Enchanted: The Labyrinth

by Marie-France Leger

  “No.” I released, lying my head back down on his chest.

  And I wasn’t. Nothing about me was fine. I was a mess, I lost my sister, and I lost my father. My fault, all of it, bled into me like fire. There’s a serpent living inside of me, I was cold and icy, paralyzed with bite marks from both sides of my waist, and no, I wasn’t okay. The only thing different about this time, was I admitted it.

  Everyone stood in silence, Mable weeping quietly over the edge of the platform. Devon held her back as she leaned against him; my mother, Paul and Ethan sat together - Paul latching onto her left hand and Ethan her right as she, too, sobbed to herself holding Annabelle’s blanket. Beth and Sage stood near Liz, Lore and Marrow,

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  expressionless. Liz was crying, rubbing her eyelids as she placed herself between Lore and Marrow.

  Marrow stared at me with sad eyes and straddled towards us. His shoulders hung low and his hair was a mess. Nate whispered something to me that I couldn’t hear and lifted me to my feet.

  “Kaylin-,” he started but I interrupted.

  “Marrow, I really can’t talk right now.” I struggled to say as nicely as possible.

  “I’m sorry.” He shook his head, whimpering quietly as he turned to look at the tide, dark and gleaming.

  “It’s not your fault.”

  “It’s not yours either.”

  He reached in, pulling me from my waist closer to him. His hug was tight and warm, muscles flexing around the arch of my spine. I somehow managed to relax as I moved my arms over his neck, just below the tips of his hair. I didn’t want to move. I wanted to stay there, not because of Marrow, but because it felt good to feel protected. I closed my eyes and let out a single tear, as he released me gently, looking at me with those familiar royal eyes.

  His gaze immediately moved past me, staring at the wall. A mark was drawn, the same segment of lines as the last, except a faded blue print instead of white. It was The Labyrinth keeper, the way out.

  Before Marrow knelt down, he tapped my arm.

  “I could hold you forever,” he whispered and fully crouched down, creating a blue glow from his hands and traced electric blue lines in the shimmering dust.

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  Marrow stood up and moved back, glancing at me once, then to the wall. A familiar mask appeared as The Labyrinth keeper presented himself before us.

  “Alive I see.” It boomed, the voice remaining recognizable.

  Nobody spoke.

  “I assume you want me to open the walls.” It thundered once again.

  “Would be nice.” Marrow said with his hand clutched around his knife. The hologram said nothing.

  The water behind us started whooshing, rising into a whirlpool of dark and light shades of blue. The sound was static as water flew in my face and died down.

  “Show me that you can do that.” The Labyrinth keeper said. “You,” he pointed to Nate. “This is a test. Pass it or fail it, your choice.” It slithered.

  Nate swallowed and closed his eyes. He had to do this in order to open the walls. This was his element; he could feel what to do, couldn’t he? He stepped in front of the platform and began to raise the waters, slowly at first, and then it died down. He shook his head and attempted once more; the darkness swirled in the depths as the speed increased, twirling into a circle of aqua, faster than my eyes could adjust to.

  “Okay, now tell us the riddle so we can leave.” Marrow said, taking his eyes off his brother and to The Labyrinth keeper.

  Nate released the force of the water and returned to his place beside Liz and Lore. A slight humph escaped the keeper’s mouth as he raised a flashing arm, falling back against the wall.

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  “What is slow but calm, soft yet serene, cannot speak but makes noise, can be small or big, with poise.”

  I thought hard as I could see everyone else was. I never heard this one. It wasn’t like the last one where my father told me riddles to help me fall asleep, this was different. Annabelle... Please stop interfering with my thoughts, I can’t think.

  “A snail?” Marrow asked.

  The keeper laughed once when two water serpents latched onto his ankles, pulling him down. No! Grunts of pain filled the air as Nate, Paul, Ethan, Lore, Sage and Devon grabbed hold of his arms. The serpent's clasped tighter causing him to slip. I couldn’t lose anyone else. I immediately, grabbed hold of the serpents and flamed my hands, burning them to crisp as they released Marrow’s ankles and fell back into the waters.

