Page 82 of Mud

My stomach twisted and turned. If I had all those weapons on me…

Could it possibly be that I could make it out of the Iris Roe alive?

“Come on! I’m so excited to learn more about this. Sit!”

Poppy had her hands around mine again, and when she pulled me to the bed and sat me down, I had no choice but to obey. Not only was my leg still sore, but my mind was in chaos, too. My curiosity had grown the size of this damn mansion.

And despite everything, against all odds, I began to feel hope.

“Now, as we know,” said Billy, stepping to the side of the whiteboard as the girl continued to draw shapes and lines that were slowly starting to come together into a circle. “The Iris Roe is held in the heart of the City of Games, in the biggest, most sophisticated playground within those walls. Pay close attention because the Council is very secretive about this game, so we don’t know a whole lot to begin with. That said, we can always be sure of one thing: it bends all the rules of magic as you know them, which means that anything goes in the Iris Roe.”

Without ever stopping to take a proper breath, Billy reached for the marker the girl handed to him, apparently done with drawing everything she needed to draw in that circle. Then she stepped to the side, folded her hands in front of her, and just watched us passively.

“The most important thing to know about this playground is that it is separate from the outside world. Part of it, but separate. Even though there will be an audience around you, nobody will see what’s really in the game except for you—understood?”

He didn’t even let me answer.

“This is what the initial stage of the playground will look like,” Billy continued, waving at the whiteboard. Ilooked at it, at what the girl had drawn, the lines and names and the volcano-looking shape in the middle—The Iris Roe, she’d written. “These are the five gates.” He counted each, tapping the back of the marker to the whiteboard as he went. “Players walk into the game through the gates of their coven, and land in their coven’s challenge first. From there, nobody really knows which is the second challenge, if it’s the same for all players, or different,” he continued. “We know three key things that are vital to you, Agent La Rouge, and you’d do best to remember them.”

That’s when it occurred to me—I wascheating.

No player who was about to enter this game had any clue what the inside of the playground looked like. I doubted they had weapons similar to the ones they’d set up on my vanity table. Nobody had someone like Billy Dayne here to explain whatever we knew about the game to them, either.

But all of them were still at an advantage because they had the main thing they’d need to complete this game—magic.

Magic that I lacked. Magic that I was going to die without no matter how much I tried to cheat.

“One,” said Billy, raising his index finger. “Dragons have been bred and trained for this game specifically. Higher grounds will be deadly—always stay low no matter what.”

Poppy gasped from my side, squeezing my hand tightly, but I wasn’t so surprised. Ever since Blackfire magic was able to bring back a dragon that had died possibly over a millennia ago, the IDD had reserved the right to breed them for whatever reason they deemednecessary.Of course, the Iris Roe would top that list.Just my luck.

“Two,” Billy continued, raising his middle finger next. “Cheating your way to the Rainbow is not an option. You mustfirst master all magics to find the keys. Without the keys, the Rainbow is useless. Not only can you not drain it, but you cannot access it at all.”

“Idon’t havemagic,” I said through gritted teeth. My face was perfectly composed, though these past few days I’d let my control slip often—what would be the point in bothering, really, with the way things were looking?

“Yes, I am aware of that,” said Billy, rubbing the back of his neck as he stared at the floor for a moment, visibly uncomfortable.

“But you have skills,” Poppy insisted. “And weapons. You love weapons, right? You canusethem!” She looked so hopeful I was tempted to think she genuinely felt sorry for me for ending up in this position. For having to go into that game knowing I would never make it out.

“Weapons are not magic. I cannotmasteranything with them.” I could kill people with them, sure, but how was I going to find those keys Billy talked about?

“I’m afraid I can’t help with that part,” he said, attempting another one of those awful smiles. “But, yes, you will most probably need actual magic to find all the keys before you reach the Rainbow.” Again, he turned to the whiteboard. “It’s useless to try to make it to the heart of the game without the keys. Judging by past games, though, players will still try. They’ll be sneaking in charms and cheats and they’ll think they can open the Rainbow without the keys—you can’t. Don’t waste time. Find each challenge first. Gather the keys.”

Suddenly all of this felt like a dream.

I could have sworn everyone in the room with me was moving extra slowly, and their voices were taking a long time to reach my ears, too.

That little hope that I’d felt when I saw those weapons? It was far down the drain now.

Without really thinking, I stood up and half dragged my leg to the whiteboard. I didn’t really feel what was left of the pain, not right now. I was too focused on what that girl had drawn, something I’d seen before at the IDD even though I hadn’t really analyzed it closely. Still, I knew how the Iris Roe playground looked, generally speaking.

The circle, the small mountain in the middle of it that said ‘Rainbow,’and all the other sections surrounding it, ending with the gates. Five gates for five covens. Five types of magic to conquer before I could drain that Rainbow of its colors, and hopefully that massive amount of magic was going tounstainme. Cleanse me. Make me whole again.

“Number three,” Billy said from my side, looking at the drawing. “The game is not over when the game is over. Once you drain the Rainbow, the Council reserves the right to declare the end when they see fit.”

I turned to look at him, though he wouldn’t tear his eyes from the whiteboard.

“Thank you, Billy Dayne. You’ve wasted enough time on a dead girl. You may leave now.”

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