90

“Let me get you ready. That way, you can get your mind off it. Did they say what you should wear?”

I shook my head. “All Von said was ‘get ready.’” I shrugged.

“All right, we’ll go with the same survival gear you used in the swamp. Can’t go wrong with that. It’ll give you a little protection, anyway.”

Zoe got my gear ready, then helped me get dressed. She must have used magic to clean them while I was at lunch. The garments were no longer caked in mud, dirt, and blood. Before she could work on my hair, there was a knock at the door.

“Who is that?” Zoe asked.

“No clue. I’ll check.”

By the time I made it to the door, I was even more irritated. As I unlocked the door, I swore that if it was Von, I’d chase his ass down the hall with a sharpened stake.

It wasn’t him, though. It was one of the witches.

She smiled at me as the door swung open. “Oh, good. You’ve already gotten prepared,” she said when she saw my attire.

“Yes, for tonight. Can I help you with something? I was hoping to rest a little before the challenge.”

“Oh no, Miss Durst. Unfortunately, there will be no time to rest. Your challenge starts now.”

Before I could do or say anything, the witch’s hand shot out and closed around my wrist. There was a momentary flash of light, then darkness.

The next thing I knew, I was staring at the floor, looking down between my knees. My head was groggy, and I felt dizzy. Blinking, I tried to orient myself. I was tied up. That was the first thing I noticed. I was bound tightly in some kind of rope. I was sitting on a stone or rock, water all around me. I was in some sort of pond. The air was moist, and the sky was nearly dark. It had barely been past lunch when the witch came for me. Now, the sun was already down. She’d not only teleported me but kept me knocked out for hours. Zoe was probably pissed that it had happened right under her nose.

My first instinct was to panic, but that would do me no good. Instead, I took a few deep breaths and tried the ropes. Whoever had tied me up knew what they were doing. There was nowhere to get slack to free myself. The pond was deep enough in the jungle that I couldn’t even get my bearings. Once the stars came out, I might be able to figure out where I was, but that wasn’t a guarantee.

The weird sounds of the night started to ramp up. The screeches and howls, hisses, squawks, and growls combined to create a cacophony of terrifying noise. Something about the sounds stood out, though. I squinted, trying to stare off into the foliage. A grinding sound, right there under the dull roar of everything else. It was obviously mechanical in nature, which made no sense.

My nerves were shot, and being tied up had me on the verge of panic. Thankfully, while my feet had been bound, they’d neglected to tie my knees or the rest of my legs, so after a few tries, I was able to get to my knees, then up to my feet. I hopped around the small rock I was imprisoned on and inspected my surroundings. I did my best to tamp down my anger, fear, and stress. My inner wolf was making herself heard, too, which was rare. I’d spent years pushing her deep into the recesses of my mind, only using her strength and speed to my advantage. The fact that I could feel her raging inside my mind meant a lot. She understood exactly what this signified. We’d been tied up and placed on a platter as some kind of reward, a prize for whoever won tonight’s challenge. Neither of us liked the idea of being a trophy.

I hopped closer to the water. Maybe it was shallow enough for me to make it through the water. My wrists were tied, but I was pretty sure I could do a partial doggy paddle through the water to get to shore. Once there, maybe I could find something sharp to cut through the ropes.

With the dying light, I had to lean close to the water. At first, I thought it was only moss or pond scum floating around, but when I got close enough, I realized what I was looking at.

“Son of a bitch,” I hissed.

Looking up and scanning the whole pond, I saw what hadn’t been obvious before. Little purple flowers floated everywhere. Wolfsbane. The water was filled with wolfsbane. I took a closer look. They’d crushed stems and roots and dumped those in the water as well. The water would be saturated with the poison. Any wolf who got into that water would be in for a bad time. Wolfsbane was toxic to us, and prolonged exposure could burn and paralyze us. No matter how fast I swam, even without my hands tied, my body would lock up. I’d drown before I made it to shore.

Shouts and screams erupted from the jungle, and my head snapped toward the sounds. They were louder than the regular island noises. The snarls sounded suspiciously like shifters. Whether it was the contestants or ferals, I couldn’t be sure. A moment later, a screech pierced the night. It could have been an injured vampire or a pissed-off ghost, but again, I had no way to be sure.

Behind me, on the other side of the pond, I heard a deep and menacing growl. Definitely not a shifter. I was a sitting duck out here, and I had no way of knowing how close help was. If some other creature that wasn’t affected by the wolfsbane decided to paddle over for a quick peek, I’d end up being a fairly easy snack for it. There was no way I could hope for the alphas to get here to help me.

A thought formed in my mind, and there was a moment of indecision before I decided it was worth the risk. Getting back down on my knees, I edged over to the pond and plunged my hands into the cool liquid.