The globe was only showing the path they were on between miniature maze walls and a small section beyond that. The rest of the globe was blank. Some of the butterflies and leaves inside were showing the path but most of them were flittering around the globe as if unsure of what to do. Why was this magical globe unable to see what was farther out? Or perhaps it didn’t want to?
She fought a shiver and gazed up to the low ceiling. She’d never wished for the open sky as much as she did now.
Israel brushed his fingers along one of the yellow and green vines on the wall, mumbling.
“What was that?”
“Your eyes,” he said. “They’re green but with gold flecks just like when it turns to autumn.”
Alyx started. He had been studying her eyes? She felt her insides flare into heat and her mouth dry.
There was a crackle and a rustling and out of the corner of her eye she spotted a single sunflower growing out of a crack in the stone.
Israel stepped closer to her. “Do you know what I’ve noticed?”
She shook her head. Her throat felt so thick that she was afraid to speak. The way he was staring at her…
“You said that sunflowers were your favorite flower. In here they only seem to grow when…”
…When he touched her or when he looked at her like that, making her feel things.
“It’s…” her voice cracked. She tried again, attempting to make her voice sound casual. “It’s a coincidence. Who knows why anything happens inside here.”
“This place is an extension of your subconscious.” He moved in closer so now they were almost toe to toe. He slid a hand onto her arm. “These sunflowers…they mean something.”
She tried to shake his arm off her but he wouldn’t let go. “They don’t.”
His other hand came up to slide along her cheek, causing yet another flare of heat in her body. There was more rustling and she didn’t need to turn her head to see that another sunflower had grown beside her. He was right. Her cheeks heated. How unfair it was to have her feelings manifest so blatantly, trumpeting something that she was trying so hard to ignore.
“Why are you resisting this?” he whispered.
“I’m…not…”
He shifted in just a little bit closer, his eyes dropping down to her mouth. Her heart ricocheted off her ribcage and the heat flaring in her body dried her mouth. He was going to kiss her.
“You were bonded then. As you are bonded now.” She had been trying to ignore it, but she could already sense the depth of what could be between them. What had been between them.
Let it be worth it.
If she let herself feel these things, if she gave in, if she just let go…when she lost him, when it ended, as all things ended, it would crush her. She couldn’t let herself have this, no matter how right it felt. The greater the love, the greater the fall. When she fell from this, it would end her.
“How dare you leave without me,” she heard herself shrieking. “I’m supposed to go with you.” She shook Israel with all the fury in her body. But he didn’t wake.
Panic lashed through Alyx and she shoved him away, stumbling back into a clump of sunflowers, crushing their stalks under her feet. His eyes widened as he let go of her, the air rushing between them leaving her feeling cold. Pain flashed across his face and she felt it echoed in her own heart.
She shook herself, trying to let all these confusing feelings fall off her. “We… We can’t get distracted. Time’s running out.”
“You’re right about one thing. Time is running out.” He turned and began to walk again.
She followed him, hating herself.
As they walked deeper into the maze, the ivy began to thin out and dark moss started to take over the gray stone walls. Fallen leaves were being blown along by an occasional draft. The colorful maze had become a damp, icy labyrinth.
Alyx’s nerves were tightly coiled. There was something about this darker maze that terrified her. Something about the tight walls and low ceiling, the gray stone paths that gave her the creeps. A part of her deep down was screaming at her to run.
Calm down, Alyx. It’s just a maze.
Just a maze.
“Well, this isn’t that bad,” said Israel, trying to sound light.
She whacked him in the arm.
“Ow, what was that for?”
Isn’t that bad… “You’ve just jinxed us, you realize.”
“I have not.”
Israel heard something breathing behind them. He snapped his head around. He could see nothing except for the empty path behind them.
“This isn’t so bad.”
“You’ve just jinxed us, you realize.”
Israel glanced over to Alyx. Either she was better at hiding her fear than he was or she didn’t hear it. She probably didn’t hear it. Which meant it was just his mind playing tricks on him. Right?
They continued on, Israel listening closely to the silence between the clack of their boots.
Something breathed behind them again. Israel spun, his hand on his sword. Again there was nothing there. Had it just been the wind in the leaves?
“What’s wrong?” Alyx asked in a low voice.
“Did you hear that?” he whispered back.
She frowned. Then shook her head. “Hear what?”
He paused, listening. There was just the pressurized silence of an enclosed space. “Nothing. It must be nothing,” he said, trying to convince himself.
Before he could take another step, he heard a distinct low growl behind him. He wasn’t imagining it. There was something there this time. He spun and icy fear coursed through his blood. In the path some ten or so meters away was the largest dog he’d ever seen, matted fur thick like tar, paws as large as dinner plates, claws like hooks on the ends of them, and a thick viscose saliva dripping off the yellow fangs of all three of its heads. All three of its friggin’ heads. All three sets of its beady black eyes narrowed at him. The sight sent a shot of fear right down into the depths of his soul.
A Cerberus demon.
