“It’s time,” Everly says, making my head snap up from Dante’s shoulder to see the doors to the dungeons being opened. I stand up at the same time Dante does and we wait for the guards to open the doors, taking us out one by one after handcuffing us. I walk behind the guard holding Everly, noticing how he slips a note inside her hand and gently squeezes it before letting go. I wonder what is on the note, and I wonder how he got close enough to her that she lets him hold her hand and slide his hand up her arm in a comforting way. I see her look up at him, and it’s a different look than she gives everyone else. It’s almost respectful at the same time as loving.

We are walked out of the dungeons and straight across the corridor to a large door. This door is different; a maze is engraved into it and swirls around and around until it gets to the star in the middle. It must have taken hours to make this door, and I focus on it as I wait for the guards to open the doors. We walk into the room in a line, and I look behind me to see Dante’s eyes blazing as he looks at the guard’s hands on my arm. He is holding me tightly and if Dante wasn’t tied up, I have the feeling he would be punching the guard.

I try to blank my expression when I look back into the room we are walking into. I can feel Hunter and Ryland in there before I even look, because the bond tells me they are close. I can feel Jacob, too, but its more distant. On the other side of a big glass floor is the king, with Ryland and Hunter on each side of him. They both have their small crowns on and the king has his larger one, reminding everyone who they are. Hunter’s long hair is combed straight, with tiny plaits on each side, and his face is clean shaven, making his face even more handsome than usual. But it’s not him. It doesn’t suit the dark and uncontrollable nature Hunter has. Ryland looks good, just wearing a simple green shirt and black trousers. His hair is tied at the back of his head and his blue eyes don’t leave mine this time. Hunter doesn’t look my way, but as I look around the room, I see the three young women from the last games. They are on their knees this time, looking at the floor and kneeling close to the wall. They don’t lift their heads once, and I look them over, at the tiny excuse of clothing they are wearing and at the bruises covering their arms and legs. I have to force my gaze away, knowing that my feeling sorry for them will not help them. They will die anyway when the king is bored with them. The room is large, with two doors on one side. When we get closer to the king and stand on the small square of glass, I see the floor behind him. It’s completely open glass and looks down at the maze below the castle. It’s massive, so you can see every part of the maze from up here. He is going to watch us die.

“I was shocked, so shocked that you managed not only to survive my last game Cassandra, but you also managed to kill all of my creatures,” the kings says as a greeting. I watch as his eyes drift to his sons and back to me. He likely knows his sons helped him. He isn’t a stupid king and there is no point thinking he is.

“What can I say?” I shrug. “I’m not just a little girl,” I tell him in a sarcastic tone, and he laughs, a deep, evil-sounding laugh.

“I had a little chat with your father when he got here, and he told me so much about you,” he says, and I look over at my father to see him looking at the ground.

“Like what?” I ask.

“Like the mere fact you cannot swim. How ironic that the child kissed by the Sea God…cannot swim,” he says and starts laughing once more. Ryland looks over at me, begging me with his eyes not to respond to the king’s teasing. I take a deep breath as I keep my eyes on him.

“Ryland, tell me, did she at least keep your bed warm on that ship? She is very beautiful. I wonder if she would be fun to keep in my bed,” he says, and a cold wave of horror washes over my body as I meet Hunter’s dark, swirling eyes. He is gripping his seat so tightly, I’m surprised it doesn’t smash to pieces.

“Cassandra kept my bed warm on many nights on the ship, but I’m afraid I never found her…satisfying,” Ryland replies and I have to keep a smile in, because he’s not lying. I did sleep in his bed on his ship. Never in the way the king is suggesting, but what Ryland says does not make that clear.

“Shame…,” the king says with a long sigh as he runs his eyes over my body and then looks towards Everly. “The blonde, useless girl is pretty -.”

“I’d rather die than let you touch me, you evil -,” Everly shouts, and the guard puts a hand over her mouth as she struggles against him.

“Another mouthy woman from Onaya. Is there something in the water there?” the king asks me.

“Yes...hope and the need to dethrone a king,” I say, watching as he glares at me from his throne.

“Let the games begin. I am bored with talking about a girl that is full of useless hope,” Ryland says, and I glare at him, knowing he just wants me away from the king before I say something that gets me killed. Doesn’t mean I like it, though.

“You heard my heir. Get the games started,” the king says and nods his head towards the guards holding us. They pull us towards the doors, and I watch Ryland and Hunter until I can’t see them anymore. I look forward as another guard opens the doors before they shove us into the room one by one. The room is lit by the small fires on the walls and they lead down a long stone stairway.

