I test my power, heeding my sisters’ warning that the maze will tamper with it. My senses certainly feel dulled, my ability to discern the emotions of those around me even less crisp than it was outside the maze.
I certainly can’t make out the details of our surroundings.
The stone bridge we’re standing on could be floating in space, for all I can tell.
Vanguard calls back to us as he hurries along the bridge, seemingly toward nothing more than mist. “Don’t believe what your eyes tell you! This place is built to deceive you. Only believe what youfeel. The rock beneath your feet. The mist on your face.” He stops abruptly two paces from the end of the bridge and swings to his right before kneeling and pressing his palm to the stone.
Jonah gives him space, keeping to the side while Vanguard mutters, “This place is made up of countless worlds.”
Vanguard closes his eyes, taking a moment before he continues, “There are worlds above us, worlds beneath us, and worlds within the very air we’re breathing. Even the tiniest drop of moisture can contain a world—ah! It moved. It’s the other way!”
I’m not sure whatitis, but Vanguard rises to his feet and spins to his left instead.
“Here,” he says, pointing downward at the clouds on that side of the bridge. “There’s a staircase leading backward, not forward. This is the way we need to go.”
With that, he steps off the bridge and into the mist. I expect him to plummet out of sight, but his foot lands neatly on a stone ledge, a step down, which becomes visible the moment his foot touches it.
With each step he takes, the fog clears from the rocky staircase he’s descending.
“This way,” Vanguard calls. “Quickly, before the stone giants spot us.”
Jonah hurries after Vanguard, and I follow suit. The fog, too, clears around my next step down and then closes over the step I took.
I glance back to make sure Striker is following me, but he has paused at the edge of the bridge, his arm hooked around the box, his focus drawn to his right. “There’s something…”
“Striker?”
He shakes himself. “Must be nothing.”
He follows me down, and within moments, the steps begin to curve sharply before they straighten out again.
After what feels like an hour, but could have been minutes, Vanguard draws to a stop on a step that looks just like all the others we descended, the mist clinging to his form.
“This maze is made up of realms within realms,” he says, without explaining why he stopped so suddenly. “Our destination is a realm that is hidden within another realm, which itself is hidden inside a realm that we will soon enter. Three layers, each one filled with danger before we reach our goal.” He glares up at Striker and me. “From this point on, you must mirror my footsteps. Stay on the path I take. Do not stray from my path, or you will risk death.”
His worried tone makes me curious about his motivations. “It sounds as though you care if we die.”
“My care is self-serving,” he says. “I’m not unhappy you volunteered to come with me. I’ll need your strength and skills in the fight ahead.”
“What if we don’t wish to come to your aid?” I ask, although it’s because I’m curious about his answer, not because I wouldn’t help him.
“You will,” he says, his eyes meeting mine through the haze and his voice lowering, a deep sigh on his lips. “You may even become more determined to fight than I am.”
My brow creases at his certainty, but for now, I’ll let him have his riddles.
“Keep your eyes on the path,” he says. “Soon, it will become pebbles, and then it will become stepping stones. Here! We’re at the pebbles. Step only onto stone. Do not stray into the mist.”
I pick my way along the bumpy ground, keeping close to Jonah’s back while the mist thickens around us and our surroundings become eerily quiet.
Long minutes later, the pebbles end, and the stepping stones appear. I follow them carefully, stretching my legs to reach each of them when they’re placed further apart. I consider using my power of levitation, but I’m not about to ignore Vanguard’s warning to stayonthe path and to only trust what I can physically feel. Not to mention my sisters’ warning that the maze could tamper with my powers. I don’t want to get sucked into the mist.
A sudden shriek breaks the quiet, making me flinch. It’s so jarring that I nearly misplace my step, my foot wobbling at the side of a stepping stone before I right myself.
An uncharacteristic jolt of fear rushes through me at the sound.
“The mist is full of terrors.” Vanguard’s voice floats back to me. “Believe only what you can feel.”
I don’t doubt it. A mere sound should not have caused my heart to hammer like it is.
