Capewood (Book I) *Completed*

Katherine

Did I just see Alicia kill the Reaper?

My jaw lies dropped on the floor as the two men from their post at the staircase run and surrounds Alicia. One of them lunges at her, and she barely has time to sidestep before Eros comes back on the intercom system.

"STOP!" he screams. "STOP IMMEDIATELY!"

For the first time since we've known this man, something about him seems shaken. There is a certain quiver to his voice, that although you know that he means business when he says stop he's still very much in distress.

"You-" he begins, but he cuts off. "You killed my Reaper," he says with a quake in his voice. "She was my first ever contestant to win so very long ago. She survived all of that, AND YOU TOOK HER FROM ME!" Screams Eros. We hear a loud bang and we all jump. It sounds like Eros is throwing things around his office. He continues throwing things around and very suddenly the noise stops.

A weak chuckle fills the intercom system, and soon the giggle turns into maniacal laughter. Soon Eros' sick laugh is the only thing that we can hear throughout the whole giant room that we are in. 'Very well," says Eros after his laughter dies down. "Congratulations, Alicia. You gave me a show! That means that you and the others get to have a night off. There will be no killings throughout this evening."

Each door to the cabins swing open and we all jump. "You will be allowed to come and go in the cabins as you see fit. Just relax tonight, Contestants, you'll need it." The static disappears, and while the guards are experiencing a visible sadness, they turn around and let go of Alicia. She turns around and runs towards the cabin that me and lovebirds are currently inhabiting and stomps into the room with a fury.

"What the actual hell, Katherine?!"

The truth is I instantly regretted slamming the door in her face. It was impulsive and reckless, and honestly, had she not survived that, I don't know if I'd have been able to live with myself.

"I didn't-" I begin but know that it is helpless. What happened happened, and while it was a good situation for not only Alicia, as everyone lacks a Reaper right now, I still did the worst thing imaginable to a friend. "I was so mad," I say sinking into the floor.

"What did we miss?" asks the jock boy. He and the pageant queen are currently curled up on the couch together. She gets up and closes the cabin door and locks it.

"Shut up!" says Alicia and I in unison together. We snap our heads back around to look at each other, and she lets out a bitter chuckle.

"You realize that this is an all-out war, right?" she questions. "The only reason my hand isn't wrapped around your neck right now is that he declared this night a no-kill night-"

"Can you two stop." says the pretty girl that came with the jock. She is sitting on the couch looking out in the room at something. I walk over to where she is, and no one is out there.

"What are you looking at?" I ask her

"Over there,"

She points to a single staircase in the corner of the room. It's a small staircase of no more than 12 steps and has a mysterious looking door at the top of it. "What is that?" I ask staring through the window. The girl looks at me with a concerned look.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," she says. "I want to get over there. It has to be serious if it's being guarded. Maybe it's an exit?"

"Or a control room," I say.

The jock and Alicia both follow behind us to look at the staircase. I look around at them and clear my throat. They all look at me intrigued, and I open up my mouth to speak, but for the first time, I don't know what to do.

I've always been the girl that has all the answers. Nothing has stopped me from being successful, because nothing has ever truly stumped me. This, this stumps me. Capewood isn't just some adventure that I can take without any consequences. Messing up is life or death. It's not a consequence that I'm prepared to face.

"I say that we go to it," says Alicia looking at the window. "I think it is time to take this competition that he has us in and start calling the shots. I'm tired of being someone's bitch. I'm going to take charge of my own life right now. Because right now, we don't have a choice."

"I agree with the Amazonian," says the jock looking around at us. "Sorry, I can't remember your name. Also, uh, can we talk about how you just killed one of the fiercest people I've ever seen? And you did it without the scythe for over half of the time? Respect, dude."

Alicia rolls her eyes and throws her head back. "It wasn't my proudest moment." There's a long silence between the four of us as we recall the events that just happened outside of the cabins. "My name is Alicia. This is Katherine," she says pointing at me.

"My name is Julian, and this is Autumn."

"So are we just going to stand around in this cabin all day, or are we going to look at that staircase?" asks Autumn impatiently. "I can't keep doing this. I feel myself starting to break."

We all nod and start to walk out of the cabin. We make our way across the long room, and when we get about halfway to the staircase, a loud noise starts coming from the ground. I shriek as the ground opens up, and slowly the maze starts to rise again. I quickly look into the corner of the staircase and figure out the direction needed to get there, and then before anyone can talk, I start hopping onto the top of the maze.

The others, thankfully, followed suit. We jumped a few of the walls before jumping off due to it being too high to get down after a certain point. We collapse against the wall and take a deep breath.

"That was quick thinking," says Julian as he sits down. Autumn places her head on his thigh, and he instantly begins rubbing her head. Alicia pulls out the small backpack we got from our first encounter in the cabin and throws out a pack of fruit snacks to everyone. Julian all but salivates at the sight of the processed fruit.

"Tomorrow we start towards the stairs," says Alicia. "One way or another, we are going to figure this out." she stands from her spot on the wall and stretches her long body. "I'm going to go scout ahead and hopefully figure out how to avoid any dead ends," she says walking off.

"Alicia!" I say as I get up and follow her. She doesn't stop walking. She just continues straight ahead without even looking at me. "I just wanted to let you know that I feel terrible about what happened, and I'm so sorry for locking you out of-"

"Save it," she says harshly. "You left me to die out there. We aren't friends, Katherine. Not anymore. If this whole staircase thing leads to nowhere, you better watch your back. I might even enjoy killing you."

I stop dead in my tracks as she walks ahead with a dead serious expression on her face.

Well, Katherine, you fucked up this time.