I let out a heavy sigh as I followed him into the hallway. He didn’t seem to mind when I picked up the knife along the way. I wasn’t disappointed that he’d rescued me, part of me just imagined he’d be more injured dealing with the guards outside.

  Injured enough for me to kill him and run. I rolled my eyes when Belial gasped at the thought. Maybe I wasn’t being fair, he had come to rescue me after all…even if it was just to protect some investment.

  We walked about a foot apart, with me trailing behind him as we rounded a corner. Something to our left made us both react at once. Poor Eunice shrieked, dropping a bundle of whatever she was carrying as we both held blades on her person. Mine to her stomach, Caelan’s to her neck. We both realized our mistake, lowering our weapons as she threw up her arms, her hands starting to shake.

  “L-Lord Caelan, I collected everything you asked,” she stammered.

  “Ah, I’m sorry about that Eunice,” Lord Caelan said, slipping the long pointy blade into a sheath along his waist. “And the rest of the staff?”

  “Gone sir,” Eunice said, giving a determined nod as she picked up the bundle she’d dropped. I bent down to help, noticing that one of the items she’d collected was my dress. She smiled at me as she finished collecting the rest, a collection of ‘data pads’ or whatever Belial called them…along with something else.

  “What is this?” I asked, holding up a strange ring with the image of an animal engraved on its face. It wasn’t anything like the one Aldren used to control my collar. The engraving on its face was shaped like the same cat-like beast as the bush outside my room.

  “Family seal. Hang onto that, I’ll need you to have it for what comes next.”

  “What comes next?” I asked, glaring in confusion as Eunice and I stood. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “No time, come.” He said, as he continued down the hallway. Eunice shrugged and smiled as if to say ‘welcome to my life’ before turning to follow him.

  “Well hurry up! I don’t want to get left behind; this is all getting so exciting!”

  I lifted a hand to clutch the collar, part of me seriously considering making a run for it, before a distant explosion shook the corridor beneath my feet. That, along with faint cracking sounds I recognized as bullets stole any temptation to flee. I glared at the back of Caelan’s head as I ran to catch up, annoyed that he hadn’t even bothered to coerce me into following him. He knew I had no choice.

  “What is that?” I shouted, slowing to walk alongside Eunice as Lord Caelan strode ahead. My nerves wrapping my knuckles tighter around the knife as the cracking sounds of bullets became less faint.

  “My men, clearing a path.” He answered, sparing a glance over his shoulder. I noticed his eyes were glossed over, suggesting he’d been coordinating with his ay-eye.

  “Your men? Didn’t they turn on you?” I asked, coming to an abrupt stop at an intersection where the corridor split right and left. Instead of leading us in either direction, Lord Caelan stopped a foot from the wall before turning to face me.

  “I can’t speak for all my family’s guards, but mine would never.” He answered, smiling as if he knew something I didn’t.

  It wasn’t long before Oren appeared, jogging toward us from the hallway to the right. He carried a long metal case under one arm, with one of those…bullet-shooters slung over the other.

  “I believe it’s called a gun,” Belial noted, adding something helpful for once.

  “Everything’s sorted,” he said to Lord Caelan, nodding as he came to a halt beside him.

  “And the body?” Caelan asked.

  “Also sorted. The bird’ll take off when you do.”

  The bird?

  I was starting to get annoyed as I examined each of them. Even Eunice seemed to have some idea what was going on.

  “Is anyone going to explain any of this to me?” I demanded, glaring at Lord Caelan.

  “Three days ago, I got a message from my brother that my father was returning for the games,” Lord Caelan started, glaring past me as he spoke, his eyes cold. “I’d already set some contingencies in motion, but I wish I’d taken it more seriously. Had my door not miraculously opened, you’d be dead right now.” I thought I saw a smile flash behind his eyes as he said the last part.

  Did he know Belial had opened the door?

  “Your father did all this?” I asked, hoping to change the subject. I made a sweeping motion with my arm, remembering I still held the knife when Eunice took an uneasy step backwards. “Why?”

  “Aye, ripe auld cunt he is.” Oren said, grunting when Lord Caelan gave a loud sigh.

  “He is indeed a ripe old cunt.” He removed something from his hand before handing it to Oren. Aldren’s ring, I realized as Oren slid it onto one of his fingers. “You’ll have to get the rest of the story from Oren when you arrive at your destination, I’m afraid.”

  “Where am I going?” I demanded, the lack of clear answers making me even more impatient. Lord Caelan and Oren shared a glance that told me they knew I wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “For this little scheme I’ve cooked up to work, we’ll need my father to think he’s succeeded in killing you. Once you’re inside the tournament he won’t be able to touch you.” He said, turning to place his palm on the wall.

