Chapter 27
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
The closer we got to the maze, the calmer I became. Managing my stress levels in this way was a skill I’d honed over many years and it was good to know I’d not completely lost that skill since retirement.
Dark determination rippled from Thane, and She Without An Ear appeared positively eager. Leading the way, she darted forward with her tail held high. I wondered if that meant the strange Maine Coon was waiting for us or if She Without An Ear had other scarier fish to fry. Both were possible.
Unfortunately, the same attitude couldn’t be said of Thomas and the further we travelled, the more angst-ridden he became. His grief at Penelope’s loss was clearly overwhelming him and that, coupled with his fear of the maze monster, was clearly visible. ‘How will we kill the monster?’ he asked.
‘We have spells and weapons with us, but we’ll have to play it by ear. The best approach will be to take it by surprise.’ I didn’t add that the monster would have a full belly and hopefully be snoozing away the large meal that had consisted of Lady Penelope’s tender parts.
‘Okay.’ Thomas nodded and jiggled around.
‘We’ve got this,’ Thane reassured him.
‘Yep.’ The vampire jiggled some more. ‘Yep.’
I noted his trembling body. Heightened awareness was good up to a point; too much, however, and a person could quickly be overwhelmed.
‘Breathe,’ Thane advised. ‘One long breath in. One long breath out.’ He demonstrated and Thomas copied him. ‘Again,’ he said. ‘In. Then out. Keep doing that.’
I wasn’t convinced that the technique was working but I wasn’t an expert in vampire physiology. I gazed at Thomas's shaking hands then reached for my curved dagger.
The vampire staggered to a halt, his head whipping from side to side. ‘What? Is it the monster? Is it here?’
‘No.’
Thane frowned at me but I raised my hand to indicate that I knew what I was doing. He nodded and pinned his mouth shut.
With one quick slice, I cut myself. Thomas goggled. ‘What are you doing?’
I thrust my bleeding wrist towards his mouth. ‘Drink.’
‘No!’
‘I don’t care if drinking directly from the vein is considered uncouth. This isn’t a time to bother with social niceties.’ I hardened my voice. ‘Do it.’
Thane twitched but remained silent as Thomas lowered his mouth and began to suck. He didn’t need much and after about thirty seconds he pulled away. ‘I feel different,’ he said. ‘Better.’
That was what I’d been hoping. ‘Drinking the blood of a drunk donor makes you drunk,’ I said. ‘Drinking my blood is making you calm because I’m calm.’
Up ahead, She Without An Ear miaowed plaintively; we were taking too long and she was growing impatient.
‘Thank you,’ Thomas breathed.
‘You’re welcome.’ I pointed. ‘And look. The maze is there. We’ve made great time.’
Thomas swallowed, but he was no longer shaking and his red eyes appeared less panicky. Thane reached for my hand and squeezed my fingers. His werewolf warmth was all that I needed. I gave him a quick kiss on his mouth then we all plunged through the last section of tunnel and into the maze cavern.
I used a pinch of Wicker light powder to explode the area into bright light. Thane stalked towards the empty poles and lifted one of the heavy chains. ‘That vampire is lucky he’s already dead,’ he growled, his voice heavy with disgust.
Thomas flinched. Thane dropped the chains and we turned to the entrance of the maze. She Without An Ear was already at the threshold, clearly keen to get inside.
‘We need a plan,’ I said briskly. ‘We don't know how big the maze is or what it might contain, and we can't simply wander around getting lost. Strategy is key and we all need to know what that strategy is so we’re on the same page. Searching for Chester Longchamps’ body and, more importantly, the Clouded Map he was carrying is a good start, but there's no guarantee we’ll find him.’
Thomas cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘I’ve got a spell,’ he said. ‘Beth was a witch before she turned, so she prepared it for me overnight.’ Almost reverently, he withdrew a small vial from his pocket.
I recognised it immediately. ‘A tracking spell?’
He nodded. ‘It’s already attuned to Penelope.’ He looked away. ‘To her body,’ he amended. ‘If any part of her remains, this spell will help us find her.’
That information would have been helpful beforehand but I was still glad of it. It would solve several thorny problems.
‘Excellent,’ I said. ‘We don’t know how complicated this maze will be so it will give us a good start.’ A very good start; it was a clever move on Thomas’s part.
He uncorked the vial and emptied the contents on the ground. The spell reacted immediately and a spark of violet light appeared and hovered in mid-air. At a leisurely pace, it started snaking its way towards the maze entrance.
She Without An Ear watched its progress. When it drew near, she hunkered down and began to wiggle her furry arse. Uh-oh. ‘No!’ I said sharply. ‘This isn’t a game!’
Her single ear twitched so I knew she’d heard me, but she chose to ignore me.
She added a final wiggle for effect then pounced on the tiny light.
Her attack had the same effect as it would have had on a laser pointer: it blithely carried on past her and into the maze. The cat unsurprisingly followed.
I clenched my jaw and hurried after her. I might have wanted to delay our entrance but She Without An Ear had other ideas. We were going in whether we wanted to or not.
The moment I passed across the threshold, I felt the atmosphere shift. Suddenly the air felt oppressive and a sense of foreboding settled heavily between my shoulder blades. I didn’t have time to react, though, because She Without An Ear had already spun to her right.
Aware that Thane and Thomas were close behind me, I jogged after her and raised my witchlight.
I trod carefully but the ground was smooth, as were the surrounding walls.
There was very little to see except a long dark corridor with a high ceiling that somehow added to the oppressive atmosphere rather than detracted from it. I shivered.
