23 #2
Pulling the knee of my prosthesis up with one hand and bracing my back with his other. My heart thunders and my smile widens until my cheeks ache. For a few long heartbeats, I hang in the air and laugh.
It almost feels like I’m flying again.
August’s hand moves up my spine as he raises me, but he doesn’t playfully pull away like he should.
He pulls me closer. Stares into my eyes, and leans in like he might… My breath hitches. My elbow hooks the back of his neck.
It’s just for show.
The stubble on his jaw scrapes my skin as he kisses the corner of my mouth. Did he mean to kiss my cheek?
I forget to think as he rests his forehead against mine and closes his eyes.
We stay like that for one breath.
Two.
Three.
Then his blue eyes open, his lashes fluttering as he inhales deeply, then pulls away. When he does and reality floods me again, when I can see and hear and feel something other than him, I realize the crowd is quiet. Everyone’s watching us. Mortal hands are clasped over mouths, over mortal hearts.
August seems oblivious to the shift in the atmosphere, still looking at me with those lovely ocean-colored eyes. When he spins me under his arm and lets go of my hand, he tears his eyes from mine and goes still, finally noticing the effect we just had on everyone.
Elias puts his fingers to his mouth and gives a shrill, bawdy whistle that echoes across the space. Like fireworks, cheers explode, people jump up and down, and wave their flags and scream, the mixture so loud that the sand floor trembles and shifts all around us.
I search the crowd for Cillian’s face, but there are too many to sift through. Until Hermes comes to crown the winner and the gods make their way out of here, I can’t find him, let alone warn him about Abuela.
As if reading my mind, August plucks our weapons up and we walk together to join our friends.
Koda is the first to speak. “The two of you make a great pair.” He gives me a fatherly smile. “Carina would certainly approve.”
Niall focuses on the crowd, chewing at the inside corner of his lips.
Elias smirks, one brow smugly raised. “Let the record show that I called it.”
My mouth gapes. “What?”
“I. Called. It,” he says again.
Ignoring Elias, August crouches in front of Koda. “How are you feeling?”
Koda pulls the red cloth tighter around his chest. “About the same.”
I hold the back of my hand to his forehead. His skin is hot to the touch.
The tin of loose tea rests against my leg. I need to brew it for him as soon as we leave the temple. “I’m staying with you tonight.” Koda starts to protest, but I insist. “I want to help. Please?”
He finally relents, thanking me.
August cups my elbow. “You’d both be safer if he stayed with us.”
Elias gives an evil chuckle. “I’d formally like to request an invitation to this sleepover.”
Niall groans and rolls his eyes at Elias, but a smile plays at the corners of his lips.
Elias leans forward to better see him. “Don’t tell me you don’t want to come, too.”
My allies watch as I work to unbind the cloth from the obsidian strapped to the spear’s end.
“What is that?” Niall studies the glassy stone.
I finally free it and drag it through the grit to clean it, then look up at him. “Obsidian.”
Just then, Ulani, Vailea, Tae, and Thoth’s mortal Yuuki burst through the portal together on the heels of a group of three unchampioned. Their clothes and leathers are pocked with burnt holes.
“The boar’s blood?” I guess.
Hazi confirms, pointing out some burns on his shins and a few holes in his pant legs.
The four mortals plod through the sand to join us, looking exhausted. Pale and overwhelmed, Yuuki crashes onto his hip in front of Koda.
August asks our married friends, “What happened?”
“The immortal boars happened,” Tae replied.
I tick my head back. “Boars? As in plural?” That explains why it sounded like they were everywhere all at once.
“Yes, there were three. At first, we thought there was only one, but then we noticed that one had been stabbed in the side, one had been stabbed on both sides, and one had no wounds at all.” Tae leans in and whispers, “Yuuki’s friend was gored and fell ill. We had to leave him behind.”
“I’m sorry.”
Tae takes in my bloodied bodysuit. She twists her leg, revealing a charred piece of skin on the back of her calf. “That’s not boar’s blood.”
I raise my chin so she can examine the cut and point to the hole in the suit and skin over my heart. “All this is mine.”
Her lips thin. “Courtesy of?”
“Torsten and company.” It wasn’t only him, even if he was the one who dealt the wound. The others are now active participants in his nonsense.
Hazi offers the fakest cough I’ve ever heard in my life.
“Minus Hazi,” I correct. “If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be standing here.”
He gives a demure smile and inclines his head, then glances at Tae meaningfully.
Tae scrutinizes him through narrowed eyes. “Hmm.” She’s quiet for a moment. “So, we’re just supposed to trust that whatever he did isn’t part of some larger plan of Torsten and company?” Tae asks, not bothering to keep her voice low.
“You’re giving the Norseman too much credit. Torsten doesn’t plan so far ahead,” Hazi jokes. Sobering, he turns to me. “I would like to tell you about the gift I received today. Before the games, we’ll talk. But not before then.”
I nod.
While the portal still glows, hope for those still in the trial remains. We take the time to rest and recover.
I replay the events of the day, along with the words and truth of my mother.
More contenders trickle in until eventually, the portal’s glow begins to flicker and an eerie finality settles upon us, as thick as the fog we just fought through. Then it dims, solidifying into an impenetrable slab.