Chapter Seven
Gwendolyn
I ran, the sound of my heart pounding like a wild drum in my chest, each beat sending shock waves of fear through me.
One thing was for sure, the maze was alive, but Kasper wasn’t.
Call it intuition, a sixth sense, whatever you want but I knew.
It wasn’t the maze that sent shivers down my spine, it was Kasper.
I could feel him all around me, his dark energy clinging to the air.
“Gwendolyn.” His voice was low, smooth like velvet and it sent a flutter through me that I couldn’t ignore. “You zig, I zag…I will always find you.”
I glanced over my shoulder, catching a glimpse of him.
Tall, willowy, translucent, and undeniably alluring.
Dread twisted in my stomach but it was joined with intrigue, something that wanted him to catch me.
I forced my legs to move faster even though they hesitated for the briefest of moments.
“You’re a monster!” I screamed into the abyss.
“A monster?” I felt his chuckle on the back of my neck, the sound rich with amusement.
“I prefer the term Keeper, keeper of the maze, keeper of you.” His words hung in the air, and despite my instinct to keep running, my breath was coming out in ragged breaths and I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for much longer.
“Keep me?” I whispered, knowing he could hear me.
“Yes, my sweet Gwendolyn, I'd like to keep you, and in doing so, I could protect you from the maze…and show you what true darkness feels like.” Some of his words appealed to me, and I was captivated by them, slowing my run to a walk.
“Protect me? Is that what you call this?” My voice trembled with defiance. “You’re hunting me!”
“Ah, but isn’t the thrill of the chase what makes this all so delicious?”
He appeared in front of me like an apparition of mist that stitched itself together, it was fascinating, mesmerizing, and it stunned me.
He moved closer to me and the stalks began to shake even though the only movement in the air was my breaths.
Kasper had a wicked glimmer in his eyes, and yet, I wanted to keep looking into them.
“You’re not afraid of me, are you Gwendolyn?
You’re just afraid of what you might feel.
” He reached out toward me, his fingers ice cold and I gasped, his spell over me broken.
I took off and turned around another corner, desperately trying to find my escape, but the maze was shifting to funnel me back to him.
“You’re wrong, I feel nothing, only fear.
” I gasped, my lungs burning as I pressed on, but I felt it flicker again, curiosity, desire, a thrill at the idea of being caught.
“Are you?” His voice was once again close, seductive, and wrapped around me like it was begging me to come home. “Or is it me that you’re drawn to? The fear only heightens the excitement, I promise.”
I stumbled backwards, nearly losing my footing as he drew nearer. “I won’t let this happen, I won’t let you take me.”
“Take you?” Amusement danced in his tone. “My love, by the end of the night, you’ll choose me.”
“Choose you? To what? Be a sacrifice to the maze?” My voice dripped with defiance, but my heart skipped a beat and I could see him tilt his head, like he heard it, like he knew.
“Sacrifice? Now, perhaps those before you could be called that, but no, you I want to keep, you’ll be mine and the maze’s forever.”
“You’re insane.”
“To some.” He advanced on me, his cold fingers wrapped around my throat as he tipped my head up to look into my eyes. I paused, caught in the moment, and my body screamed in acceptance, the ice around my neck turned into a fire that I considered stoking, and he grinned.
“You are mine Gwendolyn, as much as I am yours.”
I shook my head, trying to dispel his words and thoughts that were swirling in my mind. “You’re wrong.”
“Then run, Gwendolyn.” His whisper had heat pulling in my belly and trickling down my thighs. “But know that every step you take, every breath you breathe, is mine.”
With that, I tore out of his grasp and sprinted forward, a surge of adrenaline pumping through me, but it was futile, every corner I turned, every new path was leading me back to him, and I felt his presence closing in. “You zig, I zag,” he taunted.
I turned again, desperate to find a way out, to escape but he was there, everywhere, emerging from the shadows like a dark fantasy made flesh. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable.”
He loomed closer, and I felt the tension crackle in the air between us. “What exactly do you want from me?” I dared to ask.
“I want you to give in,” he replied, his gaze piercing through me. “To embrace what you feel, the fear, the desire, and understand that they are both a part of you now. Let me show you how beautiful it can be.”
For a moment, I was lost in the depths of his eyes, something swirling with an allure I couldn’t resist, and I realized I was starting to feel something beyond fear, a reckoning of acceptance or what was to come, I couldn’t decide, but I found that it ate away at my fear.
Perhaps the maze wasn’t my enemy after all. Perhaps it was the beginning of something else, a life after death, so to speak.
And maybe, I didn’t want to run anymore.