Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
We started to re-trace our steps. In theory, it should have been easy because we’d only made three turns on our way into the maze.
I marked the walls with the chalk as we walked. First we turned right, then left onto the long corridor. ‘One more left turn and we’ll end up back at the maze entrance,’ Thane said.
Easy-peasy. I ignored the suspicious churn in my stomach and the way that She Without An Ear was shifting restlessly on my shoulder.
We walked down the long corridor. And we walked. And we walked. Thomas gave a nervous chuckle. ‘It didn’t feel this far before.’
Mmm. I held the witchlight higher but there was nothing to see except the stone walls. We kept going, one foot after another – until She Without An Ear dug her claws into my flesh and hissed.
Thomas jumped. ‘What is it? What’s wrong?’
Thane saw it first. ‘A gap in the wall ahead.’
‘But there’s supposed to be a gap. We entered this corridor through a gap.’
‘The gap is on the wrong side,’ he said darkly. A moment later, I saw that he was right.
Thomas shook his head. ‘We must have missed the doorway leading to the first corridor by the entrance.’
‘We didn’t miss anything,’ Thane growled. ‘And we can’t all be confused or hallucinating the same thing. The original doorway has gone and there’s a different doorway leading in the opposite direction.’
‘That’s impossible!’ Thomas argued.
I didn’t say anything. Thane looked at me. ‘Kit?’
I sighed heavily. ‘The loud noise we heard before. The tracking spell. The way so few vampires have penetrated this maze in the past and managed to escape. It all fits.’
Thomas’s exasperation grew. ‘Fits with what?’
‘The walls move,’ I said simply.
‘Preposterous!’ Thomas said.
Thane was nodding. ‘It’s the logical conclusion.’
‘But that doesn’t make any sense!’
‘It’s the only thing that makes sense.’ I looked at him. ‘This maze is imbued with ancient magic either to keep people out or,’ I paused for a moment, ‘to keep something in.’
‘If the latter is true, the magic is failing,’ Thane muttered. Indeed.
Thomas didn’t panic; in fact, his response was the opposite to panic. His shoulders slumped and his eyes dulled. ‘So we’re trapped. Penelope is dead and we’re trapped inside a maze. We’re absolutely fucked.’
‘On the contrary,’ I told him. ‘This is good.’
‘What?’
‘If we’re lost and we don’t know where we are, there’s a chance that bastard monster can’t find us and it doesn’t know where we are. We keep going. We find the fucker. And then we win,’ I said.
‘You sound very sure,’ Thomas quavered.
‘I am.’
He stared at me for a long moment and I saw a glimmer of the original Thomas return to his eyes, a flash of the cheeky, brash vampire whom I’d first met. ‘We will beat that thing. And this maze.’
I nodded. ‘Absolutely.’
He raised his head then marched ahead and took the new turn which led to the right.
‘What do you really think our chances are of surviving this?’ Thane murmured.
I took his hand. ‘Fifty-fifty,’ I said. ‘At best.’
‘You’re more optimistic than I am.’
I licked my dry lips. ‘We keep trying until we no longer can.’
‘Amen.’
She Without An Ear miaowed, then we hastily followed Thomas deeper into the maze.
I had a good sense of time, born out of many hours waiting for targets to appear or for the right moment to show itself, so I didn’t need to check my watch to know that thirty minutes passed before the strange rumbling started again.
Thomas flinched but then he straightened his shoulders and held his head high.
‘The maze shifts every half hour,’ Thane said.
‘It appears that way.’ I marked the wall with chalk, just in case. It wouldn’t hurt. ‘We can confirm it next time it moves.’
Thomas pointed. ‘There are two doorways ahead, one heading left and one heading right. Which way do we go?’
She Without An Ear miaowed. ‘Right,’ I said.
‘Why?’
I waited a beat but no further feline communication was forthcoming. I shrugged. ‘Why not?’
‘We’re basing our strategy on a cat?’ Thomas asked.
I could think of far worse things on which to base our strategy. ‘Do you have another plan?’
His silence was all I needed. ‘Right it is,’ I said and strode ahead.
We turned into the next maze corridor. It was shorter than the others and we were immediately confronted with a junction. She Without An Ear nudged my cheek with her paw. ‘Straight ahead?’ I asked.
She purred.
Alrighty. We crossed over – and as soon as we did, I realised there was something ahead. I held up my hand to stop. ‘Wait here,’ I said and handed She Without An Ear across to Thane. The cat protested but I ignored her. ‘This might be something.’ I paused. ‘It might be dangerous.’
Without waiting for a response, I skipped ahead.
There was definitely something there, lying on the ground in a heap.
I slowed my steps and approached it warily.
Bones, I realised: I was looking at a collection of human bones and next to those bones lay a bag and the unmistakable form of an intact bellarmine jug.
Chester Longchamps. It had to be.
Taking out a pinch of Wicker light powder, I illuminated the area.
Longchamps was dead for a reason and I wanted to ensure that we didn’t join him.
There was no sign of any monster, but I spotted a streak of dried blood on one of the walls leading away from us.
There appeared to be more dried blood on the ground but little else.
Thane and Thomas joined me. She Without An Ear jumped to the ground and began to paw at the fallen jug, while Thomas stared at the yellowing bones. ‘Chester,’ he said quietly.
I nodded. ‘Presumably.’ Without the benefit of sunlight, his vampiric body wouldn’t turn to dust immediately but the lack of flesh suggested that the decomposition process was well underway.