“Run,” he screamed. He grabbed Alyx by the arm and yanked her behind him, his leg muscles burning as he sprinted as fast as he could. The beast thundering along behind them, its growl seeming to be immediately in their wake.
“Israel,” she cried. “Why are you running?”
“Are you kidding me?” He glanced over his shoulder to see the demon dog only a few meters behind and catching up fast. He yanked Alyx aside into a right-hand turn, praying this wasn’t a dead end.
Chapter Fifteen
Alyx had no idea what had gotten Israel so scared. As he dragged her around this corner, her blood turned to ice at the sight.
“What’s in the maze?”
“Only what you fear.”
Meters away the path fell off into a wide ravine, so deep that it disappeared into darkness below. Israel wasn’t watching where he was going. He was going to pull them both right over the edge.
“Stop.” She yanked back but his hand slipped from hers.
He spun right on the edge, rocks crumbling over the side under his boots and falling into the hole. “Don’t stop. It’s coming!”
She glanced around her. “What are you talking about? What’s coming?”
“We have to go.” He reached out for her hand but she kept out of his reach. He was mad. He wanted to pull them both over. They’d fall forever.
His eyes widened so she could see the whites all around his irises, staring at something right behind her. “Oh my God,” he breathed.
She glanced around her but whatever he was looking at she couldn’t see. “What is it?”
He shuffled back and went over into the ravine. She screamed.
But he didn’t fall. He had stepped out onto what appeared to be…thin air.
Her scream faltered. Dear God. That was impossible.
Israel was still staring wide-eyed at her legs. He pulled his sword from his sheath. “Don’t move a muscle.”
Th
en it hit her.
“That’s the thing about fear. You can’t always trust it.”
“Israel, remember what the tree said.”
“Don’t move.”
“Whatever you’re seeing, it’s not real.”
“But the dog—”
“There’s no dog. Look.” She bent down and waved her hands around her legs.
His mouth dropped open. “Your hands went right through it. It’s…it’s not real.”
“Which means,” she muttered to herself, “what I’m seeing isn’t real either.”
She stepped forward until she reached the edge. Her stomach lurched as she gazed down into the abyss. It looked so real. Her body was reacting to this height as if it was real.
She glanced up to Israel, seemingly walking on air. But he couldn’t be. He couldn’t fly. That was impossible. There must be something underneath to support him. “I can see a ravine that drops so deep, I can’t see the bottom.”
“There’s no ravine. It’s just a stone path.” He reached out his hand. “Trust me. I would never let you fall.”
“What can we trust?”
“Trust each other.”
She had to trust him. She had to take a leap of faith. She took his hand and took the step out into nothing.
Her foot landed on something solid. Alyx exhaled. She was standing on something even if it looked to her like she was standing on air. The edges of the ravine drew in, like a reverse of it crumbling away, until it was completely closed over, revealing what was truly there all along. Just a stone path.
They had fought the maze and won.
Israel grinned at her.
She couldn’t help but grin back.
They began to walk again, following the globe which, somehow, Alyx had managed to hang on to through this whole ordeal. “So…a dog, hey?”
“Not just a dog. A giant dog with big flesh-tearing claws.”
“I’m sure.”
“And sharp bitey teeth in each of its three heads.”
“Three heads? Like a Cerberus dog from Greek mythology?”
“Exactly. But scarier.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And you…I wouldn’t have picked you for someone who was scared of heights.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it.
“What?”
“Nothing. You wouldn’t get it.”
“Try me.”
She paused. If anyone might understand, maybe Israel would. “Since I can remember I’ve always dreamed I could fly. I dreamed of flying over oceans, mountains, over cities and forests. I must move around in my sleep, perhaps actually trying to fly, because I almost always fall out of bed and wake up having hit the floor.” She let out a humorless laugh. “It’s in that moment that I become so very aware that I can’t fly. It’s so weird but I feel…totally helpless. Like someone’s cut off my limbs.”
Israel nodded. “So you feel the height so much more than most people.”
She nodded. He got it. He got her.
“Israel…” He heard a soft female voice calling his name and snapped around.
There was no one there. He shook his head as he continued to walk just a little bit faster, Alyx keeping up with him. This maze was creepy.
“Israel…”
He turned, his sword in his hand. He definitely heard something that time. But there was still nobody there.
“What is it?” she asked.
He wasn’t going to run away this time. “Whoever you are,” he said, “just come out.”
The familiar voice came from behind him again. “You’re the one who buried me.”
He spun, his heart stuck in his throat like a hard lump. Standing there was a tall, thin woman with long wispy blonde hair, matted and sections torn out. “A-Adere?”
“Hello, Israel.”
“It can’t be. You’re…” Dead. Israel stumbled back, his heel catching on an edge of the stone. Memories of that fateful night ricocheted inside his head. Him kicking down the door too late…the blood…her open pale blue eyes…
“Thanks to you,” she whispered, lifting up an accusing finger towards him. Guilt flooded through him like a bitter poison. She looked so alive, unlike that night.
