The Immortal Games: The explosive new YA debut, for fans of LORE and THE HUNGER GAMES by Annaliese Avery

Author:Annaliese Avery [Avery, Annaliese]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2023-07-14T21:00:00+00:00

The sun is high and hot, the soft ground of the swamp far behind us, as my sandals kick up the dry ground. Out of the marshes, we quickly found a trader’s path south over the low mountains, not that we have seen any traders. “I’ve travelled this way many times with my uncle and cousins,” Solon told us when we stumbled across it a few hours after leaving Melia.

“My uncle is a cloth merchant, and twice a year we make a trip to gather silks from the port at Chalcis. We are usually part of a larger caravan of traders all travelling in the same direction – there are many dangers on the path, and not all of them are sent by the Gods!” he says with a raise of an eyebrow, before telling us tales of vicious sandstorms and attacking bandits.

As the unrelenting sun beats upon me, I half think that a sandstorm might bring some welcome relief. If Solon is right, we have weeks of travel ahead of us. I look down at my dust-covered legs and pull my sticking tunic away from my body.

I’m so relieved when the murmurs of stopping and resting become overwhelming and Theron and Thalia, who have become the leaders of our little band of tokens, suggest that we find some shelter just off the path and rest from the midday sun. The earth may be dry here, but I can see the tops of lush, dense forests in the distance, and scattered in this rockier terrain are small islands of thick bush and small trees.

We head towards a thicket, its shade a welcome relief. Thalia suggests that we can make up time by walking into the night when it’s not so hot, but I don’t mention it to Acastus as we sit together, his cape hoisted above us as if we are children making camp.

I share my water among the group and Acastus uses his cornucopia to feed everyone. I realize that if the two of us were to perish then the others would have to fend for themselves when it came to provisions, but they are happy enough to take from our favours and we are happy enough to share.

Heli sits close by us; she’s holding a small golden trinket in her hand and watching as the sunlight makes it shine. “What’s that?” I ask her.

She looks round at me, her eyes wide. “They’re the scales of truth; Athena was just here and gave them to me. Didn’t you see her?” She holds the small set of golden scales up to the light. The scales are on a chain around her neck, and I see that one of the plates has a brass heart on it, and the other a copper feather.

Acastus and I both look around us. “We didn’t see her, but I don’t think that’s how it works; I don’t think we can see each other’s Gods,” he says.

“That makes sense,” Nestor says. “And I think the way that they visit is linked to their power somehow, all of the things that they have control over.

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