Insatiable (Inferno Games #3)

28. Quinn’s Idea

28

QUINN’S IDEA

TATE

M y head spins, and my leg burns like holy hell as I come back from the darkness. It takes a moment for my brain to catch up to my eyes. Juliette is sitting in the seat next to my bed and Rowena is sitting on the end of the bed itself. It’s then I realize I’m in hospital. I’m in the very bed Juliette was in after the poisoning.

“What happened… Quinn!”

“Quinn got through,” Juliette reassures me. “She’s fine. She’s more than fine, probably. You’re the one we have to worry about.”

I give her a small smile and am shocked to see it reciprocated.

I close my eyes and try to picture how I got from the labyrinth to a hospital bed, but everything is fuzzy. I was bitten by a hell hound. Quinn tried to save me, but she was bitten too. I remember both of us laying on the ground waiting for death. I remember being glad that she was with me and that I wouldn’t die alone. I don’t remember anything else.

“How did I get here?” I ask, opening my eyes and looking at Juliette.

“Dade flew in and saved you. He brought you out.”

I don’t remember Dade being in the Labyrinth at all. “Why did he take me out? I thought he and Quinn were dating?”

Rowena sits forward, so my attention turns to her. “We hoped you’d be able to tell us. Dade said that Quinn made him take you out. I thought it might be because if she was pulled back here, she’d not be able to go through to the next circle, but I think it was something else too. Quinn was desperate to get to her sister in a lower circle, but she wouldn’t have taken your chance to get through away from you unless she had good reason. What did she say to you?”

I look between hers and Juliette’s faces. I’m glad they are here. I had no friends in Lust and I didn’t think I had any here, but I can’t help them “I can’t remember much,” I murmur, shaking my head. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. She saved my life. She risked hers for me. Do you know if she was taken to the hospital in the lower circle?”

Rowena’s expression softens, and she shakes her head. “I doubt it. She won’t need to. The second they take her to the next circle, her body will reset. It’ll be like she was never bitten at all. She’ll be perfectly fine.”

I should feel relief at that, but instead, a fresh wave of guilt crashes over me. “And Dade?” I ask quietly.

Rowena goes silent, her gaze falling to the floor, and Juliette’s eyes drop to the bed. The answer is written in their hesitation.

“He’s down on the demon level,” Rowena says at last, her voice barely above a whisper. “With Anthura, George, and Hades. They wouldn’t let us down there to find out what his punishment will be.”

My stomach twists, and I struggle to understand. Why did Dade take me out? Why would Quinn let him face punishment for my sake? None of this makes sense. I swallow hard, the words heavy in my throat. “This is my fault. I’m to blame for all of this. I’m sorry.”

Juliette reaches out, her hand brushing against mine. The contact sends a jolt of electricity up my arm, unexpected and sharp. It’s the first time she’s touched me, the first time she’s shown me anything other than the derision I’ve come to expect. Her fingers tighten briefly around mine, and for a moment, the anger I’ve felt from her is gone, replaced by something I can’t quite name.

“This isn’t your fault. Quinn had her reasons for wanting you back here and no one can force Dade to do something he doesn’t want to do. Quinn wanted you to be saved and Dade did that. Whether he did that for her sake or because he’s a fucking good guy, I don’t know, but don’t waste the sentiment by getting sicker. You need to recover and Rowena and I need to find out what’s happening to Dade.”

She stands. When she lets go of my hand, the coldness seeps in. “Don’t go!”

The second the words leave my mouth, I clamp my lips shut, embarrassment washing over me. Juliette isn’t my friend. Neither is Rowena.

Juliette pauses, her back to me, and for a moment, I wonder if she’ll turn around. But she doesn’t. Rowena glances back, her face soft with understanding, though she says nothing about my outburst.

“We’ll come back,” Rowena assures me.