“Israel, what’s going on?” Alyx grabbed his face and stepped right up to him, blocking out the sight of Adere.
He let out a breath that shuddered past his teeth. “She’s here,” he whispered.
“Whatever you’re seeing, it isn’t real.” Alyx’s voice seemed to be the only tether he had. A part of him held on to it.
“Tell her, Israel,” Adere whispered in his ear. She was standing right at his side, her pale blue eyes moving from Alyx’s face to his. “Tell her how real I am. Tell her what you did to me.”
Israel shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut.
“What is it?” Alyx asked. “Tell me.”
“Yes, tell her,” Adere whispered. “Do you think she’d still want you if she knew the truth? What you failed to do? Who you have become?”
At Adere’s words, his eyes flew open. Almost all he could see was Alyx’s face filled with concern. For one long moment he looked back at Alyx, studying the golden flecks of her eyes, the way her nose turned up ever so slightly at the end, the sharp contour of her marble cheekbones. She was so perfect. And it wasn’t just the way she looked. She had passion, intelligence and more guts than most of the men he used to work with. A man like him was lucky that a girl like her gave him the time of day.
“Israel, who’s Adere?”
Adere.
He stared around him. But Adere was gone. Gone. Just like that? This maze didn’t give up that easily. Surely?
“Israel?” Alyx’s voice brought him back to the present. “Who’s Adere?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
“Tell her. Do you think she’d still want you if she knew the truth? What you failed to do? Who you have become?”
Adere was right. Alyx wouldn’t look at him the same way if she knew the truth. Israel shook his head. “No one,” he lied. “She’s no one.”
Chapter Sixteen
“The globe is showing that the exit is just ahead around this corner…” Alyx was walking so fast she was almost jogging. She couldn’t wait to leave the clutches of this confusing and suffocating maze. First the demon dog, then the ravine, then…Adere. She glanced over to Israel. He’d lied when he’d said she was no one. But she hadn’t pushed him for his secrets. After all, she had lied to him too.
She turned the corner and froze. Up ahead, the end of this very short path was completely blocked by a stone wall. That was supposed to be their way out. She stared back at the globe. Had it led them the wrong way?
She walked up to the wall, peering at the dark brown stones, irregular in shape, covered in a layer of a silver moss and laced with a green algae so dark it was almost black.
“It’s just a solid wall,” said Israel, stepping up to her side.
“Or is it?” Alyx knew better than to trust anything she saw in this maze. She lifted up her hand to the stone.
“Wait,” he grabbed her hand. “What if there’s something nasty on the other side?”
She swallowed and stared at the wall, an image of teeth snapping off her hand making her shiver. But what choice did they have? “Would you rather stay here?”
“No.”
“Would you rather go head first than hand first?”
“I’d rather lose a hand than a head.”
“Well, alright then.”
“Together.” His fingers laced with hers.
She couldn’t help the fluttering in her stomach. The corners of her mouth pulled up into a smile. “Okay. Together.”
They reached out to the wall. Instead of touching cold stone she felt her fingers pass through it like it was nothing. There was a slight popping in her ears and then an arched doorway dissolved in the stone before them. Nothing bit their hands off.
Alyx and Israel shared a grin.
Israel stepped through the arched doorway and out of the maze. He stood beside Alyx at the base of the Heartless Mountain. Here the few lonely trees were barren, a few brave leaves still clinging onto skinny branches. The air was getting frigid. The Elder’s words echoed in his mind. “You must get out before the end of winter.”
He craned his neck up to the top where the gathering clouds were beginning to hide the image of Alyx’s sleeping face. “How the hell are we supposed to get up there?”
“Maybe the globe will tell us?” She shook the globe again as Israel stepped up closer so he could see. This time flurries of white snow swirled around along with orange and brown leaves.
Inside the globe a mountain rose up in the center. The snowflakes and leaves fell into formation. But…that was strange. They were floating in a zigzagging line up to the top of the mountain. They appeared almost to be floating on air.
“That’s not right,” she exclaimed. “There’s no path up there.”
“Did you remember to pack your wings?” he joked.
She let out a huff. “We can’t seriously be expected to fly up the mountain. Can we?”
“Let me see.” He took the globe from her and peered into the glass orb. There, right at this angle, something shimmered underneath the floating path of snow, only for a second before it disappeared from sight. “I think there’s something there. Some kind of invisible path or something?” He gazed up the steep, craggy surface of the Heartless Mountain just as the first flakes of snow began to fall. There had to be something there, hadn’t there?
“I can’t see anything,” said Alyx.
“If we could see the stone wall that wasn’t really there, then surely there could be something here that we can’t see?” He stared around at where the mountain rose sharply out of the barren earth like someone had stabbed the earth from the other side with a rocky spear. “There has to be something here.”
The snowflakes falling on his face tickled his skin. He had to hurry. Winter was here.
The snowflakes.
Even if they couldn’t see it, the snowflakes would still fall on it.
Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 267