by E. J. Krause
"Oh, thank goodness." She opened her eyes, but everything still had that blinking effect, so it took a few seconds before she could see.
They walked to the end of the corridor and looked down the new passage. According to the map, it should run straight and turn right at the end. And it did, but something was wrong. In the middle of the floor lay the huge boulder that almost crushed them.
"We got turned around," Ben said. "Look at the map. We should have turned right, not left. This is the same rock."
"That makes sense. Did you feel dizzy for a second back there?"
He nodded.
"The floor spun. I didn't feel it move, but …"
"Yeah. That annoying light messed with our heads. What should we do?"
"Once we feel dizzy, we can walk backwards until the light goes out."
"Okay, yeah, good," Ben said.
They moved forward until the powerful strobe started again. Ugh. It even made her teeth hurt. She could swear she felt the light particles bounce off her skin. They continued until the dizzying sensation hit.
"Start backwards," Ben said, again louder than necessary. They took four or five steps back when she rammed square into the wall.
"Ow! What happened?"
"It must spin randomly," Ben said. "Let's go forward again and see how it spins us this time. Sooner or later it should point the right way."
Andi put her hand on his shoulder before he could move. "Remember the map. We can side-step to the left. That should get us there, too, unless we trigger another spin."
"I like your plan better."
They stepped left, and the floor stayed still. They kept moving, straddling the wall, until the strobe light shut off. Though it was hard to see clearly, thanks to the residual light beating around her brain, they were in the correct spot. Ben rewarded her quick thinking with a peck on the cheek. She then moved back into position behind him, letting his shield and instinct guide them.
The next corridor, as the map showed, was another long, straight hallway. Ben tensed and said, "There's something deadly down there. Be alert."
As they walked, Andi checked the ground in front, the ceiling above, and the passage behind in case whatever it was decided to sneak up on them. At not quite the halfway point, Ben tensed. A hissing sound exploded from their left, and he pulled his shield to the side. Something thudded into it, and he pushed her back, where they collapsed in a heap.
"What happened?" she cried. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Something told me to move my shield just in time."
They looked down and found an arrow, now snapped in half, lying at their feet. Andi reached down to pick it up when Ben grabbed her wrist. "No, don't." He pointed to the grayish-green liquid bubbling out of the cracked shaft. "I don't know for certain, but I'd guess that's a potent poison."
Andi nodded and backed away. "Are there more?"
"Uh-huh, but I can't tell how many."
She checked his shield. It didn't have a scratch on it. "Let's walk with that pointed to the wall. It seems sturdy enough."
"What if they shoot from the other wall, too? Even if this early warning system in my head says something, there's no way I can swing the shield around in time."
"So we'll walk with it in front. You proved you're fast enough."
"No way. It told me something was coming, but not which way. What if I just guessed right?"
"But if …" She stopped. This was stupid. She was a dragon. She might not have the room to transform into her true body, but she could bring parts of it to her human form. A quick thought changed her soft human skin into hard blue dragon scales.
"Whoa," Ben said. "That's like scary and hot all at once."
"Whatever. You saw me like this before."
"We were in the middle of a fight then, and I didn't have a chance to check you out. Wow."
She sighed and rolled her eyes, but was secretly glad he approved. "Let's get out of here before your boy hormones take over."
"Sorry."
She hid a smile at the way he blushed.
"What are we going to do?" he asked. "Will your dragon skin deflect the arrows?"
"I don't know," she said, taking a few steps back. "Hopefully we won't find out." Without another word, she took off running down the corridor. In two steps she was at full speed, and the first arrow shot out and passed behind her. As more arrows came, she tumbled into some flips and spins in case running alone wasn't enough to dodge them. She didn't stop until she landed next to the far wall.
"That was amazing," Ben called from the other end of the hallway. "An Olympic gymnast couldn't have done any better."
"Thanks, but did it work?"
"You tell me. You didn't get hit, did you?"
"Don't be dense, Ben. Are there more arrows?"
His face went blank for a second, and then he said, "No. There's still a little bit of a tingle, but I think that's to not touch the poison."
The busted arrows all leaked the grayish-green guck. "Good, but stay alert as you come over here."
He took her advice, but there was no need to worry. She'd triggered them all. When he reached her, she grabbed him in a hug. He squeezed back and whispered, "Weird."
"What?"
"Nothing. You feel like you, but like you're wearing a suit of armor."
"I guess I sort of am," she said with a shrug.
They studied the map again and saw the labyrinth didn't hold any trickery for awhile, at least in the shape of the maze. Even if they took a wrong turn, they'd discover their mistake after just a few steps. Neither needed to remind the other that the real dangers weren't a part of the maze layout anyway.
A right and a left got them almost to the halfway point. They turned left and a buzzing assaulted their ears. Andi tensed, glad she'd stayed in her scales, and that Ben didn't care she looked strange. Would she have gone back to her more vulnerable flesh if he had been grossed out? Probably.
"I don't know what it is," Ben said, "but it's something bad."
As soon as he said it, a cloud of bugs burst out of the corridor that led to a dead-end. She pulled Ben back into a corner where his shield could best protect them. Maybe the swarm would miss them and fly off somewhere else.
