“Do you think they’ve killed him?” she whispered.
Atlanta and Darian had hurried through the labyrinth mostly in silence. Time had lost all meaning, and only the sound of their footsteps echoed in the otherwise silent corridors.
They’d barely said two words to each other. Every turn in the labyrinth provided a new obstacle, a puzzle that needed solving. Atlanta’s mind that had once felt awake and ready for anything, now felt drained, and after Raul’s disappearance they were on constant alert. She was exhausted, and so was Darian, their breaths coming in heavy gasps. Their silence was now a mutual understanding that they needed to save their energy for the tasks at hand rather than waste it on useless discussion. How long had they been in the catacombs under the city? Hours? Days?
Atlanta sighed and glanced at Darian. His eyes were downcast, his lips moving as if in silent prayer. She knew he was trying to figure out how to escape their predicament. This had gone on too long. And Raul...
There had to be some connection between all the tests they’d been put through. She went through everything quickly, trying to find some link. After leaving Raul behind, they’d arrived at a brick wall with a pipe dangling out of it. Water dripped down, but vanished the moment it touched the ground. On the left corner of the wall had been the stem of a flower planted right in the concrete. Darian had realized they needed to transfer the water with their hands and wash the flower with it. So they did. After minutes that felt forever of waiting, the brick wall disintegrated into red dust.
Since then, everything that came was a mystery that needed to be solved quickly. Each appeared to have more to do with the basic principles of nature than anything else. They turned off flames with sand deeply engrained in their hands, watered roses with the essence of life, ate fruits on branches of trees growing sideways from the walls of the labyrinth, and even sang to statues of birds on closed walls.
Still, it didn’t seem like they were coming any closer to finding a way out.
“Do you think he’s dead?” she asked again.
“If we’re in one of Adelaide’s games, we can’t exclude that possibility,” Darian replied dryly.
Atlanta hid her face from his and stared into the distance ahead of them, hoping to see an end to the confinement of the walls around them. “He might not be. Maybe this isn’t Adelaide.”
“Who else could it be?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s her.” Darian sighed.
“She does tricks, not games or tests.”
“How do you know?”
Atlanta shrugged. “I don’t, I guess. She tricked me.”
“Yeah,” Darian’s voice carried a tone of tiredness in it, “and this could all be a trick, too. Some sick game she’s playing. Maybe she took Evermore long before Calen.”
“Wouldn’t you have known that? Aren’t you the Coven?”
“I am,” Darian said angrily. “It apparently isn’t very helpful. You never heard of me.”
“My Uncle James once mentioned something about the Coven, but I always pictured him to be an old man, full of knowledge and experience.”
“Sometimes I feel older than I am.”
Atlanta sighed. “So do I.”
“My father was the Coven leader before me. He wasn’t very old. But he was wise.”
Atlanta was silent a few moments, not sure how to respond. “I don’t know my father. He died when I was a baby.” She pushed forward, not wanting to tell Darian her past. It didn’t matter now. “This seems endless,” Atlanta huffed in frustration.
“There’s nothing else to do but move forward.”
“You sound so encouraging,” she said sarcastically, then bit her lip. This wasn’t Darian’s fault. “Sorry. I’m just not used to this.”
“How so?”
“Give me something to punch.” She slammed her fist into her other hand. “That’s where I shine.”
Darian chuckled. “A lot of those puzzles, you solved.”
“I never said I was stupid.” Atlanta laughed, for the first time in hours. “I’m just out of my element.”
They turned another corner, and Atlanta hit the wall with her fist. “Seriously?!”
“What is this?” Darian asked at the same time.
In front of them was a wall unlike any of the others they’d come across. It was about twenty feet high and about twice as wide. The wall wasn’t made of stone or bricks, but a series of tree branches perfectly woven with one another so as to leave little or no gaps between them, like a web of chestnut brown hairs tangled into a perfect tapestry.
“What’s that?” Atlanta pointed to the ground by the center of the wall.
