My song rises in volume, filling the maze with music. And through the walls—just one hallway away from where Quaid and I are running—I see the monster. It slows at first, but then, it stops.
“No!” Quaid yells, reaching behind him to take my hand and pull me forward so I’m in front of him now. “Don’t sing it yet! You’re calling the Minotaur to us!”
He’s right. I am. I look over my shoulder, past Quaid, and find that the monster turning on its hooves, sniffing the air, and then fixes its gaze right on me—like it can see through walls as well. And then, a moment later, it springs forward.
Not down a hallway, but through the walls between us!
I scream, stopping the song, and then get a little burst of satisfaction when the Minotaur slams into the stone wall. Because it’s back in place now.
I did that. I took the walls down, drew the Minotaur away from Aric and Declan with the song, and then put them back up when I stopped humming—leaving the Minotaur in a completely different part of the maze!
I did it!
I saved them!
I really did it!
Quaid pushes me, urging me on. “Faster! Go faster!”
When I look behind me and find his face, for the first time ever I see his fear, and force my feet to move.
“Keep going,” Quaid yells. “We’re almost there. That’s Cassiopeia!” He points to the wall as we rush past.
I’m running as fast as I can, but I’m out of breath. I’m not like, unfit or anything, but I’ve been through a lot. If I had known I’d be running a maze to save my life, I’d have upped my cardio routine. But as it stands, I’m just not prepared for this level of physical exertion.
And my feet are going slower, and slower, and slower as the moments pass.
“We’re almost there!” Quaid yells. He knows I can’t run much longer. “Sing it! Sing your song!” And when I look up ahead of us, he’s pointing at something. Bright lights glowing on the dark stone walls. “It’s Perseus!” he yells as we run past. “Sing it now! Pleiades is coming up quick!”
Aric’s words start spilling out of my mouth in loud, shrieky—and very embarrassingly off tune—notes. And when I get to the last line, Quaid’s glasses flash a bright light and everything becomes… invisible.
Everything butus.
And that’s when I realize, we’re in the Minotaur’s lair. Which is the same room as the portal we’ve been seeing in our sex dreams. It’s circular with a perimeter of arches and on the other side of each arch is a hazy, blurry depiction of what might be our Paradise.
Above our heads is an open-air dome that afford us a complete three-hundred-and-sixty view of the night sky all lit up with stars.
I look across the darkness and find Aric and Declan staring back at me. Only about twenty feet away, but a moment ago, there were walls between us. Further away is the Minotaur in hot pursuit. It’s running in a pattern that clearly indicates that the walls have not disappeared from its point of view.
Declan laughs. “We did it! We fucking did it!”
“Quick!” Quaid yells. “Get in here!”
Declan and Aric haul ass right towards us just as the Minotaur roars around a corner, mere steps behind them, and growls its rage, once it realizes they’re gone.
Declan does a little dance as he steps into the lair, but Aric starts hurriedly looking around the room as the shadows flicker across his face, making him look meaner and angrier than I’ve seen him before.
“What are you doing?” Quaid asks him. But Aric doesn’t answer. “Aric, what the hell are you looking for?”
The three of us are watching him. He’s frantic, not paying any attention to Quaid’s questions. There are piles of things scattered around the lair. Bones, and furs, and clothes, andtrinkets. Like the monster has been collecting bits and pieces from all its victims over the years.
“There it is!” Aric yells, his hand deep inside a pile of bones. He turns to us, holding up a knife made of gold. Then he rushes over and pushes us behind him. “Stand back! This bastard is mine.” Then he crouches down into a fighting stance and whispers, “Come on, motherfucker. I’m ready this time.”
And that’s when the Minotaur comes roaring into the room.
