Don't Let Go (Third Book to the Other Side)

Chapter Twelve

I had spent so long looking into those eyes, I could identify that shade of gray anywhere. Even when they were Changed. They had always been a source of comfort before. They stood for happiness. Love. But now? The only thing I saw in them now was hunger. Like that of a starving predator waiting for its next meal.

And yet, I couldn't look away. They held me in a trance, even as every single instinct screamed to run away. All I could do was stand there.

No. It's not him, I thought. It isn't possible. I watched him die. But deep down, I knew that there could never be a reasonable explanation for what I was seeing. It had to be him. There was nobody else who could capture the complexity of the entire world in those two eyes.

I never signed up for this. I never asked for this. I never wanted to fall for Thomas, and I never wanted to have him ripped away from me. But now? Why was the world so cruel? What had I done to deserve this?

"Alexander!" screamed a voice, and I closed my eyes as tightly as I could, hoping it would drown out the rest of the world. Maybe I'd wake up in my room, coated with sweat, Eliza slumbering peacefully besides me. But when I opened them, the darkness had overwhelmed everything again, leaving nothing visible. "Alexander, what's wrong with you?" Eliza's voice sounded, telling me she was somewhere to my right.

"You didn't see them?" I returned.

"See what?" demanded Eliza. I felt her hand grab my arm, and she let out a gasp of surprise. "Fuck, you're cold. We have to get out of here."

"I'm afraid there's no running," the King said calmly, as though this was a game to him. And why wouldn't it be? "Nowhere to go, now."

"Show yourself, you coward!" Eliza's voice ripped through the air, highlighted by pure and utter rage. But I heard the fear lurking behind her anger, like a wounded animal.

"Very well. But I am quite afraid you won't like what you see."

Instinctively, I closed my eyes so I wouldn't be blinded, but even with them shut I could still see the light that flooded the gazebo so suddenly. I opened them and adjusted to the brightness.

We were no longer in the gazebo. And we weren't in the maze, either. But rather, a wide arena covered in sand. An empty stadium sprung up around us, emphasis on the empty part; nobody would know what happened to us if we were killed. We were alone, and certainly nobody was going to help us now.

I narrowed my eyes, moving my hand up to block the sun beams shining directly into my face and blinding my vision. Sweat rolled off the sides of my face, but even despite how hot I was physically, something deep inside of me was chilled by those two glowing gray eyes.

It's a trick, it's a trick, it's not him, I repeated to myself, hoping that I would believe it. But if it was a trick, then Fredericks had managed to capture those eyes perfectly.

"Let's play a little game," the King's voice said, bounding off every wall of the colosseum. I spun, dagger suddenly in my hands. "If you beat my newest pet, I'll let you walk out of here with your lives. If not, well... let's just say it won't be fun to clean your blood up off of the sand. Let's keep it fair, shall we?"

"We have to get out of here," I heard Eliza hiss under her breath as Lafayette and Hercules fell into position, each of us facing a side of the arena with our backs to each other. "Hercules, can you transform us into light?"

"I'm working on it, but I don't think we can leave."

"Very astute observation," the King exclaimed from wherever he was hiding.