Page 48 of Insatiable

His bio is the longest one yet, but I learn nothing new from it. His list of earthly accomplishments never interested me.

When Quinn’s face flashes up, there’s an almighty bellow from behind us. Juliette and I crane our heads back to see a flash of black wings rushing through the crowd now filling the atrium.

Juliette gives me a panicked look. “Shit! I forgot about Dade.”

She’s up and out of her seat before I can say anything. I stand and watch as she pushes her way through the crowd. Dade is an impressive character, especially with his wings outstretched as they are now, but he doesn’t look like he’s going to get past the two demons with pitchforks guarding the elevator doors. Juliette rushes up to him, and though I can’t hear what they are saying from so far away, I get the impression she’s trying to calm him down. His wings falter as she points over to where I’m sitting. I give a half hearted wave. At least Juliette and I were able to say goodbye. Dade wasn’t offered that chance.

Dade's wings fold behind his back as he follows Juliette through the crowd. His face is a mask of barely contained grief and anger.

"I'm so sorry, Dade," I say softly when they reach me. "It all happened so fast."

He nods curtly, not trusting himself to speak. Juliette puts a comforting hand on his arm.

"Let's sit," she suggests gently, guiding him into a chair. "The next trial will begin soon."

“I was asleep’” he explains. “The damned poison is still affecting me. Why didn’t she come to me?”

“There was no time. She had an idea to get us all into the trial, or at least out of here, but then she had to go. I’m sorry.”

His face blazes with anger and grief that echoes in my own soul. I’ve never spent much time with Dade, but being this close to him I can practically feel the dark emotion roll off him. I’m glad I’m on his side, that’s all I can say. I wouldn’t like to be opposing him, and I get the feeling that if Juliette hadn’t guided him away from the demons, he would have put himself in jeopardy. The three of us can only watch as the final picture – Orlin’s – fades and finally we see the inside of the labyrinth.

Memories of Hades’ Labyrinth come back to me with its poisonous bushes creating the walls, but this is very different. The walls are all made of stone.

The ten contestants are all standing huddled at the very start.

My eyes seek out Felix, but it’s Quinn they come to rest on. She looks so determined. I guess she has something that the other contestants don’t. She has Jenny spurring her on.

George’s voice once again comes over the tannoy, but this time it’s clear the contestants in the Earthery hear it too.

“Welcome to my labyrinth. The objective of the labyrinth is to find the centre. When you do, you’ll find a button to press. If you are in the first five people to press the button, you are through to the next circle – Avarice. The rest of you will head back to Gluttony.”

I look at Juliette who appears as confused as I feel. That’s not what was said earlier. The image cuts back to Anthura, stranding smugly outside the Earthery.

“Of course, only we know that there is no centre of the labyrinth.” She winks at the camera. “And no one is getting out of there alive if they don’t find enough food.”

My blood boils at the duplicity of it all.

“That’s not fair!” Juliette screams out, but her voice is deafened by the rest of the crowd cheering. It’s then that it dawns on me that this is what I’ll have to look forward to, losing my soul as I spend centuries here with only the thrill of watching people being tortured by the Inferno Games, every time it passes through.

22

BACK IN THE LABYRINTH

QUINN

Aclaxon blares through the air, its sharp, jarring sound igniting a surge of adrenaline within me. Instinct kicks in, and I spring into motion, my heart pounding as I survey the labyrinth unfolding before me—a tangled web of stone walls that seem to tighten with each frantic breath.

Panic surges within me as I realize the urgency of the moment. The shouts and hurried footsteps of others reverberate around me, a cacophony of desperation as they dash in various directions, their choices echoing against the cold stone. I can almost taste the tension in the air, thick and suffocating. My heart hurts knowing I’ll never se Dade again and I never got to say goodbye to him. He’ll probably be watching all this upstairs. I take in a deep breath. I will not put him through the agony of watching me die. I will survive this. I have to.

Which way to go? The long path ahead offers no comfort; its darkness feels alive, ready to swallow any flicker of hope I cling to. The left seems too constricted, an uncertain alley that might offer safety or ensnare me in its grasp. The right, with its beckoning light, calls out, yet I can’t shake the feeling that it could lead to even greater peril.

Every instinct screams at me to act, to make a choice, but the weight of indecision bears down on me. I can’t afford to hesitate. My heart races as I make a split-second decision and dart toward the right, praying that the flicker of light signals hope rather than another cruel twist in this treacherous maze. The walls seem to shift around me, closing in as I plunge into the darkness, forcing me to confront the dread lurking in every shadow.

The light at the end of the pathway grows brighter as I race forward, my footsteps echoing against the stone walls. The vines seem to reach out, grasping at my ankles, trying to slow my progress. I push onward, my lungs burning with each labored breath, the claxon's blare fading behind me.

Suddenly, the passage opens into a vast chamber; the light revealing a scene that stops me dead in my tracks. In the center of the room stands a towering stone altar. Surrounding the altar are dozens of hooded figures, their faces obscured by shadows, their chanting rising in a haunting crescendo.

I freeze, realizing too late that I've stumbled into something far more sinister than a mere maze. The figures turn towards me, their chanting ceasing abruptly. As they start moving toward me, I see what it was they were guarding. A massive cake stands in the centre of the altar.

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