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Kelvin closed in on me, his shrill laugh ringing off the mirrors, piercing my ears. “No, Elowyn. People like me always win. You want to know why?” He cracked his neck as my boots found traction. “Because we don’t let trivial emotions override our logic. It’s okay, I know you’re scared. Go on, run. I’ll give you a head start.”
Sure, he might not let his feelings get the best of him, but if he made it out of there, he’d never be happy. He’d spend the rest of his disgraceful life depressed and alone.
Although I wasn’t afraid of him, that was the dangerous thing about people like Kelvin—misery loves company. He had nothing to lose, and I wasn’t about to be another casualty in his rampage. Nor was I that dimwitted to think I could take him on alone.
I turned my back to him and heeded his warning, weaving through the wall of mirrors, making significant ground when Aeron stepped in front of me, blocking my path—Kelvin right behind me.
They had me trapped, their reflections encasing me.
“Come out, come out wherever you are, Elowyn,” Aeron’s grating voice sang. “We just want to talk. You can’t think you’re going to make it out of here, can you? You don’t stand a chance against us. Just like poor Lewis, isn’t that right, Kelvin?”
“We’ll stop at nothing to get what we want,” Kelvin echoed.
I dipped into an open passageway. “Bite me.”
Their reflections grew larger, and I squeezed my eyelids shut, scavenging my brain for a way out when I remembered the portal.
Kelvin and Aeron were nowhere to be found when I ripped my eyes open, and my limbs felt numb.
I didn’t know where it’d take me, but I gambled anywhere was better than remaining a sitting duck as they stalked me from afar.
With a deep breath, I reached a hand toward the mirror, stifling my surprise as it disappeared behind the glass. I poked my foot through next, noting the cooler air when Aeron grabbed my arm.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I kicked him in between the legs. There was no time to debate. He let go, doubling over in pain, and I flung the rest of my body through the portal.
Everything around me exploded.
A kaleidoscope of colors twisting and expanding, as I folded like paper between pockets of air, spinning and tumbling, until I crashed into the ground.
I was still in the maze, that much I knew, but where?
I had no clue.
But I couldn’t bring myself to care. I’d never experienced something so invigorating—so thrilling—in my entire life. Blood coursed through my veins like a raging current, forgetting the severity of the situation. Lewis’s final screams.
I shook my head, remembering Lilian’s body on the bank, and clutched my chest. Begging the visions to go away.
The mirror rippled behind me, a deep shout following from within—Aeron. Shoving the memories into the deepest parts of my mind, I leaped out of the way, taking off through another portal before he could catch up to me. One after another, I jumped through countless portals, getting steadier with each landing, before I stopped to catch my breath. Time was running out, and I had no idea how close—or far away—I was to the exit.
Lewis’s death would be in vain. As would my mother’s.
I twisted the ring on my finger, wondering how Calandra and Breana were fairing. If they’d made it out yet. If they were even alive.
Voices sounded from somewhere behind me, and I twisted around to find where it was coming from.
“Yes, sweet child, this way. That’s it. Closer. Closer,” a meek voice crooned.
I glimpsed the cherub-like faerie, a vynx, as legends called them, and glanced away. I wasn’t familiar with most magical species outside of the fae—aside from the most dangerous, most documented ones. But there were hundreds of stories featuring these murderous shifters who disguised themselves as the thing you desired most.
Never aging, some referred to them as The Little Demons. Just one look—a passing glance—was all it took to lure you in for the kill.
“Oh, my goodness!” Sage, the frizzy redhead, appeared, cupping her face in astonishment. “Look at all those toys! I could swim in them! Stars, I’ve never seen so many!”
No, no, no. “Sage, it isn’t real! The toys aren’t real! It’s a vynx!”
A blood-curdling scream sounded seconds later, and I cupped my face in my hands. I peered out of my peripheral, grimacing as the vynx dipped its chubby fingers into her intestines, its porcelain skin dyed red as it snacked on her insides.
