Chapter 44 Maze and Madness #2
“Would I ask if it didn’t?” I counter, trying to sound unaffected, though my question is steeped in vulnerability.
He studies me for a moment, his expression shifting to something more serious. “She has no idea.” He runs a hand through his dark hair. “Only the Vestra and those at Mysthaven know.”
And me.
“Are you guys ready for the maze?” Griffin calls, as the rest of the Vestra steps into the backyard, quiet bickers and jeers echoing across the yard.
Kai peers over his shoulder at them, before meeting my gaze, unmoving.
Something pulses beneath his calm exterior.
“When we get back to Mysthaven…” He pauses, jaw flexing slightly as he grips the back of his neck.
“The experiment to test the imprint—touching other males.” His voice drops lower, an edge of vulnerability I’ve never heard from him before. “I need you to stop.”
My breath catches, questioning if this is an order or an admission. “Why?”
Those light blue eyes meet mine. “Your first day at Thornhurst, when I nearly shifted in front of the whole damn class…” He swallows, the words costing him something.
“I smelled you on three of them. I know it’s not rational or fair, considering where shit is, but I wanted to kill them. I want to kill all of them.”
My heart races as my thoughts jumble with surprise, shock, and a heavy dose of indignation that has my eyes narrowing. “Don’t you think you should consider your situation with Veronica before asking more from me?”
His jaw tightens. “It never was…” He pauses, his fingers digging into the back of his neck. “It’s complicated. Before you got here, it was…” He shakes his head, editing more words. More admissions. “It’s over, though.” His eyes shift between mine. “It’s been over.”
“Come on,” Holden interrupts. “If we’re late, Scarlet will never let us hear the end of it.”
I meet Kai’s eyes, annoyance racing through my bloodstream. “You’re too smart to be such a hypocrite.”
I turn without letting him say more, unsure my own resolve is strong enough for his excuses. Later, I can agonize over this conversation and what I should have said, but right now, I don’t want to think about it. Don’t want to show how much his words affect me.
The magic and power of the maze is apparent the moment we step into it, the paths shifting as we walk.
“How do you know you’ll be able to get out if it’s constantly changing?” I ask, trailing my fingers across a rope swing hanging from a tree with silver leaves and red fruits that look like apples, but taste like strawberries dipped in chocolate.
“Daire’s had to get us out of here more than once,” Griffin admits, far too casually.
We wander through fields of glowing flowers, shrubs that look like they could cut through bone, and a wall of humming butterflies, pulsing with iridescent light. As we pass through them, the air turns oddly cool.
Holden and Griffin scan the paths as I eye the sky, recalling the changes before the wraith appeared. But the skies remain clear, void of the putrid scent that arrived before the wraith.
Daire reaches for my hand. “It’s just the maze shifting.”
We turn another corner, and the path opens, revealing a massive lake, its surface unnaturally still despite the breeze rustling through the trees and tangling my hair.
The water is impossibly clear, but something about its depths seems not only daunting, but off—too dark in places, too light in others, as though shadows and reflections are moving below the surface.
Kai grins, already pulling off his shirt. More than once, he’s tried to make small talk with me in the hour we’ve been in here, and I’ve ignored him, distracting myself with the scents and nuances of the maze.
“Do you guys remember this place?” He wades in without hesitation, diving beneath the surface. The moment he does, the temperature doubles, the sun suddenly oppressive, as though insisting we follow him into the depths.
I shield my eyes, watching ripples spread outward slower than they should, like the water is thicker.
“Stars, I forgot about this lake,” Daire says, following me to the shore where we balance on the smooth, dark stones that seem to glow like moonlight is trapped in them. The water stretches on, seemingly endless, building my growing unease as I lean back on my heels.
“How does something this big hide?”
Daire’s warm amber eyes meet mine. “We aren’t sure.”
Kai surfaces, slicking his dark hair back. His gaze finds mine, tension still visible in his shoulders.
“Show her what it does,” Daire calls, stepping closer to me.
Kai splashes a handful toward the shore. The droplets move in slow motion, glistening in the sun, growing and twisting into a tornado that comes straight for us, whipping at my skin, ensuring it’s not just an illusion.
Daire waves, and the tornado turns to steam, rolling over our feet before it vanishes.
His amber eyes shine. “The magic in here is ancient. We believe it’s from the original Elementals, or maybe some of the original Fae, and that’s why it responds to our Fae elements.
We’ve only found it once before. It seems to react strongest to our primary element.
” He turns back to Kai. “Try a bigger one.”
Kai cups his hands and sweeps them across the surface. A wave rapidly grows as it heads toward shore, hundreds of feet in front of us.
Daire sprints, raising both hands to make the air and water explode like a firework. Kai grins, his gaze deviating to mine, reading my reaction as they theorize how to make the explosion larger.
Griffin peels off his shirt, joining in their discussion, but Holden walks to the water’s edge, where he crouches. His brow furrows as his fingers hover above the surface.
“You can test it without getting in,” Griffin calls, watching me.
“You can just set your hand above the water.” He extends a hand over the surface in example.
The water reacts immediately, rising into a wave taller than he is, an imposing, threatening wall that remains still as though waiting for his instruction.
My heart pounds in warning, a sense of wrongness and dread building with each beat. “Maybe we should keep going? Something about this feels like a horror movie.”
Lochlan’s gaze skips to me. “Your cindrel’s breathing.”
I place a hand over my stomach, sensing the slight difference.
Lochlan takes a few steps, peering around the lake and the direction we came from. “Maybe your element’s reacting to the lake?”
“Or maybe her element is being magnified by the water?” Kai suggests.
I watch as Griffin’s wall of water forms into a mountain range, complete with trees and a waterfall, the beauty of it easing me forward.
“How does the lake respond a Soul Element?”
“It showed me souls from history the last time we were here,” Lochlan says, kicking off his shoes.
I tentatively extend a hand, mirroring Griffin’s movement. The water remains calm. No wave, no image, no sound. It’s smooth as glass. Then, it ripples outward in a perfect circle, as though I touched the center.
The stones beneath my feet vibrate slightly, and the ripples build.
“Brielle, move back!” Holden yells.
A groan echoes from deep beneath the surface, vibrating through the shore as it trembles. I twist to move—to run—but I can’t. Long, spindly white fingers clamp around my ankle. Cold floods my leg, seeping into bone, as the ghostly hand drags me toward the water with an impossible strength.
“Bri!” Griffin shouts, sprinting toward me.
I fall backward, clawing at the ground—scrabbling for a root, a rock, anything—as I kick at the hand pulling me toward the water.
Time slows as the shore collapses, the ground giving way as though the lake has opened its jaws.
My scream never escapes.
I crash through the surface, as a chorus of voices echoes behind me.
Above me.
As I’m dragged downward.