by Jan Nash
“I hate that expression. Like you can’t be safe and sorry.” The headlamp arced around the vastness of the cave. “What now?” The light threw a faint beam into the distance, highlighting ripples on a pool of water. Finn raised her hand, and a blue light came to life on her palm. It dwarfed the light of Jed’s headlamp, and now it was possible to see just how big the cave was.
And the water … less a pool than a lake. A giant lake.
Shit.
Finn hated water, so of course it was obvious what they had to do. She pointed at the giant, dark lake. “I think we go swimming,” she said.
* * *
The ripples in the water were caused by a black tarry substance falling from stalactites on the roof of the cave. Finn held out her blue light, but it couldn’t penetrate the surface. The lake was just dark and imposing, like the void they’d found in the forest. She cautiously dipped one finger into it. To her surprise, it was just cold. No wave of fear assaulted her.
Finn saw Jed’s beam of light moving over the surface. “Sydney Norwich swam in the pool. Then he found the maze and…” Nothing followed. Finn thought he’d probably just remembered how it ended for Sydney. Not good.
“Yeah,” she said.
And then it hit her.
She’d forgotten the map of the maze. All the time they’d spent studying it and trying to figure out what it meant, and she’d left it behind. She’d packed a photo of her and Noah but didn’t bring the only thing they needed. They couldn’t go into the maze without it. Even if the maze led nowhere, they needed to know its shape so they could get out. If they got lost, she could rip her Lochran and go home, just like Sydney and Rafe. But Jed … he’d be stuck there forever, probably end up in a coma like Noah. And without the Lochran, she wouldn’t be able to save either of them.
They had to turn back.
All their time and effort wasted. Finn fought to keep herself from bursting into tears.
“Oh, Jed. I’ve made a terrible mis—”
She turned around. Jed’s lamp was focused on the piece of paper in his hands. The light of the lamp projected the image through the paper.
It was a copy of the maze.
“You brought the maze,” she gasped as a wave of relief washed over her.
“And my notes.” He held it out. She saw tiny scrawls all over the page. “What were you saying?”
“Thank you.”
“That’s not what you were saying. It started with ‘m-i-s.’”
“I’ll tell you later. Ready to go swimming?”
“I think the better question is, are you ready to go swimming?”
The answer was always no, but Finn took his hand and stepped into the water.
THIRTY-FOUR
Jed had taken an extra step so he’d be at the same level as her, and his headlamp created a little bubble of light around them, but there was nothing to see. Finn stood still for a moment, holding her breath. Sydney had been able to breathe underwater. She knew that. It was still hard to let go of her instinct to hold her breath.
She hated water. At least, anything bigger than a bath. Hated it.
Jed turned toward her. He was holding his breath, too. He puffed his cheeks out like a puffer fish and raised his eyebrows. What now? his face said.
Finn’s lungs burned. She held on to the breath until she couldn’t anymore and then opened her mouth. And—
Nothing. It was almost like the water wasn’t water. Like it was liquid air. She could feel that it was in her mouth, but it felt fine. She breathed through her nose. That was fine, too. Jed exhaled and then breathed.
He gave Finn a thumbs-up, and they headed deeper into the darkness.
* * *
They’d only gone a short distance when Jed’s light bounced off a bright surface. A golden door embedded in a giant silver wall. The light from his lamp kept bouncing, eventually lighting up the entire area around them. After a moment, it was almost as bright as daylight.
“Holy cow, that’s cool,” Jed said, surprised.
“We can talk,” Finn said, equally surprised. Sydney had been alone; he probably hadn’t tried to talk. “Is that the entrance to the maze?”
Jed held up their drawing. The door was in the right place. “Hard to know. From here, it looks like it could be.”
“Well then, I guess there’s nothing to do but go in.”
“No.”
Surprised, she turned to look at him. Had he finally had enough?
He quickly continued. “Okay, trust me, I’m not going to stay out here by myself and be monster bait. I just need a minute. I’m … I’m having lots of feelings. Fear, confusion, amazement … hunger. Though, if I’m completely honest, I’m always hungry.” They stood looking at the door for a moment before he continued. “Do you think I’ll remember this when I wake up?”
Finn didn’t know. She was just hoping they’d both wake up; she hadn’t given any thought to what would happen when they did.
“I don’t know. But I promise I’ll tell you about it if you don’t.”
“I’m not going to believe you.” He took a deep breath, or whatever it was they were doing with the liquid air. “I’m ready.”
Finn opened the golden door. The water stopped at the edge, like a wall. She stepped out of the water and into the maze. The sun shone brightly. They had reached the promised land.
* * *
Finn pulled her sword from its sheath. She saw the look of awe on Jed’s face. They started walking, and it didn’t take long to get to the first decision point.
“We know there’s no exit to this maze, so what exactly are we doing?”
“I’m not one hundred percent sure.”
“Inspirational leadership, Finn.”
“I mean … why have a maze? To trap people? Maybe. In which case, keep your Swiss Army knife at the ready. But could be it’s like the Minotaur.”
“So we are looking for the spawn of Poseidon’s great white bull.”
