Wicked Rebellion (Darkwater Reformatory Book 3) Page 12

  Brodin shook his head.

  “I saw three squares, which might mean nothing,” Jacey said.

  “Or everything.” Rohnan tapped his chin. “Can you describe them?”

  “I…” She frowned. “No.”

  “From what I remember,” I said. “They resembled simple, square picture frames with a smooth panel in each center.”

  He grunted. “Three laid out in a random pattern? If they’re part of the test, we’ve either passed or failed already.”

  “I have a sad feeling we’ll soon find out,” I said.

  Rohnan nodded. “Yup.”

  The other three crowded behind us.

  “What should we do next?” Jacey said.

  “We either go back outside or forward,” I said.

  “Back isn’t an option,” Kylie said. Her arm hung freely, and the lines of pain had disappeared from her face.

  “Okay, then,” I said. “Forward.” I released a rueful chuckle. “Who wants to go first?”

  “Not me,” Kylie said. “I picked the path, which means one of you guys gets to lead the way from here.”

  Brodin and I looked at each other. He held out his hand, and I took it. We strode forward together, through the open archway, where we found a round tunnel about six feet across that dropped downward sharply.

  While we mingled on the flat area at the top of the slope, something banged behind us. I whirled to find a panel had dropped, blocking the archway we came through.

  “Down, then?” Brodin asked.

  “Not yet. We need to talk about what we’re going to do. I don’t like this,” Kylie said, fear lifting her voice to a squeak. “I want to go back.”

  This test was new for all of us. Kylie had known what to do in each of the catacomb challenges, because she’d already been through the course. Here, she was as defenseless as us, and it wasn’t a fun feeling.

  I squeezed Brodin’s hand. “I think we should go down. There’s no other direction.”

  “What kind of test is this?” Rohnan asked, peering around. He tapped the wall, creating dull thuds. “I don’t see a puzzle or anything we need to do to complete this challenge.”

  Brodin leaned forward and touched the floor’s surface. “It’s slippery. We’ll fall if we try to go down on our feet.” He sat, tugging me down beside him, and extended his legs into the drop-off. “Ready?”

  I grinned. “Let’s be the trailblazers.” As we scooted forward and started sliding, I called out over my shoulder. “Last one at the bottom gets to go first next time.”

  Rohnan snorted, and Jacey laughed. I didn’t check out Kylie for a reaction, but she remained silent.

  We slid downward, huddling close to each other, while we picked up speed.

  I couldn’t see much farther than my feet, but a circle of light ahead called to me, and we were heading straight toward it.

  My heart skipped when we scooted up a tiny hill and were momentarily airborne before tumbling town onto the flat surface again with a jolt that sent pain up my spine.

  This wasn’t fun anymore. Hell, it had only been fun for about two seconds.

  “Brodin,” I said as his hand was wrenched from mine.

  “Still here,” he called out from my right.

  As I continued downward, I flung my arms out, hoping to connect with Brodin, but I found nothing.

  “Where are you?” he yelled.

  “Still here. Sliding!”

  The light ahead grew bigger and brighter as I shot toward it. My bruised butt protested when I was lifted and slammed back down again. Fear ratcheted up my spine, slicing up into my brain. In a second, I was going to—

  I shot out of a hole and found myself airborne.

  While I scrambled my feet in the air and reached for Brodin falling to my right, Jacey and Rohnan yelled from above me.

  I dropped down, and the world rushed up to meet me.

  Feet first, I plunged into what appeared to be a giant bowl filled with sand. I was sunk down. Gasping for air, I flailed, but couldn’t find a way out.

  Kicking, I aimed for the surface.

  Something grabbed my ankle and yanked me down.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t prevent my body from freefalling through the thick glop around me.

  But I could fight.

  Kicking out with my free leg, my heel hit whatever kept me pinned in this trap. Again. I kept slamming my foot over and over, until something snapped, and I was free.

  I floundered, kicking and pushing with my arms, but it was like trying to move through thick mud. Whatever this substance was clogged my eyes and worked its way into my nose and mouth. Stars flickered behind my closed eyes; my lungs screamed for air. Just one breath. That was all I needed. Please.

  Clawing through the sandy sludge, I shoved my feet against the gook surrounding me.

  My head broke the surface, and I gulped in a breath of smoky air.

  “Brodin?” I shrieked.

  “Here,” he called from my right, and I swam-scrambled across the surface, aiming for the sound of his voice.

  My vision cloudy from the goo, I could barely make out the shape of his head bobbing nearby. He lifted an arm and waved.

  I floundered over to him. “This is crap.”

  “It is,” he said.

  Blocks of stone had been placed to create walls and a ceiling overhead, making the room fit in with the crumbling building we entered. We floated in a sloppy slurry made up of something resembling green jello with sand mixed in.

  “Do you see a shore?” I asked. “Or the others?”

  “Not so far.”

  A hint of light to my left drew my eye, and I ripped my arm up out of the muck to point. “What’s that?”

  “Let’s get closer and see.”

  We fought our way in that direction and, as we approached, the light grew brighter. We ran into the others and all five of us kept going, aiming for what we hoped would be a way out.

