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Lettie stared at the bones strewn about the labyrinth floor, unsettled by the mad howling coming from within. The stench of death and her own fear rising to meet her, she fought to be free, then tried to change into flutter form. But the soldiers had her locked fast, their hands squeezing Lettie’s upper harms so tight her fingers tingled. The crowd of fae pressing close, pinching and tugging and pushing.
“Zadie!” she yelled, only to be met by crazed giggles. “Please. I’m not a traitor. You know I’m not!”
“It was your fault,” Zadie screamed in her ear. “A hundred years, and what did I have to show for it? A handful of twigs and leaves?”
“It wasn’t my fault—”
“Don’t lie. You had everything you wanted, and all I had was failure.”
“Enough!” Queen Persephone roared. “I don’t want to see the wretch again.”
There was a deathly pause as someone whispered words Lettie couldn’t hear. Maybe it’s King Hades. Maybe, beyond all hope, he will grant me a reprieve.
“Yes, yes, of course. Return my treasured silver axe from the centre of the labyrinth and thou may return to my court,” Queen Persephone said, her voice a slowly building crescendo of fury. “Fail, and I shall banished thee forever. Now send faer in!”
A hundred hands shoved her into darkness.
Feet crunching on bone, she stumbled across the ground. Tripping on a ribcage, she slowed and took stock of the darkness. Behind her, a small child wailed, the sound thin and reedy and echoing. “Lettie, come back!” Ruby cried.
Lettie turned and called, “I’m sorry,” guilt dragging at her limbs.
The door slammed and the darkness was absolute. Dulling her white-hot fury to a heavy bruise on her heart. Smothering her.
She fought for breath. Damp earth and animal musk assailed her nostrils.
Slow down. Where’s the door?
Inside the darkness, something was moving. A heavy scraping and the rattle of falling dirt and rocks was accompanied by snuffling breaths and the thud of the creature’s heavy hoof steps. Every noise an echo in the dark confines of the passage.
Lettie reached out, fingers touching the crumbling rock that was the cave’s edge, and felt—wood. The door!
“Let me out. Please let me out,” she banged on the iron-bound wooden door, her fists burning from the iron.
Muffled laughter floated through.
She was going to scream, even though she’d promised herself she wasn’t. She’d heard the screams of the victims thrown into the catacombs before. Imagined the horrors they must be experiencing. Heard Queen Persephone’s cruel laughter and thought it nothing less than they deserved.
Don’t scream. Don’t scream. Deep, calm breaths.
Lettie turned and stared into the darkness. Somewhere within, a creature was approaching, its heavy footsteps implacable. It was close now, its snuffles echoing through the corridor. And still, she couldn’t see a thing, the darkness deep and thick and stinking like a pigpen. I thought the minotaur would smell more like a bull.
The creature charged, hoofs clattering loudly on the stone floor.
Her heart fluttering like a sparrow’s, Lettie turned to run from it, blindly pelting along the rough corridor, one hand on the wall. One step. Two. Three...
Something thumped into the small of her back. Two sharp somethings.
Lettie screamed.
