The splash of water made no difference. Cress—still stark naked—now had locked Donovan’s legs up in a hold and was punching him viciously in the gut. He ground his teeth, put his hand on the back of her neck, and slammed her head into the wooden floor. Neither of them stopped.
“Wahoo!” Cecil shook his popcorn.
I looked over at Nate and Eryk. “What do I do?”
Nate shrugged. “They’ll get tired, eventually.”
“Do they do this a lot?”
They all nodded.
I sighed. Some problems were just too weird for me to even solve. I grabbed my case and stomped back to the bathroom to change.
Chapter
Fourteen
Bart’s eyes were on stalks as we walked through the stadium of the Ultimate Strong championships. I could hardly blame him; the amount of gorgeous, muscled flesh on display was insane. Competitors streamed in from all around the world for the first round of the games. Teams in tiny matching outfits swaggered around the entrance, broad shoulders and bubble-butts everywhere.
I snapped my fingers, already tense. “Focus, please, Bart. We need to find a berserker.” I nervously chewed on my lip. We’d lost so much time already, especially having to waste precious minutes having Nate heal Cress’s broken arm and Donovan’s black eye.
Both of them had still been brawling when I came out of the bathroom, fully dressed. At a loss, I begged Cecil—on his second bucket of popcorn—to stop them. I didn’t want to order him to do it, so I told him I was going to ask Violet to redecorate herself with modern farmhouse matching flat-pack furniture sets, and paint feature walls in every room if he didn’t do something.
Grudgingly, he waited until Cress leapt into the air to deliver a cross-body elbow drop to Donovan’s gut, tossed a sheet over her, and used his magic to turn it into a frilly pink dress. She was so outraged she abandoned the fight with Donovan and chased Cecil all the way to the pub downstairs, where he hid in a wine fridge until she finally cooled down and went to get changed.
My nerves were so on-edge, I could barely think straight. The worry for Audrina had ballooned overnight. I kept imagining her somewhere dangerous and cold, kept captive by purple-skinned monsters, crying out, all alone. We needed to find a berserker.
From what I’d learned, finding and abducting a berserker was going to be difficult for a few reasons. First, they were supernaturally strong, hyper-focused monsters, and one of them could probably beat all of us to death if they were motivated enough. Second, berserker magic only manifested when they were channeling their emotions into physical strength, so while we might find it easy to spot one on the arena floor while they were competing, they would join their team when they finished their round, and we’d end up having to fight multiple overpowered monsters instead of one.
By the time we got to the stadium, we still didn’t have a plan. I hated not having a plan.
Watching the crowd in the atrium, I gnawed on my lip. “Maybe some of us should go in and watch, and some should wait here to grab a berserker as soon as they come off the floor.”
“I have a better idea.” Cress made a beeline straight for the registration table. “I will infiltrate the competition and find one that way.”
“Cress,” I called patiently. She turned. “You have to qualify for this competition.” I gestured around to the muscled-up competitors swaggering in their tiny booty shorts and crop tops. “They have trained their whole lives for this.”
“Fine,” she growled. After glaring around for a moment, she followed a blond woman with braids into the bathroom and came out two minutes later wearing her outfit. “Problem solved.” She adjusted her wristband. “I’m going in.” She strode into the competitor’s area before anyone could stop her.
Bart skipped past me, following the Bulgarian team inside. “Let’s go with your plan, Sue. I’ll go in and call you if I spot any purple magic.”
I rubbed my temples. “God, this is like trying to herd cats and get them to find a needle in a haystack.”
At least Eryk and Nate were obedient. They stood to attention in front of me, with Cecil—now a large golden Labrador wearing a service animal jacket—sitting patiently in between them. Cecil had been too much trouble as a baby yesterday, so I insisted on a different disguise, thinking he wouldn’t get into any trouble as a working dog. So far, he’d peed on two security guards and stolen a hotdog out of a little girl’s hands.
“Something is wrong,” Donovan muttered. As usual, he was just behind me, looming over me like a broody protective umbrella. I’d been trying not to look at him. Despite witnessing his ridiculous and very confusing brawl with Cress, the aching feeling inside of me had somehow gotten worse.
I couldn’t help but glance up at him quickly. “What is it? Is it Connor? Is he here?”
“No.” He shook his head. “And that is what is bothering me.” He gestured to the floor. “There is no trace of banwyn. I cannot feel any hint of dark magic that Connor might have used to find and capture a berserker. He is not here. And he may not have ever been here.”
“Why would Connor have given up the hunt? He was hunting us, right?”
“I do not know. I had assumed he had heard rumors that berserkers had abducted the Chosen, and, like us, he was trying to find one, so he could get to you.”
“They must know she’s not the Chosen One by now. And he’s not here.” I closed my eyes for a second, dread swirling in the pit of my stomach. “We’re hunting a berserker so we can find Audrina, but it might already be too late. Connor could have her. Or the berserkers might have killed her when they realized she wasn’t me.”
“Perhaps. They have a ferocious reputation for mercilessness when they do not achieve their goals.”
“We’ve got no choice but to stick to the plan, though,” I said, gnawing on my lip. The idea of having to sit in the stands and watch the competition—possibly for hours, while Audrina’s life hung in the balance—felt like torture.
Donovan nodded. “Our options are limited.”
I longed to smooth away the dark circles under his eyes; he looked so tired. Despite all the sleep I had, I was restless, almost itching out of my skin. “There’s got to be a better way,” I said. “Cress has the right idea—infiltrate the competition—but there isn't much she can do while she’s stuck on the competition floor in front of a crowd.” I checked the information board. “According to the program, the first open round goes for two hours—the competitors stay on the floor the whole time.”
For a second, I watched the people bustle around the stadium entrance.
“I need a clipboard,” I muttered. “And a lanyard. Cecil!” He trotted up to me, and I leaned down to talk to him. “I need you to style me.”
He snorted. “What do you think I did this morning, Chosen? The sports-luxe aesthetic doesn’t suit you as well as French Riviera casual-chic, but it was the best I could do.”
“No,” I said. “I need a different look. Business casual.” I looked up and met Donovan’s eye. “Me and Cecil are just going to take a quick bathroom break. Okay?”
Donovan glowered down at me. “Why?”
“I’ve got an idea, but I need a costume change.”
“What kind of change?” Cecil narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously. He was much cuter as a Labrador, so it was hard to take him seriously.
