Page 213 of Mud

That was the only thought in my mind before the last ofthose colors slipped inside me, disappeared into my chest, and left the world naked and dark again.

My eyes opened but I barely saw. A dark sky was over me. Darkness behind me, but…there was also light.

No, not light—justwhite. That awful, awful white…

I tried to move before I realized I was not standing or lying on the ground or on those stairs. I was in Taland’s arms instead, and he was standing at the top of that hill, looking down at the others.

The other players who had come close, so close. Four of them only—one of the men was lying on the ground near the edge of the mountain—him and his snake familiar perfectly motionless. Dead.

The vulcera was in front of Taland, and the eagle was flying over our heads, too.

I could have been stuck in a nightmare and I’d have been less scared—and that wasn’t even the worst part.

Yes, we were surrounded by the players, and they looked murderous. Yes, the vulcera was bloody, and that bear familiar, whatever creature it was, was barely standing on all fours, dark fur matted with blood. Yes, Taland had me in his arms, his chest rising and falling rapidly, and his eagle cried out every few seconds as it flew over our heads, waiting…

But when I tried to move, I couldn’t.

When I tried to push myself off him, to stand on my own feet, I couldn’t.

The Rainbow was gone, the mountain dark again. The colors had disappeared—inside me.I felt them like a layer of ice over my chest. I felt them and they weren’t pleasant.

It wasn’t magic like mine used to be.

It was…bad.

“Taland,” I whispered, barely able to speak because I couldn’t fucking move my jaws well enough. I tried to just raise my hand a bit—I couldn’t. My body was paralyzed.

The panic took the air from my lungs, too.

“They’re not ending the game,” Taland said, his voice strained.

Sweat beads lined his forehead. He was exhausted, on the verge of collapsing.

“Why? What is?—”

“We’re gonna need those colors back,” the woman said—Bluefire, and she looked about ready to eat me raw.

“You don’t deserve our colors, Mud,” said a man.

“You cheated. Give them back or we will make you.”

“I’ll cut them out of you myself,” said the woman again, raising a tiny blade between her fingers.

“You arenotgetting that money!”

The vulcera growled low in her throat—a threat. The eagle cried out again.

The players continued to climb the hill slowly.

“Taland, what’s happening?” I thought I whispered, turning back toward him, toward the white sky on the other side of the steep hill.

“Don’t you worry your pretty head about it, sweetness. I’m gonna get you out of here, okay?”

I shook my head. “There’s no way out. Why can’t I move, Taland?”

Why are they not ending the fucking game?!

“Hush, Rose. Close your eyes. Lean on me,” he said—and he turned round.

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