“Elena, wait!” Becky shouted as I went to slip through the opening.
Her eyes sparkled with tears. “You know I would do this if I could, right?”
I nodded and fresh tears wanted to emerge. Stay strong.
She grabbed me around my neck. “You kick some ass, and you come back to us. I'm so sorry about earlier.”
“It's okay, Becky. I'm sorry too.”
She held on a little longer before letting me go.
I slipped through quickly. “Wait for me two days, please. If I'm not out by then, go home,” I said as the door closed behind me with finality. Lucian yelled something, but I didn't hear what it was.
“Please, just get me through this,” I begged out loud inthe darkness. I didn't know if it was to God or the Queen, but she’d appeared in my dreams, so she’d better be listening too.
Gathering my courage, I opened my eyes and turned around carefully.
Let the games begin.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
A faint burning smell drifted from the glowing lanterns mounted on the walls. In the front of the cave was a drizzling waterfall sending a misty spray into the air. The cave rumbled as a square stone hoisted from the floor. I wasn't sure at this point what I was supposed to do.
This was a bad idea. Taking a deep breath, I stepped towards the stone and words magically appeared on the wall to my right. "A challenge you have to complete in fifteen beats." I read the first words out loud, hoping it would help me make sense of them.
They do love their rhymes. The first two sentences disappeared.
“Paegeia is enchanted with dragons, shifts, and nymphs hidden behind a wall. The most important one is not one, but them all.”
They have nymphs too.
I frowned, already confused, as the words swirled in my head.
C'mon, Elena, you have to think fast. The most important one? The only thing that I could think of was Blake's words. I would have his respect when I exited those doors.
Not one but them all, Blake! The riddle was about the Rubicon.
I ran to the stone and found a puzzle. It looked ancient, and the blocks I needed to move were huge. This kind of puzzle was my favorite as a little girl, so this should be easy.
Ten square disks stood in front of me, and only one square empty space. I was allowed fifteen moves to get them into the right places. Each square disk had the sign of a different dragon embellished on it. I knew immediately that it was Blake's sign. I closed my eyes, imagining the order,as I’d intended to draw this on T-shirts for extra money but hadn’t had enough time. The Fin-Tail was first and then the Copper-Horn; next was the Swallow annex sign. The Crown-Tail and the Fire-Tail after that. That was the first five Metallic dragon signs. Then came the Chromatic dragons; the Snow dragon followed by the Moon-Bolt, the Sun-Blast and Green-Vapor. Last was the Night Villain. I had the final picture of Blake’s sign fresh in my head.
I found the Fin-Tail and reached out for my first move. The square disk was stuck, and I couldn't move it. My heart pounded and sweat formed on my forehead. A picture of Lucian busy laying dynamite popped in my head.
Stop it, Elena, there is no time for negative thoughts. I pushed Lucian out of my mind. Deep breathes, Elena, you've got this.
I started to look around and found an hourglass-shaped object. Something told me that it was the timer, but the amount of sand didn't equal an hour. It was only fifteen minutes. I ran towards the glass and wiped off all the spider webs.
Jeepers! I hate that. A cold shudder ran up my spine as I rubbed the goose pimples from my arms. I took another deep breath and turned it over.
A big clicking sound indicated that I needed to hurry, so I ran back to the puzzle. I didn't have time to think, I just started moving the Fin-Tail into position. I worked out the order of disk movement that would allow all the others to end in their correct location. Every move was critical. The adrenaline must have been making my brain work ten times faster as I shifted the last one in place and closed my eyes.
My heart skipped a few beats.
The only thought that was running through my head was what the consequences would be if I was wrong. I would probably have to stay here forever, until I died.
The cave rumbled again. One of the walls had left an open doorway.
I blew out my breath slowly, not recalling breathing one time while I had waited. I turned around to look at the first door I had entered. Right behind it, Lucian, the love of my life, waited. I slipped through the wall without saying my goodbyes, and it closed behind me.
It was dark. All I could hear was the sound of my beating heart as it pounded inside my ear.
Come, come, come. My hands trembled. I gave them a couple of shakes, hoping it would take the edge off.
A spark right next to me made me jump. Fire ran along the wall all the way down to light up the second cave.
My throat became dry as I faced my next task.
What is this?
My eyes grew wider as I realized what was ahead.
For the love of blueberries,you’ve got to be shitting me.It was my worst nightmare. In front of me stood a huge obstacle course. It was the same one we’d seen in the museum; the one where I imagined being a tiny human. Yeah, it hadn’t worked out so well for my tiny self, who had been crushed. This time, it needed to end differently.
The only thing I could see was two huge upside-down axes, swinging at a slow pace past each other.
Words appeared on the wall again.
“A task you must complete, that only the brave can defeat. One false move and you might be without a heartbeat.”
No time limit appeared, and I blew out another breath.
Okay, Elena, you can do this. It's easy. Yeah right. I bounced on one spot as I kept my eyes on the obstacle of death. I noticed that the movement of the axes started to pick up its pace. I had no choice but to do it now.
I decided to trust my reflexes, but my legs wobbled as I climbed the stairs, not making me feel very confident. The axes parted from each other, and I got a glimpse of a crusher and something else that looked like it could slash me in two. There were balls turning at the end with things going up and down. At least the speed seems manageable.
As I slipped through the blades, the tip of my shoe bumped up against a piece of bulk that stood out, causing me to fall flat on my stomach. I felt something miss my head by an inch. I jolted up and moved a step forward.
The object that missed me a couple of seconds ago came back. I saw that it was a wooden log, and I arched my body forward. Who would have thought my clumsiness would someday save my ass!
My heart pounded so fast, it felt as if it was going to explode out of my chest! I took another couple of steps and found myself sliding onto something icky. Another blade slashed right past my nose.
Lucian's voice rang inside my head, loud and clear. “Move your ass, Elena, and no matter what, trust your reflexes.”
Relying on my clumsy butt was more like it. I’d made a joke. That was a good sign.
I listened to Lucian's words as my voice of reason to survive. The crasher came next. I decided to dive for it. If I lost a leg, I could somehow still manage to finish and get the reward.
As I dusted myself off, I couldn't believe it.I had escaped the crasher and made it three quarters through the obstacles. I didn’t have a moment to celebrate because there was no time to waste. I had to get up fast as ankle-height blades were approaching. I ran forward, and my body ducked for no reason. Blades that could split me in two missed me by a hair. I moved forward the minute they parted. Even though I couldn't see the next obstacle, I still managed to jump over it, and I ran a couple of feet. I heard a deadly noise approaching at the speed of light.