping her head to the side. She’s likely unfamiliar with the pain accompanying a punch, unfamiliar with people getting this close to even try. She’s stunned. I get in another solid hit to her perfect, little nose, and watch as blood gushes from it. I raise my fist again—
But she’s finally come to her senses.
With a shriek, she throws me into the air like a rag doll. I collide with the hard ground and once again find myself staring up into the starry sky, gasping for air.
I hear her shriek in frustration, probably rubbing at her aching jaw and clutching her bloody nose. The sound of boots stalking angrily away tells me she’s hurrying off to a Healer, refusing to be seen with injuries to her flawless face. Especially when I’m the one who gave them to her. She wouldn’t dare be seen injured by a Slummer.
I hear clapping, cheering, and confused chattering ripple through the audience. A smile tugs at my lips and before I know it, I’m shaking with laughter. I can’t stop it from bubbling out of me as I lie sprawled in the dirt.
I may have lost the match, but it’s Blair who lost her pride.
Chapter Forty
Kai
I woke up on the edge of a mountain.
Plummet Mountain.
I only know this because I’ve been here before with Father, casually conquering more fears and such.
But I’m not alone.
Andy groans beside me, her eyes fluttering open before she bolts upright, head swiveling as she scans her surroundings just as I had done a few minutes prior.
My head is pounding. Between all the alcohol, the fights last night, and the drug that knocked me out to be dragged here, I’ve felt better on the battlefield. But upon arriving at Plummet, the first thing I noticed was the pen scribbled on my hand. My slanted, hasty handwriting is scrolled across my palm, relaying a very important message:
She said I could touch her when I’m sober.
I’m shocked that I have no recollection of writing this, considering how vividly I remember everything else about last night. Paedyn pressed against me, our conversation, her panic before I untied the laces of her dress. My lips twitch at the thought before I’m suppressing a smile when I remember how she pinned Blair during their fight and made her bleed.
“Plagues, what is going on?”
Braxton is up now, blinking in the afternoon sunshine. Blair’s lilac hair shimmers behind him as she sits up, looking just as confused and tense. We eye each other, remembering how brutally we fought last night and how we were forced apart before we could finish.
I pull the crumpled note from my pocket and toss it on the dirt before us. “We were left with this.”
I hear Blair scoff as she snatches the paper up and reads aloud, her tone bored:
Welcome to Trial number two,
We think a little teamwork is due.
You have twelve hours to reach the top,
To beat the other team, you must climb nonstop.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Andy grumbles beside me, running her hands over her dirty face.
“I’m sorry,” Blair huffs, “we’re supposed to work together?”
Father is having fun playing with us.
He had us fight each other last night to fuel the tension between contestants and leave us wanting to tear each other apart. We were forced through several rounds of fights against random opponents, lasting well into the evening and only aiding our fatigue. And now, we’re forced to work side-by-side while fighting the urge to finish what we started last night.
I stand to my feet, head throbbing as I scan the sky. The sun tells me that it’s nearly mid-afternoon, which means we will be climbing through the night.
Riveting.
“We’re losing daylight,” I say with a sigh. “Let’s get a move on.”
Then we are climbing, confused by this Trial and how we are expected to work together rather than rip each other apart. Plummet isn’t an enormous mountain, but it is intimidating, to say the least. For the time being, we are trudging through the thick barrier of trees and rocky terrain at its base. Once we get higher, the trees will thin, replaced with steeper rocks and slippery slopes. Other than its deadly terrain, Plummet is also home to even deadlier animals. We will be climbing for twelve hours straight with no food, no water, no weapons, and no trust in one another.
I spot Sights out of the corner of my eye, swift and silent beside us as they document our progress. There must be dozens of them stationed all along the mountainside, trading off with one another, waiting for us to come into their range.
Blair and Braxton climb stiffly nearby, eying one another with equal amounts of suspicion while Andy stays close to my side, reassuring me of where her loyalties lie. She has become my only source of entertainment, her rambling taking my mind off the mountain looming above. I listen to her complain about how she would have already transformed into a falcon and left us all in the dust if it weren’t for us tying her down with our teamwork.
“Okay,” she says, slightly breathless after climbing for nearly two hours already, “I spy with my little eye—”
“Oh, Plagues, make it stop,” Blair wines, picking up a pinecone with her mind and chucking it at Andy. “You’ve been spying things for nearly an hour despite being the only one playing. It’s tempting me to forget about this teamwork thing and rip your head off.” She’s practically growling while Andy is grinning.
“You know,” Andy says with a smug smile, “you haven’t changed one bit, Blair.” She shrugs. “Once a bitch, always a bitch, I suppose.”
With that, Blair raises an army of pinecones off the ground in a silent threat. “I would keep your mouth shut if I were you. Or you might just find a pinecone lodged in your throat—”
“You’re only proving my point,” Andy singsongs.
Blair’s abandoned the pinecones for one of the many giant rocks littering the ground. She sends it flying towards Andy and inevitably flying towards me in the process. With the flick of a hand and the borrowing of Blair’s ability, the boulder changes directions, flying away from us and crashing into a nearby tree.
“That’s enough, ladies.” My tone is bored, portraying my current mood. “I’d rather not be in the middle of this.”