Page 4 of The Lord of the Labyrinth

That was what she had to do. Her mother was dead. Her father had moved on. It was stupid for Kate to cling to her past and pathetic for her to wish for an impossible future.

Rather than go up to her room, Kate grabbed her purse from the side table and headed for the front door. She had to get out of here. She had no idea where she’d go. She only knew she needed to find a place where she could breathe and think. Something had to change in her life. She just had to figure out how to move forward.

“Kate?” Caden’s voice halted her as she put her hand on the doorknob.

The little boy stood at the top of the stairs, wearing buffalo plaid red-and-black pajamas. His blond hair was a mess, and his blue eyes were wide with worry.

“Yeah?” she said softly, not wanting Sandra or her father to hear.

“You really think Mom has favorites?” He saidMomso innocently, as if he didn’t understand that Sandra didn’t want to be Kate’s mother.

That’s what hurt Kate more than anything. That she felt so unwanted when she would have been glad to have had a second mom. When her father had first gotten remarried, Kate had been open to the idea of a new mom. But from the moment she met Sandra, it had been clear the woman had no desire to have Kate in her life.

“I...” She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Don’t worry about what I said. I’m just mad.” She could tell that he heard the lie upon her lips.

Caden came down a few steps on the stairs. “You’re leaving? But tomorrow’s Christmas.”

“Then you should go back to bed so Santa will come tonight. He can’t visit if you’re awake. I promise I’ll come back.” He must have heard the uncertainty in her voice and came down the rest of the way.

“Kate, I’m eleven. I know Santa isn’t real,” Caden said politely. “You promise to come back?” He put a hand on her arm. “Please? You’re my sister.” His blue eyes were full of a pleading that tore at Kate’s heart. She really loved her little brother, but so much of Sandra’s cruelty involved him, and it created a bleak ache in her chest whenever she was around the boy.

“Promise me,” he said again, his fingers tightening on the sleeve of her sweater. He could tell she didn’t want to come back, that this place was a dark abyss of pain for her.

Her throat tightened. “Okay, I’ll be back tomorrow. I promise.”

Caden released her arm as she opened the door. Rain was coming down in thick torrents, matching her grim view of her future with her family. Caden gave her a small, helpless wave as she closed the door. She rushed to her car in the driveway, shielding her face with one arm.

The rain moved across the lawn and driveway in waves, the drops hitting the ground so hard they formed a layer of mist.

She wrenched open the driver’s side door and threw herself in, half soaked by the time she slammed the door shut.

Kate started the engine but sat in the driveway for a few minutes, watching her headlights light up the garage door. She rested her head on the steering wheel and closed her eyes, fighting off more tears.

“What the hell am I doing?”

She couldn’t just drive away from her family on Christmas Eve. But that was exactly what she was going to do. Drive somewhere. Anywhere. Just get away for at least a few hours.

She raised her head and, with renewed determination, backed out of the driveway. The rain pounded against her windows, making it impossible to see more than a dozen feet ahead of her, even with her headlights on and the windshield wipers working like mad.

She turned down the road that would carry her away. Despite the rain, she could make out the silhouette of the dark woods ahead that bordered the housing development. Only a thin strip of asphalt separated the dark wood from the suburban neighborhood she had just left. Her mother would have called that a liminal zone. A placebetween, not quite one thing or another, but somehow a hint of both.

Kate slowed as she passed the woods and thought of her mother and how much she missed her. Her mother had loved to read her fairy tales, myths, and legends. She had often warned Kate never to venture into the woods, unless she was strong enough to fight off any wolves that might come after her. Kate used to imagine an enormous wolf pursuing Red Riding Hood, but as a grown woman, Kate knew that other dangers lurked in dark places, in those strips of the earth that lay between worlds.

Suddenly a flash of white and silver streaked through the darkened woods.

A gust of wind exploded, bending trees violently in her direction, and her car swayed as the wind buffeted it. The passenger window exploded in a shower of glass. Kate screamed as the car rocked on its wheels and something soft and white smacked into her body. She covered her face, gasping. The wind howled like some childhood nightmare, and wild flashes of light broke over the car in spirals, blinding her through her closed eyelids.

Then, everything went silent. Even the rain suddenly stopped. A strange hum filled her ears—half felt, half heard—deep in her chest and inside her head, a tone that sent her pulse racing before it dropped into a slow, steady rhythm. In the tomb-like silence that followed, she dared to open her eyes and look around.

It took her a moment to adjust to the darkness again. She stared at the shattered passenger window and the creature crumpled on the seat. A barn owl splayed its wings out and stared back at her as it struggled to stand up. Its right wing didn’t seem to move the way it should. Its heart-shaped face bobbed and swiveled around, looking at her and the car in confusion. The owl let out a piercing screech.

Kate had no idea what to do. One of its wings was bent, and several feathers seemed out of place. Its body quivered, possibly from shock.

She calmly moved to grip the wheel and let out a slow breath. “Okay...” She wasn’t afraid of the owl, but she was afraid it might hurt itself more if she spooked it.

Thin red slashes on her forearms dripped with blood. She was only now becoming aware of the pain. She wasn’t sure if the scratches were from the glass, the owl, or both. She examined the cuts and winced, but they didn’t seem too severe. What mattered was the owl. It could be badly injured, and she couldn’t let it suffer.

There was a veterinary ER nearby. They might let her have some antiseptic wipes and bandages while they checked on the owl. She prayed they could fix its wing and that it would be able to fly again.

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