by Ryals, R. K.
Marcas' words inside the dining room of the S.O.S. come back to me, and I look at the portal, my eyes narrowed. A labyrinth is not a maze, it is a path to enlightenment. In our case, it is a journey that could end in death, but even with the consequences, it is still a journey that could change our lives. My gaze moves back to Marcas and Conor, and what I see in their eyes reveals what I already know. How we enter will not be how we exit.
Next to me, Bruno straightens, and I place a hand gently on his elbow. I am not a leader. I have never wanted to be a leader, but what I lack in charisma, I make up for in understanding. Bruno is a leader, and all it takes is a simple nudge to make him move forward. He advances, one hand outstretched, and steps into the portal. For a moment, he becomes a blurred part of the strange air in front of us, and then he is suddenly an image beyond the wall, a hazy image that reminds me of a water color painting.
I take a deep breath as Conor ducks away from Marcas, a grin on his lips as he glances a final time at the Demon before following Bruno's lead. If he is afraid, he hides it well. And it's enough to make the other hybrids move forward. Bruno's entrance into the portal has emboldened the hybrids, and Conor's grin has calmed them.
Deidra, Ace, and I are the last to enter, and I pat Ace's head gently.
"Just stay with me, Boy," I whisper to the drex before peering down at Deidra who has moved to take my hand. "Don't leave me, Deidra. If anything happens, you stay behind me."
The imp frowns, her hand tightening in mine.
"The hell I will," she mutters.
I smile. Deidra is a tough girl, bullied her entire life. She doesn't have a famous Demon parent like the rest of us, but she won't leave us. She won't leave me.
"Last chance, Imp. You don't have to go," I say.
Deidra looks up at me, her dark face determined. She lets go of my hand then and steps into the portal. She is alone, her head held high. My grin widens, my hand tightening on Ace's head as I look up at Marcas.
"She's not been forgotten," Marcas says evenly, and my eyes widen in surprise, my grin widening. "Heroes come in all shapes and sizes," Marcas adds.
I nod to show I agree, the grin still on my face, as I lead Ace into the portal.
Chapter 16
Conor
The other side of the portal appears similar to the Italian countryside we've just exited. The only difference is a gaping cavern with stone stairs leading into a dark hole. The labyrinth's entrance. Bruno gazes at our surroundings, his eyes skirting the opening.
"The Outer Levels of Hell are definitely nicer than the Inner Levels," he mumbles.
I grunt. "I wouldn't know, and I prefer to keep it that way."
Bruno ignores me, glancing briefly over his shoulder to check on the other hybrids before looking once more at the labyrinth's entry. The darkness is foreboding, but the stone calms me. Even with the dangers beyond, the stone is enough to keep me grounded. And I need grounding because the longer I stand on the Hell side of the portal, the more I realize Marcas' words are true. My powers haven't changed, but I feel weaker. The air seems thick, warmer, suffocating, as if Hell's oxygen levels differ from Earth but not dramatically enough to harm me. It is enough to make my breaths deeper. I call to the stone, and it evens out my breathing.
Bruno glances over at me. "Doing okay there, Gargoyle?" he asks wryly.
I refuse to look at him.
"Is everyone through the portal?" I ask instead.
Emma is suddenly beside me, her cheeks flushed.
"We're all through."
Her eyes are bright, and she breathes in, pulling on the air as if testing it. Her hair seems darker, her lips pinker. I glance around the group and realize Emma isn't the only one affected. Hell may not be benefiting me any, but the hybrids seem to revel in it.
Lyre saunters forward, her hands outstretched and her eyes closed. She turns slowly.
"It's been too long," she says reverently.
Fiona moves next to her.
"It isn't home yet, Lyre. Don't forget that."
Lyre opens her eyes, her exhaled breath long.
"It was once."
"And the full bloods kicked us out of it," Fiona reminded her, placing a hand gently on Lyre's shoulder. Lyre's eyes dull, and she pushes Fiona's hand away before looking to Bruno. His gaze is still on the labyrinth.
One of the twins hugs herself and shivers dramatically. "Is it wrong to admit I'm afraid?" she asks.
