death having a giant canine feast on your intestines. The bullet was for themselves.”
“Thanks for that mental image,” Jazmine said, sticking out her tongue.
“I promise,” Trevor smirked, “if I ever lose control, I’ll eat you quickly.” Jazmine punched him on the arm and strutted around the corner.
“Uh, guys?” she said, turning back, her dark eyes wide.
“What is it?” Luke asked.
“You know that bridge we saw earlier? Bridge might have been a bit of a stretch.”
I peered over her shoulder, looking into the deep ravine. It was much bigger than it had seemed from a distance, probably a hundred feet across and several hundred feet down straight down.
A thin wire bridge stretched the gap. At one time, it had been lined with wooden planks to form a path, but most of the boards were broken or charred, and halfway across they gave way completely, leaving only a thin string of wire.
“I mean, it’s not that bad,” I said. “We faced worse in the trials, right?”
“Um, excuse, me,” Luke said raising a hand, his voice muffled from the thick scarf and mask.
“Not all of us were chosen and trained to live with elite. Not all of us fought for our lives in Lord Richard’s human games or whatever they were. Did I mention I’m afraid of heights? I mean, that wire probably won’t even hold us.”
“I’ll go first,” Jazmine said, stepping forward.
I was the only one still wearing a bracelet, the one April made for me. I was down to 2.3 percent, which was better than nothing. However, even though I knew I was faster and stronger right now than I was normally, I still had less elixir than was coursing through my veins twenty minutes ago, and my body seemed to be burning through it faster due to the ash; to keep the poison from spreading into my lungs.
Normally, at two percent, after what we’d done in the trials, this shouldn’t seem all that terrifying. But with the gusts of wind, the noxious gas and smell in the air, the heavy flaming embers that fell like tiny comets around us, a tingling dread spread through me.
I watched Jazmine walk carefully across the wooden planks. A few wobbled and the bridge bounced dizzily as she stepped across it. When she met the wires, she turned sideways and shimmied across the cables until she’d reached the other side. Luckily she hadn’t tried anything flashy this time.
“You first,” I said to Trevor. “You’re the heaviest.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“Better test it now rather than have you go last. If it’ll hold you, it’ll hold the rest of us.”
The bridge groaned under Trevor’s weight, but after a few tense minutes, he made it across as well.
Camina followed next. She was still crossing the planks when I felt a puff of hot air against the nape of my neck, and a deep growl that shook my bones.
I spun around, confused at first by the wall of coarse, black hair filling my vision. For a second I thought it was Trevor in slagpaw form, but he was in front of me, and this was no slagpaw.
Gnarled hooves as big as my skull prodded the ground, kicking up clouds of dust. I backed up slowly, knocking into Luke’s shoulder as I stared up at the creature. The black mountain goat was twice the size of an ox, with four red eyes and spiraling horns that pierced its matted fur like corkscrews.
I shoved Luke out of the way as it stomped the ground and swung its massive head, sending the tip of its long horn straight towards my chest. I pivoted just in time to avoid being skewered, but the whip of coarse hair from its beard a second later swept me off the ground, tossing me into open air. I barely managed to grab a fistful of the demon goat’s beard, and use it to fling myself back over the chasm. I caught the side of the wire just ahead of Luke, and swung myself onto the bridge.
“Run!” I shouted, turning and chasing after Camina, assuming he was right behind me. I’d only taken a few steps when I felt the goat’s weight on the bridge, snapping the wires like a strung bow. I clung to the wires as the first one snapped.
“Hurry!” Trevor’s voice cut through the air. Arrows flashed by my head, followed quickly by a spinning blade. But they bounced off the creature’s shank, barely drawing blood through the matted fur.
Luke was frozen, his arms wrapped around the