by JA Wren
“You’re not gonna cut it off, are you?” She’d seen her fair share of horror movies, and doing stupid shit was guaranteed to get you killed in the first ten minutes.
Okay, so if that was true, she would’ve been gutted the minute she stepped into the building—wait, correction, when she climbed onto the back of Asher’s bike.
But apparently her self-preservation was finally kicking in. Better late than never.
A second bony hand emerged from the cloak, holding a long, shiny needle. “A single prick to your finger is all we require at this time.”
“Uh, lady, I’ve read the fairytales and this never ends well.” Rayna started backing up, eyes locked on the shimmering tip of the oversized needle. If they only wanted to prick her finger, why was it the length of her forearm?
“They need a drop of blood,” Asher mumbled softly.
The hooded figure shifted, holding her arm out to Asher instead. “Hand.”
Without hesitation, he extended his free arm to Full-Moon. “Guess I’ll go first, then.”
The wicked looking needle pierced the tip of his thumb, a tiny spot of deep red oozing from his skin. The figure hummed in approval even as her companion’s hands crept from under their cloaks, making intricate gestures with their spindly fingers.
Rayna’s eyes widened as the blood droplet quivered, then rose like a raindrop in reverse, lifting into the air until it hung above their heads. Right in front of the three glowing moon phases. It expanded, blowing up like a balloon in a perfect sphere.
God, if it splattered all over her white dress, she’d be seriously wigged out.
Blood had always made her feel a little squeamish. The sight of it. The metallic smell. It caused a weird feeling inside her, one she still couldn’t quite explain. Probably some extreme phobia for the stuff or something.
No future as a doctor for her, that was for sure.
Something in the very center of the blood sphere started glowing. Brighter. Then it flickered. An ember catching alight, the start of a small fire. But before she could squint and look closer, the sphere suddenly shrank back down to its original tiny droplet and crashed down, gravity sending it splatting onto the white cloth in the center of the table.
She flinched even as the hooded figures murmured, almost excitedly.
“A rarity,” Full-Moon said, glee dripping from her croaky voice.
Rayna turned to frown at Asher, only to find him staring at her, his pricked thumb jammed between his lips. Which should so not have been hot, and yet a pleasant warmth trickled through her, pooling low in her belly. His eyes grew molten. Melted chocolate she wanted to drown in.
Nope. Not the time.
But she really wished she could remember their tumble between the sheets. It was damn unfair her hangover had stolen every touch and kiss. Every heated moment she was convinced had been total bliss.
Why else did her body thrill every time he so much as looked in her direction?
“Hand.”
Rayna jerked back to the figures and reluctantly presented her free hand, earning a squeeze on her other from Asher. Right. Nothing to be worried about. Just a little prick, a tiny droplet of blood, and this whole business should be over.
She could survive the sight and smell of one more little drop.
The needle approached and she fought the instinct to snap her hand away, then grimaced as it pierced her skin. A red droplet blossomed and heat ignited from her thumb, coursing through her veins as the blood lifted, wobbling and trembling. Nothing like the smooth teardrop Asher’s had been.
It wavered as it came to a stop above them, the glow from the orb, crescent moons, and candles making it appear much darker.
Almost black.
Rayna wiped her wounded, burning thumb on the black cardigan wrapped around her hips. No way was she licking her own blood from her finger, no matter how hot Asher made it look. Ew. Gross. The coppery taste might just upend the meager breakfast she’d scoffed, and she valued those granola and coffee bean bites too much to risk it.
The black-red droplet was growing more unstable instead of gently inflating. It shuddered like there was something inside it trying to get out, bulging this way and that.
“Curious,” Full-Moon whispered.
“Curious?” Rayna said. “That thing has a life of its own. What the hell did you do to my blood?”
They didn’t answer. Of course not. That would be far too helpful.
Questions will be answered later.
She barely resisted the urge to growl in utter frustration at the number of hoops she’d have to jump through before they clued her in. Preliminary test. Then three trials.
