Chapter 27
Predator Turned Prey
The weight pressing down on the crowd made me feel as if I was missing out on something again.
There was no loneliness quite like watching everyone else care deeply about something that meant nothing to you, which only heightened my detachment.
I knew exactly what it meant.
I just didn’t care the way they did.
What they took as a promise of salvation, I saw as a distraction at best and a death sentence at worst. For now, it was a shackle clamping down on my ankle, tethering me to this place.
No way would they let me leave now.
I barely registered Riaan’s voice when he said, “You’re not just a Daughter of the Scepter. You’re the final one!”
Salah shushed him, but the crowd exploded into whispers and murmurs.
“Fantastic,” Marigold murmured from the other side of Salah, “As if her head could get any bigger.”
Without a word, I turned away from the glowing order of execution carved into the wall and walked through the parted sea of spectators.
“The final one?”
“That means the prophecy is right!”
“The resurrection is coming!”
“She’s gonna defeat the Dark One!”
“She’s gonna have to die to do that.”
“No, she’s gonna bring back…”
The muttering swelled to a fever pitch, everyone speculating about my purpose in life as if I weren’t right there, moving in their midst. To them, I was a key to a door they needed open, not a girl with her own will and wants.
The numbness faded as I reached the mouth of the L-Block. My eyes burned with unshed tears, and I bit down on the insides of my cheeks, trying to hold back the ache inside, hoping to bury my face in a pillow and hide the turmoil boiling inside of me.
Once I was face-down in my bed, I screamed.
Screamed until there wasn’t an ounce of breath left in me.
This was the exact opposite of what my life was supposed to be. I was meant to stay in the shadows, hunting my limelighted prey.
Now I was the one with all eyes on me, expected to save people instead of destroying them. Worse? I was the one being hunted.
Predator turned prey.
I stayed like that, mouth and nose buried so deep in my bed it felt like the oxygen couldn’t reach me. I didn’t fall asleep but just lay there, replaying everything in my head to see where it all went wrong.
The exam?
Hearth Haven?
Maybe it was that joke I made to Zade two weeks ago about how I’d ace the exam so hard I’d get famous and finally catch Azazel’s attention.
Shit, I missed Zade.
I wished that I could see him. Tell him everything. Cry dramatically over stale wine. He’d make jokes about it that weren’t funny. I’d get mad at him, but then he’d be serious and say something that made everything alright. He’d make this bearable.
But he wasn’t here.
And I was.
“What the hell?” I groaned, rolling onto my back.
Perhaps all the stress was turning me narcoleptic because I had no idea how I fell asleep again.
Wouldn’t put it past them to drug me into compliance.
The clock on the bedside table read 1:49.
“Double shit,” I muttered.
I’d completely missed lunch.
I groaned again and sat up. A white slip of paper caught my eye. Someone had slid another note under my door.
I sighed and trudged across the room. Veda’s handwriting again.
Neutral Training Grounds
Room R
2:00
I rechecked the clock. I only had ten minutes to get ready and get to the training grounds.
I scrambled to the dresser and swapped my pajamas for leggings and a tank. Socks and sneakers barely made it on before I was sprinting toward D-Block.
I scanned for the door labeled Neutral. Third one on the right.
The large, round door slid aside to reveal another hallway.
This one looked like something straight out of The Tower with fiberglass walls, frosted doors, and glowing screens displaying letters and occupancy status.
I looked for R. It was near the end, just two doors before another large round door that mirrored the entrance.
“Welcome!” a booming voice rang out as the door to Room R zipped open from the floor to the ceiling.
I tore my gaze away from the large door at the end and turned to peer into the room I was scheduled to train in today.
The room was enormous. That’s not right. It wasn’t a room at all. It was a circular platform, about the size of the running track at Babel, with no walls—just endless, black emptiness hovering all around.
But even in that massive space, the creature in front of me sent my head for a nosedive.
What the hell is that?
“Name’s Mermidon,” the massive figure boomed. “And since you’re a friend of Veda’s, you get to call me Merm.” His laugh jiggled his belly and the entire platform beneath our feet. “Nice to finally meet you.”
Words failed me. My brain short-circuited as I tried to comprehend what I was looking at. The thing was half man, half…fish? His upper body was comically muscular, tapering down into glittering scales that ended in a massive fin.
No legs.
A freaking mermaid.
Correction—merman.
