BLAKE CAME WITH me to the Coliseum. Nerves were tucking inside my body but it was because I needed to hear Cara’s voice, to know that she was still up for taking the lead. I decided to be present. They say two heads are better than one, today we would prove that theory.
“You’re extremely quiet today. You still scared?”
“No, not scared. I just don’t like any of this.”
“Now you know how all of us feel.”
“You guys really don’t want a Dragonian?”
He frowned as he walked beside me. “It’s not really about not wanting a Dragonian. The Chromatics need one. I guess it’s got to do with the type of person that wants to claim you. See Lucian was worthy of claiming me, but he wasn’t strong enough. Arianna,” he rolled his eyes. “I guess I don’t have to elaborate on that.”
I laughed. “That’s exactly how I feel about Nicole.”
“Then don’t give in, Elena.”
“I’m not planning on it.”
He smiled. “That’s the spirit.”
We reached the Coliseum and he opened one of the gates as if they didn’t weigh anything.
“Will Mia be here?”
“Mia will be prepping Nicole, but I can bet she wanted to be here, Elena.”
We walked into a room and I could hear the crowds outside. “I don’t have to run around like an idiot outside, do I?”
He laughed. “No, less is better. It’s more intimidating.”
“Thank heavens for that.”
He chuckled. “What, no ‘for the love of blueberries’?”
“Ha ha,” I rolled my eyes.
“It’s time. You should get ready.”
I went into another small room and started to undress. I didn’t know when I’d get used to ever being naked in front of Blake or any other person. I pulled the robe over my head and it covered everything up to my ankles. I took a deep breath. Cara, I hope you are ready for this.
I found Blake sitting on the stone bench which was molded into the wall, with his eyes closed. I stepped forward, and his eyes opened and he looked at me with a soft smile. I sat down next to him and rested my head against the wall.
The crowd started to cheer loudly. “It’s time. You should get your ass out there.”
I blew out a breath hard and got up. “Any last minute advice?”
“Yeah, don’t get claimed.”
“Yes, sir.”
He chuckled as I pressed the button and the gate in front of me rose. I stepped out into the ring and immediately spotted Becky, Sammy, Dean and George in the crowd; they weren’t hard to miss as George and Dean held a huge banner saying: Give her hell, Elena. It made me smile.
When Thunderstruck started to play I looked back at Blake. “Seriously,” I mouthed and he shook his head.
I lifted up both my arms and jumped with everything I had. Cara came out and I could feel my robe tear into pieces. The crowd went crazy as we flew around the ring.
“Are you ready for this, Sugar?”
“I’m ready, just don’t kill her.”
“Me, never. I’m just going to give her what she deserves.”
“And what is that?”
“To wish she was never born.”
I laughed.
Nicole came out wearing something similar to Becky the day she’d claimed George. The crowds cheered and I caught King Helmut resting his head on his arm. He looked bored, older. My heart ached for him.
“Honey, now isn’t the time,” Cara said. “Whatever it is, it has to wait.”
Cara ducked a bolt of lightning. “What the hell?” both of us yelled.
It brought me back to reality. “She doesn’t have the mark, where the heck did she get lightning from.”
“I don’t know but this is turning into a different ball game, Sugar.”
“Do what you have to do, just don’t get claimed.”
“Not planning on it.”
For the next ten minutes we ducked and dived lightning. A couple zapped me on my butt, but they didn’t do the kind of damage Nicole had hoped for.
“It’s time,” Cara said.
I closed my eyes and let Cara take over, while I concentrated on the driest desert I could muster. An ocean of sand formed in my head with no sign of a tree or shade. I couldn’t see what Nicole saw as I had to keep my mind clear. The more details my picture had, the better we would succeed in giving Nicole what she deserved. When the picture in my head was done I imagined a patsy. She shrieked and started to scream as I imagined more than just one. The crowd was gone and the only sound was the sizzle of the blazing sun. Vines sprouted out of the earth.
“I wish you could see this, Elena.”
“Don’t mess with an artist.”
Cara laughed. “Ditto.”
“This isn’t going to work, Elena, your ass will be mine,” Nicole yelled.
“Yeah, we’ll see about that.”
I could feel heat emerging from my core and leaving my throat. My eyes were still closed as I held on to the picture of what I wanted Nicole to see.
She screamed a couple of times.
“I got to give it to her, Sugar, she sure doesn’t want to surrender.”
“I don’t care what she wants, she’s not claiming us.”
“We need to push this one up.”
What could be worse than her fear?
I could feel Nicole’s lightning burning on my skin. She threw them fast and didn’t stop. I struggled to gain my balance and started to lose my grip on the picture inside my head.
This can’t be happening! It was both mine and Cara’s thought.
I had to do something but at that moment I was too worried about missing one of her lightning bolts to regain my balance.
Cara and I stopped in mid-air as we found ourselves inside the pits of hell. It was dry and there were rivers and rivers of lava. It made the scales on my body smell as if they were roasting. The picture in my mind wasn’t mine. It came from another source. More patsies ran towards Nicole. She started to kick at them and dodge their tongues. Their evil glares were nothing like I’d imagined. The whole picture was nothing like I’d imagined. Hands made of thick, worm-like creatures with teeth snapped at her. Nicole screamed again as the teeth of the worms almost grabbed her. The earth shook slightly as more fire sprouted out of the ground, she tried to keep her balance on a small rock, with flailing arms. Then a huge rock hand formed from the rocks that weren’t engulfed in flames, and trapped her. I could see fire starting to lick her and boils and burns consumed her face. She screamed in agony.
“Cara, enough,” I yelled as Nicole’s face boiled.
“Honey, this isn’t me doing this.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
Nicole yelled “Give,” and everything disappeared. We found ourselves inside the ring and she was crying in pain like a crazy person.
“Don’t, just walk away,” Cara told me as I wanted to go and see if she was okay. “She’s showing signs of life. You don’t need to go to her.”
Dragons flew in front of us blocking my view. Mia was still in her human form. “She gave up, Elena, just calm down.”
“I am calm. Is she okay?” my deep voice asked.
“She’ll be fine. The pits of hell, it was a bit drastic, Elena. I doubt that she will try claiming you again soon. Unless she’s like her cousin.”
“She’s nothing like Lucian,” I snapped at Mia and walked toward the area I had come from.
Blake was nowhere to be found.
“Cara what the hell just happened in that ring?”
“I don’t know, Sugar. I thought it was you.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Then we better find out who.”
Something told me I already knew the answer, but how? He told me he didn’t have that ability. He couldn’t read minds and yet that picture was exactly what Nicole was afraid of. The boils and the patsies; the same patsies he’d conjured that day on the rocks with their tongues a bit longer and their evil glares.
“I’ll speak to you later,” I whispered.
“Okay, Babe.”
I shifted and pulled on my clothes fast. Becky and Sammy were waiting for me outside the ring.
“You are the shit!” Becky sang and held out her hand for a high five, but when she saw that I didn’t share her enthusiasm, her grin faded and Sammy’s smile disappeared as they saw the confusion on my face.
“What’s wrong?” Becky asked.
“I’ll tell you later, too many ears,” I said. “Any of you seen Blake?”
“He’s not with you?” Sammy asked.
“He was, but he disappeared.”
We went back to the castle and I hoped that I would find him on the way, but he was really gone. When we reached the room they couldn’t stop talking about the pit of fire, saying that it would go into the book of worst places Dragonians ever faced inside the ring.
“I’m so glad that I didn’t have to claim you.”
“You don’t get it Becky, that wasn’t me.” I looked at Sammy. “I think it came from your brother.”
