The Arena - The Moon Trilogy - Book #2

Chapter twenty-one:

Several people rushed to Johnny's side at the same time, but Clarity was closer and faster than any of the others. She crouched by his side and checked to see if he was still breathing. With a sigh of relief, she saw that he was.

The burn on his shoulder was worse than she'd first thought. The scales had been completely charred and melted away within the circumference of the wound. It oozed blackened, thickly-flowing blood. Some of the flesh was pink and angry.

After what seemed like a long time, his eyes flickered open. Only his eyes moved as he scanned the people around the room. His gaze finally came to rest on Clarity.

"I'm impressed." A familiar voice drifted from the other side of the cell door. She looked up to see Eric, a passive expression on his face. No more of the hot anger from before. "I must admit, I really wasn't expecting him to win. Not from his performance as an agent, anyway." His cool, grey eyes scanned the room. He almost looked bored. The thought brought a nauseous sense of anger into the pit of her stomach, churning there like acid.

There was a moment of silence as his eyes paused shortly on each of them in turn. She felt the hot feeling in her gut flare up when his steely eye met her own.

"There will be another fight in a few moments. You should all be ready, in case one of the contenders happens to be you." With that, he walked away.

Clarity briefly noted that he was limping, favoring his right leg, but then more pressing matters took over as she let what he had said sink in. There would be another fight, and there was a chance she would be in it.

She didn't want to fight anyone. She wanted all of it to stop. She didn't understand why Eric Lance had to be so cruel.

She moved over to the bench on the left-most side of the room and sat down with a huge sigh, and as soon as she had, everyone but Clara moved to do the same, as if her movement had broken a spell. Clara's face was pinched in worry as she knelt over Johnny's side, probing the wound with delicate fingers, assessing the damage.

The room was silent until Clara finished her examination and rose to her feet, the soles of her shoes kicking up dust that swirled into the air. Johnny made a noise that only vaguely resembled a sneeze. It was close enough to make an educated guess that it was one, though.

"What are we supposed to do now? There's no way we're breaking out of here, but we can't stay, or we'll get killed." Rachel's voice was loud in the silence that had fallen. The frown on her face was deeper than the one that usually took up residence there. She crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall.

"There's nothing to do but wait for an opportunity to present itself." Alex looked over at her with a similar frown.

The statement ended the conversation, and they waited in silence. Each one of them was wondering if they were going to participate in the next fight. The quiet was tense and thick; almost tangible.

Clarity closed her eyes and mentally practiced different techniques that she might be able to use; running over the stances and moves, the offenses and defenses. But even so, she was careful not to remember the little studio where she'd learned them. The memory of the last time she'd tried teleporting and the burning pain were still fresh in her mind.

Her eyes snapped open when she heard the cell door click. Two metal-clad guards were standing there. Although she wanted nothing more than to stay seated, she felt herself getting to her feet.

She knew from experience that it was August controlling her.

She tried to stop, to pull away, but as soon as she tried to break free, her muscles began to ache and her thoughts became muddled. It reminded her of when she'd "died".