Enchanted: The Labyrinth

by Marie-France Leger

  Nothing...

  I didn’t understand at first but, I knew the voice was my father. It came out as mumbling, but repeated over and over.

  Nothing, nothing, nothing...

  It was him, it had to be. He was always there at my time of need, helping me. Nothing is greater than God, nothing is more evil than the Devil, nobody has discovered these planets, therefore there is nothing known, and nothing has no voice. The answer had to be nothing.

  “The answer is nothing.” I whispered under my breath, glancing at Marrow.

  The hologram turned to face me, and then looked down to Marrow, releasing him.

  “Your name.” It roared.

  I turned to face my mother who was staring at me with wide eyes. She was holding on to Annabelle and Mable, pulling them tighter.

  “Kaylin Desirea,” I said, illuminating my tattoo to show the figure.

  I could feel its stare aimed at me and swallowed, my eyes glued to the masked hologram.

  “Fire, your father was one.”

  My eyes widened and my heart stopped. How did it know this? It was working with The Enchantress, it had to

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  be. “How do you know him?” I questioned suspiciously, moving back.

  “He passed through these very walls.”

  He made it through, was he alive? What did it to do him! He’s alive, he’s alive. He was here.

  “You work with The Enchantress.” I spat.

  It shook its head twice and returned my gaze. “Naive girl.” It released with a laugh.

  “The Enchantress, she created everything. She created The Labyrinths, and she created you.” I shot back.

  My mother grabbed my arm lightly first, then more tense. I shook her off but she still managed to take hold of it as red rose underneath my skin.

  “Let us pass,” my mother said, facing the figure on the wall.

  “The girl wants to know more.” It countered.

  “We answered your riddle, so fulfill the promise you gave.” My mother released my arm, the hot light fading slowly.

  “You do realize you’re arguing with a wall, right?” Marrow said. She shot him a look and moved back.

  “I keep my word.” It thundered as the stone rumbled and smoke seeped through the cracks.

  “Wait!” I called, tripping forward. I needed to know. Tears burned my eyes.

  The rumbling stopped as the noise faded into the winds. Before I could ask, the hologram cleared its throat with a deep chord.

  “You want to know The Enchantress, I can feel.” I nodded with wide eyes, reminiscing about the memories with my father. Trying to push them back, but I couldn’t.

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  “This is my territory, not hers. I am who I am because of what I am, not in her power nor her favour.”

  The figure disappeared into the shadows of the wind, and the stone walls began to open.

  “We should have asked what to avoid through the rest of The Labyrinth,” Beth said as the walls parted fully.

  “It wouldn’t have told us,” Lore began, looking into the smoke. “It’s not just a hologram Beth, it has a mind.”

  The wind howled as the walls slammed on each side, revealing four dark shadows that led to light. As soon as they turned around, I caught a glimpse of their features. They had tall, slim, white faces that wore nothing but skin, their side view as thin as paper. A fine line of dust circled them as their black eyes penetrated through the smoke. Past them was a dark atmosphere through a frame of stones.

  Before I could draw out my knife, a force pulled me backwards as three grey tornadoes spiralled towards the figures and carried them away, vanishing.

  “They have no name but they’re shadows of The Enchantress, I could feel it.” Paul said, offering me his hand for assistance. In that moment, I could tell that he one hundred percent saw me too.

  “What about the hologram? Was it one of The Enchantress?” I asked, rubbing the white dust off my pants.

  “No, it was telling the truth. That was a keeper; it was guarding the exit of this place. It whispered to me.” Paul said.

  “Whisper?” Lore asked.

  “What it was saying wasn’t clear, but it had something to do with elements,” Paul replied. Lore stayed

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  quiet and started forward, Nate moving beside me with his knife drawn out. The walls that led up to the darkness were short, but once we reached it, Lore stopped.

  “So this must be the end.” Lore glanced to his arm and back ahead.

