Gift of Gold (The Year of Churning Bloods) (51 page)

              The other victor was rolled up into a hunched stance and looked at me with dead, suddenly uncertain eyes. For a while there was nothing to do but stare at each other in disbelief. My focus broke as suddenly the shriveled figure of the Caterwaul stepped from out of the shadows. He glared over the both of us disapprovingly before extending a finger and gesturing for each of us to follow. Deliberately trying to stay as far away from each other as possible, Gregor and I slithered through a passage leading out of the Etaporium, before stopping at a small blue tent I hadn’t noticed before.

              “Now then... Champions,” the Caterwaul said while twitching slightly at the last word. “You will have until eight o'clock tomorrow to prepare yourself and gather anything you might like to pack with you on your travels.” The Caterwaul scratched his chin and stared off into the distance, as if distracted by something far more important behind us. He shook his head slightly and focused his signature scowl on the both of us. “Through the extraordinary generosity of the Grimlars, you will be provided with two large traveling packs filled with what we believe will be everything you’ll need during your travels.” He paused slightly and lifted his voice up a bit. “Unless one of you are willing to forgo the title of the champion?” the Caterwaul asked hopefully. Neither Gregor nor I said anything and instead glared at each other.

              The Caterwaul snarled and folded his arms tightly. “I suppose I expected as much,” he growled before pointing to the blue tent. “Take anything you want with you and put it into the tent along with your other supplies. You’ll be spending the night in here so that you don’t have to deal with the other trainees, who are likely to ask you questions until your ears bleed.” The Caterwaul suddenly pointed sharply at me. “Anything I tell you, under no circumstances are you allowed to tell anyone else. Do you understand?” The both of us mumbled weak affirmatives which hardly seemed to satisfy the Caterwaul. “Don’t disappoint me,” he said before striding off and vanishing altogether.

              Gregor immediately strode into the blue tent, leaving me to awkwardly stand alone on the spot. I considered following him in but suddenly reconsidered. What would I do inside a tent with a person who tried to kill me? I left the area quickly and desperately tried to avoid everyone else in the world. People shouted for my attention as I shuffled through the grounds of the school. I just ran until I had long last re-entered the distortion dormitories where I could flop down on the couch by the empty fire-place and sleep in peace.

              ***

              I was awake when the Legion of the Montrose slowly filed into the room. Even though they were exceptionally quiet, I still wanted them to leave me be. I blinked away the sunlight and sat upright while stretching the kinks out of my back. As I did so, I could hear a couple members of the Montrose breath heavy sighs filled with relief. I craned my neck upward and found myself staring squarely at the face of Sebastian who although smiling, still looked as though he was about to cry.

              “You did it,” he said breathlessly. “You escaped.” My eyes warmed up as a natural smile slowly engulfed my face.

              “I haven’t really escaped yet,” I replied modestly. “There’s still a long way to go, and for all I know I might not make the entire journey.” I licked my lips and looked down, suddenly afraid that I myself might start to lose myself.

              “Don’t say that,” Sebastian said, sitting down next to me. “No, you’re not going to die. You’re just going to go on an adventure.” I beamed and looked over him.

              “You think so?” I asked hopefully.

“Yeah,” Sebastian said quietly.

              “I’m surprised you’ve taken me into your family so quickly.” I said, looking around the room. Sebastian shrugged slightly.

              “
You’ve
taken us in Jacob,” Sebastian corrected. “We’re a bunch of misfits you could have left alone and forgotten about but you made sure that we were looked after and stuff.” Sebastian looked as though he wanted to say more but was interrupted as the door was suddenly thrown open.

Preston burst into the room before savagely throwing his arms around me. I coughed terribly and Preston took a step back, somewhat startled by my weakened state.

              “I've been meaning to talk to you for longer than a couple of minutes,” I said, flopping back onto the couch. “As if that’s going to happen what with me leaving and all,”

Preston's smile grew wider still, but yet he said nothing.

              “You promise me you'll stay safe won't you?” he asked quietly.

              “Only if you promise to do the same. We're a team you know?”

Preston nodded quickly but avoided eye contact in case he burst into tears.

“Actually Preston, can you wait one moment?” I asked, motioning towards my bedroom.

              “Sure,” he mumbled, awkwardly swaying from side to side.

I dashed into my room and retrieved the second cold cut obsidian ring that professor had given me.

              “You see this?” I asked, holding the ring up him to examine. “Professor Wenchenberg made this for me. He calls it a fingalink ring and you can talk to someone who’s wearing this other ring.” I held up my left hand to show Preston the band on my third digit. “All you have to do is whisper my name into it and we can talk, no matter how far apart we are.”

Preston took the ring and looked at it in wonder.

