Page 48 of Can you take it?

“Do as he says,” Anna said, encouraging her sister.

“Drop our weapons?” I questioned Bexley, wondering if we should really be trusting a drunk who had just tied our group up with chains.

“Hold your weapons out and place them on the ground,” Bexley repeated.

I was too focused on the creature in front of me to pay attention to those around me. Reluctantly, I gripped the blade with both hands and held it out, half expecting the thing to take it and use it against me.

“It’s okay,” Anna said. “You can do it.”

I realized she was talking to me. “I promise, it’s okay. Just trust me.”

“Trust you, huh?” I whispered. But then I dropped the blade. I winced, closing my eyes, waiting for whatever was going to happen next.

Suddenly, I felt the chain at my hips shift and tremble.

“We did it,” Bexley said with a relieved sigh.

I opened my eyes to see the creatures had stepped back and dropped their own weapons. I realized that the ground beneath us was sinking, as if we were on a platform, and we were all lowering into the ground.

“It’s okay; stay calm,” said Bexley.

A hand reached out and grabbed mine, and even though I couldn’t see the owner, I instantly knew whose it was. I squeezed it tightly as the ground lowered, until soon there was nothing around us but a wall of dirt and a tiny bit of light above us.

“Okay, hold on,” said Bexley.

“Why, what’s going to—” Eletha started, but she was cut off as the small circle of land we were on dropped suddenly.

Chapter 12

ELI

TIER FOUR: GREED

The platform continued to drop, causing the pit of my stomach to rise into my throat as my hair whipped in the air. As a group, we pushed back on the ledge into each other for stability. “Everybody okay?” I shouted as we continued plummeting into darkness. No one had time to answer, for as soon as we entered the darkest of the drop, we suddenly popped out into the light. With a large shift, the platform stationed itself in a completely new environment and what we could only assume was the fourth tier.

The ground we had been on sunk directly into the land. Sunshine pelted down on my skin. It felt like I was dreaming. I was drunk on the feeling of it, enough to have missed that the others had moved from the platform, which was now a dirt circle of land amid yet another forest. This one was filled with lush green trees, full grasses, glistening flowers, and the sounds of birds chirping.

What threw me more than anything was that the feeling of the sun was not fake. This sun felt real.

“What tier is this?” I asked Anna, realizing she was watching me.

“Greed,” she said.

I joined the others where they stood in the lush grass and lifted my face up to the sun. “Can you guys feel this?” I asked. I turned to see Walter and Eletha hugging one another as if they hadn’t seen each other for years. I guess, in some ways, they hadn’t.

I stepped away to where Anna stood talking to Bexley. “Well, that’s sure different to see,” I said.

“Yeah, it’s really nice to see, actually,” Anna said. “Maybe some good will come out of this.”

“So, Bexley, what should we expect in this tier?” I asked, and Bexley’s eyes widened.

“Don’t ask me. It’s different for everybody,” he replied. “Well, you knew what to do back there,” I said.

He shrugged. “I knew that those two would be the ones that kept us in Violence. Something similar happened to me a long time ago. My thought was if I tied them up, they would calm down and stop the violence. That’s all,” he said modestly.

“Well, it worked,” Anna said.

“Yep,” he said with a small nod. “I’m going to wander around. I won’t go far.” He walked off.