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“You’ll have to solve an old-fashioned corn maze to get to the house,” Oberon said. “Here comes your ride.”
The muted sound of hoofbeats came from just down the gravel street. A huge, dapple-gray creature he didn’t quite recognize pulled a cart full of hay.
Was this a joke?
“A hayride,” Alexis squealed, her hands clasped together in what looked like rapture. “With a real horse!”
“Is that a Terran thing?” Tiago asked.
“You’re going to love it,” Alexis assured him. “Come on.”
She practically danced up to the beast, and he followed, caught in the undercurrent of her excitement.
“Hello there,” she was murmuring gently to the horse.
It lowered its head and made a snuffling sound.
“I’m sorry big guy,” she told it. “I don’t have a treat for you.”
“Check the box on the cart,” Oberon’s voice suggested.
Alexis’s eyebrows went up and Tiago had to chuckle at her as she scrambled for the cart, pulling a small, pale-red apple from the box.
“Here you go,” she told the horse, holding it out on her open palm.
Tiago didn’t have any experience with Terran horses, or even Maltaffian farm animals, but he didn’t think that was a good idea, given the size of the thing’s mouth. He was too far away to snatch her hand back in time.
But it politely took the apple with its lips and crunched it up enthusiastically as Alexis smiled and assured it that it was the most beautiful horse that ever lived.
Tiago wasn’t sure that was accurate, but he liked her encouraging nature.
He thought to himself that she would make a great mother and then pushed the idea away.
She would actually make the opposite of a good mother, he reminded himself sternly. He already knew that much about her.
“You have one hour to make it to the farmhouse and solve the labyrinth,” Oberon said.
“We’d better get moving,” Alexis said, turning to Tiago with a worried expression.
He was pretty sure it didn’t matter. What was the Center going to do? Would they starve them to death if they didn’t complete their activities?
But he supposed the timeline made it feel more fun.
“Let’s do it,” he said, heading for the back of thehayride.
There weren’t stairs of any kind to get up into the cart. It wasn’t a problem for Tiago, but Alexis was too small to get on.
“Let me help you up,” he offered, extending his hand.
As she took it, he felt a sizzle of energy communicate to him through her impossibly soft skin.
Were Terrans slightly electrified? He was certain he would have remembered learning that in school.
“I’m going to lift you up,” he told her. “Don’t be scared.”
“I’ll be fine with it,” she told him. “Trust me.”
He wrapped his hands around her waist and was surprised to feel her leap as he lifted.
