Page 10 of A Monarch's Fall

“Enough!” I shouted at Dylan, pushing his hands away from me. “Why are you here?” I demanded to know. “Why are you in Ardens, in this maze?”

“We’re here for you, girl,” Fredrick answered. “You’re something special, apparently, and we’ve been sent to get you out of here and to safety.”

“You knew of the attack from True North?” I accused.

“We got intel about a week ago that something was planned,” Dylan answered.

“We didn’t know it would be on this scale,” Fredrick continued, “But we’re here for you. Saw you come in here, and we blew a hole right in the side to get to you. Bloody stupid thing to do. That boy you just saw splattered tried to warn us. Said only death was waiting for us in here. We should have listened.” He shook his head and looked away from where his dead friend was.

“Listen, Percy. This is just a maze. It’s just an enchantment,” a bird cawed loudly above us. “See that,” Dylan smiled, and it was almost like I remembered, carefree, boyish. “That’s how we get out of here: we follow that crow, it’s guiding us to the centre,” he explained.

“And a path to freedom will open,” I said.

“Exactly.” He smiled.

I shook my head. The maze was angry. It wouldn’t let us reach the centre.

“It’s angry,” I said, “I don’t know how to explain it, but I think I can feel the maze, sort of. Before you decided to blow a hole in it, it was quiet and peaceful, like it was protecting me. Now, it’s upset. It never moved like that with me, alone. The walls appeared slowly, carefully, turned me around gently,” I explained.

“Why do you think it's upset now?” Fredrick asked.

I shrugged. “Might have something to do with blowing it up,” I suggested.

Was the maze sentient? Was it thinking? Did it really have feelings? Was it even truly alive? How far did inter-coven magic go to create a truly living monster?

“You think we’re not getting out of here?” Fredrick asked.

“We just follow the crow!” Dylan said angrily, pushing himself to his feet and helping me to stand. I wanted to push him away, but I knew I couldn’t stand or walk on my own. Not with my leg in the shape it was, I could hardly put any weight on it.

“That hasn’t been working for a while now. We need to try something different,” Fredrick replied.

“Have you got a better plan?” Dylan asked indignantly, and I knew he was upset at being questioned; it was in his tone, in the way his back stiffened.

“No, but maybe Percy does,” Fredrick suggested and set his stare on me.

I nodded.

“Sasha, a Petra witch, told me that the maze was created by inter-coven magic. That it was Petra and Flores’ magic that made the maze. She said,” I hesitated. “She said we could control it, her and me, together,” I explained.

“There’s no Petra witch here,” Fredrick replied softly.

“No, but I am Flores, and I think — I think maybe I could control it. I mean, it didn’t seem to have a problem with me before you lot turned up. Maybe I can, I don’t know, speak to it with my magic. Maybe I could calm it enough that we could follow that crow to the centre and then receive a clear path out?” I suggested.

Fredrick nodded. “It’s worth a try,” he agreed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Percy, you’re injured. You can hardly stand, and now you want to try to use your magic? It’s too dangerous. I won’t allow it. You could die,” Dylan protested.

“You won’t allow me?” I questioned, astonished. “Since when have I taken orders from you? Since when have you had any authority over me and my magic and what I can and can’t do?”

“I’m the captain of this mission. Everyone is under my authority here. I know you might not like it, Percy, but I’m not just a servant student, I am the Lord heir of Viridis, I have standing, and I’m not just a foot soldier in this war,” he told me sternly. “I need to make decisions; sometimes, difficult decisions, but decisions that keep the most people alive and push forward the cause of The New Foundation. This isn’t a game. And you’re an asset that we can’t risk losing,” he continued and lowered his voice almost pleading, “I can’t risk losing you,” he finished.

For a moment, I was speechless. So he was a member of The New Foundation, like Katrina. I wasn’t surprised; he hated Selene, Borealis in general and the House system. But the way his tone switched to such a pleading softness, I saw the boy I knew, truly for the first time since I had awoken, and he was scared. Scared of his responsibilities, scared of what could happen. But I had changed since the night of the Summer Ball. I wasn’t the same girl. The girl he knew had never truly known danger, had never had to make her own hard choices with life-or-death consequences, and the girl he knew had never taken a life. I wasn’t the same innocent flower witch.

“I understand your concern, Dylan,” I began, “And I appreciate it. I do. But here, in this maze, you aren’t in charge. The maze is. I think I can help us get out of here alive, and so I have to try,” I told him.

I needed to get back to Selene. My side still burned with the ache I knew she was experiencing. Whatever True North, The New Foundation, or any other rebellion had planned or wanted me for was irrelevant. I wasn’t theirs, and I could never betray Selene.

All that mattered was escaping the maze, then I had to figure out how to find Selene and get us both to safety. Pain was irrelevant. My stupid, probably broken, leg was irrelevant. I would crawl to her if I had to.