Page 146 of Mud

Not Taland, who was not following me right now that I could see—or hear.

Yes, I decided, but that doesn’t mean I succeeded. Not even close.

He’d come into the Iris Roefor me.I was sure he had. Hewas really desperate for that vault and what was in it, and I had no clue what the hell I was going to do about it.

Make no mistake, I was under no illusion that the IDD weregood. After what had happened to me, and after what I was witnessing in this game, they were far,farfrom the good guys they claimed to be. But did that mean that if I were to walk out of this game, I wouldn’t tell them what Taland planned?

If I walked out of the Roe, would I tell them that he’d been here,ifthey didn’t already know? I wanted to sayimpossible, they do know!but Taland had more than enough magic to conceal himself if he wanted. He wouldn’t risk going back to prison, even for me…would he?

Too many possibilities, and I wasn’t comfortable with any of them. And all I’d do was overthink if I went back to that room, so I made for the roundabout instead, and prayed really, really hard that Refiq was better at his job than he believed, and that a hailstorm would come forth within minutes, and it would kill a bird—just one bird—and then I could…

Do what, dumbass?

My own mind mocked me.

But I’d figure it out, wouldn’t I? I’d figure it out. What mattered was that the hailstorm came. Until it did, I could do nothing but wait.

I really should have stuck to alleys or Vuvu’s, though. I shouldn’t have gone out in the open like that where everyone could see me because what if someone recognized me from the other challenges? What if someone knew what I was?

I didn’t even consider it, my mind lost elsewhere, looking up at the darkness, searching for the hailstorm. I didn’t even consider it until minutes passed and I lookedaround and locked eyes with a Whitefire guy standing with two others of his coven in a circle near one of the lampposts on the sidewalk.

Until he raised his finger toward me, and I read the words on his lips:she’s the Mud.

My heart skipped a beat, but my instincts fired up instantly. The other two players standing with him turned to me, and they were shocked. I saw it in their eyes.

And I saw their greed, too.

Cursing under my breath, I turned around and, as casually as I could, went right back where I came from. With a gun in my hand and a dagger in the other, I walked as fast as my legs could carry me, but those players still followed. Their footsteps echoed in my head.

I slipped into the first alley, hoping the dark would cover me, that I could disappear up a building, or even find a door to sneak inside somewhere. Vuvu’s Inn was a few alleys away, but if I could get to the other side, to the next street over, I could find it in no time.

At least that’s what I thought was going to happen, and that’s why I was semi-calm at first.

Then I realized that the alley I’d chosen had a dead end.

Fuck, I couldn’t get through to the other side at all. A wall as tall as the four-story buildings to my sides blocked my way, and it was smooth concrete with nothing to hold onto, even if I’d wanted to try to climb it.

Just like that, everything changed.

I turned around, almostsurprisedthat I’d ended up here so fast—wasn’t I just at the empty roundabout waiting for a hailstorm?!—even though I knew since the beginning that I was going to die in this game. But the past two days I’d actually survived, and that had given me hope. False hope, but hope, nonetheless.

And now that it was taken from me again, so suddenly, so violently, I found I was very reluctant to let go.

Footsteps behind me.

“Hey, where you going?” said a man, but I couldn’t see anything at all in the darkness of the alley, until white light sprung to life somewhere to the left.

Above the palm of the Whitefire woman.

She and her friends were standing in the middle of the alley, while I was stuck at the very end, with nothing but that concrete wall behind me.

Fuck, I’m so screwed…

But I still had my weapons, didn’t I? I still had bullets and blades. I wasn’t helpless, damn it! I was an IDD agent—I’d faced much worse creatures than these three.

At the reminder, my heartbeat calmed down again, and I raised my chin.No running—not that it mattered, anyway. Couldn’t if I tried, but still.

“What do we have here?” said the other man on the right.

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