Page 102 of The Alien's Vicious Starflash Manor

No, I decide. Better to pick a direction and walk. At least that way I’ll end up bumping into something sooner or later.

Almost immediately, the toe of my boot catches on something—maybe just a place on the ground where the ice is rougher—and I stumble, then slip again. My feet come out from under me, and I land hard on my ass.

I am so damn tired of the Caix knocking me down over and over. I feel like I’ve spent every waking moment of the last year being knocked on my ass and crawling back up to standing.

I’ve been sold, bought, traded to the kitchen help. I followed orders, let myself be dragged back when I ran away, and agreed to be part of Ivrael’s plan to save his fucking magic.

My anger wells up inside me, building higher and higher as it crawls up from the depths of my being, finally escaping my throat in one frustrated, angry, wordless scream.

The sound echoes around me, bouncing off the ice walls that I knew had to be there. It reflects back at me, then refracts, splitting into repeated reflections of itself, a fractal of sound.

Instead of fading out, it builds as it did inside me, growing louder with every iteration until I cover my ears, bending over and huddling in on myself protectively. Still the sound batters at me, striking me over and over, raining down on me like clenched fists pummeling my back.

Just when I think the sound of the scream can’t grow any more painful, an explosive noise crashes through it, shattering it into pieces like thunder shot through with lightning.

For a moment, a beautiful silence blankets me, soothing in its absence of sound.

Within seconds, though, I hear crackling, the sound of ice breaking. I open my eyes, and tiny cracks appear in the darkness above me, branching out as light shines through them.

The darkness begins to fall away, first in small chunks, then bigger ones disappearing. Like ice turned to water, the darkness melts into light, revealing not only my sister and the firelord twins standing nearby, but a small doorway.

“Is it more maze?” I ask Izzy as she peers out through the newly created doorway.

“Nope,” she says with relief, and pulls the door wide. “I can see the manor from here.”

“Thank God we’re out of here,” I breathe, my legs shaky as I stumble toward the door. My throat feels raw from screaming, but at least that darkness is gone.

“Should we try to find the center?” Harai asks, squinting up at the towering ice walls. “We came all this way?—”

“Are you insane?” Rhaela cuts in, her hand hovering near her knife. “That place tried to break us. We should get back to the manor while we can.”

I watch Izzy’s face as she considers both options. I can practically see the wheels turning in her mind as she weighs the risks against potential benefits. “Let’s go ahead and step outside for now.”

We all follow Izzy, then cluster together by the doorway as Izzy holds the door open. “I’m afraid it’ll disappear if I let it go.”

“Good thinking,” Rhaela says.

“The center might have information we need,” Izzy says slowly. “About the maze, I mean.”

About what Ivrael’s really planning, she means.

My body tenses at the thought of the duke, remembering how perfectly his voice was recreated in that darkness. How it seemed to caress my skin even while threatening to destroy me.

I shake off the sensation, forcing myself to focus.

“Or it could kill us,” I point out, rubbing my arms where goosebumps have formed. “Those voices knew things. Personal things.”

Things I haven’t told anyone. Things they all heard.

“The maze is reading our minds somehow,” Harai says, voicing my suspicion. “Or accessing our memories.”

“All the more reason to figure out how it works,” Izzy argues. “If Prince Jonyk has something like this at the palace...”

She doesn’t finish the thought. She doesn’t have to. We all know how dangerous it could be if the prince has a way to dig through our minds, to find our deepest fears and use them against us.

“Of course, if you’re confident in your ability to break the prince’s ice maze by screaming…” Harai looks at me questioningly, and I shake my head.

“Fuck no. I don’t even know how I did that. Or if it was even me.” I glance at the doorway, my stomach churning. “If we go back in, we need a better plan than just holding hands and hoping for the best.”

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