Page 77 of The Games Gods Play
“Yes,” I yell and nod my head for emphasis.
Zai nods, then faces the Fates. Suddenly, our planks start to slide back toward the mountain again. Not one inch, not two, but a lot. I have no choice now.
I’m hanging by both hands and one foot while I search for another toehold and pray that Zai didn’t fall. I can’t turn my head to see.
“Congratulations!” Hermes’ voice booms from the sky. “The winner is my own champion, Zai Aridam!”
The god sounds so happy he could fly, but hopefully he’s not, because Zai needs those winged sandals right now.
I whisper to myself, “Come on, Zai. Please hurry. Keep your promise and don’t leave me here—”
“Right behind you.”
His voice is so close and unexpected that I yelp and almost lose my grip. Felix would be hanging his head in disgust if he could see me now.
Two hands land on my waist, and I can feel the way Zai lightly bounces up and down in the air thanks to the wings on his feet. “Can the sandals hold us both?” I ask.
“Sure.” He chuckles. A nice sound, surprisingly low and warm.
I won’t be laughing until I’m safely off this mountain.
“Now,” he says. “Let go with your right hand and try to wrap it around my neck.” I manage that much, and his left arm moves around me more securely. “When I say so, jump and swing your legs over my right arm. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“On three… One. Two. Three—”
Zai wheezes in my ear with the effort of lifting me, but I manage to wrap my arms around him like a baby sloth around its mama. When I’m against him this way, the frailty of his frame is even more obvious.
I’m safe.
Thank not the gods but Zai Aridam.
The relief that shoots through my veins might as well be a tidal wave, and the adrenaline makes me tremble.
“Zai, you have won the second Labor,” Hermes is saying. “As for the rest of you…”
The others. “Oh my gods. Who fell?”
“Amir. He’s moving, though.”
So not dead? Yet. No way did the kid not injure something. I push at Zai’s shoulder. “You should leave me and take him.”
“I’ll come back for him.”
“But—”
“I’ll be quick.”
He seems determined. I frown. “The others—”
“All made it,” Zai rushes to assure me.
I sigh on another whoosh of relief. “So far.”
Hermes clears his throat as if we interrupted him. “The remaining champions may all start climbing down, and best of luck to you.”
Zai floats us downward as soon as the glass that had been caging me in disappears. At a screech, I look up behind him, where my owl is flapping its wings to stay aloft. Clutching Zai tighter, I hold out my left arm, and the beautiful, brown-feathered creature with his horned face flies straight for me. He doesn’t perch but sort of leaps right into my skin, growing smaller and turning into glittering blue lines. The tarantula waves its front legs at him, and the fox snuggles into him like one friend greeting another.