“Come on, we can’t waste any time,” Zack says and takes my hand, leading me down the steps. Everly steps behind us and I hear my father talking quietly to Dante, but I can’t hear what they are saying. I look back to see Dante shake his head at me, nodding forward, and I know he wants me to concentrate on where we are going.

“Right or left?” I ask Zack when we get to the clearing that starts the stone maze. The walls are really high down here. They would be impossible to climb over on your own and only have a tiny gap above. Smooth stone has been shined into glossy walls throughout the entire maze. There are two levels of glass, one just above the walls and the one that’s in the room with the king much higher up. I guess that just above the wall might be able to let a person climb through, but I know the men wouldn’t be able to slide through as it’s too small. I’m not even sure I could.

“Left,” Dante answers, and Zack keeps my hand in his as we run after Dante. Everly is right behind me when I turn to look at her and she nods her encouragement.

“I’m proud of you for sticking up for yourself in front of the king, Ev,” I shout at her and I hear her laugh.

“You forgot to tell the king one more thing about the women of Onaya,” she pauses as we run around another corner, “that no man will ever use us.”

“Hey, not all men use women,” Dante shouts before I can reply.

“No, they don’t, Ev. Dante is right,” I say, but she doesn’t agree with me. I have a feeling anyone who tries to win Everly’s heart has their work cut out for them. There’s a loud banging noise that makes us all stop, but Zack pulls my hand.

“It’s letting the water in,” he tells us, and he doesn’t need to say anything else to make us move. I trip on a rock, flying onto the ground and feel the water that trickles across the floor next to my face. Zack leans down and helps me up as Dante runs ahead of us, looking back to make sure I am following. We all pick up the pace as we follow the direction Dante is leading. There’s a snapping noise before the walls move quickly. The wall to our right snaps closed in front of us, my hands banging against it, and it hurts my wrist as I jump backwards. It takes me a second to realise that the wall has blocked us off from Dante.

“Cassandra!” he shouts from the other side and I hear him bang his fists against the wall.

“The walls are moving,” Zack shouts back.

“Then I don’t know how to get to the middle anymore. It never did this when we were children. Everything is different, from the glass to the shiny walls,” Dante says, his tone annoyed and panicked. “Dammit, we should have thought about him changing things.”

“We will find a way. Just survive, Dante,” I say as I feel more water around my boots.

“I love you, pretty girl,” he shouts, but I don’t get to reply as I hear him running away. I turn and see the right and left option we have again. I watch as Everly leans down and places her hand on the wet floor and closes her eyes.

“The water is coming from the left, so we shouldn’t go that way,” she tells us, and I have no idea how she would have known that, because there isn’t much water. Zack watches her closely and nods his head in some kind of understanding that I don’t get.

“Smart way to check, blonde girl,” Zack says, and we all start running to the right. The water fills up quickly as we run around walls, trying not to slip on the floor. We stop to catch our breaths when the walls move once more. The water is up to our knees at this point.

“It’s filling up quick,” I say as the wall to our left snaps shut on the direction we ran in. Zack lets go of my hand and walks over to the left a bit when the ground shakes and we all fall to the right. I lose track of everyone as I slide across the shaking floor and my head goes under the water. I choke on it, rolling myself over just as I slam into a wall. The wall moves again and slides me with it as I struggle to get a grip on the floor. I close my eyes until the shaking stops and when I open them, it’s completely dark other than the light from the ceiling, and I’m alone. I flinch when I move my arm, seeing a cut with blood pouring down it. I hold my hand against it as I stand up.

“Zack? Everly?” I shout and wait for their replies, but it’s my father who answers.

“I’m here,” he says to my right, and I run around a wall to find him standing up on shaky knees.

“How are you?” I ask him as I get nearer, seeing a cut on his head.

“You’re bleeding,” he says in response, placing his hand on my cut arm and pulling something out of his pocket. He gets a long piece of fabric and rips it in half before tying the fabric around my arm and pulling tight.

“Thank you,” I say, and he nods, looking away from me to where we are. The water is getting to my waist now, and the coldness from it makes me want to move to avoid freezing.

“It’s nothing, come on,” I say, hooking my arm through his and we start running around the maze, trying to get to the middle, but it’s not long before the water is up to my chest and I start panicking.

“I can’t swim, and I don’t see the middle,” I panic and my father looks down at me.

“I will not let my daughter die here, not for some game played by a king who will be destroyed,” he says and grabs my hand with his hands, “You are meant for more and I want you to save the world. It’s who you are; you are the most stubborn, caring, and beautiful daughter I could have ever asked for.”

“Father,” I whisper. He holds me close, putting his hands onto my back and holding me so tightly that I think he never wants to let go. My father hasn’t held me since I was a child. He never showed me any affection and I can do nothing but stay completely still.

