She paused for a moment to catch her breath and check if she was still being pursued, only to hear the woman calling after her using the same childlike voice from before.
“Come out, come out. I just want to play,” she called in a sing-song voice. “Won’t you play with me?”
Hazel turned corner after corner, dodging vines and grappling roots as they tried to obstruct her path.
She veered right, peering over her shoulder as she ran, checking for any signs of the woman on her tail.
As she rounded the next corner, the sight renewed her hope. Just ahead, on a stump in the center of a glade, sat three glorious vials.
Thundering footsteps sounded behind her, urging her forward once more. She wouldn’t have long before the creature was upon her again.
As she reached the vials, she found a piece of parchment nailed to the stump. A letter.
No, a riddle.
Shit. I do not have time for this!
But she read it anyway.
One vial glows with ruby light,
A single drop brings pain and plight.
One swirls like smoke, a candle’s breath,
Its kiss is cold, its promise death.
One is plain and clear like glass
Still as frost on untouched grass.
Beauty lies and shadows cheat,
Only one will grant retreat.
She looked at the vials.It was simple enough. Too simple. One was ruby red. One was a swirling mix of gray and black, like someone had bottled a shadow. And the last one was perfectly clear, like water. She reached for it, her heart pounding in her chest.
But what if this riddle was designed to mislead? What if she drank the wrong one?
The monster burst through the hedge wall and ran for her, snarling. In a few good leaps, it would be upon her.
Hazel supposed it didn’t matter if the riddle was a trick. She’d either escape, die of poison, or become dinner for a monster.
She grasped the vial of clear liquid with shaking hands, popping the cork. Just before she tipped it back, the entire labyrinth inhaled collectively as though holding its breath.
Hazel swallowed the bitter liquid, using everything she had not to spit it out. Around her, the walls exhaled a strange breathy sound, drawn out like a yawn.
Reeeee-aaaahhhhh.
A warning? Perhaps a name? Not hers, though, so it didn’t matter. Unless itwasa warning. Unless…
She shuddered, her vision tunneling. Stars danced across her eyes, and the sensation of floating overcame her. She was almost certain she’d chosen wrong. But she didn’t care. It wasn’t her problem anymore.
All around her, the world fell away, and everything went black…
ONE WEEK EARLIER…
NIGHTMARES AND CAT HAIRS
