Shadowborn Royals - G. Bailey Page 0,15

Again, may only the dangerous survive, and good luck.”

When the doors open and everyone is herded through them, I say to Memphis, “We’re going to be okay, you know?”

He stops for just a moment and looks down at me. “Yeah,” he says, his lips tugging into a smile. “We will be, kid. There’s no way any of us are dying before that crazy bitch does.”

Despite the fear clogging my throat, I laugh at that and repeat the words ‘we will be’ through my mind like a mantra, mostly to convince myself into believing them. Memphis is right. After everything I’ve been through, I’m not dying before I see Eva’s corpse rotting on the ground.

Once we are through the doors, the guards separate the men from the women. I find myself alone as I hurry into the locker room and open the one with my name on it. I’m surprised to find a familiar white jumpsuit inside. Although when I slide my fingers over the material, it’s cotton instead of leather. Maybe it’s suited for a certain climate. Whatever the reason, I’m kind of glad it’s not leather. As I pull it out, a pair of goggles and a thick black scarf tumble out and land by my feet.

I look around at the other girls and watch some of them wrap the scarves around their faces. A few other girls tie them around their waists and necks. I decide to hang mine over my neck once I’ve slipped into my jumpsuit and pulled my boots back on.

Unlike with previous Trials, the weapons aren’t stacked in piles around the room. They’re hanging inside the lockers as if they’ve been specifically assigned to us.I find a collection of small throwing knives and two canteens filled with water. At the back of the locker is a golden bow. I gently remove it and run my fingers over the smooth wooden limb, surprised to find my name inscribed there. The handwriting is distinctly Gold’s, a smile curves my lips. He did say he would look out for me.

Weirdly, I don’t find any arrows in the gold quiver, but I throw it over my shoulder anyway. Hopefully, the bow is magical, or else I’ll be screwed. Once I sling the bow onto my back and hang the weapons on my belt, I slam the locker before hurrying into the next room.

The guys are already waiting for me, equipped and ready to go with their scarves over their mouths.

Axel and Memphis have swords, some of them sheathed in scabbards on their backs while clenching another in their hands.

Scott is holding what looks like some kind of tranquilizer gun, and gods, he looks sexy holding it with his tattooed arms on display. Their dark clothing clings to their muscular bodies, showing off every well-defined muscle. With the three of them on my team, the others would be insane to get in our way.

I train my gaze on the endless doors that run in a vertical line. I can’t see what’s on the other side, not with the orange light shining through, but something tells me they’re portals. Hopefully, when we step through them, it won’t be like jumping through the holes back at Shadowborn Prison.

As soon as I stop beside my guys, a deafening buzzer sounds overhead and everyone steps forward to claim a door. Memphis takes the one on my right while the Mune Brothers take the two on my left. With a deep breath that makes my heart stutter, I tie the scarf around my nose and mouth and step into the blinding light.

The hot, dry air hits me first. It slams into me and knocks the wind from my sails as I suddenly start to fall. I instinctively reach out to dig my hands into the sand around me, but gravity pulls me until I roll to a stop at the bottom of the dune.

One by one, my guys land beside me, followed closely by all the others. Everyone falls down the same hill, but they don’t waste any time once they reach the bottom.

Inmates shift into various animals, some of them fighting each other, before running off.

My guys form a protective circle around me and I use the moment to take in my surroundings. There’s nothing out here for miles apart from an endless red desert stretching toward the auburn horizon. I hold my hand to my forehead and squint my eyes against the sunlight, just managing to make out the escarpments in the