“Probably,” Nik said. “I’m guessing you have a plan to stop it?”
I shook my head. “Just the opposite. I want eeeeeeeeveryone to hear about this, and I want you to help.”
“What?”
“Hear me out,” I pleaded. “I know you hate the arena, but I need you to play the celebrity fighter for the next few days. Give interviews, go on talk shows, throw a diva fit and punch a fan, whatever it takes to make sure as many people are watching your fight this Saturday as possible. Then, right before you’re scheduled to go on, Dad and I are going to sneak in and free White Snake. No dragon, no dragon fight! The whole thing will be a disaster, and since we’re doing it at the very last second, the Gameskeeper won’t be able to reschedule. This is where it gets good for you, because the curse on your neck only dictates that you have to show up for your fights. It doesn’t say you have to have an opponent.”
“That’s nuts.”
“No, it’s our loophole,” I said proudly. “If we can get the timing tight enough, you should be able to walk out there and instantly win because your enemy ran away. Once that happens, the five-fight requirement will be complete, the curse will fall off your neck, and wham-bam you’re free!”
That was the part of the plan I hadn’t told the others, mostly because it didn’t involve them. This was between me and Nik, part of my fight to pay him back for everything he’d done for me. But while I heard his breath catch in excitement, his voice was still worried.
“Are you sure you can get White Snake out? Not that I doubt your breaking and entering abilities, but the arena goes deeper than you’d think, and security at the bottom is tight.”
“I don’t have to get her out,” I said confidently. “She’s a dragon! The only reason the Gameskeeper was able to trap her in the first place was because the DFZ punched her into the river. But she should be recovered now, which means all we have to do is open the door and she’ll bash her own way to freedom. It’s perfect.”
“It’s risky,” Nik said. Then he sighed. “So a typical Opal plan, then.”
I shrugged. “No risk, no reward.”
“I get that,” he said. “But I don’t think you realize how much you’re asking. The Gameskeeper’s been after me to do PR since the first time I fought for him, but aside from mandatory stuff like photos, I’ve always avoided it like the plague. It took me years to live down being his champion the last time I quit, and that was with the Gameskeeper actively burying my involvement because he was embarrassed I’d run away. Now his reach is even bigger with millions watching his fights all over the world. I know you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t vital to the plan, but this isn’t a small thing. If I let the Gameskeeper turn me into the arena star he’s always wanted, I’ll never have a moment’s peace again. Idiots will be chasing me to ‘fight the champion’ for the rest of my life.”
When he put it that way, I could see why he was reluctant. Paranoia notwithstanding, Nik was a very private person. Having his face splashed all over the Underground alongside the nickname he hated must have been painful enough already, and here I was telling him to make things even worse. It was a lot to ask, but I stuck to my guns.
“It’ll be worth it,” I promised. “I’m not just doing this to save you. If we play our cards right, the Gameskeeper will feel this blow for years, maybe forever. This is our chance to take him down, and the odds get a lot better if you help.”
“It would be nice to hit back for once,” Nik admitted. “I owe him for a lifetime of bad shit.”
“He’s done bad shit to everyone. That’s why it’s so important that we don’t mess this up. The Gameskeeper doesn’t leave many openings. If we flub this, we may not get another shot. Also, you’ll be eaten by a dragon.”
“Hard to argue with that,” he said, sighing into the phone. “All right. If you say we need hype, then I’ll hype. But if we do pull this off and I’m still alive when it’s over, you have to help me hide. You have no idea the crazies being an arena fighter attracts. I might have to spend all of next year in my apartment.”
“I will absolutely help hide you,” I promised. “You could use some time off, anyway.”
He snorted. But while Nik was playing it cool as usual, I could hear the fear he was desperately trying to suppress with every breath.
“Do you really think it’ll work?” he whispered.
I wanted to tell him of course it would. Everything would be fine! But Nik deserved better than that from me. Also, he could always tell when I was lying. But as I opened my mouth to explain the plan and all associated risks in full, Nik cut me off.
“You know what? Never mind. I don’t want to know the odds. You already told me what you need me to do, so I’m just going to go for broke and worry about the fallout later. I was the idiot who panicked and put himself back under a blood god’s boot. Can’t complain if I have to do crazy stuff to get out again.”
“You weren’t the idiot,” I said fiercely. “I was. This happened because I was rushing ahead so fast, I didn’t think things through. I kept secrets and let you assume the worst, and everything went to shit
