ELENA
THE DAY OF the feast was finally here. I’d tried every tactic there was in the book to not go, but Clive knew I was only pretending. I was getting good at that, but he always saw my process, so it was not easy to fool him.
I also told him about his son, and how he’d harassed me in the library, which he took action upon.
I thought Seymour would back off, but it was as if his father’s concern and the threat of beating his ass was more gasoline fueling his desire.
I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.
I rubbed my inner left arm. It was still numb from where they’d marked me with the barcode. It had been horrible and extremely painful. They’d brought in a Swallow Annex and he was expensive.
I’d thought that a Metallic’s spirit could never be broken, but I found dull, lifeless eyes when he touched my arm. His ability was strong, stronger than Constance’s. The heat was just a soft warm flush as if someone’s warm breath had brushed over it, and the pain was gone. The numbness hadn’t dissipated since.
I took a huge breath, trying to keep this nauseating feeling I’d had for the past two days in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know what to expect today.
Annie tried to fill in the missing pieces without me having to ask too many questions that would once again make her question where it was I’d come from.
The less they knew, the better.
A knock on the door made me jump slightly.
“Enter,” I said, and Leana, my grumpy maid who never said a single word, entered.
“You are not dressed yet?” she barked.
“So she does speak.”
“Lord Creptone is ready to leave, and you don’t even have your dress on. Come, come.” She spoke fast and with so much authority.
She grabbed my dress and pushed it over my head. It was tailor-made and fell on my body beautifully. Cleavage showed but Clive had apologized for that when he’d brought it into my room yesterday, said it was the part I had to play, that he was crazy about breasts and all that.
It came with a huge sun hat and high heels. When I was done, I looked ten years older than I was. A pair of white gloves waited for me too.
I resembled someone who was going to watch the Derby, not humans fighting for their lives.
I drew a huge breath as I stared at my reflection in the mirror.
You can do this, Elena. You are not going to fail. You can’t fail. There is nothing you are going to be able to do when you are stuck in the pits.
I didn’t think that I could do anything anymore. Sure, when I thought it was people from my Council who were behind this. But this wasn’t my Council. It was a Council filled with wyverns and their king was the head – the decision maker.
I picked up the small purse that went with the outfit and left my room. I found Seymour’s eyes on me as he stood next to his father, waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.
“You look exceptionally beautiful, Elle,” Clive said.
“Thank you, Clive.”
Seymour glared at the floor, with his hands folded in front of his body, pretending that he wasn’t into me.
I hooked my arm into Clive’s.
“Tonight, I would like to spend some time with you.”
“Of course, no need to ask.”
“It’s polite to ask a lady.”
I smiled again and walked toward the front door that stood wide open. Annie was one of the maids who stood there. She didn’t look at me but I knew how she felt about today. She was scared to death that I wasn’t going to return. I was still scared about that as well.
A beautiful limousine waited for us in the courtyard. It was funny how Clive still drove a limousine while most of the people here were either on bicycles or on foot. Horse-drawn carriages were something that were up north’s thing.
Clive opened the door and I climbed in first.
Seymour climbed in the other side, and his eyes on my breast line and legs made me uncomfortable once again, as I knew what was going through that mind of his.
Clive finally climbed in and Seymour pretended to look out the window.
One day his father would catch him, and hopefully he would do more than just give him a beating.
His daughter, Clarissa, was late and she gave me a glare that could’ve killed me as she entered, but nevertheless, she was stunning.
Clive shut the door and the driver pulled away.
The city was old, beautiful, but some places need a bit of TLC.
Annie and I had been allowed to go once a week to the market. The markets here were dull. Nobody loved what he or she sold. She showed me a structure where, as a child, she used to live with her father. It was now dilapidated, in ruins. Tears had filled her eyes that day.
There were plenty of beggars on the street, many were children, and when we stopped at a traffic light, Clive rolled down his window and handed some coins to the kids close by.
It was as if Christmas had come early.
Christmas. What was Christmas going to be like in this place? It was in a few weeks, still. It didn’t look like they were celebrating Christmas as none of the decorations were up yet.
