Page 178 of House of Lilith

So it’s only when I turn on my heel and move for the door that I realize I haven’t told Vasilisa anything about the Judge figurine.

But she’s finally told me her story and she can’t really give me anything more than that.

Besides, I can feel it in my bones, that I already know what the figurine is all about. There’s someone out there looking for revenge, and I don’t know why, butthat’show they think they’ll get it.

*

For the Fifth Game, the very last one, they’re taking us back into the Arena. And this is where it all started, nearly a year ago. So it’s with bitterness in my mouth that I walk next to Max, letting the noisy, unruly crowd take me down the same path I walked with him that time, from the Dame Gothel statue and across the fields to the north, the sun shining bright above us.

And there’s so much excitement on the faces of all the people around me, but all I can think about is how it could happen. How the revenge could take place.

Will it be a sudden attack during the Game or will the Game itself be part of it all?

There are a million questions like that swarming in my head, but they all remain unanswered.

And soon, I find myself entering the Arena through the back, the world falling silent around me as I follow Max down the hallway to the players' entrance.

All four of them are already there, standing around the door into the Ring. Ricky. Aine. Lorcan. Him.

And when my eyes first land on him, it makes me feel good to see how well it worked, my little chat with Vasilisa. He catches my eye for a second and then looks away, but besides the bitterness, I feel absolutely nothing at all, I think with a smile tugging at my lips.

When the two of us come to stand close to them, no one says a word. We all give each other quick nods, except for me and a certain someone ignoring each other, and that certain someone throwing Max another one of those nasty little smiles.

But the atmosphere is a tense one, there being four Fiains and only two Grimms in the finals not helping.

So no one makes any small talk. No one even says anything.

Luckily, almost as soon as we join, the door into the Ring opens and the noise spills out, making me take a deep breath, throw an excited glance at Max and start walking in.

The temporary Guardian of the Obscura is already waiting for us at the center of the Ring, the Box in his hands, with the Pied Piper and Gleason once again substituting for the Archon as the Fiain Academy representative.

And we do the little ceremony, us players bowing and retreating to the edge of the Ring, the audience clapping, the two representatives activating the Box by shaking hands…

It all just makes me want to keep rolling my eyes, that’s how tiresome it is.

But then the Guardian opens the Box, and as the Pied Piper and Gleason leave for the Pied Piper's booth, he takes a figurine out.

My heart skips a beat.

Hourglass. It’s the hourglass figurine, I tell myself, breathing a sigh of relief.

And he flings it in the air and goes to take a seat in his chair with the Box in his hands.

For a second, there’s almost total silence.

The next thing I know, the people in the audience are letting out a low murmur as an enormous hexagonal board with stairs along its edges shoots out from the ground and falls back down with a monstrous thud.

My eyes round in surprise when I see the elaborate central stone tower, the city, the forest, the mountain...

Shadowscape, I think to myself, a sudden thrill flooding me.

Hourglass flips and the sand starts running, but the six of us remain pinned in place for a moment, assessing the situation.

I throw a glance at Max, who smiles at me and says, “I guess we’ll be having ourselves a rematch, cupcake.”

I throw a smile back, but it only gets bigger once we walk up to the hexagon and I see the thrones, one at each tip of the six-sided structure.

Fucking thrones. We won’t just be standing around the board, I think as I start circling it, trying to pick one for myself.

---