The Tournament by Kate Sheeran Swed

Author:Kate Sheeran Swed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Spells & Spaceships Press

CHAPTER 16

Ironically, the up-sloping bridge that leads me through the cavern crisscrosses with Noah’s down-sloping bridge at fairly frequent intervals. Even when we say goodbye, it’s like the ship wants to push us together.

I pause to check my tech, which is working fine—go Mom—but he doesn’t get far ahead of me. He crosses five meters below, then ten, then five again.

I do my best to ignore him. I have to.

I’m not sure what the point of the bridges is—they’d be useless for carrying materials—and it seems to me that that Xavier’s had this entire area repurposed for the tournament.

Waste, waste, waste.

There are lights here, at least, though there’s just a thin rope for a rail, strung between periodic poles. I watch my step, my head thrumming even after I dig out my water bag and a soggy nutrition bar. The air still feels damp, cavelike, and my clothes are slow to dry.

In other words, it’s a pleasant, leisurely stroll.

Step by damp, chafing step, my bridge carries me up. I pass through and over pillars of rock, trying to imagine the minds that decided to gut a miniature planet and spin it across the galaxy. Mostly, I just want to keep imagining the warm bed waiting for me back on Aurelius. Even if I lose, I figure I can talk them into letting me sleep there for one more night.

That has to be the dehydration talking. Because I’m not going to lose.

Finally, when my legs are shaking with effort and my throat is itching for more to drink, my stomach growling at regular intervals, the bridge ends.

First, I see the door. Compared with the rest of this place, it’s pretty unassuming. Shiny metal, probably titanium. Control panel set into the rock wall beside it. Nothing too exciting, except that it’s clearly the end of the line.

Next, I see who’s sitting on the rock beside it.

Colleen. She’s looking at me like I’m an unexpected sour bite in an otherwise sweet loaf of bread, lips puckered, one nostril twitching in distaste. There’s a streak of dirt raked across her forehead.

“Door’s locked,” she says. “I don’t know what’s next.”

I think I do. I risk a glance down to where Noah’s reached an identical platform. He’s not alone, either; he’s standing with the puffy-haired kid we met at the entrance to our cave.

If I were to place a bet, I’d guess that everyone’s reaching these doors in pairs. There’s someone masterminding the system. Noah and I should’ve split up multiple times already—when the gravity made him panic, when our cavern flooded, when we reached the reservoir—but we didn’t.

What would they have tried next? Collapsing bridges to split us up? Or would they have kept us together, instead sending Colleen on a detour?

If I hadn’t forced him away from me, I’d be getting ready to fight Noah.

Because that’s what this is.

As if in confirmation, one of the boys below throws a punch. I hear it land, but I can’t tell who’s who in the dim light. They’re several meters below us, and half my attention is on Colleen.

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