Chapter 37 #2
“Guys, this isn’t good,” Helen was whispering. “This is very, very, very bad…”
“We’ll be okay,” March insisted. He was standing right behind me, but his proximity wasn’t helping the way it usually did. “We’ve done this before. We’ll do it again.”
“There’s ten of us,” Levana said. “We got this.”
“We’ll come out of this place in one piece in no time,” said Seth.
Then the cage moved.
We still screamed, even though I was feeling a little better. They were right—we’d already unwon two trials. The last one hadn’t even been dangerous, and maybe this one wouldn’t be, either.
But then the thick chain tied to the top of the cage strained, pulled us up, and all that newfound confidence went through the bars.
We held onto them for dear life, called for help, but help wasn’t coming.
We were all alone in this tower with only a set of dark stairs curving to the right.
No windows, no ceiling, with only tree roots, half rotten, half climbing on the stone blocks.
Nobody was in here but us, and just like they promised, they pulled us up little by little, until we made it to the very top of the maze.
I kept my eyes closed through it all, my hands firmly around the bars.
Not only because I was afraid of heights or because the entire cage swung to the sides the higher we went, but because I knew that once we were up there, I had to be prepared.
A trial had to be unwon whether I liked it or not. I had to be ready.
Then the cage stopped.
Screams. Gasps. I opened my eyes and the cage kept on swinging, but we had reached the very top indeed.
A round roof was over us, with a massive metal hook bigger than my entire body in the middle, which held the chain of the cage.
Below, the floor was too far, long swallowed by the darkness, and falling would most certainly kill all of us.
Ahead, where the stairs had been on the ground floor, there was a doorway, an opening, and all we saw on the other side before it curved to the right was green.
Large leaves, roots, grass, even a few colorful flowers at the edge of the wall.
It was at least three feet away from the cage.
“We have to jump.”
Russ’s voice echoed on the empty walls of the tower.
Others protested, but only for a moment.
Tried to find other ways, but only for a moment.
We all knew that the longer we stayed in that cage, the more probable falling became, especially with the groaning sounds the chain atop of it made as we continued to swing sideways slowly.
It was going to give eventually. We needed to get out of this cage right now.
I moved, half convinced that I’d taken the time to prepare, half faking it—but what other choice did I have? I unhooked the handle of the barred door from the other side, then had to wait for Erith and Anika to make way for me, before I pulled the bars open just like the soldiers had done.
It worked. The door gave without complaints. The cage moved to the sides more furiously, and the chains above us screamed like living things.
Stop it—you’re going to kill us! some shouted, while others encouraged me to keep going, faster!
I didn’t listen to anyone, only secured the door to the side as well as I could, and I leaned out a little, just to get a feel of how far I was going to have to jump.
Not far, not far—it’s not that far!
It was.
Up there in the air, it was, with the swinging cage that was barely holding us. But the alternative was dying, and I wasn’t going to let that happen.
Thinking holds you back, Father used to tell me. He was of the mind that I should always act first, think later. Do what I could with what I knew and then learn along the way.
Right now, I took his advice, and I didn’t wait for a single thought in my head to paralyze me because I knew exactly how powerful they could be if I let them get ahold of me.
There would be no moving then. So, I stepped back as far as I could go, and the others moved to the sides to give me some space.
I was going to need all the momentum I could get for this.
“Her?! If she jumps first, she’s going to deliberately ruin the cage and throw us to the ground!”
Could have been Levana who said this, and others agreed with her, too, but no one stepped in my way, and that’s all I cared about. I didn’t spare them a single glance.
“You sure you can make that jump?” March asked from the edge of the cage, just near the open door, a hand around a bar, the other held out and ready as if he were preparing to protect himself from an attack.
Or stop me.
I looked at him for a second, but I didn’t reply. If he was going to try to stop me, so be it. I only focused on the doorway covered in green, and I ran.
Timing your feet when jumping high distances was important.
But timing your feet when jumping high distances without momentum and without enough space to gain it was impossible.
That’s why the moment I jumped off the edge of the cage and my feet were in the air, I was only six-hours certain that I could make it.
My life flashed right before my eyes—the memories that held themselves just out of reach for me and all.
I considered I might have rushed, but the chains kept on groaning, and I knew that if I hadn’t jumped now, I never would have.
I willed my body to move faster, farther, and swung my arms and legs with all my strength, reaching for the edge of that doorway, but it didn’t work.
Until something warm blazed my back, propelled me forward, like a gust of very warm wind—and threw me against the edge of the doorway.
