Rivals (3 page)

Cori opened the upper cabinet in search of cereal. Ethan came in behind her and grabbed the chocolate puff cereal that was just out of her reach. “Ethan, there’s only enough for one bowl in there.”

“So, I’ll have some fruit with it.” He grabbed a bowl and spoon.

“You ate the first five bowls. I want the last bowl.”

“How does the cereal that I requisition have your name on the last bowl?” He gestured at her with the box.

“Because you ate the chips I requisitioned last night. I want my peace offering in the form of chocolate, and your cereal will do nicely,” she said with restrained anger.

“I’ll give you this if you make stroganoff tonight.”

“Tonight is your night,” she corrected.

“You didn’t even cook last night!” Ethan yelled.

“Enough!” Danato slammed the table, knocking his spoon from his bowl. It
was
enough. He had stayed out of the way long enough. The rent on
space to figure things out
just went up.

They both gaped at him, presumably oblivious to the cause of his displeasure. “Breakfast is over. Come with me.” Danato grabbed his coat and opened the door. The cold morning breeze wasn’t nearly as cold as the glare he offered them when they didn’t rush to follow him.

Ethan put down his box and grabbed his coat. He threw Cori hers.

Danato led them out of the house, leaving his second meal in twenty-four hours behind.

Something he never did.

4

Cori followed Danato without objection. Ethan seemed irritated by the situation, but he didn’t say anything to object. Inside the prison, they dropped off their coats and went straight to the elevator. Danato pushed the button second from the top.

Ethan seemed to glean understanding after the selection was made. The worried look that crossed his face was there and gone, replaced by a glower that should have been the herald of swear words, but he didn’t voice his discontentment.

Cori had never been to the sixth floor, so she had no reason to complain, but she didn’t like that Ethan was so unhappy with the choice. She glanced between the two men, but neither looked her way. The silent argument kept them more than occupied.

The elevator opened, and they stepped into the vestibule. The only option to proceed was a set of heavy metal doors that gated off the remainder of the floor. Danato pushed through the entrance, and despite Ethan’s silent objection to it all, he followed without delay. She, on the other hand, maintained a comfortable distance behind them.  

She expected to see cells and parallel hallways similar to the other levels when she passed through the doorway, but it wasn’t divided at all. It was one giant room.

The extensive floor contained a half sphere. The giant foggy snow globe was two stories high, nearly meeting the full expanse of the room’s height. The width extended just short of the building’s exterior walls. She couldn’t see how deep it went, but she assumed that the east elevators would bring her fairly close to the opposing side of the anomaly. Within the depths of the blurry dome, she could make out images that looked like people

Off to one side was a raised lookout, posted with two guards. The cubicle was covered top to bottom in electrical equipment. The blinking lights, buttons, dials, and doodads were demanding immediate attention. It was the first technology outside of an oven that she had seen in the prison.

“What is this?” Cori asked.

“This is the wizard’s den,” Ethan answered blandly as he crossed his arms and looked over the bubble like it was his long-lost enemy. “Why are we here?” He looked at Danato to answer that question. Danato gave Ethan a hard look and walked away without responding. He called one of the guards down from the booth and had a quiet conversation with him.

Cori sidestepped to Ethan and whispered, “Seriously, what’s this all about?” She was used to Danato keeping her in the dark for her own protection, but this was the first time his lack of honesty didn’t seem to be favoring her wellbeing.

Ethan glanced between her and Danato before answering her question. “This is a time bubble. The wizards are ultimately more powerful than any of us, so this is the only way they can be contained.”

“How powerful?” Cori questioned.

“They can do virtually anything to you with their minds.”

“Like what?”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “Anything, Cori: blow up your head, throw you into a rock… you’re like a doll in their world.”

“Why are we here?” She reached out to touch the bubble.

Ethan pulled her hand down. “I don’t know. I’d like to know myself, especially if it involves going back in there.”

“You’ve been in there before?”

Ethan’s brow dipped slightly. “I’ve been on every level of this prison.”

Her mouth opened slightly. “Even the top level?”

He nodded.

“And?” she asked, searching his eyes for a clue about the contents of that world.

“And what?” Ethan shrugged.

“What’s up there?” she asked.

“I want Cori to go in for five hours,” Danato announced behind them.

“What?” Ethan pushed past Cori and stood face to face, or at least face to chin, with Danato. “She won’t last five minutes in there, let alone five hours.”

Cori came into the mix, and they formed an arguing triangle of chin to face, neck to face, face to chest. “Give me some credit, Ethan! Danato, I can certainly handle myself for a few hours!”

“Cori,” Ethan protested, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Five hours,” Danato repeated resolutely.

“No! She’s not ready for that!” Ethan yelled, practically spitting in Danato’s face.

“Yes!” Cori yelled at him before turning to Danato. She took a step back when Danato’s hand flew up.

He pointed to the bubble. “
Both
of you, five hours, and that’s not a concession. If you two could stop arguing for five fucking minutes, and remember who is in charge here, I would have explained that.”

“Why are you doing this now? She isn’t prepared. I barely survived last time.”

Cori was about to object to his comment regarding her preparedness, but she didn’t like the sound of “barely survived.”

“Because I can’t handle any more of the bickering and fighting,” Danato stated.

Ethan glanced at Cori and shook his head. “This is a punishment?”

“This is a test for her, an exercise for you, and hopefully a respite for me.” Danato motioned to the bubble.

“Five hours won’t be much of a respite for you,” Ethan said, stepping toward the bubble.

