Page 27 of Minding the Minotaur (Monsters of the Labyrinth #1)

A RLO

“Sammy,” I shout as my beloved crumples to the ground.

I bound over to her side. Kneel down and take her lifeless form in my arms.

“Oh gods.” It’s a pitiful whimper out of my suddenly parched lips. “Oh gods, Sammy, come back to me babe. Please come back.”

I don’t remember much first aid, and nothing that relates to humans. I give her cheeks a gentle slap, but her head just lolls. I loosen her blouse, listen to her chest. Her heart is beating very slowly.

She’s breathing. But only just.

Fuck.

I look around desperately. In the distance I can detect the black, looming shape of a dome. It must be Sparkle City. Could I get her there?

I immediately dismiss the idea.

Sparkle wouldn’t be safe for either of us, even if I knew how the fuck to get into the damned place without a portal cape.

They’d shoot me down. Vaporize me. That would be it for both of us.

But somehow, somewhere, I have to get her treatment. Urgently.

Shit, shit, shit. Why did I agree to climb up here?

What part of being up here has rendered her unconscious? The air, the light, the sights and sounds? I have no fucking idea.

I turn my back on the beauty I’ve beheld. The things I’ve dreamed of so often, the sound of the birds and insects, the sweet nectar of the air, and the promise of freedom on the horizon.

Because without Sammy, none of this means a fucking thing.

I would reside forever in the dark tunnels of the Labyrinth just to have her back.

These thoughts all run through my head as I feverishly haul her limp form onto my back. Somehow, I make my way down the rock wall to the lake with her over my shoulders. I lay her down and check on her—yes, she’s still breathing, but it is so light it barely moves her chest.

I low pitifully, and the sound echoes through the cave.

I have only one choice. I must retrace my steps back along the Labyrinth.

Back the way we came.

And hope to the gods and the goddess that someone in the Labyrinth can save her.

I don’t know how long I’ve been running. Time becomes meaningless when everything you have in you, every muscle and sinew, every pounding footstep you take, is focused on saving the one you love.

Exhaustion blurs my vision. I stumble once or twice, barely able to see my way in this part of the Labyrinth. It’s a long stretch of nothingness, and I keep looking ahead to make sure I don’t run into a curve in the tunnel.

I don’t know how much longer I can carry Sammy; she is getting heavier as I get more fatigued. How will I get her home?

But I can’t stop. I pause every fifteen minutes to check that she is breathing, and am relieved to find that she is, but alarmed that I still cannot even get a glimmer of recognition when I say her name. She is deeply unconscious.

I round a bend and realize we’re coming to the lift shaft that takes workers to the lower levels.

I can see the lighting increasing. There has to be some action here, even if it’s not change of shift yet.

As I get closer, relief floods my exhausted body when I spot a truck parked by the lift shaft.

No doubt waiting to go down to the lower levels.

Heart pounding, I pick up the pace, and as I get closer, I realize Kazmo is sitting in the driver’s seat.

I bellow his name with all my remaining strength.

Kazmo is talking on his radio system, damn him, but he looks up finally. His eyes widen, and his features shift into lion as he takes in the sorry sight of me with Sammy limp over my shoulder.

In seconds, he’s out of the truck and racing toward us.

“Fucking hell, what happened to her?” he shouts.

“She breathed Earth air,” I gasp out of parched lips.

“How?”

“Please don’t make me explain,” I beg hoarsely. “Just help. She needs urgent attention.”

“Where to—the clinic, or hospital?”

I hesitate. Our hospital is full of injured workers from the lower levels. It’s a rough place, with rudimentary care. I don’t want Sammy in there. But the clinic is owned by humans, and everything in my gut tells me it’s not a safe place to take Sammy either, though I do trust Peg, the nurse.

“No, take us to the sheriff’s office.” Somehow I know Otis is the best person to trust. “But call Peg at the clinic and get her to meet us there.”

