CHAPTER FOURTEEN
KYRION
I sprinted down one path after another, plunging deeper and deeper into the maze.
I didn’t have time to look for traps, but no more blaster nozzles appeared, and nothing else slowed my progress.
Even if I had blundered into an obstacle and been injured, I would have kept going.
Right now, all I cared about was finding Vesper and making sure she was safe from the Black Scarab and whatever other horrors Roderick and Jeffrey might have unleashed.
Vesper? Vesper!
Her voice didn’t sound in my mind, and the velvety ribbon of her felt even smaller and thinner, as though only the longest, tiniest strand connected us. Why would she suddenly feel so much farther away?
Unless . . . Vesper had gotten out of the maze.
As soon as the thought entered my mind, I knew it was true—I could feel it was true.
My inner monster hissed with relief, and the dark cloud of dread hanging over my head evaporated. Vesper had escaped. Even more telling, the velvety ribbon of her vibrated with determination. Wherever she was and whatever she was doing, she had a plan of attack.
A wide grin stretched across my face. Vesper Quill with a plan was one of the most dangerous things in the whole bloody galaxy, and I almost felt sorry for whoever had been stupid enough to get in her way. Almost.
If Vesper didn’t kill our enemies, then I would, including Roderick, Jeffrey, and everyone else associated with this house of horrors.
I kept sprinting through the maze, but now, instead of frantically looking for Vesper and trying to escape, I started searching for a place to make a stand against my enemy. Roderick and I were in the middle of an obstacle course, and it was time to put some obstacles in his path.
I moved from one section of the maze to another, only pausing long enough at the junctions to peer down the various paths.
By this point, I had lost all sense of direction, and I had no idea where I was in the maze.
I needed to find a biodome with statues, trees, fountains, or other big, blunt, heavy objects I could use as weapons.
Whenever I came to a junction, I also paused long enough to listen, but I didn’t hear Roderick’s footsteps anymore. He was probably relishing the chance to slowly, quietly stalk me through the maze like I was one of those Frozon wolves he loved to hunt.
But I wasn’t a wolf, I was a monster, and I wasn’t even close to being defeated.
After reaching a dead end and having to backtrack, I veered onto a different path and finally stepped into another biodome.
This biodome was much, much larger than the other areas, and I could tell it was the center of the maze.
And just like the other biodomes, it too had a themed environment with a very distinctive feature: lava.
Long, rectangular, knee-high permaglass pools filled with lava lined the wide flagstone paths that crisscrossed the ground.
Waist-high bronze cauldrons also filled with lava were scattered here and there, while several more pools and cauldrons ringed a circular space in the middle of the biodome that reminded me of a gladiator arena.
The pools and cauldrons must have been treated to withstand and contain the extreme element, although the glass and bronze containers still glowed with heat.
Shock sliced through my gut. This biodome was modeled after a Magma planet. A red-hot heart at the heart of the maze. Cute, ironic, and extremely dangerous.
The lava just reinforced how arrogant Roderick was. Only someone with an exceptionally large ego would be foolish enough to try to contain and control such a deadly element, even in a training facility.
A bubble rose in the lava in a glass pool and abruptly popped, blasting steam into the air.
More bubbles rose and popped in the other pools and cauldrons, releasing even more suffocating steam.
No honeysuckle vines adorned the walls, and many of the flagstones had cracked from the intense heat.
Even the energy shield overhead continually bucked and heaved, like it was trying to stuff the steam back down into the lava.
I’d only been here for a few seconds, and my skin felt drenched with sweat and bone-dry at the same time.
Vesper would have appreciated the ingenuity of pumping lava into the middle of the maze without destroying the surrounding paths, flowers, and biodomes, but my lips curled back in disgust, and a snarl rumbled out of my throat.
As an Arrow, not much scared me, but I would never forget how the ground had cracked open like an eggshell and released geysers of lava during the Techwave battle on Magma 7 several months ago.
A shudder rippled through my body. I would have died in that field of lava if Vesper hadn’t used her seer magic to steer us away from the eruptions.