A black box sat, its lid adorned with a ruby stone.
“What now?” Darian exclaimed in frustration, raising his arms in the air and turning his back to the wall. It was clear he had reached the end of his patience.
Atlanta walked to the wall and crouched down to examine the box. She cautiously lifted it, and glanced around to see if a wall opened or something happened. Nothing. Carefully, she tried opening it, but couldn’t. Using her strength, she tried harder. “It’s locked. Almost as if someone glued it tight.” She frowned, rolling the box over in her hands, feeling its sleek surface, trying to figure it out. There was nothing out of place or anything that needed to be rearranged or moved.
She looked up at Darian, but he didn’t seem interested in what she was doing. She watched him wiggle his fingers, his lips moving, as if he was trying to will his magic back.
“A little help here,” she called to him.
Darian scowled and then looked at her. “What is it?”
“I’m trying to figure this out,” she replied hotly, her nerves frayed as well. “Sorry to disrupt your magic-mojo-mumble. One of us is trying to get us out. Maybe once we’re outside this crap-hole, your magic’ll come back. Maybe you could take a moment and help me open this box. If it’s not too much.”
“Magic what? You think only one of us is trying to get us out of here?” He didn’t try to hide his frustration either. He rolled his eyes at her, not offering to help with the box as he moved in circles back and forth. Every time he turned his eyes towards the tree-wall, he clasped his hands as if he were about to pierce through it with his fists. “You’re not the only one feeling trapped here, Atlanta. You think you know it all—” He was sweating, his forehead glistening.
“I don’t think I know it all! Not once have I ever said that! You’re the one who came looking for me. I didn’t ask for your help—you know what, forget it! Maybe you should’ve sat in the chair instead of Raul.” She stood up and brushed her hands on the branches of the tree, trying to uncover a spot that felt different or odd. “I’ll figure it out myself,” she mumbled. Nothing looked like a test of any kind here. Just a big stupid pile of branches and a box. What were they supposed to do? Scale the vine wall? And then what? Come on!
Darian suddenly spun around and stomped over by her, swiping the box off the floor. He frantically tried to open it, but all his efforts proved to be worthless. “Damn it, open!” he screamed.
Even though his anger had gotten the best of him and he’d lost complete control, it was as if it was all calculated and preset. A loud click echoed in the labyrinth corridor, and the lid of the box ascended and floated on top of the box.
Atlanta raced to his side and looked inside. Empty. After all that? “How’d you do that?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged, his anger evaporating. “I literally just yelled at it to open.”
When the two fell into silence and tried to look for something inside the box, it closed once more.
“Open,” Atlanta shouted at it.
The box opened once more on its own, and the lid hovered above it then fell back when the silence took over.
“So it opens when we ask it to, and closes when we don’t say anything.” She glanced underneath it. Not that she expected to find anything there.
“Still nothing inside of it. How bloody helpful!” Darian snorted.
The box opened once more.
“Not much of a smart box. Seems it just reacts to anything spoken,” he said.
Atlanta moved away from the box, trying to see if anything would change with the vines when the box was open. Nothing. After a while of straining, she gave up on trying to figure it out. Fatigue set in. She leaned her back on the wall and sat next to the box. She wished James was here. He’d know exactly what to do. Better than pacing Darian. Who never seemed to sit still. Kind of like you? She almost imagined James saying that to her. “You’re making me uneasy with all the moving around,” Atlanta snapped.
“Yes, because you’re the embodiment of calmness,” Darian retorted. “Didn’t you just say you wanted something to punch?”
You? “That’s not helping,” she replied, glaring at him. She turned away and buried her face in her knees.
Darian’s frantic moving around ceased, and he let out an audible sigh. He sat down next to her on the other side of the box. The clasp of his fingers on his palms began to ease and his fingers tore themselves free from the grip of his fists. “I’m sorry I’m not much help,” Darian said softly.
“It’s fine,” Atlanta replied, looking up. “I...I’m not much help either. Sorry about what I said about wishing you and Raul traded places.”
