Four Against One; Two Fight Three

Chapter 5

My foot slammed into the junk pile as I lept over it. The boy was right on my heels. I told him to go, fix more power. I skidded around a corner, following the intense burn in my arm. I heard a generator sing as it came to life. The Wraith's bell rang in the night. I bounded over another barrier. Mark struggled against the Entity's claw – had it been that long!? It reared back for the final blow as his strength failed him. I sprung forward. The claw caught my arm. I sailed by. The crack rumbled through the air as the Entity's claw came with me. Ignoring my burning shoulder, I pulled Mark off the hook. We ran. The horn sounded. Warmth pulled us south. When our hearts left our ears, Mark pulled me into the shadows.

"Your arm!" he hissed, worry masking all else.

My shoulder had stopped bleeding. Instead, it crackled with black and orange energy, burnt to a crisp without pain. I tried to scratch it away, but Mark stopped me.

"We don't know how it interacts with the Entity."

I growled in frustration. "Let me deal with your wounds, then."

Mark hesitated, then sat back. When I went to tend to his injuries, the black ran out of my arm, burning on its way down. We both bit back sounds of pain.

"Okay, creepy infection acts first."

"Least its got a spark to it."

I gave Mark a flat look. He shrugged. "Look, I already told those two the plan. We should just search for the trapdoor."

I rubbed the burnt skin on my arm. An expanse of broken cars lay around us, and my hope plummeted. Mark shook me a little.

"Ani, c'mon. We can do this. We have people waiting for us, we can't let them down."

"We can't get caught," I replied. "Both of us were almost sacrificed."

"We'll be fine. I believe in us."

We exchanged expressions. His soft smile drew out my own. "I'll figure out how you do that, one day."

"When a lot of people look up to you, you need something to show." He helped me up and we started out search. My arm started to pulse in dull pain, accented when we were close to the edge of the arena. It disappeared when we would hear the Wraith's bell. Wordlessly, we split whenever it rang, out of sight before the Wraith knew where to look. When it sounded again, we'd regroup. It took far longer then I wanted to finally find the trapdoor, but when we did, I grabbed Mark's shirt.

"We never got the key."

Instead of the hopeless feeling I had, Mark offered me a grin. "I have a plan on that. I hope."

I frowned, but followed him. He crouched down next to the trapdoor and pointed to my arm once I followed suit. I grimaced.

"You owe me if this hurts," I muttered. Nothing about it seemed safe, given what my arm had been doing already.

"Anything you want, but we need to get out of here, first."

The apology hung in his tone. I took a deep breath and grabbed the handle. My jaw clenched when the energy shot through me. A bolt of lightning ran down my arm. I choked back a scream as the trapdoor flew open. Mark caught me before I collapsed to the ground. We dove into the shadows, landing in the dark mist.

I tried to stand on my own, but my knees were weak. Far above, the trapdoor snapped shut. I let out an airy laugh.

"I can't believe--"

Mark was gone.

The black mist surrounded me, only my own skin illuminated by some unseen light.

Cheat!

I clamped my hands over my ears.

Pawns lost

Cheat a life!

Cheat alone.

I screamed as bonds snapped around my wrists, forcing them behind me. My body buckled, then slammed into a chair. Cords pulled tight to keep me still. My cry was cut short by a cloth tying around my mouth.A shrill sound echoed around me.

Tk, pah. Tk pah.

Footsteps behind me echoed with the shrill. I felt someone lean close to my ear, their breath cold. My breath caught. My heart threatened to break my chest. An all too familiar voice chuckled.

"Did you miss me?"