Three Trials (The Dark Side Book 2)(11)

Even though I can’t feel my legs in this form, they still give out. I can’t possibly stand. I feel like every emotion I have was just put through the wringer then boiled in a sadistic witch’s brew. I’d wager said sadistic witch made a deal with the Devil for her power, because I’m blaming him for everything right now.

I look down the length of my body as Kai turns around and relaxes at the sight of me. Jude has a flicker of relief in his eyes before he turns away and stares over the edge again.

“Nobody gets to die. I’ve decided I can’t possibly survive it,” I say almost breathlessly, though I have no actual breaths in this form.

Ezekiel hauls himself over the edge, smiling at me like he’s amused.

“You solved the riddle,” he tells me. “And just in time.”

“What? How?” I ask, sitting up slowly as Gage heaves himself over and collapses to his back, breathing heavily as he scrubs his face with both hands.

“Screaming vines,” Jude states flatly, gesturing around us.

For the first time, I take notice of the fact there are a lot of black, wide vines all around us, dangling from those ashy trees we saw at the beginning. Most of the vines vary in thickness from one to ten inches. The overachieving thick vines are definitely the creepiest.

“What’s a screaming vine?” I ask, wondering how the hell I didn’t see a forest full of vines that drape over that edge and hang down the length of the firefall.

You think I’d have noticed an entire freaking black-treed forest.

“The vines grow the largest the closest to a fire source,” Kai says as he lifts one of the medium-girthed vines and gives it a shake. “And if you scream loud enough, it forces them to react. You answered the riddle when you screamed like a banshee, and the forest appeared.”

“The answer is to scream for the only vines long enough to span the depth of the Devil’s bowels,” Ezekiel finishes.

“The bowels? We’re out of the belly?” I ask hopefully.

“Just being cycled back up,” Kai tells me. “We’re going in a loop it seems. We’re at the top again, just on the opposite side of the forest we originally decided to skip.”

Of course we are. Why would we get to skip at least one death option?

“That’s a terribly sneaky riddle, because if we can’t see the forest before we answer the riddle, then how do we know the forest is part of the answer without prior knowledge of the course?” I ask incredulously. “What we saw through that wall after it opened was a flat, fiery tundra. That turned out to be the small gulley we started in, and not even a big part of the course. It was all an illusion to think we knew the course.”

“We saw the forest in the beginning. That was the clue to our answer, because to finish the course, you have to complete every obstacle,” Kai says with a shrug.

Ezekiel randomly lets out a loud yell, startling my already traumatized heart, and the vine in his hand slaps forth like an exposed wire full of untethered electricity. He dodges a few slashes it makes.

“The vine closest to you always reacts the wildest,” Jude says quietly.

“You sent the entire horde of vines near edge of the forest over the cliff because your screams were so loud and echoed around. It was almost like you knew the answer without realizing it,” Kai adds.

“No,” I confess, holding up a finger for a correction. “That terrified the living shit out of me. That’s why I was screaming. Apparently I’m a panicky screamer when plummeting to a fiery death.”

Gage laughs under his breath, still staring up at the sky and lying flat on his back.

“For the record, that was a horrible plan. You’re certainly no closer to being my favorite now,” I prattle on nervously to Gage.

A little bit of reluctant laughter follows that as we all turn to face the forest. The high we’re on from the survival of something that seemed impossible is now eclipsed by the dark forest that grows so pitch black we can’t see any deeper than ten feet.

My eyes glance over to the forgotten archers who are now covered in vines and being treated like they’re officially part of the forest.

“At least now I know why they were trying to kill us instead of just running along. They needed a beetle to cross a fiery stream. They could have shot an arrow with rope. But how they planned to paddle the thing upstream is a mystery,” I say as I look back to the guys.

I think Ezekiel gives me a pity laugh, but the others just start walking into the forest.

“I’m almost positive this was their starting point,” Gage says, gesturing over to the two fallen archers. “The forest ran over them like it considered them collateral instead of passengers.”

“I guess they’re not too good at riddles then,” I state absently.

I’m the only one who can see, apparently, once we get into the thick of it.

My night vision isn’t grand topside, but I can see in shades of gray down here, while they stumble their way around. The one person who can’t trip is the only one who can see.

Ironic twist, huh?

Jude follows close behind me, as though he can see my outline and is using me for guidance. I pass through a tree, and I hear a loud grunt when he runs right into it.

I grin as he curses me.

He’s apparently glutton for punishment because he gets behind me again.