“Hidden in a maze to keep it from eating everyone in your kingdom.” Finn used her sword to cut an arrow in the floor to help them find their way out.
“You think there’s something hidden in the maze?”
“I don’t know,” she said. She knew uncertainty wasn’t very motivating, but honesty seemed more important than guessing at this point.
“Okay.” He pulled out his Swiss Army knife and opened it. “Let’s go find it.”
She laughed. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
* * *
They moved carefully, marking their route just as Sydney Norwich had done. The material that made the long passageways changed as they went: thatch, wood, stone, brick, bronze, iron. There were gouges and scratches in some of them. Finn wondered what had made them. She reached and touched a long slash on the wall.
“No!”
Startled, she turned to Jed. “What?”
“I didn’t say anything.”
The voice had been inside her head. She turned back to the slash and touched it again and—
A spiked metal ball struck the wall, sending a shower of sparks over the Sorcerer. He backed up, his Lochran stick high to protect his head. A tall man with long blond hair advanced on him, swinging the iron ball menacingly. There was a Lochran around his neck. It blazed with an orange light. The Sorcerer retreated slowly.
Finn pulled her fingers from the gouge. Farther down in an area that was wood, not stone, she saw a deeper gouge. She walked over, touched it and—
The tall man swung the mace. The Sorcerer jumped out of the way, and the mace hit the wall again. But this time, instead of bouncing off, the studded ball stuck in the wood. The tall man yanked on it to no avail, and from within the horned animal’s skull, the Sorcerer’s eyes smiled as he stepped forward. His Lochran stick made a long arc and—
Finn pulled her fingers from this deeper gouge. She didn’t want to watch that Dreamwalker die. Or whatever happened to a Dreamwalker when they lost.
Jed was watching her.
“What is it?”
“Nothing,” she lied.
“Finn?” It was clear he didn’t believe her.
“We … we need to be careful.”
“That’s like a character in a movie saying, ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ Guaranteed to be ironically prescient.”
She could hear the worry in his voice. Fear was the enemy. She had to remember that. “I don’t think anyone in the history of the world knows as much about this guy as we do. But still, we’re sixteen years old and he’s fifteen thousand. He’s had a lot more time to practice being evil than we’ve had to practice being heroic,” she said, smiling.
Jed didn’t smile back. He just looked back at his maze drawing and made a left. Finn marked an arrow on the floor and followed him.
She checked over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed.
* * *
There were fewer scratches in the walls the deeper into the maze they got. Could be that fewer Dreamwalkers got this far. Or the walls were too hard to register the battles they’d fought. Since the Sorcerer was still around, it probably meant he always came out on top.
Jed stopped. “The center of the maze is that way,” he said, gesturing to the left.
“Okay. You stay here.”
“No way.”
“Please. It could be a trap. Let me just check it out first.” Finn handed him her sword. “You protect the rear flank.” She saw his smile reflected in the mirrored blade as he waved the sword back and forth.
“And, of course, when you say ‘protect the rear flank,’ you mean…”
“Don’t hurt yourself,” they said together.
* * *
Finn took a few tentative steps forward. She didn’t hear anything. If the Sorcerer was waiting, he was doing it very quietly. She sniffed the air. There was none of that sulfur odor she’d smelled the other times she’d confronted him. She continued around the edge of a wall and into a room.
Empty, except for a pile of weaponry in a corner and a large, flat rock in the center. Finn glanced at the weapons: swords, spears, maces, crossbows, guns. Weapons from every era of human history. Undoubtedly weapons of Dreamwalkers who had found the maze before her. What had Sydney carried? Which one was Noah’s? She wondered if she should try to find it so she could give it back to him. Probably not, she decided.
She walked to the flat rock in the center of the room. There was a stick resting on top of it: small, worn smooth from someone holding it. A leather string at the top was wrapped around the shaft of a black feather that had lost much of its plumage. It reminded Finn of objects she’d seen in her shaman research; spiritual leaders had used these kinds of objects to heal the sick and chase away evil spirits. They were sources of power for shamans.
It looked old.
And here it was: in the middle of dream-nowhere, protected by voids and lakes and a crazy maze. It meant something to the Sorcerer. Maybe it was like King Arthur’s sword or the Holy Grail. She wasn’t sure exactly. She just knew it was important.
Finn picked it up.
THIRTY-FIVE
Noah heard the monster scream. As the sound rippled through the darkness, barely a whisper, it was clear the creature was far away, but Noah was still surprised to realize he didn’t feel the fear he usually did. Everything about the creature used to fill him with a life-sucking dread. But not now.
Why?
He listened as the monster’s cry echoed into silence.
Noah sensed that the monster was scared. What could it possibly be afraid of?
Noah didn’t know.
For the first time in a long time, though, he felt a twinge of hope. Just a little.
Enough.
He took a deep breath. He’d be ready, whenever the hope got here.
THIRTY-SIX
Finn heard the roar and rushed out of the room to find Jed looking down the hallway, sword raised.
“Was that you?”