"What are they?" he whispered. "Besides bugs, I mean."
"They look like locusts."
"Are they poisonous?"
"Who knows? The ones back home aren't. But if they're here, they're dangerous."
Ben was silent for a second, and then said, "Don't they eat through crops and stuff real fast? Think these will treat us like crops?"
She gave a shiver. That's exactly what she thought. There were so many that the cloud might as well have been a wall. Even if she thought they had a chance of outrunning the swarm, there was no way they could get past it in the first place. Maybe Ben could do something about it. He'd been full of surprises so far.
"Concentrate," she said. "You might be able to kill or control them or something."
He shook his head. "Not unless they're zombie bugs. And even then I'd just be able to sense them, and there's no need for that. They're right there."
"Just try," she said. "And hurry!" The entire swarm assembled, and new movements came from the middle of the cloud.
"Fine," Ben said. He ducked further beneath his shield, his face relaxed, but she could sense the urgency in him. It didn't seem to have any effect on the bugs. A thick limb, comprised of thousands of individual locusts, grew from the swarm cloud. Then a second one emerged, completing the look of a pair of arms. Two more grew lower, giving the illusion of legs. She waited to see if they'd form a face, but instead it lumbered forward, as if walking. She'd always laughed when she saw swarms of insects do such things in cartoons, but it wasn't funny now. She reminded herself to breathe.
"Ben, hurry," she said, more to herself than to him. The humanoid insect swarm took another couple of steps, now almost in striking distance. She didn't want to know what would happen when that thing hit them. Would t
he combined weight of so many bugs crush them, or would the arms break apart and start devouring them? Her scales might hold out for a minute or two, but Ben wouldn't last five seconds.
It took another step and raised its buzzing fist. She tensed and got ready to run. With the swarm in this concentrated form, at least they'd be able to zip past. It would give chase, but they wouldn't be sitting ducks.
"Now, Andi." Ben grabbed her in a tight hug. "Concentrate on wanting them dead. Do it!"
She clutched her eyes shut and repeated, "Die, bugs, die," over and over. A strong energy burst out of her, but too late. Thousands, millions, of bugs fell on top of her and Ben. She screamed, waiting for the pain to hit. Tears came to her eyes as she realized his would come first.
After a few seconds, nothing happened. In fact, all she could feel from Ben was relief.
She opened her eyes and found all the bugs lying dead. "Gross," she said. Ben had already climbed to his feet, so he helped her up. "What happened?"
"I couldn't do anything about them on my own, but I knew together we could get rid of them."
They stepped through the pile of dead bugs, crunching plenty with each step. "That's not possible." She thought back to everything Mom and Dad had told her about the dragon-Dragon Guard partnership, and nothing about shared powers, besides communication, came up. She was there basically to be the flying, acid-spewing muscle, as Dad described it. And that was when they were fully bound, which they weren't yet.
He shrugged. "Possible or not, it happened."
Once they were past the dead locust, she grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look her in the eyes. "You shouldn't be able to do so much of this, Ben. I'm not kidding when I say this is impossible." She hugged him tight. "You're scaring me."
"The prophecy?"
She nodded into his chest.
"But we already talked about this. Evil isn't the only option. Remember?"
She tried not to cry, but tears ran down her cheeks. He was right, but it was all too much. "Nix seemed like such a nice lady, but she wanted you dead. She thought the world would be safer."
"But you said Max believes that's not true," he said, wiping a tear from her cheek.
"I know, but I think Nix knows more about it all than Max. Don't ask me how. It's just a feeling."
"We'll get through it. Anyway, let's worry about it later. For now, shouldn't we be happy about these powers? We might as well use them, right?"
She nodded and wiped away the rest of her tears. Yes, that made sense. Whatever the prophecy said, it wouldn't happen until after they were fully bound, and they'd need every bit of power to even get there.
He kissed her forehead and said, "Do you love me?"
Her voice stuck in her throat. He knew she did right? She managed to nod, which brought out a smile in him.
"Good. Then use that love and trust me. I won't do anything to hurt you. I promise. Okay?"
"I know," she said.
They stood there, clutching each other tight, until he chuckled and kissed her forehead. "You realize we're standing in the middle of a maze filled with a bunch of stuff trying to kill us, right?"
Andi sighed but smiled. "You and your logic."
"But, hey, who knows. Maybe that was the last of the bad guys. Knock on wood." He rapped his knuckles against the side of his head, bringing out another laugh from her.
They continued on, again with him and his shield in the lead, and her behind, scanning every inch of where they were headed. Why did she trust Nix over Max? He'd seemed nicer than her. But Ben was right; she should be happy he had so much power. And starting now, she would be.
Yeah. Ultimatums to one's self always worked, right? She let out a deep breath and focused on the left turn up ahead.
Chapter 26
As they neared the next turn, Ben did his best to not think about Andi saying everything he was doing was impossible. They needed to get through all of this first. He had to admit, while his unexpected powers scared her, they gave him a thrill. He'd never been much of a superhero comic fan, but he'd be lying if he didn't admit he occasionally had fantasies of superpowers. Now he actually had them.
