Chapter 22 Chapter 22: The Sky Moves
Senna’s POV
It started with a sound. A low sound that came from everywhere all at once, like the ground itself was humming.
We were perched around the fire in the early morning. Thor glanced at me, then we both looked up to the sky.
Above us, the sky shifted. We watched, stunned, as lines scattered across the sky. They were faint at first, but then they sharpened.
“What is that?” Thor asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Thistle grabbed my sleeve. “Senna, what’s happening?”
“Shush,” I told him. I had no idea. But whatever it was, I felt like it wasn’t good.
The lines connected. Squinting, I saw that they were forming something. It was a shape. No. A map. It was a map.
I felt my stomach drop.
“No,” I said under my breath.
At the center of the map, there was a point burning brighter than the rest of the map. It was a single point and it pulsed.
“That’s…what is that?” Thor asked. Our faces were lifted to the sky.
“It’s the metal thing beside the supply drop area, I think,” I said.
“The spire?” Thistle asked.
We both whipped our heads towards him.
“I heard someone call it that. The day we took supplies. They called it the spire.”
Before I could reply, a voice cut through the air.
“Attention, Slave Game participants.” It was a male voice, strong and confident. It was coming from all around us.
Thistle flinched and Thor swore under his breath.
“The win condition has been updated.”
My breath caught in my throat. The win condition? Changed? But how could that be? The games had always been the same, ever since they started. The last person left alive was the winner. Simple. Cut and dry.
“Senna,” Thor clutched my arm. “I don’t like this.”
“The first person to reach and touch the Spire will be declared the victor.”
The words hung in the air. We were all silent.
With wide eyes, I turned to Thor.
“Oh my god,” I said, as the realization sank in.
Somewhere in the distance, someone shouted. Then several other voices. They were far away, but close enough to hear. Thor, Thistle and I stayed frozen to our spot.
“What do we do?” I asked. My heart hammered against my chest.
In the forest, we heard the mad dash of running feet. People tore through the forest, shifting into their wolves as they went.
“Calm,” Verity called to me. “Stay calm.”
“I don’t know,” Thor said, his eyes flitting to the forest. “They’re going to run for it.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I said, my voice high and tight. How could this be? In the matter of seconds, the entire game had changed. It would be chaos on the beach. Everyone would be fighting, trying to get to the spire.
But if we just stayed here, someone would get to it first.
“We’re all gonna die,” Thistle said, his face pale. “Senna. Please. I don’t want to die.”
“We should go, right?” Thor said.
I didn’t answer immediately. In my mind’s eyes, I could see it, the beach. The mad dash to the spire. Blood. Wolves. Fur. Massacre.
“They want us there,” I said. “On the beach. They’re…speeding up the games. It will be a slaughterhouse.”
“So we should move,” he said. “Before it gets worse.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
My mind spun. If we went to the beach, we’d be killed. That much was certain. There were already probably people flooding onto the beach. They’d kill each other. It would be….
…I couldn’t even think of the horrors on the beach right now. It was too awful to wrap my mind around.
“Stay. Calm,” Verity said again.
“No,” I told Thor. “We don’t move.”
Thistle blinked. “What? Why not?”
Thor stared at me, his face incredulous. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am,” I told him.
“That’s suicide,” he said, shaking his head.
“No,” I told him. “Running into that….chaos…that’s suicide.”
I took a deep breath. I don’t know why it felt right, it just did. Maybe it was instinct. Maybe it was Verity. But something inside of me told me not to go.
“We let them go,” I explained. “Let them fight. They’ll thin each other out.”
“And then?” Thor asked.
“Then we go,” I said. “When there’s…” I swallowed hard because I hated saying what I had to say next. “When there’s less of them to kill us. And…less of them for us to kill.”
The sky-map pulsed again. That center point burned brighter. It was a beacon, calling everyone on the island.
“Senna,” Thor said quietly. “Are you sure about this?”
No.
“Yes,” I told him. There was no way for me to be sure. I was just following my gut. I did know that if we went now, we’d be walking right into a disaster.
“We have to be smart about this,” I told them both. A plan formulated in my head. It was our way out. It was the way to save us all. “We wait. People will soon realize that they can’t all get to the spire. They’re thin out and start hunting each other. Other will lurk in the trees, thinking they can make a dash for it. They can’t. As soon as someone sees someone else, they’ll attack.”
“So what do we do?” Thor asked.
“I already told you,” I said, my tone gentle. “We wait.”
“What are we waiting for?” Thor asked.
“For the initial chaos to wear off. Then we come up with a plan.”
“A plan for what?” Thistle asked.
“A plan to get to the spire. Together.”
“Together?” Thor asked.
“Yes. We’re going to the spire. All three of us. And we’re going to touch it at exactly the same time.”
It was our only way out. I had no idea how we were going to do it. But I would figure out a way.
“The change in the rules is actually to our advantage,” I said, forcing my voice to hold a confidence I didn’t feel. “We’re getting out this. All of us. Together.”