Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
After the medic gave me a check-up and provided some medicine, I was ushered over to the participants’ seating area.
An announcer listed the top thirty finishers who would move onto the next round. Unfortunately, that meant the woman who had attacked me would be in the next round as well, so I would have to keep an eye out for her.
Scout zipped over to me, chirped and dropped an earpiece into my hand. Before I could argue about it, she returned to Wayne, who motioned at my ear like I didn’t know what he’d just had Scout deliver.
Reluctantly, I put the earpiece in and waited.
“How badly are you injured?” Wayne asked softly.
“Bruised,” I answered as quietly as I could. I wasn’t certain if I could be disqualified for the earpiece, but I didn’t want to risk it.
“Zeke wants to murder her,” he whispered back and I did not miss the growl in his voice.
“I’m fine.”
“Be careful in this next round, it’s going to be even more dangerous.”
“Take the earpiece back. I don’t want to get disqualified.”
He sighed. “Fine.”
Scout returned and took the earpiece from me.
Looking up at the royals’ boxes, I saw Zeke glaring daggers in the area I was in, but not at me.
Wayne was doing something on his tablet, which was unsurprising.
Gage was staring at me. Preston was looking out over everything with the most neutral expression I’d seen on his face yet.
A neutral expression that matched his parents’ beside him.
Preston noticed me looking and gave me a sly wink.
And just like that, I was relaxed and smiling like a fool.
Or maybe it was the painkillers …
“The second round will begin in twenty minutes!” yelled the announcer.
Two dozen people ran out and began disassembling the obstacle course. Once all of the pieces were gone, a lone male stood in the center, squatted down, and pushed something.
Loud metal grinding sounds began and I watched in awe as the oval obstacle course path lowered into the ground and water surged upwards. With just a single button press, they’d changed it from an obstacle course to a platform surrounded by a moat of water.
There didn’t seem to be anything moving in the water, though, which seemed odd since they’d told me the water would have predators inside of it.
Across the platform, a large metal frame emerged. The bar we would hold onto and hope we outlasted the others.
Luckily, my arms hadn’t been used much in the previous round, so I felt pretty confident heading into this.
Someone began passing out additional bottles of water and a single bread roll to the contestants. I ate mine, surprised at how hungry I was, and drank all of my water.
“Bathroom break lasts five minutes,” crowed the announcer, and to my right a path opened up, leading to a doorway where several contestants had already jogged through.
I followed, figuring it was best to try to go so I wasn’t holding it while dangling above the water later.
Keeping my head on a swivel as I went into and out of the bathroom, I ensured no one could sneak up on me or try to hurt me.
As soon as I arrived back in the contestants’ area, they marched us out onto the platform, side by side, and lowered the metal bar so we could reach it with just a small jump. Well, a medium jump for me and a literal hand raise for the guy beside me.
“You’re the princess, right?” he asked as he gripped the bar. “The heirs’ mate?”
I nodded and opened my mouth, but was interrupted.
“She’s not their mate yet and never will be,” the woman who’d attacked me snapped.
He rolled his eyes. “Vicky has had a crush on the princes since she was little. She’s just jealous.”
“Fuck you, Jolan,” she growled.
He smiled and said, “No, thank you. You’re not my type.” Turning to me, he winked, which made me smile.
There was a loud growl from the stands behind us and I sighed softly. Definitely Zeke.
“Oh, they’re super possessive, huh? Interesting.”
“Please don’t goad them. Zeke’s likely to murder someone before the day is out.”
He just laughed.
Whatever, it wasn’t my death warrant being signed.
The bar started to raise at the same time that the ground beneath us lowered.
I watched as the ground disappeared and more water surged in to cover it until it flowed just five feet below our dangling legs.
The announcer’s voice came on, silencing the crowd and us. “This year we have a special predator all the way from the former planet Caltyrelan!”
A metal creaking started and on the far side of the stadium, I watched as a grate opened and something large and dark swam into the water. No, not just one … four somethings large and dark.
Fear consumed me at the sight of the creatures. A creature that was part of many Caltyrelan folklore stories, nightmares, and dark warnings. A monster that made me refuse to ever step foot into the oceans on Caltyrelan as a child.
The lusca. The lusca was a creature that was a combination of a shark and octopus with teeth and a jaw capable of severing a person in half with one bite and tentacles that could pop your head off with a single squeeze.
Those who lived by the sea said that the lusca could even walk out on dry land using their tentacles as pseudo-legs to chase after prey that ran onto the beach.
How had they found these creatures when my planet was destroyed? And why? Why did they have one of my literal nightmares here?
“You alright?” Jolan asked.
“I-I c-can’t,” I said between strangled breaths.
If I fell in, I was dead. Defeating a lusca was impossible.
“We’re all going to die,” I panted.
Vicky scoffed. “Coward.”
“We can’t fall,” I said and looked at Jolan. “If we fall into the water with them, we’ll die.”
“I think you’re overreacting,” Jolan said. “The creatures they put in here are never too difficult to defeat.”
Shaking my head and swallowing hard, I said, “These ones are. They’re apex predators from my home planet. They should be extinct. I-I don’t know how they obtained them when it’s destroyed, though, but that doesn’t matter. We have to keep from falling in at all—”
A woman on the far end lost her grip and fell into the water.
“The first contestant has fallen! Can she defeat the lusca and advance to the next round?”
The crowd cheered for her as the announcer spoke.
I swallowed hard and waited for the inevitable.
The woman surfaced and gasped for air, but the next second, a large tentacle wrapped around her torso and pulled her under the water.
Gasps sounded all around us.
Breathing was impossible. I could only stare.
The next second, red filled the water and a feeding frenzy started among the other lusca.
