Page 71 of Sequel to the Easter Bunny

Except, when I put my hand to the rough bark, I remember… “I’m not who I was before.”

The Power works for more than simply revoking never given consent.

I will myself into the upper branches, and grab hold with a little squeak.

I have to stop being surprised when it works.

Taking a deep breath, I look toward the nunnery’s tower.

The path to Cupid is a freaking labyrinth a mile wide all the way around.

There’s no way I would make it through in a day. Maybe if I could hop across and walk over the tops of the walls, but I have a feeling they’ve already thought about that, and I very definitely wouldn’t make it far.

There’s a faint shimmer of magic around it that tells me my Power is likely no match for the protections the god of love has placed around themselves.

Which means I have to find a way to make them let me in.

I climb a little higher, following the line of the wall all the way around and there’s nothing on this side.

No new entrance, no hint of a possible bypass… but there is movement—laughter—from further in the forest.

A roof….

It might be the chance I’m looking for.

The nuns have to have a way to come and go without spending two days in the maze.

I will myself back to the ground and take a deep breath when I don’t hit it like a sack of potatoes.

I’m tired of falling and I refuse to fail.

Past & Future Sins

Leaving the path that circles the labyrinth proves difficult. Closing my eyes doesn’t do anything here. Everything is pink.

The forest keeps trying to turn me around. But I can feel the way it doesn’t want me to go, so I force myself to walk into the terrifying buzz of dread.

Eyes straight ahead, I trudge through the thick ferns and the scraping pine needles until the energy around me shifts.

As soon as I start to feel like I’m headed in the right direction—as soon as that tension eases—I turn.

I keep chasing that sense of dread until I stumble out into the clearing.

From here, I can see that the roof is for a water mill. The wheel lapping at the tiny stream that flows from a lake hidden by a canopy of trees. The water is green, and I blink as a too familiar woman throws a handful of water at another woman on the shore.

“What the heck?”

I say it, too loud, and Ari scrambles from the water.

The other three women I hadn’t seen, close ranks around her, and before I realise what’s happened, one of them flings a knife at me.

“Shit!” I throw up my hand, and a flower smacks me, instead of the blade. It falls to the ground limp and benign.

There are more knives in hand, but they throw suspicion at me instead. A reprieve I’m grateful for.

“I’m not going to hurt you, I just…. this is going to sound weird, but I know you? Or at least, I will.”

Ari’s narrowed gaze goes from me to the flower at my feet.

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