My footsteps echoed hollowly back from the stone walls, unaccompanied by any other sound. I felt truly alone, like I was the only one in this underground maze, though I knew I wasn’t. I had no idea if I was going the right way. I just kept on moving, hoping I was. The labyrinth of tunnels was enormous.
I never met anyone else. Never met that redhead who owed me a few kicks to his manhood. Maybe he was lost. Maybe his toad squished him. Or maybe he was already finished.
The thought that he’d attacked me infuriated me, but it also fueled my legs to pump faster.
I had now roughly less than twenty-five minutes to reach the center. It might sound like a lot of time, but having faced the giant toad, I knew whatever else Silas was going to throw at me would be more challenging. My brain also told me I’d have to do better and faster.
Yeah. No pressure.
And while in my brain, because there wasn’t much else to do while wandering down dark, gloomy tunnels, I realized this trial wasn’t just about testing our physical or magical strengths. The tests were measuring how well I could perform under stress and how well my mind worked under extreme pressure. They were seeing how my emotional and mental self coped with a tight deadline. I could do that.
I came to an intersection where the maze of passages and crumbling tunnels were seemingly ready to come thundering down at any moment, and they all looked the same.
With that in mind, I decided to take right turns from now on. And if that didn’t work, I’d start to take left turns.
I continued like this for a long while, too long.
And when I made a right turn and faced a dead-end wall with nowhere to go but back the way I came, I kicked it hard, spun, and ran back.
Left turns it is.
Wiping the sweat off my brow, I took a moment to check the countdown.
15:52
My heart jumped to my throat. I’d been going around in circles for nine minutes.
My pulse rose, and I could feel the beginnings of a panic attack. Panicking would surely make me fail. I couldn’t fail. Not now.
Somehow I’d taken the wrong tunnel. I was lost.
Voices rose. Loud shouts, but with so many of them, I couldn’t decipher what they were shouting about. They were coming from inside the maze of tunnels, really close to me.
Sweat broke on my forehead. I crept forward, keeping to the shadows as my gaze swept the tunnel. Twenty or more witches were gathered in a space or chamber the size of three tunnels combined. And on the opposite wall, above a stone door, in glowing red letters was the inscription: WITH A BLOOD SACRIFICE, THE DOOR WILL OPEN.
Interesting. My first thought was, if I kill something and offer it to this wall, the door will open. But it wasn’t that simple.
This was a test. And following that reasoning, this test was indeed more complex than the first one. I had the feeling Silas made sure we’d all amass here. I also had the nasty feeling he was watching.
And the witches, well, the witches were freaking out—again.
With deafening clangs, the stone walls shook as blasts of magic bounced off, hitting the ground, ceiling, and everything, as the witches attacked each other. A shudder ran through the tunnel like an earthquake. These morons were going to collapse the labyrinth on top of us if they didn’t stop.
The blasts stopped for a few seconds, enough for me to hear a voice yelling.
“Get her!” shouted the same redhaired bastard who had kicked me when I was down, pointing at a small witch with round, terrified eyes, who reminded me of Iris. “She’s the weakest link. If we kill her as a sacrifice, the door opens.”
Mother f—
“Don’t you touch her!” I yelled, stepping out of the shadows, relishing at the thought of kicking that witch’s ass. Yup, I was going to enjoy myself.
But it was as though I’d yelled underwater. No one heard me.
The small witch screamed as she thrust her hands out. Green lightning shot out and hit the redhead’s chest, sending him crashing into the wall.
I clapped. It had been an incredible hit. I wished it had been me.
And then all hell broke loose.
The attack came, sudden and vicious and horrifying. Cries rose in tempo as the witches collided with their bodies and magic. The screams of the witches and groans of the dying and injured melded together into an unbearable cacophony.
They’ve all lost their witching minds.
The witches all danced around each other in a dance of death and magic. Bodies flew, and the scent of scared flesh rose, making me gag. A male witch the size of Marcus was on the ground with his hands around the neck of another male witch while a female witch was playing spin the bottle with another witch twirling in the air above her.
Horrified I realized they were going to off each other. Pressure clasped me. My chest constricted. Around me, witches fell screaming in pain.
I stood there watching as the chaos that had been before skyrocketed. I wasn’t an idiot. If I stepped in, I was witch toast. I planned on finishing this trial.
My gaze flicked back to the inscription. This was a riddle. And these morons had no clue. It was obvious they thought the last one standing would go through the door. Such idiots.
And I was going to let them be idiots.
Suddenly, there was a clap like thunder and an invisible force slammed into me, knocking me off my feet. I hit the wall with my back and slumped to the ground. Dizzy, I blinked through my blurred vision. And when I could see clearly again, the chamber was empty except for me.
“Huh. Will you look at that?” I stood up, rubbing my behind and feeling the giant bruise that would make its appearance later.
I knew they weren’t dead. Silas had probably magicked their stupid asses back, which meant they failed—failed to understand the riddle.
Twisting my bag to my front, I pulled out the small pocketknife I carried to cut herbs, wiped it on my jeans, and sliced my palm. Dark red blood oozed from the thin cut.
I winced at the sharp pain, but it only lasted a second. “Okay. Now what?”
Not sure what to expect, I moved to the door and placed my bloodied palm on it. “Open sesame.” I laughed and smeared my blood on it.
The effect was instantaneous.
Brilliant silvery light rippled through the frame of the door. The glow flared and streamed in a torrent of pure white. The magic aftershock pulsed through the tunnel and caught me in a dizzying whirlpool.
I felt it reach into my will, my core.
And then with a loud screech, the door swung open.