“I’m sorry I snapped.”
She snorted, and tried to smile. “Yeah, you don’t seem the kind of person who usually gets all riled up.”
“You know, I used to be very calm. All the time. I never had a problem with my own feelings.”
“What changed?” Atlanta asked. “This prison?”
The box remained open, the top hovering over them, the ruby in its center glistening.
“Before here.” He sat quiet, staring vacantly at the box. “I can’t believe I’m telling you this,” he said as he briefly smiled. “I didn’t mean specifically you. I just mean that I’ve never told anyone this.”
“Told me what?”
“I had to kill someone I loved.”
Atlanta frowned.
“Her name was Serena,” Darian continued, his eyes closing briefly.
The ruby began glowing brighter, spreading a red hue over the ceiling that went unnoticed by them both.
“Why’d you kill her?”
“She was a Werewolf and I, I was just one of the agents of the Coven, undercover in a university in Spain where we met. It was like a fairytale. She completed me, made me feel like I didn’t have to continue living the life I did. She made me feel like we could somehow have a future together.”
“You were in love...” Atlanta whispered, wondering briefly where Ryan was. Not that I love him. He was with S—Adelaide. He might still be, for all I know. She focused on Darian, pushing the thought away. It was too painful.
“But eventually we realized that, to have a life together, we had to somehow both escape the things that kept us prisoners. Me the Coven, and her the pack. I should’ve never told her about how much I wanted to be free of having to always be in danger, she shouldn’t have had that in her heart. It was all because of me... and I had to correct my mistake.”
His voice shook, and Atlanta felt an urge to reach out and hold his hand. “What happened?”
“One full moon, a Wolf from Serena’s pack killed a Vampire. The Vampires in the town weren’t many, but they became angry. They attacked the pack and the Werewolves easily overthrew them. But that didn’t stop them. The Werewolves were high on the power the full moon gave them. They believed they were unstoppable. Serena led them towards a base of ours on the outskirts of the town. They attacked the agents of the Coven there. As soon as I heard, I rushed to the base...” He closed his eyes. “The base was on fire. The moment I saw the Werewolves recklessly turning everything that came their way into ashes, I knew I had to stop them.” He sighed and opened his eyes. “I knew she was doing it to set me free. And although she was trying to save me from misery, she attacked me. She’d lost control. She couldn’t stop herself. The last time I looked into her eyes I had my blade in her heart, her blood all over me.” Darian lowered his head, and a sudden silence fell over them.
“I’m so sorry,” Atlanta whispered. She thought about Ryan again. Could he have been out of control, too?
“Don’t be,” he answered. “Ever since then, I’ve been losing control of my emotions. My mind and heart found different paths, opposite to one another, in a constant struggle.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” she said, trying to console him. “It won’t bring her back, and it’ll never make you feel any different, just worse maybe.”
“I started hating myself after that. All the love I had for her turned into hatred the moment I killed her. That hate I directed at myself.”
I get it. She wanted to comfort him, to let him know that he wasn’t alone in his struggle, that she blamed herself for her uncle’s death and everything that was happening in Calen. But he knew that; he had, after all, tried to calm her earlier, back in the remains of her home, when everything seemed dark and lost. She had no idea he was struggling with his own demons.
The lid of the box fell back into place and the ruby ceased shining.
“You know, since you told me this, I feel like I’m obliged to share something with you, too,” she said.
“You don’t have to.”
“I know, but I want to,” Atlanta nodded. “Consider it a show-and-tell session of dark secrets and bottled emotions.”
Darian chuckled. “Very well, be my guest. Bestow upon me your sorrows. For I am the Coven. It is my job to listen. Misery loves company.”
“Poetic,” Atlanta snickered.
“Shut up and talk.”
“I prefer you talking like that than some Hand of the Coven.” She grinned and it slowly died on her lips. “I used to hate myself, too,” Atlanta began in a serious tone, “but for different reasons. Ever since I was young I felt helpless and weak. So weak that I would do the most reckless things to prove to myself that I was stronger than I believed.”
