Rise of the Arcanist Series: Books 1 - 6

by Elizabeth Kirke

  So, of course, all eyes turned to me.

  “I don’t know that much.”

  TS shook his head. “Seems like you know enough to suggest it.”

  “During the last year of my internship at MES I had to take some classes, remember? I took one on rare magics.”

  “I remember,” Jen said, as the others nodded. “You shared some of it with me, it was fascinating. I wished they were offering it in Maryland.”

  I shrugged. “We did a whole unit on minotaurs and labyrinths.”

  “I think we’re going to need a crash course on that unit then, Mariana,” TS said.

  Where did I even start?

  ~~~***~~~

  “Okay,” I said after thinking for a couple of minutes. “Minotaurs are shifters but instead of their ability to shift being dependent on environmental factors—” I gestured to myself, then to TS. “Or phases of the moon, they can only shift within the confines of a labyrinth. The catch is, they have to make it. They’re basically non-magics all the time, but they can… sort of… open a doorway between um… planes of existence? They create this magical portal and then just make a world on the other side.”

  “So, we’re on a different plane?” Charlie asked. “Like a faerie hive?”

  “No,” TS said. “Faerie hives exist in a pocket between planes; neither here nor ther… bloody hell, that’s it!”

  “What’s it?” I asked.

  “Tom and I got called to deal with a faerie hive once, ages ago, and when only one of us was in the hive there was this sort of interference with our bond! It got all fuzzy and strange. We were told it was because some of the hive exists on another plane. If we’re really in a labyrinth and we’re entirely on a separate plane…”

  “Then our bonds would be completely blocked!” Jen cried. “Just like me and Rak!” She frowned. “But… then why can’t you sense Thomas now?”

  TS’ face fell.

  “There are seven,” I said, trying to recall my textbook. “A labyrinth occupies the same space, in a weird metaphysical way, on multiple planes. Seven doorways, that lead to seven layers.”

  Everyone looked around, obviously counting the staircases.

  “So, which one leads out?” Charlie asked.

  “None,” I answered grimly. They all looked at me in alarm. “Once we’re inside, we can only travel between the seven layers. Each time we get to the… the end, if you can call it that, we return here to choose another.”

  “Then how do we get out?” Jen cried.

  “One of these doorways leads to the minotaur. We…” I took a deep breath. “We have to fight. If we win, there’s supposed to be another door that leads out. If we lose… the minotaur eats us.”

  “Brilliant,” snorted TS.

  “Supposed to be?” Jen said.

  I shrugged. “Not a lot of people live to get out…”

  “Which means that Danio and Thomas already escaped or they’re wandering around one of these other layers,” Charlie said. “If we choose the one with the minotaur, assuming we can beat him… then they’re still trapped in here? What happens to people still in the labyrinth if he dies?”

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “Does it have to be a labyrinth?” asked Jen. “Are we sure there’s nothing else…”

  “You said it all fits,” TS said to me. “Is it just the seven doors and our bonds?”

  “No,” I said. “The minotaur makes the realities. That’s how we were able to travel to that scary forest and why you couldn’t sense the sunset. There was no sunset there. Those vines, those shadow things… we couldn’t figure out what kind of magics they were because they might not be real. The minotaur just made them up.”

  “So, nothing here is real?” Jen ventured.

  “No, the minotaur makes it real,” I said. “Real and deadly, if it wants. They say there are also types of magics that like to hang around labyrinths – the minotaur lets them live here because they scare the people in the labyrinth and in return sometimes they get to feed on the victims.”

  “Why would the minotaur want people taking its prey?” Jen asked.

  “That's why the rest of this makes sense,” I said. “Minotaurs have two ways they feed; the first is at the end of the labyrinth where they actually, you know, physically eat you.” They all nodded. I took a deep breath suppressing a shudder. “The second is that they feed off of negative emotions. Like being afraid you're going to get stuck in the tunnel and die or TS and I in the dark with those things attacking us. It scares you and the minotaur was actually feeding off of those emotions. The seven doors and the fact that all of this seems designed to traumatize us, not to mention that Jen’s and TS’ bonds are messed up, that's what makes it a labyrinth.”

  “I gotta say,” Charlie grumbled. “That tunnel certainly was terrifying.” He wrapped his arms around himself, eyes dim as coals. “I hope Dani and Thomas are alright.”

  “Me too,” TS sighed. “I wish I could sense Tom…” He brightened a bit. “But that means that when my bond with Shannon was blocked it wasn’t something happening to her, it was me. So, she’s probably safe.”

  “Rak too,” Jen said, looking relieved.

  “The question now,” TS said, “is do we wait here and hope that Thomas and Danio make their way here as well or do we risk going into one of these tunnels and hope that we either find them or that we get back out again?”

  “Either way,” said Charlie. “I think we need to stick together.”

  “We won't be able to stay here.” They all looked at me in concern. “A depiction of a traditional labyrinth is a wandering circle that leads to a center, right? Even though we have our choice of which layer we enter it’s all still leading to the layer where the minotaur is. We're just going to keep circling through here. Whether you realize you're in a labyrinth or not you have to go to different layers without knowing what's on the other side. Even though it seemed like TS and I were just wandering around in the forest, in reality we were on the exact path the minotaur wanted us on. Assuming you don't die in one of the layers, you eventually get out and end up right back here again. But the whole point is that the minotaur wants you to keep moving. I don't think we can stay in the central area. I don't know what will happen but I think, by design, sooner or later we're going to be forced somehow to leave.”

