The bolt of lightning struck the train. The cars skidded sideways and were knocked off the tracks. The stench of burnt feathers choked the air. And then the train cracked.
Jagged lines like the breaks on her birthmark formed on the walls and floors and seats. Caw-caw-caw-CAW! A hundred birds screamed at once as the train of crows split apart.
Mister Edwards slipped from Annalise’s grip. “MISS MERIWETHERRRRR!” the fox cried. He scrambled to grasp her hand as the sky swallowed them whole.
Wind howled in Annalise’s ears as she fell. “MISTER EDWARDS!” Heart hammering, breath gone, she scrambled and twisted and turned in the frigid air, grabbing wildly for the fox, but she couldn’t see him in the mad fury of wings as she plunged through the darkness toward the ruined city below.
Long ago, the Fate Spinner had arrived at the Meriwethers’ home to take Annalise from her parents, thinking they’d be overjoyed at the chance to get rid of her. Now it seemed she didn’t want Annalise to reach the labyrinth at all. What sort of game was she playing? Could she be afraid Annalise might actually win?
Annalise held tightly to her bag and even tighter to a rogue throb of hope. She refused to let the enchantress who stole her best life beat her again. Hair in her face, cloak snapping, Annalise spoke over her fear: “I have a dream. And this is not how my story ends!”
Immediately, the cloud of crows surrounding her flew beneath Annalise and merged together to create one giant bird. The crow-of-many-crows blinked at her as if to say, “What are you waiting for, human? Get on my back and fly.”
Soaring through the sky, dark winds tangling in her hair, Annalise latched onto the multi-crow’s feathers with her small hand and clutched her bag with her other. She scanned the crumbling city and woods for Mister Edwards but found no sign.
What if her new friend didn’t make it?
A scourge of black-hearted leaves gusted upward. Night wolves howled nearby. With only one hand to grip the crow, Annalise slipped sideways and almost fell. “Mercy!” If she wanted to stay on its back, she needed both hands to hang on. There was only one thing to do.
Annalise dropped her bag to the somewhere below. She watched her memories, food, water—everything—tumble and dance into the darkness, and recited her dream: I wish to rule my own destiny and rid myself of this curse.
This is all that matters!
Annalise ignored the howl of night wolves and the scent of rot below. There was no sign of Ms. Twixt. Annalise hoped she was okay. “Thank you for bringing me closer to my dreams,” Annalise whispered over the wind, and stroked her crows’ white neck. It chuffed warmly and angled to the right.
At last, Annalise spotted Mister Edwards soaring through the air ahead. She cheered; her new friend had found a feathered carrier of his own. A few wingbeats later, the forest under them ended and the labyrinth began.
More of the labyrinth revealed itself the closer Annalise came to the ground. The beast in her big hand roiled, and her panicked heart seized at the endlessly twisting walls of shadow and stone. The giant red palace in the center of the skull-shaped labyrinth had needlelike spires. The rectangular courtyard sat inside the skull’s mouth, and the whole structure glowed tangerine from the torches within the palace. The crow carrying Mister Edwards flew over the high iron fence toward the courtyard. A moment later, Annalise’s crow-of-many followed.
Annalise’s stomach scrambled as her crow swooped toward a massive dark silver mirror, ringed in a curving black frame, rising from the center of the court.
Her cursed hand stabbed with fresh pain.
The reflection of a spiked red throne winked at Annalise from within.
Chapter 13
The Fate Spinner
All her life, Annalise had tried to hide from Fate. But no matter where she hid, Fate knew just where to find her. She had run to her bedroom and pinched her big hand when it was bad. Spent hours balled up on the floor, face buried in her knees, hidden in a bramble of blackberry hair, wishing herself someone else. Someone who wasn’t wicked, a girl who others besides her family could love.
Annalise wished to be free. From fear, pain, and guilt, from her curse and the woman who gave it to her. And now that her chance had arrived to meet the Fate Spinner—the ruiner of dreams, murderer of grandparents, breaker of hearts, and curser of innocent girls—as always, all Annalise wished to do was hide.
But there was no hiding now.
The circular courtyard of the Fate Spinner’s palace lay directly ahead.
