Page 3 of Strongest Souls

I lift my chin and hold his dead stare. “I am alive because the queen wants to see me.”

He laughs, a sound that grates over my skin and hurts my teeth. Joe’s tail tightens on my wrist in warning. But the fear I once had of monsters has evaporated. They are just people who are lashing out, even though they’ve forgotten who they once were, they wear the scars of their past in their claws and scales and tails.

“And if she doesn’t want to see me, I am free to leave?”

“You will stay here and wait until you are ready to see her,” the green one, with mandibles like an insect, says.

“I am ready now.” But as he moves closer, I’m not sure I am. My heartbeat quickens. I’m not afraid of him. I’m afraid of failing so close to freedom.

“You are not.” He pokes me in the chest with one hard finger. “You are unchanged.”

I see myself reflected in his large green eyes. I am a mess in my ripped clothes and with my dirty hair, but I am human, aside from my claws.

If she won’t see me because I am unchanged, she must not want to eat me. If she wanted to eat me, at least I’d know what to expect. I take a step toward him, dragging Joe with me because he won’t release my wrist. “Why does that matter?”

The shark like one snarls. “No more questions. You will wait.”

“And when only two of you remain, you will be given an audience with the queen,” Green says.

They back away like they are suddenly afraid, then Green pulls a rope, and a door made of bones drops into place, trapping the three of us inside the cave.

“No!” I launch myself at the bars and the bones rattle. But the guards don’t turn around. “You can’t keep us locked in here forever.”

They can’t, can they?

3

Joe

We are closer to the center than I ever thought we’d get. I am the closest to human I have been in a long time. And I am more exhausted than I ever remember being.

“At least no one will attack us while we are here.” That’s a good thing. I glance at Theo, and hope that he remembers he is on our side. He is only a little taller than me now, no longer the beast who carried us as he sprinted across Under toward the center. If he doesn’t eat, how long until he disappears again? Or will he just shrink until there is nothing left of him?

That our guards, and the queen, expects one of us to die is not comforting, but for the moment all I want to do is sit and rest. My heart aches for Michael even though I don’t think I loved him—I didn’t know what that was after I changed—but he was my friend and he deserved better than being stuck here. I should’ve helped him fight to hold on to his humanity instead of letting him go. There is more I should’ve done, but I was so wrapped up in my own changes and legs. My legs have caused so much trouble.

“If I was still part snake, I’d have been able to help fight the guards off, and we’d be on our way up the spire.” I slump against the wall.

How many others have sat here, after being grabbed, and been told to wait?

Julie leans against the cell door, her head resting on the white bones of the bars and her back rounded like she has lost all hope and is ready to give up.

Will Theo eat us if we ask him?

As much as being a monster is easy, I don’t want to go back to living that way. The rock is cold against my bare skin. The purple robe is lost, somewhere is the lake. I should have kept it, not that it offered much warmth, as now I am naked.

Theo picks up bones and inspects them. Is he looking for food or a weapon or a snack? I should fight him, as only one of us can survive if Julie is to see the queen. But I am not quite ready to end this. Theo will win, his talons will slice through me, and my guts will spill out before I even realize what has happened.

I frown. He doesn’t need a weapon if he is going to fight. “What are you doing?”

“We need to break out of here…and you need something to hit the monsters with.” He waves a bone that has a knobby joint attached to one end.

“Can we sit for a bit? Climbing is going to be hard and I’m human and kind of and exhausted.” If I need to stop, Julie must need the rest.

My stomach is tight with hunger, but I can’t eat monster parts anymore. Not now I have learned so much. How long until the need drives me to eat even though I don’t want to eat? I don’t even want to eat something that is already dead. My throat constricts at the thought.

Theo studies me with his ink-dark eyes. His mouth is a tooth filled circle that barely moves when he speaks, yet his voice is clear. I don’t flinch at the sight of him, or our monster guards. I have seen worse and weirder. I have been worse. They didn’t choose the way they look, at least not consciously. I prefer being able to see him instead of trying to guess what was going on inside the shadow, but Julie struggles.

“Rest?” Theo seems disappointed at the idea. “We are so close.”

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