Page 29 of Death Match

Then I remembered something else Michael had told me. If thiswasthe labyrinth and I was here at the center, then I should be able to communicate with him and Eli still.

I tilted my head up to the sky, which was streamed with dark gray clouds and little light. “Hello?” I called up, feeling silly for talking to nothing but emptiness. My voice echoed all around me. “Eli? Michael? Can you hear me?”

At first, there was only silence. I held my breath and waited. But then, Eli’s voice filled the air, his words bouncing off the rocks and hitting me at all angles.

“Jade? Can you hear me? You’re in the center of the maze,” he said.

I had already guessed that much, but I smiled with relief at the sound of his voice.

“Yeah, I hear ya’.” I gave the sky a little wave. “I’m here. Now what?”

“You have to choose your path.” Michael’s words boomed next, causing me to nearly jump at how loud it sounded in this place. “It will lead you to your Trials. Once you complete one, you must move on to the next until you reach the end of the maze.”

I nodded. It was still creepy to think they were watching my every move from the sidelines somewhere, observing me like I was some kind of experiment.

Whose idea was this anyway? A maze full of challenges? What was I in—a teen novel? This shit had been overdone.

I drew in another breath, trying my damnedest to mimic what I’d seen Simon do to regain calmness and focus. I should have gotten some real tips from him before leaving Styx. No doubt they would have come in handy.

“How do I get into the maze itself?” I asked the sky. “Where’s the entrance?”

“Unfortunately, we can’t help you with the workings of the maze itself,” Michael’s disembodied voice replied, “but I will tell you that it will more than likely present itself to you in some way.”

I swung my arms as my gaze searched the smooth rock formations encircling me. The entrance was going topresentitself? Sounded made up, but okay.

Turning again, I found a sliver of an opening in between the walls. I hesitated. Had that been there before? I didn’t remember seeing it. But since that was the only way inside that I had found, that was the way I needed to go.

Walking through the thick foliage along the ground was hard. My boots kept tangling on the thick vines, and I had to march over to the walls like a soldier to prevent myself from getting caught up in the brush.

As I got closer to the entrance, I spotted fog creeping along the pathway, as if it were beckoning me to follow it inside.

Spooky.

They had really gone all out with the special effects, huh?

Even with all my jokes, unease wormed up my spine and my chest tightened painfully tight. That overwhelming sensation to make a run for it stirred again.

Ireallydidn’t want to do this.

But so many people were depending on me. I didn’t have a choice…

With one more quick glance at the sky, to wherever Eli and Michael were camped out for the show, I lifted my chin in acknowledgement, ignored the sourness in my stomach, and passed through the slender opening and into the maze.

Solid stone walls rose on either side of me, stories tall, allowing only a strip of sky to be visible above. Also, because of the height of the walls, I couldn’t even see what was around the corner ahead of me. That, coupled with the fog, made it near impossible to predict what lay beyond.

Hopefully this wasn’t like a Hell situation and Halflings would come charging at me. I had only escaped that fiasco by the skin of my teeth.

Yep, I definitely was out of the jungle now. But not out of the danger. The rapid beating of my heart was a constant reminder of that. Even though the temperature had dropped some in the shadows, dampness clung to my skin and clothes. Uncomfortably so. But I forced myself to shove it all aside and trudge forward.

The sound of something heavy scraping across the ground made me whip around just in time to see the rock behind me moving. Actually moving. Gliding across the floor all on its own. And within seconds, it sealed the opening I had just stepped through, completely blocking off the center of the maze from view, locking me inside and cloaking me in darkness.

Fuck.

I stayed where I was for the time being, trying to get used to the sudden loss of light. I closed my eyes for a few moments, and when I opened them again, the shadows flickered in front of me.

More scraping sounds grated against my eardrums, but from farther away. My entire body tensed. Was someone—or something—coming? Or was it something else? I couldn’t hear other footsteps. I couldn’t hear breathing. Once the scraping noises stopped, the only thing I heard was the biting silence pinching my eardrums and reminding me how alone I really was.

Then…what was that noise?

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