Chapter Two #3
land and kept right on going, down, down, down, legs flailing, hands snatching at twigs and leaves, body spiraling as she
went.
She actually twisted all the way around in the air.
Though that turned out to be a good thing, of sorts. She didn’t face-plant right into the grass and end up with a bloodied
nose, at least. She just got a flash of pain from that bone at the base of her back, and a thump to the head, and some of
the wind kicked out of her.
But even that passed pretty quickly. She managed to take a breath after a second. Another second after that and she could
sit up, slowly. The base of her spine protested and one of her arms groaned, but she got there. Now all that was left was
taking stock of her situation. Because the maze had shifted mid-leap pretty obviously. And that was most likely the reason
people didn’t clamber around on top. But where exactly had it put her?
A moment away from Anaya? Or a mile?
More toward the beginning, or less?
She couldn’t tell at first through the gloom.
It took until something lit up the sky, somewhere above her head, for her to work it out.
She got a flash of open space around her, square in shape instead of a narrow lane.
Then stone beneath her, like she’d somehow landed on a sort of table.
Moss riddled and ancient looking, but sturdy.
She hauled herself up using the edge of it, no problem at all.
The maze must have really shifted, she thought, as she looked around, a little dazedly. But she wasn’t sure that explained why she was here. Because now it
was dawning on her where here actually was. Not somewhere useless, not an inch from the start, not a millisecond from being expelled.
She was in the middle of the fucking maze.
She knew she was. The little square the hedges had formed just screamed it; the stone plinth almost hummed with the energy
of it. A fool could have guessed this—even before she saw the person who was in here with her. Standing at the only way into
this little area, back to her.
But obvious, all the same.
Those shoulders.
That hair like midnight.
And good god, the things he was doing. A million movies and books and best guesses could never have prepared her for what magic looked
like, in the hands of a master. Even the things she and Anaya had seen—they didn’t compare. He curled his arm over his head,
wand gripped in his hand, the tip of it trembling with tension. Like a conductor, urging his orchestra to even greater heights.
Then from the end came a kind of shimmering wave. It rose up, from the ground to somewhere above the hedge walls. And she
got to see in great and glorious detail what rose up with it—people. Students. They simply lifted in the air like they were made of nothing. They floated and flailed impossibly.
But flight isn’t allowed, she found herself thinking.
It took her a second to realize that flight wasn’t the thing happening here.
That he hadn’t gifted them with the ability to swim around in the air.
No, no—it was gravity he had affected. He had turned gravity upside down.
And now they all batted against some invisible boundary, most likely put there in anticipation of outlandish spells just
like this.
Though somehow, she doubted many were capable of it.
Few here seemed anything like his equal. Someone tried to sneak in by making their body some sort of porous thing—able to
pass through one of the hedge walls, to the side she and this bastard was on. But the bastard caught it. He made a series
of movements with his free hand, so fast she couldn’t even make out what they were. A fist maybe, followed by two fingers
straight up, and then something else, something tricky.
And suddenly the sneak had turned to stone.
He stood there, in the corner—a statue of himself.
While the first set of victims screamed from the sky. “Let us down, Harker,” they yelled. “Come on, mate, just leave it out.”
And she processed two things when they did. His name, as horrible and snooty as she’d imagined. Then hot on its heels, the
fact that these people, these people who he had just sent into the sky and turned to stone—they were his friends. They knew him; they were pally with him.
But he was ruthless with them regardless.
Apparently, the top spot was for him, and him alone.
And here she was, accidentally occupying it.
This is a mistake, she wanted to say. I don’t know how this happened, she wanted to say.
But she knew he wouldn’t listen, that none of that would hold any weight with him.
So instead, she slid toward the edge of the stone table she was still sprawled on.
Slowly, slowly, slowly, breath held, no clue in her head where she was going to escape to but doing her best to do it anyway.
If she could just get down onto the grass, she told herself, as she squirmed one foot over the edge and down.
Toes straining for the ground inside that shitty patent leather shoe she shouldn’t have worn, hands tight on the stone to stop herself sliding all at once, body trembling like a plucked wire.
She had almost made it, when something scratched the back of her shin.
She felt it bite into her skin and couldn’t help her sound of pain and surprise when it did. Just a small one, and she managed
to cut it off immediately with her hand over her mouth. But it was enough, she could tell. His back clearly stiffened the
second it happened. That raised wand lowered, slow, slow.
While she stood there frozen, quivering, awaiting her doom.
Barely able to breathe. Barely able to think. Almost wanting to plead.
And still, it was a jolting horror when he suddenly turned. Whip quick, wand ready, face so hungry for whoever was trying
to steal his prize. He looked like a demon in the slanting moonlight. So when he took a menacing step toward her, she did
the only thing she could.
She hauled herself up onto the plinth. Then she scooted back across it, too fast for her frantic hands. One of them gave as
she went; she wound up sprawled on her back. Her head clunked against the stone, hard enough to briefly daze her.
But she still felt that hand on her ankle.
Like she had imagined him doing in the hall of headmasters—only somehow even scarier. It tugged, and she slid so fast and
so easily across the surface it stole her breath. For a second she thought, God, I’m just going to fly right off the end and directly into his mouth. And just as she was coming to terms with that terrible thought, he simply launched himself up. All in one move, like a great
cat pouncing on its prey.
Before landing like an enormous cage over her completely defenseless body. His hands slapped the stone on either side of her
head, hard enough that the crack hurt her ears. She tried to immediately move her legs and encountered what had to be his
thighs on either side of her.
It was bad; it was really bad.
But having to look up into his face was worse.
His black eyes glittered, as deathless and cold as they had been when she’d first been at his feet. And now they practically
crawled over her face, the messy cloud of her dark hair, the hands she had somehow bunched into the beige blouse she shouldn’t
have worn. He saw it, and a flicker of distaste crossed those classically handsome features.
Though strangely, they looked a little less classically handsome up this close. She could see now that he had a slight gap
between his two front teeth. That his scything cheeks were a little softer than she had first thought. That his mouth was
too curlicue, his eyebrows too messy.
They almost met in the middle.
Yet somehow, none of those things seemed to make him ugly.
They just made her flash on the boy in the long grass again. That face different, but the resemblance was there. It made her
flinch, when whoever was laid with him whispered some soft words. You are so pretty, she said, in a voice that felt even more familiar than he did.
She had to bat it away.
Clearly, he was just fucking with her mind somehow.
“Get off me,” she spat, with all the anger and frustration she hadn’t been able to aim at him in the hall. She even somehow managed to shove at his chest—for all the good it did her. It was like striking stone. The impact hurt the wrist she’d already pranged, painful enough that she clutched at it.
Much to his amusement.
“You made it all the way to the heart of this terrible labyrinth, and that’s all you have? A little love tap? I’m afraid you’re
going to have to do better than that if you want to keep cheating your way through the ranks,” he sneered.
As if that was going to make her give in.
“I didn’t cheat, you asshole. It just happened.”
“Of course it did, of course.”
“The maze moved.”
“So it just favored you, for no reason.”
“You think I want to be here, trapped underneath you?”
Something dark flickered across his face—anger maybe.
Though it didn’t linger long enough to say for sure. That smug smile widened, and he leaned down to speak a little closer
to her ear. “Well, let me see what I can do to make you more comfortable,” he said, so low and soft it felt like a caress
against the side of her face. She flinched away and almost went to shove him again.
But when she did, something happened.
Something went through her—a sort of silvery sensation. Like her blood had suddenly turned into mercury. And for just a moment,