  “What do you think is in there?” My mother asked, shakily.

  Lore shrugged off her question and slid out his knife. Electric blue shined the Coperton name as he stepped forward.

  “Come on.” He walked slowly.

  Soon, all that surrounded us was darkness.

  Chapter 10

  Pattering water dripped against a cold bare wall, as carvings of blue mineral illuminated the cracks. The temperature changed from warm to cold as the stone walls moved behind us, closing together. Nate was still beside me, the warmth of his body masked the icy air as our hands brushed with no intention. I would have blushed that Nate and I were this close, but surrounded with dark walls and blue electricity, this wasn’t the time at all. We just entered the stage of the water element, which was clear.

  “Water, it has to be, I can feel it.” Nate moved away from me to his father. I gazed at the blue light rising from his tattoo.

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  I could hear Lore and Nate’s distant voices as I examined the area around us. The left of the wall was shaded and tinted, and the right was exposed with a curved path. I glanced to my arm and looked at the line segments, the blue glow that tracked our progress. The lines guided to the right, but I couldn’t help but wonder, what if we took left? Would we die, or could it be a short cut?

  The glow stopped at the base of my arm that showed no dead end. The cross sensor above my arm wasn’t glowing, so we were safe here. That, I assumed.

  Closer…

  The voice slithered out, taking me off guard. I stumbled to my mother’s side, believing that someone was genuinely trying to speak to me. She held my waist to stabilize me, but I shrugged her off looking in another direction. I felt goosebumps rise to the surface of my arm, so I heated up my body as best as I could. It was still night, dark moonlight filling the once pastel sky. I felt the temperature of my body rush as an intense flame rose through my veins. I tried to grasp the cold cement for aid, but it was no use. I felt dizzy as I held my stomach, my arm, and then my head. My tattoo lit up, my vision seeing double as I realized the spell Liz used wore off. Shit. Again.

  Through the agony and pain, I wondered how this came about. What was causing it and why did it happen? Was it just another one of her games?

  Liz ran to my side before it got worse, thankfully. I grit my teeth as I felt a weight pushed against my arm, and then Lore, Marrow and Nate all held me. The feeling of passing out was dawning over me.

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  Then it stopped. The letters on my arm turned to ice blue, fading into crimson and then black. I didn’t understand how quickly I healed when it took Liz hours last time. Then it hit me: If this was the stage of their element, they were the strongest.

  “Are you all right, Kaylin?” Nate asked as the color of his eyes electrified with each blink.

  I nodded my head, pushing myself upwards to feel my skin. It felt, odd.

  “Yeah,” I fully sat back. “I feel different this time.”

  Marrow slouched and crossed his arms. “That’s because we completely froze your problem.”

  My eyebrows rose with confusion. “Froze my problem?”

  “You had some type of fire serpent inside your body, nesting at your arm. We froze it completely and the best part, our element isn’t even drained,” he released.

  A fire serpent, this made no sense. I never came across any fire serpents, actually completely unaware they even existed. How could it have even entered my body? The wind that one
night, where I was knocked out, could it have been then?

  “So this fire serpent is frozen inside me?” I asked. I am beyond done for.

  Lore looked to the ground and nodded. “It won’t unfreeze Kaylin, not anytime soon. You’ll be fine, and this spell won’t wear off fast. It was one of our strongest.”

  I relaxed my shoulders but hardened at the thought of a creature nestled beneath my skin. I could feel the cool blotch of ice where the serpent was frozen. How long would this thing be inside of me? What if it defrosted

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  and came back stronger? I didn’t have the slightest clue of how it even got inside of me, and honestly, I didn’t want to know.

  “Don’t worry about it,” began Lore. “The only time you’re allowed to be nervous is when it happens again, and I promise it won’t anytime soon.”

  He moved a few steps further to glance at the two sides once again.

  “Lore, you don’t understand. It’s inside of me and it could just melt and come back.” I protested.

