by Emma Hamm
“What happened to your Hellhound buddy?” he asked as they leapt over a fallen tree.
“Doesn’t matter,” the Dragon responded with a jerk of his shoulder as he avoided a low hanging branch.
“Four person team down to three, sounds like it might matter.”
“Keep your mouth shut, Fairy.”
The response was not ideal. Jasper had hoped that this mission might be a little bit easier with a Hellhound on their side. They weren’t the kindest of creatures, but they did have a nasty bite.
He had known this wouldn’t be easy. Collecting anything so hidden was bound to result in some kind of battle. Now it had just gotten significantly more difficult.
The Wisp shouted ahead. The two men slowed to a halt as they listened for her voice once more. Jasper couldn’t remember when she had disappeared from his sight. Although, he mused, perhaps that would have been difficult anyway. Her ghostly glowing outline could be impossible to see in the forest.
“Here!” she called.
Jasper met the Dragon’s gaze and exchanged a nod. They carefully made their way towards her. There was something off about the way her voice sounded. Jasper didn’t want to stumble into a trap or find themselves face to face with a mimicking creature.
He brushed aside a giant frond and gaped at the sight it revealed. The Wisp stood at the base of what he could only describe as a trove of treasure. Long tendrils of necklaces speckled with gemstones snaked through the mounds of gold and gold coins spilled out onto the forest floor like confetti.
“What?” Jasper whispered as he stepped forward. “What is this?”
“A distraction,” the Wisp replied angrily. “Another test.”
“We’re being tested? I thought this was a prison, not a schoolyard.”
She did not reply. Instead, her eyes locked on the Dragon. Jasper’s brows furrowed as he too turned to look at the creature standing unsteadily next to him.
The Dragon stepped forward once, twice, then fell to his knees before the mountains of gold. He dug his hands into the coins and let them flow from his fingers like water, shaking before the mountains of wealth.
There was no end to the gold. Jasper moved to find an end to hoard, but all he could see was endless sparkle and riches. Even the bases of the trees were dripping with molten metal as though the sap was dripping gold.
Prison indeed. He’d never seen a prison like this before.
“We need to go around this,” he said.
“We can’t,” the Wisp hoarsely responded. “I tried. Every time I walk away from this place, I end up right where I am standing.”
“So we have to go through.”
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” She nodded towards the Dragon. “This is…his weakness.”
“We’re being toyed with.”
“In a sense.” The Wisp wrung her hands. “The forest knows what will stop us. It does not want us to get to its heart.”
“The Hellhound?” he asked.
“Hellhounds are not naturally made creatures. They are particularly susceptible to earthen powers and sleeping potions. They like to dream more than they like to be alive.”
“Must be why they’re so angry all the time.”
She scoffed. “Possibly.”
He glanced at her, and rubbed his hand over his overgrown beard. “And your weakness?”
She swallowed audibly and watched the Dragon scoop handfuls of gold over his body. He was lost to them.
Despite being unsettled, Jasper was curious. As all good Fairies would be. Two strange happenings in a row were too many.
“Bluebell?” he asked.
“Yes?” She stirred in the back of his mind.
“What are we going to be up against next? Any ideas?”
“Wisps are sheltered creatures. They are dangerous only when they are able to glow.”
It wasn’t particularly clear information, but it was something to work with. He let out a slow breath. “Let’s go then.”
“I suppose we must.” The Wisp sighed, gesturing for him to move forward.
“I’m going first? I thought you were the brave one,” he joked.
Humor was the only way he was going to calm the butterflies in his stomach caused by fear and apprehension. He wanted a cool head now. It was difficult for him to admit that he had any weaknesses to begin with.
The gold clinked merrily underneath his feet as he crossed the plethora of wealth. There were stunning works of art everywhere he looked. An amulet glowing with bright pink light, a crown crafted for a forest king with tangled vines curving around the edges, endless gemstones and coins rolling as though a monster hid beneath their feet.
“Don’t touch anything,” the Wisp warned.
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
“Really? Fairies are just as susceptible to riches as the rest of us.”
“I’m already wealthy in my life.” And he meant it. Jasper had no great desire for gold or gems. He only had need of those he loved in his life to be in his arms once more.
The sooner this was over, the happier he would be.
As they made their way through the maze of gold, Jasper heard the Dragon’s overjoyed shouts. Jasper could not make out what the other man was saying. To him, it was all meaningless gibberish.
“Perhaps it’s better that way,” Bluebell said. “That way, we don’t know how happy he is and what we passed up.”
He agreed with her. The forest offered a kind of happiness, but it was empty and without substance. The Hellhound would forever sleep in a dream world of its own creating. The Dragon would have its hoard once more.
But neither would ever be safe. Neither would ever escape this prison.
The clanking beneath Jasper’s feet faded. He could breathe easier with the golden mounds behind them. Before his eyes, the forest turned bright green again. Everything in his view was alive and vibrantly green. He and the Wisp sped up, rushing away from the nightmarish clearing filled with compelling riches.