This all better be worth it.
“Inconclusive,” Full-Moon announced.
The droplet tumbled down to the table, splashing on top of Asher’s. Their mixed blood sparked on contact and curls of black, red, and orange smoke wafted off the twin drops.
Asher’s fingers gripped her hand, almost painfully tight, but she didn’t complain, not while she was frowning at the odd reaction.
“Hand,” the figure demanded, extending her gnarly fingers towards Rayna again.
She assumed they’d botched the test and needed to start from scratch. She didn’t relish a repeat of the prick-burn action, but with her gaze still glued to the smoking blood spots, she held out her hand obediently.
A glint caught her eye, but before she realized it definitely was not the long needle, the figure slashed her wrist, slicing through fragile veins.
Five
Rayna screamed as blood pumped from her, spilling onto the stone table until the wench who’d slit her fucking wrist popped a huge bowl beneath the dark stream. She tried to twist her hand away, but Full-Moon was stronger than her bony fingers suggested.
Horror filled her. Inconclusive. Were they going to kill her? Because of an inconclusive test?
She struggled against the woman’s iron grip, but her blood just flowed faster into the bowl, sloshing around. Rayna was growing queasy. Either blood loss or the sickening coppery scent filling the air.
So much blood.
She recoiled from it even as she fought harder to get free.
Asher grunted beside her and she flicked a fast glance at him. His face was twisted, but he stayed immobile.
“Hush.” Full-Moon waved her free hand at him.
The two figures beside her were doing weird gesture things with their fingers again. Somehow keeping Asher from moving? Was that even possible?
Black spots danced in front of Rayna, her vision failing her. She was going to pass out. And then? Would they keep bleeding her dry until there was nothing left inside her?
Asher’s hand still gripping hers heated to furnace-level. Like sticking her hand into an open flame. She registered the heat, but there wasn’t a lick of pain.
Was numbness a symptom of bleeding out?
The blood in the bowl, now almost overflowing the rim, started to swirl. A mini, deep red cyclone. Faster and faster, driven by invisible forces that were anything but natural. It exploded upwards from the bowl, turning into a bloody hurricane with millions of little droplets spinning above the table.
The perfect spheres didn’t quiver this time. Not even one of them.
Or maybe Rayna was too woozy herself to even notice
The macabre hurricane rose higher, spreading out until Rayna worried they’d all get splattered with her blood. No doubt she’d hurl if that happened. Black smoke coiled around the droplets, curling this way and that as if trying to draw all the blood back together. Dark red sparks flashed inside the hurricane, snapping between the smoke and droplets, a vicious and angry crackle of tiny, burgundy lightning bolts.
The black spots dancing in front of Rayna’s eyes grew bigger, inflating the way Asher’s bloody sphere had. Good thing they were still linked. He might just prevent her from crashing onto the ground and hitting her head before she died.
Rayna woke to a heavy weight above her and intense
heat engulfing her wrist. She blinked her eyes open.
Asher hovered on top of her. Okay, so not exactly on top and sadly not the way she really wanted. He sort of leaned over her, face inches from hers. Full lips temptingly close. They were moving. Like he was talking, but she couldn’t hear anything except the ringing in her ears.
She tried to twist her head to the side, where her wrist was overheating, her skin tingling under what had to be an inferno. Again, she registered the heat, knew it was a scorching blaze, yet it didn’t burn her. Didn’t hurt the way it should.
Asher grabbed her chin between thumb and forefinger, keeping her gaze locked on his deep brown eyes.
Damn, he was gorgeous.
He smiled, and she realized she’d said it aloud. Oops. Oh well. It was true, and he probably knew it. Besides, her brain had turned to chicken noodle soup. Almost dying will do that to a girl.
“Where are the old hags?” she whispered, voice scratchy from her earlier screams. How long had she been unconscious anyway?