When the door finally clicks shut behind them, the emptiness rushes back in, suffocating and cold. I take a deep breath, pushing the heavy covers off my leg, and brace myself for the sight beneath. The sharp intake of breath echoes in the sterile silence of the room as I take in the damage. Stitches crisscross my skin, ugly and jagged, leaving my leg looking like a grotesque patchwork—Frankenstein’s monster reborn. The Hell Hound really did a number on me.

The pain is sharp, burning, but it almost feels like a relief. It’s tangible, something I can focus on instead of the heavier weight pressing on my chest. I try to tell myself the pain is enough to drown out the guilt, but it isn’t. Not really. Beneath the throbbing in my leg, the guilt gnaws at me, relentless.

Quinn wanted me back here for a reason. And it had nothing to do with her trying to get through to the next circle. I didn’t know her well, but I remember her face, her determination as she threw herself into danger to save me. She put her life on the line for mine. Why?

If she didn’t care, she would’ve let that Hell Beast tear me apart. She could’ve run, saved herself, and let me die. But she didn’t. She risked everything for me.

There’s something there—something that doesn’t add up. I can feel it lurking in the fog of my mind, just out of reach, like a puzzle with too many missing pieces. I can’t shake the feeling that whatever it is, it’s important. Something more than just survival. Something Quinn knew that I don’t. I just need to figure out how to access it. How to clear the fog and see what it was that she expected from me. The lights in the hospital wing dim, signaling it’s time to sleep. I glance around, realizing I’m the only one here. Does that make me one of the unlucky ones, or the lucky ones? I survived. Many others didn’t. The stillness of the room presses down on me, heavy and suffocating, but I don’t feel relief.

I close my eyes, trying to force my mind back to the labyrinth, to the last thing I remember. It’s a blur of fear, blood, and desperation. The memories swim just out of reach, tangled in the fog of pain and exhaustion. I need to piece it together, to make sense of it, but it’s slipping through my fingers.

I’ve done this before. I know how to retreat. Back in the days when I sold my body to survive—when men took more than I was ever willing to give—I learned how to escape without leaving. My body would be there, but my mind? My mind could be somewhere else. Far away. It was my only way out when I couldn’t physically leave. Meditation, they’d call it now, but back then it was survival. A way to endure the unbearable.

So I do it again, letting myself slip back into that familiar space, blocking out the pain in my leg, the questions swirling in my mind. I mentally pull myself away from the present, back to the labyrinth, trying to grab onto the last clear memory. I focus on my breathing, slowing it down, like I used to when I couldn’t fight back. There’s something buried there, something that Quinn knew and I need to uncover.

We were both injured. My leg had nearly been torn off. Quinn had injuries all over herself. It was hard to see any part of her clothes that weren’t red with blood. Both hers and mine. She kept it together better than I did. Even then, my mind was dizzy, swirling. I remember her talking to me. Soothing me. She told me that I’d get out of here. Had she known then that Dade would come in to save us? No. I don’t think so. It was just words of comfort. Then Dade came. I heard her arguing with him. Insisting that he take me and leave her. I open my eyes and force in a breath. Why did she do that? What am I missing? Her face comes to me. She looked so relieved, so happy to see Dade, but there was something else in her features. A grim determination. As Dade picked me up, she bit down on her bottom lip and gave me a nod. As though she was expecting me to do something. But what?

The images I conjured in my mind begin to fade as the darkness of sleep closes in around me. I’ve lost a lot of blood, and no matter how desperately I want to cling to the memory of Quinn, I let myself be pulled under, surrendering to the heaviness of slumber.

Hours later, I sit up straight in bed, my heart pounding, sweat soaking through my clothes, making them cling uncomfortably to my skin. Something stirred me. Something not just scary but... thrilling. I scan the hospital wing, my pulse racing. It’s empty except for one of the demon doctors, sitting quietly at a desk at the far end. He hasn’t looked up, so whatever woke me was either very quiet or?—

A realization hits me like a bolt of lightning. It was Quinn who woke me up. No, not her physically, but the memory of her, transformed into a vivid dream. My unconscious mind did what my conscious mind couldn’t; it recalled the brief, frantic moments between the Hell Hound's attack and Dade's arrival.

