She rolls her eyes and it’s the most aggressive thing I’ve ever seen her do. “I don’t, but just move! No time for hesitating!”
We pull Lyra with us, her dragged footsteps slowing us immensely. Another endless expanse of green walls greets us. All with random paths leading away. I turn to the closest wall and slip my hand through the leaves, hissing as thorns scratch at my skin.
There goes my idea of trying to hide until Lyra snaps out of her vision.
A loud roar vibrates the blood in my veins. But my heartbeat competes to be the loudest.
“Quick, flatten back against the wall!” I bark at Aelia.
We hobble to our left, flattening ourselves as a red blur whipsby overhead our path. My braid is whipped into the direction it left, the walls rustling around us.
The beast takes a sharp left and circles back. The jagged muzzle of the fire dragon edges across the top of the maze a split second before Aelia tackles both Lyra and me behind a corner.
We all collapse onto the ground as another screech sounds.
It’s hunting us.
We scramble to our feet, but Lyra is still on the ground. She groans, pushing her chest up off the floor. I grab her arms and lift her, finding her eyelids half open but eyes clear as she steadies herself on her feet.
“You alright?” I ask. “Can you hear me?”
She nods, though her expression is that of someone half-asleep. “The water.”
Aelia snaps her fingers. She has her index finger held up to her lips, flattened against the green wall, before she peeks around the corner where the dragon was last.
The flapping wings are farther away, but melded with it is an entirely new sound. A roaring, forceful blast.
Fire.
The sound stops, halted by the snapping shut of jaws.
“She’s alright?” Aelia asks me over her shoulder. When I nod, she tears away from the corner. “Great, we need to go!”
Sweat sticks my collar to my neck as we run. Stopping at turns and praying we make the right one. Some paths are already engulfed in flames. It should be a relief that it limits any decision paralysis, but really it just highlights the fact we may be running out of time to escape the first circle.
Lyra picks up speed, taking the lead. We follow her down path after path until we come to a dead end. One that dips down into a pool of water. Aelia and I take either side of her, and another roar and belt of flame erupts in the distance.
“The water…” Lyra says, staring at its glassy surface.
Everything clicks. I push past both Aelia and Lyra, and walk into it until it’s at my waist. Turning back to look at them, I usher them forward. “Come on! Fire dragons hate water! We’ll be safe!”
“That only leads to another dead end!” Aelia calls, flicking her hand at the wall a few more paces in front of me. “Shouldn’t we keep moving?”
“The water,” Lyra shakes her head, eyes fixed on the wall behind me.
Grunting, I take my attention off them and walk faster to the wall, eventually getting deep enough to swim. I slip my hands through the leaves and palm the wall behind it. Looking for some sort of hidden handle or knob. Perhaps a secret door, like the one we entered from.
A roar rolls in from the distance, sounding closer as the longer it drags on. I swivel to Aelia and Lyra, still standing there at the water’s edge.
“Get in here!” I command.
Aelia steps in, but Lyra’s stuck. Shaking her head with those distant, wide eyes. “I can’t swim.”
Another screech. Closer. I pass Aelia, wading to Lyra as a blast of fire flares up close by. As I grab Lyra’s wrist, a shower of flames carves into the path behind her. I rip Lyra against me, and fall back into the water as fire engulfs the path. The dragon dips low, its claws skimming the burning path before we’re swallowed by water.
I push through quickly, pulling Lyra with me to the surface. We both gasp as we break through. Dancing flames fill the pathway. We’re stuck now, unless we want to try our luck walking through fire.
“There’s a gap underneath the wall!” Aelia hisses behind us.