Asher brushed a few stray strands of hair from her clammy forehead, dragging her uninjured hand along with his. “Apparently the preliminary test is over, so they’re gone.”
“Good. I don’t think I would’ve survived another bloodletting.”
He growled, low and feral. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them.”
“Not your fault.” It was hers for agreeing to this whole thing, but watching her blood do crazy things only made her long for answers even more.
She’d thought there was something different about her for a very long time, and seeing those droplets spark and curl with smoke and lightning proved it. She wiggled their bound wrists. “Sorry I dragged you into this.”
He shook his head. “Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
It seemed a flippant dismissal of her apology, but there was so much sincerity in his voice and eyes. Far more than there should be after just one night together. One she still couldn’t freaking remember.
Mumbling her annoyance, she noticed the heat in her wounded wrist was receding, enough to feel the hand clamped around it. When she turned this time, Asher let her, going so far as to bring her hand closer so she could inspect the blackened slice. At least it wasn’t bleeding anymore.
Asher tore at his already ruined white tee, stripping off a makeshift bandage he then wrapped around her ugly wound.
“Thank you.” Gingerly, she tried to stand, leaning heavily on her stranger-companion, selfishly grateful she wasn’t in this alone. She wavered, but he caught her. “Wow, looks like the hooded trio really did a number on me, huh? Did they at least get a conclusive answer to whatever the hell they were doing with my blood?”
His dark brows narrowed. “Not exactly.”
Before she could ask what that was supposed to mean, the glowing moon phases dimmed, the world around them going dark once again. Recovery time was over then. Bring on the trials. She’d survived having her wrist slit, so she could face whatever else they threw at her.
Probably.
Maybe.
A few feet away, a faint red glow emerged through the darkness, growing brighter as it flew closer. The firefly-looking bug zipped past her ear, circled Rayna’s injured wrist, then hovered right in front of her. Slowly, it backed up the way it came, almost like it was leading them through the darkness.
“Well, in for a penny…” They wouldn’t accomplish anything by staying in the inky blackness.
Rayna followed, taking careful steps because this definitely had the potential for disaster. She’d seen enough movies to half expect the floor to fall beneath her feet. Or step on some kind of trigger that might send arrows straight at her head.
After the hooded trio she wouldn’t put anything past this place.
Asher’s hand tightened around hers, and he stayed close to her side, the warmth of his body radiating into hers. They’d taken maybe twenty painstakingly-slow steps when the little firefly glowed brighter, going higher until it flew into a lantern with a ping.
Rayna snorted. “Guess that’s where Tink lives. Does that mean we’re in Neverland?”
Asher laughed. “It’s a WillowWisp, not a fairy.”
“How did you—?” She jerked around to look at him, barely able to see a dim outline of his face. She didn’t know what shocked her more. That he caught her reference or the fact he threw out WillowWisp like everyone was supposed to know what the hell that was. “Who are you exactly?”
She sensed his mirth dissipating, a weighted silence hanging between them. One beat. Then two. Far too many passed before he finally said, “It’s complicated, love.”
“Stop calling me love.” She dropped his hand, suddenly uncomfortable and annoyed by his lack of answer. “It’s weird after one night together.”
He didn’t comment, but she swore she heard the telltale grind of his teeth gnashing together. Or maybe that was coming from somewhere else. She glanced around, but there was still only darkness behind them and the single glowing flame inside the lantern ahead.
Wait.
Make that two glowing flames. Even as she thought it, more and more flickered to life, slowly illuminating a long, cobblestone path between insanely tall hedges. The glowing lanterns poked out from inside the vibrant green bushes like stained glass flowers in various colors.
Despite the curious lighting system, Rayna couldn’t see a thing above them. Just an unnatural pit of pure blackness. No stars or moon to suggest a night sky. No arch of greenery. Nothing. A void where the hedges disappeared. Weird and creepy. It totally freaked her out.
