Silver

Chapter Twenty: A Walking Nightmare

Arlo

A voice sang softly in the background, sounding so lost and vulnerable.

I opened my sleep deprived eyes, looking around the room and not comprehending for a second what my eyes were seeing.

"Ariel?" I questioned, seeing her walking around, singing softly to herself. "You okay, Angel?"

She either did not hear my question or chose to ignore it as she continued on singing.

She was twirling around in circles with enthusiasm, but her eyes were closed and under them were deep purple bruises.

She looked hauntingly beautiful and my heart ached for the torture she's going through. Judging by the hourglass, it's been a few days since this game started and it looked like she was going to drop on to the ground any minute now.

I guess the only things keeping her awake is sheer determination to save Trenton. And that itself is a puzzle. I didn't know if she's driven by guilt or if it's the mate bond, but she's adamantly ignoring the rest of us for the time being.

So far, the group has been divided into two sides.

Cameron, Leon, and Scott has been trying to convince Ariel for the past few days to end the deal and let Trenton be killed. They never did harbor any feelings or care for Trenton in the first place.

Orion and I kept quiet, neither encouraging or discouraging her from the turmoil she threw herself into. It was clear, at least to the both of us, that no words would compel her to change her mind.

"She's not going to make it," Cameron murmured, drawing my attention away from Ariel who was now humming a familiar tune under her breath. If singing songs and dancing around was her way of getting through this, then so be it.

Cameron was watching the red sand slowly moving down the hourglass as it was a time bomb. "There's no way she's going to make it, Arlo."

He regarded me with solemn eyes which conveyed deep worry and sadness for her. "It's impossible to win this challenge and you know it. No living being has or ever will survive this. There's just no way, man."

I sighed, tearing my eyes away from the hourglass to look at Ariel once again. It was tiring just watching how tired she looked, as she paced the whole of the basement.

"I know," I muttered, watching as she twirled around the basement floor, pretending to be a ballerina. Her dance moves were ghost-like and I found it eerie, as if she was in a trance.

Each step was made with careful calculation as she was trying to move at the same time, her left foot with her left hand, and vice versa.

From across the room I spotted Trenton and sighed when I realized that he was still staring at the ground as if he was about to drill a hole into it.

From the day this damned game began, Trenton refused to speak to any of us, making it hard to pinpoint what he actually wanted. He asked for death but now that he's close to Death's door, is it still something he desired?

"Then tell her that," Cameron growled lowly to me. I raised an eyebrow by his sudden anger. "She's playing an impossible game right now, basically asking for death. She's never going to make it."

"You know as well as I that it's impossible to defer her from her actions," I said, glancing at Orion and Leon on the other side of the basement. They both wore devastated expressions on their faces but Leon's held more anger in it than Orion's.

"Leon's pissed," Cameron murmured to me, also watching him with caution. "If I didn't know better, I would say he's mad about the game that Lucius is playing with her."