“It’s all so… so…”
“Overwhelming,” Avery suggested when Talia’s voice trailed off. She could easily recall how overwhelmed she’d been when she first learned about the coven and her place in it. She still felt like a fish out of water when it came to a lot of things.
“And horrible,” Talia muttered.
Avery didn’t know what to say to that.
“What exactly is a spiritual plane?” Talia asked.
“There are different planes of existence,” Isla explained. “We don’t know about most of them because they never, or rarely, merge with the human plane.”
“Regan can pierce the veils between the planes easier than most spirits because he rules the Nightmare realm, which is the most closely linked to earth,” Mario said. “We enter his realm a little every time we have a nightmare.”
“Trust me, this is the good part,” Karen said and placed a comforting hand on Talia’s shoulder. “We haven’t come across any of our nightmares yet.”
Tears brimmed in Talia’s eyes before one slipped down her cheek. “I want to go home.”
Avery reached out to her, but Talia shrank away from her. Hurt twisted inside Avery, but she couldn’t blame Talia for being scared of her and what was happening. She hadn’t exactly embraced the coven and everything they told her when she first met them either.
“I’m so sorry, Talia,” Avery apologized.
Talia glanced at her before focusing on her feet. Reid drew Avery a step closer to him and slid his arm around her waist. The warmth and love in his eyes reassured her, and she smiled at him as she fought back her guilt. She had to get Talia out of this safely.
“Come on, we don’t have time to stand here,” Sandra said, shooting Talia a disgusted look.
For a second, Avery longed for the first group of people she’d experienced Regan’s Nightmare realm with. She’d grown closer to the entire coven, but with the first group’s experience, they would be better at dealing with this and were less confrontational. She didn’t want to deal with bickering and anger on top of everything else.
And, she hated to admit it, but she felt one of the people with her now would be more likely to release Regan from his skull, but which one?
Thrusting her shoulders back, she shoved aside her doubts as she gazed at the hallway. She didn’t have time to think about who freed Regan; she needed to concentrate on the formidable task ahead of them. While they were in here, she had to trust everyone if they were going to make it out alive. There was no way to know how big this maze was, but she was sure Regan wouldn’t make it easy for them.
Like the last time she was caught in Regan’s web of misery, she couldn’t let herself contemplate the possibility that even if they did win this game, Regan wouldn’t let them leave afterward.
We will make it. I will not lose any of them to Regan!
CHAPTER 11
“Maybe the others will come looking for us,” Karen said as they all started walking again.
“How will they know what happened?” Eric asked.
Avery stopped so suddenly that Talia bumped into her and knocked her forward a step. “Rosie will know!” Avery blurted.
Their shadowed faces turned toward her, but Avery could barely make out their expressions in the dimly lit hall. “How would Rosie know?” Isla demanded.
“Rosie’s been having dreams too,” Avery said. A bubble of hope rose in her as she realized they wouldn’t be alone in this; the others would find them. “We didn’t get a chance to talk about it much, but she told me tonight she’s been dreaming about Regan.”
Eric and Mario shifted further into the shadows as Isla and Sandra exchanged a look. “You had a dream too and didn’t believe it,” Sandra said. “Maybe Rosie won’t either.”
Avery refused to let Sandra burst her bubble. “Yes, but when they realize we’re missing and Rosie tells them about her dreams, they’ll search for us, and they’ll find us.”
“Even if they do find us, what can they do? We’ll still be stuck here. Regan brought us here, and only he can let us out,” Mario said.
Avery felt her bubble shrinking, and her shoulders sagged a little. However, she refused to give up all hope. “They might be able to help us in some other way.”
“Maybe,” Karen said. “But they won’t realize we’re missing until tomorrow. For now, we’re on our own.”
“You’re right,” Avery agreed.
“Is it just me, or is Regan stronger than he was before?” Karen asked. “I mean, I don’t have your witchy senses, but I could still feel the power oozing from him. I felt it when he had us before, but not like this.”
“It’s not just you,” Mario said. “He’s stronger.”
“How is that possible?” Avery asked. She was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. “Did binding him make him stronger?”
“No, it couldn’t,” Reid said.
“Then how could he be stronger?”
“I don’t know, but Regan’s not like us. We have no idea what he’s capable of or how he thrives. For witches, our powers grow stronger with practice, and we draw strength from the four elements. With Regan”—Reid shrugged—“we just don’t know.”
“So binding him could have caused his powers to grow?” Karen asked. “Could he have broken free of the skull on his own?”
“No, binding didn’t cause his powers to grow,” Sandra said. “If that were the case, he would have been so much stronger after being bound for a hundred years by the other coven.”
“And that binding made him weaker,” Avery said as she found it easier to breathe again. She had no idea what they would have done if they couldn’t bind Regan again. “I felt his power when I faced my nightmare last time. I felt it when he took control of Celia’s mind, and he was a lot stronger then.”
“So binding him didn’t make him stronger, but something did,” Eric said.
“What though?” Isla asked.
No one seemed to have an answer to that question, as no one responded.
“I don’t know,” Reid finally said.