“Okay,” Kazmo says. “Get in.”

I arrange Sammy across the seat, her head laid carefully on my lap. She looks so beautiful, like she’s sleeping, but I sense her life force is getting weaker, and my heart jackknifes in my chest.

I hear Kazmo making an urgent call to Peg.

And then, thank the gods, he starts the truck and we’re speeding toward the sheriff’s house, and Otis.

For once in my life, I’m desperate to see that fucking green bastard.

When we screech to a halt outside, Kazmo helps me lift Sammy out and take her inside.

Otis opens the door, bleary-eyed.

His collar is awry and his short, cropped hair sticks up.

His red eyes look even redder with fatigue. He blinks at me.

“Arlo, what the fuck?” His eyes flare as he takes in Sammy, lying unconscious in my arms.

I barge in without a word, and Otis for once is completely speechless as I go into the living room and lay Sammy carefully down on the old couch. And then he dares to say, “Gods alive, Arlo, what have you done to her?”

After the events of the last few hours, I completely lose my cool.

“I haven’t done anything to her! Can’t you see I’m fucking trying to save her? Sammy is gravely ill, and I don’t have a fucking clue why, so get your head out of your fucked up green ass and be ready to let Peg in when she gets here. ”

Otis pales, thins his lips and nods. “I’ll get some blankets to cover her. Anything else?”

“Water, to hydrate her.” I have no idea if it will help, but I’m clutching at straws.

I hear him moving around briskly, and soon he’s back with a blanket and a glass of water.

I cover her with the blanket, then take the glass from him.

I wet her dry lips, but she doesn’t make a sound, doesn’t swallow and the water dribbles out of the side of her mouth.

She looks so beautiful, like she’s sleeping, but I know it’s grave by the pallid tone of her skin.

I hold her hand and wait, desperately for Peg to arrive.

“Want me to stay?” Kazmo asks.

I shake my head. “Go, mate. There’s nothing you can do here. But thank you for your help.”

“I hope she pulls through.” Kazmo hesitates. “I had a hunch when you brought her to Digger’s that she means a lot to you.”

I nod, trying to stave off the desire to let out a sound so sad and desolate it would echo through the whole of level one.

Otis sees Kazmo out and when he comes back in, he moves over to my side. Looks down at Sammy, his red eyes clouded with concern.

“I apologize,” he says stiffly. “I know you would never hurt her.”

I grunt. I can’t bring myself to speak. I’m not in a fucking forgiving mood right now.

Thankfully, Peg arrives a moment later. She kneels beside the sofa, a deep frown furrowing her brows as she checks Sammy’s pulse. “Tell me what happened,” she says in her no-nonsense goblin way as she takes a blood pressure cuff from her medical bag and fixes it on Sammy’s arm.

I mutter out the story in a thick, flat voice, leaving out our beautiful lovemaking and my marriage proposal.

That is just between me and Sammy. But when I mention that we climbed the rock wall and discovered Earth, the green grass and hills and the setting orb of a red sun, Peg’s thick brows draw down lower.

“Thought as much,” she mutters. “Earth sickness.”

“Can you help her, Peg?” I ask desperately.

I know from the hollow look in her eyes that she can’t.

Finally, she says gently, “This is the one thing humans can’t control, their inability to breathe Earth’s air. I’m sorry, I can’t do anything for her down here, Arlo.”

“What about all the medications, the vaccinations at the clinic? The humans must have left something to treat this?”

She shakes her head. “They have antidotes up there, but not here. We monsters don’t have a problem with fresh air… as you found out.”

I can’t even speak as I try to take it all in.

“There’s only one choice. We have to get her back to Sparkle for treatment,” Peg says.

“I agree with Peg,” Otis seconds.

“What about Tippy?” I say hoarsely.

“Tippy?” Otis stares at me like I’ve gone mad.