Lyre scowls. "Wrong to admit you're a coward, you mean?"
Bruno looks pointedly at Lyre, his expression enough to quiet her.
"If you are so fearless, Lyre, you enter first," Bruno orders, his words harsh.
I watch carefully from the side of the group. Bruno is attempting to prove his worth as a leader. By mocking the twin, Lyre is causing dissention and doubt among the group. By calling Lyre out, Bruno is making Lyre prove she's courageous enough to sling insults about cowardice.
Lyre's lips thin, and her gaze reddens as she looks at the steps leading down into oblivion.
"Fine," she huffs, moving toward the entrance. Her foot touches the top step, and she pauses. She looks over her shoulder, her eyes skirting the group before meeting my gaze. Her jaw tightens, and she lowers her foot to the next step.
"Lyre," Emma says softly, the sound so low I'm pretty sure Lyre doesn't hear her.
Lyre moves down another step. Nothing happens and the hybrids exhale. If everyone is this uptight, it makes me wonder what the actual labyrinth will be like. We need to regroup, figure out what role each hybrid will play. My eyes move to Bruno, and I wait for him to order Lyre to stop, but he doesn't. Alessandro's words come back to me. Demons don't work the same way we do. The hybrids must prove their strength. Until they do, they will always be in danger.
Lyre is on the fourth step now. Only two stairs away from the entrance. Emma steps forward.
"Lyre," she says, her voice louder. "No. Remember what Marcas said. Unity is the hybrid advantage."
Lyre pauses and glances at Emma, her eyes cold.
"I'm no coward," she says harshly.
Emma shakes her head. "No, but fear isn't about being a coward. You've proven you're brave enough to go on alone. Stop."
Lyre's gaze moves to Bruno, and her eyes narrow. His face is stoic, hard as granite, uncompromising. Emma's gaze moves to Bruno as well, but when he does nothing more than motion at the entrance, her face falls. Lyre turns back to the stairs, her foot lowering. Step five.
"I'll go first," Emma volunteers suddenly, and everyone freezes. Lyre's head snaps up, her incredulous gaze moving to find Emma's.
"What?" she says, her words no more than a whisper.
"I'll go first," Emma repeats.
I start to move forward, my heart beating rapidly, but Bruno beats me to it.
"No," he says, his eyes moving to Lyre's. "We'll go forward two at a time. No one will enter alone."
Lyre's eyes are still on Emma, and I look between the two before glancing at Bruno. His lip is quirked, the small smile one of satisfaction. As a gargoyle, I may know a lot about self-sacrifice, but Bruno knows these hybrids. Emma has offered to take Lyre's place. If nothing else, the effect on Lyre is profound. Lyre takes two steps back.
"I'll still enter first," Lyre says firmly.
Bruno nods. "I'm with you then."
He moves down to Lyre, and I move behind them. My goal is to allow Bruno his leadership, but it is still my duty to keep them as safe as I possibly can beyond that. Emma moves in beside me, Deidra somewhat behind her. Ace snarls, but Emma waves him to the back of the group. He is too large to enter with one of the hybrids. I make room for Deidra. Gray and Fiona settle in behind us with Gwenyth and Hesther following and Ace bringing up the rear.
Bruno takes a deep breath.
"Ready?" he asks.
He doesn't give anyone a chance to answer before he steps forward, grabbing Lyre's hand to bring her with him. Together, they step into darkness.
Chapter 17
"Oh, God," I mumble, my nerves rattled, the other hybrids' anxiety a heavy weight, as Lyre and Bruno disappear into the labyrinth. Conor's hand finds mine, and he grasps it hard. Deidra's hand is at my waist. There is no going back. No holding back. No rain checks.
We move forward, one step at a time. The darkness begins to close in around me, and I have to fight to remember how to see in the gloom. Demon eyes are, oddly, like car headlights. When in darkness, there is an internal switch that, when activated, allows us to see through the dimness. Even colors aren't muted.
I concentrate, and the black begins to lift. There are craggy walls, and a jagged, high stone roof above. There are no adornments. Only hollowed out stone. Bruno and Lyre are just inside the entrance. Before us is more darkness.
