TS glanced at it, then shook his head. “Right, so I’m technically still a werewolf.” He frowned up at the sky. “Don’t know why I can’t sense the sun’s position then…”
I frowned too. During the day he turned into a human, but still retained werewolf traits, like being colorblind. There was no reason he should have lost the ability to sense sunrise. “I didn’t think sunrise was so close…”
“It wasn’t,” he said grimly.
“Can you sense Shannon or Thomas?”
Anguish washed briefly over his face. “No,” he choked. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. I reached up and gently rubbed his arm. “Right,” he said, pulling out his phone. “We’ve got to call Jon and let him know… bugger, I’ve got no service.”
I checked my cell phone too. “Neither do I. What do we do?” Did we go back to the car and drive the entire hour back to MES or we got service again? Did we go back into the tree to look for Dani and Charlie and Jen? What about Thomas?
“I’m not sure,” he snarled. “It’s my fecking job to figure out this sort of shite and all I can think about is trying to find my soul-packmates, who aren’t even in the same place!”
He was so emotional his normally faint Irish accent got so thick I almost couldn’t understand him. He followed it up with a deluge of curses in several languages; I caught a few familiar Japanese and Greek ones that he probably learned from Dani.
My heart caught in my throat at the thought of Dani. I did love Thomas – he was a friend and like a brother – I’d be devastated if something happened to him, especially since it would probably kill TS and crush Jen, one of my best friends.
But Dani… he was the older brother I technically never had. He could have mailed my parents the letter my older brother wrote before he died; he could have just forgotten about it altogether. But no, even while struggling to recover from a horrific injury he remembered to get the letter and my brother’s dog-tags. Practically bed-ridden from injuries, physical, mental, and emotional, he had hauled himself all the way to Maine to hand-deliver the letter personally. Then, even though he could have easily walked away and never seen them again, he chose to stay in touch, to stay close. Our mothers became friends and my family even moved to Michigan. Then, when I was born, he was there. As far as I was concerned, he was always there. He was my babysitter, my godfather, my brother, and now that I was finally old enough he was a true friend.
The way his voice just… cut off kept echoing in my head. I expected to find him at the bottom of the stairs, dead. But vanishing was honestly almost as upsetting. I assumed all of the people going missing were being taken, but Dani just was gone. Right in the middle of a sentence. Now it seemed like Shannon was too. And Charlie. And Jen. And Thomas. This was terrifying.
I turned back to the tree and froze. “TS!” I gasped. “The stairs!”
He whipped around and gasped too. The stairway in the tree we had just come out of, the one that hopefully led back to Dani and the others, was nowhere to be seen.
“What do we do?” I asked.
TS sighed and looked reluctantly at the tree. “We have to try to get back to the car and alert MES. They were… they were right… this is too big. Whatever is happening, we need more people. It’s just…” He looked at me sadly. “It’s just you and me now. We’ve lost them…”
“We’re going to find them,” I said firmly, even though my voice wavered. “We have to!”
“Come on then.” He sniffed, then frowned. “Right, can’t smell anything… it was this way though.” We hadn’t gone far when he stopped. “Does this look right to you?”
I looked around. It all looked the same to me, I hadn’t really paid much attention to where we were going before. “I don’t know,” I admitted.
“No,” TS said slowly. “The trees… they’re… different.”
I studied the trees and quickly realized he was right. I couldn’t see a single pine tree and these trees were huge. Massive, gnarled roots curled up from the ground, twisting all around gigantic trunks and even with the sun peeking through the dense leaves – from treetops far higher above us than they should have been – it was eerie and quiet. This was not Allegany State Park. Not even close.
“Where are we?!” I gasped.
“I have no idea.”
We exchanged a look of alarm, then warily started forward again. This time there was no easy passage through the trees, we had to climb over roots and duck under limbs and hanging moss. It was completely silent, not even the sound of birds or wind in the leaves, I was sure it was slowly getting darker as we went, but not so dark my eyes were compensating yet.
On we went, with no real idea where we were going, fighting our way through thick underbrush and branches that seemed to cling to us. My legs were all scratched up from thorns and one even got my cheek.
TS stopped suddenly and cursed, shaking his leg.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, just tangled in these bloody vines…” He bent to try and free his foot.
I started to walk back to help him, but my foot was caught too. I turned to look and watched in horror as the vine began curling up my leg like it was alive.
“TS!” I shrieked.
At the same instant he roared, “The vines! Run!”
“I can’t!” I frantically yanked my leg and fell backward. Another vine snapped out and wrapped around my arm, as another one lashed across my chest. I grabbed them, tugging desperately to free myself.
A few feet away TS was struggling with several other vines. They seemed like they were coming from all around us. I could see more nearby, weaving back and forth like snakes. Driven by panic, I gave another tug and managed to get out of one. I twisted my arm and pulled, somehow getting loose but the vines still had my leg and I kicked it back and forth, then tried to stomp them with my free one. To my surprise, they released me and pulled back a bit.
I staggered away with a cry and looked up in time to see TS bite one and, as if the vine could feel pain, it swished and let him go.
