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“The contestants will be going to the forbidden wood!”
A collective gasp spread like fire through the spectators, then through the contestants. It seemed like I was the only one who didn’t seem too bothered by this. Cassius gave me a slow smile like I reacted exactly how he expected. The whole crowd was silent with…fear. Tension filled me.
What would we be doing in the forbidden wood? What if someone stumbled into Exile? Could I go see Sybil and the twins? Maybe, but would Crimson be watching? My eyes moved around the participants, they fidgeted with worry. I’m sure the stories of the Forbidden Wood had been drilled into their heads since they were young.
“All of the contestants will be dropped into the forbidden wood and must survive the night or until six are eliminated or forfeit. We want to see who can think and adapt in harsh, unpredictable environments, who is clever enough to survive against the many monsters of the wood.”
The crowd didn’t clap or become excited at this declaration. My eyes paused on Haden who was watching me curiously. I was the only one here who didn’t look worried, but I had done this plenty of times. If anything, the forbidden wood was less scary than others made it seem.
“I forfeit!” My head snapped to the side to see one of the men bow as he forfeited his spot. What a coward.
“Anyone else?” The king gave the contestant a look of disapproval. When no one else spoke, he continued, “Magic may be used, but you may not kill each other.”
My heart beat in my chest as my eyes drifted to Cassius. He was wearing his signature black guardsman uniform, but all I could picture was droplets of water running down his muscles from last night. Cassius’s smug smile made me snap out of my staring. Whatever the king had spoken to us had been missed by me. Suddenly a table of weapons appeared in front of us.
“You will each pick a weapon, plus any that you have on you already.”
We all moved quickly to the table. My eyes were focused on the bow and arrows. Just as I went to grab them, Haden snatched them. He gave me a cruel smile before walking off. When I peered back at the weapons there was only a small knife left. Sighing, I picked it up. At least I had my daggers.
“Best of luck. We’ll be seeing some of you soon.” the king announced. My eyes found Cassius as he mouthed “My Little Liar.”
I didn’t have time to glare at him before we were enveloped in the darkness I knew all too well. We were in the forbidden wood. The air was chilly and I lifted my hood up over my head. The others were moving around too much, but I knew better. They were being too loud. I laid down on my stomach and waited. It only took a few short minutes for a monster to come crashing through the trees.
I watched a small animal-like creature run at one of the contestants. I expected the contestant to be eaten, but instead, the man shot something towards the creature. The animal froze in place…the contestant must be Haden.
The flickering blue light of the Wisp caught my eye. She twirled around a tree, trying to get my attention. Scanning the other contestants walking away from me, I stood and hurried towards the Wisp. She kept moving farther and farther away from me, but I followed her, knowing she wanted to show me something or keep me safe. Moving away from where the other contestants had been my main goal anyway.
We weren’t allowed to kill each other, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew that they would try and have a monster kill me. The plan was to stay away from all of them. The Wisp stopped and I immediately knew what she had been leading me to. The tall oak tree stood in front of me. There was no mistaking the tree for another one. I walked to it quickly before I saw the oversized X carved into it. My chest tightened as I realized how close I was to Exile. I never thought coming back to Exile would feel exciting. Sybil and the twins had been on my mind, and knowing they were alright would bring me comfort. If only I could have brought them some food.
Turning, I glanced around to see if anyone was watching me, and then I jumped through the boundary. I collapsed immediately onto the ground of Exile as pain gripped me. Gods, I didn’t miss this fucking pain or the hot sticky air. My lungs gasped as the hot air filled my lungs. I knew I couldn’t stay here long. They would notice I was missing or maybe they already witnessed me jump.
Quickly, I stood up and ran to our home. Without knocking, I barged in and shut the door before turning. Sybil and the twins stared at me in shock. Then all of a sudden Sybil burst into tears at the sight of me. The twins just gaped. I thought she was crying because she was happy to see me, but as I took a step towards her, I stopped when she spoke.
“She didn’t make it!” she wailed. The twins seemed to understand whatever she meant by that, but I didn’t. “Now we have to be in this hell hole another year.”
“Thea,” Kaz frowned. “You’re back.”
“No.” I frowned at a sobbing Sybil. “We’re doing a trial in the forbidden wood. I just wanted to check in.”
Sybil stopped crying immediately and stood. What did she mean by stuck another year? Why not say forever? Something in my mind felt like it was trying to claw its way out of the depths of forgotten memories, but it never surfaced.
“You didn’t fail the trials?”
“No?” I glanced at her oddly. “I would probably be dead if I failed.”
Sybil nodded and peered over at the twins oddly. They all looked at me in a way that confused me. They were definitely keeping something from me.
“What did you mean stuck for a year?” I asked. The twins glanced at one another briefly before looking at me.
“Well, if you failed, we would be stuck.”
“Yeah, for forever. Not a year.” My eyes narrowed on her. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Kai was the one to stand up and try to approach me, but I held my dagger out so he couldn’t step too close. Kai frowned at me as I pointed the blade at him in a fighting stance.
“We won’t hurt you.”
“You all have been keeping something from me and I want to know what it is,” I demanded.
