Wingless (22 page)

"Just do it," Gabe urges me on.

I step between the two girls, only a few feet separating them. Without another thought, I reach both arms out and grab both girls around their waists. Annie clings to me and Sara jumps towards me, as if they knew what I was going to do before I did. But just as I'm about to capture them, they disappear into thin air. I fall forward with their sudden leaving.
 

"Wait!" I yell as I try to find them. But they're gone, and I have no idea at all where they've been taken. "I can't do this anymore," I cry out, dropping my head to the ground. I cover the back of my head with my hands and lie on the ground, trying to work through my mental war. This is too much on me. I can't think anymore.

"Yes, you can." Gabe says, coming to my side. He lifts me up under my arms and forces me to stand on my own.

"I can't take it. He's killing me! You're killing me!" I yell out, raising my fists.
 

"Micha, listen to me. We're almost there. Don't you see? L, G, G. Three out of seven. These are Rem's seven sins," Gabe explains, making me quiet down from my manic breakdown.

"What's left?" I ask him, trying to recall the sins.

"Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Pride. You can handle it. We got through the hard things. We've made it this far. We can't give up," Gabe coaxes me.

"Thanks," I tell him as I get it together. I have to finish this through. I need to save Annie. I have to make this right. I should've been watching her more closely. I should've seen her downward spiral. I have to fix this, since I screwed it all up.

With his hand on my shoulder, Gabe guides me out of the box and into another labyrinth of hallways. I feel like a shell of myself. I'm broken, mentally and physically. I don't know how much more I can handle, but I have to try. Gabe risked everything for me. I have to give him my all.

The next room is so close that I can see the opening. Just as we're about to step through, I sink into the ground. Gabe grunts as his feet also start to drop into the ground slowly.

"This must be sloth," Gabe says. "Don't touch it, just move slow."
 

I follow his commands and slowly move: one foot forward and then the next. It doesn't feel like I'm making any progress at all. Gabe is a good foot or two in front of me and he's moving faster than me.

I try to mimic him, my hands raised in the air, my shirt pulled up so that the liquid doesn't get onto me. I start to move a bit faster. Gabe makes his way out of the pit and uses his hands to hoist himself out.

I watch as his legs drip with sandy colored goop. I struggle, my stomach muscles trembling as I pull myself through the molasses-like pit of liquid.
 

"You have a minute to finish this. I'm bored," Luke's voice vibrates against me. I start to panic and when I glance up at Gabe, he's panicked also.
 

He drops the weapons bag on the ground and kneels. He leans forward, holding his hand out for me to take it. I try, but we're still too far apart. Our fingertips barely touch, and I know if I lean anymore forward, I'll fall in and my entire body will be covered in this slowing liquid.

"Come on, Micha," Gabe growls, his face tightly knit. "Just grab my hand."

"I'm trying," I grit between clenched teeth. I move, inch by inch, until finally I can grab onto his hand. He strains to lift me, since the pit drags me down. I kick my feet like I'm swimming to get to the surface and it actually works.
 

Just as I'm getting out of the pit, a buzzer rings from somewhere in the maze that sounds similar to the pain buzzer from before. An electric stream of pain courses through my veins, and I fall forward on top of Gabe.
 

My insides feel like they've been lit on fire. I scream, trying to get whatever is happening inside of me out of me. I claw at my stomach, the churning sensation too intense to bear.
 

My body trembles as I try to breathe through the pain. But all I can think of is the liquid fire coursing through my veins. I know I have to meditate, but I don't want to waste time.

I can't help it when my body just completely falls limp and, due to the amount of damage to my body, it shuts down all on itself.
 

I wake up on Gabe's lap. He's shaking me awake; I don't know how long Ive been out. I feel disoriented. Vibrations of fire continue to bounce from my bones to my nerves and back again, ricocheting pain throughout me, but it's not as bad as before. Now it's just a dull ache throughout my entire body.

Remembering that Annie is close by, I push through the pain and stand up. Gabe steps back so that he's a few feet in front of me. He paces forward, trucking on like the best friend that he is.

"Are you okay?" Gabe asks over his shoulder.

"I think I am now." I stand and dust myself off from the now dry, sand-like dirt on my legs and stomach. Gabe grabs the bag and starts walking in front of me, checking around each corner to clear it.
 

He turns a corner, and I lose him for a second. His footsteps are silent. A minute later, I walk into the room behind him.

What I see stuns me.
 

Two demons circle Gabe and poke at him as he writhes about, strapped against the table I've grown accustomed to seeing. Each Demon has a red, steaming stick, and they jab it under his swollen skin. At the sight of me, he screams.

I run to the Demons, ignoring my pain altogether and try to fight them off. When I'm just a foot away, a glass wall springs up, blocking me from getting to Gabe.
 

"Let me through!" I scream, banging my knuckles against the glass.
 

"The note, dear Micha," Luke's voice sings, like my actions are amusing to him. I know that he's watching us from somewhere. We're like experiments in his twisted game, and I hate it.

"I don't care about the note. Just let him go!" I yell, looking up for a voice.

"The note," he says, his tone bored. I meet Gabe's eyes. They're glassy, red, and pained. Anyone else wouldn't catch it, but his head bobs up and down, just barely, as if allowing me to stand down.
 

I fly across the room to another replica table. On it is a single letter:
W
. I flip the card in my hand and on the back is one single sentence.
 

Watch for five minutes.

Unlike the other rooms, I finally notice a chair placed underneath the table. Gabe has quieted, and I look over my shoulder at the situation before me. It dawns on me that I'm just supposed to sit back and watch while they torture him.

