Page 31 of Creatures of Chaos

I don’t have to look behind me to know that the water beast has almost reached me. I already feel its phantom teeth clamping down on my flesh, tearing into skin and muscle and crunching through bone.

The edge of the pool is only feet away, but it might as well be a mile.

With my heart racing, my foot snags on another rock and I plunge forward, landing face-first in the water just as the beast lunges and snaps its jaws in the air where I was standing. Its body comes crashing down next to me and I’m doused by a wave of icy water. Jerking out of the way of a second snap, I scramble to my feet as the monster thrashes in the shallow waters to chase me.

It’s only two large steps to the pool’s edge. But just as I’m about to take the final step out of the pool, the beast throws its body sideways, bashing into my knees and knocking me over. When it rolls over me I lose my breath as I’m crushed beneath its weight.

While it struggles to right itself, I drag myself to my feet, hacking up water. I fling myself out of the pool and onto the rocky ground, shuffling as far away from the edge as possible.

The beast releases another rage-filled shriek and thrashes its tail, slapping the water in anger, but doesn’t try to reach me now that I’m out of the pool. After its temper tantrum subsides, it maneuvers itself into deeper waters then submerges.

I stay lying on the ground, gasping for air. It’s only when the waves and ripples disappear, leaving the surface of the pool as smooth as glass, that I close my eyes and sigh a breath of relief. Taking deep, even breaths, I will my blood pressure to return to normal.

After a while, feeling starts to return to my numb limbs and I notice my hand aches. Opening my eyes, I look down to find my fingers still clenched around the Chaos coin.

Unbelievable. I can’t believe I held on to it.

A wholly inappropriate laugh burst from my lips, and I struggle to a sitting position. The unhinged sound bounces off the walls of the cavern. It’s a solid minute before I regain my wits and push to my feet—waterlogged, dirty, exhausted, but otherwise unharmed.

After wringing out my hair and putting my boots back on, I store the coin in my skirt pocket and slog to the cavern’s exit, following the same path the girls before me did.

Eleven

I keepto the edges of the tunnels and caverns as I make my way through the maze, looking for the exit while doing my best to stay unnoticed by the other competitors I come across. And for the most part it works, which is perfect, because I pass more than one fight along the way. Competitors who haven’t been able to locate a coin attack others who have, hoping to steal their bounty.

It turns out Talon was right: being underestimated isn’t such a bad thing. Anyone who notices me creeping by immediately dismisses me, which is fine by me. I don’t need to be getting into any fights with creatures that have magic.

I’m cold. I’m wet. I’m tired. I just want to find the way out of this abyss and be done with it.

The air around me has warmed considerably, which gives me hope I’m nearing an exit. After a few steps a breeze brushes against my damp skin, carrying the scent of rotting leaves and grass. It’s not a particularly pleasant smell, but it’s a welcome one.

When I reach a fork in the tunnels, a handful of competitors are in front of me, one of which is a fae holding a ball of faelightin the air in front of them to light the way. I hang back while they argue about which way to go, waiting until they make their decision and clear the area before deciding for myself.

“You look like a drowned rat shifter,” a familiar voice says behind me, and my blood runs cold.

I twist to see a single set of glowing eyes in the darkness. Wolf’s eyes.

Jules takes several steps forward, her eyes reflecting the faelight behind me as she nears, even as the rest of her is concealed by the darkness. But I’d know her voice and the look in her psychopathic eyes anywhere.

When she materializes in the low light, she looks a little worse for wear, a dirt smudge high on one cheek and a shallow cut on one forearm, but not nearly as bad as I’m sure I do. With my damp and ripped clothes, a messy head full of tangles and bits of sand and dirt, I probably look worse than a rat shifter right now, so I’m not even offended by her comment. It’s just truth.

“I didn’t think you could get any more pathetic looking, but I guess I was wrong,” she sneers, her upper lip curling back in disgust.

Good. Maybe she’ll be too grossed out to get close to me and pass right on by.

But I’m not that lucky and Jules stops directly in front of me, only an arm’s length away. Without thinking, I move my hand over my pocket where the Chaos coin is nestled, and she doesn’t miss the motion. Her eyes spark with interest and my stomach drops.

“What are you protecting in that pocket of yours?” she asks, a sinister smile curling the corners of her lips.

I keep my mouth shut, knowing that any denials that I’m hiding something will make it that much more obvious than Iam. Instead I just drop my hand away from my pocket, doing my best not to look guilty.

Jules’ gaze runs over me slowly; it feels like slugs passing over my skin.

“Well, well, well. Is it possible you actually snagged a coin? I wouldn’t have believed it, but you look like you’ve had a rough evening. Like you fell into one of the Chaos traps. How fortunate for me.”

She reaches forward like she’s going to dig through my pocket, and I twist away. Her smile widens and there’s a feverish gleam in her eye that reminds me of a rabid dog.

The tunnel starts to dim, and I realize with a sinking feeling that the group I was waiting on to pick a tunnel is finally moving on, taking with them their faelight and possible protection.

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