He could no longer hear the Dragon, and silence fell like a heavy blanket. He watched the shadows of the forest with a critical eye. There were shadows of things that weren’t there. Men with weapons. Beasts with horns.
The Wisp passed through a tree, and he lost sight of her for a few moments. Strange how it made his heart jump. At least if they were together, they were less likely to fall prey to another trap.
That was his hope, anyway.
“You never answered my question,” he called out. “What weakness do you have that we need to look out for?”
Her voice materialized from in front of him, though he could not quite see the outline of her body. “What makes you think it will try and trap me first?”
“Well, you did bring me to the forest to retrieve this thing. It stands to reason that there was logic behind that.”
“You think highly of yourself, Fairy.”
Jasper shrugged. “You can’t say I’m wrong though.”
Though he was loathe to trust anyone who worked for Malachi, this woman seemed different from the others. She wasn’t a thug. She was calculating and detached, a person who saw things the way they were. She didn’t appear to worship Malachi or follow his orders to the letter. And he got the sense she wouldn’t lie to him if she actually answered any of his questions.
Her outline flickered for a few seconds near a tree, and Jasper changed the direction he was walking. She was leading him somewhere, and he would guess she knew where this maze was. At the very least, she had an idea where it was.
“I’m not sure what you want from me.” Her words were eerily quiet. “We’re trying to find a maze. Pay attention to what is around you, and stop asking questions.”
“It’s hard to pay attention when I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
“You’re insufferable. It’s no wonder you ended up in a cage.”
He bristled at that. “Excuse me?”
“You Fae always get yourselves in trouble, and t
hink a pretty face will get you out of any situation. If you stopped relying on your looks, you would understand that the world cares very little for you.”
Bluebell stuttered in his head. “What did she just say to us?”
“Easy there,” Jasper told the little Fairy before addressing the Wisp. “It sounds like you think you know a lot about my kind.”
“Wisps know about Fae.”
She spoke the truth. Though they were technically cousins, Wisps and Fae were never fast friends. They were the same size, though Wisps rarely had any kind of solid form when they weren’t inside their human hosts. Fae were everything the Wisps were not. Solid, pretty, loveable, and oh so charming.
Wisps weren’t like that. They were the colder version of their cousins. Their magic relied entirely upon souls and the dead. Fae magic was that of life and emotions. It made sense that the two species held no love between them.
Still, he always hoped for better when he met one.
He gently moved aside a branch as he followed the Wisp. “How about we both ignore prejudices and help each other out? Tell me what we’re looking for. I promise my eyes are just as good as yours.”
The Wisp didn’t respond, though he was certain he heard the very faint sound of a snort. She was almost entirely invisible at this point. Jasper kept losing sight of her and had to search for the dim white glow she emitted.
“You’ll know the maze when you see it,” she finally admitted.
“That’s not very clear.”
“You don’t need me to be any clearer than that.”
He hated riddles. Jasper wanted people to be honest and direct when speaking. Dancing around the real answer was just a waste of both their times.
“Bluebell?” he asked.
“Yes?”
“Do you know what we’re looking for?”
He imagined her tapping a tiny finger against her chin as she thought about his question. “Not really. I’ve never heard of a prison inside a forest.”
“Helpful,” he grunted as he clambered over a fallen log. “Anything similar?”
“In the old dimension there was a way to create something like this. But they were only used to hold the strongest of creatures.”
“Why?”
She giggled. “Only nature can hold back the most powerful of our kind. The last known prison was created to hold the king of the Unseelie. And we all know how terrible that man was.”
“Massacred thousands for land and then for pleasure. Fitting that he ended up in a prison like this.”
“I’m glad you were listening in school.”
Jasper let out a bark of laughter. “Let’s not go that far, Bluebell. So what do you think we should be looking out for?”
She was silent for a few long moments before he heard her tentative voice again “Something very terrifying.”
That didn’t sound good, but then again, what did lately? He sighed and ducked beneath a spiderweb he didn’t want to disturb. Jasper’s life had taken a very odd turn lately, and he wasn’t certain he appreciated it.
As he rounded a large tree, he came to an abrupt halt. Before him stretched an expanse of tangled ivy thicker than he had ever seen. This was no plant. This was a wall.
He furrowed his brow as a brown bird tunneled out of the vegetation, chirped loudly, and flew away as fast as its little wings could carry it.
“Strange,” he muttered. “Wisp!”
He heard her crashing through the undergrowth until she burst out beside him. She had taken physical form again. Her black hair settled over her shoulders as she caught her breath.
She stared wide-eyed at his discovery. The wall before them was impressive, if not terrifying. The ivy was so twisted and tangled that it almost looked as though it were one plant.
“This the maze?” he asked.
“I believe so.”
“Fantastic.”
He didn’t really believe it was fantastic. Jasper had a knot in the pit of his stomach making him nauseous. There was something entirely unnatural about this place. Magic was steeped in everything around them, making the hairs on his arms stand up straight.
“We going in?” he asked.