Enclosed by a wrought-iron fence the height of the labyrinth itself, the courtyard glowed in pale red moonlight. Four separate barred openings led from the court into the maze. Skeletal trees with black-hearted leaves and face-like knots on their trunks stood on either side of each locked corridor. Finally, Annalise’s crow-of-many landed alongside Mister Edwards. He sat on his own crow directly before the hulking mirror that reflected a dark dais and red velvet throne.
Annalise slid from the crow’s neck. The instant her feet touched ground, her big hand flailed under her cloak—begging to be set free. Is that the Fate Spinner’s throne? she thought. If so, where was she? Annalise glanced over her shoulders. She felt watched by everything here, but she couldn’t see anyone staring at her.
Panic spread its black wings inside Annalise. Her heart beat-and-beat-and-beat-and-beat. She nearly jumped out of her skin. When Mister Edwards dismounted his crow, he rushed right up to her.
“Miss Meriwether!” Annalise, frozen in terror, met Mister Edwards’s stare. “Thank goodness, you’re all right. I was so scared for us both!” At once, their crows burst apart into hundreds of birds and took, screaming, to the red-mooned sky. Annalise watched them go. “We made it,” the kind black fox said, glancing far left. “And look, they made it, too.”
The two children Annalise had seen on the train flew down on similar crows and landed beside them. The girl, about Annalise’s age, had dark skin and spiraled black hair past her shoulders. She gazed worriedly at each banned entrance as she dismounted her crow-of-crows. The boy, taller and slightly older, resembled the girl. He had longish, wildish, tightly curled black hair and the most piercing green eyes. He nodded and gave Annalise a half smile before walking over to investigate one of the entrances. Annalise thought she might float away for all the feathers swirling up from her middle—no one her age ever smiled at her.
When the girl turned to Annalise and waved, her silver eyes gleamed inside the red moon’s light. She’s lovely, Annalise thought, and waved shyly back. What dreams have they come to claim? she wondered. Did the Fate Spinner curse them, too?
The four stood a few feet from the large ornate mirror, but nobody said a word.
Just because you’re afraid, Annalise, she told herself, squeezing her cursed fist tight, doesn’t mean you have to be rude.
Annalise inhaled the thick night air, turned to the children beside her, and gave them a friendly smile. “Hi,” she said to the girl and boy in a barely there voice. “My name is Annalise Meriwether, and this is Mister Edwards.”
“Bowie Tristle,” the boy answered with a confidence Annalise admired.
“Pleased to meet you, Annalise,” the girl said with the same exuberant spark as the boy. “You too, Mister Edwards. I’m Nightingale, Bowie’s sister.” Her grin was pure magic. She didn’t even look afraid. “Good luck to you both. And hey, as they say on this side of the sky, may the magic of dreams be yours.”
As they spoke to Mister Edwards, Annalise drew closer to the mirror, now pooling with charcoal smoke. Mingled scents of darkness and starlight, black licorice and rot, drifted out from within. The closer Annalise drew to the smoke-veiled throne, the hotter her cursed mark became—but she couldn’t stop moving forward. The dark glass pulled Annalise in with a gravity hard to ignore.
“Hey,” Bowie said, snapping Annalise out of whatever trance she was in. “Look at the mirror. It’s . . . her.”
Nightingale, Bowie, Annalise, and Mister Edwards all faced the throne. T
he black smoke in the mirror cleared. And the Fate Spinner appeared in the glass, clutching her mirror-eyed staff and grinning eagerly down at them. Black crows swarmed at the Fate Spinner’s shoulders. The red palace Annalise had spotted earlier loomed behind her. The Fate Spinner wore a long, fitted black coat over leggings to match. Obsidian kohl on her eyelids, lips stained the same, her starlight-pale hair was half braided, half loose, and gleamed bright as her teeth. Standing this close to her tormentor made Annalise sick. She wanted to run away just as much as she wanted to fight. Finally, the Fate Spinner turned her gaze on Annalise.
She almost heard her heart screech as it came to a full stop.
“Well, well, well,” the Fate Spinner said almost kindly through the glass. “My guests have finally arrived.” A spindle of fire speared Annalise’s big hand. She whimpered and fell to her knees. “Welcome to the Labyrinth of Fate and Dreams!”