  Marrow gazed at me with wide eyes. His mouth was moving, but all I heard were delicate whispers; my father.

  Kaylin, River...

  It was true, it was my father. He was with me, he was alive, and he couldn’t be dead if he was with me. Annabelle, do you hear me?

  “Give us one more chance.” Paul leaped over Marrow and right in front of the keeper with folded fists.

  “Very well.” The keeper replied.

  I could see that Paul was opening his mouth, mouthing the letter S.

  “River,” I said. “The answer is river.”

  The Labyrinth keeper glared at me. “You again, Ms.Desirea. Powerful, what you did to my pets.” It slithered. “I hope to see you soon…”

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  The words faded in the back of my mind, clinging on to my thoughts.

  The keeper disappeared as the walls parted open. Bit by bit I swallowed, unable to stop my heavy breathing. I glanced at the calm, yet rocky waters and stood in front of the wall.

  My sister died here.

  I stepped to the edge of the platform and blew out a ball of fire, sending it into the moving waves. I swear that I saw a glimpse of her red hair beneath the tide, and I breathed in one last time before I turned back.

  “I love you, Annabelle.”

  Chapter 12

  Just before I crossed the line separating dirt and cement, I was hit with a blast of warm air; not from the sky, but from the ground. I noticed that below me, fresh soil squished underneath the heel of my boots. The walls shut firmly behind me as I shut my eyes, realizing my sister was in there somewhere floating lifeless in the water.

  “Earth,” breathed Sage as his hand traced the ground. His wife shook her head and knelt down beside him, taking hold of small weeds growing in between the brown soil.

  “It must be,” Beth turned her mask to face him. “I do feel it. It’s like energy, power.”

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  Lore’s head nodded as he glanced down at the lines on his arm. Ethan was shaking nervously, a distance away from his father.

  “Ethan,” I extended my hand towards his. “What’s wrong?”

  He looked up once then downwards again. “Annabelle, she’s really dead.”

  I shut my eyes and held back the tears, keeping any sort of emotion locked inside me to stay strong for the both of us.

  “I thought both of you were dead,” he continued. “You were under there for so long.” He released, sniffles escaping his nose.

  I thought back to what happened underneath the current; I was underneath almost as long as Annabelle. I felt myself slowly slipping away again. My lungs couldn’t take it anymore. I retracted breaths at the thought of my sister gone instead of me. I wasn’t meant to die, at least not under there. Whoever helped me wanted me alive, Enchantress or my father. Or maybe, even Ann.

  I sucked in and wiped tears from my waterline. “I’m a good swimmer,” I lied.

  “And Annabelle wasn’t?” He sobbed.

  I held in my breath and pulled him into a hug, one that would last a while. He was cold, the tips of his hair rubbing against my cheekbone as I squeezed his fragile arms tighter.

  “I tried my best Ethan, I promise. No one’s more hurt than I am right now, I love Annabelle and I always will.”

  I never thought I would be saying this about my dead sister. Just talking about this made me shutter. It

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  made me want to break through the wall and find her again. “I would do anything to get
her back,” I admitted.

  His violet eyes flashed as he pulled away from me, sniffling. “The water serpents, did they get Annabelle?”

  Again, the flashbacks of her blood filling the bottom of the waters flooded my mind.

  I nodded, “Yes.” Swallowing hard.

  He began to cry again, harder. I never knew that this would have so much of an impact on someone outside of my family. But, if he was destined to be my brother, he probably felt all the same emotions as I felt.

  “I want to get out.” A tear dripped from his eye, his long lashes soaked with water.

  “We will,” I breathed, kissing the top of his head.

  I knew that someplace, somewhere, Annabelle was watching over us and that gave me courage and strength.

  “Do you think my mommy is close?” Ethan asked wiping away tears from his face.

  “I don’t know Ethan, I hope.”

