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When the tile Caryn had indicated glowed as bright as a miniature sun the instant Onnika set foot on it, her whole body went tense with the anticipation of a fiery doom. She slammed her eyes shut and made a desperate plea to the gods.Do not let Aidan suffer over my death. Do not let it destroy him.
To her astonishment, death didn’t come.
She peeked down at her feet. Thought the tile remained glowing, it was dormant. No spewing flames ready to engulf her.
After exhaling a shaky breath, she glanced up at Caryn. “Okay, what now?”
“Step on the one adjacent to your left, wait no! My left. Your right.”
Onnika huffed in frustration. “You’re sure?” She pointed with her foot to the tile Caryn indicated.
“Yes, there.”
Filling her lungs with air, muttering another prayer, she moved forward and to the right. Again, the tile simply lit up. Relief coated her system.This might just work. She just needed to trust in Caryn and follow directions.
Caryn’s eyes fluttered closed briefly and she swayed on her feet.
“Caryn? Caryn!”
Her sister’s eyes flashed open, and she steadied herself. “I’m okay.”
Again, faint noises distracted Onnika for a moment. Banging sounds and…growling? She deduced The Gauntlet was made up of several internal compartments within the larger structure. The room they were currently in was closed off to the outside world, but she had no doubt the many race-hoppers, as well as the millions watching via the live feed, could see in, thanks to hidden cameras buried in the walls, or ceiling, or wherever else they could be planted, broadcasting throughout the universe. Two beautiful women bumbling around in a booby-trapped obstacle course, risking death or at the very least, maiming? That made for high entertainment. Everyone would be tuning in.
It felt strange to think that so many were currently watching her every move, some hoping for failure, others rooting for success, and all on the edges of their seats. To distract herself, she examined her surroundings more closely. The walls appeared to be made of the same stony material as the outer front entrance, with carvings of snarling creatures that, if real, would happily tear out one’s jugular and spit it back in their face. And an array of those same creatures had been painted over each tile’s surface.
“Now then,” Caryn continued, after swiping beads of perspiration from her forehead, “step to the one directly in front of you.”
Onnika complied, and this time she didn’t cringe as the tile lit up. Two more times, she followed Caryn’s directive. Once they were but a single tile from one another, they gingerly embraced. When they separated, Onnika took Caryn’s cheeks between her two palms and stared into her eyes—red and yellow veins had begun to invade the whites. The sight of it stabbed through her spine and up into her throat. “You can do this,” she choked out. “I believe in you.”
There was a slight quiver in Caryn’s lower lips, and her eyes began to glisten, but she simply squared her shoulders and nodded with an inner strength that Onnika wasn’t used to seeing in her sister. Pride bloomed in her chest, and she felt her own strength and determination rising to the fore.
It wasn’t until they’d made it to the opposite side of the room that a door began to creak open. She glanced back over their illuminated path and realized the key to success had been laid out in the carvings on the walls, which matched the designs on the tiles. Every tile they’d stepped on had been painted with the image of a creature that had its mouth closed. The open-mouthed tiles were the deadly ones. Had Caryn deduced that? Or was it purely her gift that had guided them?
Before she could ask, a baying from somewhere outside, or, gods forbid, beyond that open door, shivered the air around them. Was that Aidan, furious in his dragon form? Or was it some beast waiting in the next room eager to devour them?
By now Aidan and the others had to know what they were doing. She couldn’t fathom the level of his anger. She’d promised him she would stay out of trouble, and less than an hour later she’d broken her word.
Thankfully, no hungry beast greeted them beyond that door. Instead, a thin hallway lit by flaming torches led to a T section. They could go left, or they could go right. Onnika looked at Caryn, who was leaning against the wall, contemplating their options. Her breath was labored and short, and it was obvious the poison was eating its way through her.
Onnika thought she saw a shadow of something move across the ceiling, but when she glanced up, all she saw was dark stone crafted into perfectly arranged blocks. This place was starting to creep her out, and all she wanted was to get out. “Which way?” she asked.
Caryn pinched the bridge of her nose, as though suffering a sudden headache. “Maybe right?”
“Maybe?” She didn’t like the uncertainty in Caryn’s tone.
Standing straighter, Caryn nodded. “Right. I’m sure of it.”
Good enough for me.
Together they eased down the corridor, cautiously entering a room splashed by light. It was an almost clinical, sterile, gray box made of metal panels. If the room were to be flipped on its side, the only thing that would change was gravity. Behind them, several panels slid into place, seamlessly merging with the wall and making her question if there was ever a door there to begin with.
She couldn’t tell where the light came from. There were no obvious light sources. Perhaps each metal panel illuminated a soft glow that reflected off its counterparts in an eternal swapping and amplifying of photons. Of course, she couldn’t see any cameras, either, so maybe they were dealing with sophisticated illusions. She had the sense of being dropped into a fishbowl, swimming around aimlessly while outer beings poked at the glass and demanded she do tricks. Gods, she was sick of this race.
What terrors did this room hold? She and Caryn held still, waiting for a clue.
“What do we do?” Onnika eventually asked.