  “Oooo a scheme! I love schemes! This is just like when Antonio faked his death so that Georgina would think she was marrying his evil twin, only to reveal he WAS the evil twin!” I did my best to tune Belial out, his excitement making me twitch in irritation as Lord Caelan continued.

  “We’ve setup a little show that’ll make them believe you're dead; it should buy us at least a day…maybe longer depending on how long it’ll take them to scan the wreckage.”

  Wreckage?

  I opened my mouth to speak, only to snap it closed in shock as part of the wall seemed to fade away, as if it’d been made of light. It revealed a large metal door behind it, one that didn’t match the wood paneling or floral wallpaper that covered the rest of the hallway. He held his palm up to a spot next to the door. The space around his hand glowed a faint green as the door descended into the floor with a series of mechanical clicks and clanks.

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  “What’s that?” I asked, taking a reflexive step back as I gazed at the tiny room inside. It reminded me too much of the dark box I’d been trapped inside when I’d first arrived.

  “Service elevator,” Lord Caelan said, shaking his head at my evident apprehension. Oren wasted no time stepping inside, motioning impatiently for me to join him. “Oren and Eunice will make sure you get to the tournament on time, I’ll let him explain everything to you when you get where you’re going.”

  “You said your…show…or whatever, would buy me a day. After that, won’t they come looking for me? Couldn’t they just guard every possible way into the tournament?” He smiled appreciatively, as if I’d asked something he hadn’t expected anyone else to consider…but there was something patronizing about it. Maybe he just didn’t expect it from someone like me.

  “If all goes well, a few days from now, you’ll be able to stroll right into the tournament unmolested.” I cringed at his poor choice of words as he motioned Eunice and I onto the elevator, hesitating as she walked inside to stand next to Oren. “Now I know this must be frustrating for you, but there really isn’t time.”

  I stepped onto the metal platform, suddenly realizing we wouldn’t all be able to fit.

  “What about you?” I asked, turning to face him. “Are you staying?”

  “I am. Though I must say, I’m touched by your concern.” he answered, holding a hand over his chest in mock surprise. I scowled as he went on. “You needn’t worry, my father’s men won’t touch me…and I have a few errands to run myself.”

  “I wasn’t worried.” I shouted, making sure I was heard over the mechanical clicks and whirs the door made as it began to close.

  “Well, I was.” Belial sniffed.

  The door was about half-way closed when Lord Caelan opened his mouth. “You still have my family seal?” He asked, looking as though he’d just remembered something.

  I slid the ring over my middle finger, holding it up so it was visible over the rising door until it clanked shut. Oren grunted out a laugh behind me.

  “Don’t lose tha’,” he said, propping the long metal case against the wall. My legs shook as the platform started to descend. I reached for the wall past Eunice to steady myself, apologizing as the knife in my hand startled her for the second time, causing her to stumble backwards. “Christ’, put tha’ away before ye’ hurt someone.”

  I examined my dress, awkwardly searching for somewhere I could tuck the blade away, making a frustrated noise when I found none.

  “I can hold it for you, Miss Aine.” Eunice offered, outstretching her hands. I flashed a tight, apologetic smile as I placed it atop the bundle she was already carrying.

  The platform shuttered to a halt before opening to reveal a narrow walkway, lit by a handful of dim yellow lights every few paces.

  Eunice and I followed Oren onto the metal walkway, the clatter of our feet sounding over the dull mechanical hum in the background. Below us on either side sat an assemblage of machines, each of them fed by hundreds of pipes, with cables thicker than one of Oren’s legs. The cables seemed to run in every direction, some of them disappearing into the walls.

  “What is that?” I asked, as we followed the metal walkway further left.

  “One a’ the grav’ gens,” Oren answered before clarifying, with a sigh, “sorry, forgot ye’ dinna ken a thing. Tha’s one a’ several hundred generators keepin’ this city in the air.”

  “And it’s just…right below Lord Caelan’s home?” I asked, eyes wide. Judging by her face, Eunice seemed just as surprised.

  “Why d‘ye reckon he bought it? This underground passage has been part ‘a his smuggling operation for nigh on a decade.”

  “What’s he smuggling?”

  “This time it’ll be us. As for whit he usually moves doon here, I’ll let him answer that himself next time ye see him.”

  We made our way down a metal flight of stairs before stopping in front of an access hatch in the center of the floor. Oren set the large case down before turning the handle to open the hatch. I instinctively jerked backwards, bumping into Eunice as Oren flung the hatch open and something too fast to see streaked past in the tunnel underneath. Eunice and I shared a look of uncertainty as Oren checked a watch on his wrist.