I stared out my own window and could see that Seymour stole glances at me as Clive’s phone rang.
He made gestures, rubbing himself without his father seeing, and licked his lips. He was beyond disgusting.
When Clive turned his head toward us, he would adopt a completely different posture, as if he had never done any of that.
I tried to ignore it, I really did, but if the day came where he was going to succeed, I was going to be in real deep shit.
Crowds were lining up, and it was more difficult to get through them with the limousine.
“Here is fine, Edward. We will walk the rest of the way,” Clive said.
“You are kidding me, right?” his daughter said, and she shook her head.
“Elle, are you coming?” Clive held out his hand for me, and I climbed out as carefully as I could.
I had to admit, it was good not having flashing lights going off in my face every time I got out of a cab or limousine.
It made me feel normal, or like a mistress, like I was supposed to feel.
We walked a few blocks, which killed my toes, and found massive crowds lining up in front of a grand building. It reminded me of a huge football stadium.
We didn’t have to stand in line and went through a separate entrance. I took an elevator with Clive alone and was glad when Seymour had to stay and wait for the next one.
“Is he giving you any trouble?”
“Not so much anymore, thanks.” I had to lie. I didn’t want more fuel being thrown on Seymour’s fire.
“Good.” Clive winked and the elevator pinged.
It opened into a private section.
There were plenty of big chairs and it reminded me again of an old era event when gladiators were still a thing. I plopped down onto the chair Clive showed me. I took a deep breath, smiled and reminded myself that no matter how bad it got, that smile would stay on my face until my cheeks hurt.
“Here.” He handed me a small case.
“What is this?” I asked him.
“Something to protect those beautiful eyes of yours. You never know if the king of wyverns is going to make his appearance tonight.”
“Thank you.” I opened the case, knowing that it would carry shades.
I put them on and was glad that they were really dark. Almost so dark I hardly saw anything that was going on in front of me.
Clive was a good man – a really, really good man.
IT FELT LIKE hours before something eventually started to happen. There was a small ceremony of people dancing the most beautiful dances and I took off my shades for that. I didn’t have to pretend to enjoy it. All sorts of emotions went through me as I saw them dancing out some sort of play. It was scary and beautiful all at the same time.
Clive held my hand and smiled every time I gasped, but I remembered to do it with a smile.
Then it stopped. The crowds applauded and cheered.
I applauded too.
“Put on your glasses, Elle,” Clive whispered softly in my ear. “And cheer when I do.”
I nodded and put them on.
Something was happening. Rows and rows of people walked onto the arena floor and Clive cheered, which I did too. With the biggest grin I owned.
Then a loud voice filled the system.
“Beautiful people from Evenport, Dashport and Eikenborough.”
We cheered again.
“I give you the 975th Reaping feast’s candidates.”
My heart started to bounce but I cheered as if my life depended on it and didn’t even think of taking off my glasses. I knew it sounded awful but if I did, I would protest and would land myself a spot into the pits.
“First off is Peter from Bolivia. Now naughty little Peter has done a few bad things, like steal from our Council, rape our beautiful daughters and murder Lord Severan, you all remember him, right?”
The crowd cheered again, Clive didn’t, which meant Peter hadn’t done any of those things, as Peter was still a young boy.
I took a deep breath again. Don’t take off the glasses Elena. Don’t.
Next up was Desire. I blocked out what horrible thing she had done, but when the cheering came, Clive was silent again. I had to know how old these kids were, and see who cheered for them.
The list carried on. When Clive did cheer, I cheered too.
There weren’t many times but I made them count, just so that the younger ones could live for another time.
Then the candidates were picked. Clive cheered again, and so did I.
I wanted to peek but I knew it would break my heart, and I had to think about Annie’s safety too.
I could hear whimpering, tears welled up in my eyes, but I swallowed them fast. Those three candidates were scared for what was about to happen next.
Huge gates opened. They were so loud they almost deafened me and then growls and shrieks of what I assumed were wyverns filled the arena.
People went ballistic, as if they were watching a football game.