Jed shook his head. “It came from over—”
He took one of his hands off the sword to point in the direction the scream had come from, but as he did, the sword tilted toward him. Finn reached out to stop it from slicing into his arm, and the blade cut across her hand. Saint Patrick was covered in blood.
“Oh God, Finn. I’m so sorry.”
“I’m fine.” She took the sword and leaned it against her legs.
“No, you’re hurt. You—”
“Jed, the scream.”
Jed indicated an adjacent wall. “It came from over there. It sounded far away. Muffled almost. Was that him?” He sawed at his T-shirt with his Swiss Army knife until he had ripped a strip from the bottom.
“I think so.” She pulled the shaman’s stick out of the pocket where she’d shoved it. “It happened after I picked this up.”
“A talking stick?”
“Sure what it looks like.”
He wrapped the T-shirt strip around the cut on her hand. “Dude’s not happy you took it.”
“We need to find him before he finds us. Can I see the map?” Jed handed her the maze drawing. “If it came from over there, that’s the opposite direction from the maze’s entrance.” Jed nodded in agreement. “Do we have to go all the way back to the front door and hope we can get around?” Finn wondered aloud, hoping it wasn’t true.
Jed was silent a moment, then took the map out of her hands. “Follow me.”
He ran off, Swiss Army knife in hand. Finn tucked the stick back into her pocket, picked up her sword, and chased after him.
* * *
When Jed took a left, instead of following the arrow they’d marked, Finn couldn’t help herself.
“Do you know what—”
Without stopping, he called out, “Sort of. Trust me.”
She did. And they had the map. If they got lost, they could wander around until they found one of their arrows and go the direction indicated. Not a problem, unless the Sorcerer came into the maze looking for them.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know he was pissed off. They needed to get out of here, because the longer they were here, the greater the chance he’d find them. Finn didn’t want her sword and Jed’s Swiss Army knife to end up on the pile in the center room.
Jed stopped in front of a blank wall.
“I think this is it.”
“What?”
“I had a dream.” Jed was trying to remember something. She could tell because his eyes were closed and his eyebrows were scrunched together. He almost stabbed himself in the face with the Swiss Army knife. “There were … what were they? Walking…”
Finn knew what he was talking about. “Ants.”
“Yes, yes. Ants. They were walking in the maze, and I opened up a new exit for them. I don’t know why I think it’ll work, but I do.”
Finn remembered his dream. She’d walked into it as Jed broke through the sand maze with his finger, and the wall in front of them did look like some sort of earthen material.
“So what do we—”
But before she could finish, Jed reared up and judo-kicked the wall. Almost as quickly, the wall started to collapse as the force of Jed’s blow reverberated through it, like a sandcastle when the tide came in. When it finally stopped crumbling, they were standing in front of a huge hole that opened into …
Another cave.
One that was bigger than the one where they’d found the lake.
All over the walls, there were drawings, just like the ones Finn had seen from the caves in Europe. Pictures of animals—birds, wolves, mountain lions, deer, and buffalo—and, all around them, stick-figure hunters. Finn scanned the walls until she found what she was looking for, a human figure wearing a buffalo head.
The Sorcerer.
She pulled out the picture of the cave painting from her pocket. It was a perfect match. This was his space, his home. He’d been decorating these walls for a long time. Brown and ochre images filled the spaces between openings in the cave walls.
O
penings.
Tunnels. Or more caves.
There were hundreds of them, all filled with impenetrable darkness.
* * *
“Man,” Jed said after a moment. “This dude really likes caves.”
Somewhere in one of these tunnels was Noah. Finn could feel it. He was waiting for her. She also knew that in another tunnel or maybe in Noah’s tunnel, the Sorcerer was racing in her direction, angry she had stolen his precious … stick.
As if he knew what she was thinking, another scream shot out of the blackness. This one was closer. Louder. Angrier.
They were running out of time. They had to find Noah. Maybe more light would help. She tried to create the blue light in her hand. Nothing happened. Maybe she was just nervous. She closed her eyes and tried again. Before she opened her eyes, she knew she had failed again. She jumped, hoping to fly toward the ceiling. She cleared about four inches.
“What are you doing?” Jed asked.
She had her sword. Jed had his headlamp and knife. They had what they’d brought, but it seemed the Sorcerer had created a world that stripped Dreamwalkers of their powers. It must limit his powers, too. Otherwise, Finn didn’t know why he wouldn’t have popped up as soon as they got here.
So maybe they had a little time until he found them, but Finn would be in deep shit when he did because her real abilities were pretty damn limited. They had to find Noah and get out of there before that happened.
But how? There were hundreds of tunnels. Finn tried to remember Sydney’s book and the notes from the monastery. What was she missing?
A long moment passed.
The scream had faded away. All Finn could hear was Jed’s breathing.
In. Out. In. Out.
And it came to her.
Malum. Evil. The eel. The void. The odor. The cold. The buzzing.
The Sorcerer survived by stealing Lochrans from Dreamwalkers and roamed through the dream space creating fear. He was the King of Nightmares. He needed people to feel scared and alone, isolated from all that was good around them; he drove them to violence and fed off the energy that rippled from all that chaos.