EQAO

Chapter 30 - A Tough Choice

As my eyes adjusted to the light, I walked forward blindly. My stomach lurched like I'd just missed a stair step, and I fell. The cold water stunned me, and I sank deeper, helplessly.

Now is when I die.

But then, as if in response to my thought, I felt the water lift me up. I was on dry land, coughing, as the water washed away from me. I rolled onto my back, and opened my eyes. Above me, I could see the clear blue sky and the sun shining on my face. There was something wrong with it all though. Like it wasn't real.

I slowly sat up. I was in another arena, but this one was different. I was sitting on a small island of sand, and surrounding me on all sides, was water. It wasn't very wide, but it looked like I could sink down for ages. The bleachers were all empty, except for a single brunette-haired woman who was sitting straight ahead of me, and was grinning like she'd just become the queen of the world. Ms. Gerdalli. She stood up, and walked towards me until she was on the edge of the water.

"Well done, Jessica Rombu, you've won this year's E.Q.A.O. Games." she said, impassive.

"So you'll let my friends and I go?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Go?"

She shook her head in mock regretfulness,

"No no no, my dear. You know too much. We can't have you telling all my secrets. Besides, it wouldn't make much difference for your friends."

Panic rose up inside of me,

"What have you done to them?"

"Nothing, yet." she said innocently, "But if you don't hurry, they'll run out of oxygen down there."

"Down-?"

A horrific realization struck me. They were under the water. I gulped.

She's bluffing. Your friends are safe somewhere else.

But I knew I was wrong. As if reading my mind, Ms. Gerdalli clapped her hands twice, and suddenly, four bodies appeared just below the surface of the water on all sides of me. They were floating just inches away from oxygen, from life. I wanted to run to them, to save them. But I was frozen to the spot.

"Join me." Ms. Gerdalli said, "You are powerful, but without training and guidance. Together, we could be unstoppable. Join me, and I will let your friends live."

I could save my friends. They could still have a chance to live.

What choice do I have? Say no, and let my friends die? But then, I thought about what I would be agreeing to. This was the woman who murdered hundreds of kids for pure entertainment. This was the woman who put me in this position in the first place, and had tried to kill my friends and I! And now, I was going to team up with her, and help her kill countless more people, just so I could have my friends back? And would she even keep her promise, I had no reason to trust her. No, she was a monster that had to be stopped, no matter the cost. My eyes started watering.

"I'm sorry." I whispered to my best friends in the whole world.

I took a deep breath, and said loudly,

"No."

She narrowed her eyes at me,

"What?

"I will never, ever join you. I would rather die."

I expected my voice to tremble, but it didn't. Instead, it sounded determined.

"Then so be it." she hissed, "You will die along with your friends."

"No!" I screamed.

And then, the explosion happened.