“No!” someone screamed.
“Wh-What?” Vicky asked, her eyes wide.
“She’s dead,” Jolan whispered as he stared at the surging, red water.
“This isn’t right,” Vicky snapped. “The predators aren’t supposed to be that vicious! I’m out of here!” She started moving along the bar, crowding a small woman who was trying to hang on.
“Stop! Stop, you’re going to make me fall!” she cried out.
Vicky didn’t listen, focused solely on escaping, and she fell into the water as Vicky used her for leverage to move faster over the bar.
As soon as she fell, she released her wings, flapping as hard as she could to gain altitude, but one of the lusca’s tentacles wrapped around her leg and pulled her back down and into the water.
Chaos ensued.
Several of the contestants released their wings and flew away, others began making their way down the bar, and a couple more fell into the water.
I followed the ones moving down the bar, but there was a blockade of some type at the end, preventing people from getting off.
Someone kicked my stomach at the same time someone else punched me in the face.
My grip slipped and I saw Vicky’s satisfied smile as I began to fall towards the water.
This was it.
I was going to die.
“Xoe!” the princes’ voices rang out and Scout screamed just before the water closed over my head.
With long, firm strokes, I headed towards the wall, surfacing and drawing in a deep breath.
The luscas hadn’t noticed me yet, too busy feeding on the others who had already fallen in, which gave me time to put distance between us.
The wall of the arena was too slick and completely vertical, making it impossible for me to climb out. No matter how hard I tried to dig my fingers into the side or shove the toe of my boot into a crevice, I couldn’t get purchase.
Scout appeared above me in her large drone body.
“Scout!” I screamed.
She lowered herself until I could reach her, but just as I gripped her spherical shape, a tentacle wrapped around my waist and pulled me down.
Zeke leaned over the wall, his hand reaching out towards me, but our fingertips just barely missed as the lusca pulled me under the water.
Pulling out the small blade I’d hidden in my boot, I stabbed the lusca’s tentacle, but it refused to let go as it dragged me away from the wall.
Looking behind me, I quickly realized where it was taking me … to the other luscas to feed.
With a hard slash of my knife, I cut through the tentacle and freed myself. Instead of surfacing, I swam away in the opposite direction, trying to put as much space between me and the lusca as possible.
A tentacle slid around my side, but I stabbed it before it could fully latch onto me.
My head broke the surface of the water just long enough for me to draw in a breath and hear screaming before I was pulled back down.
Think, Xoe. What did the folktales say about the lusca? Aside from them being monsters …
They had a weakness. What was it? It was something I’d laughed about and others had said was impossible to accomplish. Maybe it was real. It might be my only chance of surviving the water with them. It was something basic and simple, but …
Their eyes! That was it! They had small eyes on each side of their head that put you right by their mouth, but if you hurt their eye, they would give up and leave you alone to find easier prey.
One of the lusca sped towards me and I gripped my knife tightly, preparing to attack it. The mouth opened and two tentacles rushed forward to try to grab me.
I let the tentacle wrap around my waist and pull me towards its mouth, but before it could bite me, I kicked off the side of its mouth and spun myself around it. Once at the side of its face, I stabbed my knife into the eye of the lusca as hard as I could and twisted.
The lusca thrashed about and flung me away as it turned in the opposite direction to flee.
I didn’t have time to celebrate as another lusca moved forward to attack me in the first one’s place.
Again and again, I stabbed the eyes of the luscas, cut their tentacles, and slashed at their bodies. My lungs burned for air, but I knew the moment I looked away, the moment I tried to surface, I would lose.
One of the lusca that I’d stabbed darted around me in the water, churning it up and making it hard for me to follow its movements.
Pain erupted in my right leg and I had to bite down on my lip to keep from screaming and losing the air in my lungs.
I hoped it hadn’t severed my leg, but so much red filled the water around me that I knew the damage had to be severe.
Despite that, I couldn’t focus on my injury yet. The lusca had to die first.
The adrenaline in my body was surging faster, giving me a moment of clarity and clear view of the predator as it swam straight at me, jaws opened wide and ready to devour me whole.
Although it would be against the rules, I activated the dagger in the boot of my uninjured leg. When the lusca’s snout got within my reach, I kicked as hard as I could, sinking the blade into the sensitive skin of its snout.
The lusca recoiled, but my boot’s dagger was still stuck in it and it dragged me along with it. Using my arms to propel myself forward, I got up next to its head and stabbed the other eye once … twice … three times.
Finally, the lusca stopped moving, I removed my boot dagger from its snout, and it floated to the surface.
There was a strange stillness around me and it took me a moment to realize that none of the lusca were attacking … or moving.
Hazarding a chance to get air, I kicked my way to the surface and gasped in a deep, satisfying breath as I raised one of my hands in the air. As soon as I surfaced, a cheer erupted from the crowd and the announcer.
Zeke hovered over the water with his wings out and when he saw me, he dove down and grabbed my outreaching hands, pulling me up out of the water and into his arms.
“Hello, Giant,” I whispered as he squeezed me almost painfully tight against his body.
He didn’t speak, his body shook, and I could tell he was upset.
“I’m okay,” I advised as I wrapped my arms around his neck and patted his upper back. “I’m not hurt … much. I don’t think.”
That seemed to snap him out of it as he leaned back to look down at me. “Where are you injured?”
“My leg,” I admitted.
The announcer was saying something while people scrambled about, but I couldn’t make anything out.
“Zeke,” I whispered as my head grew hot and my ears rang, “I’m going to pass out.”
“Xoe, stay with me,” he ordered with a growl as he flew somewhere. “Don’t fall asleep. Xoe!”
“Medic!” Wayne yelled.