As I turned to run, I felt a vine drop onto my shoulder; I leaned away from it, but it twisted in response and wrapped around my neck. My scream cut off into a gasp as it lifted me off the ground! Another one caught TS around the waist and yanked him off his feet as he tried to get to me and I tugged frantically at the vine for a moment, struggling to breathe. Then, I remembered I had a knife! It was nothing big, but after finding myself in need of one more than once, I started carrying it.
It went against my instincts to let go of the vine choking me, but I dropped down one hand and fumbled in my pocket desperately. Yes! My fingers wrapped around my knife and I pulled it out and flipped it open, then stabbed it into the vine, hoping I didn’t accidentally hit myself.
The vine recoiled and dropped me. TS had broken free and hurtled toward me as I climbed to my feet, gasping. He grabbed me and pulled me along with him as we ran. Even after I was sure we were clear of the vines, we kept going. At last, we slowed and both looked warily behind us.
“What was that?” I cried.
“I have no idea!”
I racked my brain, trying to think of what sort of a magic could do that. I even took a class a few years ago about rare magics, but nothing came close. A strong wood elemental could control plants to some extent, but I didn’t think they could do that.
“I think…” I said hesitantly. “I think the vine felt it, when I stabbed it, like I hurt it.”
TS nodded and I felt a shiver. “It recoiled when I bit it. It was… whatever it was, it was alive. And I don’t mean like a plant is alive; it was sentient.” He looked behind us nervously. “I’d like to put more distance between us and… that.”
“Me too.”
Then, we were trudging through the woods again, with quite a bit more caution. I was extra careful to watch where I grabbed as I climbed over roots and fallen trees. An eerie fog had settled in and I could swear it was getting dark, uncomfortably dark. I didn’t want t
o admit it, but I was starting to think my night vision wasn’t working.
At last, I couldn’t contain myself. “TS? Is it dark?” I asked.
He sighed. “I was hoping it was just me.”
It wasn’t the first time I had ever been in the dark, but those abnormal circumstances were few and far between; being unable to see at night was unusual and scary even when I wasn’t being chased by a vine-monster and actually knew where I was. The idea of not having my night vision here in this place was terrifying.
TS and I grimly kept going, even as we started to stumble over rocks and roots. With the growing darkness came a chill; I was used to cold weather but in human form, tired and scared, the temperature was just one more thing to worry about. To make things even worse, TS still couldn’t shift, even though it was dark.
TS stopped abruptly and I nearly ran into him.
“TS?”
“Heard something.” He looked around warily. “Come on…”
Just a couple of minutes later I heard something too; it sounded like something small scrambling through the underbrush. I swallowed nervously and picked up my pace, wishing I could see better.
“Bugger!” he yelped suddenly. “Something just stung me! Something big!”
I frantically looked around, but saw nothing. The bushes around us rustled and I heard what sounded like tiny animals running. Lots of them.
“What are they?” I cried.
“I don’t know! Ow!”
I shrieked as something jabbed me in the ankle. It felt like a sharp poke from a huge needle, it stung like a jellyfish, except way worse. I danced away, slapping at my ankle, but it was already gone. There was a fast rustle, a high-pitched growling sound, and then a stab of pain in my arm. Then another in my side! TS yelped a couple of times, obviously under attack as well.
I whipped my head back and forth, but all I could make out were tiny, dark shapes darting in and out of the fog. One shot right by my face and I jumped back, only to feel another painful sting on my leg.
We started running. The sound of the things followed us, chasing us; I hoped we could outrun them, but every few seconds I felt one brush past me, stinging me as it went.
TS cursed as we stumbled and ran. Once, he grabbed one, but dropped it with a cry as it stung his hand. All I got was a glimpse of a shadowy form and then it was gone. The old stings felt like they were burning as I ran.
All at once, the sounds behind us stopped. We cautiously slowed, but once again the dark forest was silent.
“Bloody hell,” TS panted. He examined the wound on his hand. “What were those…”
I shook my head and prodded at a sting on my arm. It was a huge welt, hot to the touch, and still quite painful. “You don’t think those were venomous, do you?” I asked nervously. It was hard to see in the dark, but the welt looked like it was oozing something that wasn’t blood.
“I hope not. Although… I don’t feel so grand…”
My head hurt and I did feel really tired, not just tired in fact, but heavy. Each sting felt like it was getting more painful, not less. “Me neither.”
We kept walking and hardly a few minutes later heard another rustle. We looked at each other, even in the dark I could see the alarm on his face. “Run!” we both hissed. We took off, stumbling and racing through the trees as the sound behind us intensified. They were getting closer!
“Look!” I gasped. “Is that what I think it is?”
It was partially obscured by shadow and fog, but there was a large tree up ahead that I could swear had a hole in it.
“Can’t get any worse,” TS panted.
I hoped he was right as we sprinted to the tree and down into the hole.
“Careful, there are stairs,” he said as I came in hot on his heels.
As fast as we could in the dark, we descended the stairs. It felt like we were spiraling around again. Light exploded before my eyes and I blinked rapidly. TS’ brown eyes met mine; he looked as confused as me.
“I can see!” he gasped.