Quinn wanted me to do something. I can feel it, a flicker of urgency igniting in my chest. The fragments of the memory swirl in my mind like wisps of smoke. I strain to grasp them, to understand what she was trying to communicate. She wanted me to help Dade. But how? I lick my lips trying to pull the last remnants of information from my mind. She wanted me to dress him?

No… Yes! Suddenly it all falls into place as I remember the last conversation with Quinn. She wanted to save not just me and Dade, but Juliette and Rowena, too. And she knew how to do it. I drag my bed covers off and put a shaky leg to the floor. A jolt of pain shoots up my leg, but I grit my teeth and put my whole weight on it. This can’t wait until I feel l better. I need to do this now, before they do whatever they have in store for Dade.

“Hey!” the demon doctor shouts over. His voice echoes through the empty room. “You shouldn’t be out of bed.”

Ignoring him, I hobble to the door of the hospital wing. It doesn’t take long for him to catch up with me. He grips my shoulder and spins me around. “I said you need to stay in bed.”

“Not today, Satan!” I mutter, then lift my fist and sock him right in the face. My knuckles scream in as much agony as my leg, but he tumbles to the ground, anyway. I allow myself a victorious grin, then hobble as fast as I can out of the Hospital wing.

The atrium is empty, though there are the remnants of what looks to have been a party. The huge screen at the far end of the canteen shows five faces. The winners of this Inferno Games. With relief, I see Quinn’s face. She did make it. She’s now down in the next circle. I wrack my brains to remember what the next circle is. I’d look it up on my portal, but they were taken from us when we entered the Earthery.

Avarice, I think. Not that it matters. Unless I can get Juliette and Rowena on board, and save Dade from the Demons that run this level, everything I do will be in vain. I make slow progress across the atrium and call for the platform. At Juliette’s level, I step off and knock at her door. There’s no answer, so I head up a few more levels to Dade’s room. The door has been left open. I didn’t expect Dade to be here, but I hoped Juliette and Rowena might be.

“Juliette? Rowena?” I call quietly into the room. I can’t run the risk of being seen by anyone. I might not be in trouble like Dade is, but I escaped the labyrinth. I can’t see Anthura reacting well to that. I creep into the room, peering into the dark in the hope that I’m wrong and they are sleeping on the bed. They aren’t, but something on the floor catches my eye. It’s Dade’s portal. It must have fallen off the nightstand when he moved it to block the back door. Picking it up, I type in Juliette’s name and press call.

“Dade?” Her voice is muffled, groggy, like she’s just woken up. Which she probably has.

“It’s me, Tate. I went to find you in his room and stumbled onto his portal instead.”

She doesn’t respond immediately. Then I hear her speaking to someone—probably Rowena. “It’s Tate. She’s in Dade’s room.”

I swallow hard.

“We’re in Ro’s room. What’s going on?” Juliette asks, her voice filled with unease.

“I know what Quinn wanted me to do, but I can’t do it without you... and I can’t do it without Dade.”

There’s a long pause, silence so thick I can hear my heart pounding. Then Juliette’s voice comes back, heavy and low. “Well, you’re fresh out of luck. Dade is dead.”

The words hang in the air, deafening, as my mind stumbles over them. Dade? Dead? That can’t be right. My chest tightens as I try to make sense of it, but I can’t. Quinn had told me how to save them, but I need Dade to do it. I need him.

But he’s gone.

I don’t know how to respond; the phone slipping slightly in my hand. “Come down to Ro’s room,” Juliette sighs, as if trying to steady me. “Room Twenty-Four.”

I hang up, my fingers trembling. A lump forms in my throat, growing thicker with every breath. I barely knew Dade, but he saved my life. And now, he’s dead. Gone. Just like that. The last piece of hope Quinn had given me, the thing I was clinging to after he pulled me from the labyrinth, has shattered.