Mister Edwards bowed, as did Nightingale and Bowie Tristle. Annalise, still on her knees, shut her eyes, and sucked in air through her teeth, hugging her big hand to her chest under her cloak. She counted to four, then opened her eyes. When she did, everyone was staring at her.
“You,” the Fate Spinner barked at Annalise. “Stand before me and meet your fate.” The Fate Spinner glared. Sweat prickled under Annalise’s arms; her brain exploded with a string of familiar worry-thoughts.
“You’re a coward.”
“You will fail.”
“You hurt your parents for nothing.”
“Cursed things like you don’t deserve an audience with the Spinner of Dreams!”
The black crows in the mirror flapped and screamed. The Fate Spinner continued in a thunderous boom, “I said, STAND IN THE PRESENCE OF FATE!”
Annalise flinched, shaking uncontrollably. Mister Edwards slipped his paw into her nice hand and smiled. “It’s okay. I’m scared, too.” Nightingale and Bowie nodded at her, eyes big with similar fear. Chin trembling, Annalise gave Mister Edwards a thankful smile and let him help her to her feet.
This fox certainly did feel like a friend.
“Well now, that’s better, isn’t it?” the Fate Spinner said cheerfully. “I’ve waited a long time to see you again, Miss Meriwether.” The enchantress leaned closer, knuckles clenched on her staff as she focused on Annalise’s hidden, cursed hand. “Come closer,” she said, sweeter now. “Let me see your . . . ticket.” Annalise’s dark mark pulsed quickly in tune with her heart. “I must make sure it’s really you.”
Limbs rubbery, thoughts caught in a web of fear, Annalise let go of the fox’s paw. She pounded her chest, trying to regulate her skipping heart. The spire behind her black mark twisted and threatened to break free as she stepped closer to the Fate Spinner’s mirror.
When Annalise removed the ticket from the pocket of her cloak, it ripped from her trembling fingers, flew in through the glass, and landed in the Fate Spinner’s hand with a snap. “Excellent,” the enchantress said, observing the ticket with enraptured black eyes. “Yes . . . Good. Everything seems to be in order.” The ticket vanished in a plume of gold mist.
Suddenly, Annalise’s big hand burned as hot as a blazing comet, broke free from her cloak, and leaped for the Fate Spinner’s face.
The enchantress flinched. Annalise fought her big hand and pushed herself back from the mirror, heart pounding to burst. “I’m s-sorry,” she said, choking on her words while trying to restrain her big hand. “I’m so sorry.”
The Fate Spinner’s ire dropped, replaced with excitement, eagerness—thrill. “No need for apologies, Miss Meriwether. Believe it or not, I know how it feels to be powerless. How it hurts being burned by those closest to you.” She sneered. “I know what it is to be cursed.” When she flexed her left hand on her staff, the Fate Spinner’s mark, the mirror image of Annalise’s, peeked out on her palm. “By the way, I’m curious. Do you . . . remember me?”
Annalise swallowed, re-hid her big hand, and answered in a small but clear voice, “How could I forget the one who . . .” She stopped herself, not wanting the others to know she was cursed. “The one who hurt me and my family.” She lowered her eyes and whispered, “The one who made me a monster.”
The tip of the black spire in her hand pushed outside her dark mark, perhaps trying to reunite with the Fate Spinner. Annalise fought against it. But it was getting harder to restrain. The others watched in careful silence.
“A monster,” the Fate Spinner replied, twirling her staff. “Yes, well, we all have our fates to bear, don’t we? Like your grandparents, for example, who died trying to save you.” She cocked her head innocently. “And your parents who, even now, are preparing to die the same way.”
Annalise’s mouth dropped open. The control over her big hand broke. Again, her cursed hand lunged free. But this time, it didn’t hold back.
Flames shot from the shattered heart on her palm, aimed at the Fate Spinner’s glass. Mister Edwards and the siblings screamed and moved out of the way. The Fate Spinner’s mirror deflected the flames. The enchantress seemed almost amused.
Annalise crouched on the floor, eyes to the courtyard stone, confused and ashamed. Everyone had seen her wicked hand and what it could do. All eyes were on her. Judging. Ogling. Thinking her a freak of nature, a devil, a curse. Annalise pressed her big palm mark down on the stone, squelching the fire until it and the horn tip were gone.