Above my head, a camera zipped down from the ceiling and pivoted toward me.
“Kyrion . . .” Roderick’s singsong voice boomed out of the device. “Oh, Kyrion . . . Where are you . . .”
My hands clenched into fists, and I had to swallow another snarl. He knew exactly where I was. Taunting people was just another part of Roderick’s sick little hunting game, and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of responding.
I stalked down one walkway after another, searching for something I could use as a weapon, but there was nothing here but lava.
I considered backtracking and trying to find another biodome, but sooner or later, Roderick would get tired of chasing me, and either he or Jeffrey would start triggering traps to try to take me down. Better to make a stand here and now.
Another bubble of lava popped in one of the cauldrons, drawing my attention.
The longer I stared at the lava, the more Vesper’s seer magic surged and outlined it in a bright silver glow.
I frowned. I didn’t need Vesper’s ability to know the lava was dangerous.
Or was there another reason her power had pointed it out?
The glow of Vesper’s power faded away, but my mind started churning. Perhaps I was looking at the situation the wrong way. I’d wanted to put some obstacles in Roderick’s path. Well, there was no greater, deadlier obstacle than lava. Perhaps it was time to turn Roderick’s own maze against him.
A hasty plan formed in my mind, and I strode into the gladiator ring in the middle of the biodome. Then I turned around and waited for my enemy.
Less than two minutes later, Roderick strutted into the Magma biodome still wearing his armor and carrying his war hammer. The lunarium weapon was now glowing a bright, vivid red, mirroring the color of the lava. I ground my teeth to hold back another shudder.
Roderick strode forward and stopped several feet away. “Hello, Kyrion,” he said, throwing his arms out wide. “You finally found the Magma biodome. Isn’t it ingenious?”
“Your House really must have credits to burn if you can afford to keep pools of lava bubbling away in here,” I snarked.
He dropped his arms and shrugged. “My family has several factories on Magma planets. Harnessing the lava is easier than you might think. I’m sure Vesper would admire the science behind it. She’s an engineer, right?”
My hands clenched into fists. He knew good and well Vesper was an engineer.
“Nothing to say?” Roderick chuckled. “Pity. I always like to have a conversation with my special guests before the end.”
The holoscreen on his left forearm lit up, and a sharp crackle of static sounded.
“Sir, we have a problem.” Jeffrey’s apologetic voice echoed out of the device. “I’ve lost the woman. Repeat. I’ve lost the woman.”
Roderick frowned, although he kept his gaze on me. “What do you mean, you’ve lost the woman?”
There was a moment’s silence, then Jeffrey cleared his throat. “She incapacitated the Black Scarab and disabled the camera I was using to track her, along with her holocuff.”
“Well, find her,” Roderick snapped, an irritated note creeping into his voice. “And when you locate her, seal her in one of the sections. I’ll deal with her later.”
Jeffrey cleared his throat again. “I’m not certain she’s still in the maze, sir.”
Roderick blinked and blinked, as though it had never occurred to him that someone could escape his hunting ground.
“I’ve switched the cameras to thermal imaging, but I’m not seeing her body heat anywhere in the maze,” Jeffrey replied. “I think she . . . got out.”
Hope welled up in my chest. I reached out through the bond, just in case this was a cruel psychological trick, but the ribbon of Vesper had stretched out even further, and even more determination was rippling off her.
I let out a soft, relieved laugh, and my inner monster purred with satisfaction.
I’d been right. Vesper had escaped from the maze.
Roderick glared at me like it was my fault Vesper had wriggled out of his trap. “How did she get out?”
“I ran a diagnostic scan,” Jeffrey replied. “Looks like she found an emergency control and used it to manually open an exit in the exterior wall.”
Roderick’s lips mashed together into a thin angry line, and a muscle tic-tic-ticced in his jaw like a timer counting down to an explosion. “Well, find her,” he growled. “Right now. Or I’ll be hunting you in here next. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Jeffrey replied in a low, strained voice.
The holoscreen let out another crackle of static, and the light winked out.