Maybe the game’s way of finally giving us a little help?
I couldn’t breathe. My legs dangled in the air, but my arms were up, and there were plenty of roots to hold onto to drag myself all the way onto the stone floor. I did so without thinking.
Cheers. Screams. Complaints.
I stood up, completely disoriented, my backside still warm.
March was there, watching me, and the others were either smiling, hopeful, or terrified as they looked at me.
Mainly Anika, Russ and Levana. They thought I would leave them and go, or even try to kill them—but didn’t they realize we all needed to unwin the trial to get out of here?
Regardless. I was shaking, but I refused to let myself acknowledge it.
“Jump!” I shouted—at March first, hoping he’d be next, but he was already stepping to the side. The rest of them moved, too, to give way for Mimi.
She had her eyes on me. “Catch me, Ora!” she shouted, and I would. If she landed on the edge like I had, I’d pull her up right away.
Mimi jumped.
March’s hand became red with magic, which then shot forward and straight for Mimi’s back, propelling her forward, throwing her right onto the edge of floor, just like it had done me.
It wasn’t the game. March, March—of course it’s March.
I leaned down and grabbed Mimi’s arms as she screamed, and pulled her up within two seconds. She was tall but she was skinny, and right now I could have pulled anything up from the sheer panic alone.
One by one, the others jumped, each with more confidence than the last, because we were there to catch them, and March was there to propel them forward with his magic.
Only he wasn’t going to have magic to push him forward when it was his turn, and so I was looking around at those roots spread about on the stone floor that slowly transitioned to wood three feet in.
And seamlessly, at that. Wherever this doorway led, it was darker and greener were it curved to the right, and right now we still needed to make sure that we all made it off the cage.
So, while the others helped whoever was jumping next, I searched the small space as well as I could in the dark.
I spotted the remnants first—not rope exactly, but a thick, frayed cord worked into the bark where what I assumed a branch had once been tied off.
It didn’t look like much, but since there really were no other options, I tested it to see if it was strong enough.
It seemed to be, but just in case, I pulled loose more strands from the tree and twisted them together.
Easy enough to do. I’d grown up in the forest, had made all kinds of swings from leaves and cords and anything else I’d found on the forest floors, both with friends, and with Father and Jinx.
The cord was pretty long, and I twisted it and pulled it to test it as well as the space allowed me. It would have to do. The tree didn’t even groan when I pulled at where it was stuck inside the thick bark, so that was a good sign.
The last to jump before March was Seth. He had no trouble grabbing Russ’s hand and pulling himself up, and then March was all alone in the cage, his hands on the bars on either side of the door, his expression serious.
“Let me through,” I said, and the others reluctantly did, but only when they saw the cord I was holding.
Then I was at the mouth of the doorway, the others behind me—and it did occur to me that they could push me off if they felt like it. It’s not like anybody here seemed to care whether we lived or died, but…
March grinned, his eyes glistening when he saw the cord in my hands. My chest warmed up immediately, and the echo of the memories from the morning before was suddenly at the center of my mind—but only for a second.
“Catch!” I called, and I threw the cord with all my strength, terrified that it wasn’t going to reach all the way to him.
It almost didn’t—but March was certainly not afraid of heights.
With his hands on the bars on either side of the door still, he pulled himself back with all his strength even before I threw the cord, then practically came out of the cage as it swung forward, half his body outside.
He grabbed the cord in one hand and held onto the cage with the other.
That I didn’t scream was a miracle, and March didn’t hesitate. With the cord in hand, he waited only a moment for the cage to swing back, then forward again—and he jumped.
Someone pulled me back—good thing, too. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought to move. I was terrified, eyes wide open, limbs frozen in place, waiting to watch him fall.
He didn’t.
March landed onto the edge of the doorway with the cord still in hand, and then Seth and Helen were pulling him up by the arms. I reminded myself to breathe while he made it to his feet, the grin still on his face, his hair all over the place.
Time’s Teeth, I didn’t think I’d ever been closer to losing my shit.
March threw the cord on the floor. “Good thinking, but I didn’t really need it.” He winked.
My chest was on fire all over again.
“Holy Hour—guys, you have to see this!”
Mimi’s voice reached us from somewhere far away, down the turn on the right, beyond the darkness. My heart jumped, even though she didn’t sound particularly afraid. The others rushed into the darkness, and March nodded his head, waiting for me to go first.
“Tick-tock, Velvet. We have a trial to unwin.”
A small smile escaped me before I could control myself. With a deep breath, I followed the others deeper into the maze, and March was right behind me.