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“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I breathe, wrapping my arms around his neck, and he slowly squeezes my waist in response.
“She likes them unhinged. Noted,” Eldon jokes from behind me as I lean back out of Creed’s hold. He shrugs, not responding to Eldon’s statement as he turns to look at the pit. His thigh brushes against mine and I smile.
Unhinged…
Sadistic…
Whatever we’re calling it, he’s right. I like it.
I just need to survive the damn thing myself to enjoy more of it. With exactly zero ideas of how I can achieve such a task.
Apprehension continues to rattle my bones as the list of remaining first years to take on the Gauntlet dwindles. Each name being called out is like a missed arrow aimed at my heart, including the next name.
“Brax Carlsen.”
He stands and heads toward the pit without a backward glance at his friends or me. I don’t know how or why I’m becoming so goddamn attached to these men, but as much as he’s an asshole, and despite the shitty stuff he said last night, I still worry for his safety.
I can’t figure out how they got under my skin like this. Once again, bile burns my throat as I watch him enter the pit. His ears turn to stone first as he walks across the sand. He doesn’t climb, like Creed, or even consider hiding as the others have. Instead, he stands dead center in the open space facing the pool of water.
“He’s crazy,” Leila states, and I nod in agreement.
“Did you expect anything less from him?” There’s no humor in Zane’s voice like there usually would be. I guess I’m not the only one filled with trepidation.
The siren’s song starts, inciting fear in us all as my hands clamp down on my ears again. The water levels rise, quickly traveling toward Brax, but before it laps at his ankles, he turns completely to stone.
What the fuck?
His entire body is an array of grays covering him from head to toe, but I only get a moment to appreciate him before the water engulfs him. It rises to the top of the highest boulder before continuing to touch the top of the dome covering the pit.
Gasps ring out, my own mingled in with them, as the entire Gauntlet is flooded with water. As the white-foamed top calms, the water clears into a stunning turquoise, revealing the siren. Pink hair floats through the water as lime green scales sparkle, shimmering in the light, and the siren dances around Brax’s stone statue.
She swims past him once, twice, three times, and it quickly becomes apparent that she doesn’t recognize the stone statue at the bottom of the pit as her target.
I turn to Creed, tapping his arm with my bent elbow to get his attention. When his eyes meet mine, I speak. “What’s he going to do?”
The shrug he offers in response doesn’t fill me with confidence, it seems he could use the reassurance too. As if sensing my question, I watch as the stone statue starts to move, unbeknownst to the siren, whose attention is now on the watching crowd.
Her melody gets louder, trying to lure us closer, leaving her completely open and exposed to Brax, who remains in his stone form as he grows taller and taller until a shadow forms over the Siren as she waves sweetly at the second years.
She doesn’t stand a chance as his immense hands grab and crush her with no effort at all. It’s like someone pops the dome and the water drains from the pit once more. Brax tosses the lifeless body over his shoulder without a backward glance. Relief washes over me as I watch with rapt attention as Brax shrinks back to his usual height and turns back into flesh and blood. His cheer is deafening and I clap along with everyone as I turn to Zane.
“What is he?” I ask, still confused, and he grins at me before leaning in to press his lips against my ear.
“Brax is a gargoyle.”
Wow. That’s mind-blowing. I didn’t even know they existed, never mind ever seeing one before.
I stand with everyone else as he steps out of the pit, but my heart turns to ice as the professor calls out the next name.
“Raven Hendrix.”
My pulse thumps so hard it feels like my head has its own heartbeat, and Brax’s words from last night replay in my mind. “Because when you die tomorrow, he might not be quite as attached to you as he could have been.” I can’t shake the thought as I head toward the steps, deciding it would be better if I don’t glance back.
“Raven,” Eldon calls out, but I can’t look. I can’t stare into the eyes of the people I’m suddenly enthralled with. I can’t see the hope and excitement for a life, a future, when none of it matters now anyway.
My eyes lock with Brax’s as he slowly walks up the steps, ascending to victory as I descend to my doom. It’s fitting, really. I can look into his eyes and recall the anger he stokes inside of me.
I expect him to step past me without a backward glance but, to my surprise, he grabs my arm at the last second, pulling me into his side without looking down at me. “Moss in your ears. Left boulder stack.”
