Page 80 of The Summer Show
But we’re not in love, I expected Nick to say. He didn’t. What he did do was tip his head forward once in what I now recognized as a Greek “yes.”
“And remember we can hear everything you say.”
She gave us a vulpine grin and fled, presumably to give the other pair their own instructions.
Over the speaker, Paris began to jabber excitedly in brisk Greek.
In my ear, Memo was just as thrilled. “Paris is saying that tonight in the first event, the audience will be witnessing the rebirth of Daedalus’s most famous creation, and now he is counting down to entry and asking his dog if it would like a little snack.”
Greek math was beyond me, so I waited for Nick’s cue.
“Ena,” Paris said.
Nick moved forward with me on his heels.
We entered the labyrinth.
As soon as we stepped over the barrier, the ground rumbled behind us and a slab of wall slid up, blocking the entrance.
“Are you claustrophobic?” I asked Nick.
“No. You?”
“We’re about to find out.”
One thing that was certain about GTH’s crew: they knew how to build a set—and fast. That door mechanism in the ground … how? The labyrinth’s walls felt ancient, looked ancient with their weathered stone. With every breath I pulled in the scent of seawater and something else I couldn’t identify. Something old and damp. Think oceanfront ruins, not socks.
“Did they dig this up from someplace else and move it here?”
Nick’s whole body was on casual high alert. We had spent so much time together that I recognized the relaxed set of his shoulders coupled with the tense fists. “With the kind of budget the show has, I wouldn’t be surprised,” he said.
The first turn was a few feet ahead. Nick held up his hand and moved forward. He leaned from the waist to peer around. The rest of him followed.
“Come on,” he said. “We’re good.”
Around the corner a weapon rack waited for us. Two round shields, small and wooden, and two rubber mallets that were light enough for a child to swing.
“I don’t know if this is ominous or not,” I said.
Whatever was around that next corner, at least I was with Nick. Not because I was relying on him to save my bacon. We were in this together. If I had to be trapped in a creepy labyrinth with only a rubber mallet and a flimsy shield, Nick was the first person I would choose for company.
I mean, look at those biceps.
Just kidding. But seriously, look at them.
“Stay back,” he said. “If there’s fighting, let me do it.”
“If I can fight a whole class of six-year-olds with bats, I can handle whatever these mallets are for.”
For a moment he was silent. I had managed to shock him. “You fought children?”
“The bats were foam and I was on my knees.”
His gaze shifted to my mouth. His nostrils flared slightly. I knew what he was thinking, because the moment the word came out of my mouth I was thinking it, too. After all, I was only human. And as a human in a romantic and sexual drought, my face caught fire and I had to fake a cough and raise shields—shield.
If we weren’t in a labyrinth, surrounded by cameras …
If we weren’t contestants on a game show …