"What do you sense?" Andi whispered behind him. "You're excited."
"Nothing, sorry. Thinking about something else." She rolled her eyes. As fun as it was, he still wasn't used to all of this. Whenever he thought he had a handle on Andi's emotions, he was reminded she could sense his, too. What was it going to be like when they could communicate inside each other's heads? Would she be able to read his thoughts whenever she wanted, or did he have to give them to her? He'd ask, but he was sort of afraid of the answer.
They rounded the corner, and Ben's instincts lit up. He feared at first it was a replay of his warning system overreacting like when they first entered the labyrinth, but real danger appeared at the end of the hall and charged. He nudged Andi back and yelled, "Don't let it touch you."
He ran at the wraith, careful to keep his shield up. This creature looked like every clichéd caricature of the infamous Death. Its long black robes fluttered behind it, while skeletal hands and feet peeked out. Its face couldn't be seen under the oversized hood, but two glowing red eyes shone out of the blackness. Though the wraith looked substantial, Ben knew he'd have to concentrate on his blade to connect with his swing, let alone land a killing blow. It was basically a ghost, though a supercharged one. He marveled for a second at how these facts, along with its name, filled his mind, as all things undead had since the minor binding. No, that wasn't true. He'd known all about the zombies when he first saw them on that fateful morning before school. His conscious mind hadn't trusted the info yet for him to believe it.
They met in the center of the corridor. The wraith grabbed for him, while Ben jammed his sword at it. Neither managed, as Ben maneuvered his shield into its way and the wraith contorted its insubstantial body away from his blade. Andi's rage bubbled up. He wanted to shout for her to stay out of this, but two against one worked much better. If anything happened to her …
She struck at the wraith, her head transformed to a dragon's. It reached for her, and Ben slashed its arm. It didn't do much, if any, damage, but the blow kept it from touching her.
"Careful," he said. "I'm not kidding. A single touch can kill you."
Her emotions said she understood. She snapped at the wraith, and then flipped over its head. Ben gasped and struck with his sword to distract the monster. What was she doing? She needed to stay behind him, behind his shield.
The wraith whirled around and swung at Andi. Ben lunged hard, putting all his weight behind his sword, and ran the blade straight through the monster. It bellowed an inhuman howl, a sound he'd never heard and hoped to never to hear again. Before he could yank the sword free, the wraith turned on him, his blade still firmly in its body, but swishing around as if the monster was made of pure liquid. Andi growled out in her dragon language, and fear erupted from her. The wraith rammed his shield, and they tumbled to the ground, Ben pinned beneath. He couldn't believe how heavy it was, considering it was made of nothing but energy. It freed one hand, but Andi's jaws latched onto the robe. Ben concentrated, thrust his sword up through its body to its hidden face, and the creature disappeared, never to return.
Andi leapt onto of him, showering his face with kisses. She was much more welcome on top of him than the wraith. "I thought you were dead. I thought it got past your shield and touched your chest."
He managed to corral her and maneuver them up. "It would have got me at the end if you hadn't stepped in. Now, come on, according to the map, we're almost there."
"What else can there be?" she wondered aloud. He didn't bother answering because she was right. What else could this place throw at them?
They passed down a U-shaped pair of corridors before taking a left to get to the home stretch. No warnings came, but he didn't let down his guard. This place had already thrown them enough surprises.
Ben rounded the corner out of the final U-shaped corridor
and stopped. There was a wall where one shouldn't be. The map showed two choices. They could go straight, but that turned left to a dead-end, or they could turn left now. They'd face an immediate right that went nowhere, or another right after that one that led to the end of the maze, but that final choice wasn't here in the actual labyrinth, as their remaining options were dead-ends.
"What do we do?" she asked.
"Maybe it's a fake wall," he said. "And if not, one of the other ways might be the new path."
She shivered. "That doesn't feel right."
"I don't feel anything," he said. He shut his eyes, but no warning tingles or supernatural help came to him.
They stepped forward to where the unmapped wall was, and a voice rang out. "Paved over. Turn around and go left. That leads to the exit."
"Who said that?" Ben asked.
Andi pointed to the right of where the open passage should be. "It's a mouth."
He looked closer. Whoa, it was a mouth, about as big as a football, connected to the wall. No other facial features were there, just the mouth. It had to be some sort of trick, maybe a projection, but the closer they got, the more real it looked.
"Go back, go back," it said. "The great builder decided this wasn't the way. The other path is far superior."
Ben turned to follow the mouth's instructions, but Andi grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"
"The way it told us to. It knows a lot more about this place than we do."
"I do," the mouth said. "I watched them wall this passage up. On your way now. You have a maze to finish."
Andi kept him from moving as he tried to go back. What was she doing? Why did she look so concerned? This was over. All they had to do was follow the directions, and they were done.
"That's right, son, go on," the mouth said. "Don't let the girl dissuade you."
Andi said something, but he couldn't make it out. She had her normal human face, even if it was covered with blue scales, so he shouldn't have any trouble understanding her. He pulled against her grip, but she wouldn't let go.
