Page 24 of Minding the Minotaur
This is so bizarre.
We stand up, and my legs respond like overcooked noodles.
“Is that the g-force?” I ask Jax, and realize my voice is super squeaky, like I’ve been sucking on helium.
“Who knows what fucking force it is. And don’t worry, you’ll stop sounding funny soon,” he tells me. Sure enough, his voice gets lower with each word, and he walks out a lot more steadily than I do. Guess he’s used to this.
We’re in what seems like a waiting room now. It’s completely metal—metal floor, metal walls, metal door—but with what looks like squishy rubber all around the rims. The guys start cleaning the room, sweeping and wiping down the walls and floor.
“Contamination check,” Jax explains.
“Contamination with what?” I ask, eyes widening.
“Pests, diseases. Whatever. Sparkle authorities worry about germs. You never know what viruses there may be in the lower zones. Some of the monsters down there are completely mangy and feral. They’ll happily rip your flesh off if you go too close, so why not give us one of their bugs as well?” He smirks, like he really couldn’t care less.
“Shit,” I mutter. Fear, which has been remarkably absent until now, grips me. Is my trip going to be worth the risk? I have no way of knowing if I will ever meet the minotaur again. I know zilch about this Labyrinth place. I’m going in like the proverbial lamb to the slaughter. Why did I think for a second that taking a job here, sight unseen, was a good idea?
I pivot on my heels, ready to hightail it back inside the portal, but Jax grabs me by the back of my jacket.
“Not so fast,” he growls.
“Maybe I didn’t think this through.” My voice is a pathetic whine.
“Too bad. You can’t go back,” Jax says. “Your insides will melt.”
“Melt! I thought you said there were no ill-effects?”
“There aren’t, as long as you only portal travel once every eight hours. That’s all the body can cope with.”
I stare at the huge metal door ahead, the blood pounding at my temples.
“The only way out is through that door. Unless you wanna stay here disinfecting the fucking rim, eh Zac?” Jax winks at one of the cleaners.
“You don’t want to.” The guy called Zac grimaces. “Boring as batshit. And there’s always a chance you could get sucked out through a gap in the edging.” He points to the rubber seams all around the roof and floor. “And then you’ll pass out, and a real bad monster could get you.”
I have no idea if this is a joke. I take a wobbly breath and try to calm my tripping pulse. Beyond that door is a whole society of monsters.
We owe them the very shirts on our backs. And yet they are imprisoned down here.
They must really, really hate humans. And I’m just about to enter their world.
As the doors slide open, I squeeze my eyes tight shut.
When I open them, my jaw drops.
There’s a big green monster staring at me out of ferocious red eyes.
I hear Jax chuckle. “Good day, Sheriff,” he says. “Let me introduce Samantha Buggins.”
CHAPTER 8
ARLO
I sit on my king-size bed with its quilted silk bedspread, in the home I built with my hard-earned coin. It’s not grand, but it’s luxury by Labyrinth standards. It’s set back into the rock wall, like every home here, but it’s insulated against the damp and cold. It’s got three bedrooms, two bathrooms. A snug, a book-lined study, a small gymnasium, and a tiny garden out to the side. And a small clump of ivy crawling up the porch. (It’s unbelievably hard to grow green stuff down here!)
All paid for with my own sweat and semen. Money I’ve literally jacked off for once a week for the past five years.
I’ve always been so proud of this place.
