I swallow. I don’t know what this unspecified mode of transportation could be that is only good for me and him—it’s not like he can fly us out, we’re underground—but either way, that’s not even an option for me. I will not be leaving my friends behind.
“So, my first goal will be to get them out of here,” he says.
“They want us, not them. If it comes down to it, we can probably make a deal to let them go. Then, we stall long enough for—whatever it is you can do?”
He nods.
I take in a long breath. Good, we have a very tentative plan. That makes me feel slightly better. Survive the maze. Get Lola, Janet, and Thompson out of here. Stall long enough for Jarron’s magic to set us free or backup to arrive, whichever comes first.
Cool. I do kind of wish I knew what he had in mind, but saying it out loud could take away our element of surprise, so maybe we should keep it quiet.
We walk up and down a few pathways, only to find dead ends, but finally, we reach the first opening of the maze. There’s a ball of glowing darkness suspended midair. There is no noise or movement.
That’s not ominous at all.
“Welcome,” a bodiless voice says, almost sounding like a computer-generated voice, “to the orb of unwanted truths. To pass through, you must reveal an unwanted truth. If you attempt to pass without my offering, you will perish in a most gruesome fashion. Do you understand?”
Janet whimpers.
“Who will go first?”
“I will,” Thompson says, before anyone else can answer. He steps up to the black ball of nothing and looks up.
“Complete the phrase: I do not want…”
“To fail,” he says, his voice nearly breaking at the two words. I flinch. Fail at what?
“Very good. You may pass.”
Thompson slowly walks the rest of the way across the opening and waits on the other side. “This is a pretty basic form of fae magic. It will pull the answer from your soul. There is no possible way to get it wrong. Just don’t resist.”
Lola and Janet go next, together. They are asked the same task. Complete the phrase, “I do not want.”
“To be a no one,” Lola says.
“To be forgotten,” Janet says.
“Very good. You may pass.”
Jarron leads me forward, and we stand together beneath the void. I look up to find bits of smoke swirling within.
“Complete the phrase: I do not want…”
“To be rejected,” Jarron says just as I say, “To be a second choice.”
I suck in a breath and slap my hand over my mouth. How—how did it know that?
Jarron looks down at me like he’s never seen me before. I avoid his stare.
I pull him forward to meet with our friends, and we pass on to the next section of the maze.
“What’s the point of all of this?” Thompson says. “What are they trying to achieve? The maze isn’t even hard.”
I jab him in the back. “Don’t say that.”
“Superstitious much?” he jokes.
“No, but they might send in more of those fire birds.”
