Page 103 of Kings & Chaos

There was no time to reconcile the two. The other teams were gathering at the edge of the cliff, and then Neo was next to me. I would have expected him to be happy — he’d forced my hand, was making me play a game every bit as bad as the one I’d refused to play earlier.

Instead, his face was drawn into an expression I’d never seen before.

He held out a hand. “Let’s go, Jezebel.”

My mouth had gone dry, my heart beating so fast I thought it would jump out of my chest. “I can’t. I… literally can’t.”

“Bullshit,” he said.

Rock had appeared next to Oscar, and I looked at the two of them for help, already knowing it wasn’t going to happen.

“I fucking hate you all.”

Oscar looked at Neo and shook his head. “Fuck you, bro.”

I blinked in surprise. I’d never heard them fight.

“Fuck you too,” Neo said. “If you and Rock hadn’t been babying her all this time, we wouldn’t be here, and you know it. I’m cleaning upyourmess.”

“Do I even get a say in this?” I shouted, glad the music was still playing. The other teams might see us arguing, but they’d hardly blame me for being pissed about being put up for the third game in a row.

“No,” Neo said. “It’s happening. You can either jump by yourself and hope for the best, or you can let me tell you what you need to know to survive and I’ll jump with you. Now take my fucking hand, Jezebel.”

I looked back at Rock and Oscar, but Rock just tipped his head to Neo. “It’s better if you go. He knows what to do.”

I thought of Emma. Whatever she’d been through, it was worse than this. I knew it even though I didn’t dare think too much about it.

I could do this for her.

I had to.

I drew in a shuddering breath and walked past Neo, ignoring his hand.

He fell into step behind me and pulled me to the side of the crowd gathering at the edge of the cliff. The celebratory atmosphere had vanished in favor of a tense silence broken only by the soft murmurs of the other teams giving their players instructions and encouragement.

“Take off your jeans and shirt,” he said. “Your socks and shoes. Everything but your bra and underwear.”

“It’s freezing,” I said. It was just occurring to me that the water was going to be frigid. “We’ll die of hypothermia.”

“It’ll be worse if you let your clothes get soaked,” he said. “Colder, heavier in the water.”

He started to strip and I followed suit, too terrified to even admire his stupid perfect body and the angel tattoo that had caused him to shove me out of the shower.

“We’ll jump together,” he said as he pulled off his shirt. “You want to get a running start, push out from the edge of the cliff to avoid the rocks, and—”

“What rocks?” The closest I’d come to seeing the quarry during daylight had been the first quarry party, when it had been almost sunset, and I’d been too terrified of the abyss below to admire the topography.

“The cliff juts out just under the edge, and again toward the bottom. We have to jump out to clear it.”

I shook my head. “This is… this is insane.”

“Hold on to my hand all the way down,” Neo said, like I hadn’t spoken. “Now listen, because this part is important. When you hit the water, you’re going to go into shock. You’re right — it’s going to be fucking cold. You have to consciously hold your breath, because when it’s that cold, your instinct is to suck in air.”

“I’ll drown,” I said. Panic was clawing its way back up my throat, and I was shivering now that I had my shirt and jacket off.

“You’re not going to drown,” he said. “Not if you do what I say. Hold your breath, and hold on to my hand. We’re lucky, because there’s a little bit of moon tonight. We’ll be able to see the surface, differentiate it from the bottom. On a dark night, that’s a lot harder.”

I felt maniacal laughter spill out of my throat.Luckywasn’t the word that came to mind when I thought about the shit show that was my life at the moment.

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