“Me too!”
Our night vision was back! We were on a stone staircase, just like the one before. With a nervous glance at each other, we slowly descended. TS stopped.
“I heard something,” he breathed. “Stay close.”
Just in case, I pulled out my knife and held it ready.
We rounded the corner into another circular room.
“Charlie!” TS cried. “Jen!”
They two of them were standing in the middle, Charlie with one hand up and a fireball ready and Jen with her wand extended. Their faces both relaxed as they lowered their weapons in relief.
TS and I rushed down the stairs to meet them and we all hugged for a moment.
“Is Danio with you?” Charlie asked at the same moment TS asked, “Any sign of Thomas?”
We all sighed and muttered as one, “No.” Then, we all started talking at once.
“We were in this tunnel—”
“—this crazy, dark forest—”
“—like my bond is blocked—”
“—started getting smaller!”
“—couldn’t see and these vines—”
After we calmed down and took turns telling our stories, we stood somberly together, looking around the room.
“How is any of this possible?” Charlie asked.
“I was hoping one of you knew that,” groaned Jen.
“I smell them,” TS announced suddenly. To my relief, he shifted into a wolf, then started sniffing the ground. “I smell Danio, he was here. Not long ago. Thomas too!” He crossed the room, sniffing loudly, suddenly the fur on his scruff stood up and he stiffened. “Blood! This is Tom’s blood!”
We gathered around him in alarm. There was a small dark stain on the ground.
TS smelled it carefully. “Saliva too,” he said confidently, before his shoulders sagged and his tail and ears drooped. “I haven’t a clue why, but for some reason Tom had blood in his mouth, his own blood, and he spit some out right here. Recently.” He raised his head, nostrils flaring. “There’s more in the air… faint, but even fresher, I’d say.”
“Can you smell any of Dani’s blood?” Charlie asked nervously.
“No. There is a salty-briny sort of scent though… but not water elemental blood. It smells more like the ocean.” TS walked over to one of the staircases, then stopped in the middle of the room.
“It’s wet,” I said, knowing I was stating the obvious, as I joined him.
“Tom’s scent is strong here, I think he was here.”
I bent and dipped one finger in a tiny puddle of water on the floor by the steps, then touched it to the tip of my tongue. “It’s salt water,” I said. “It is ocean water.”
“From where? The Atlantic?” Charlie asked.
“I can’t tell like Dani can, not as a human,” I said. I didn’t always envy water elementals and I’d never give up being a mermaid, but sometimes…
“The Great Lakes are freshwater, right?” TS asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
Jen knelt down next to me, frowning. “I was thinking, right before you two got here, that maybe this was rainwater. You know, from the stairs that lead back out. If it’s salt, then what is it doing here, so far from the ocean?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It tasted fresh too.”
“Get away from the stairs,” TS said suddenly.
Jen and I jumped up and moved back, looking at him curiously. His hackles were up and he sniffed in our direction.
“There’s something else. I shouldn’t have let Tom’s scent distract me. I smell him, and the salt, and… something. I don’t know what it is; I’ve never smelled it before, but it’s foul and makes me uneasy.” He sniffed again, lifting his nose to the air and moving toward the middle of the room as he did. “It came into the room… oh! I smell us!”
“Us?” Charlie asked.
“Us!” TS trotted around the room, smelling almost frantically. “We were here, all four of us
. This is the same bloody room we were in hours ago! Danio too. And Tom! We all came down here and…”
“We tried to turn around,” Jen said. “As soon as we came down, but the tunnel just kept going.”
“We did too,” TS said. “Instead of coming out in the park, we were in that strange forest. In broad daylight.”
“Do you think that’s what happened to Dani and Thomas?” Charlie asked. “They came in here, tried to turn back and…” His eyes flared and he shuddered.
“Could they have gone up one of the other staircases?” Jen asked, looking around.
“Maybe,” TS said. He slowly pivoted. “I’d say strike the one we just came out of, going directly back up didn’t work out so well before.”
“Here,” Charlie said. He walked over to the staircase TS and I had come down and put his hand on the wall next to it. He frowned and his eyes flared, a fireball erupted in his hand and he held it to the wall until it began to scorch the stone. After a moment, he stepped back and the fire went out, leaving a blackened smear on the rock.
“Brilliant,” said TS. “Where was the shrinking tunnel?”
“That one,” Jen said confidently, pointing.
Charlie marked it too, then went over to the wet one. He scorched the wall there too, but quite a bit lower down. “In case it dries,” he explained as he worked. “So, we know which it was.”
“That’s three down,” TS said. “We’ve got four more.”
Seven altogether. I frowned at the number, something about it was nagging at me. Seven staircases… seven doorways!
No!
“Oh my god,” I cried. “We’re in a labyrinth!”
They all whirled to look at me with a chorus of, “what?!”
“A labyrinth?” TS echoed.
“Has anyone even seen a minotaur in centuries?” asked Charlie.
“It fits,” I gasped as everything started falling together in my head. “Doesn’t it?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about labyrinths,” confessed TS.
“Me neither,” said Charlie.
“Don’t look at me,” Jen said.
Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6 Page 24