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“There.” Edith pointed at a massive shape lumbering through the trees, knocking the large trunks aside like daffodils.
We bolted from the berry bush without a second glance, and I spilled every berry I’d collected onto the ground. Edith shot me one panicked look as she darted into the woods. Rumbling filled the growing darkness, and the ground beneath me shook. Then, before I had taken two steps, a wall shot up from the ground, spewing dirt as it rose. I couldn’t follow Edith now.
Whirling back the other direction, I spotted the monster.
Strange, waxlike droplets fell from the beast’s skin as it stormed into the clearing. Its face was a marred net of scars but vaguely resembled a bull’s with a huge iron ring in its nose. The creature crashed over the open space and swung an arm at me. Where feet should have been, there were hooves. In one hand, the minotaur carried a curved blade.
Without thinking, I shoved my fear aside and leaped into a sprint. My feet seemed to float over the forest floor as I ran for my life. This place had severed me from my companion. The Labyrinth really did have a mind of its own. Soon, I was shrieking as I tried to draw breath. The monster labored toward me, trees and branches snapping as it came.
I couldn’t outrun this towering beast. My fear flooded back into my mind and threatened to crack my composure when I stopped and faced the creature, who was only steps away. I gritted my teeth and concentrated on the one thing I had to do: fight back.
My ability to think straight shattered like a dropped clay plate. Panic sent my concentration flying in a hundred directions, and my bodily instinct to survive was all that remained. I drew the knife at my waist and screamed as the beast barreled down on me.
It sidestepped my stabbing motion and swiped at me with its massive arm. I ducked before even thinking. The monster snorted in anger and glared at me with reddish eyes.
I wouldn’t survive this if I let fear win. Instead, I quickly pictured a trap door in the forest floor, shoved my fears inside it, and slammed it shut.
The change was instant. My spine straightened. My hands steadied. I narrowed my eyes at the beast that charged me once more.
When I hurled the knife, my aim was true. But the handle only knocked the beast’s wide neck and fell to the ground.
An eerie calm flowed through my veins, even though I was now weaponless. I knelt to the ground, one ankle extended, right as the creature’s hooves tore past me.
Its foot hooked my leg, and it toppled forward with a loud smash. It writhed for a second, the blue mist pulsing in a frenzy around the monster. The minotaur got to its feet, and in that moment, magic attempted to thread itself into my thoughts.
I slapped the magic away and darted to grab the knife.
The creature turned, rage in its tiny eyes, and lunged into another charge. I bent my knees, ready to sink my dagger into the creature’s thigh. Heart in my throat, I screamed as another shape shot out of the forest, taking the monster down in a snarling heap.
A flash of brown vest and blond hair rolled out of view as the monster lurched up from the ground.
“Ash!”
My chest combusted.
He was on his feet in a second. A blade protruded from the monster’s back. It faltered, but only barely, before swiping at Ash with an arm as thick as a small tree.
Ash didn’t leap aside fast enough. He was thrown against a nearby tree so forcefully that the branches shook.
Think!
I recalled Edith’s words about everything here being enchanted. As the beast raced toward Ash, I screamed in anger, picturing myself hooking its nose with a large chain.
The beast’s head jerked sideways.
My brows shot up. I tugged on that mental image, drawing the beast away from Ash with nothing more than my mind. I let out a shocked laugh. The minotaur’s waxy skin appeared like the edges of a dripping candle, and I shivered with disgust.
Then an idea hit me. I pictured a candle, burned to the bottom of the wick, nothing more than a heap of wax.
The beast snarled, and its body puddled onto the forest floor, sinking quickly out of sight among the leaves.
Stunned, I watched as a few bits of ash floated from the ground where the minotaur had disappeared. They mingled with the glittering mist until I couldn’t tell them apart.
It was nearly midday, and silvery mist glistened in the full sunlight. The forest was still. Mist arced in little rivers here and there, as always, coursing through the forest on its own terms. Heart pounding, I searched anxiously for signs of other monsters. Nothing but a hooting owl.
And Ash, who was pushing himself off the ground. He groaned, and my heart collapsed. I wanted to ask if he was all right, but my mind was spinning, teetering on the verge of shock. My pulse had risen to the thrum of a hummingbird’s wings, and I felt lightheaded. So instead, I knelt on the forest floor and tried to regain control of my breathing.
His bearded face tightened, but his lips pressed into a small smile. “You didn’t need my help.” He didn’t sound relieved, exactly. Surprised, maybe. It rattled something inside me, like a small pebble dislodging from a mountainside a few minutes before a landslide.