  “I'd rather leave on our own terms and to be able to carefully choose which door we want to go through,” TS said. We all nodded in agreement. “Right then,” he said. “Well, this is the one we've just come from.” He nodded toward the stairway he and I had come down. “Assuming that I'll be able to sense Tom when we're on the same layer, and obviously, it’s possible to meet up back up in this room, I think it's safe to assume he wasn't in that forest.”

  “What about Danio though?” asked Charlie.

  “He's not in there either,” I said confidently. “Remember, even though we were all turned around, the minotaur is sending us in the same direction. If Dani was in there at the same time we were, we would have found him.”

  “That means we can rule out the one Jen and I were in too,” said Charlie, nodding toward the other one he had marked.

  “Leaving these four and the one with water on it,” TS said grimly. He sniffed at the wet one. “I can say for certain Thomas was here, along with whatever else I smell, but I can't say for sure if he went in and came out.”

  We all studied it. I felt a little heat from Charlie and knew that he wasn't fond of the idea of going into a stairway that had that much water on the outside of it. I looked at the drying watermarks on the floor and inspiration struck.

  “I don't think Thomas is still in this one.” I pointed to the watermarks on the ground. “This water obviously came from up those stairs.” They all nodded and I went on. “But the whole time we've been here there hasn't been any more water at all and this was a lot of water. So, assuming the layer exists on a separate plane, I don't think the water is coming through unless the doorway is ope
n for someone to actively travel to or from that plane.”

  “Makes sense,” TS said.

  “Now, maybe he wouldn't have been able to but I think if Thomas started up the stairs, then got hit by all this water, he wouldn't have kept going.”

  “No,” agreed TS. “But was he already too far up to turn around?”

  “Well, this entire place is supposed to mess with us, right?” asked Jen. “The tunnel Charlie and I were in seemed perfectly normal for miles before we realized it was getting smaller. It sounds like the forest you were in didn’t start off threatening either. I don't think that you’d walk up the stairs and just get hit by this much water right away. I think it would be at the end.”

  “That much water would certainly freak me out,” Charlie said.

  “That's a good point,” TS said. “I think you're right, Mariana. The water would have come out when Tom did. It’s safe to rule this one out.”

  “Four left,” Jen said grimly.

  TS slowly wandered the room, sniffing carefully. “I’m pretty sure Thomas went into this one.” He sniffed again and his tail wagged. “In fact, I think Danio did too!” His tail wagged a few more times, then drooped as he nosed the floor. “I’m afraid though, that I think whatever… whatever that foul thing I smell is went in too.”

  “Then what are we waiting for?” Charlie asked.

  “Everyone stay close,” TS said. “Any other tips about labyrinths?”

  I thought for a moment, then shook my head. “That’s all I can think of.”

  “Right then.” TS shook vigorously, then trotted forward toward the stairway.

  Chapter Eight

  Thomas

  It was immediately obvious that this was not the park; for one thing, I still couldn't sense Tethys and for another everything smelled strange. It didn't smell at all like the park where I was before – I should have been able to smell myself.

  I considered the possibility that the rain had completely washed away my scent, but it was dry here; far too dry for it to have been raining anytime recently. I hadn’t spent that much time in the clearing, but even the area surrounding me looked different, wrong. This was not the right forest. I was confused and quite honestly starting to feel a little scared.

  I circled the small clearing, carefully sniffing for anything familiar; nothing. I sensed movement near the tree I had come out of. I whirled, but nothing was there. Carefully, I crept back over. There was a foul smell in the air; it wasn’t the rotten stench of blood magic, just unpleasant more than anything else, but it was a strange scent I couldn’t identify. Had someone, or something, come through the tree after me?

  Yet, the forest didn’t seem different; everything was still and silent. If something had followed me, it hadn’t left a trace, still, I turned warily in a small circle, scanning my surroundings.

  A strange crunching sound caught my attention and I turned in the direction it was coming from.

  The hole in the tree was closing!

  “No!” I cried, darting forward.

  The bark was rapidly covering the hole, moving like it was unrolling from the edges. It was already too small for me! I grabbed it, trying to break the bark open again to make the hole large enough to fit through. It didn’t look sharp, but slashed deeply, painfully, into my palm. I released it instinctively and it rolled back into place, sealing up the tree.

  “No, come on!”

  Stupid. I should have known the hole might disappear just like the cave on the beach; should have turned and gone right back in as soon as I realized I was in the wrong place again.

  I pounded on the tree for a minute; I should have been able to break through the bark. Hell, I was a vampire; I should have been able to rip the entire damn tree down if I wanted to. I didn't so much as chip it. I stepped back, breathing hard with frustration and examined my sliced-up hand. First that beach and now this. What was happening to me?