  “Need tae go now,” he said, dropping the metal case down the hatch to clank loudly off the metal tracks below. “Won’t be another for thirty seconds. Jump down an’ move left. Eunice and I will be right behind…DO NOT touch the rail in the middle.” Sensing now wasn’t the best time to ask questions, I did as he instructed, clutching the edge of the hatch to lower myself before falling the remaining four feet to the ground. “Good,” Oren shouted down at me, “now grab the case and go left.”

  I did as he asked, carefully avoiding the rail he’d warned of before moving to the side. He thudded to the ground a moment later, holding Eunice in his arms.

  “What’s in this?” I asked, struggling to hold the case in both arms.

  “Yer’ hammer.” he answered, moving past me and pressing several buttons on a small device on the side of the tunnel. A rush of warm air brushed past me as a door hissed open. “That an’ everything we’ll need fer our little mission.”

  “O-kay… and wha’ is this mission?” I asked, mocking his accent. The lack of transparency was seriously starting to annoy me.“Why does Lord Caelan’s father want me dead, anyways?”

  “He likely fand oot aboot the young lord’s ploy tae put ye’ in the tournament. Prolly’ thinks its insane. An’ he’s no’ wrong. If it got oot whit ye were, it’d ruin the whole family.” Oren answered over his shoulder, his voice echoing down the narrow passage. I thought about his answer as I trailed behind him and Eunice, running my hand along the cables and pipes that made up the walls.

  “What I am? A feral?” Oren shook his head as I followed behind, stopping every so often to key something into a panel that allowed the doors blocking our path to slide open. I wondered if Belial was keeping track of what characters he was entering as I struggled to remember them, each door seemed to require a different combination.

  “Yer’ no feral. Feral’s are no’ illegal to possess. In fact, ye’ might encounter some in the games.” An involuntary shudder ran up my spine as I pictured the creature that took control of my mother, my brother’s head resting in her lap. I took a deep breath to calm myself, noticing Eunice’s unease. “I saw yer’ eyes in tha’ footage from yer’ lit’l rampage.” He turned to face me, looking into my eyes as he spoke. “I can count on one hand how many people with eyes like tha’ have ever existed…”

  “So…not many people have eaten a seed?” I asked, my voice growing quieter as I noticed Eunice’s eyes widening. Did she not know? Oren choked out a laugh.

  “No one’s ever eaten any a living piece o’ flower and survived. No one I ken. The treatments nobles take tae keep on living are processed…and even then, the increase in strength for them is marginal…I canna blame the young Lord for thinkin’ ye’d be able to win the games. Unfortunately, as I’m sure ye’ realized, yer’ nowhere near being able to use a fraction of its power.”

  “Finally some appreciation.” Belial huffed.

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “You were bred as cattle. Livestock, wi’ a span o’ forty years. Yer’ body wisna built ferit. Fortunate fer’ you, our first errand will be keepin’ an appointment the lord made with a weaver,” He answered.

  Weaver? It sounded like some sort of seamstress.

  “Hmm. You could use some new clothes. I didn't want to hurt your feelings but frankly, I’m embarrassed for you...always wearing that hand stitched dress...you look like you’re in some kind of cult...the rural kind that doesn’t shower.”

  “What’s a weaver?” I asked, driving a nail into the cuticle on my thumb to silence Belial.

  “Gene surgeon,” Oren explained, the last word sending a spike of panic through my chest. From behind him I couldn’t see his mouth, but the slight lift in his cheek told me he was smiling. “One that happens tae be a close friend o’ mine.”

  I opened my mouth, a dozen questions ready to leap off my tongue, only to scowl when Oren lifted a hand to forestall them. We’d reached what looked like a dead end. “Not now. We’ll have plenty’a time when we get whaur we’re gaun. This neist bit’s a wee tricky so I’ll need ye’ baith tae keep yer wits.”

  “Is that…the sewer system?” Eunice asked, looking like she might throw up as Oren opened a hatch in the floor. The smell was rancid, Eunice and I both plugged our noses as we gazed down the open hatch. It was like the first we’d gone down, only there were no tracks I could see. It was too dark to make out anything. Instead, all I heard was the sound of water rushing below. Oren stood up, wrapping his knuckles along the wall to our left as if looking for something.

  “It is.” He answered, dislodging a panel on the wall to reveal something I recognized. “I wager ye’ didna expect tae wear anither one a’ these, did ye’?” He said to me, smiling as he tossed Eunice and I a rubber suit. They were identical to the ones I’d worn in the garden.

  “Aine. I am having second thoughts about this mission. This isn’t nearly as glamorous as I expected!”

  Thank you all again for helping me reach Rising Stars. I'm a little blown away to be honest. If you want to see Aine's story higher on the charts, comment/rate/review.

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