“She’s got witch ancestry. Surely she has a spell book somewhere that…”

Otis’s face twists with something like pity. “Don’t whistle at the wind, mate.” He takes a big breath, looks over at Peg. “I’ll call Jax, shall I?”

She nods.

“That prick. What for?” I bellow angrily.

“Because—” Otis says gently, almost like he’s talking to a youngling. “He brought her in here, he can get her out.”

“No. No fucking way. Over my dead body.”

He pauses. “It may be Samantha’s dead body, if we don’t get her out of here soon.”

That shuts me down. I paw at the ground with an angry hoof, my jaw working. Then I glance at Peg. “It’s the only option, Arlo,” she agrees.

I gulp, bow my head, and clasp my horns in my fists .

If I were human, there’d be tears streaming down my cheeks by now.

Instead, there’s is a lump the size of the whole fucking Labyrinth blocking my throat.

Otis leaves the room, and I hear him talking on the phone.

An interminable time passes. I hear the old clock ticking, and remember the sound from my visits here as a youngling.

Otis brings me a hot toddy of grappa and honey, but I don’t touch it.

Peg puts a cushion under Sammy’s head. Her golden hair splays out like a halo around her.

She looks like an angel, perfect, serene, but I know she’s so very sick.

Dying, maybe. And it’s all my fault. Why did I take her up there?

Why didn’t I realize it could harm her? The question keeps running around inside my skull like a rat on a wheel.

I wish I knew what to do.

I wish I could save her.

But there is nothing and no-one here in the Labyrinth who can.

And then the door opens and in saunters Jax, like he’s got all the time in the world.

I glower at him as he strolls over.

“Blondie’s in a bit of strife, is she?” he says, so matter-of-factly that once again, I lose it, jump up and grab him by the collar.

“I wouldn’t do that,” he warns, his green eyes meeting mine, unblinking. “I’m her only chance.”

Knowing the truth of this, I growl but let go of him and he walks over to Sammy, lays his fucking scruffy head on her left breast, and listens to her heart. I fist my hands, wanting to shout at him not to go near her, not to touch her.

I wonder whether he’s touched her before. I wonder if… this is not the time, you fucking oaf.

“Yep. Earth sickness,” he says as he straightens up. “Her heart is very slow.”

I swallow my anguish. “You’ve seen it before? ”

“Heard of it.”

“Can it be treated? Can she recover?”

“Maybe. I’ve got a jeep outside. To take her back through the portal.”

“You can’t put her through portal travel, not in her current state.”

Jax stares up at me impassively as I tower over him.

“How else would you suggest I get her out of here?” he says quietly, and for a moment I see a spark of something like sympathy in the depths of his eyes.

“She’s got limited time. Twenty-four hours, I’d say.

In Sparkle they have modern technology. Medical treatments that could work. ”

“You can’t tell anyone what happened to her. They’ll… harm her, if they know…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make up a convincing story.”

I clench my fists, grind my molars. Then bow my horns and let out a pitiful lowing sound.

Otis takes hold of my arm firmly. It’s not unkind. If anything, it’s a shared kinship, and somehow that hurts more than when he’s being a bastard.

“Let me at least carry her out,” I beg, my voice cracking.

Jax and Otis exchange a glance of agreement. Peg moves away from the sofa to give me access.

I put my arms beneath Sammy’s thighs and shoulders, scoop her up, and hug her gently to my chest. She’s warm, and that in some way gives me hope.

I carry her out to the waiting jeep and place her down on the back seat. Otis brings a cushion, and I place it under her head. I wrap the blanket tightly around her, smooth her hair, stroke her soft cheek, and then bend and place a gentle kiss on her lips.

She doesn’t respond. Not even a flutter of her eyelids.

Jax jumps into the driver’s seat. He gives a salute, unsmiling, his eyes deadly serious now .

Otis salutes back.

I stand there, frozen, like a statue.

Already in grief.

Certain that I will never see her again.