  I heard footsteps behind me and my family approached to my side.

  “Don’t think of it like that, it won’t.”

  Devon looked down at my arm and to the ground, “Is there any way we can take it out of her for good?”

  His face brightened with the moonlight as he ran his fingers through his hair.

  “If there is a way, we haven’t figured it out yet.” He released, extending one hand behind him and turning his head to the left.

  My hands were numb as Devon pinched my arm, throwing me a look of consideration. Would I be okay? My stomach growled with hunger since I haven’t eaten in two days. My mom wobbled towards me with her fingers wrapped around a red pepper. I smiled at her and turned to the right, the path we were supposed to take. I grabbed hold of her hand and then released the hold of her palm. I glanced downwards to take a bite, crunching it hard. I glanced down at my pepper as panic rose within me. A blue hole appeared in the pepper. In seconds, a cobalt worm crawled out, sloppy and lax. My mouth opened as I released the red pepper, jumping backwards. Once it hit

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  the ground, I could see the worm growing as it fully crawled out.

  “Oh my God,” I breathed in horror, fingers lodged into the blue crevices of the wall.

  The worm grew longer and wider, latching its body to the cold earth. I fumbled with my knife as it lunged towards me, piercing its teeth into my leg. A sharp pain shot up to my thighs. I sliced at it, in whichever way I could but it was no use. I fell to the ground, only feeling a more intense pain run through my body as a combination of blue and red blood spewed onto my knife and body.

  Kaylin, stop, stop...

  .The familiar voice echoed through my brain as Nate emerged from behind the wall with wide eyes.

  “Kaylin, stop!” Nate’s tone was sharp and eager, “What are you doing!” He rushed close to me, his feet almost touching the worm as it whirled around.

  “Nate, don’t come any closer, it’ll kill you!” I yelled backing up against the wall, fresh blood pouring out of the slits in my leg.

  “Kaylin, drop the knife now!” He called out.

  He moved right through the worm and it vanished, like it was never there. I sunk to the ground, the Desirea name on my blade outlined with blood, my blood. Nate’s fingers trailed the red liquid pouring out of my skin as he tore the bottom of his shirt with his knife. He wrapped the fabric around my leg and sealed it with a light blue glow rising from the tips of his fingers. I was breathing heavily, my eyes still focused on the place the worm once was. Nate held me in his arms with his hand steady on my head. He brushed away the strands of falling hair behind my ears and gripped me tighter. He began whispering words of

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  consolation to me as I swallowed everything I was about to say, unable to comprehend what just happened.

  “Are you okay?” His hands were still secured around my waist, fingers tight against the back of my neck.

  “What the -,” I stuttered. “What was that thing?” I was horrified with fear. Panic flooded my body.

  He shook his head, releasing me. “I don’t know,” He stood up, lending me a hand. “It was a hallucination, only you saw it.”

  That’s impossible, I couldn’t have been hallucinating. The worm, it bit me and tore my leg; it was all real, it couldn’t be fake.

  “No, it bit me. Nate, it bit me. It was a worm, it was long and blue. It came out-,”

  He cut me off with no hesitation. “This entire place is filled with hallucination spells.” He glanced at my leg, then back at me. “The worm you saw, it wasn’t real. And the blood, you slashed yourself with your own blade.”

  My eyes watered and my vision blurred as I looked to my leg. I pulled the fabric away, seeing that there were no bite marks, just slices of torn flesh. I actually hurt myself because of a hallucination. I never felt so terrified, thousands of emotions stirring inside me.

  “It was real, it felt real.” My mouth kept open as I shook my head in utter confusion and disbelief. It was real, it had to be. It had to be.

  I limped to my family, holding Nate’s arm for support. Annabelle and Mable tried to come towards me, but my mother held them back. Marrow was staring at me, alongside Paul and Ethan.

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  “Of course it felt real, you did the cutting.” Marrow’s tone was serious and harsh. “But the thing you saw, that wasn’t real.”

