Page 173
There’s someone in the corn ahead of me. I think it’s Candy. She’s back to her old self. No Chihiro glamour. Leather jacket and Chuck Taylors over black jeans. It’s wonderful to see her again. I run to catch up, but my legs don’t want to cooperate.
If I had the Room of Thirteen Doors back, I wouldn’t be lost in this Kansas weed patch. I’d be me again and everything would be all right. I’ve got to get it back. No matter what. All right. Start a list. First action item, get the Room back. What’s the second thing I need to do? Get home. Maybe that should be first? I don’t know. I just work here. You’ll have to ask the manager.
I turn a corner and I’m home. There’s L.A. spread out before me. The Hollywood sign on the hills. Capitol Records building over there. The Chinese Theatre there. Musso’s in between. I should catch up with Candy. See if she wants to go for chicken and waffles.
Thinking about food wasn’t smart.
I fall on my knees and vomit. It’s full of thorns and bugs. I get back up and head for L.A.
And bump into another goddamn row of corn.
I’m starting to think I’m lost.
I look up.
Mr. Muninn’s floodlights are overhead. That means I’m back in the cavern. Have I been here the whole time? I don’t want to be in the cavern. I want to go home. The maze took me to Hell. Why won’t it take me back to Max Overdrive?
Maybe I’m going in circles. Let’s stop and think.
I’m in a maze. Candy and I walked through it in a few hours. The maze fits in Muninn’s cavern, so it can’t be that big. Of course, it’s magic, so maybe it’s bigger on the inside than the outside. Still. If I go in one direction long enough, I have to come out or to a wall or something. Right? There’s no such thing as an infinite maze, is there?
Only one way to find out.
I reach back for the na’at, but have to use my Kissi arm because my right isn’t working too well. Extend the na’at into a sword. Then hack at a row of corn.
It comes down exactly like dead cornstalks should. I step through into the next row and hack again. And again. The dry corn falls in heaps before me. This is such a good idea. I’m really smart. I’ll be home in no time.
The only downside is that each time I cut through a row, it sends dust and pieces of corn into the air. After a few rows, I’m in a corn snowstorm. And I’m pissing off all the bugs. Wait. Are the bugs even real? I can’t remember. A lot of this has been real and some hasn’t. Or the other way around. Fuck it. Keep cutting.
I plow through row after row after row, looking back every now and then to see if I’m moving in a straight line. It gets harder as I go and the corn dust gets thicker. After a while I stop looking. There are too many insects and it’s starting to freak me out a little. Also, the corn is growing thorns. It cuts my hands and arms as I slice through the rows. The corn keeps changing and the light grows dim. I’m hacking through the woods leading up to the Wormwood mansion in Griffith Park. Only now I know it’s a hallucination. I’m in the corn maze. Just keep cutting. Just keep going.
How long have I been in here? I take out my phone. It’s dead. No chargers in Hell.
Man, I’m thirsty.
I look back the way I’ve come.
Centipedes. Spiders with Nick’s face. A tentacle thing sprouts heads as it moves. Burgess. Quay. Charlie Anpu. Their teeth are little hatpins that the insects cling to like the cornstalks.
My legs get weak. I’m hot. Then cold. The insects mass around my feet.
I smash headfirst through the next couple of corn rows. Get up the na’at and slice through the rest. But I’m not going fast enough.
The insects are on my legs. I feel them crawl inside my leg where I cut myself. They’re moving thr
ough my veins and arteries.
I run.
Someone is up ahead.
If it’s my father, I’m going to punch him in his fucking face.
It isn’t my father.
Hesediel slits her throat and falls into the tank.
I jump for her.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173 (Reading here)
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185