Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Peach
.Goetia. – Peter Gundry
A scream resonates somewhere around me, but there's no way of getting to the woman who needs help. I have no idea where she is, lost in the corridors of Daedalus's labyrinth, and all I can do is keep running to find my way to the center. A minute or so ago, they sent the Shadows after us, and one tried to catch me so harshly he ripped a piece of my dress.
I tried to help another woman when I saw her crying in front of a statue of the Minotaur. They’re all drugged from the roofied wine, and she thought he was real. But when I touched her shoulder to tell her it was just made of stone, she slapped me and ran away. Everyone is terrified for their lives, letting their survival instincts drive them.
I should do the same, especially when I hear steps coming after me again. But my way to the center is a sure solution, and I can't panic and run around.
"Penelope," a voice sing-songs.
I whirl around to find Josh Addington turning a corner to face me. I can’t believe my own eyes. This guy is in most of my classes. He’s my age. How could I have ever guessed that he’s a member of a secret society. Is everyone at SFU hiding secrets?
“Peach, I knew you’d initiate for Wren,” he says knowingly as he approaches me.
“Don’t come near me,” I blurt out.
“No? But I’m dying to make you an Aphrodite.” He stops in front of me and his hand shoots to my hair.
“Get off me!” I scream as he drags me violently. Digging my heels in the muddy ground, I grab his forearm with both hands as I try to stop him, but it’s hard to have much control with one of my wrists wrapped in a splint.
“I can’t wait to push my cock into that sassy mouth of yours.” He snickers. “No more fiery Peach, who shuts men up on campus. You’re going to become our little toy, aren’t you?”
As if he just got himself too excited to carry on, he stops walking, pushing me against the hedge of the maze. “I’m going to have you now.”
He presses his disgusting lips against mine, biting me until I bleed. I scream against him, hitting him anywhere I can reach and hurting myself in the process.
When he pulls away for a split second, I spit blood in his face.
“Go fuck yourself,” I rage.
It doesn’t stop him, one hand wrapping around my throat and cutting off my air as the other goes under my dress.
I slap him, my nail scratching at his face, but my vision is also narrowing by the second. His hand is on my upper thigh when a voice calls out behind him.
“Addington, move along.”
I’m unsure who it is until Josh steps back and Monty Hunter appears in front of me. Dizzy from adrenaline, I stride away from them, facing them to make sure neither jumps me. As I try to my breath, I witness as Josh doesn’t even attempt to debate Monty’s order. He glares at me, wipes my blood off his face, and disappears around a corner.
My racing heart doesn’t calm in the slightest when Monty approaches me.
Every single cell in my body tells me to run. But something else, something stronger, makes me face him. Suicidal tendencies, maybe.
I cross my arms over my chest, narrowing my gaze at Monty as I stand my ground. He approaches slowly with a canine smile. There's something familiar to it, but I can't quite place it. Not just that, but there's something in his eyes that I've seen before.
"You do remember what happens to you if I catch you and bring you to the center of the maze, right?" he threatens, clearly not liking the fact that I'm not shaking with fear at the mere sight of him.
Every step he takes feels like the ground is trembling. It's him, the Minotaur, half-human, half-bull, who’s going to turn my bones to dust. When I still don't move, he stops right in front of me.
"You'd become a whore for the Silent Circle." He observes me from head to toe. "Accessible by any member. Anytime." He brings a hand to my shoulder and delicately pushes my hair behind it.
I step to the side, my lip still throbbing from Josh’s bite. But I keep a steady voice.
"Believe me, Mr. Hunter, I would die a hundred times over before I’d let you turn me into a whore for you and your friends.”
Despite my words, he tries again, bringing his knuckles to my face like I'm a challenge he loves. So I slap his hand away this time, and he looks at me like I just drove over his dog.
"Didn't I just tell you?" I say, my voice lowering to a dangerous octave. "Don't touch me. It's not a plea, it's a warning."
"Is that how you thank me for saving you from Addington?"
"You saved him from me ," I snarl.
Unimpressed, he carries on. "I’m extremely tempted to turn you into a slut for my friends and me, Penelope. But that's not the plan I have for you. Now, run before I change my mind."
