Page 97 of Castle of the Cursed
She sucks in her lips to keep from shouting as she summons her strength to break free. I see the effort on her face as she struggles, yet she is not as strong as the others, and her body is starting to go through the fleshy wall—
My sister bites down on one of the arms, and blood squirts out, her pointy tooth breaking through the skin. As the grip around her loosens, she wrestles her way free, then she breaks into a run.
Red and Cyclops are right that Antonela will never be chosen.
My sister is aware of this, too. I know her thoughts as clearly as I do my own. The only way she’s getting out of here is through the Atrium—and for that, she will need an instructor’s blood.
Antonela and her classmates are with their hooded instructor in a forest of limb-like foliage. In lieu of flowers and leaves, they sport mushroomlike growths that look like tumors and teeth. The forest is a vast and wild version of the jardín de sangre.
My sister is the first to shoot into the foliage, escaping the pack as quickly as she can. She knows exactly where to go, navigating the woods like it’s a neighborhood she has visited many times.
Antonela slows down when she approaches a small bush made of fingerlike plants studded with flowerlike black mouths. She extends her hand slowly toward one of the black bulbs, and when she is close enough to touch, the black lips part and bite down on her index finger.
Blood trickles from her skin, and as the mouth sucks it, like a mosquito, Antonela uses her other hand to snap it off the vine. Then she grips the black lips and twists them shut, sealing in the ball of blood.
I know what she’s thinking: now she just needs a way to get close enough to an instructor to get a sample of their blood. That way she can use it to open the Atrium door.
Antonela drops the bloated mouth, and it bursts on the ground. She approaches the same plant again, and this time she catches a mouth-flower unawares, before it can bite. She stuffs it into her cloak pocket, where it can’t cause any damage.
As she spins to leave, she comes face-to-face with Red.
Cyclops is there, too, along with the rest of their friends. “Where were you so eager to go?” asks Red.
Antonela shrugs and tries to go around them, but Red’s entourage blocks the way.
“Show me,” Red insists.
My sister takes a step back, and from the way her gaze darts around, it’s clear she’s going to run—
Two classmates come up from behind and grab her arms, so she can’t move. She struggles against them. “Let me go!”
Red smiles as they reach into Antonela’s cloak. “Let us see… what are you hiding in— Ow!”
They fling the black mouth off their finger, blood squirting the air, and it lands out of sight. Red rounds on my sister, glowering and revealing pointy fangs.
“You did that on purpose!”
Antonela gets blasted into the air like a rocket.
Her classmates cheer, and as she cries for them to stop, they divide into teams and toss her between them like a ball. Red’s team “misses” and she crashes on the ground.
Before she can catch her breath, my sister is flung back into the air and tossed again and again and again.
Until she loses consciousness.
Antonela awakens in a recovery room in what looks like an open coffin.
She sits up, registering where she is and what is happening. Her body is bruised and bandaged, but still she rises.
She leaves the room and makes for the Atrium again, only this time, she does not hide. She openly stares at the door, like she is past caring about getting caught.
Antonela reaches for the doorknob. She does not even flinch as thorns break the skin of her hand, blood trickling out as she twists…
And the door opens.
CHAPTER 22
THE AIR IN THE ATRIUM is a textured gray, like the clouds that clot the sky before a storm. There are no visible walls, and the floor looks like it’s made of crushed black diamonds.