  He smiled faintly and took grasp of my hand; his fingers were so small and chubby compared to mine.

  I glanced over at Nate who was talking to his dad, and Marrow, then Ethan squeezed my hand.

  “We promised each other that we would find our parents,” he whispered. “Do you think your daddy’s close?”

  The voices I’ve been hearing were in fact my fathers; they couldn’t have been anyone else. It was the same tenderness, same helpfulness, but I guess there was always a possibility I was wrong. Those other voices though, the voice that came through the winds, that didn’t sound like my father. But who else could it have been?

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  “Let’s all rest. We’ll pick this up in the morning.” Lore said, heading towards a wall covered in vines.

  He sat against Liz while Devon, my mother, Paul and Mable still wiped their eyes from dried tears. Beth and Sage relaxed comfortably in a vine bed that they had pulled out from the dirt; of course, it was their element. Finally Marrow and Nate sat on different sides of the wall, all alone.

  Kaylin, Proud...

  It was through the wind, a soft warm wind, but the tone belonged to my father and I knew that. Ethan nudged my hand one more time waiting for my answer. He took a seat on the wall and I sat beside him.

  “I think he’s always close.” I smiled.

  The daylight broke through the clouds as I watched the dark sky fade into a brisk yellow-orange. I felt as if I had only slept for a few minutes; no one was awake, at least not that I saw. A weight was on my left side, Ethan’s body right up against my arm. I couldn’t hold back my grin watching him sleep, but quietly moved upwards, trying not to wake him. I eyed the map under my arm; the line segments were telling us to go right, but there was no direction leading there. A vine wall enclosed us in the center. I scrunched my eyebrows and stood alert when I heard a rustling behind me. I swung out my clan knife, and turned around, only to find a blonde figure looking back at me with surprise: Nate.

  “You scared me.” I said, shoving the knife back in my belt.

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  Nate smiled, but his smile, it was different. “Sorry,” he laughed, one foot moving closer to me.

  I shook my head. “It’s fine, I just thought you’d be asleep.”

  “Same goes for you.”

  “I’m wide awake,” I whispered.

  As soon as he stopped in front of me, he caught my hands and held my wrists. My mouth twitched in confusion as his grip grew harder and more painful; what was he doing?

  “Nate, you’re hurting me,” I struggled to say. My hands started to feel lifeless as a pale shade of green emerged through my skin.

  I heard noises from behind me as I glanced around to see Marrow moving someone with blonde hair, Nate. Wait, Nate? I glanced at Nate in front of me whose blue eyes turned black and green slashes formed all over his arms.

  “Nate man, stop snoring and wake up,” said Marrow groggy.

  The Nate who was asleep flinched and held out his knife, just the way I did when I was startled. Marrow crouched back with his hands in front of him.

  “As tempting as fighting with you sounds, I’m much more clever with my time.” He tapped his shoulders, not remotely stunned by the dagger in his face.

  The grip on my arms was tighter; I tried to flame my hands but they wouldn’t light up. I had to yell.

  “Marrow!” I called out biting hard on my bottom teeth. The green liquid inside of me travelled further up the surface of my skin, paralyzing me.

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  It took him a few seconds to realize I was standing there, his eyes growing wide. I kicked the Nate in front of me, but he didn’t move or react.

  “What the hell! Nate?” Marrow gasped looking at his brother, than the figure grabbing at me.

  He sprinted towards the replica with his knife out gleaming blue, and sliced its neck.

  I felt wobbly and shaken; I fell to the ground watching the supposed head of Nate evaporate into the dirt. What was that thing, an earth monster? Why did it take the form of Nate? I felt as if vines were strangling my arms, keeping me bound to something painful; poison.

  “Jesus.” I heard Marrow say as he ran to Beth and Sage who were awoken by his deep screeching. They quickly made their way to my side as Sage knelt down beside me on the other side of Beth. I saw the outline of Devon holding tightly of my head.

  “Kaylin, you never learn.” He shook my shoulder with concern.