“Pretend now, Elle,” Clive whispered again and I closed my eyes behind the shades, pretending to scream for the Baltimore Ravens against the Detroit Lions.
The screams filled with shrieks died out faster than I thought they would. It wasn’t a fair match. These people didn’t even have the ability to use magic. Tears were close, almost wanting to roll down my cheek but I found a way to hide them. Seymour’s voice was the loudest, egging on one of the wyverns, giving him tasks to do.
It was disgusting.
Clive tapped my hand softly. He must’ve sensed that I was upset but I pushed through, cheered with Seymour and then laughed, a fake one, when he did. It made the tears disappear.
“That was fun,” Seymour said. “I really wanted to see that three-year-old running around, though.”
My heart flinched, a three-year-old.
Clive pulled me gently down into my seat again.
“You are doing exceptionally well. Don’t let Seymour ruin this.”
I nodded, still with a fake smile plastered on my face.
The voice filled the speakers again. He was speaking about betrayals, the ones of the highest kind and I could see the outlines of carriages getting pulled in.
I lowered my shades just slightly and found steel, jail-like carriages.
The people booed, and so did I.
I could hardly see the people inside, and all I could think about was who they were.
When they disappeared, I shifted my glasses back into place on my face.
Three-year-old. It was all I could think of as we made our way to the exit of the private section.
“Clive, and who is this beauty?” A fat guy stopped us. He was just as repulsive as Seymour, and made my skin crawl.
“Elle, this is Lord Swanson from Dashport.”
“Nice to meet you Lord Swanson.”
“You really need to learn how to share, old man. This one is simply breathtaking.”
I smiled, and wanted to swallow, but my throat was dry. Why does everyone think I’m beautiful here? Is it my hair? The man lifted his hand to touch my face but Clive stopped it with his cane.
“Like you said, I don’t like sharing, Tim.”
The men started to laugh as Clive led me out of the section.
I was close to tears when we entered the elevator and wanted to take off my glasses.
“If there are tears lingering in your eyes, Elle, keep them on.”
“How can Seymour‒
“I don’t know. He never used to be like this. I’ve lost my grip on him.”
The elevator pinged and we both walked out.
It was a stretch to the limousine and another stretch to listen to how Seymour spoke about the event. Clive couldn’t say a word, as he had to pretend that all that Seymour said was amazing.
My stomach turned heavily, and I tried to think of something else, to not hear Seymour’s words.
The house couldn’t come soon enough, and when it did, Clive walked fast, so that I could get to my room.
Once inside, I pulled off my shades and stared at Clive. Tears flowed softly over my cheeks, and to my surprise Clive hugged me.
“I know they are not easy to watch. I hate those events myself. At least we don’t have to see anything like that for the next four months.”
Four months, they have them every four months!
“Was there really a three-year-old?”
He nodded. “Desire.” He swallowed hard. “Peter was holding her.”
“And they really believe that she did all that crap.”
“No, but some of us pretend like we do.”
“Isn’t there anything…”
“I told you, there is nothing I can do.”
I nodded.
“I will leave you alone for now, but I would really like to see James tonight.”
“It’s fine. I’ll be ready.”
“Thanks, Elle.”
He left and when he was gone, I kicked out of my shoes and the only thing that I could hear were cries, screams and the wyverns growling, tearing off limbs.
Tears streamed down my face. I never wanted to go to another feast again.
BLAKE
IT WAS LATE, like two-thirty late; I should be out there looking for Elena, but I’d promised Emanuel I wouldn’t go without him.
This weekend we were going to camp and just search.
I closed my eyes and listened for my own heartbeat again. It was faint now, so it meant that I was making some sort of progress.
The first time I heard it, my head almost felt as if it wanted to explode but my healing ability kicked in so fast it hardly became a migraine.
The faint sound of my heartbeat came again.
Harder, Blake, you can do this.
I forced myself to listen harder and the beating became louder.
It took everything I had to just make it beat stronger and louder.
When it was pounding in my ear, an ache shot through my skull and I lost the grip.
I could feel the zinging sound of my healing ability kicking in and in less than a few minutes the headache was gone.
Again.
