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“Please… Please don’t do this,” I whimper.
“You tempt me, and your penance is to watch my reaction to your body. This is your fault,” he growls angrily. “I’ll paint your body with my sin, and you’ll be forever damned.”
I have never done anything to him, except help as an altar boy. It’s a prestigious position my parents insisted I volunteer for. My parents care about what other people think… they’ll never love me if they know I’m tainted.
Why did this have to happen to me? I want to be a good boy. I don’t want this.
A slapacross my face makes me gasp and shudder. The flashlight sputters wildly on the ground from where I dropped it, making Ash look demonic as he bears his teeth at me in terror.
“Are you with us again, Brother?” he asks as my chest heaves. I feel as if I just ran a marathon.
“Yes, what the fuck?” I gasp.
“It’s like you couldn’t see us,” Jonas says, shaking his head. “You kept screaming for someone to stop touching you. Fuck, man. What did you see?”
I grab the flashlight and find the photo, but when I shine the light on it, it’s completely blank.
“What… that’s not possible,” I mutter. Jonas takes it, looking at each side, but there’s nothing on it.
“This is trippy. Come on, we need to keep going. Are you good?” Jonas asks.
“Yeah.” I sigh, standing. “Looks like The Society is pulling out new tricks. Fuck. Let’s keep going. I just wasn’t expecting to see what I did, and it threw me hard. Be careful, because I think our trials have to do with our worst fears.”
Ash blows out a breath as we keep moving. “I’d rather walk through a pit of snakes, thank you very much,” he grumbles.
Me too. That sucked.
JONAS
Bast’s glassy eyes scared the shit out of me, I’m not going to lie. We don’t have many secrets from each other, but the ones we do are with good reason. I won’t ask him what he saw, because talking about it would be like reliving whatever horror happened.
I trudge through the cold, dank tunnels, knowing Ash and I will both see some messed up things before we find our prize. This trial isn’t timed, but we do have to all get out together.
My head hurts, and I scrub my face, wincing. I close my eyes for a second, opening them only to find I’m alone. Turning in a circle, I throw my arms out in the dark.
“Guys? You there?” I whisper-shout. Fuck, they were just in front of me. I hate the dark.
Running my hand down the cold rock wall, I feel the tunnel open to the right.Could they be there?
Taking a deep breath, I whisper a prayer that I’ll find them, and step to the right. I throw out my foot with each step, because there are areas that drop without warning. The last thing I need is to break my leg between football and the next underground fight.
I hate being alone. It’s one of the reasons I don’t mind rooming with Bast. Ash needs his own space, but I need people. The fact that all of my people are lost to me in the tunnels is ironic.
“Guys?” I call, taking another step.
“Help!” a familiar voice screams.
Blinking, I shake my head. My sister can’t be down here. She’s safely at the school with her roommate, sleeping. “No,” I mumble. “You’re not here. Jules, go back to your room.”
“Jo, please! They’re hurting me!” Jules screams.
Only my sister calls me that.
My muscles strain as I rush toward her. My brain tells me to be careful, but my body just wants to kill whatever boogie man is hurting her. It’s not the first time that I’ve sworn to kill someone for her, and it won’t be the last.
I promised her she was safe here. I will not fail her.
The tunnel brightens up, and my steps stutter to a stop.
