“What besides the Minotaur do you think is down here?” Greyson scans the space.
“The queen could have put any beasts down here and the second we walk into the maze, they will see us as prey.”
26
Ijump back, lightning at the ready in my hands as a flash of orange flames streak across the blackness. “You scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry,” Kira squeaks. “I should have warned you. I forgot you can’t see anything.”
“It’s fine. At least you solved our night blindness.” I clasp her on the shoulder. “Everyone stay on alert. We know of at least one monster that’s down here.”
“The daughter of the fire god lives up to her name.” Dax pulls her into his side.
“Dad calls me a star bound shifter and I kind of really like that title.” Kira kisses Dax’s cheek.
“I can’t wait to see your wolf. Draven said she’s gorgeous like you,” Dax says.
“Can we stop with the mushy shit? I just threw up in my mouth a little,” Raven says with a fake gag.
“What happened to staying alert to watch out for a supercharged Minotaur and any other beasties that come our way?” I glance between my friends.
“C’mon, we need to get through the maze and figure out how we’re going to trap a vengeful goddess in a chair.” Jayden waves them all forward.
The torches light the dirt path as we make our way through the maze. Shadows dance along the walls as the flames flicker in the sconces.
“There’s a door here.” Jayden points up ahead.
“Where does it lead?” I ask mostly to myself.
We edge closer to the door, and I call my sword from the ether just in case there’s a monster on the other side, but when I crack it open, the blast of a car horn fills the silence and I jump. The sounds of a bustling city greet me as I stare at what can only be the human realm.
“What the hell?” I say. “What city is that?”
“It looks like New York, but how is that possible?” Jayden’s brows scrunch down.
“I’m pretty sure we have encountered a thousand impossible things since I came to the academy. Nothing is impossible at this point.” I close the door.
We wander the maze for hours but never come to the same spot twice. “Where are all the monsters? I would have thought she would send her minions to kill us while we’re down here.”
“It does seem odd that we’ve been here so long and the only thing we’ve found is a bunch of doors to the human realm,” Kira says.
“Why are you guys complaining about the lack of monsters? Could you imagine trying to fight a big-ass lion in these narrow paths?” Dax says, shuddering.
“He’s right. Trying to fight in this place would be challenging.” Raven nods.
“Then the queen would have sent monsters into these narrow paths to pick us off because it would be more difficult. What are we missing here?” I ask.
“I don’t know but we have to keep moving.” Jayden tugs on my hand. “We don’t know how long the gods will be able to distract them.”
“Maybe that’s it,” Raven says. “Maybe they have her too distracted to send in the beasties.”
“Maybe, but I doubt it.” I chew my lip.
A scraping sound of claws on stone stops me in my tracks. I grip my sword, holding it at the ready. Something is down here, and it’s headed straight for us.
“Did you hear that?” I ask, inching closer to the wall.
“Whatever it is, it wants us to hear it coming,” Jayden says.
