I skid around a corner and pull up short.
Another dead end.
“No,” I whimper. I spin, searching for a way out, but there’s nothing here except a solid wall, a cluster of orange mushrooms sprouting from its base.
The voices grow louder, accompanied by heavy steps.
I back away, my breath coming too fast, white noise filling my head.
Two figures round the corner. Not men, not fae. They’re more like goblins, but shorter and squatter, with toad-like green skin and tusks that jut from their lower jaws. Their eyes lock onto mine. Grins split their doughy features.
“Look at this,” one says. “We found a pretty.”
“Ooh,” the second answers. “How long since we saw a pretty?”
Beady eyes home in on me. “Too long.”
I raise my dagger in a shaking grip. “Stay back,” I call. “I don’t want any trouble. I’m just trying to find my way out of here.”
One laughs, a wet, phlegmy sound. “We’ll show you out. But once we do, we get to keep you. Our other pretty didn’t last too long, but you… You’ll last.”
My stomach burbles. I would definitely throw up if I’d eaten actual food in the past week. “Stay back,” I hiss, stabbing at the air for emphasis.
The creatures don’t listen. They lumber toward me, their strange bodies forcing them into a swinging gait. I edge backward, the mushrooms squelching beneath my boot.
“Mmm,” the first one says. “It’s even prettier than our last pretty. Iwantit. I want it now.”
The second one licks its lips, its tongue too long, too green. “Let’s catch it. Put it on the wheel.”
A shiver trips down my spine. Thewheel?Goddess, I’ve never wanted clarification less in my life. I sidle backward, a soundless scream ringing in my head.
If only the Shadow were here. He would scatter these creatures with a single roar. But I left him behind. I chose this.
I’m alone.
The toad-things close in, near enough now that their smell crashes over me, a wave of rot and sweat and ammonia.
I jab at the air. “Stay back.”
They laugh.
One reaches for me, and I slash without thinking. The blade bites into his palm, drawing a spurt of dark green blood.
He recoils, snarling, but the other moves in to take his place. “Nasty little pretty. Hold still, now.”
He lunges. I instinctively rear back, but there’s nowhere to go. My back hits the hedge and?—
I fall right through.
The world tilts as I tumble backward, landing hard on the other side. I scramble upright, gasping, staring at where I just came from.
The hedge wall looks solid. Impenetrable. But I just passed through like it wasn’t even there. As if it’s no more than…
An illusion?
Oh.Oh.
Understanding dawns. These walls…they don’t actually govern the path. They’re only here to confuse me, like everything else in this forsaken place.