  Wherever I was, it was clear I wasn't getting back through the tree. I looked around, considering my options; not that I had many. In fact, I only had two. I could either start walking away from the tree and try my luck elsewhere or I could stay right here and hope that the hole would open again. Neither prospect felt very promising. I looked around at the trees, taking stock of where I was; it looked like a peaceful enough forest, but the ocean had been deceptively calm and that hadn't worked out very well. While I wasn't concerned about drowning in the forest I wasn't going to discount the possibility of dangers here either.

  Suddenly, I wasn't feeling all that confident about my ability to handle things. My scorecard for the day against nature – if anything about this could be considered natural – was a big fat zero. I wondered if I had just stayed put before, would I have had to deal with miles of unforgiving beach – what if I had waited by the cliffs where the stairway had vanished? Probably the tide would have come in anyway and I would have needed to go even farther to go to reach the tunnel high up the cliff. But who knew?

  I sat down by a nearby tree and decided to just wait for a few minutes. The adrenaline I injected myself with was helping, but it was a temporary boost. If I was on the verge of traipsing around a potentially dangerous forest, getting off my feet for a couple of minutes wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. To make matters worse, it was hard to take deep breaths and my chest was tight, probably from inhaling water.

  I gingerly licked a little healing accelerant into my palm while I sat, trying to figure out exactly how I ended up in this mess and what could possibly be causing it. I couldn't think of any sort of magic that could do this. For a minute, I tried to figure out why the phrase “seven doorways” sounded familiar, but decided it was probably from a movie or something.

  My leg was still stinging, so I rolled up my wet jeans to examine the strange wound and found that it wasn't healing nearly as fast as I would have expected. I rubbed a little healing accelerant into it and tugged my pant leg back down, wringing out a little water as I did. Yeah, getting off my feet was nice; in addition to some rest, it was giving the blisters from my wet socks time to heal. Of course, finding a way to dry my clothes would have been welcome; it was a little chilly in the forest, especially wet.

  A wind suddenly kicked up, lashing the leaves and swaying the tops of the trees. I watched in concern until it died down. Was it an innocent breeze or the start of something quite a bit more sinister? The eerie sensation I was being watched hit me and I surreptitiously sniffed and looked around. The foul scent was gone, now all I could smell was just me and the trees.

  I sighed, I probably wasn't going to be able to sit here much longer, but which way to go? I looked around, considering my options. With a sigh, I stood, picked a random direction, and started walking. I had barely left the clearing when I heard a crunching sound, the same sound the tree made when it was closing!

  I snapped my head around and, to my surprise, the tree was opening again! Just as I was about to run over so that I wouldn't miss it when it closed, I realized that if it was opening it probably meant someone else was coming in. I ducked behind a nearby tree, ready to dart through the opening as soon as it was clear. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was completely caught off guard as a figure emerged.

  “Danio?!” I cried.

  He spun in my direction, looking stunned “T-Thomas?!”

  “You would not believe—” I started. He crashed into me and pulled me into a hug that would put a werewolf to shame. His heartrate sped up, his breath hitched, and for a moment I honestly thought he was going to cry. It made me completely forget what I was about to say; after more than forty years of friendship, I could count the times I had seen him this emotional on one hand, shell-shock incidents aside.

  “Are you okay?” he demanded. “Shit, I never should have let you… why are you wet?” He pulled back with a frown, eyes still somber and gray. Before I could answer he lifted one hand and rubbed his fingers together. “And salty? Why are you covered in salt water?”

  “There’s
no time!” I grabbed him by the shoulder and tried to shove him back into the hole in the tree.

  “Ow! Why did you—” he started as he slammed into solid trunk. “Whoa, where’s the hole?!”

  “Oh no,” I groaned. I hadn’t even heard it close this time, although the way things seemed to be going I wouldn’t be surprised if it had closed silently.

  “What the hell?”

  “We’re stuck here. Wherever here is.”

  “The park?” Danio suggested.

  “No, it’s not.”

  “It’s not what?”

  “The park,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t know where we are, but it’s not where we went into the tree. Based on the ocean, I don’t think we’re even in New York at all.”

  “The… ocean?”

  “There was an ocean, you didn’t go through one?”

  “No…” He eyed me skeptically. “I went down into the tree to check things out, saw a room that gave me the creeps, then turned around and left. When I came back out you were standing — holy shit, where are the others?!” Danio looked around in alarm. “They were right behind me!”

  “What others?”

  “TS, and Char, and Mariana, and, I’m sorry, we brought Jen.”

  “You brought Jen?!” I wasn’t surprised she would have come to find me, but I was hoping she’d stayed safe and clear of the park.

  “Jon ordered us here! Well, after he relieved us of duty because the board banned all agents from the park…”

  “What?!”

  Instead of answering, he studied the tree, eyes churning. “Do you think they’re trapped in there?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t sense TS.”

  “I know, he called right after you hung up on me.”

  “I didn’t hang up! I went down into the tree and the line went dead.”

  Danio groaned. “Of course it did.”

  “I tried to come right back out, just like you did. But I ended up in an ocean!”

  “An ocean?!”

  I shrugged and spread my arms. “That’s why I’m covered in salt water.”