The cavern opens up as we step away from the stairs, and I realize we can travel as a group now with the drex at our back. We stop and the rest of the hybrids file in. I can feel eyes on us in the darkness, and I wonder if Enepsigos is watching, waiting for us to mess up.
Deidra laughs quietly, the sound hysterical. "Oh, my God!"
I laugh with her because the tension is almost too much, too palpable. The twins soon follow. When Gray sniggers, I know the relief we're feeling is contagious. All of the hybrids, and even Conor, are laughing now, quietly but frantically. I think part of us expected the stairway to explode or something equally dramatic. It's either laugh or cry. And yet, laughter does little to relieve the tension. There's still a labyrinth to navigate, dangers we know nothing about.
"This is crazy!" Fiona hisses. "How are we supposed to protect ourselves from things we can't see."
Conor shifts next to me, and it's then I realize my hand is still trapped within his. I don't pull away, and he doesn't loosen his grip. I think, in a way, we are both pulling strength from the other.
"Are you sure you can't see the dangers?" Conor asks.
The hybrids look at him.
"Do you see anything?" Lyre asks sourly.
Conor's eyes meet hers, and I feel a familiar pang in my chest. Jealousy.
"Sometimes it isn't about what you can see," Conor answers.
He reaches out and places his free hand against the stone wall, closing his eyes briefly.
"Demons," he says. "There are Demons ahead . . . and traps. Maybe."
Hesther Garner looks at him, her eyes wide. "Maybe?" she asks shrilly. "You don't know for sure?"
Conor shakes his head. "I can only touch the stone and tell you what the rock tells me. It isn't like a person. It doesn't talk to me in words. I only get shudders, feelings, and ideas. Sometimes images. There is something bad ahead. And . . . there is something that has destroyed part of the stone. Maybe a part of the path was dug into or a portion of the labyrinth expanded to hold a trap. All I know is, the stone feels like it's in pain."
Bruno sighs. "It's more than we knew before. Anyone else care to try? Emma?"
Bruno's gaze finds mine, and I feel Conor's grip tighten even more on my hand, the pressure encouraging. I close my eyes.
At first, I feel nothing more than the anxious, fearful emotions surrounding me from the group, but as I push forward, past the hybrids, I feel . . . .
"Anger," I say carefully. "Hatred."
Lyre snorts. "Well, that's a given."
I don't open my eyes, my mind is trapped by the swirling emotions in the cavern beyond. They don't appear sentient. Anger, hatred . . . I gasp.
"Pain," I say, pulling back from the cavern quickly, my hand against the pit of my stomach.
"Emma?" Conor asks.
I lean over and dry heave. The nausea is bad, but not bad enough to cause me to throw up, no matter how badly I wish I could. Conor's hand goes to my back, and he leans over me carefully.
"Something is trapped. But it doesn't feel normal," I say, my breath ragged.
Bruno's brows raise, and his forehead creases. He gazes into the darkness.
"Fiona," he asks. "Do you feel anything plant based? Electrical? Fire?"
Fiona starts to shake her head, and then pauses. "Fire maybe."
Conor straightens, his arms still supporting me as he looks at Bruno, his brows furrowed in concentration. "Pain, hatred, fire . . ." He shakes his head.
Bruno glances at Lyre.
"You don't feel your mother, do you?" he asks.
Lyre throws him a look.
"Funny, Bruno."
He smiles. "Just thought I'd ask. She covers all of those descriptions and more, except the fire part."
I stand still, afraid to reach out again and yet also afraid not to. Pain, hatred, fire . . . .
"I felt the pain in my feet," I say suddenly. "And my head hurts."
Conor freezes, his eyes shifting to mine.
"Hatred, fire, foot pain, head pain . . ." Conor mumbles.
He keeps talking to himself, running the words over and over under his breath. And then unexpectedly, his eyes go wide as he braces his free hand against the cavern's wall.
"Oh shit!" Conor swears. "It's Envy!"
Bruno curses.
"Dude! No way!" Gray exclaims, his voice hoarse.
Their fear swamps me, and I look at Conor.
"Envy?" I ask, my voice small.
Lyre's face goes pale, and she moves closer to Bruno.
