Page 64 of Lust

I check my Hell Cell every two minutes, awaiting Noémi's message, and finally, it arrives:

MEET DOWN AT THE EARTHERY IN TEN MINUTES. DO NOT ARRIVE WITH YOUR PARTNER. THEY WILL BE ARRIVING LATER.

I’m already dressed to go, but my insides are in turmoil. My heart skips as the platform lowers me down past Dade’s room. The urge to go to jump off the platform and knock at his door to see if he is ok is overwhelming, but I know if I do that, we’ll either lose points or be thrown out of the games. It’s a miracle we didn’t get caught together last night by Noémi as it is. I have to go down to the Earthery without him.

Stepping into the atrium, a sudden eruption of screams catches me off guard, momentarily freezing me in place. Memories from the previous night come rushing back, echoing in my mind—the encounter with the demons. A surge of fear courses through me, mingling with adrenaline as I wonder if Dade was wrong and the Demons are coming to attack. But when I look closely, it’s not just demons screaming, but people, too. They are screaming at me, but smiling. I swallow my fear as I try to understand what’s going on. Stretching out before me, two golden barriers run in parallel, framing a long red carpet that extends from the entryway at the base of the platform to the elevator doors. A multitude of people stand amidst the crowd, enthusiastically waving flags and brandishing posters. I catch sight of one nearby, bearing the words “Juliette, get in my bed.”

A sense of awe washes over me as I survey my surroundings. Suddenly, my own image appears on the immense screen positioned at the far end of the restaurant. The projected image of me waves and playfully licks her lips. This isn’t an onslaught. Everyone is out to cheer for the Inferno Games competitors.

I spot two of the competitors I spoke to last night waiting for the elevator, so I walk quickly, stopping only to sign a couple of autographs.

“Hi, Hannah. Hi, Oliver,” I say, hoping I remembered their names correctly. Both nod and smile, saying, “Hi, Quinn.” I suppose last night wasn’t a complete waste of time; at least we now know each other’s names, and as no one corrects me, I'm assuming I got this right.

Oliver is good looking in a bland way with neatly brushed hair, brown eyes and glasses. Hannah is much more striking, with long poker-straight blonde hair, deep brown eyes and plump red lips. Her gorgeous yellow dress seems almost wasted seeing as she’ll look like someone else in someone else’s clothing for most of the day.

“I'm not looking forward to this,” Oliver whispers. “Just because I'm a gay man doesn't mean I belong in this group. Almost everyone else is a woman, and there's a good chance I'm going to end up being... well, I don’t know how to be a woman. I’ve never wanted to be one.”

“Oh, honey,” Hannah says, putting her arm around his shoulder, “None of us know how to be other people. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I think we’ll all be doing the same. We're all worried.”

Oliver shakes his head. “I don’t want to do this. I've never been one for acting or pretending to be something I'm not. I wish they'd picked my partner; he would have been fantastic. He was actually an actor in real life.”

“Honey, at least you're down here with someone you knew in real life. I'm partnered up with someone I barely know, and the things we had to do in the last trial would make your toes curl. I suppose that makes this trial easier for me, because my partner barely knows me at all. He sure knows what I look like naked, but I doubt he could pick me out of a lineup.”

I can barely hear them over the sound of the crowd, and I’m glad when the elevator doors open and we get in.

Hannah turns to me. “What about you? Did you know Dade before you came to Hell?”

I shake my head. “I met him in Purgatory.”

“Yeah.” Hannah sighs. “I guess the last trial was difficult for you, too?”

The memories of the two parts of the first trial leave a worse taste in my mouth than the demon blood I almost swallowed last night. “Put it this way, there's a good reason we got low points in the first trial.”

She gives me a curious look. “You mean you two didn’t…” she follows it up with an obscene gesture.

“Nope,” I reply, with a tinge of regret.

Hannah looks at me with astonishment and shakes her head. “Honey, if Dade was my partner, you couldn't keep me away. Hell, I wouldn't need Hell Magic for me to jump his bones. You’d need to keep me away; have you seen the guy?”

Yes, I have, and that’s half the problem

I'm grateful when the doors open, and I can escape Hannah and Oliver.

It’s eerily quiet down here compared to upstairs in the atrium, and it’s clear that it’s been cleared out for us. Noémi greets us with her usual exuberance. Today she’s wearing a pink dress that skims her thighs and leaves very little to the imagination. Her make-up is much more pronounced than usual, with glittery pink eye shadow and bright crimson lips.

“Bonjour, Quinn. Good morning.” She gives me a hug which sends a shiver of desire rushing through me, which dissipates when she moves on to Oliver and Hannah.

“Bien. Now we weel proceed to ze Earthery. Remember, as soon as you pass through ze doors, you weel transform into someone else. You'll know ‘oo you are, but your voices will mimic zem, and your appearance will match. Ze Earthery weel shape itself accordingly as soon as you step through ze doors, and you're in charge of acting like zem, imitating their accents. So, please, don't use your own accent eef you want to survive zis round.”

“Where’s everyone else?” I was hoping to see Juliette and Rowena before we started the trial.

“I ‘ave staggered you, trois at a time to ‘elp the Earthery acclimatize. Eet ees a very powerful theeng, changing ze appearance of so many people. Ready to go inside?”

I'm a bundle of nerves as we march in single file toward the Earthery doors. Pain and longing twist horribly in my stomach at the memories of the last time I was in here with Dade. It was less than twenty-four hours ago and yet, it feels so surreal that I could have dreamed it. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath as Noémi guides me through the doors. Hannah steps out in front of me, swallowed by the darkness. Then it’s my turn.

The world fades into obscurity as the darkness swallows me whole. It only takes a few seconds for another world to form around me. A room appears as bland and boring as it can be. I guess to give no hints to who I really am. It's barely more than four gray walls, a plain carpet, and a couple of sofas. The only thing of interest in the room is a tall mirror. Looking down, I see that I’m a woman. I’m not Juliette or Rowena. The dress is wrong. I also cross off Hannah and Anthura. Anxiety takes hold as I approach the mirror. I don’t know how long I have before the trial starts and I need to get into character.

My breath hitches in my throat and I cringe as I see who I am. Long blonde hair in waves cascades down over my shoulders, and the face that should be beautiful, but seems to be in a permanent sneer, marking it as ugly, stares back at me in an expression that is all mine.

---