Page 191 of Monsters in Love

“Of course, of course,” he mumbles. I probably no longer existed to him at this point. His entire world revolved around that damned labyrinth project. This was the first time I saw him interested in the Key.

Maybe because he had given up on it? I could understand that.

I went back to my desk, using this opportunity to pull up my portion of his study, and have him sign off on this as my capstone assignment. And, if he was in an especially good mood, have him sign off on my application for the Coventry internship this summer.

Professor Snowden cheered in triumph at something, and he was at my side. I’d never seen him walk so quickly. And his eyes were brighter than I’d ever seen. Was this what he looked like as a happy person?

“Look, it has moved once more! Another bit of thorn has appeared here,” he said, pointing to another new addition, “and the metal here is smoother than before, with a bit of engraving on this stone.” He offered it to me to look at it.

As I turned it in my hand, the stone portion of the Key shifted somehow, adding engraving that hadn’t been there earlier.

“What kind of cloth is this?” Professor Snowden asked.

I shrugged. “It’s normal. I don’t even have any cleaner on it.”

“Fascinating,” he said, motioning for the Key again. When I handed it back to him, he started polishing it once more, as if he tried to coax a genie from a lamp. He used every bit, and like he trained his students to do, observed and recorded any unusual reactions. He was rewarded when the artifact shifted again, this time into a truly beautiful configuration.

It went from a malformed piece to a spiraling art form. Like sacred geometry in action. “There must have been some kind of solution or liquid, because it responds to this part of the cloth best,” he said. “There seems to be a darker stain here that feels a little damp.”

Oh. My blood. “I think I know what happened. I accidentally cut myself on the corner there,” I said, pointing to the Key, “and when I noticed it, I used the cloth to stop the bleeding until I found a bandaid.” I held up my finger with the bandage wrapped around it.

“Interesting,” Professor Snowden said. “I had tried all kinds of magical solutions, liquids, even blood. All kinds of blood. But it did nothing before, so I stopped.” He focused on me now, his eyes blazing with a curiosity that made my heart drop to my stomach.

My heart hammered within me. Something wasn’t right. “Well, I see you need to focus on your work, so I’ll just leave you alone–”

Professor Snowden’s hand gripped my wrist. He slammed the Key into my palm and forced my hand to curl around it. He squeezed my fist hard. The sharp edges of the Key bit into my soft flesh, and I cried out.

“What are you doing?” I said, trying to gain control of my hand. The frail old professor had a grip stronger than steel. “Let go of me! You’re hurting me!”

“Pain is a necessary payment for such things. Death, birth, life…pain is always part of the process.” As he spoke, the meek and bumbling voice gave way to something larger, something older, beyond normal human life times. This voice was primal, as if it used to rival dinosaurs and other much larger creatures.

My hand was numb where he gripped it. I was sure that it fell from my body. “Please,” I begged.

The Key in my hand shifted, and bits of it unfurled like ivy, wrapping around my hand until it became a gauntlet of sorts made of an intricate lacework of metal, stone, and wood. It should have been impossible, yet here it was.

“Yes!” Professor Snowden bellowed savagely. “The Key!”

Shadows and darkness surrounded the professor in his zeal until they settled upon his body like transparent wings. I crawled away from him, but didn’t get far.

A powerful hand wrapped around my upper arm, and it dragged me up from the floor. “You’re not going anywhere. As my prized student, you will finish what you started.”

“But I started nothing,” I said, desperately trying to make him hear reason. I planted my feet, grabbed at anything, doing my best not to go wherever he was taking me.

“You just don’t know you started something. Foolish mortal flesh. It had been you this whole time, and I couldn’t see it. But no matter, I see it now. Soon. Soon, I will be free from my prison.”

He pulled me along, tossing his desk aside with one hand. There, underneath his desk, was a spell engraved in a spiraling circle.

The dark energy that pulsed from it made me sick to my stomach. Whatever was down there, I didn’t want to open it.

“Finally. The final missing piece that will open the source.” Almost reverently, he placed my hand over the middle of the circle and pushed down. The glyphs glowed a dark light. Nothing good would happen if we ever got this open.

“The entrance to the labyrinth was here this entire time?” I asked out loud. I didn’t expect an answer. Professor Snowden–or whatever had been wearing him–replied, anyway.

“Not the entrance, my dear, but the exit. And you’re going to help unleash me from my prison.”

“Prison?”

“I needed someone able to open it. Why you? I don’t know, but I will find out when I regain my powers.”

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