  Beth and Sage nodded at each other and picked up soil with their fingers, trickling down through the spaces like sand; they merged both their hands together as the soil turned to the texture of powder. Spreading it over my arms, a brown insect appeared and sank into my skin. I gasped and watched it fade into my arms, the green color slowly turning to my original paleness.

  “Don’t worry,” began Beth. “The insect will burn inside you because you’re fire.”

  “It cleansed you of the poison,” Sage added.

  “If you would’ve just stayed in your place, you wouldn’t always go through these stupid accidents you always get yourself into.” Devon said harshly.

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  Too many people were speaking at once and only one sound overpowered the rest; the sound of screaming.

  “Help!”

  Ethan.

  Without hesitation, I ripped my arms out of Sage and Beth’s grip and ran towards Ethan with my knife in my hand as I watched a soiled woman strangling him by his neck, vines intertwined all around his body.

  “Kaylin,” he was struggling to say, losing breath. “Kaylin...” His eyes closed, green veins burning at the tips of his eyelids.

  I picked up speed, my clan knife in flames as I sliced through the head of the figure, burning the soil into ashes. My knife never did that, not to that extremity, but through the silver reflection of the blade, I saw my brown eyes fading into a distinct color: red. What the...

  I shook Ethan who was coughing, holding his neck. Thank God he was alive, I thought. I hugged him tightly, squeezing his back harder. I made sure not to let him slip away, not like Annabelle, not like my father.

  “Ethan,” I breathed as he clutched hold of my wrist. “Are you okay?”

  He shook his head struggling. “What was that?”

  Beth stepped forward holding her knife in one hand, a closed fist in the other.

  “They were scanners, just like the ones we fought in the air element,” she began. “But this time, they didn’t take shape of your memories, but current thoughts.”

  Was I thinking of Nate? Was that why I saw him? I was always thinking of Nate, it made sense. I looked to my sensor mark which was beat red, but not blinking. We were safe, at least for now. I stood up and helped Ethan to

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  his feet as Paul embraced him. The sky was now dusk, the temperature mild, as Lore and Liz began to pack up weaponry and made their way to the center of the enclosed space.

  “Are there more?” Asked Ethan, his innocent tone masking his fright.

  I glanced to my sensor mark which remained deep red. I shook my head and Ethan relaxed his shoulders,
slouching himself against the walls. The faded orange light flooded the skies as Beth and Sage moved towards Liz, telling her to move away.

  Beth stepped across Sage, taking a few steps backwards to where her body grazed the wall, Sage doing the same. They were now on both sides of the wall and bent down, tracing what looked like the biggest opening mark I had ever seen. They made their way to the middle, the line segments overlapping one another as dark spirals covered the paths.

  After finishing, they both stood up and nodded, facing the walls that were closed in on us. Momentarily, a brisk noise flew out into the winds and the walls became blurry, turning transparent. I scrunched my eyebrows, confused at the mirrored transparency of the other side. Three paths were separated by vine walls; the middle was a clear narrow path, and the one to the left showed nothing but fading darkness.

  I glanced down to my arm, bruised and tattered, scraps of dried blood filling the cracks of my scars. It was obvious we were to take the middle route, but I was curious to see what the third path on the right had in store. There was a light green mist, only looking deeper I

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  saw the darker part of vines coiling around the walls; it was odd.

  “What is that?” I asked aloud.

  A few mumbles and sighs, but no answer. I waited a couple of minutes, but still, no one gave a thought to respond. Devon came beside me, his hands in his pockets for warmth. He was looking at the green smoke as well, the scent like a drug.

  “Don’t,” he put his arm out in front of me before I could move. “Don’t Kaylin.” He released.

  A breeze blasted to my face, not cold but warm and humid. Don’t...I heard, but the tone grew more intense as it rapidly repeated the word. Beth and Sage nodded slowly, creeping forward until they reached the middle of the path. I swallowed and looked back at the mist, following the trail of my mother and Devon.