I pressed my lips tight to stifle the laughter, but a snort escaped through my nose. My attempt to disguise it as a cough? Pitiful at best.
“I’m guessing no one warned you about me,” Merm chuckled, his laugh vibrating my feet through the floor.
I cleared my throat. “No, they didn’t.”
I stared at the floor, not because I couldn’t meet his eyes, but because I was too busy trying to figure out how he was floating in the same floor I was standing on. The floor beneath him oozed like ink, but my heel tapping against the same surface confirmed its solidity.
“Welcome to the training room you’ll be in every day for the next two weeks,” he waved a massive arm at the space around us.
“I’m a merman, in case that wasn’t obvious.
Though I suppose it wouldn’t be for someone who didn’t even know Earth existed until a week ago, much less the so-called ‘mythical’ creatures as the Ancients loved to call us. ”
My mouth silently formed the word: Merman.
“Erm…I thought there were supposed to be other people training with me,” I finally said. Hopefully, changing the subject would keep me from saying something totally embarrassing and probably uncouth.
On cue, Salah’s breathless voice called from the doorway, “Sorry, I’m late!”
I turned to see her waving sheepishly at me as she rushed in, dropped a bag by the door, and took her place beside me.
Then I froze.
Adriel sauntered in right behind her.
“This should be fun,” he said more to me than the other two, a smirk tugging at the edge of his scar.
What. The. Fuck.
Merm cleared his throat. “We’ve got a few more joining us shortly. Feel free to get acquainted.” His voice trailed off as Adriel and I locked eyes like mortal enemies ready to draw blood.
“Maybe not,” I muttered.
“We know each other quite well,” Adriel taunted. His grin only widened as he stepped into line with Salah and me but left a deliberate gaping space between us and him.
Salah edged closer, but the room was so quiet that even a whisper would’ve echoed. So instead of saying anything aloud, we exchanged looks until Adriel broke the silence with a cheer.
“Thank fuck!” he called, pumping a fist into the air.
Salah and I followed his gaze to the door, where Soren walked in with Marigold’s arm looped around his.
This has got to be a joke.
They strolled in and stood beside Adriel. Soren didn’t even acknowledge me, though Marigold’s glower could’ve scored a bullseye.
I wasn’t surprised when Matthias strolled in right after them.
What I hadn’t expected was for him to plant himself right beside Salah, sporting a crooked grin.
“Apologies for my lateness, ladies,” he said with that signature smile of his and a genteel bow of his head. “I was only informed of this little soirée about fifteen minutes ago. Couldn’t pass up the chance to accompany you two lovely creatures on an adventure.”
I groaned, but Adriel’s howling laughter drowned me out.
Marigold’s scoff rang loud and clear, though.
With that, Mermidon clapped his massive hands. A gust of wind burst from between them, and dead skin flakes scattered like dust.
“That should be everyone. Boys and girls are even now.” He eyed the group, lingering on me. “Strong crew, although a little tempestuous,” he added with a smirk. “But you being the Final Daughter of the Scepter and all, I’m sure you’ll be great.”
Marigold snickered, and I rolled my eyes.
Seriously? I’m the tempestuous one?
Soren stared straight ahead, making him the only one in the room who didn’t spare me a glance.
“Now, for the next two weeks,” Merm went on, “Your only goal is to learn how to work together. You’ll spend every waking moment with each other as a team—and even a few nights, when we go on our little outing.
” He started pacing—well, if one could pace while floating in a magically liquified floor—back and forth in front of us.
“You’ll eat your meals together, study together, and train together.
Forget about any future objectives. Your only goal right now is to build this team. ”
Everyone except for Soren and Matthias groaned this time.
Soren didn’t even blink.
Matthias did the opposite of the rest of us and smiled, crossing his arms as he looked between Salah and me.
“Let’s stop that grumbling immediately,” Merm said, his brows as big as baboons bending down toward his nose.
“While some of you have been through this before, I have extra challenges for you. I want you all to commit 100%. If you can’t, you’ll be removed from the training group.
” He stopped and looked down at each of us, his words much lower, showing his large yellow teeth.
“And your position with the Guild of Sharona will be re-evaluated.”
Not a sound.
Everyone straightened, eyes on Merm.
I seemed to be missing something.
Does that mean he’s gonna kill us or something?
Re-evaluated, as in removed from the world of the living?
Because if it only means I get kicked out of this place, then count me uncooperative.