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“Great.” I swallowed, sensing Ash’s eyes on me. This time, I forced myself not to look at him.
Edith crossed her arms. “Just long enough to let us feel like we might have a chance. Then it catches us when we’re off guard.”
This stolen moment of peace around the fire had lured me into a state of relaxation. I didn’t want it to end. Darkness was falling, and I couldn’t help but fear the shadows.
Ash added a log to the fire. “One thing you need to remember is that the Labyrinth always lies. Things that appear good—a berry, a stream, a soft place to sleep—they’re a trap as often as they’re a blessing. This place was built to drive you mad.” He cleared his throat. “The walls and landmarks move just when you think you know where they should be.”
I nodded, unsure what to make of his statement. Curious how he’d respond, I said, “Whoever built this place must have been truly wicked.”
He coughed and poked the fire with a stick. “And builders always obey an architect.” He stood and pinned me with a hard glare. The firelight danced on his skin, and for a moment, I couldn’t look away.
Edith combed her fingers through her hair, awkwardly not looking at either of us. “The Labyrinth trapped me in a locked room once. For two days. Each minute, the room shrank around me. I was hungry and cold and scared out of my mind, worried to death about my sister. When the walls were so narrow I could barely breathe, I sent out all my magic toward Ferrier, to help her in any way I could. As soon as my thoughts turned from myself, the walls fell away. I was free.” She looked over at her sister, who was still pacing. “At least, free from that particular test.”
A shudder surged through me. “That sounds awful.”
She nodded. “It was. But I learned something valuable. I learned that reality here is malleable. Like a dream we can direct, if we can remain lucid. It’s not easy, but it is possible with our magic. That gave me hope.”
Ash rubbed his beard absently with this thumb, and I wished I could discover what he was thinking. I didn’t know him at all, only that he’d saved my life and also considered ending it.
This was all very terrifying and enlightening, but I was in no position to fight back against the Labyrinth. If anything, their declarations only increased my fears. I’d never be able to use magic to fight the madness of this place.
“But enough of that.” Edith waved a hand. “You said you don’t know how to use your magic. Let me see.” She tapped her lips with one finger. “It’s been a while since my first lessons, but I remember Ferrier’s well enough. My mother taught us both, but she made me help Ferrier when she was too busy. We started with simple experiments, like making each other say a single word.”
My lips curled into a cringe. Forcing someone to do anything didn’t feel the least bit simple.
Edith tilted her head sideways, appraising me with a look of disapproval. “You’ve grown up hating mind magic, haven’t you?”
I cast my eyes down and bit my lip.
“Well, I can tell you that hating it is one reason it never came easily for you. It’s like trying to become a gardener while hating the dirt. Doesn’t work like that.” She straightened up. “If you can push away your condescension and give this a try, we might be able to teach you something that could save your life.”
Heat blazed in my cheeks. I’d never meant to offend Edith, and Ash was now eyeing me with a somewhat amused expression partly hidden beneath his beard. I thought about snapping back at them. The possibility of mind magic in my blood had caused me to be ostracized my entire life, degraded by my schoolmates, and disdained by my own mother. I wasn’t accepted in the magical academy, where true mages could thrive. I wasn’t even accepted in my own family. At least, not by my mother. Without my brothers, I’d have gone insane a long time ago.
I’d been trapped in a maze my entire life, running from who I really was.
My frustrations must have been playing like stage actors on my face, because when I glanced back up at Edith and Ash, both were staring at me with greater concern, as if they had heard all my thoughts.
To give myself a reason to look elsewhere, I moved to sit on one of the logs beside the fire. Even with the healing ointment working quickly, my bruised and battered feet still hurt and I was tired of standing on them.
Edith tossed Ash another look, then followed me and squatted to her ankles. “You’ve got to stop thinking of your magic as an evil thing.” She put a hand on my shoulder. “To learn anything about your abilities, you need to want to. Mind magic, unlike the other disciplines, isn’t just about memorizing a list of enchantments. It requires the entire mind, including your emotions.”
Her hazel eyes held genuine concern, but I recalled Ash’s words. Nothing here could be trusted. How was I supposed to shift my entire worldview based on the words of someone inside a maze designed to break my mind apart?
Then again, Ash had given me a weapon, and Edith’s magic had pulled the thorny vines off of me. If I couldn’t trust them, I’d be entirely alone in this maze. The tiny worm of doubt wiggled deep within my consciousness, but I chose to ignore it. Madness was refusing help when it was offered.
I nodded. “All right. I’m ready to try.”
“Excellent.” She stood and marched several steps away. “When you look at that tree over there, can you feel the magic in it?”
Eager to answer with yes, I turned toward the tree she indicated, which was neither the tree that held the platform nor the one Ferrier was trying to enchant. I stared at the knobby bark and knit my brow. What was I supposed to see? The mist curled around the trunk in a neat spiral, as if mocking me.
“Do you feel the way the magic fills the tree?”
I schooled my expression before I made an ugly face again. “What does it feel like?”
Edith grunted a little, and my insides constricted. Of course I was bad at this. I was a quarter mage with no experience.
“It just feels. Like energy. Like control in your mind. Like a sharp spearmint scent in your nose. It’s like…I don’t know.” Edith dropped her head. “I’m terrible at this.”