“I guess so.”
“Any guesses on how we get in?”
“Not a clue.”
“Right,” he muttered. “Time to take initiative then.”
He took a few decisive steps towards the ivy. One way or another, he would get into that maze. A few plants weren’t going to stop him.
To Jasper’s surprise, when he was about five steps away, it moved. He paused to watch the slithering strands of greenery pull themselves apart until they formed a doorway. The opening was the perfect size for him to pass through.
With a creased forehead, he glanced over his shoulder at the Wisp. She shrugged.
He held his hand forward. “After you.”
“Oh, I don’t think so.” She shook her head firmly. “You have no reason to let me go first. You’re the one that’s supposed to teleport us into the center.”
“I don’t know what the center looks like. I can’t teleport into it.”
“Sure you can.” The Wisp ran her tongue over her lips. “That’s why we brought you.”
“Weren’t you listening when I explained teleportation to your boss? If I had a picture of the center, I might be able to do something. But right now? Not a chance, doll.”
She fidgeted as he spoke, her eyes darting from side to side. Finally, she held a hand up to interrupt his rant. “Just go through first. No more arguing.”
He opened his mouth to start in on her again, but stopped when he noticed the expression on her face. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what it meant. Her brow was strangely smooth but there were fine lines around her mouth he had not noticed before. Her lips were pursed and the crow’s feet at the edges of her eyes were more prominent.
His feet began to move of their own accord. He turned back towards the opening and took one last deep breath. Plunging into the ivy was easier than he had anticipated.
His stomach churned with the imagined feeling of vines slithering against his skin. He pictured the vines snapping out to wrap around his throat. The plants didn’t move as he walked through, save for the rustling hiss of leaves.
He stood in what appeared to be the beginning of a maze. In front of him and to the sides were long pathways that continually split off in different directions. It was like the veins of some monstrous creature. He was traveling to its heart.
Jasper inhaled and turned to the Wisp. “I think we’re okay. We’re alone here.”
“Are you sure?” she asked. He doubted that she would believe him, no matter what he told her.
“Yeah, pretty sure. Come on, let’s keep going.”
He reached out a hand for her to take. The Wisp took one step forward and paused. Her eyes darted to the left of the path, which now shone suspiciously brighter than moments before.
Somehow, her face paled further. “You go on alone.”
“I don’t think I’m supposed to be alone.” He corrected her and shook his hand. “Whatever it is you see, it’s not real.”
“It’s real to me.” She looked at him with a sad smile. “I have to run now.”
“Don’t.”
‘‘I was made for darkness, but I am a moth to a flame when it comes to light such as this. It’s like…the sun,” she whispered, staring longingly at whatever was creating the light illuminating her cheeks. “I have to run, or I will never leave this place. Find the center of the maze. Go!”’
She turned and ran as though the devil himself was nipping at her heels. A man made of light trailed after her. There was nothing of substance to him, though he seemed to drip molten lava as he rushed after her.
Jasper hated this place.
“Oh a maze!” Bluebell shouted. “I love mazes!”
“Yeah? Think you can figure this one out?”
“Most definitely. We’re going to have to teleport a lot though. It�
��s been a while.”
Jasper cracked his neck to relieve some of his tension. “I’m fine with that. Let’s go.”
4
He grew out of breath as he teleported again and again through the maze. Each section was stranger than the last. There was no rhyme or reason to how this maze had been created — many of the pathways ended too quickly, while others brought him in endless loops.
As much as he wanted to believe her, Jasper was convinced Bluebell did not know anything about solving mazes.
“Go left!” she shouted excitedly.
“To the right you mean? Or actually the left this time?”
“If I could use one of your hands to point, this would be easier.”
He sighed and rubbed a knot in the back of his neck. It was a stress knot. He was about ready to wring his own neck to get out of this damned maze. “If I let you control my arm, you’d still be pointing in one direction and telling me to go the other.”
“I don’t think you have any faith in me,” she grumbled.
“I don’t. I think you’re lying and have never been in a maze before.”
“I never said I’d been in a maze. I said I liked them. That’s a big difference, Jaspy!”
A distinction he had not been intelligent enough to clarify apparently. He wanted to sit down and not get back up. Or actually… He stilled.
“Bluebell, we’re teleporting back home. We’ll get the others. Lyra is more important than this.”
“What?” she asked. “We can’t do that.”
“Why not? There’s no one around to stop us. We’re going back to Haven.”
She banged at the edge of his mind, fighting for control over his body. “No! It is important to stay. I can feel it!”
“Yeah. Just like you felt you knew how to get to the center of a maze, and you were wrong.”
“I’m not wrong this time. Trust me, please. There’s something in the middle of the maze that we need to get.”
Jasper rolled his eyes so violently he was certain they would get lost in the back of his skull. “Yes, there’s something we need to get. For him. For Malachi, because that’s what he told us. You and I have nothing to find in this maze other than inevitable death. Apparently, unsolvable puzzles are a Fairy’s weakness and this cursed place knows it.”
