Page 80 of Once a Villain
They seemed preoccupied, though. And a moment later, Joan learned why.
A terrible, hoarse sound reverberated through the stadium. It might have been a horn, but it was far more eerie—as if from a god of death.
It apparently signaled that a new round was beginning, because the crowd bellowed in delight.
And then everything darkened, and there was a collective gasp.
Joan turned. Outside, the arena had transformed into an ocean. Water rose to the height of the open windows—somehow without encroaching into the room. It sloshed and moved, seemingly contained by an invisible barrier at the perimeter of the arena.
“How is that possible?” Ruth breathed.
Joan shook her head. The impression of being underwater was so strong that she found herself holding her breath.
And then a dark shape passed by them, as long as the chamber itself. It was a creature with a spear-like head. It turned, unexpectedly nimble—like nothing Joan had ever seen.
“How did they getthatinto the arena?” Ruth wondered. “How did they even flood the space so quickly?”
“They didn’t,” Jamie said a little shakily. “That’s an ichthyosaur. I think we’re looking at the primeval ocean. When all of this was sea...”
Joan stared, her understanding reframing. Dappled light played at the top of the water; they were looking at the clear blue shallows of an ancient ocean. She could feel the immense power involved now—like the shock of heat when an oven door was opened. “Eleanor’s doing this,” she realized. Eleanor had brought forth this piece of the primitive world and had contained it in a bubble.
It hit her—viscerally then—what exactly they were up against. Eleanor truly wasn’t her sister anymore. She was more like the goddess people saw her as now.
As Joan thought that, dozens of people fell, like thrown stones, into the water, thrashing and terrified—Eleanor had sent them in for the entertainment of the crowd.
Some of them tried to surface, but many were already drowning, weighed down by their heavy tweed clothes, their shoes. The water frothed as huge creatures swam toward them, slashing with spear-like snouts. Joan flinched as blood bloomed through the water. One of the monstrous creatures had bitten into flesh.
Joan turned back to Nick and realized that he hadn’t been watching the horrors beside them. His eyes were on Joan.
“No one can survive that,” she said to him. It came out hoarse and pleading. He couldn’t go into that ocean.
Nick’s gaze roved over her face, as if trying to memorize her. “We’re still in the first act of the program,” he said. “A spectacle of beasts on land and at sea.The next round is gladiators versus criminals. I’ll go in as soon as it starts.” He touched her hand, and for a strange moment, it felt almost like they were here ontheir own. “It has to be done,” he said. “And I’m the only one who can do it.”
Joan swallowed around the sudden lump in her throat.
“I can feel the timeline weakening,” Jamie said, a little shakily.
“I can too,” Tom confirmed. “I can feel the damage. These deaths are breaking it down.”
“We need to go,” Nick said.
Jamie led them all to another chamber.
“OhGod,” Ruth said, and Joan started back in horror.
Dead gladiators were piled on the floor like bags of rubbish, most of them stripped to their underclothes. Their armor and weapons were neatly stored on shelves, treated with more respect than their bodies.
“The spoliarium,” Jamie murmured. “They’ll burn these bodies later.”
Outside, the crowd roared and roared, and Joan just wished they’d stop. Unable to help herself, she glanced over and saw that the people in the water were gone now, likely sunk from view into the depths of that ancient ocean.
Joan saw again in her mind’s eye how they’d thrashed in terror.
The gladiators’ bodies had been dragged from the arena because their weapons and clothes could be reused. But it seemed that the people in the water would be left where they’d died, millions of years from home.
She set her jaw and stepped carefully around the dead gladiators to grab a short sword and scabbard, belting it around herwaist. Then she helped Nick find clothes and sandals as the others took daggers and nets and shields—they could sort through what they had later.
As they finished, that eerie horn sounded again, and the room brightened with a snap, as if someone had switched on a light.
