The Mad Apprentice

by Django Wexler

  “Is that what we’re doing?” Isaac said. “Leaving?”

  “Of course it is,” Ellen said. “What, this hasn’t been bad enough for you? If we’re in an active labyrinth, it’s a miracle we’ve made it this far. Obviously our masters didn’t have the whole story when they sent us here, and under the circumstances, the best thing we can do is try to return and report what we’ve found.”

  Ellen looked around the circle, searching for support. Soranna wouldn’t meet her gaze, and Dex’s smiling expression was a mask. Isaac was scowling. Finally, she looked at Alice, and Alice took a deep breath.

  “We haven’t got everyone,” she said. “There’s still Jacob.”

  “Jacob,” Ellen deadpanned. “The boy we were sent here to kill.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, Alice saw Isaac flinch.

  Dex said, “We were meant to capture him for judgment.”

  “Oh, come on,” Ellen said. “If you’ve already killed your own master, you’re not going to let a bunch of apprentices drag you away. He has to know what the old Readers would do to him.”

  “I’m not sure he does,” Alice said. “I’m not sure he knows anything. He seemed half mad when I spoke to him, and Torment was . . . controlling him, somehow. I don’t think any of this is his fault.”

  “It doesn’t make any difference whose fault it is,” Ellen said. “Why should we go back for him?”

  “I’m not asking anyone else to come,” Alice said. “Torment doesn’t seem to want to hurt me, but that doesn’t apply to the rest of you. I’ll open a path back to the portal-book for all of you, and then go after Jacob alone.”

  “Alice.” Ellen’s expression softened. “I know you feel bad for Jacob, but think about this for a minute. You’ll just get killed if you try this by yourself.”

  Alice swallowed hard, but matched the other girl’s gaze levelly. Ellen’s halo flickered and danced over her head, like a wavering candle flame.

  “I’m going with Alice,” Isaac said. “The rest of you can do what you like.”

  “What?” Ellen said.

  “Why?” Alice said.

  “Because you’re right,” Isaac said. “Jacob needs our help.”

  “But—”

  The thing was, Alice hadn’t exactly been telling the whole truth. Torment wanted something with her, and she in turn needed something from him. If anyone knew how Esau was involved in my father’s death, it would be his labyrinthine. If she left now, the old Readers would have no choice but to get involved, and any chance of finding out what she needed to know would be lost.

  But they can’t come with me. It was one thing to risk her own life to get what she wanted so desperately. If Isaac comes with me—if he were to get . . . hurt, or anything—

  It didn’t bear thinking about. Alice shook her head violently.

  “You can’t. I mean . . .” She paused. “Look. Torment doesn’t want to hurt me, he told me that himself. I’ll be fine.”

  “Right,” Isaac drawled, catching Alice’s eye. “Because we both know that labyrinthine always tell the truth.”

  “Brother Isaac is right,” Dex said. “You only know that Torment has not harmed you yet. His ultimate intentions are still unknown.”

  “All the more reason we should all leave,” Ellen said.

  Dex shook her head. “Sister Alice makes a good point. If Brother Jacob is in thrall to this maze-demon, we must help him.”

  “You can’t mean to stay,” Ellen sputtered. “You can’t even walk!”

  “I have been speaking to Sister Soranna,” Dex said, “and she believes she can help me with that problem.”

  “You’re going along with this as well?” Ellen said to Soranna. The younger girl flinched from the teenager’s gaze, eyes firmly on the floor, but she gave a tiny nod.

  “No!” Alice blurted. “Listen. I wasn’t asking for anyone to help me. I don’t want your help!”

  “I don’t think that’s your decision,” Isaac said.

  “But . . . I can’t . . .” Alice shook her head. It was like sending Soranna out to run past the bird-things all over again. I can’t be responsible. Not for everyone.

  “You’re all crazy,” Ellen said. Her eyes glittered, threatening a return to tears. “Garret was the strongest one here, and he died. Don’t you get that? If we don’t leave now, we are all going to die.” She turned to Alice. “You can’t let them do this.”