"He's a Demon," Conor begins.
Fiona's shrill laughter drowns him out. "When the hell did Envy start working with Enepsigos?" she asks.
Deidra is shaking like a leaf next to me, and I look down at her as she tugs insistently on the bottom of my shirt.
"The headless man," she gasps. "Envy's a headless man."
Even Deidra knows who they're referring to. I'm still confused.
"A Demon who looks like a headless man?" I ask.
Deidra nods.
"He strikes people insensible, dumb," Gwenyth explains somberly.
"And he causes sores on the body, specifically the feet. He has an affinity for fire," Hesther adds.
I look toward the dark tunnel. We've stood there too long, but Enepsigos doesn't seem in a hurry to see us dead. Maybe her people are enjoying our fear, our elementary attempts at trying to figure out what to do to stay alive. I have this sudden, insane image of Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a cartoon headless horseman holding a carved pumpkin that houses a flickering candle. Even animated, it's terrible, and I shiver.
"We have an advantage with the fire, right? Because of Fiona?" I ask.
Bruno looks back at me, his eyes shadowed.
"Maybe," he whispers.
There's a sound a few feet in front of us, and we all turn, our eyes wide. Ace nudges me from behind and images bombard me.
Death . . . fire . . . a child, a hurt child. A child trapped within his own mind, rocking back and forth. Burning . . .
There are tears on my face when a leg moves out of the shadows.
"You fear me," a deep voice says, his laughter hollow.
Conor stiffens next to me, and Bruno stands taller. Lyre is stoic, expressionless, but I can feel her fear. Deidra's anxiety is almost too much next to me but she stands strong, her small eyes darkening. The twins clasp hands and Fiona moves closer to Gray whose hood is pulled up, his expression hidden.
Another leg materializes out of the darkness. The man is wearing jeans, stonewashed jeans with a hole in the knee. I prepare myself for the horror, the headless body I'm sure will follow, but the figure pauses.
"Such power in one group. It's invigorating," the voice continues.
Conor takes a small step forward, his hand falling from mine.
"Are you here to admire us, Envy? Or are you here to kill us?" Conor asks.
The Demon laughs, and the rest of his body moves from the shadows. I am prepared for something repulsing, for a grotesque image. I am not prepared for beauty. The man who moves toward us isn't headless. He is beautiful, graceful, dangerous. He is tall, slim, with slanted eyes and long black hair. His eyes are green, and he moves like a predator, quie
tly, confidently. And he is fearless. The emotions emanating from him are interesting--hatred, curiosity, anticipation.
"A gargoyle," Envy says, his smile wide. He has full lips and even teeth. "How refreshing. It's been ages since I've come up against one of your kind."
Conor doesn't flinch. I feel no fear from him. I wonder if he is blocking or if he honestly hates the Demon too much to be afraid. Conor smiles.
"Feel lucky then you are alive," Conor says evenly.
Envy eyes Conor, his smirking expression frozen. The smile is disconcerting, and I think of the images I saw from Ace. A rocking child.
"You don't want to threaten me, Gargoyle. I am simply a guide. I am nothing compared to the horrors you have yet to face."
Envy's words relieve some of the tension among the group, but the anxiety is still there. No one trusts him.
"A guide?" Bruno asks.
Envy's gaze moves to Bruno."Son of Tephras. Interesting. I will say this. You are much more handsome than your father."
Bruno remains still, but I feel his repulsion, and I shudder. Envy's eyes move to me.
"You, however, look nothing like your mother," Envy says, his eyes leaving me to scan the rest of the group. "I'm here to guide you through the Labyrinth. If you survive, then I'm here to kill you."
His words are not at all comforting.
"And we're supposed to trust you?" Conor asks.
Ace nudges me again, and the images return. There are crying children now among the rocking ones, their eyes blank. My head snaps up.
"You," I whisper hoarsely.
Envy's eyes narrow, his green irises almost neon as he looks at me. I'm too engulfed by images to care. One desperate, sad picture after another. Children. Children in wheelchairs, mouths open, unseeing. I'm not sure if Ace has a history with the Demon before us or if he knows more than I've given him credit for.
"So many children," I murmur.