“I think I can relate to that,” Darian said. “What kind of stupid stuff did you do?”
“Like trying to jump out the window of my room to prove my legs could withstand the distance.” When Darian gave her a look with one eyebrow raised she laughed. “And then I ended up with a broken leg instead, and scars on my arms.” She leaned over and pulled up the sleeve of her suit, showing him a scar on her right arm that started at her wrist and ended right above her elbow.
They both laughed quietly and glanced at the top of the box as it floated above them, noticing the red glow of the ruby for the first time. Neither said anything about it, though.
Atlanta stared, as if mesmerized by a flickering fire. “The thing is, I had to find out where the weakness stemmed from. The moment I knew it and understood, it was easier for me to stop hating myself so fiercely.” Her gaze dropped down to her hands and she picked absently at the dirt that wasn’t there. “But it was just the anger that went away. The hatred remained.”
“Where did it start?” he asked.
“The moment my Uncle James told me that my parents died in a fire when I was five. I was twelve when he told me, and I felt a tingling right under my chest. I felt that there were flames setting fire to my insides and leaving me dry.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispered softly and put a hand on hers. “I didn’t know your parents died when you were young.”
“It’s okay; time heals all wounds, right? That’s what they say. Or at least I think about it less nowadays. When I found out what had actually happened to them I started training with Uncle James, trying hard to stop the fire inside me. I avoided facing the sadness and grief, and instead turned it into anger to make myself feel stronger than the pain I didn’t want to face.” She shrugged. “But it never helped pacify the feelings eating me alive. Worse, it was fuel to the fire growing inside me; it did nothing but make me angrier.” She’d tried to hide it. But always knew it was simmering inside of her. She wondered if James had known, too.
“Anger feeds on anger,” Darian said. “Only peace can disintegrate it.”
“Thing is, I didn’t want to believe that, because I didn’t want to make peace with the fact that my parents were never coming back. I had thought they were somewhere out there, trying to make the world a better place so that I could grow up happy in it. I always hoped I’d meet them someday.”
The red light from the ruby shifted and now fell on the wall behind them. It shone brighter than before and spread throughout the hall.
“You see what I’m seeing?” Darian asked quietly as the red waves of light fell under their feet like bright colored shadows.
She nodded and continued talking, as if drawn to the light. Almost thinking her confession was helping move the ruby and create the light. “I just wish I could meet my parents, see what everyone sees when they compare their faces to their parents’ faces. Believe in love, or disbelieve it, because of seeing how my parents love, or hate, each other. I don’t know, whatever there is in that world of families, I wish I could take a peek at it, be embraced by it.” She paused a moment, realizing she’d been talking a lot. She turned her gazed to his face. Darian’s eyes glistened with what seemed to be hidden tears. She’d been so carried away by her own thoughts, she didn’t realize he was still holding her hand. A sense of fear took over her heart, because at that moment she felt something that was bittersweet. She slipped her hand from his and turned to stare in front of her. “It’s childish, I know. I just wish I could see my mom and dad.” She sighed.
Suddenly, the branches of the trees behind them began unfolding and slipping away. The light from the Ruby engulfed the room completely and the bottom part of the box began glowing.
“What’s going on?” Darian whispered.
“I don’t know,” Atlanta whispered back.
They stood and stared at the walls as they opened. The tree branches fell to the floor and turned to dust, revealing a bright white light from beyond the wall shining on them. There was a shadow in the distance.
Atlanta squinted, making out the figure of a woman with long hair.
Darian stood still beside her. “Careful, Atlanta,” he whispered.
She gave a curt nod. She didn’t know who to expect, but knew that they’d finally found their way out of the labyrinth. Her heart sped, as she feared it was Adelaide.
The woman slowly drew closer and Atlanta let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. It wasn’t Adelaide. The woman’s eyes were blue.
“Who is she?” Atlanta whispered, reaching for Darian’s hand.