  Alice looked around the circle, one face at a time, then down at her hands.

  “I’m not sure I can stop them,” she said in a small voice.

  “Fine,” Ellen snapped. “Wonderful. Have fun getting killed. Would you mind dropping me off before you go?”

  They walked down the stairs, Dex leaning on Isaac, to the first doorway that let onto a bridge. It was easiest, Alice had found, to connect paths to similar spaces—a bridge to a bridge, a stair to a stair.

  Alice gestured for the others to turn away and closed her eyes. It was definitely simpler to fold the fabric of the labyrinth while no one was looking at it. She reached out across the fortress, feeling for the long bridge they’d taken to the first tower, and pressed a path into being. When she opened her eyes, the doorway opened onto that bridge, and the small stone platform with the portal-book was only a few hundred yards away.

  She touched Ellen on the shoulder. “It’s ready.”

  Ellen looked out at the bridge, then down at Alice. “You’re really not coming?”

  Alice shook her head.

  “You must . . .” Ellen sniffed. “You all must think I’m a terrible coward.”

  “That’s not it at all,” Alice said. “I’d like to leave. I just can’t.”

  “You’re not telling us everything.”

  Alice said nothing. Ellen shook her head, wiped her eyes one last time, and walked through the doorway without another look back.

  Torment was already closing in, pulling at Alice’s path with all the glee of a boy kicking over someone else’s sandcastle. Alice gripped the fabric of the labyrinth as tight as she could. “The rest of you should go too,” she said. “I can’t hold it open for long.”

  Isaac snorted and turned away. Alice looked at Dex, and finally at Soranna, who shook her head minutely.

  “You were right,” the girl said in a whisper. “I . . . owe you.”

  With a last glance at the portal-book, Alice let the connection slip away. Between blinks, the bridge outside melted into a view of another tower, and Torment’s mocking chuckle whispered through the fabric.

  Just wait, Alice thought, trying to banish her doubts. I’m coming to see you. We’re all coming to see you.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  A WELCOME RESPITE

  “SORANNA,” ALICE SAID. “YOU told Dex you could do something for her leg?”

  Soranna nodded, then looked away shyly. “For everyone. I think we could use a rest.”

  “I’m not sure we can afford to take the time,” Isaac said.

  “It won’t be a problem.”

  Soranna wormed one hand under her collar and produced something tiny from a hidden pocket. It gleamed ruby red in the torchlight, and Alice came over to look closer. The little object was a strawberry wrought in crystal and gemstones, no larger than the nail of her pinky.

  “My master gave me this years ago. He said I was never to use it unless . . .” Soranna stopped, and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. We need it now.”

  Soranna placed the little berry carefully on the ground. Then, in one quick movement, she raised her foot and stomped down on it as hard as she could. The tiny thing broke with a crunch of glass, and a wisp of white smoke rose from beneath the sole of Soranna’s shoe. It coalesced, gradually, into a milky-white sphere hovering at about head height. It looked no more substantial than mist.

  All four of them waited in sil
ence. After a second or two, a voice, as quiet as the sigh of a breeze, said, “Yes?”

  “I call on you in the name of the Seventy-third Eddicant,” Soranna said. It sounded like something she’d memorized. “The debt lingers still. We demand succor.”

  There was another pause before the voice replied. “I am old and tired, and this was a foolish bargain. Your Eddicant tricked us. No human should live so long.”

  Soranna’s expression wavered for a moment, but she set her jaw and said, “I demand succor. It is my right.”

  “Oh, very well.” The misty sphere began to grow, until it formed the outline of a doorway, hanging in midair. Only darkness was visible on the other side, as though it were covered by a black velvet curtain. “As we promised, so many centuries ago, so we pay the debt still. You may sojourn in our realm.”

  Soranna blew out a breath, making the misty shape waver and swirl. She turned back to Alice. “I wasn’t sure that was going to work.”

