Chapter 1
“Choose your entrance to the maze,” the computerized voice commanded. Its cold, clinical tone somehow cut above everything else.
I glanced between the two entryways and the murky passageways stretching beyond them. This was a maze?
“Whichever party you reach first will be saved,” the voice continued. “The other will perish.”
My gaze lifted toward the ceiling, as if hoping to find a face behind the voice, someone I could stare at in disbelief.
It was asking me to choose between saving the lives of possibly a dozen men and women, and a single child?
I wet my lips, a knot tightening in my stomach as I weighed my options. This wasn’t about what I wanted. It was about calculating which choice would earn Fairwell’s approval—and right now, that was the only thing that mattered.
I approached the left doorway.
Blue lights flickered to life along the floor as I entered the passageway. I’d barely taken five steps when a sharp, metallic clang split the air. I spun around just in time to see a heavy door slam down behind me, sealing me inside.
A heartbeat later, every light blinked out.