Sandra and Mario rounded a corner and vanished; Avery’s heart lurched when Karen followed them. Because of their entirely human nature, Talia and Karen were the most vulnerable in this place. Not only did they not have powers, but Regan had stated they were of little use to him. She would make sure they were both protected.
Avery released Reid’s hand when the hall narrowed until only one person could pass through at a time. The corridor became so twisty that she just caught brief glimpses of Karen before her friend vanished again. Rounding another corner, Avery took two steps forward before halting behind Karen.
The twists and turns had stopped to reveal the corridor splitting into two different directions. Each of the hallways, with their red walls, white candles, and wood floors, was identical to the other.
“Now what?” Isla asked as she planted her hands on her hips.
“Let’s go that away!” Mario threw his arms in opposite directions as he mimicked the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.
Sandra scowled at him. “Not helpful.”
“Maybe we should split up,” Eric suggested.
“No!” Talia cried. “Don’t leave me!”
Seeming to forget her earlier apprehension, Talia latched onto Avery’s arm. Avery winced and tried to pry herself free of Talia’s bruising grip. It took a little prodding, but she finally eased Talia’s fingers from her.
“No one is going to leave you,” Avery assured her. “And it’s better if we all stick together. We may never see each other again if we split up in this place.”
“How do we decide which way to go?” Karen asked.
“Eeny meeny miny mo,” Mario suggested.
Avery glanced around the group, but no one made any better suggestions. “It’s better than standing here,” she said.
“I was only kidding!”
“It’s the only idea anyone has.”
Reid laid his hand on Avery
’s shoulder before stepping forward to go through the childhood rhyming game. He landed on the corridor going to the left.
“I’ll go first,” Avery said.
Something could come at them from behind too, but she was only one person, and she believed she’d be able to offer the best protection for her friends in the lead. Everyone fell into step behind her as she started down the corridor.
After a few hundred feet, it began to twist and turn so much that she couldn’t see anyone behind her. She almost called out Marco to hear the reassuring cry of Polo from someone, but she didn’t dare make a sound in case something was stalking them through the hall.
The shadows that sparse candles cast across the wooden floor and dark red walls were the only companions she had. Avery tried to swallow the lump in her throat as a sense of being all alone in the world descended over her.
She heard the others behind her, but was it really their breaths and footsteps or were they the sounds of a monster closing in on her with the intentions of slicing her open to feast on her intestines?
Avery’s chest constricted, the hair on her arms and nape rose, but she forced herself to keep going; she had no other choice.
CHAPTER 12
“Well, so much for eeny meeny miny mo,” Isla grumbled.
Avery stared in dismay at the wall before her. Stretching out a trembling hand, she rested it against the smooth, solid surface. Her fingertips registered what her mind didn’t want to believe; the wall was real. Lowering her hand, she stepped back to rejoin the others. The corridor had widened enough that they could all stand together and stare at the wall blocking their way.
She tried not to let helplessness and frustration get the best of her, but it was taking all she had not to kick the wall. “Come on,” she said, turning back the way they’d come.
When the hallway made a sharp left before becoming fifty feet of straight corridor, Avery’s step slowed. She was sure she hadn’t traveled this lengthy stretch earlier.
“It’s changing around us,” Reid said, his arm brushing against hers while they walked.
“We’re never going to get out of here,” Talia griped.
Sandra whirled on her. “Don’t you dare say that!”
Stumbling backward, Talia bumped into Avery and clutched her arm. Shivers racked Talia as she shrank away from Sandra and pressed against Avery’s side. Avery grasped the hand digging into her skin, but she couldn’t get Talia to release her.
“You had better toughen up, little girl, or you’ll die in here,” Sandra warned.
Talia let out a strangled cry as tears streamed down her face.
“That’s enough, Sandra!” Avery snapped.
Sandra glared at her before turning away from them. Sandra was her cousin, but try as she might, Avery couldn’t find any similarities between them. Avery continued to try and pry Talia’s fingers away. Talia finally released her arm, but before Avery could step away from her, Talia seized her hand and refused to let go.
Avery gritted her teeth against her frustration. She understood Talia’s fear, but she needed to be free to move when something came after them, and it was only a matter of when. “It’s going to be all right,” Avery assured her, but Talia didn’t let go, and Avery gave up on extricating herself.
“Let’s go,” Reid said, resting his hand in the middle of Avery’s back to nudge her forward.
Avery nodded and walked beside Reid and Talia down the hallway. Needing to feel his strength and reassuring presence, Avery rested her hand on Reid’s arm. His corded muscles flowed beneath her palm with every step he took.
When the hall narrowed again, she reluctantly removed her hand from his arm as he moved in front of her. She’d wanted to stay in the front, but Talia slowed her down, and some of the others had already filed into line ahead of her. Talia slipped in behind her but didn’t let go of her hand.
When Reid turned the corner and vanished, she gave Talia’s hand a gentle tug and urged her to move quicker. The hall widened again, and she took a couple of steps forward before crashing into Reid’s back.
“What is this?” Mario demanded.
Unable to see what he was talking about, Avery stepped to the side of Reid and gawked at the hall before them.
