Tartarus Thief | ONC 2021 [ROUND 2 WINNER]

Chapter 8

Her head down, Vita mingled into the crowd. The judging at the front of the hall continued uninterrupted. At a slow but steady pace, she zigzagged through the mass, towards the opposite wall, as far away from Tartarus as possible.

She didn't look up when the Erinye burst into the hall, nor when the door slammed shut behind her, echoing across the room.

"I know you're here." The voice of the guard sounded shrill in the huge hall. "Come out and play!"

Even hiding behind groups of souls, Vita could hear the smirk through her voice. It sent shivers down her spine.

Now what?

As inconspicuously as possible, she glanced around. Her robes were still white, because she hadn't been judged yet. She didn't stand out among the rest. But the Erinye had seen her face. And she was coming closer.

At the front of the hall, a woman whose hair reached down to her lower back was judged into the Fields of Mourning. Her robes turned as grey as her hair.

Vita pondered if she should just make a run for it and escape into the Fields. But she'd never find Barny if she hid in the wrong part of the Underworld. Then again, with the Erinye closing in, did she have much choice?

Uncertain, she watched the woman go through the door, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. The moment was over before she'd made a decision.

"Where are you?" the Erinye bellowed, pushing her way through the crowd.

Vita slinked further to the front of the hall, but she was running out of space – and options.

Not far from her, a young, dark-skinned boy watched his robes transform to a vibrant green. She moved aside to let him pass.

This is my chance, she thought as she watched a guard open the door for him. She'd just have to shake off the Erinye again in the Meadows. Keep running until she found a way to destroy those records. She could almost feel the scroll inside her robes, burning against her heart.

The boy made his way to the door agonisingly slow, as Vita calculated the best path through all these people. Staying by the wall would probably be best.

Almost.

With Leo's blessing she'd be there within seconds.

Almost...

She'd have made her way through the door before that boy could even blink.

Now!

"There she is!"

Vita's heart sunk at the unknown voice. Oh no.

She turned her head to find her pursuer, but to her surprise the Erinye wasn't facing her. In fact, she was going in the opposite direction, to the back of the hall.

Confusion tugged at her brain, but she wasted no time in trying to figure it out. With both the Erinye and the guard of the Meadows distracted, this was the best shot she'd get. She sprinted through the room and raced past the boy through the door like a gust of wind, before the guard had a chance to turn back around.

The Meadows passed her by in a blur of greens. She pushed Leo's blessing to its limits, never looking back. She didn't stop running until she hit a dead end, where a waterfall trickled lazily off a mountainside.

Vita stopped and looked around. Greens and blues filled her vision. The mountain was overgrown with trees and shrubbery, while behind her a field stretched into a hill. Birds tweeted and twittered overhead and a bright sun shone down on her. The Erinye was nowhere in sight.