“I’ll tell you everything I can about the outside world,” I began quickly. “I’ll tell you about how amazing it is. And you guys!” I said looking around at the Legion of the Montrose. “You guys can talk to me whenever you want too, just as long as you’re with Preston... And... And...” Unable to finish my sentence, I swallowed hard and drifted off into an uncomfortable silence. “Help me pack?” I asked, pointing limply off to the corridor.

Sebastian smirked slightly. “How much are you gonna take if you’ve got ten other boys helping you pack?” he asked wryly

“Jacob, are you planning on stealing our couch?” one of the others chimed in.

I smiled bashfully and strolled into my bedroom to sort through my closet. “How many layers do you think I should take?” I asked, looking up into the swamp of clothing before me.

              “I’d be surprised if it’s any colder outside.” Nestor grumbled darkly.

I laughed politely, moving to my desk to look through all of the cabinets. I opened them one by one and frowned slightly when I found a small lump of a bright red rock in last drawer.

Igor gave a curious gasp and snatched it from me before I had a moment to stop him.

              “What’s that?” he asked, holding it up to his eyes with both hands.

Sebastian quickly stole it from his twitchy fingers before holding it up to the light as if he were a professional. “It’s amazing!” he declared after a few seconds.

              “So you know what it is?” Pasha asked, pointing to the piece of Antikoal.

Sebastian frowned slightly and then turned on his heels to face me with a look of great disappointment.

              “Yeah Jacob! How dare you keep something like this without telling us anything about it!”

I began to protest but Sebastian interrupted.

“No more excuses! Jacob, tell us what this thing is now!”

I rolled my eyes in exasperation, but nonetheless gripped my hands from behind my back and began to explain how I had found this piece of antkoal inside the forest.
              “Yes, but what is it?” Vanya whined from the corner of my room.

              “I think it’s like a bit like arkoal...”

              “How’s it different?” Vadam asked stepping forward.

              “I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. “I don’t even know if it’s worth my time taking it with me.”

              “It doesn’t look that heavy,” Preston reasoned. “Maybe someone on the outside will know more about it.”

I shrugged slightly. “It can’t be that important,” I said, taking it from Sebastian and turning it around in my fingers.

              “I’d take it if I was you.” Pasha said earnestly. “Even if you don’t find out what it is, it still looks really cool.”

              “It looks like a lump of red coal,” I said flatly.

              “And that’s why it’s cool!” he argued fiercely. “You don’t see too many pieces of coal that are bright red.”

“Okay okay, I’ll take it,” I said, placing it into my pocket.

***

An hour later and I had all of my stuff squashed together in a tight ball.

“This is goodbye,” Preston said weakly. I took him in a gentle embrace and was surprised by how flimsy his arms were. I eased my grip on him before looking up and smiling.

“You seem to think we won’t see each other again,”

I said softly.

Preston’s dark cheeks flushed. “I didn’t mean anything funny like that!” he said quickly. “Honestly, I know it’s going to happen I just don’t know...”

“Don’t worry,” I said firmly. “I’ll find you again.” Preston shuddered slightly, turned on his heels and quickly walked out of the Distortion dormitories. Before I could stop him, he had rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. Reluctantly taking one last look at the Montrose, I picked up my things and slowly shuffled back to the blue tent. Just as I was about to enter, I stopped, remembering that Gregor was still inside.

“Just go in,” Umber ordered sternly.

I reluctantly crawled inside through the front and saw Gregor sharpening a long piece of wood with a keen looking knife. He stared at me as he continued to sharpen, not giving any nod of acknowledgement or even making a sound.

“There’s only one bed,” I said stupidly.

Gregor arched a single eyebrow before carefully tuning the stick in his hands to whittle from a different angle.

“You’ll be sleeping on the floor,” he said coldly.

Just as I began to protest, Gregor’s movements intensified dramatically. The spear he was making quivered in his hand, as each careful movement with the knife instantly turned tough and powerful.

I gulped, looking down at my feet self consciously. “I’ll sleep on the floor,”

Gregor nodded curtly before looking down at his creation and examining it with brutal eyes.

I carefully moved my belongings as far away from Gregor as possible before arranging them into a bed like shape and settling down to sleep. Umber stirred over my head and stared off at the tend opening.

“A new day will come mortal. Do you know what will happen when it does?”

I shook my head.

“You will escape this place and as long as you stay away, you’ll never have to drink another drop of blood again.”

I grinned.

Chapter nineteen

Invisible

I loved to sit upon my rock

             
And cast down my cold gaze

             
I watched as farmers went on by

             
While sheeps stayed close to graze

              I sometimes wondered what it’d like

             
To leave my peak and stray

             
To join those lowly men below

             
Never thought I’d see the day.