  I closed my eyes, as my head drooped against Nate’s shoulder.

  “The hallucinations pretend to be creatures that are trying to kill you.” He leaned his head to mine, “But really it’s just you killing yourself.”

  I nodded, wanting to move away but knew that I couldn’t make it on my own. I glanced once at the pepper, fresh against the dark cement and looked ahead.

  “Thanks for the heads up.” I said, sharply.

  ***

  I limped away from Nate, stabilizing myself on Annabelle and Mable. My hands were pressed hard against their shoulders, but they didn’t seem to mind. The pain was still radiating inside of me, but I tried not to focus on it as best as I could. I thought about healing my leg to deflect the injury of the wound, but I couldn’t risk having all that blood come out once I removed the cloth. Walking against cold ground, walls seemed to glimmer azure crystal, illuminating the way. Water droplets echoed behind me, sending shivers down the curve of my spine.

  For what felt like hours over roaming actually led ourselves back to the stone wall we entered in the beginning. My sisters stopped, Lore pausing as he scanned the direction. I tilted my head in confusion, peering back to my arm as well. The lines directed us to the right trail, but we ended up here once again. Was there something we were missing?

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  “Any ideas, Coperton?” Slithered Sage.

  Lore looked to Nate and Marrow who were standing together, fingers sealed around their knives as they scanned the surroundings. Nate glanced down at his arm, shoulders hunched.

  “We missed something,” he said, shaking his head.

  I could see the flash of blue in Marrow’s pupils as he rolled his eyes, facing Nate.

  “I think that’s pretty obvious.” Marrow snapped, coldly. “Dad?”

  Lore shook his head, mumbling words to Liz. “There has to be another way.” I heard her whisper.

  He closed his eyes and began to swirl his hands around as a blue glow floated around his fingers. “We have to fight those hallucinations,” he said, stern.

  No way in hell was I going to do that again. I could barely walk on my own. There had to be another way. Everyone was lost for words, as if he just stabbed himself in the heart.

  “We have to what?” Asked my mother, stunned.

  He nodded, putting up a shield to face Paul. “Paul when you were in your element, you knew what we needed to do, right?”

  Paul shrugged, taking hold of his sons shoulder. “Yes, but is this really the only way out? I mean, you saw what happened to Kaylin.” He point
ed to me then dropped his hand.

  Lore focused hard on the blue glow he had control of. He began to carve a curving line with three other lines attached, a small cross on its right. It was nothing like I have ever seen before.

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  “This isn’t the way out, but it will show us how to get out.” He began. “This mark will freeze our hallucinations and make them visible and real, as if we were fighting actual creatures, not ourselves.”

  Paul kept his son close, as he drew out his dagger. I glanced down at my knife belt, and pulled out my clan dagger. I could see that the Desirea lettering was still traced with my blood.

  “Is this necessary?” Beth questioned, her mask still hiding her face.

  Lore released a breath and walked over to my mother, stripping the bag of food off of her back. “Unless you’d rather walk in circles, this is the only way.”

  “How are you so sure?”

  “I can feel it. You will understand Beth, once you’re in your element. But right now, it’s unexplainable.” She didn’t counter, just removed her clan knife from her belt and gripped it tightly.

  “What do we have to do?” Sage asked moving closer to his wife.

  Lore knelt down, staring at the bag of food. “Well, Kaylin already experienced it.”

  I glanced down to my leg and clutched my knife tighter, feeling the fire against my fingertips.

  “Once I take out the food, I’ll hand you each one pepper. It should turn into a hallucination on its own.”

  “What a waste of good food,” Marrow japed.

  “We have no other choice.” He let out. “Be ready.”

  I moved to Ethan, my two sisters and my mother as they huddled against the wall behind me. I would risk my life to save them, but Lore made it clear that every one of us were to fight our own hallucination. Lore crouched