Chapter 381: Who?
Olive stepped out onto the stage alongside Elias and Maeve. She held her sword in a loose grip at her side as the crowd roared overhead. Sweat slicked the palm of her left hand. Fortunately, her right one was immune to that particular issue. Wood didn’t really sweat much.
Part of her could barely believe they’d even made it this far. The ringing in her ears could have been from either the excited yells filling the arena or the blood thumping in her skull. She couldn’t quite tell yet.
Olive never thought she’d get to the point where she’d reach any level of finals in a tournament as prestigious as the Proving Grounds, much less actually have a chance of winning it.
And now she had no choice.
Elias and Maeve were counting on her. They needed to win. If they didn’t, Elias would probably die… or stop being dead. She wasn’t exactly sure what the semantics of an undead being dying were.
Olive flinched as Maeve put a hand on her shoulder.
“You’re doing it again,” Elias said.
“Sorry,” Olive said, shaking her head and letting her back relax. She let the tension slip from her muscles as she let out a slow breath. “I’ll be fine. I’m ready.”
“Remember. We’re a team,” Elias said. “Even if Maeve and I aren’t part of the Menagerie. You can rely on us. You aren’t the only one fighting. This isn’t all on your shoulders. There are three of us. Take too much and all you do is unbalance the group.”