I toed a section of ribcage and Thomas flinched. ‘About two months, right?’ I said. ‘For a vampire’s remains to fully decompose in an underground spot like this one?’
Thomas nodded. ‘The state of his bones fits with the time when he vanished. He likely died soon after he entered the maze.’ Something dark glittered in his red eyes.
‘He was a bastard. I’m not sorry.’ He bent down, picked up the bag and examined its contents.
‘A lot of his stuff will be useful, though.’
Thane picked up the bellarmine jug. ‘I suspect what’s in there will be most useful.’ He reached for the stopper.
‘Wait,’ I cautioned. I swung my backpack off my shoulders and rummaged inside for the preservation spell.
‘Trilby?’ Thane said.
‘They knew I’d be here sooner or later.’ How or why they knew was a different matter.
Thomas looked up and frowned. ‘Who’s Trilby?’
‘An above-grounder,’ I told him. ‘They run a stall at your market, though how often I don’t know.’
Something shifted in Thomas’s face. ‘You mean Conlaoch? They always wear a trilby hat?’
‘Possibly,’ I said slowly. ‘Penelope didn’t know their name but she was with me when I first spotted them down here.’
‘Penelope isn’t always friendly towards non-vampires,’ Thomas said. ‘She wasn’t always friendly,’ he amended sadly.
I swallowed. There would be time for grief later. ‘When she met Trilby, she seemed … wary of them,’ I said. ‘But they had a mark that seemed to indicate they could come to the Understream whenever they wanted, so she let them be. Are we thinking of the same person?’
‘It sounds like it. I met Conlaoch when they showed up down here a couple of months ago. One or two of the real old timers said they recognised them from way back. Way back, which suggests Conlaoch is more ancient and powerful than any vampire. I don’t know much else.’
Thane and I exchanged glances. ‘That seems like a recurring theme,’ he said.
‘Indeed.’ I wasn’t surprised that Thomas believed Trilby was both very old and very strong because it fit with what I knew of them.
Because there was little else to say about my mysterious acquaintance, I extracted a small amount of the dried herbs that made up the preservation spell and sprinkled them through the air.
There was a pulse of magic. Thane waited a beat then took the stopper from the jug and shook out the contents. A roll of parchment fell out.
‘All hail the Clouded Map,’ he murmured as he unrolled it. While all three of us crowded around it, lines began to appear. I gasped involuntarily: here was the maze in all its glory.
‘We must be here.’ I pointed to a small red dot. ‘We’re already a third of the way through.’
Thane traced a route with his finger. ‘If we go this way, we can probably get to this junction before the walls move again.’
I examined the spot he was indicating. ‘That seems like a good plan. Let’s…’ My voice faltered and I looked around.
‘What?’ Thomas asked. ‘What is it?’
I ground my teeth together. ‘Where the fuck has my damned cat gone?’
There was no sign of She Without An Ear. She had been beside Chester Longchamps’ bag a moment ago but she wasn’t there now.
Although I called her name repeatedly, She Without An Ear didn’t appear. We couldn’t waste any more time. Thane hurriedly returned the map to the bellarmine jug and stoppered it carefully. I passed him the preservation spell bag and we set off, jogging along the narrow corridor.
‘It’s only a cat,’ Thomas said, after we’d made our third turn and there remained no sign of the tabby.
Thane choked. ‘I’m pretending I didn’t hear that,’ I said aloud.
Thomas realised his error. ‘Alright,’ he said hastily ‘I get it. I like a bit of pussy myself.’
It was a dumb joke and I’d normally have given it short shrift but it suggested that Thomas hadn’t entirely forgotten who he was.
On some level that was good, but until I found She Without An Ear I couldn’t bring myself to care.
She’d made her decision to join us here but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t blame myself if anything happened to her.
I called for her again. ‘She Without An Ear! Where are you?’
We swivelled to our left, making an almost complete U-turn as we headed into the next corridor. Thomas shouted something from behind. ‘There’s something here!’
Initially I ignored him. Although I knew I should be glad that his laddish personality was returning, I wasn’t in the mood for any more inappropriate jokes. Then Thane called, ‘He’s right!’
I halted immediately. Thomas could be a dick but Thane wasn’t. I jogged back to join them. When I saw what was lying in a clump by the edge of the maze wall, I stiffened.
‘Silver fur,’ Thane murmured.
That bloody Maine Coon. I’d never disliked a cat, ever, but that might be about to change.
As I hissed under my breath I heard a muffled miaow from somewhere up ahead.
That was definitely She Without An Ear. I took off at a sprint, making a beeline for the source of the sound.
‘I’ll strangle you when I find you!’ I yelled.
‘Or at the very least withhold those salmon treats you like so much!’
There was another miaow of protest and this time it sounded closer. I gritted my teeth and pumped my legs harder.
‘Kit! Slow down!’ Thane yelled.
He was right. There might be traps and I didn’t know where I was or where I was going. I slowed slightly but kept moving – until finally I saw my dratted cat, sitting in yet another gap in the maze wall. ‘You absolute baggage,’ I muttered. ‘Do not under any circumstances do that again.’
At least She Without An Ear had the grace to look guilty. As I bent down to pick her up I heard the now-familiar rumble. Uh-oh.
She Without An Ear freaked, sprang about a foot in the air and leapt backwards. Without thinking, I jumped after her. That was when the wall behind me began to move.
I scooped up the cat and twisted around but it was already too late. I caught a glimpse of Thane’s and Thomas’s shocked faces from beyond the gap and then they were gone.
Where there had been nothing but air there was now nothing but stone, and She Without An Ear and I were alone.