Page 104 of Taking Jenny
“Jenny Hollinger, you made it!” Frost said behind me.
I was baffled by what had just happened. “I did?”
“Yes, yes, this is very exciting! Come along.” He ushered me toward an onworlder.
This one was gold and purple and black, lush and majestic. I sat inside and before he shut the door, I asked Frost, “Am I dead?”
He laughed, patting my arm. “You are very much alive.”
Then, he shut the door for me. He seated himself in the driver’s seat, and we drove on rough dirt roads away from the hunting ground.
None of it felt real. After everything that had happened, it was so…anticlimactic. No big finish. No fanfare. No screaming crowd or epic declaration. Just…cross the finish line. At Justice’s command.
Justice just…let me go. What the actual fuck?
I stared down at my hands like they belonged to someone else. My fingers were raw, scraped. My knuckles bloodied. Ineeded proof that this wasn’t some cruel hallucination. I balled one hand into a fist and smacked my arm.
I winced. Yeah, that hurt a little.
I did it again.
“Stop that!” Frost insisted.
“I just…” My voice cracked with emotion. “I can’t believe this is happening. That I’m still alive. Where are we going?”
“The palace,” he said as he turned the vehicle in that direction. “You will be given the remainder of the day to rest and tonight, another ball.”
I was so exhausted, I wanted to cry. “Another ball?”
He nodded and beamed at me. “At this one, you will be given your Illiapol rewards.”
Illiapol rewards?I couldn’t even make sense of that, so I didn’t even try.
Once we arrived at the palace, all gleaming obsidian and violet banners, Frost escorted me to my room.
Tentatively, I followed him, feet sore, muscles aching. “I’m just supposed to trust that no one is going to attack me here?”
“I was only told to bring you here,” he said in a neutral tone. “I am not sure what happens after that.”
My yawn started, and I thought it would never stop. My body had clearly reached its limit and was officially shutting down.
“Sorry, um, oh, here.” Remembering the gift he’d given me at the start of the trial, I unclipped the bracelet and handed it to him. “Turns out, I didn’t need it.”
He took the bracelet. “Thank you. My daughter will need it next year, it would seem.”
Confusion rippled through me. “Wait, what do you mean?”
“Justice did not appreciate me sounding the siren when the hunters entered the hunting ground, even though it is my mandate to do so.” His gaze was filled with dismay.
“And now, your daughter will pay for that?”
Frost nodded once, his expression a mix of weariness and guilt. “Justice has a way of reminding us of our place.”
I set my hand on his forearm. A small comfort, maybe, but it was something. “Not if I have anything to say about it,” I said, my voice hoarse with emotion. “Though…I don’t know what that might be.”
He smiled kindly, despite the fear Justice had instilled in him. “I appreciate the sentiment, but there is nothing to be done when Justice makes up his mind.” He paused, then bowed slightly. “Pleasant dreams, Jenny Hollinger.”
I swallowed hard and let him go.