“It’s more than enough time for you two to hash out this…” Danato fluttered his fingers in their faces, “…whatever this is.”

Cori didn’t understand why this little field trip was causing so much friction between the men, but she knew better than to stand between a bear and his cub, so she didn’t bother asking any more questions.

Ethan presented his hand for Cori. She approached the bubble, but didn’t take his hand. She even pulled away when he tried to hold it. She was about to reach her full fume for his assumptions about her abilities. Granted, she had no idea what was about to happen, but she didn’t need to be coddled like a child. “I think I can handle it without a babysitter,” she sassed.

Ethan took a deep breath and put his head down.

Danato stepped close behind her. His breathy voice against her ear made her jump. It was his calm quiet rumble that usually signaled his true ire, not so much the loud blustering he had offered earlier. It had been a while since he had directed his anger at her. The short-lived benefit of a mourning period, she supposed.

“He’s been in this bubble before,” he said. “So I strongly advise to follow his lead if you want to survive. Understand?” She nodded. “Good. Now take his fucking hand so you don’t end up three miles apart!” he growled before stomping away.

She threw her hand out to Ethan. She forced herself to push through the situation, rather than do what she wanted to, which was run home and cry. Ethan took her outstretched hand and gave her a little stroke with his thumb. She didn’t look at him, but she knew he was offering an empathetic expression. He was not unfamiliar with Danato’s wrath, and yet he always managed to hold his own against him.

Ethan drew her forward, guiding her into the bubble. As they stepped in, Cori felt her body tug into multiple directions and then fall at super speed. She would have screamed, but she couldn't figure out where her mouth was.

5

As soon as they hit the water, Ethan lost Cori’s hand. They rolled down the river, slamming into rocks and plummeting down miniature waterfalls. He caught a tree branch and pulled himself onto a mossy rock.

He scanned the river upstream and down for Cori. She was nowhere in sight.

He cursed and made his way to the bank by hopping rock to rock. He walked down the river calling her name. A quarter mile down, he found her hugging her knees at the edge of the water.

He ran to her and skidded into a sitting position beside her like she was home plate. “You okay,” he asked, looking over her body for cuts and bruises, of which there were many.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her lips were blue, but she gave him a thumbs-up. After which she started coughing up more water. Ethan patted her back to help with the effort. When she was finished, she looked back at him and smiled.

He smiled and shook his head. “Why are you smiling?”

“Do you think we would still be here if I had given you the cocoa puffs?”

He laughed. She laughed, but stopped, wincing in pain.

“I think we would have ended up here eventually anyway. He just sped it up so he could get some peace.” Ethan helped her up, and she went through another bout of coughing, which he again patted her back to assist. 

“How could five hours give him peace?” she asked. “Doesn’t he know we’ll be arguing more after five hours than when we left?”

“The time bubble doesn’t follow the same timeline as the prison. Come on.” Ethan ushered her upstream to change the subject. He didn’t want to delve into the question-and-answer portion of their excursion yet. “We’ll be safer if we can stay out of view. I know a few places we can go. No luxury hotels, though.” 

An hour later they found the first of his three spots: An old shack of a cabin, built between two mountainous rocks. The wood structure was so overgrown with ivy and moss that it looked invisible to the glancing eyes.

Inside, the one-room structure held a fireplace with a cooking pot, a bed with moth-eaten sheets, a counter with base cupboards, and a single rocking chair accompanied by a banjo.

Cori looked over the room with reserved revulsion. “Certainly not the Hilton.”

“It’s a lot better than the other two places. Just be glad we got the river entrance.”

“Yes, apart from almost drowning, I was just thinking that.”

He smiled at her quip and moved to search the cupboards. “If we’re lucky… and we’re not.” He pulled out a can of lima beans.

“I don’t suppose there is a change of clothes in there?” Cori asked.

Ethan looked at her wet clothes. Her jeans were no doubt heavy with moisture and her t-shirt was bordering on being part of a bar contest. “Check beneath the mattress, there might be some pajamas.”

Cori lifted the flimsy mattress and pulled out a flannel nightgown with more holes than the sheets. “I don’t think this qualifies as clothing anymore.” She held it up for him to see.

“Sorry. Soggy clothes it is.” Ethan threw her the can of beans. “If you can open that we’ll at least have something to eat for breakfast. I’m going to get some wood to start a fire.” He stopped at the entrance and tapped the doorknob. He looked back at her, debating how much authority he should exert on her. There was no official ranking between them, but he considered himself, at least in this situation, to be in charge. He didn’t want to be overbearing, but she did have a tendency to find trouble. He was certain it was just in her nature, but many of her entanglements could have been avoided if she had just made smarter choices. “Will you stay here?” he asked, so he didn’t sound like it was an order.

Her brow crinkled. “I have nowhere to be.”

His lips ticked into a smile. That would have to be good enough. He left her alone to figure out the lima beans.

Outside he managed to find plenty of dead wood. He picked up the driest pieces and a little brush for kindling. Upon his return to the cabin, he saw the smoke stack already going. He dropped his bundle and ran back to the cabin.

Bursting in the door, prepared to fight whatever wizard had intruded, he found Cori alone. She was crouched beside the fire wrapped in a sheet. Ethan approached her with shoulders squared and ready to fight with her instead. “I asked you to stay here.”

“Wait.” She stood and held up her hands in surrender. “Watch.” She stepped to the back wall of the cabin and opened a trap door. Inside the cubby was a stack of wood. “It even comes with its own lighter.” She grabbed two flint rocks stashed with the wood and tapped a spark from them.