  “Not that I’m unimpressed,” Isaac said, “but how exactly does this help us?”

  “Come inside.” Soranna held her hands in front of her, as though parting a curtain, and stepped through the door. She did not emerge from the other side.

  Alice looked at Isaac. He shrugged, and held out a hand to help Dex up. With his assistance, she hopped through the doorway, and Isaac went through after her. Alice, not sure what to expect, followed close behind.

  She felt something pass across her skin, not quite solid, like a thick, dry fog. On the other side, she was greeted by a low, warm light and the sharp smell of spices, with an undercurrent of cooking meat. She could hear fat sizzling over a fire, reminding her how long it had been since that last quasi-apple. Her mouth watered.

  As her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, she found herself standing with the others inside a vast tent made of purple silk, the size of a tennis court. Oil lamps, small brass ones with curved handles right out of the Arabian Nights, hung from the tent poles and provided a friendly glow.

  In the center of the tent was a rectangular table, which positively groaned under a mass of food and drink. Tall glass pitchers stood between trays of sliced meat, soft grilled vegetables, and platters of fruit and cheese. Everything looked as though it had been laid out only the moment before they’d stepped through, and steam still rose from a fire-blackened roast that had been carved to reveal its tender pink interior.

  “We’ll be safe here,” Soranna said. “My master said this place isn’t a book-world. It’s more like a kind of solid mirage.”

  “It’s not real?” Alice said.

  “It looks real,” Isaac said. He was staring at the roast. “It smells real.”

  “It’s real,” Soranna said, “but it only exists in a kind of . . . gap. There’s no time here, not real time. When we go back outside, everything will be just the way we left it.”

  “You’re sure?” Isaac said. “I’ve never heard of a world where time works differently.”

  “That’s what my master told me,” Soranna said. “And he brought me here once before. It only lasts as long as the power from the gem can sustain it, which he said would be about eight hours.”

  “But we can eat while we’re here,” Alice said. “Nothing strange will happen?”

  “I don’t think so,” Soranna said.

  Alice looked at Isaac, who shrugged.

  “Good enough for me,” he said. And, as if that had been a pre-arranged signal, the four of them attacked the laden table like starving dogs.

  After eating their fill, and guzzling cool, sweet water, Alice and Isaac sat beside the table while Soranna attended to Dex’s leg. First she unwrapped the bandage and used a whole pitcher of water to wash away the crusty dried filth, revealing a long, nasty gash that drooled a steady stream of fresh blood. Alice had to look away, but Dex stared at it with wide-eyed fascination, as though excited to get a glimpse of her own insides. After having her arm bitten off, maybe this is small potatoes.

  Once everything was clean, Soranna called on one of her bound creatures, and a pale orange cream began to ooze between her fingers. She applied this to Dex’s leg in great dollops, rubbing it gently over the wound. Dex shivered every time another handful was applied, and out of curiosity Alice stuck the end of her pinky in the stuff. It made her skin feel cool and tingly, like she’d dipped it in rubbing alcohol.

  While Soranna was retying the bandage, Alice looked back at the depleted table. She hadn’t even recognized half the food, but she’d been too hungry to care.

  “What are these, do you think?” she said to Isaac.

  “Which?” He put one hand over his mouth and belched. Alice made a face.

  “These things that look like giant raisins.”

  “Search me.”

  “They’re dates,” Soranna said. “You’ve never had one?”

  “I’m not sure we have them in America.” Alice looked back to find Soranna tying off the bandage with an efficient, practiced motion. It looked a lot more professional that Isaac’s improvised wrap. “Is this the sort of food you have at home?”

  “This is food for the master,” Soranna said absently, cleaning her hands on a rag. “At home, we eat what we can catch in the forest.” She looked up and fell silent, becoming aware that the other three were staring at her. Suddenly overcome by shyness, she bent her head over Dex’s leg again, pretending to fiddle with the bandage.

  “Sister Alice,” Dex said, “may I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “Is it true that you only began your studies with Master Geryon a few months ago?”

