The Maze (The Coven, Book 2)

by Erica Stevens

  The pulsing lights emphasized the blues, yellows, whites, reds, and oranges of their old, dingy costumes. Torn in certain places, their clothing revealed red and rotting skin peeling away to expose the muscle and bone beneath the jagged tears. Each clown’s bulbous, red nose flashed, and their large feet thudded against the glass as they walked.

  Mario, Karen, and Eric were at the back, edging away from the clowns closing in on them. When the mirrors directly behind Karen shattered, glass flew over the three of them as two more clowns emerged with evil, hideous grins on their monstrous faces.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Come on!” Mario yelled over the drumbeat vibrating the air.

  Karen’s eyes were wild, and her nostrils flared as her chest heaved. Mario seized her arm and started dragging her toward them. Karen’s worst fear was clowns, and she looked close to a breakdown as she was confronted with her nightmare once again.

  Pulling on her arm, Reid tugged Avery back a few steps. She shook his grasp off and, jerking Talia forward, pushed her at Reid.

  “Get her out of here!” she yelled above the cacophony.

  “Avery, wait!” Reid shouted.

  She dodged his grasping hand and pushed Talia into his arms. He staggered back a few steps as the weight of the girl and the slope of the mirrors caused him to lose his balance. Talia wrapped her arms around him and clung like a burr as Reid struggled and failed to maintain his position on the glass.

  The next set of mirrors shattered as Eric glided past Avery like he had skates strapped to his feet. Placing her hand against an intact mirror, Avery used it to help her up the slope while Mario and Karen slid toward her.

  Avery’s feet slipped, and she skidded a few feet back before bracing herself against a bowed mirror jutting a few feet into the hall. Knowing her efforts were futile, she remained against the mirror while she waited for Karen and Mario to reach her.

  When they were closer, Mario placed his hand in the small of Karen’s back and shoved her toward Avery. Karen’s eyes locked on Avery as she kept her hands out and her feet braced apart.

  “Karen!” One of the clowns called; its teeth chattered grotesquely, and its high-pitched voice rebounded off the mirrors. “We’re going to eat you, Karen! We’re going to stuff ourselves on your flesh.”

  Avery grabbed Karen at the same time the mirrors directly behind Mario shattered. Karen threw her arms up to protect her face, and Avery ducked her head as glass exploded over them. She stifled a cry when jagged shards cut through her long-sleeved shirt and sliced her arms.

  Blue-and-white hands, the size of dinner plates, reached out of the hole and seized Karen. Avery clung to her as the hands pulled her toward the gaping hole of the broken mirror. They became locked in a horrible game of tug-of-war as Karen’s fingers dug into Avery’s arms and her eyes rolled in her head.

  Then, the clown gave a hard yank that broke their hold on each other and Karen was pulled away. Before she could think, Avery lunged for her and lost her footing. Her teeth clamped down on her tongue, and blood filled her mouth as she crashed to her knees. “No!” she yelped, spraying blood over the glass.

  The chatter of the clowns increased, and she realized her blood excited them. Placing her hand against the bowed mirror, Avery wiped the blood away from her lips and rose. Karen’s arms flailed as she beat against the clown and her screams echoed throughout the hall.

  Mario reached for her, but before he could get to her, a red and yellow hand yanked him away. He yelped as he spun toward the hand pulling him backward. Avery dug inside herself and drew forth her power as the glass of the bowed mirror she’d been leaning against shattered. Twisting to the side, she ducked her head as she tried to protect her face.

  She lost the power she’d been drawing forth as more glass cut her and fresh blood pooled forth. When she lifted her head again, she discovered Karen had her hands braced against the frame of a broken mirror to keep the clown from pulling her inside.

  More clowns were coming toward them. As they clacked their jaws eagerly together, flecks of paint peeled off their faces to reveal the rotting flesh beneath. Avery lunged for Karen, but when hands snaked out of the broken mirror beside her, she stumbled back. She almost fell again as she tried to avoid their searching grasp and six-inch claws.

