Page 67 of Resolve
I press my hand against the concrete at one of the doorways, sending my gift through its shape until I’ve reached the boundaries, and then triggering a burst of power. It disintegrates, falling to dust at my feet.
Kellan steps into the room first. “It’s a dead end,” he calls out before we can follow him inside. He returns to the doorway. “It’s a storage room. No other doors and no windows.”
Damn.
“I’ll try the other one,” I mutter, turning to the last available door to us other than the stairwell. I use my gift on the concrete there as well. It dusts, disappearing into a floor made of sand.
The wild roar of a crowd echoes so loudly it shakes my bones.
“It looks like round two is here at last!”
Fuck.
We picked the wrong door.
Chapter twenty-three
Raegan
Theroomisn’taroom at all. It opens to a massive cavern, as large as a football field, covered with sand. An eight-foot wall borders the ground in an oval shape, and stacked levels with tables and chairs circle around it so every seat has a clear view. People in suits and dresses fill the stadium, cheering, shouting, drinking, talking…
“One of the big money-makers for them is throwing a bunch of gifted into a locked down area—a cage, an arena, you name it—and betting on the one to survive.”
“Fight me again, and you won’t just watch. You and those boys will be participants.”
“I’ll leave it up to you to decide which of you will have the advantage.”
So, that was it. If we’d stayed put, he might have agreed to our deal. And if not, we’d end up here.
I wasn’t a fan of the last deal anyway.
“It’s the fight Elias was talking about,” I share, now that I’ve realized what’s happened. “Because we escaped.”
Kellan holds my arm, tugging me back. “We’ll go another way.”
There are dark shapes scattered about the arena, and movement off to the right catches my attention. I step forward, pulling against Kell. “Wait.”
Aiden moves around us to look further in. He curses. “They’re ours.” Pits fighters and Guild members.
They’re already here.
Fuck. Did he capture the members at the Tower with Cibrina? Was this his plan all along, to use our deaths to regain whatever money we’ve lost him?
I recognize Knight and a few others who fought in the Pits grouped together, watching each other’s backs. Trinity and Parker—Guild members—are the only ones from their team still standing. Both were strike teams like us. I don’t see any members who stayed behind. And then...
A vine lashes out at someone still moving out there. The agent dodges. A flower blooms on the vine, and then shoots something at him, and he drops.
I try to follow the vine, but there are already so many out there, either motionless in the sand or poised in the air, ready to strike. A green ball draws my stare, and I see Silas crouched and panting in front of it, one arm out protectively.
Another agent creeps up behind him, targeting whoever must be within Silas’s makeshift barrier. “Aiden,” I gasp when I see them, taking another step into the room. We won’t make it in time. Not unless… I snap my head around to find Jackson. “Jack!” I shout.
He nods once, then throws a knife at that agent. They fall. He pulls out three more knives, sending them around the ring to strike any remaining agents.
Silas’s expression melts to relief when he sees us running towardhim. “’Bout time,” he pants, leaning into his ball of vines for support. His other arm hangs limply at his side, and his face and arms are covered in scratches and bruises.
“What happened?” I ask him, even though I have a sinking feeling I know the answer. Kell and Aiden check the nearest fallen members while Jackson retrieves his knives.
A bell rings. Doors around the arena drag open, and the audience cheers. A loud click sounds overhead where a black box blinks to life, its digital scoreboard updating with our names and numbers.
