Chapter 121

ARIADNE

My eyes snapped open. As much as I wanted to believe him, I knew it wasn't going to be easy at all. You couldn't escape a Pack of this calibre so easily because there were literally guards crawling at every inch of the boundary. Magnus made sure of that.

I frowned.

"Escape? How are you even going to pull that off? Magnus literally has guards everywhere. He's going to notice and when he does he is going to hunt us down. Every single one of us. I really don't want anything to happen to my sister. She's already gone through a lot and the last thing I want is Magnus doing anything to her. I really want to get us out of here but the plan has to be failproof."

His face lit up in one ghost of a smile and then he said. "Let me worry about that. You just need to be ready when the time comes. Don't ask me for details. The less you know, the safer it will be for you. Trust me. I can make this work. Like I did when you wanted to see your sister. Remember?"

I nodded, remembering how he had helped us meet in the tunnel. I still remembered how frightened and scared I was back then. And how Callan always looked out for me and made sure I was safe.

Sometimes I wondered why he cared this much for us. I nodded slowly, feeling my body loosen just a little, because it felt like a boulder had been resting on me and it just got lifted.

"Alright," I whispered. "I'll trust you."

The room went quiet again as the silence returned. But just then, I remembered something really important.

"Callan," I called out softly.

"Yeah?"

"There is something else I'm going to need you to help me with. My sister’s eighteenth birthday is in three days." His eyes widened as a smile graced his face. "I haven't talked about it because of this shitty situation I got myself into, and I'm pretty sure she's so worried she's not even thinking about it because she's worried sick too. I wanted to surprise her. I've been planning it for weeks but now... like this..."

I couldn't help but shake my head weakly. "I don't know if I can. I don't want her to spend her coming-of-age birthday drowning in all this pain. I want to make her happy. I want to see her smile again."

The smile broadened as the gears turned in his head. He was thinking about what to do.

"I'll take care of it," he said quietly. "Whatever you had planned, tell me. I'll make sure it happens."

A range of emotions swelled in my chest at his words. For a moment I didn’t know what to say because I was lost for words.

"Thank you," that was all I could mutter. He shrugged. "Don't thank me yet. Just focus on surviving. And don't do anything that's going to make my brother kill you. I don't want all this to go to waste. Just keep your head down and do as he tells you, when the time is right, I'll make sure you get out."

I nodded, thinking about the games and about Sera again. And once the thought returned, the fear that had been sitting at the pit of my stomach sprang up again, forcing me to chew my lip as I laid out my worries.

"I'm scared for her, especially when I think about escaping. I don't want your brother to do anything to her like he did last time. She's not going to forgive me if she one day finds herself in this predicament your brother has me holed up in."

"And I already told you that that's not going to happen. I know my brother has been getting away with whatever he wants all this while but I promise you if he tries to hurt her, I'll be ready to fight him for it."

Despite his reassurances, my thoughts kept gnawing at me. What if it didn't work? What if I died during the games and Sera took my place as Magnus’s pet?

The thought was so repulsive I felt the bile rising up my throat. I swallowed, clutching my jaw. I decided to push it out of my head by talking about something else. That's when I asked. "Does your brother know anything yet about the people responsible for the poisoning?" He nodded.

"Yes. He was executed this morning. Chief Guard Rob. The woman was exiled because she was blackmailed into doing it."

I froze. "Executed? Already? How... how did your brother even find out so fast?”

He shook his head and shrugged. "I have no idea. But my brother is very good at detecting stuff. Why are you asking?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but suddenly, a sharp sensation ripped through my chest.

It felt like a sudden surge of electricity burning its way out of me.

What was happening to me?!

A gasped shock ripped through me as I clutched at my chest, before my back arched off the chest.

"Aaargh" I growled as the pain slithered into my head before zapping through my chest again.

"Ariadne!" Callan roared as he jumped to his feet, his eyes fixed on me.

"What's wrong?"

The sensation continued to zap through my body.

"I- I have no idea!" I forced the words out in a broken voice.

My whole body was starting to shake violently at this point, like I was epileptic. And not just that, I could feel my skin burning too. My breath was also coming in short, shallow gasps, as if something was inside me and was trying to force its way out.

The painful sensation wasn't just running through my chest at this point, it was coursing through my whole body.

That was the moment it happened. Before I could realise and control it, a bolt of pure lighting shot out from my hand and slammed against the wall with a sound that made the entire room shake.

No.

Not the entire room. It felt like an earthquake.

The whole building must have shook because I heard someone outside screaming on top of their lungs. Once that had happened, my vision started to blur and my head began to spin again.

The convulsions started to relapse, but I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness. It was so overpowering that my attempt to fight it was useless.

But that wasn't the most shocking part of it, because just then, my eyes turned white.