  Avery dodged the hands again as she searched out the deep well of power running through her. Eager to do some damage, it swelled to the forefront and burst out of her on a hurricane force wind that whipped through the hall. The impact of the wind knocked Karen and Mario out of the clowns’ hold and onto the floor. The approaching clowns were thrown onto the glass-littered floor.

  Grasping the frame of a broken mirror, Avery ignored the shards digging into her palm as she pulled herself a few feet forward and bent to grab Karen’s arm. “We have to go!” she screamed over the infuriated chatter of the clowns regaining their feet.

  She helped Karen rise as Mario slid toward them. Avery and Karen coasted down the hill while mirrors shattered around them. She ignored the glass slicing her skin as their momentum picked up.

  Avery’s heart pounded against her ribcage as Mario’s rapid panting sounded in her ears, and Karen’s whimpers propelled her toward the end of the corridor. They were closing in on the exit, but she couldn’t help feeling they wouldn’t make it in time.

  She could practically feel the hot breath of the clowns against her neck as their chatter became more excited. The clowns wouldn’t sound that enthused unless they were closing in on them, but Avery didn’t dare look back to see where they were. She was afraid even the slightest hesitation would spell her demise.

  The end of the hall came into view; everyone was gathered there, waving and jumping up and down as they shouted to them. Avery couldn’t hear what they were yelling over the breaking glass and the increasing noise of the clowns, but the urgency in their movements sent a fresh burst of adrenaline through her. Reid was trying to come toward them, but every time he made it a few feet forward, he would slide back again.

  The end of the corridor was only fifteen feet away… ten feet… five feet…

  Avery pulled Karen in front of her and pushed her forward. Reid clutched Karen’s arms and thrust her behind him as Avery glided toward him. He grasped her hands and pulling her against him, enveloped her in his firm embrace as they stumbled out of the hall with Mario on their heels.

  Karen collapsed onto the floor, and when Avery’s knees buckled, Reid went to the ground with her. She bent over as she panted for air while Mario fell beside her and rolled over to lie on his back. Avery cast a frantic glance back to make sure the clowns weren’t still coming after them. She discovered a solid wall had replaced the hallway.

  “Are you okay?” Reid inquired as he smoothed the hair back from her face and cupped her cheeks.

  She lifted her head to look at him. “Yes.”

  He kissed her tenderly before sitting back on his heels and clasping her wrists. Lifting her arms, he inspected the numerous nicks and cuts marring her skin. The fury clouding his silver eyes turned them nearly black as he pulled the glass from her forearms before turning her hands over and removing more shards from her palms. Sandra and Isla knelt before Karen and helped to clean her the best they could while Eric worked on Mario.

  “I’ll kill him for this,” Reid muttered as he flicked aside more glass.

  Avery didn’t have to ask who, she knew he was talking about Regan, but Regan was far stronger than he was. If Reid went after him, Regan would destroy him. She had to protect him as much as possible; the only problem was, Regan knew how much Reid meant to her, and he would exploit that every way he could. She couldn’t let that happen.

  Maybe if Regan believed Reid didn’t mean as much to her as he did, she would be able to protect him better, but she had no idea how to make that happen, other than breaking up with him. Avery inwardly recoiled at the thought; it would tear her heart out to give him up.

  Leaning closer to Reid, she inhaled his crisp, sandalwood sce
nt as he lifted the end of his shirt to wipe away the blood oozing from her cuts. How could she ever give up someone so gentle and loving? But then, it was better to let him go than see him destroyed.

  The tears burning her eyes had nothing to do with the pain of her body and everything to do with the anguish tearing at her heart. If she distanced herself from Reid, Regan would still know she cared for him; he’d never believe she just stopped loving him, but would he be more inclined to leave Reid alone if they were apart?

  She didn’t know the answer, but she’d do whatever it took to keep Reid and the others safe.

  “You scared me, Avery,” he said as he removed the last piece of glass.

  Avery flexed her hands and winced as the movement caused her palms to sting, but it could have been worse. “I was scared too,” she admitted and couldn’t suppress a shudder as she recalled those hideous hands grasping for her.

  Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her against his chest and kissed the top of her head. In his arms, she could almost forget where they were and what was happening—almost, but not quite, as the scent of blood and sweat filled the air, along with the stench of terror.

  “I hate clowns,” Karen said as she brushed away the sweaty hair clinging to her flushed face.

  “You’re not the only one,” Avery mumbled.

  “I agree,” Mario said.

  “Thank you for staying with me,” Karen said to Mario.

  Their eyes locked before he grinned sheepishly. “I had no choice; you were in my way.”

  Karen chuckled and turned to Avery. “Thank you for coming back for me.”

  Avery clasped her hand. “Always.”

  “Always,” Karen said as she released Avery’s hand.

  “Was that a nightmare of yours?” Talia asked from where she sat against the wall.

  “No,” Karen answered. “Clowns are the nightmare of mine.”

  “She won’t even go to the circus because of them,” Avery said.

  “I can’t help it if they freak me out.”

  “Will we all have to face our nightmares?” Talia tremulously asked.

  “I can almost guarantee it,” Eric answered as he picked a piece of glass from Mario’s shoulder.

  Tears spilled from Talia’s eyes and rolled down her cheeks. A sinking feeling of despair filled Avery; she had the awful feeling Talia wouldn’t be strong enough to handle this.

  CHAPTER 14

  Avery slid down to sit on the ground beside Reid and rested her head on his shoulder. Every muscle in her body ached, and the gashes on her arms and hands throbbed. Her feet protested every step she took through the convoluted hallways. She was hungry, thirsty, tired, and completely confused as to where they were in this place. For all she knew, they could be sitting where they started.

  It felt like they’d been wandering the endless maze for hours, but they hadn’t encountered any more nightmarish halls, and she was beginning to feel like a rat looking for the cheese. But at least the rat had its nose to guide it toward its goal; they had nothing.

  Occasionally, the sizzling of wax from the candles penetrated the silence. The flickering light dancing across the walls illuminated the tired faces surrounding her.

  “What time is it?” she asked Reid.

  He turned his wrist over to check the sports watch his parents gave him for his eighteenth birthday. “Almost three o’clock.”

  So they’d been trapped here for a few hours, and she didn’t expect to reach the end of this maze until each of them faced their worst fears. As much as she didn’t want to have to go through another nightmare, she preferred to encounter something like the hallway of clowns rather than continuing to endure this endless nothing. At least then, she would feel as if they were getting somewhere.

  “We’re going to die in here,” Talia mumbled.

  “Oh, shut up,” Sandra growled.

  Avery agreed with Sandra but didn’t express it. Talia was frightened, confused, and did not belong here, but she’d been mumbling the same thing since they left Karen’s clowns behind, and it was starting to get on Avery’s nerves.

  “Come on,” Reid said. “We’ve rested long enough.”

  Avery lifted her head from his shoulder as he rose and turned to offer her his hand. Biting her lip, she suppressed a whimper as she rose. Her legs protested having to support her weight, but they didn’t give out on her. Reid released her hand, and she stepped into line behind Karen and in front of Talia. After the hall of clowns, she realized she was better off positioning herself between the two most vulnerable people instead of trying to lead them through here.

  “What if we get to the end of this maze and he decides to keep us here?” Talia whimpered.

  “He’ll let us leave,” Reid said from the front of the line. “He didn’t have to let Avery go the first time, but he did.”

  “He might not let us go if he thinks we can bind him again,” Eric said. “He does have more bones in that cave we could use.”

  “Yeah, because it worked so well the last time,” Sandra said from the back of the group.

  “We could use the spell the past coven cast and forfeit our powers,” Isla suggested.

  “Never!” Sandra hissed.

  “And then we’d only be passing the problem on to our descendants,” Avery said. “We need to come up with something to stop him for good.”

  “Besides,” Eric said, “I doubt that whoever freed him will help us in binding him again.”

  “As soon as we get out of here, we’ll find his skull and whoever is helping him and stop them,” Reid said.

