Chapter 26
Twenty-six
By some saving grace, my body narrowly misses most of the flames, only my arm grazing the outskirts towards the end of the flame barrier.
The pain is secondary to the bruising my body endured—cuts and scrapes lining my arms and cheek.
I can’t believe I did that—I can’t believe I survived.
Rolling onto my stomach, I use my hands to pull myself further away from the flames until I can safely lie on my back and catch my breath.
By the stars, that could have been so much worse.
The trapdoor has dumped me into a circular chamber with three arched hallways jutting off from the center.
Which is the right way to go? Standing beneath the doorways looking for clues, I realize each doorway seems the same.
I step back into the center of the room, racking my brain as my eyes bounce between the doors—then they freeze. I squint, allowing my eyes to adjust.
Just above each doorway are numbers etched in stone; however, each door has different numbers, and some have letters. It’s a puzzle, a cryptogram.
The first puzzle doesn’t contain any letters:
288461843
The second is a shorter length of numbers:
534163
The third looks similar to the first but is not entirely the same. It’s a mix of existing letters and numbers:
28O4814E
I compare the first and last in my brain. An “O” replaced an eight, so I’m going to hope that’s what the eight equates to. The last four digits are similar, except the third doorway has a letter instead of a number. Could that mean that the three is an “E”?
That gives me:
2OO461O4E
5E416E
2OO4O14E
The first and last cryptograms being so similar can’t be a coincidence.
The double “O” has me going out on a limb; it has to be the word moon. Which means “M” would be assigned to two, and “N” would become four.
MOON61ONE
5EM16E
MOONO1NE
I got it. The answer is suddenly so blatantly obvious.
MOONSTONE. The first doorway must lead to a shard.
Elated, I push past the pain and lightly jog through the first doorway with the correct label.
Instantaneously, the ground shakes. This can’t be a good sign.
A triangular, pointed spike splits the ground open next to where I had just stood.
I gasp, taking a lunging jump ahead, as the floor bursts with the spikes.
Holy shit, they’re trying to kill us. The earth beneath my feet erupts once more.
Is this another element or an obstacle? It doesn’t matter; I only need to move.
I clumsily take running jumps, avoiding untouched patches of ground wherever possible—until finally, a light at the end of this hellish tunnel becomes visible.
Clinging to hope, my heart thunders murderously in my chest. I stretch my legs, making three jumps, until I land violently on my knees.
The ground swiftly settles, looking untouched and innocent.
This entire course is deceiving; my brain and body are exhausted from trying to keep up with it.
Sweat, blood, and dirt coat my exposed limbs. I’m sure my face isn’t much better.
A gleam in the corner of my eye has me pausing my pity party for one.
Still on my hands and knees, I shuffle my body to the side.
A smooth, cloudy white oval, the length of my forearm, leans against the wall.
With its dangerous, pointed ends, I avoid touching the beautiful gem.
I reach out and grab hold of the moonstone, my arms shaking.
The shard glows softly and pulses in my hand, changing colors as it moves in the light.
Light. Where is it coming from? I look up, seeing the open sky above me.
Excitement blooms in my chest. I glance at the shard once more, catching glimpses of blue and pink.
The stone is mesmerizing. I stand, tucking the shard into the waistband of my tights.
Glancing up again, I look for ways to climb.
I can feel it in my bones that this is the way out.
I find small cracks in the rock wall that I can easily fit my hand or foot into.
Today, I will be victorious. I repeat the chant with each placement of my foot, with each pull of my upper body.
Slowly but surely, I scale the wall. My limbs are trembling, screaming at me from the pain and exhaustion.
Still, I persist. Today, I will be victorious.
My head emerges into the arena, followed by my shoulders.
Cheers erupt as I claw at the ground, forcing the rest of my body to follow.
I roll onto my back, chest heaving, pulling out the moonstone shard and presenting it to the coliseum.
Today, I am victorious.