  The closer we swam to it, the brighter the light became, until I could make out a roaring fire on the shore of a tiny island. Someone stood beside the fire, but I couldn’t identify them.

  My feet touched bottom, and I struggled up out of the sludge as if I fought to move forward in a hurricane-force wind.

  I emerged with my friends beside me, and we staggered toward the fire. My muscles trembled from the exertion, but my heart sped up further. Would we solve this riddle easily or was this just the start of a much longer journey?

  As we trooped toward the fire, our shoes squish-squish-squished. Gelatinous gook sluiced off our clothing. Whatever floated in the slime behind us had worked its way beneath my shirt, creating friction and rubbing hard enough that my shoulders and sides stung. But I doubted a shower was in my future anytime soon.

  I was just glad Kai had left us, though I had a feeling he’d appear if I needed him again.

  “Come closer,” someone said from the other side of the fire the size of a minivan. “Don’t dawdle. There isn’t much time to tell you what you need to know.”

  With a shared shrug, we split and rounded the fire, converging on the person who looked vaguely familiar, though I couldn’t quite place where I’ve seen her. Dressed in a long blue robe covered with tiny silver moons and stars, she stood with her hands clasped in front of her rounded belly. Her hair, gray and scattered, hung to the middle of her back. Strangely enough, she wore a straw bonnet as if she were ready to leap into an 1800s wagon train heading west.

  “Come closer,” she said with a wave.

  When we stood crowded around her, she scanned us. “Messy lot, aren’t you?”

  “As if we had much choice?” I said. “We fell into that stuff.”

  “There are always choices. You picked this one, so messy you shall be.”

  “What does that mean?” Jacey asked.

  I held up my hand. “Don’t bother quizzing her, because she won’t give you a straight answer.” She looked like…


  “Is that any way to treat family?” she—no, my uncle—asked. He morphed from the old lady, into himself, now dressed as he was in the cottage.

  “I’m not sure you’re actually my uncle,” I said.

  His head tilted. “Why would I lie?”

  “Why not lie?” I tapped my foot on the flat stone ground. “If you’re here to play tour guide, can we get to it? I have to leave the Reformatory as soon as possible.”

  “Impatience will not win you rewards,” he said. “But since you asked so pleasantly,” his face twisted, “I’ll be happy to share as much as I can.” His gaze scanned us all. “Do you still have your stones?”

  We dug into our pockets and produced them. What would happen if we lost them?

  “Good,” he said. “Find your parent stones and you will be sent back to the starting point.”

  “That’s it?” Rohnan said. “Find stones bigger than the ones we chose, and we’re done?”

  “If that makes you feel better, yes,” my supposed uncle said.

  This sounded too simple.

  A nod of his head, and my uncle disappeared. Fortunately, he left the fire behind. I backed up to dry, because cold had sunk into my bones and solidified them into ice crystals.

  “Do you want look around for our larger stones together?” Brodin asked, joining me by the fire.

  I nodded, my teeth chattering.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but this won’t be a simple test,” he said.

  “Nothing on Darkwater is ever easy.”

  My eyelids kept closing, and my body drooped. I needed to sleep, but this was not the place. There may never be a right place.

  No, I wanted to go back to a time when everything felt normal. But the ground I stood on had cracked and fissures fractured it into a thousand pieces. There would be no gluing everything back together again. Going backward was not an option.

  Brodin put his arm around my shoulders and tugged me close. “It’s okay. We’re going to figure this out.”

  That’s when I realized tears streamed down my face. I could wipe them away and pretend this didn’t expose my fear and vulnerability, but Brodin wouldn’t care. If anyone understood, it was him.

  I let the tears fall. Turning, I snuggled him, wrapping my arms around his waist and pressing my cheek against his chest. My heart hurt as if I’d taken a direct blow to the chest. Perhaps, I had.

  He held me, warmed me, and somehow, gave me a bit of his strength.

  I took a deep breath and released it, then stepped back. “Thanks.”

  His fingers trailed down my cheeks. “Anytime.”

  “Same.” I’d do just about anything for this guy. Did he know that? I hope someday we’d get out of this and could live life normally. Then I could tell him.

  “Show me your stone,” he said.

  I pulled it out and held it on my palm, a plain, light brown oval thing that was smooth. NO hints about what it could do for me. A quick glance around sent unease shooting through me, as the entire place had been constructed of slabs of brown and gray stone.

  “I knew you’d pick this,” he said, his voice husky. He traced his fingertip across my stone.

  Tilting my head, I looked up at him. “Why?”

  “Because it’s simple.”

  My snort of laughter burst out of me. I wasn’t offended. We’ve moved beyond that.

  He braced my shoulders. “You’re beautiful, but it’s what you hold inside that makes you precious. There are depths in you that you haven’t explored yet. Maybe you’ll venture into them here?”

  Deep. I wasn’t sure what to make of his comment. I’ve never seen myself as much more than the person I presented on the surface.

  After tapping my stone still lying in my hand, he pulled out his own, the gold one with silver flecks like stars in a burnished sky.

  “It’s beautiful,” I said.

  His laugh came out rueful. “Flashy. But I knew I had to pick it.”

