Page 22 of Fallacies

Every time I knock him back, Phoenix laughs, like he’s thoroughly enjoying this. Meanwhile, Easton makes no noise. He falls, stands, then just keeps prowling forward. Like he’s bored. Like he wishes it would end.

I look down at the thunderous water… surely Callan wouldn’t let me die. I mean, he gave me a pill to speed up healing, and even though I doubt that pill will heal me through a fall like this one, he’d stop Albatross before I hit the rocks, right?

I knock both boys back once more, my power still flowing with ease, but it’s draining by the second, and I don’t know how much I need to preserve for what’s left in this death maze. I certainly can’t keep doing this.

It dawns on me then; neither of them has tried to use any magic on me…which is odd. They could have easily thrown me off by now, so why haven’t they? Why aren’t they fighting back?

Phoenix looks excited, and Easton is ever stoic—tense shoulders and gritted teeth—but there’s no attempt to cast anything from him either. Maybe they want to test my physical strength? See if I can take them on fist to fist?

But there’s no way in hell that I’d be able to do that. Not like this. Not this high up.

I glance behind Easton to the stone walls continuing the maze, then I cut my stare to the roaring water and jagged rocks below.

“Alright, Callan,” I exhale, dropping my arms to my sides. “Let’s play chicken.”

The wood groans beneath me as I step off the side of the plank.

5

Lucina

Wind whips past me faster and faster as I fall, plummeting into ice-cold water that instantly knocks the breath from my lungs.

The current drags me under instantly, violent and rough. I fight towards the surface, kicking as hard as I can, but it gets me nowhere.

Icy water stings my skin, numbing my entire body. Another rush of the current sweeps in, dragging me deeper. I’m not even sure which way is up and which way is down.

In the midst of being tossed and spun, I reach out for anything to grab onto. Anything at all.

Kicking down blindly, my feet hit something hard. Through my blurred vision and the murk of the turned-up sediment at the bottom, I can barely make out the soft glow of a light beneath me. When the cloudy water clears enough for me to get a better look, I instantly start swimming towards it, my lungs constricting with the need to breathe.

Either I’ve lost my mind to Albatross, or there’s a hatch at the bottom of the river.

It’s a small square grate, almost too small for me to fit through, but there is a soft glow of light coming from inside it.

Another roar of water passes overhead, rocking me to one side. I grip onto the edge of the grate, fingers biting into the cold metal, and decide it’s my best option.

My only option.

I force back the cover, use my last shred of strength to drag myself through the opening, and pray to every god that there will be an air pocket inside.

If not, it will have been the dumbest game of chicken I’ve ever played.

The water gives way to a sharp tug of gravity, and I fall onto cold, hard stone. Every frigid bone in my body slams against it, jolting awake on impact. I heave forward, coughing up an entire sea of water, my stomach contracting over and over until I’m certain there’s nothing left inside.

After a few long and agonizing minutes, the mender pill has healed me enough that I manage to crawl across the cold ground, slumping against a nearby wall.

My hair is sopping wet, clinging to my face, and my soaked clothes are frozen against my slowly warming skin. I ignore the chattering of my teeth and look around the space.

One glance at the dark stone walls, and I almost burst into laughter.

I’m back in Albatross.

This has got to be, hands down, the closest I’ve ever been to hell.

There’s a lantern hanging on the wall in front of me, flickering with a soft, warm light. Prying my back off the wall behind me, I force myself to stand. I snuff the light in the lantern and use it to warm my body, drying the water from my skin and clothes.

Then I look over at the continuation of the maze—the nightmare that clearly isn’t over yet. I had kind of hoped throwing myself off the side of that plank would have halted the whole thing, but unfortunately, I was wrong.