Vengeance (The Prince's Games Book 1) by Rebecca Grey (electric book reader TXT) 📕

reach from the snakes. The wolf's team is long gone from our view. Dead end.

"No. I'm fine." I lie, not really feeling fine at all. But at least I know that I'm not going to bleed out in the way that Hedda's suggesting. She really is a Human curious creature. She never asks Marcello these questions.

My socks slap against the ground as we walk, feeling heavy with moisture. The farther we go, the more dust collects on the mud and the dark brown eventually changes to a lighter one. Behind me, every step I've made is marked.

Everyone else stays quiet, listening as other teams shout to one another within the maze. How close are we to the next obstacle? It takes a few different paths of finding dead ends and making our way back as we explore to find the exit before there's a stretch of silence in the entire arena.

"Do you think the other teams made it through already?" Sloane asks.

"Surely not, dear," Finnegan answers.

"Do you think they've all been killed?" I ask, drawing their frowns to the back of our caravan.

"So soon? Not likely." Marcello sighs. "If everyone died in the first event there wouldn't be any more entertainment."

Another turn and then another until I'm certain we've already seen this path and the one before. It all looks the same. Identical long green walls of slipping and sliding snakes who hiss and stretch out at every opportunity. The long walk is silent as we listen for waiting danger. I'm more nervous about hearing nothing than I am about hearing screaming.

For hours we move in this fashion. Up a hall, down another, always looking for the next bit of danger that never comes. Halls end with no promises that bring us closer to the end of this maze.

I hate mazes. Every year when the summer harvest comes to an end the farmers put one up for the kids to run through. It's much smaller than the one I've been wandering today, and this one is filled with screams where the other is filled with giggles. Still, today has ruined mazes for me for the rest of my life. I'll never do one again, I swear, as if the promise to the Saints will get me through this faster.

Hedda pushes on ahead with the Vampires at her back. She lets out a surprised gasp as she takes another bend. Finnegan and Sloane turn around to look at us before we make the turn. They each press a finger to their lips begging us not to make a sound.

My wound throbs as my heartbeat hammers on. I walk faster, pressing my hand into Marcello's back to push him to move just as fast. Juilliard stays a pace behind me, keeping a respectable distance that I don't allow Marcello.

When the scales of serpents give way to our next horrifying view, I suck in all the air around me, swearing that I've left none for anyone else. The end of the maze waits. A long hall, without any more reptiles, will lead us to a place where we can heal and prepare for another day.

If I sprint, I can get there in a few short minutes. If I sprint, I'll run right into the shining silver web of the spider whose legs are just as long as I am tall. A hundred eyes blink, but not one of them is looking at us.

Every predatory stare of the beady arachnid eyes remains focused on one thing, the wolf girl who had helped me out of the mud not long ago. Her entire team is gone except one girl who stands at the exit, shouting up to her.

"Noor, hang on! I'll find a way to get you down." The Vampire's glowing eyes search the ground for something, anything to use, but there isn't anything around but the spider, its web, and us watching from a distance.

Noor doesn’t call back. Her face twists with the realization that this will be how she dies. The spider lunges forward.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where I come from, Hybrids don't help you. And if they do, it’s only for their own personal gain. Maybe that's all that small exchange had been between Noor and myself. She helped me so she could help herself.

So why can't I help it when I let out a scream of my own when the spider moves? My voice cuts through the air, synchronizing with Noor's own shriek of panic.

Strings of white web are curled around her body, holding her hostage to the spider. A black buzzing camera flies around them like a gnat.

"Hey!" I push through the group. Without a thought, I lift my arms to wave at the creature and draw its attention away. Agony spikes. All the air within me rushes out of my lungs as I double over to hold my side.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I curse myself. Let the girl die. Let her die and you can make it around the web and into the fucking Safe Haven.

A hundred eyes blink in random order, all fixated on the woman. Not a single one turns to watch me or us. Its mouth opens revealing not just a regular mouthful, but layers upon layers of teeth. A shrill shriek escapes the creature. So Human-like that I shudder.

It blows the loose strands of silk away from Noor's face and a tremble runs through her body as well. I open my mouth again and Marcello is at my side.

"It's a demonacci spider. It's deaf and can't hear you, that's why it has so many eyes." He ignores my grunt of pain and turns me to the edge of the large open square area the spider has built its home in. "We must go."

My eyes flick from the girl, to the spider, then