This time, I was the one who clucked my tongue in mock sympathy. “Your technician underestimating Vesper is going to be the death of you, Roddy. Vesper is much more dangerous with her seer magic than you are with all your toys, tricks, and traps.”
An angry flush swept up Roderick’s neck and flooded his cheeks, turning them the same bloodred as his armor. “My Hammers will find Vesper and put her right back in the maze. Why, I might even have time to have a little fun with Vesper before we ship her out.”
Ship her out? To where? And to whom? Was someone helping the Erzton lord with his house of horrors? If so, what did they want with Vesper?
Roderick shook his head, flinging off his anger like a dog shedding water from its coat. The flush faded from his cheeks, and when he focused on me again, he was calm. “I love that look on your face.”
“What look?” I asked in a wary voice.
He grinned, his white teeth gleaming in his mouth. “When the prey finally realizes they’re caught in my trap and there is no escape.”
Roderick tightened his grip on his hammer and strode forward. I grabbed my psion power and watched him approach. As soon as Roderick passed the first pool of lava, I snapped up my right hand and lashed out with my telekinesis.
Usually, when I picked up an object with my psion power, I sensed the general weight and heft of it, if not always the tactile sensation or the actual temperature of the rock, branch, or whatever item I was tossing at an enemy.
I had never tried to move lava before, and as soon as I touched it with my telekinesis, a burning sensation erupted in my hand, like I was trying to throw lumps of red-hot mud that kept slipping through my fingers.
Sweat poured down my face, but I snarled and tightened my grip on my telekinesis, and a ball of lava floated up out of the pool—
A hidden door opened in one of the walls, and a metal nozzle jutted out and swiveled toward me.
Pew!
A blaster bolt zinged through the air. I spun in that direction. My right hand was already busy holding the lava, so I flung my left hand out, trying to use my telekinesis to redirect the bolt just as I had done earlier to the jets of water in the Frozon biodome.
But I was too slow and too distracted by the lava, and the bright orange-red streak of electricity punched straight into my palm. I screamed and staggered back, clutching my left hand to my chest. I also lost my grip on my telekinesis, and the lumpy ball of lava splattered back down into the pool.
Hot, electric agony clawed past my wrist and chewed a path all the way up to my elbow.
My entire arm was twitching from the pulsing pain, but I looked down and forced my trembling fingers to open.
A deep, gruesome blaster burn covered my palm, as though it was a cut of meat that was red, rare, and bloody around the edges and charred to a blackened crisp in the center.
I gritted my teeth and threw up another psionic shield, walling off this fresh injury.
I hissed out a breath as some of the intense, pulsing pain receded, but I couldn’t use my left hand, not even to pick up anything with my telekinesis.
The slightest physical weight or psionic strain would crack my mental shield and flood my body with crippling pain.
“Poor Kyrion,” Roderick drawled. “Such a rookie mistake. You aren’t the first psion to try to use the Magma biodome against me. Did you really think I would let you throw lava at me?”
I swallowed another scream. Sweat streamed down my face, nausea roiled in my stomach, and it was all I could do not to vomit.
Just looking at my scorched palm made the pain flare up even brighter and hotter and batter against my psionic shield, so I dropped my left hand to my side and tried to forget it was attached to the rest of my body.
Roderick laughed at my obvious distress.
“Let me guess. Your hand feels like it is on fire, and your injury is hurting much worse than a typical blaster burn. Jeffrey came up with the ingenious idea to combine the lava with the blaster traps. I don’t really understand how it works, but it is quite effective and extremely painful. As you can feel for yourself.”
I was still too busy trying not to vomit to respond.
Roderick studied me a moment longer, then nodded, like he’d come to an important decision. “As much fun as this has been, Kyrion, I am on a bit of a schedule. I think we’ve played the game long enough. Besides, the grand finale is always my favorite part.”
He grinned again, then started swinging his hammer back and forth, slicing it through the air with ease as he approached me with all the confidence of a king marching toward a conquered land.
A chilling realization swept over me, icing out some of the agonizing pain in my hand. I was well and truly caught, like a Frozon wolf in a snare, with no hope of escaping the death that was quickly approaching me.