Five minutes isn't that long. I can handle it. I pull out the chair and sit on it, facing Gabe. Our eyes click again, but this time, I look away, unable to meet them. I don't want him to know what I'm thinking.
 

"Your time will start now," Luke's voice says, and then a beep echoes through the place. The thick, glass wall falls from between Gabe and myself. If I wanted to, I could go to him now and save him—but that's not what Luke wants. And we're playing his game after all.
 

Gabe releases an uncurling scream. My heart lurches into my throat, and I panic. I dig my fingers into the wooden chair to stop myself from jumping up. A Demon digs the red stick into Gabe's side and blood pours from the incision.
 

I struggle to remain rooted in my spot. A beep goes off, and I assume that I've made it one minute. Another yelp comes from Gabe, and my feet involuntarily move towards him.

"No, no, no. You can look, but you can't touch," Luke snickers at me. I can just imagine him wiggling his finger at me like I'm a child.
 

"They're killing him!" I yell as I watch the other Demon start to jab Gabe. They must get bored of the needles, because they drop them and slam their fists into his face relentlessly, spilling more and more blood by the second. They move at such speeds that my adrenaline spikes from the sight. My inner instincts to fight shoot off, but I ignore them.
 

But, when Gabe's eyes shut and refuse to open, I jump up. I can't just let him take this punishment when I'm the reason that he's here in the first place. I make it to the first Demon in about two seconds flat.
 

I pull him backwards and with all the rage I can muster, I snap his neck. The second Demon snarls and lunges towards me for interfering. I don't have time to attack, so I pull back and fall to the ground with him.
 

I scramble to get the upper hand, but the Demon pins me down with his legs. I throw punch after punch, praying to Rem that I just can knock the Demon out.
 

My luck turns up when my leg gets free, and I toss his body to the side. I contemplate going for Gabe but when I look over at him, his body is completely limp, his eyes sealed shut.

It fuels my next move. I jump towards the Demon and kick him square in the jaw. Blood and saliva squirts from his mouth as his face is jostled to the side. I don't even stop there, I'm so fueled with fury.
 

I pursue and stalk him as he tries to inch away from me on the ground. He's holding his face as if it might fall apart, shivering with fear. But I'm not done with him. This is what happens when you mess with my best friend.

I gently take his head between my trembling, angry hands. And with a smile on my face, I twist his neck so hard that his entire head rips off. I toss it to the side like the garbage that it is.
 

"I have to say, I'm impressed!" Luke yells, making my head whip around. "You've exceeded my expectations, Archer."

"Just tell me what to do next." I snarl, gasping for air as I try to regain composure.
 

"Follow the path to your friend," he says and then he clicks off. I don't bother looking around or trying to find another way. I leave the room and run through the halls. I'm alone, and I don't want to dwell on it. I fly as fast as I can to find Gabe, praying that he's okay.
 

I'm dumped in another black, closed in room. A familiar glass box is in the corner of the room, and inside of it is a passed out Gabe. I rush to him, but the glass box is obvious. I know by now that I won't be able to get in, not matter how angry I am or hard I try.
 

I turn and see the table with a single white note on it. I pick it up and a big
E
is stamped on the front. I turn it over in my fingers, searching for a hint, but it's empty, no sentence or letter or anything. I turn and inside the box now is Annie. It drives me nuts seeing her, but at the same time, I'm happy, because she looks okay—actually, better than ever.

She's in a frilly dress. It's black, so I'm sure that she likes it since she hates all things white. Her legs are toned and tan and go on for days. Her dark hair is thrown over her shoulder in an intricate braid that I want to run my hands over.

I tap on the glass to get her attention, but she doesn't even look at me. Her attention is only on Gabe, and jealousy blooms in the pit of my stomach. It's unsettling, and I don't like it. I tap harder, hoping that maybe she'll hear me.
 

"Annie, it's me," I tell her, thinking that maybe she can't see me. As I look through the glass, I realize that it's a little darker than the other boxes. Maybe this is like a one-sided mirror.
 

I tap on the glass, but yet again neither one even flinches at my intrusion. I sit back, the note in my hand, and try to decipher what this is.
E
. What does that mean? I start to think about it, but I look up when there's movement in the box.

Gabe's arms wrap around Annie so tightly that they clasp behind her back. He pulls her onto him, and she cracks a smile at his playfulness. Gabe's hand dives into Annie's hair; I swear to Rem, I growl at the way he touches her. I step closer to the box and put my hands against it, praying that this ends soon.

I know Luke is just trying to make me feel this. It clicks in my head, Gabe's words reminding me of the challenges we're facing. Envy. This is supposed to be how I feel. I get it now, but it doesn't hurt any less.

My entire body convulses as Annie lifts her head, stands on her tiptoes, and kisses Gabe on the mouth. My heart skips a beat, my breath kicks out of me, my legs tremble beneath me. I've never felt so hateful, jealous, and needful in my life.
 

I step as far back from the box as I can while I turn away. I face the wall, so I don't have to witness Annie and Gabe together. I can't bear watching what's happening between them. It kills me inside to even think that it may be real.
 

Finally, I turn back when I think that the coast is clear. Luckily, they're separated. They both stand, neither injured, and walk towards me. I can't help the growl that sounds from deep in my throat.
 

I lunge for Annie, but just as the tips of my fingers graze her, she vanishes into thin air. Gabe grabs my shoulders and rights me so that I'm standing up. I can't take this torture anymore.

But in the next second, a black door opens from behind us, revealing a large, cavernous room.