Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Declan says, “We’re all gonna be there for you, Aric. You know the way through the maze. You’re our leader. We’ve all got your back.”
After a couple of moments of hesitant consideration, Aric lets out a long exhale. “OK. And I’ll be there for you guys too.”
“Of course, you will,” Star says. And then she leans up on her tip toes—kissing him.
24 - ARIC
As soon as Star’s lips touch mine, I feel the shift. And even before I open my eyes, I already know what I’ll see.
The maze.
The four of us are no longer in my safe room, but standing in the center of a four-way intersection.
My choices, as far as running this maze, have been taken away. Perhaps whatever is controlling this program knows me better than I know myself. Perhaps it knew that I was going to be the one part of our team who refused the call to move forward.
It wasn’t a conscious thought. Yet. But my hesitation and second-guessing was certainly leading there.
“Holy shit!” Declan says, “It’s started! We’re on!”
“Jokes on me,” I mumble. But no one hears me. Quaid is too busy spouting programming details that I simply don’t understand and Star is gasping and pointing at the glowing symbols on the walls as he starts fucking with them like they are buttons to be pressed instead of ancient carvings.
Declan is spinning in place, looking up at the ceiling. “We did it,” he says. “Look! That’s the sky that was in the center of the maze.”
I look up and find… well, a sky. A night sky filled with twinkling stars. It runs the entire length of all four hallways. Like the Labyrinth isn’t underground, but outside.
“But it’s not the center,” Declan continues.
“No,” I say dryly. “It’s not.”
“Where are we?” Declan asks. “Do you know?”
I study the symbols on the walls. I don’t know what they mean, but some of them are very distinct and make up larger patterns.
This thought makes me scoff because when you think about it, it’s like a mirror of the sky above. Each star is but a prick of light. But together, they make constellations.
And isn’t that what Star is? One piece of a bigger constellation?
They call the Pleiades the Seven Sisters because it’s easy to see seven of the stars in the cluster without a telescope. But there are more than seven of them. More than eight, actually.
“Yeah,” I tell Declan. Pointing at the group of symbols that make up a crude image of a bull. The Taurus? Or the Minotaur? “I know where we are.”
“Which way to the center?” Declan asks.
But it’s not me who answers, it’s Star. “That way.” She points, not at one of the possible directions, but at a wall. “I can see through the walls,” she says. “And the center of the maze is directly that way.”
No one asks her how she can see through walls. She wouldn’t be able to tell us anyway. We all just stare at the wall, saying nothing.
This silence goes on for several seconds before I realize they are asking me to find a way. Not to walk through walls, but to lead them through the maze.
All right, Aric. The time for hesitation is over. you’re here, there’s no way out but through, and you’re gonna get these people killed if you do not get your shit together.
“This way,” I say, pointing to my left.
But at the same time, Quaid says, “This way,” pointing to my right.
“How can that be?” Declan asks. “You guys are pointing in different directions.”
“It’s this way to the center,” I say. And these words come out with confidence. Mostly because I’m sure of this.
I’ve been thinking of where the center of the maze might be, since I never found it myself when I was here as a teenager. And there’s only one area I didn’t explore, so it’s a simple exercise in deduction.
The center of the maze is the Minotaur’s lair.
And of course, I know where it is because I did everything in my power as a kid to stay the fuck away from it.
“So why are you saying it’s this way, Quaid,” Declan asks.
“Because the codes are like a map,” he says. Which again, makes sense. If the symbols are like constellations. Aren’t they just a map as well? “And they’re pointing this direction.” He gestures to my left.
“We need to split up,” Star says, looking at me. “When Quaid and I were in the maze, it was just us two. You and Declan weren’t there.”
Of course, we weren’t. Why would we all be together? That might give us a chance.
“OK,” Declan says. “So what’s that mean?”
“It means only two of us are getting out of here,” I say.
“No,” Quaid snaps. “That’s not true. There are two ways to get to the center of the maze.”