Chapter 7 #4
Rune was lounging on her bed of leaves, and without her permission, Stone circled through the jungle to lie down next to her. She didn’t object.
“You were amazing,” she finally said. “I never would have managed severing the fish’s spinal cord as you did.”
“It took me forever.” Stone didn’t feel amazing. He should have put the fish down well before he’d become so exhausted, only able to hang on until he could finally bite down hard enough to kill the fish.
“Sorry that I lost his tail so many times.”
Stone smiled. “You had the hardest part, as much as he was whipping his whole body around to free himself. I wouldn’t have done any better.”
“We did well.”
The wolves’ growls continued off down by the river.
“We did. But I am the Chosen One,” Stone said, more in a humorous way now.
She sighed. “And I beg to differ.”
When she woke in the morning, expecting Stone to be by her side, he was gone. She loved the challenge and loved that they had accomplished it together. But most of all, she loved that he had joined her to praise her and stay with her for a while afterward.
That morning they were returned to the gaming quarters, had breakfast, showered, and dressed.
The Game Master told everyone, “Since Stone, Rune, and Lolita captured the pirarucu, they won the challenge. It was amazing that they could do that on their own without any teamwork from the rest of the competitors. I am disappointed that the others didn’t help with this dangerous task, but I'm proud of the three winners for letting the others feast on the fish after they ate their fill. That’s a pack leader’s way. ”
Then the Game Master vanished, and it was time for the next competition. This time the fae competitors were brought to a large room, maybe 3,000 square feet, but they had no idea what they were supposed to do here.
“An escape room!” Silas said, guessing, though no one had said anything about it being that kind of a challenge.
The tangle of rock and concrete, a prison of sorts for the fae. Irregular blocks of gray concrete and jagged rocks with flat tops of all different sizes, from small at a foot in height to six feet tall. But the fifteen-foot ceiling with its unreachable vents offered the promise of escape.
The vents were dusty, large enough for the wolves to climb through if they could reach them. A water line could be seen close to the ceiling, maybe only half a foot from the top, which told them that when the building began filling up with water, it could reach that far.
The concrete walls were covered with painted frescoes of all kinds of fae—including animal representations—like scorpions, hawks, dragons—as well as piles of gold, lakes, rivers, and forests. They were beautiful, but they hid the separations in the concrete blocks that might reveal ways out.
There were no obvious clues, symbols, buttons, or furnishings like in a regular escape room that Lolita had told them about on one of her pack trips to the human world.
“You should never have been selected to come to the gaming facility to fight for the honor to lead the packs,” Pari said as the other fae stood with her, facing Rune down.
Lolita was with them, but standing more in the background.
Stone knew she didn’t feel the same way.
“You’re not a leader. You play your own game, as a lone wolf would. ”
Stone leaned against a large stone in the room, with all kinds of obstacles strewn about.
He wondered what the goal of this game was.
King of the Mountain? An alpha wolf would often take the highest point to prove he was in charge, watching his people, making sure they stayed safe and did what he expected of them. If it wasn’t an escape room challenge.
There was no figuring out what it was all about.
Pari poked her finger at Rune’s chest, getting more aggressive. “You’re not going to win. Maeve should have ended you when she had the chance.”
Rune knocked Pari’s hand away. Pari tried to strike Rune in the face. Rune grabbed her shoulders and kicked her leg behind Pari and shoved her hard. Pari fell backward onto her butt. Man, that made Pari mad.
She got to her feet in fighting mode. Rune was ready for her. A couple of the other females moved forward, and so did Vesper.
Rune pulled out her sword. If they weren’t going to fight fair, she would have to use whatever means she had available.
Stone had already moved in her direction, as if to save her from the others, but she didn’t need saving.
She had to prove to everyone, not to win a contest, that no one would cow her.
Suddenly, the Game Master arrived, giving Pari a stern look.
“In this challenge, you will have an hour to figure out a way to leave this building. Use your senses and any clues you discover to find your way out. A warning. If you don’t find a way out within that time, the building will fill with water, so make your time count.
You can work individually or in teams, however you want to do it. The time starts now.”