Raven – "Take the risk or loose the chance." – kapten and son.
After finally finding Max, I pull her forwards as fast as I can. Whatever pulled me under is still there.
"Come on dude!" I yell as she drags behind me. The surge of adrenaline hits me just as it does when I'm stealing. Still, I thought the door we chose didn't mean death.
We sprint off once we hit solid ground. My heart pounds as max surges ahead of me. We reach a ladder and neither of us hesitate as we start climbing.
My hands, wet and cold, grasp at the rungs, feeling unsteady. I keep going, not looking back for max.
We don't stop climbing until my head hits something hard, I swear under my breath and push open the door. Cold air mixed with us being soaked, is not a good mix. I shiver as I walk across the roof. Was that it? No reward? I look around for the others, but no one was there. I walk forward a bit more and spot something shiny on the ledge. I pick whatever it Is up and turn it over in my hand.
"is that a… gun?" Max whispers. I jump and pocket it. Whatever is happening, it's not good.
Suddenly, I hear scuffling and whispers. I grab onto Max's arm and pull us both behind a corner. I grab the gun, ready.
"Max? R -raven?" comes an uncertain voice. Before I can stop myself, I run out and hug Bee. I feel relief fill me as I see the others, all well. Suddenly, the voice crackles;
"You have passed some of the test. Now, you must shoot one person in the group." My heart stops. What? After all that? I stare at the other's; they stare back at the gun in my hands.
"Give it here." Says Max, holding out her hand. I pull it away from her, she scowls.
"No. this has to be a test." Says Dara, frowning. We stay silent. Without thinking, I toss the gun as hard as I can over the ledge.
"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Max roars, trying to grab the gun as it falls.
"No one is shooting anyone, if we die, then we'll die together." Says Bee. It takes all of us by surprise, she had never said anything so forceful, I imagine ever. We wait, shivering cold.
"Congratulations. You have passed test 1. The next test will take place tomorrow. Each test will get harder. Good luck." Says the voice, we all grin and laugh in relief, even Max cracks a smile.
"What happened to you guys?" asks Nakia, staring at our soggy clothes.
"You first." I say, feeling sleepy and sit down on the ledge. They explain quickly how when we left, they got trapped in a cage and the voice said if we didn't complete the maze, they would die. I'm more than glad we got out. However, it seems obvious no one was meant to come out of this alive.
We quickly explained what happened to us and the group stared wide eyed in horror.
"How's your ankle?" Bee gasps. My ankle had been in pain for a while, but the cold shivers had managed to hide it more or less. I shrug.
I'm way too tired to think about that right now, and way to cold. We start trudging down to the elevator, no one speaks.
As soon as we're back at Harlow's house, I change and shower at maximum speed. Finally feeling warm but slightly shivery, I check my ankle; a dark red ring circles it, like it had been burnt. I wince as I plop some cream on it and go to bed. We all go into sitting room again, not wanting to be alone. For the first time in a while, I found it easy to fall asleep. Today had completely exhausted me, and apparently Max too. She falls asleep before I even came back downstairs.
I wake up, shaking. I must've had a nightmare. I look outside, and to my dread, it's snowing. Normally, I love snow. But not since the Junkyard. Snow in Relicta land meant death, or starvation, or best case scenario, endless nights spent shivering in my den. Still, I always feel the same nostalgic rush as the snow reminds me of snowball fights before I got kicked out of Rosaland.
I see the others, apart from Max, crowd round the window, with mugs of steaming hot chocolate, giggling. How can they be giggling? At a time like this? I roll off the sofa and start getting ready. For a moment, I forget about the test today. It's weird how normal this has become, even though its been just a few days.
When I walk downstairs again, Max is sat biting her nails in the dining room. Or should I say, boardroom. I don't think I had ever seen a bigger room for one family.
"Ok, we have two options." Says Max, instantly sitting up straight and pasting on a blank expression when the others come bundling in.
"one; we stay here, wait and see what happens. Two; we go out, explore, try avoid any test." the others look round at each other, obviously snapped out of their morning madness.
"I say we stay here. It's safer." Says Harlow and straightens their dress.
"Me too." Agrees Bee, a few others nod.
"Then it's decided. Harlow, do you have any weapons?" Harlow looks up in surprise, but nods. They stalk out elegantly and beckons us. we all bundle after them.
They reach a door, one of many, and opens it with a key. My heart skips when I see what's inside; a huge room of all sorts of weapons.
"Erm, Harlow? Why do you have this?" asks Dara, eyes wide.
"Collectives, obviously." Smirks Harlow. I grin and I find a weapon, I look along at all the rows and find something perfect, a handgun and a dagger.
Max picks up a long dagger, but we both know if there's any fights, she'll be fighting hand to hand. Bee, with much persuasion, picks up a small handgun. Dara picks up a long samurai sword, I raise my eyebrows at him,
"I was taught martial arts as a kid, apparently it helps brain function." He shrugs. I stifle a laugh. Nakia picks up a gun, Harlow goes straight for an elegant emerald green bow, matching arrows and a red quiver. Harlow smirks and throws the quiver over their shoulder and saunters out.
We wait in the living room, weapons in hand, waiting. The huge clock on the wall seemed to tick by every hour, not second. We wait in silence some more, Bee snoring into the desk, fast asleep.
"Attention experiments." Crackles the voice. It seems they had already lost respect, not even calling us by our names now. Bee jerks awake.
"Please follow the path to face today's test." We all hold our breath. They can't have liked us coming out alive, injury free.