‘Be careful, Kit,’ Thane warned in a low whisper. ‘There may be traps.’
I grunted acknowledgement: tell that to She Without An Ear. But he was right. We had no idea of what to expect and we had to be careful.
Although the first maze corridor continued, there was a gap in the wall ahead on our left. The violet light hovered for a moment then zipped through it and She Without An Ear followed. I cursed to myself. Forget Thomas, it was that damned cat who was proving to be a liability. I gritted my teeth.
I’d barely started down the second corridor when I felt odd vibrations beneath my feet.
They were quickly followed by a rumbling sound that grew louder with every passing second.
Thomas let out a loud expletive and I felt Thane move closer behind me as I stumbled to a halt, wary of what might happen next.
She Without An Ear came bounding back, her hackles raised and her eyes wide. As soon as she reached my feet, I bent down and scooped her up. All three of us waited. We didn’t know what was happening but this most definitely wasn’t normal.
It took several long seconds for the rumbling to subside. I remained on high alert. That sound had signalled something – the question was what.
When no seething monster thundered towards us, some of my tension eased. I turned to Thomas. ‘What was that?’
His red eyes were wide and fearful. ‘I have no idea.’
‘You’ve never felt anything like it before?’ Thane asked. ‘Heard anything like it?’
He shook his head. ‘No,’ he whispered.
‘I don’t think that was our monster,’ I said. ‘It felt like the whole maze was shaking.’
‘Dark magic,’ Thane agreed. He touched the walls on either side with his fingertips. ‘It’s bound into this stone.’
As I placed the palm of my right hand against the cool stone, She Without An Ear miaowed in alarm but I shushed her and concentrated. ‘I can feel it too,’ I said. ‘Powerful enchantments are built into this maze. It might be some sort of early warning system.’
‘You mean the monster might already know we’re coming?’ Thomas asked shakily.
‘Anything is possible.’
He turned a terrifying shade of pale as Thane and I exchanged grim looks.
‘Nothing has changed.’ I lifted my chin and gently pushed She Without An Ear onto my shoulder. ‘I’ll keep moving but if the two of you…’ I didn’t get the chance to finish my sentence.
‘I’m with you every step of the way, Kit,’ Thane interrupted me.
Thomas agreed, despite his terror. ‘We have to find the monster. We have to stop this.’
I pressed my lips together hard. ‘Okay. Let’s go.’
We started moving again, albeit more slowly. The violet light trail snaked in front of us; with that and my witchlight, there was more than enough light to see by – but there was nothing to see. Smooth grey walls, smooth grey ground. It felt less like a maze and more like a prison.
We took a sharp turn to the right then one to the left. ‘It feels like we’re doubling back on ourselves,’ Thane muttered.
‘The spell is a good one,’ Thomas said. ‘Beth might be all vampire these days but she was a very accomplished witch before she turned, and she often puts her skills to good use. Last year she used the same tracking spell to find a kid lost above ground, and she located a group of night hikers a few months ago and returned them to safety before the sun rose. Her spells are near perfect.’
‘Has she used her tracking spells on those missing worms?’ Thane asked.
‘Yes.’
Clearly they hadn’t worked on that occasion. ‘That’s one of the reasons we never believed that the worms were lost to the monster down here,’ Thomas said quietly. ‘Somebody used magic to hide the worms’ presence. The monster here wouldn’t have done that.’
Either that or foreign spells didn’t work in this strange, magic-imbued maze. I didn’t say it aloud but Thomas knew I was thinking it.
He strode ahead of us. ‘The tracking spell is a good one – we can trust that it will take us to Penelope’s remains.’ He looked over his shoulder at me and Thane. ‘There is no doubt of that.’
Sadly, that was the very moment he smacked straight into a solid wall. ‘Wh – what?’ he exclaimed as he staggered.
I stopped and stared, and so did Thane. She Without An Ear growled faintly. This wasn’t supposed to happen: the most basic tracking spells were designed not to lead where the crow flies but to follow the natural and man-made laws of physics.
Tracking spells followed roads and paths.
They didn’t cross rivers where there were no bridges and they didn’t lead through houses where you could be attacked for trespassing.
If Beth was half the witch Thomas claimed she was, there was no way her tracking spell would lead straight to a wall.
But it had done – and presumably it tracked through the wall to the other side.
In case I was missing something obvious, I pushed gently past Thomas until I was standing an inch from the maze wall.
It looked like stone. I leaned forward. There was no strange smell and no indication that air was travelling through it.
I poked it. Cold, hard, impenetrable stone. The tracking spell was a dud.
‘It doesn’t make sense.’ Thomas rubbed his shoulder where it had smacked into the wall. ‘This has never happened before.’
‘It must be something to do with the inherent magic built into the maze,’ Thane said kindly. ‘That’s the only thing that makes any sense.’
Thomas frowned. His fists were clenched and I could tell he was struggling to maintain his composure. ‘It’s okay,’ I told him. ‘We’ll backtrack.’
‘Then what? How do we make our way through the maze if the tracking spell doesn’t work and we don’t find Longchamps’ magic map? What the fuck do we do?’
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the stub of chalk I’d picked up before I’d left home. ‘We go with Plan B.’
‘Which was Plan A before you produced the tracking spell,’ Thane added reassuringly.
‘Chalk?’
‘It’s old school,’ I said cheerfully. ‘It doesn’t involve magic. And it will work.’
Perhaps. I sneaked another glance at the solid wall in front of us. My doubts about this maze were growing.