  Alice nodded cautiously. “Why?”

  “Where did you live before that?”

  “With my family, of course. My father.”

  “Out in the world?” Soranna interrupted, her voice full of curiosity. “With mortals?”

  “Yes,” Alice said. She remembered Isaac telling her that he had been taken to live with his master at a very young age, but she had no idea about the others. “I didn’t even know I was a Reader until my father died, and I was sent to live with Geryon.”

  “That must have been quite a shock, discovering that you weren’t normal after all,” Dex said.

  “I suppose it was. Why? When did you find out?”

  “The Most Favored discovered me by reading the signs and portents attending my birth,” Dex said. “She brought me to live in her palace as a very young girl.”

  “What about your family?”

  Dex shrugged. “I do not remember them. The Most Favored assured me they were well compensated, as is the custom in such cases.”

  “She bought you?” Alice couldn’t help but think of Vespidian, trying to make her own father an offer. “That’s awful!”

  “Oh, no. It is the best thing for everyone concerned. After all, if she had not, I would never have known my power. I could have lived my whole life without ever finding my true purpose.”

  “But . . .” Alice shook her head, glancing at Isaac for support.

  He shrugged. “I can’t add much,” he said. “I’ve been with my master as long as I can remember.”

  “None of you had a family of your own?” Alice looked at Soranna, who shook her head.

  “My family . . . died,” the girl said. “When I was young. My master has been training me ever since.”

  That threw a temporary pall of silence over the conversation. Dex, ever cheerful, broke the spell.

  “Then, Sister Alice, you must have some familiarity with the mortal world.”

  Alice blinked. “I suppose I must.”

  “We hear many strange rumors,” Dex said. “Is it true that mortals can fly now? I have always discounted that one, myself. How can one fly without magic?”

  “You mean fly, like with an airplane?” Alice looked from Dex to Soranna, but both girls gave her blank
looks. “A machine,” she said, slowly. “You know. With engines, and propellers. It’s made of metal.”

  After a moment of goggling incomprehension, both girls exploded with questions. They were, Alice discovered, astonishingly ignorant of the modern world. Dex had seen gaslight, and read about horseless carriages, but knew nothing about electricity, telephones, or radio. Soranna was even worse. She boggled at Alice’s description of Times Square in Manhattan, and flatly refused to believe in the existence of steamships.

  “You can’t build a ship out of metal,” she said, after Alice repeated her description. “Metal’s heavy. It would sink.”

  Dex, by gentle prodding, encouraged Soranna to tell a little bit about her own upbringing. Alice hardly knew what to expect, but the first thing the little girl said caught her completely off guard.

  “I wasn’t born on Earth,” Soranna said. “My village—we always just called it the village—is on another world. You can only get there through a book that my master keeps hidden.”

  “Wait a minute,” Isaac said. “I never heard of humans coming from any world but Earth.”

  “We didn’t come from there, originally.” Though she still wouldn’t look up at Isaac, Soranna seemed to be gaining confidence as she told her story. “Many generations ago, my people lived on Earth. There was a great disaster that threatened to destroy us entirely, but my master the Eddicant intervened and offered us a new home. We have served her out of gratitude ever since.”

  “What’s it like?” Alice said. “Living on another world.”

  “Hard,” Soranna said. “We live in the shadow of an ancient forest, and we hunt the beasts that live there for food. They, in turn, hunt us.” Soranna paused. “There were twenty-six children in my cohort. I am the last survivor.”

  That produced a moment of shocked silence.

  “But you were born a Reader,” Dex said.

  “Yes. Every child in the village is tested by the Eddicant for the talent. In my cohort, there were two, myself and my half sister, Kasdeja. That is very rare, and the Eddicant was pleased. She offered a great feast for the entire village.” Soranna smiled slightly at the memory, but then her face fell. “My sister and I went to train together, but she was more talented than I by far. Our master intended that we form a complementary pair, one to fight and the other to support her. You can see that the creatures she chose for me to bind were meant for this.”