“What about blowing up the entrance to the mountain and caging it in?” I asked.
“We tried that,” Randy said. “It dug itself out again.”
“That’swhy there are boulders on either side of the mine,” Hawk said. “I thought it was strange.”
“That’s why,” Randy confirmed. “We blocked the entrance two weeks ago, but we still couldn’t escape the barrier and even with the entrance covered, the minotaur found a way into town and took a woman.”
“So there’s at least one other exit from the mountain,” Bale said.
“Yes,” Tusks said. “And it’s outside of the barrier as we went up the mountain to search for it, but couldn’t get beyond the wall.”
“It’s created a labyrinth within the mountain,” Corson said. “And it’s given its prey a chance to escape.”
“How many do you think have made it out?” Bale asked.
“Probably no one, but there’s a way out.”
Lix pulled his sword from its sheath and set the blade on the table. “Killing the beast is another way out.”
“And if fighting doesn’t work?” Hawk asked.
“It doesn’t,” Tusks muttered.
“I’m not dying in this place,” Lix said.
“Neither am I.” Bale’s chair skidded across the battered wooden floor as she rose and walked over to the door. She opened it to stare at the mountain. “We’re going to kill it.”
The blue-haired demon snorted as another one muttered, “Good luck.”
“What about Raphael?” I asked. “Maybe weapons and strength can’t take it down, but his ability to wield life would.”
“It would,” Corson agreed. “But if we send Caim for him, what if they somehow end up missing each other?”
“But he could already be on his way.” I refused to give up hope the golden angel might arrive in time to kill this thing they believed was invincible.
“He could, but I think we’re going to have to deal with this on our own,” Corson said.
I refused to let my trepidation and disappointment show as I switched the focus to something else. “What is the barrier?”
“Part of the minotaur’s labyrinth,” Bale said. “It uses its power to keep us locked into what I guess you could call its holding pen. Its weaved its magic all over this town and that mountain like a spider creating a web to trap a fly.”
“And we walked right into its web,” Lix said.
Hawk clasped my hand and squeezed it in his. “And we will destroy it.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hawk
The wooden steps creaked as I followed Randy and Aisling up the set of dusty stairs to the top floor of the hotel. Randy had said this building offered one of the best views of the mountain.
“We don’t sleep here,” Randy said. “We stay in the library. It’s big enough to house all of us in one room, and even if it doesn’t help stop the minotaur, we all feel safer together. We leave the building when it comes down from the mountain. We used to stay in the school, but when we refused to come out, it tore the building apart so, to keep our shelter, we go outside to face it.”
When Aisling glanced at me, I saw the terror in her eyes before she turned away. I briefly rested my hand over hers on the railing before she climbed further up. I ground my teeth as I watched the stiff set of her back and shoulders; she shouldn’t be here, but neither should anyone else.
Somehow, I would get her out of this mess.
“Have you tried spreading out through the town and hiding from it?” Aisling asked.