When Rayna didn’t move, the firefly—WillowWisp?—flew back down to her, almost urging her forward. “Want us to follow you, Tink?”
The Wisp did a swirl through the air, which she took for a yes, then drifted off towards the cobble path, slowly flitting left and right like a drunkard who couldn’t walk a straight line. Rayna’s boots wobbled over the stones, but at least the Wisp-lanterns offered enough light to see where she was stepping.
They walked for ages, the path ahead lighting up even as the Wisp-lanterns went dark behind them. Guiding them deeper.
“Labyrinth Academy,” Rayna whispered, finally getting a clue about what was going on. “We’re inside a labyrinth, aren’t we?”
She wasn’t sure if she was asking Asher or Tink, but it was the Wisp who abandoned its merry dance through the air to fly right up to her face, almost perching on her nose. Only then did she notice a tiny, pert face inside the flame. Large—okay, comparatively large, because the Wisp was teensy—eyes gazed up at her and a cute smile spread across its face.
Kind of like when a cat gives someone those huge kitten eyes as it lures them closer. Only to lash out a second later.
“It likes you,” Asher announced. “You should feel honored. WillowWisps are infamously mischievous, and they generally don’t take well to those they don’t know. Maybe it likes its nickname.”
Rayna couldn’t be sure, but she thought a teeny tongue sprouted from Tink’s mouth as it looked at Asher. She laughed, because it was possibly the craziest thing she’d ever seen. A miniscule flame sticking its tongue out at the stranger still tied to her wrist while they walked through a maze-like hedge.
“Will you eventually tell me how you know all this?” she asked Asher.
He grunted. “Maybe.”
She rolled her eyes. “Everyone knows maybe really means no. How did you end up at Kally’s last night anyway? Did this Labyrinth place send you?”
“I don’t know what a Kally is.”
She frowned at him. “Uh, the host of the party last night. And my best friend.”
He cleared his throat and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “I think we should focus on what we’re doing. The guy said this was a trial, so I assume you’ll need to pass it or something.”
“Pass what? We’re walking through a maze. All we need to do is keep one foot ahead of the other and get to the other side.” She pointed at the Wisp-lanterns. “Not really a
challenge with our little friends helping us out.”
Tink swirled around her head happily, then flew off again. Faster this time. “Right. Looks like the leisurely stroll just got kicked up a notch. Hope you can run, Mr. One-Nighter.”
He growled, their feet thumping over the cobblestones as they raced to keep up with Tink. “You’re the one in heels.”
“Please. These are barely heels.” She reached for her crystal necklace when it slapped against her chest. “You should see my five-inch stilettos. Now those are heels.”
“Is that an invitation?”
Did she imagine the heat in his voice? And the husky rasp? She must have, because no way was he flirting with her while they were running to catch up to the Wisp—
“Oof!” The air was knocked from her lungs as she smacked into something. She bounced off a wall that hadn’t been there a second ago. Asher might’ve been distracting her with his kinda-sorta-maybe flirting, but even with his sexy glances, she would’ve noticed a huge barricade towering ahead of them. “What the…?”
She stared up at the never-ending wall blocking their path as it spanned across the cobbles from hedge to hedge. Tink was gone. She squinted at the partition—which seemed to be a thick sheet of glass—and could see a flickering light on the other side. The Wisp was still dancing around like a toddler in ballet class.
Waiting.
For them to get through the barrier?
How the hell were they supposed to do that?
The wall shimmered and wavered, almost like an illusion or a mirage in the desert, while steam wafted from it. A cold breeze made her shiver and she wondered if it was really a monstrous block of ice and not glass at all. She didn’t know if that was better or worse.
Either one would be impossible to break with only their bodies.
And they had to get through. Going back wasn’t an option, and there was absolutely no chance of climbing the glossy surface to go over it.
“Uh, any ideas Mr. One—”
“Do not call me that again.” His voice grew soft, almost vulnerable. Hurt? “Please, Rayna.”