The heat forced me away from the fire, but awe filled Aisling’s face and flames danced in her eyes as she sat before it. The fifteen-foot-high flames leaping into the air reflected off the windows closest to us and blocked my view of the minotaur. I didn’t feel any vibrations beneath my feet, which meant it was probably still trapped, but it wouldn’t stay that way.
“We have to go,” I said.
Aisling rose in one fluid motion. Turning away from the fire, I clasped her hand as we ran back to the others. Corson, Wren, Bale, and Lix stood with those who agreed to go with us. The remaining dozen or so humans and demons were huddled together near the library.
“Are you sure you won’t come with us?” Corson asked them.
Some of them exchanged looks while others backed further away. A few broke away from the crowd and joined us, but the rest remained where they were.
“Please,” Aisling pleaded as she stepped forward. “There’s no way of knowing what the fire will do if it spreads, or what will happen if the minotaur discovers us gone.Pleasecome with us.”
“No,” one of the demons said.
“We’re not leaving,” a woman said.
“Let’s go,” Bale said.
She snatched the one bag of supplies we’d packed for the trip from the ground and put it on her back. Because we needed to move fast, there was only some water and a little bit of food in the bag. It wouldn’t last the humans with us more than two days, and that was if they were lucky.
“We can’t leave them here,” Aisling whispered.
“We have no choice,” I told her. “We have to go.”
She hesitated, but when I gave her hand a small tug, she fell into step beside me as we turned away from them. The flames leapt higher, and smoke billowed into the air as the fire spread to the building closest to the pile. It was only a matter of time before the fire consumed the town.
Like wraiths, we slipped into one of the alleys between the stores and onto a side street. We didn’t take that road but jogged across front yards and into the backyards of houses as we made our way over to the next street.
The faint vibrations beneath my feet alerted me the minotaur had worked its way out of the trench and was hunting once more. We didn’t have much time before it found its prey or realized we were gone and returned to its cave.
We had to beat it there.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Aisling
We were probably crazy for doing this, but there weren’t any other options. Fighting the minotaur had proven useless, and we couldn’t sit around and wait for it to come for us. We couldn’t get out of the town, we couldn’t hide, and we couldn’t lay down and die like those we left behind.
Instead, we were going to try and escape by going straight into the monster’s lair. The insanity of the idea wasn’t lost on me. I’d been the one to suggest it, and when I looked at all of those who decided to join us, the weight of their lives rested heavily on my shoulders. They’d chosen to join us, but I’d offered a carrot they couldn’t resist.
What if it all backfired?
I couldn’t think about that now. It was already too late; there was no turning back. I’d seen the look in the minotaur’s eyes; it would tear us apart if we went back.
Stepping into the shadowed interior of the minotaur’s cave, I realized this might be the last bad idea I had. I didn’t know why I’d suggested this, or why the others listened to me, but instead of keeping my stupid ideas to myself, or being told I was an idiot, I said them out loud, and after some consideration, they agreed with me.
I wasn’t sure who that made dumber, them or me, but it made us all equally nuts.
A trickle of amazement ran down my spine as I stared into the shadowy interior of the minotaur’s lair. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected to find here, but it certainly wasn’t this clean space. There should be bones or broken rocks from the creature’s horns, or maybe victims chained to the wall. Instead, there was nothing.
For some reason, the nothing unnerved me more than if bones and bodies were strewn everywhere. Did that monster eat its victims whole?
Bile rose in my throat as I pictured that thing swallowing its victims in one gulp. It could probably unhinge its jaw like a snake too. Shuddering, I rubbed at my arms as I tried to get rid of the image of the man-bull holding a screaming, flopping person over its mouth and lowering them down its gullet. But once the image was there, it was impossible to erase it.
“Come on,” Hawk said as he cupped my elbow. “We have to get as much distance between us and that thing before it returns.”
Twisting my head, I stared down the mountain at the town nestled in the valley below. If it weren’t for the toppled buildings and raging inferno, it would have been a peaceful place, and I imagine that, before the war, it was a tranquil place to live.
Now, I wasn’t surprised to discover the flames had spread to consume more of the buildings. With nothing to put the fire out, it would soon encompass the library and town. A stab of guilt twisted in my gut, but there was nothing I could do for those we left behind. They’d made their choice, and we’d made ours.
