Page 66 of Law Of Love

My eyes rounded. “Yes! Let’s go.”

Ty and Josh groaned from behind us, and when Hannah and I saw that the line for it was practically non-existent, we smirked at each other.

The maze was huge, and the paths were separated by tall, thick Christmas trees and wooden fences. Its dirt paths had been sprinkled with colourful gravel to make the attraction appear even more festive—it was as if an elf had thrown up all over it.

Hannah and I scurried through, and even though Ty and Josh did their best to keep up with us, after a couple of minutes, we’d lost them.

“This way,” Hannah instructed me, pointing toward a narrow path with bright red lights shining down it, lanterns hanging from the trees and arching over the top.

Nope. Dead end.

There were others in the maze, and they appeared just as confused as we were, rushing around like working bees as they pushed past each other in an attempt to find the exit first, causing me to almost topple over.

“Do you know which way we need to go?” a woman asked me, looking frustrated as she called over her shoulder for her children, the little demons scampering off in different directions, screaming in excitement.

I shook my head, holding back a laugh. “No, I’m sorry. We’re lost too.”

The woman rushed off to follow her kids, and I turned around with an open mouth, ready to ask Hannah what our next move was, but my face fell when I was met with nothing but the swaying baubles on the tree in front of me.

“Hannah?” I called as I glanced around, cursing and hurrying down a path in a direction I was pretty sure we’d already tried.

She’d just disappeared. What the hell?

The air was suddenly icy cold, and I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered as I continued advancing across the gravel, meeting more than a few dead ends, forcing me to turn back around.

My heart picked up its pace when the familiar burning sensation accumulated at the back of my head—as if someone was boring into my soul—causing me to whirl around and peer through the darkness. The lanterns and fairy lights were bright, but there were parts of the fence they didn’t stretch to, leaving holes of blackness for me to wander through warily.

“Where the hell is the exit?” I muttered to myself, becoming increasingly frustrated and concerned. Hannah wouldn’t have just run off without me. “Hannah!”

Snapping my head to the side when I heard footsteps approaching, I quickly made my way down a path, the spines of the trees grazing against me painfully, marking my skin red.

If this was a dead end, I was going to have to become Spider-Man and start climbing.

I breathed a sigh of relief once I reached a split in the path, and after biting down on my lip and praying to whoever was watching me up above to help me decipher the correct direction to choose, I turned left, sprinting down it.

But I screeched to a halt when I spotted a figure in front of me moving slowly in my direction, their appearance tall and stocky. My throat dried, and I gasped, turning on my heel—only to release a loud scream when someone’s chilly hand gripped my wrist, yanking me back.

I was face to face with a beast of a man—a creature painted with gnarly scars and eyes so dark they were almost black. A wicked smirk was plastered onto his face, and he tilted his tattooed head at me and chuckled, the glint of a gun in his large hand catching my eye.

I blanched as I attempted to pull myself away from him, but he merely dragged me down the path after clamping a dirty hand over my mouth. I kicked at him, and he released a grunt of pain when my foot collided with his chest, but he was quick to recover, jerking me closer to him.

It looked as if he was going to speak, and I took the opportunity to pull my fist backwards, launching it towards his face. Blood splattered onto my face, and I stared in horror—and also pride—to see that I had broken the man’s nose. He growled, grabbing me by the back of the neck.

“Let me go!” My muffled demand seemed to fall upon deaf ears as the man leaned down to whisper in my ear.

“You’re going to come with me, or your friend dies.” His voice was like venom—sharp and acidic—and I grunted as he shoved me back against the maze wall harshly, his forearm pressing into my throat and constricting my breathing.

“Where’s Hannah?!” I managed to gasp.

No, no, no.

My legs felt numb as I was dragged down the path, trying to put as much distance between the man and myself as possible, but when he turned to me with a snarl and clicked his gun, I ceased trying to fight.

If I died, Hannah would too. What good would that do?

“When we get to the maze exit, you’re going to walk nicely and leave the fair with me,” the bleeding man ordered, wiping his nose. “Then and only then will your friend be released by my colleague.”

I bit down on my bottom lip, tears brimming my eyes.

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