“Your mother would have been so proud of who you are, and I always will be. I’m not a good man, I have never been one, but I know I did one good thing. One good thing in this desperate, dying world,” he says, looking down at me.

“What?” I ask him as he leans forward, kissing my forehead lightly before pulling away.

“I saved you,” he says, then grabs my hand. He keeps pulling me through the cold water, my boots threatening to fall off with every step. We get to the end of a long corridor and it’s bigger than the other smaller ones we went down.

“We should wait for the walls to change again, and hopefully -,” I start to say.

“-The king must be the one that changes them, to stay in control of the game. He won’t move the walls when he knows you are trapped, Cassandra,” father tells me, and I look up at the glass. I can’t see the king, but I know it’s something he would do.

“This bit is a dead end, we checked it already,” I say, getting a little frantic in case my father is right and we are trapped. We will drown.

“It’s the only exit and the end is that way,” he says and knocks the wall.

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“The glass, the way it’s shaped, there’s a slight shimmer in the middle. Can you see it?” he asks me. I look up, seeing the panel of glass, but I can’t see what he means.

“I don’t -,”

“It doesn’t matter. There is no exit in this bit and I won’t see you die,” he says and picks me up from my waist. When I see what he is doing, trying to push me through the small gap above the wall, I try to fight him. He is strong enough to throw me up in the air, and I have no choice but to grab onto the wall’s edge.

“No!” I shout, and he looks up at me as I hold onto the edge with my wet hands.

“Don’t. Let me do this,” he pleads with me, and I don’t know what to do as he grabs my foot and pushes me up further.

“I am so proud…So proud,” he says and gives me one more push. I pull myself up on top of the wall, seeing the small gap between the top of the wall and the glass before holding my hand down for my father.

“Let me help you up, you might be able to get through,” I say, seeing how he is just about holding his head above the rising water. My father stares up at me with a small smile on his face, and I desperately reach my hand down.

“I won’t fit and you know that. I didn’t raise a stupid child, now…go. It’s time I saw your mother again,” he says. And with one more look up, he walks away from me in the water and I’m helpless to do anything but watch him leave.

“I love you, Father, and may the Sea God welcome you into the afterlife,” I whisper as tears fall harder from eyes. I angrily wipe them away before turning. I can’t die now, not after he gave his life for me. I lie flat on my stomach as I pull myself through the gap and wish the tears would stop falling from my eyes. How many people have to die before this ends? My father, Miss Drone, and most likely Livvy. Death. Death. Death. I take a deep breath to calm myself down, telling myself over and over that I’m stronger than this and that my father raised a stronger woman than I’m acting right now. I keep pulling myself through the gap, feeling my clothes stick to the glass and tear on the stone below as I pull with everything I have to get to the other side. I pull myself through and fall straight into the water on the other side, because I can’t stop myself. I move my arms and get my head above the water and kick my legs to stay afloat as I look around.

“DANTE! EVERLY! ZACK!” I shout. My head slips under the water once more before I manage to get myself above it again. I use my hands to get to the wall, holding onto a tiny gap I find and try to find another gap to pull myself across when hands go around my stomach. I turn to see Zack pull his head out of the water.

“Zack,” I say, turning and throwing my arms around him. When I pull away, he leans forward and kisses me. I push myself into the kiss, needing to be close to him, moving my lips slowly as his tongue slides into my mouth and my legs go around his waist. I notice his gloves are gone when his warm hands slide under my top and slowly up my sides.

“Little fighter, we need to move. Be strong for me, remember,” he says as he breaks away from the kiss and I take a deep breath.

“I will, for you,” I say, looking back at the wall and the water coming in from the gap above it. I watch the water for far too long, knowing what it means and not being able to say a word.

“Your father is dead, isn’t he?” Zack asks, looking at the water pouring in over the gap.

“He is with my mother,” I reply, and Zack doesn’t say a word as he kisses my forehead. The kiss is enough comfort on its own, words are not needed.

“The middle isn’t far,” Zack says, getting my attention, “Hold on to my back and I will swim us out.” I do as he asks, as he turns his body around and jumps into the water while I hold tightly to his back. The middle is right around the corner, and Dante is sitting on a raised platform with Everly next to him. I give a deep sigh of relief at seeing them both, and they both jump up when they see us. Dante helps pull me out of the water and we all collapse onto the middle platform, all of us worn out and lucky to be alive. All but one.

“Where is your father?” Everly asks me quietly.

“With my mother,” I whisper and look up at the glass above. Even if I cannot see the king looking down at me, I know this was his fault. “That’s two people he will die for,” I say much louder and I hope he can hear me as it is a promise.