Black smoke billowing from beneath her cloak, tears burst free from Annalise, hot, painful, and poisonous, as she faced Mister Edwards. “I’m sorry,” Annalise sputtered, avoiding his gaze. “If you’ve changed your mind about going into the maze with me, I . . . I understand.” She hid behind her thick hair, but she couldn’t hide her shame. As a last resort, she asked the beast inside her to please not scare away her first ever real friend.
To Annalise’s surprise, her black-hearted palm cooled at once. She wondered then: If her cursed hand was an agent of the Fate Spinner, why had it shot fire at her mirror? Whose side was her big hand on?
Mister Edwards sat at her feet. “I haven’t changed my mind, Miss Meriwether. On the contrary.” He regarded her gently. “It is my honor and privilege to accompany you.”
Nightingale and Bowie peered shyly at Annalise. Instead of recoiling, they came over and stood with her and Mister Edwards.
Like allies.
The Fate Spinner, more serious than ever, twisted her mirrored staff at her side and addressed the girl and boy and Mister Edwards. “I will enjoy watching you dreamers fail. Especially you, Miss Meriwether. One less mistake in the world will do my heart good. Now, the rest of you, bring me your tickets. The labyrinth is waiting.”
Annalise’s breath came fast and hot. She had called herself a mistake many times, but it hurt more when she was labeled this way by someone else. She stroked her hair, feeling like a failure before she’d even begun.
Bowie, the tall boy with spectacularly untamed hair pushed toward the Fate Spinner. “Leave her alone, all right? I’m not going to let you talk to us this way anymore. I don’t care who you are. You’re being disrespectful and, frankly, a bully.” He flung his ticket through the mirror. The Fate Spinner caught it, none too gently. His ticket vanished in a puff of red.
Nightingale raised her eyebrows, nodded, and gave a hearty “Agreed.” She stood alongside her brother. When she tossed her ticket through the glass, it melted in a plume of red, too. “There. You have our tickets. Now let us into the labyrinth already. We’ve got dreams to win.” Nightingale winked at Annalise and grinned.
A thrill of joy rushed through Annalise.
The Tristles seemed very kind.
Lastly, Mister Edwards tucked his tail between his legs, hurried forward, and threw his ticket at the Fate Spinner like it was on fire. When the Fate Spinner caught his ticket, it disappeared without a trace.
“Very well.” The Fate Spinner’s smirk lingered on Mister Edwards before addressing them all. “Dreamers”—the Fate Spinner said dreamers like a dirty word—“who come to the Mazelands t
o see my sister, the Spinner of Dreams, must run the gauntlet of fate and conquer my labyrinth first. The law states I must formally ask you: Are you ready to face your fears and fight for your most desperate, impossible dreams?” She stared at Annalise then. And inside the Fate Spinner’s stare, every darkness in the world seemed to pool at the front of her eyes to create an infinite void that pulled Annalise in.
If she fell into it, she might be lost forever.
Bowie answered first. “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
Nightingale next. “Let’s go!”
Mister Edwards addressed the Fate Spinner but shriveled under her gaze. “I’m ready to find my husband,” he said, so scared he shook. “And then t-to have our dreams come true.”
The Fate Spinner gave him a curious look: half glare, half amused intrigue. “Perhaps . . .” Her attention returned to Annalise. “And what about you, pitiful, broken thing. Are you ready to fight me like your friends?”
Annalise’s heartbeat revved, but no panic came. She stroked the black ribbons of her braid, closed her eyes, and silently recited her dream. I wish to rule my own destiny and rid myself of this curse. “Yes,” Annalise answered. “I am.”
The black crows cawed and took flight, melting into the night.
The Fate Spinner squinted at her hard, one side of her mouth tipped up in an unreadable, maybe hurt, maybe evil grin. “You remind me of someone I used to know. She was kind as well. And she too succumbed to an ill fate, just as you are bound to do.”
Shrill cries rang out of the labyrinth, like someone in terrible pain.
The Fate Spinner waved one pale hand. “Ignore them. You’ll be inside soon enough. And perhaps I’ll see you on the other side.” Without another word, the Fate Spinner vanished from behind her mirror in a puff of black smoke.
Dark hearts rained from the red-mooned sky. The black leaves danced and fell, and the bars blocking each path rose at once.
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