Page 196 of Mud

The clothes on my body were dry—that’s the first thing I noticed. And what I was lying on was hard and ice-cold.

Memories came back to me and I sat up with a jolt and a sharp intake of air that had my lungs near freezing. I blinked, and at first, I thought I just needed a moment to see color, but there wasn’t any. Only white around me, over me, under me. Only white—and Taland behind me, with his hands on his hips looking out in the distance.

Awake and okay and standing as tall as always.

“Are you…are you okay?” I said, my voice dry, and I pushed myself to stand, too. My gun was there, on the ground where I hadn’t even noticed dropping it.

“Good as new. That venom did a number on me, but you’re so good at sucking, sweetness. You got most of it out.”

He turned around to show me his grin, and though my cheeks flushed, I still smiled.Asshole.

“You’re welcome,” I said, pulling the Bluefire key from my back pocket to store it in my zipped one.Four.I had four keys in there.Almost done.

“Wait—what am I thanking you for? For sucking the venom out of me or for stepping in front of a giant spider and shooting it in the face?”

I looked up at him—was he joking? He’d saved my life a lot more times, and he knew it. That’s why I didn’t need to say anything.

“Don’t do that again, sweetness.”

I turned my head to the side and rolled my eyes just so he could see it. “Don’t patronize me, Taland. We’re not done with the game yet.”

“I will put you over my knee and give you a good spanking no matter where we currently are, sweet Rose. Don’t make me.” All the while he smiled as he said this, and I knew he meant it. I knew he meant every word.

I flushed harder. He was definitely okay—back to the Taland I was getting used to in this game.

“Can we please just focus on the challenge?” I said because no matter how much I wanted to keep going at it with him, I knew I wouldn’t win. He’d put me over his shoulder again and have his way with me, and chances were I wouldn’t be able to even resist a few seconds in.Picking my battles here.

“Certainly,” Taland said. “We seem to have fallen in an ice wasteland. Let’s see what our friend Light Face has to say about it, shall we?” He rubbed his hands together. He was dry, too. Guess I should have thanked him for that as well because I’d be a hundred times as cold right now if my clothes had been wet. “Come forth now, Mr. Clue. Tell us what you got.”

At the mentioning of the word, the face and torso of the man made of light popped right in front of us, perfectly visible even against the white background.

“Greetings, players!”

Same voice, same colors, same feeling in my gut that whatever he was about to tell us right now would be bad. I wouldn’t like it one bit.

“Congratulations! You made it to the Valley of the Roc. Whitefire coven welcomes you!”

The Valley of the Roc was one of my all-time favorite bedtime stories. It was the stuff of legends, a place that some said actually existed a long time ago, though nobody can tell exactly where—but I digress.

I looked up to the white sky, wondering if we’d see an actual roc flying over our heads.

They weren’t going to seriously put us againstit,right? If rocs had ever really existed, they’d gone extinct a long time ago with reason. They were the biggest birds to have ever flown in the sky, so big they could carry a grown whale in their talons—or so the stories said.

If they actually made and raised a roc for this challenge, there really was no point in even trying.

“You’ve asked for your clue, and I am happy to deliver it to you,” the hologram continued. “The way to complete this challenge and find your key is to cleanse the soul of your diseased bonded.”

My stomach fell all the way to my heels. What the fuck?

“They will call upon you and will lead you to where they rest, and once you find them, it is your duty to set them free by ending their suffering in whichever manner you can.”

I looked around us, half afraid and half excited to find the vulcera somewhere, running for me.

But the hologram continued.

“Remember, your magics won’t work for their condition. You cannot complete this challenge if you do not have what it takes to do the right thing. This part of the game isnot aboutyou, players, and we do so hope that you make the right choice—for your bonded.”

Wait, wait, hold on a second…

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