  “When I find out who freed him, I’m going to beat the crap out of them!” Eric snarled.

  “And I’m going to help,” Mario said.

  Neither Mario or Eric had ever struck Avery as fighters, but they looked ready to tear this place apart with their bare hands. In the beginning, she’d considered Isla, Sandra, Eric, and Mario some of those most likely candidates to have released Regan, but she was rethinking it now. If it were one of them, they would have known Regan was coming back tonight; it didn’t make sense that they’d willingly put themselves into this awful situation when they could have avoided it.

  But that left the rest of the coven as suspects, and she couldn’t picture one of them doing this either. She hated not being able to completely trust anyone here except for Reid, Karen, and Talia. It only added to the crushing fear hanging like a lead weight around her neck.

  She followed Karen around another turn and came to an abrupt halt when she saw the metal tunnel leading into the ground. She could only see fifteen feet inside before darkness swallowed whatever lay beyond. A tingling sense of dread pricked her skin as she strained to see further inside, but it was impossible.

  “Um,” Eric said. His face had paled, and the look in his eyes was one of a haunted man. “I think this is mine.”

  “Are you sure?” Reid asked.

  “Are any of you afraid of tunnels?” Eric asked.

  They all looked at each other before shaking their heads.

  “Then, yes, I’m sure it’s mine.”

  “We’re going in then,” Reid said.

  “Do we all have to go in there?” Talia squeaked.

  “Yes,” Avery said. “Eric, what can we expect when we enter it?”

  “Well,” he said as his eyes remained on the tunnel, “rats, snakes, bugs, water, not being able to see, and maybe a ceiling collapse.”

  “Will there be kitchen sinks too?” Mario quipped.

  “It’s a possibility.”

  “Why tunnels?” Isla asked.

  Eric wiped the sweat from his forehead. “When I was a kid, we drove through the Ted Williams Tunnel, and it scared me for some reason. I started having nightmares about walking through them and things attacking me afterward. Or I would dream I was driving through a tunnel and it would collapse around me.”

  “I am not going in there!” Talia cried. “It’s a death trap.”

  “Please, feel
free to stay here,” Sandra drawled, giving Talia a cold smile.

  When Talia sobbed, Avery patted her arm, but she had no idea how to handle Talia’s pending breakdown on top of everything else.

  “It’ll be all right, you’ll see,” Karen said. “We’ve got six witches here to protect us.”

  Though her bottom lip continued to tremble, Talia’s sobs gradually subsided.

  Sandra rolled her eyes before lifting her hand before her. “Ignite!” Sandra commanded, and a flame leapt to life over her palm.

  A chorus of ignites filled the air, and more flames came to life over the hands of the coven. The colorful fires emboldened Avery as each of them held a flame the same shade as the color of the dust they used. Sandra’s was red, Reid’s silver, Isla’s white, Mario’s green, Eric’s gold, and hers was blue.

  “I think we should enter walking four across,” Avery said. “Eric, you walk with Isla, Mario, and me. Reid, Sandra, Talia, and Karen will go in front of us.”

  They nodded their agreement and Reid, Sandra, Talia, and Karen fell into line before her. She wanted Karen and Talia in front of her so she could protect them, but when Talia clutched Reid’s arm and pressed against him, a bolt of jealousy tore through her.

  It was the first time she’d seen any indication that Rosie had been right about Talia, and she suspected it wouldn’t be the last as Talia gazed up at Reid with big, doe eyes and the hint of a smile on her lips. Avery clamped her teeth together as she resisted pulling Talia away from him.

  Reid didn’t seem to notice Talia as he lifted his flame higher to chase away some of the shadows, but Sandra did. She glowered at Talia before glancing at Avery who tore her attention away from Talia. She could figure out her friendship with Talia once they were free of this maze; until then, she had to keep the girl alive and get her out of here.

  When the group ahead of them entered the tunnel, their flames cast a dull glow over the metal walls. Taking a deep breath, Avery gathered her courage before stepping in behind them. Their footsteps thudded off the metal floor and reverberated against the silver walls as they crept forward.