“You have ninety seconds to hide. If you are found you will surely die. Good luck.”

Whispers echo through the Great Hall of Odyssey Castle.

“It’s just a game.”

“What if they’re serious?”

“What do we do?”

Eros grabs my hand and we run.

“We’ve already wasted thirty seconds. We need to move.”

‘Eros…”

I start, fear starting to crawl into my mind. He looks at me sadly and kisses me swiftly. Tears start to run down my face.

“Don’t dwell on on it, Cassiopeia. Come on.”

We run harder and faster. Thirty seconds.

‘We need to get out of here. We need to get back to the village.

“To do what? What are we going to do? They have our names in a record. They’ll find us either way. There’s nothing for us to do but die!”

Eros whirls on me and I slam into him.

“Listen to me. You’re not going to die. I’m going to get you out of here.”

Confusion swirls in my head like a dense fog. Something about his words don’t make sense but I can’t figure them out. The only thing functioning in my mind is the time. Fifteen seconds, time is running out. We start to run again. We zig and zag around the castle. Slowly making our way up. Five seconds. Panting we open a door and enter a bedroom. Four seconds. Eros looks wildly around. Three.

“Darn. They said they would be here already!”

What? What does he mean. He look desperate and I can’t understand it. Two seconds, one. Then the screams begin. High, bloodcurdling screams of doomed kids. I look at Eros, expecting him to have a plan. But for the first time ever, I see that Eros is scared.

“Jump.”

“What?”

“Jump out of the window, Cassiopeia!” He screams.

“I’m not doing that.”

“The moat is directly below the window. They’re almost here.”

“Who’s almost here? What is going on? Why are you scared? Why won’t you talk to me?”

He looks at me and kisses me again.

“Just know that I truly loved you, Cass.”

The door to the room bangs open.

“Well, well. The two rebel lovebirds. Eros it was a mistake to drag her into this.”

Eros straightens his shoulders.

“What I do or don’t do is none of your business”

“How about I kill the girl first. That way you can watch her bleed to death but you can’t do anything. Maybe I’lleven make you live. That’s ay you can remember her pain, her screams, her crys for you.”

“Don’t you touch her.”

The man laughs cruelly.

“Not much you can do about it, champ.”

Eros turns to me and I stare at him in fear.

“I love you.”

Then he shoves me out the window. I scream as I freefall towards the moat. I stare at the window and the last thing I see before I hit the water is Eros falling after me. I emerge from the water, coughing and spitting. Eros climbs out after me.

“That was close. Let’s go.”

We run towards the forest but seconds after we hear shouts.

“There they are!”

“After them!”

“Come on! A victory for King Theron!”

We run but they catch up to us easily.

“Run. RUN!”

Eros shoves me away from him and I start to run away. After a few yards I turn and look. I see Eros’s face and then one of the men spears him in the stomach. The they all start laughing.

“NO!”

They turn towards me and treat thundering after me. I stand in the clearing, anger clouding my vision, all I can see is Eros’s lifeless face. They surround me and regard me curiously.

“Why isn’t she running?”

“She’s too scared.”

I calll out in a voice not my own.

“My name is Cassiopeia, queen of the ancients. You have displeased me.”