Chapter 12

"Don't worry. It's not what you think it is. Follow me."

We descended into a subterranean oubliette. Down more spiral stairs void of embers. All compressed into an atmosphere of nervousness. This far down no one could hear me scream. Our destination was a small pocket inside the cave, where a man was chained to the walls. His naked back was pointed towards me, and his Ouroboros tattoo slithered wildly like it was trying to escape his skin.

"Your chains came in handy," Tomorrow said, as he plucked one of them.

They were digging into the man's wrist and feet. He had strange, curly green hair covering his face. The locks resembled weeping willows. When he shifted his head, I saw the utter hopelessness painted across his face. Then it all clicked. He must be a traitor, a snitch, someone to be dealt with. This is my initiation. But is this how Leif died? And why me? I began our relationship with a lie. I shouldn't be trusted. A corroded handle-less dagger was passed to me from Tomorrow's callused hand. Black spots within the burnt orange rained along its length. No doubt dried blood.

"Him? WHY?" the captive shrieked, I could see three teeth missing.

"His trial starts today. You remember, it always starts with a scavenger hunt," Tomorrow responded.

"Do you want me to kill him? Is this my way in?" I questioned.

Tomorrow shook his head and pointed to a low burning flame in the corner. Then he opened a jar of a petroleum substance and rubbed it on the captive's back. The intricacies in his hand motion flashbacked me to his grip on my neck. Tomorrow had an uncanny understanding of his strength. A gentle giant who could catch a falling egg.

"Put the blade over the flame, when the edge goes bright, let me know," he said.

Still somewhat confused, but in a safe space mentally, I did as told. I didn't ask questions, because I knew the answers would give me nightmares. A peephole view into the future of my life. A whiff of burning steel swept under my nose, the edge was indeed bright.

"Thank you," Tomorrow said, as he grabbed the dagger.

"No! Please! It wasn't me. It wasn't my plan. It was Leif. Yea, Samuels, it was him, kill him. Why the fuck would I go to Wren uninvited? Think about it?"

Tomorrow dug the hot blade into the captive's back. Right on the line of his Ouroboros tattoo, which squirmed as if it knew pain. The captive's scream echoed, turning it into a symphony of cries. He ran the fire dagger along the black line and stopped when he got to his tailbone. I couldn't understand why I was invited to see this butchery. Perhaps it was a gesture of warning. A process, desensitizing techniques of some sort. Tomorrow's hand was dripping scarlet, and the way he turned in the dim firelight made him look half-human.

"I should let you know, funnyman. This isn't about you. This is my initiation. Juda's becoming unclaimed for crimes against the Vipers. In essence, I'm future you. Regardless, you can't turn away from this. Keep all three eyes open. Remember the process. In order to un-claim someone, you gotta remove their sigil. You gotta cut off their tattoo."

It took longer than I expected. The hung flesh muted him. Blacked out, way beyond his threshold of pain. In all my years of war, I'd never seen a man flayed. Tomorrow leaned down and picked up a bucket. Inside was a metallic-colored liquid, odorless. He splashed it on Juda's fresh wound, and a cloud of steam rose from his back. To my surprise, Juda never flinched, shivered, or became conscious at all. He merely hung there like cattle on a hook. The cold cave ground stole my gaze. A kernel of fear birthed inside me, as Tomorrow's shadow eclipsed my own. He placed the same cutting hand around the back of my neck, Juda's blood still covering it. With his free hand, he opened his palm under my nose. Inside was a scratched gold coin with a sun symbol design.

"Take it," he said in a voice frighteningly calm for what just occurred.

"What is it?"

"It's the start of your trial, your ticket to

Wren."

"Am I buying something from them?"

"No, you're looking for the man who owns the other one."

A rich aroma of barbequed Meskle and questionable mashed potatoes soothed my paranoia. We arrived back in the crude dining room. Nearly everyone saw me close the trapdoor. Shrouded by Vipers in a dark corner, Puck raised his hand, snapped his fingers. The table he ate at seemed larger than the others. All the surrounding Vipers sat on upside down buckets, but Puck sat in a chair. Considering the setting, it gave off the appearance of a poor man's throne.

"Think you might've just broken the record. Remind me to call you when I need a close shave," Puck said.

I followed Tomorrow's lead towards the corner table, stumbling a bit. Flashes of Juda's flesh were soaring through my conscious. Steadily brushing through a league of Vipers all stuffing their face of Meskle, and mashed potatoes. Eating with their hands, talking with their mouths full. Eavesdropping was easy in a place like this.

"You heard about Crazy Eddie?" one of them said, before gulping a cup of water.

"Crazy Eddie, from District 3?" the other responded.

"No, that's Mad Mike. Crazy Eddie, kinda tall, had a thing for blondes. He once stabbed his own

Aunt over three ruvens."

"Oh, yea, yea. 'Crazy' Eddie. What about him?"

"Word is, they got him locked down in the

Lowlands."

"He ain'tgonna make it there. No Vipers in the Lowlands."

"Shit, he's already dead for sure. I swear, last night I saw his ghost in my dreams."

"Yea? What he say? Some spooky shit I'd imagine."

"Get this, the ghost or Crazy Eddie tells me about his arrangement in the Lowlands. Said, they're Meskle soft over there. If we had half the people, we could be running that shit like Ronin."

"This is ain't the Lowlands though,"

"Whatever, he told me something else too.

Now this part...you gotta lean in close to catch. Don't spread it either."

"Sealed lips over here."

"Ok...he said, during court, he tried to bring in a stash for us. Thinking he was gonna get sent to Titan. So he made a list of items that he was gonna smuggle. As he says it, he got carried away with the list. Ended up with thirty items. But he was so passionate about it. He figured not one thing could be left behind. All types of stuff, banis, freyas, shivs, Blue Diamonds, even Yellowstone."

"They still make Yellowstone?"

"It's gaining popularity again in District 4.

You know, they late bloomers over there."

"Aiite, so how's he getting it in? If he didn't pay off the Umbrage, they gonna spot it."

"Crazy Eddie had a crazy idea that before the cavity search, he'd claim he has Nica disease, fake the symptoms and get sent to the Medical ward. But one of the items, I think the freyas, exploded while they was sentencing him."

"Sentencing him? In court. So, wait?"

"Yup, Crazy Eddie shoved all thirty items up his rectum on his way to court. Bastard was so full he couldn't sit down. Pacing around, sweating, the freaking judge, noticed. Then the freyas exploded in his ass. They found all thirty items before he reached

Red Chamber. Every Umbrage started calling him 'shit-bricks' down the Red Path."