*****Huge thank you to anyone reading this! I'm so sorry, I abandoned this story because there was so much hate mail for chapter one. I've been trying and trying to write chapter six, and I keep getting stuck. So thank you for all of you who are reading this, voting, and commenting. Thanks!
Chapter Six
Nina circled the sky. It was a rose backdrop behind her, illuminating her every feather. She thought ruefully to herself that she would much rather prefer a bloodred backdrop. How stunning she would be up here, gliding across the sunset in her loose white jumpsuite like an angel. But she was on a rose. She looked vulnerable, sweet, and timid now.
Her head was throbbing as she looked for a place to land. After her encounter with May and the fat boy, her nerves had all been in overdrive. Every snapped twig, movement in the corner of her eye, swish of a bird flying past made her jump out of her skin.
She felt so tired. Partly because she had woken up every few minutes that night. Also, she had gone to sleep after the sun went down and woke up with May. Also, she had watched someone die. That must have drained her. And so would flying all day, looking for people to hunt. Or just talk to.
The clouds seemed so claustrafobic now. So close and ready to crush her.
But her thoughts were turned away from clouds and claustrafobia with the rustling of a branch. Silvery and metalic leaves clinked beneath her.
Nina froze in place, suspended in the air, her wings the only things saving her from a plummet to her doom. She looked down into the trees. Her eyes ached as she stared. They watered and stung. She didn't blink. But there was no one there, no shape to follow, no figure to confront.
She wanted to cry out in joy.
One more night in this prision alive. One more night lay ahead of her to fill with thoughts of her family, her mother, her father, her life. Only when she had seen her life flash before her eyes would she be able to lay down and die.
The sky had darkened now, to a fierce midnight blue. In this sky, she stood out as a fallen angel, a clumsy sword in her hand and a terrified expression on her face. A person fallen from grace, someone to confront with all the horribleness of their lives ready to be thrown at their face like black mud. Someone to terrify before you slaughtered. Someone to mock. Someone that would either kill you or be killed by you.
Someone oblivius to how they appeared.
Nina rubbed her wrist again. She just had to see how long she had left. Her cheast felt tight, like she couldn't breathe, as the number slowly faded in. A barely visible glow to an electric blue. Her eyes widened. One day left. One day left for her to live. That meant there were only two or three people left. They hadn't starved or been weakened at all, though. And they must have had great alterations.
She wanted to cry tears tinted blue with the light of the number. She wanted to go numb. What kind of person can survive in a battle with a wepon they've never seen before?
She wanted to plummet then.
She didn't though, because that second, an arrow went wizzing past her ear.
YOU ARE READING
The Shadow Games
FanfictionIn the Realm, every year thirteen children are selected to dual to the death. Each child is given enhancements, which are magical things, like the ability to read minds or fly. Here on this battlefeild, fifteen year old Nina no longer knows who she...