  “Because…?”

  “My mom and I used to lie in the grass and pick out the constellations in the night sky. They’re different here, as you know.”

  I wasn’t sure if I truly looked at the sky since I arrived at Darkwater. I was sucked into the horror of prison life and then dragged into the catacombs.

  “My mom and I used to wish on falling stars, and Mom always said wishes can come true.” His thumb stroked across his stone’s surface. “When I saw this, I thought it might make me feel closer to my mom. And to wishes because we need all the wishes we can get.”

  “I’m sorry about your mom.” There was no denying my grief. It pulled me down like I carried the entire heavens on my back.

  “I know you are, and that’s all that matters.” He stuffed his stone into his pocket. “But enough of that. Let’s go find a way to use these stones.”

  “Maybe we need to split up.” I waved to where the other three each strode toward archways leading from this room. Conveniently, I noted five.

  He shrugged. “Let them do what they want.”

  “Okay. Why not?” I took his hand, and we wove our fingers together. Standing on my toes, I gave him a kiss. Someday, there would be a time for us. We snatched a few moments from life’s hourglass when we hid in the tower, and we’d find a way to do so again.

  We walked toward one of the arches, our sneakers nearly silent on the rough stone slabs. When we stepped through the arch, the fire behind us blazed brighter. Light eclipsed the room, and suddenly we stood together in front of the building again.

  Beside us, a wexal cat morphed from stone into life. It snarled and leaped toward us.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I yelped and scrambled for the door with Brodin behind me.

  As my fingers gripped the handle, the three squares on the door that had resembled empty picture frames before we entered the building changed.

  One of the recessed areas filled in with scarred wood.

  I shoved the door open, and we tumbled inside, banging the frame closed behind us.

  While the cat clawed at the outer surface, we leaned against the right entryway wall. My breathing ragged, I turned to Brodin. “You saw it?”

  “One out of three filled in.”

  “What do you think it means?” I shoved the hair off my face and studied his expression.

  “I have an idea but fuck…”

  “Could it be that simple?”

  He growled. “I have a feeling we’re about to find out.” He tipped his head toward the archway leading to the not-so-fun slide. “Want to see if we end up in the sand pool again?”

  “Will that option include more interaction with my uncle?” And did I want it to?

  He took my hand. “If so, I hope he’s willing to give us some answers.”

  “I doubt it.” We walked through the archway to find the same sloping stone tunnel waiting for us.

  “All or nothing, right?” he said.

  “Waiting here isn’t an option.”

  We sat and were soon sliding down. We were ejected like before, into the lake of muck, where we floundered our way to the shore in silence.

  The fire flickered as before, but my uncle didn’t wait for us.

  “Guess he didn’t have anything further to add,” I said.

  Brodin rolled his eyes.

  After we dried off enough that our bones no longer clattered together, we left the fire, aiming for the two tunnels the others hadn’t chosen.

  “We split this time,” I said. “Obviously.”

  “You’re assuming us trying to do this together caused us to be ejected back to the start.”

  “This feels like a video game. I wonder if each of us gets three chances.”

  He shrugged. “If so, we’ve both used up one.”

  “We don’t want to lose another. We need to get through this challenge and on to the next test.”

  “We will.”

  I loved the certainty in his voice, but it wasn’t mirrored inside me.

  “
Meet you on the other side?” I said.

  “Come here.” He tugged me into his arms and gave me a long kiss. We stayed there together as if time wasn’t ticking and it felt nice. For as long as I dared hold onto it.

  I eased away from him, gave him a nod, and stepped through the closest archway, where I found myself in a cave about twenty feet across. No, not a cave, a room, as the walls and ceiling were—again—made up of hewn blocks of stone. No exit other than the archway behind me. I turned to step back out, planning to tell Brodin what I found, but the doorway had disappeared, leaving me alone in the room with no escape and no apparent test to complete.

  Except… the slabs making up the room were brown.

  I dug into my pocket and pulled out my stone. Approaching the wall on my right, I held it close. They matched.

  “This looks too easy,” I whispered. And therein lay the problem.

  My stone was oval and flat, much like rocks I might find on coastal beaches, stones tumbled in the waves and smacked against the shore until no rough edges remained. There was no fancy star design or shape on my stone that would lead me to the correct location to place it.

  A stroll around the room showed me numerous holes in the wall where my stone would fit nicely. I’ve been dropped into a game where I needed to complete a puzzle with only one piece.

  Fear leaped inside me, threating to slam me into a full-blown panic. I’ve already spent one of my three chances. What would happen if I used up the other two?

  Bixby’s image haunted me. I could hear her cackle. And picture magic licking along her fingers before she used it to send me back to the prison. I’d have to find a way into the catacomb and through the challenges again before reaching the Reformatory. Only then could I jump into the tests offered by the paths.

  I didn’t have time.

  As I spiraled, I bit my lower lip hard enough I winced.

  Shut the fuck up, I shouted at my brain. It wasn’t over yet. I had a few days left. And here, I had two more chances. I’d figure this out. I had to.

  But where should I place my stone? There had to be a clue, some sort of pattern that would lead me to the right spot, but where was the hint?