Plans? For me?
I don't want to play his game, and I don't want to run when he tells me to. But you have to pick your battles, don't you? And I won't become an Aphrodite tonight.
I take a few steps back, my eyes still on him, and I hiss, "Don’t ever come near me again," before turning and sprinting into the next corner.
It's not an easy task to find my way to the center. The ominous music in the maze drives me insane, and it takes me forever. Not because I'm lost, but because from the moment I entered, I decided to use the left-hand rule. I've been mentally keeping my hand on the left wall—actually doing it when I could and wasn't fighting for my life—since I ran inside. It might take me all night, but it's a foolproof way to get to the end of the maze, or the center in this case.
I don't run into any other man, but I do hear noises that make me feel sick. Like the sound of a woman's whimper while a man grunts. And the choked sound of a call for help. The hardest thing isn't being here, it's being unable to save them from this torment.
There's no relief when I finally see the center. Men are drinking around a firepit, some a little farther from it and some closer to the corridor where we're all arriving from. They're chatting, laughing loudly. Some of them are holding women's hands, some consoling them, telling them they did so well.
A few of the women aren't so lucky to be protected by a newly initiated Shadow. No, they sport a bloody lip, a ripped dress. They're wrapping their arms around their shaking bodies, surrounded by older men who are cackling about how excited they are to have them as Aphrodites.
I stay in the darkness for a few seconds, looking for Wren. I can't see him, but I can see Chris. He's standing near a hedge, as far as possible from the other established Shadows playing with their new toys. He's alone, observing the scene with his hands in the pockets of his pants, maybe looking for me.
It's too hard to distinguish every single person, too many people around. More women arrive, sprinting to their boyfriends, the man who invited them. Some of them, I think, are just throwing themselves at the first Shadow they see. As long as they can escape the men left in that maze.
As I watch two people hugging, my eyes finally fall on someone familiar behind them, and for the first time tonight, hope flourishes in my chest. Finally, I see a way out, a solution.
Someone who won't hurt me.
My feet move before I can think any further. This is it.
"Elijah!" I call out, relief finally lighting up my chest.
He looks up, his face lifting with surprise as his eyes widen. I'm shaking as I start to jog through the crowd of men. I won't become an Aphrodite, and I certainly won't become Wren's personal puppet, or worst…next victim. He wanted me here? Well, wherever he is, he can watch me run to his brother rather than his murdering, psychopathic ass. He betrayed me once today; it won't happen twice.
My trust and faith in Wren are completely lost, and my friendship and love for Elijah is all I can hold on to. He might not have told me about the Circle, but he didn't try to get me to join. He starts hurrying toward me too, pushing people out of the way.
"I'm coming!" he shouts. "Don't let anyone grab you."
I want to cry from his soothing voice. He's everything I need right now. Calm reassurance. He's my comfort in this nightmare.
He reaches me, his hands hovering over my shoulders and arms, as if to protect me.
"Peach," he pants. "What are you doing here? What if I hadn't seen you? Anyone could have?—"
His face falls at the same time I feel cold fingers wrapping around my wrist. My entire being freezes, and my heart plummets to my toes.
"Grabbed her?"
Wren's voice sounds nothing like the man I've always known. It sends a shiver down my spine, and his grip on me becomes an inescapable shackle.
I try to pull away. Once…twice.
"Let me go," I grunt. "I was already with Elijah. I chose to go to him ."
The man who used to be my best friend looks down at me, and something comes back. That predatory smile, the death in his eyes…that's who Monty reminded me of earlier. His son. They might hate each other, but they have the same terrifying look about them when they put away their social masks. One that tells you they take what they want, and no one gets in the way of that.
Maybe that's why they can't stand each other. Two psychopaths in the same house leads to trouble.
"Wren, let her go. She was clearly with me." But Elijah's order is weaker than mine, fear of his brother dulling his eyes.
Instead of letting me go, Wren brings me closer to him, and I crash against his side. "The rules are the rules, Brother. You weren't holding her, now I am. And believe me"—he leans closer to Elijah—"I’m not letting her go."