“It’s nothing good,” Eric said.
Avery agreed with him, but she couldn’t find the words to say so. She remained motionless as she tried to take in all the details of the hall, but the light refracting in a million different directions disoriented and blinded her. It took her a minute to realize there weren’t millions of different lights within the hall but hundreds of different mirrors.
She frowned at the funhouse mirrors covering the walls. An assortment of sizes and shapes, the mirrors were tall, short, bowed, rounded, and flat. They covered every inch of the two hundred-foot-long hall, including the ceiling and floor. They looked no different than the mirrors she’d seen in various funhouses over the years, but a shiver of foreboding raced down Avery’s spine as she gazed at them.
“Maybe we should go back,” Talia whispered, tugging on Avery’s hand.
“We have to go through here,” Avery said. “We can’t run from anything Regan throws at us, or we’ll never get out.”
“This should be fun,” Sandra muttered, but she stepped onto the glass lining the floor.
In the glass, Sandra’s reflection was tossed around until it filled the mirrors a quarter of the way down the hall. When Reid crept forward, Avery went to follow him, but Talia remained rooted to the spot.
“I can’t,” Talia moaned.
“You have to,” Avery replied and tugged on her hand again.
Reluctantly, Talia stepped forward and bent her head as she closed her eyes and allowed Avery to lead her. Avery’s heart sank as she watched the girl; she would do everything she could to get Talia through this, but Talia wouldn’t survive Regan if she didn’t face things head-on. Talia may walk out of this place alive in the end, but Regan would eat her alive emotionally.
Mario was the last to enter the glass hallway. The minute he did, the lights began to spin and pulse. They reflected off the mirrors in a blinding array that made Avery’s head pound while their reflections bounced around them. Nausea churned in her stomach, and she thought she might pass out or vomit.
Talia whimpered, and her hand clenched Avery’s tighter. Sandra was still at the front, but Avery could barely tell which one was the real Sandra amid all the reflections. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath to steady herself before opening them again.
When Reid turned back to her, the lights dancing over his face made him resemble a demon from the fires of Hell. Avery gulped as she tried to rid herself of the image.
“Keep moving.” Reid’s voice coming from the demon face only disoriented her more. “Avery?”
“I’m fine,” she said.
She hadn’t realized she’d stopped to stand in the middle of the hall. She glanced toward the right and saw her reflection as a short, bow-legged girl who looked like Violet Beauregarde after she chewed the gum in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, one of her favorite books.
She had to get out of here before she lost her mind. Tearing her gaze away from the mirror, she shuffled forward as the glass under her feet began to slope downward. Talia refused to release her hand even after Avery lifted her arms in an attempt to keep her balance on the slippery surface.
“I think I see the end!” Sandra called back to them.
When Sandra finished speaking, the lights picked up speed until they pulsed with the rhythm of a death metal song and the beat of drums reverberated throughout the hallway. Avery couldn’t tell if the lights were somehow making the noise or if it was the thumping of her tortured heart.
Over the noise and chaos, a shrill scream followed the tinkling sound of glass shattering behind her. Whirling, Avery forgot all about the slippery surface beneath her and nearly faceplanted when her feet slipped out from under her. She felt like she was on downhill ice as Talia—seemin
gly unwilling to go down if Avery did—released her. Her arms stayed out at her sides as she finally regained her footing.
When someone screamed again, Avery strained to see what was going on, but it was impossible. Then Talia screamed and flung herself backward, crashing into Avery. Flailing her arms to keep her balance, Avery knew it was useless even before she landed on her tailbone and the breath was knocked out of her.
Pain lanced through her bruised butt as she skidded a few feet. She gasped for air as she tried to get oxygen back into her tortured lungs while Talia blocked out whatever was causing the screams and the mirrors to shatter.
“Are you okay?” Reid demanded as he knelt at her side.
“Yes,” she managed to wheeze out.
He lifted his head, and his eyes widened when he looked beyond her. “You have to get up!”
Reid grabbed her arm and pulled her swiftly to her feet. He steadied her on the slippery glass as Talia pushed against them.
“Hey! Calm down!” Reid shouted at Talia and held his hand out to block her from crashing into Avery again, but Talia looked like a fish who’d flopped onto land and didn’t seem to hear him.
Avery struggled to see through the confusion as Reid kept her braced against his side while he led her forward. When the group behind them scattered, Avery finally saw what was happening. The mirrors they’d passed were shattering outward to spray glass throughout the hall.
“Oh!” Avery cried.
The full horror of what was happening slammed into her as a clown emerged from each broken mirror to crowd the hallway. The same shape and size as the mirrors they’d exited, the hideous monsters were short and fat, tall and skinny. Some had huge, balloon-like heads while others possessed legs or arms two or three times the regular length.
The clowns’ crusty, painted faces twisted into hideous, leering grins that revealed pointy yellow teeth as they stalked their prey. Those teeth were crammed into mouths not meant to accommodate them as they hung over the clown’s jutting bottom jaws. Those teeth clicked horribly within their distorted mouths, and strings of flesh hung from some of them.
The Maze (The Coven, Book 2) Page 6