Page 33 of Twins for the Barbarians

“I was drowning in a volcano,” Kingo says. “It’s my worst fear, you know? Dying in lava. Burning alive, drowning in liquid fire, feeling the burn inside me as it consumed me. It felt so real.”

“My worst fear. Yes, that’s it,” I gasp, putting two and two together. “You’re right, Kingo. That gas was definitely hallucinogenic. We had visions. Our worst fears were coming true.”

“That’s your worst fear? Giving birth to a Sunnaite child and losing him?” Kharo asks me, a pained look lingering in his crimson eyes.

“No, my worst fear is giving birth to a Sky Tribe baby,” I say, “and having no control over my body, no right to decide what to do with myself in this world, a world, might I add, that I didn’t ask to be a part of.” I pause and give him a curious frown. “What did you see, Kharo?”

He takes a deep breath, lowering his gaze. “You and Helios dying the worst possible deaths.”

“And you, Helios?” I ask.

“The same.” He brushes the thought away quickly. “I don’t want to talk about it, to be honest. It was ugly. It was dreadful. I never want to see any of it ever again.”

Whatever the hallucinogen was, I worry about the long-term effects it might have on my body, on my baby, if I’m indeed pregnant. Much like Helios and Kharo, I choose to block out this entire incident and try hard to smile.

“Listen, what matters is that we’re okay,” I say. “We’re alive. We survived.”

“What was the point, though?” Kharo wonders. “Just to fuck with our heads?”

“I assume it was set up as a distraction to give someone a chance to take us out,” Helios replies, then gets up and looks at the top of the gates. “But I don’t think there’s anyone up there. Surely, they would’ve shot us by now. They had laser weapons mounted in the maze, after all.”

I get mad. Hell, I get furious. I’m done playing their games, whoever may be behind this.

“Screw this!” I say and shoot to my feet, furiously banging on the obsidian gate. “OPEN UP! WE’RE HERE!” I shout as loud as I possibly can. My chest hurts, but I’m so angry…it doesn’t even matter anymore. “OPEN UP!”

“Dammit, woman, don’t!” Helios snaps and pulls me back.

“Why not?” I retort harshly. “We made it, didn’t we? In the mythology books, there’s always a reward at the end of the maze.”

“Or death,” Kharo bluntly reminds me. “If there are people left in this city, the very effort they put into that maze tells us they don’t want visitors.”

“How can there be people left here?” Kingo asks, understandably confused.

“Look up,” Helios says. We all follow his gaze and notice a light coming on at the very top. “Someone just lit a torch.”

A small head with curly red hair pokes out right next to it. That’s an odd hair color for a Sunnaite but not entirely unprecedented. Gingers are as rare on Sunna as they are on Earth, it seems. Excitement kicks my whole body back into first gear as I wave my hands slowly. I can’t see very well from down here, though.

“Who’s that?” I ask, well aware that Kharo and Helios have superior eyesight.

“A kid,” Kharo mutters. “He’s staring at us. He can’t believe his eyes, the poor thing.”

“This is weird,” Kingo whispers. “Opal City was supposed to be dead and deserted…the government saw to it. They bombed the shelters across the city before they evacuated the surrounding area.”

“Yet it’s clear Opal City is anything but dead,” Helios replies, “as evidenced by the maze, the booby traps within it, and now a child looking down at us.” He pauses, then looks up and raises his voice. “We mean no harm! We just want to talk!”

The head slips back, and I listen quietly to any sound that might follow. I can’t hear a thing, though. Helios gently takes me by the arm and pulls me a few feet away from the gates. Kharo and Kingo stay close, cautiously flanking me as we all wait for something to happen—hopefully, something that doesn’t try to kill us this time around. We’ve made it this far.

Minutes pass in heavy silence as we wait.

And wait.

“This is taking forever,” Kingo mumbles, gradually leaning on me more and more. His injury is making him weak. He’ll need all the rest he can get, along with additional medical attention. I can assist him with anything he may require, but we’d have to be somewhere safe first. I’m not sure this place is safe, though, not after that horrendous welcome.

“Let’s not hold our breath here,” Helios replies. “They have no reason to let us in.”

“Whoever lives here…must have survived the bombing,” I say. “Or they’re descendants of the survivors.”

“Or wanderers from the surrounding towns who never made it north,” Kharo suggests.

---