Page 4 of Minding the Minotaur (Monsters of the Labyrinth #1)

“Kind of wobbly. It’s been a pretty shit day.

” I laugh nervously. Clem chats in her upbeat way about her sleazy boss in accounts, and how boring her day has been.

I know it’s her way of trying to make me feel better, but to be honest, I don’t really listen.

I’m thinking about the minotaur. Should I tell her about meeting him?

Clem has a pretty open mind, but I’m sure it will still wig her out.

How could it not? Either that, or she’ll think I’ve gone stark raving bonkers. Maybe I have.

But when we’re seated, barely a minute passes before I blurt out, “Something strange happened just as I was leaving DeVines.”

Clem looks at me over her forkful of noodles, brows slightly raised.

“Yeah?”

“Like, really strange,” I add, eyeing her reaction to see how far I can take this.

Her green eyes are curious. “Fill me in.”

“I met a… I er, met this, um, monster . Like, I guess the best way to describe him was half man, half bull.”

Instead of drawing back in horror or laughing in my face, Clem goes quiet. I watch her as she slowly puts her fork to her lips and chews on her noodles, then swallows, before saying, “Where?”

“In staff parking, would you believe?”

Clem’s expression barely changes, but her pretty mouth tightens at the corners.

I narrow my eyes at her. “You don’t seem that surprised.”

Clem digs her fork back into her bowl, avoiding my stare.

“Clem, have you ever seen one these… creatures?”

“Nope.”

“But you know something about them?”

She glances up at me. “Maybe.”

“Tell me. ”

“I can’t, Sammy, I really can’t,” she supplies in a tense voice.

That’s just not good enough for me. Not after my encounter today. I scoot my chair closer to the table, dump my fork into my bowl and lean forward on my elbows. “You have to tell me what you know.”

Still she doesn’t answer.

“Please, Clem,” I beg.

Finally, Clem huffs a sigh, drops her fork into her food. “There’s this other place, below Sparkle, full of… monsters.” She hesitates. “But it’s classified information—we’re talking top secret.”

I stare at her across the table. She’s been my friend for five years and never once mentioned this other world. A world full of minotaurs and god only knows what else.

“If it’s top secret, how the hell do you know about it?” I demand.

Clem glances around the room as if the walls might have ears. She leans in. “Promise you won’t tell anyone else? Ever.”

“I promise.”

“Not even your mom and dad.”

I snort. “As if they’d believe me. Cross my heart.”

Clem inhales a deep breath. “Jax told me.”

“Jax!” My mouth drops open. Jax is Clem’s older brother.

Strangely, in all the time I’ve known her, I’ve never met him.

She told me once that he lives and works on the outskirts of the city, close to the edge of the dome wall, for a packaging company or something.

I guess I got the impression that maybe she wasn’t proud of him.

Which is weird, because if you’re lucky enough to have a sibling, you generally like to boast about it.

“What does Jax have to do with monsters?” I pursue.

She hesitates again, stabbing at her noodles.

“He’s a peripheral. ”

“A what?”

“Peripheral. One of the workers who transports products from their world into ours.”

Now I’m frowning so hard my forehead hurts. “I thought we brought everything in from the other domes. Ruby Town, Golden Spires…”

Clem snorts. “Nah. That’s a whopping big lie. Every single dome relies on the Labyrinth.”

“The Labyrinth ?”

“Yeah, that’s where the monsters hang out. Vast networks of tunnels beneath the city. Jax said that these tunnels stretch down for thousands of feet and sideways for hundreds of miles. They manufacture pretty much everything down there.”

“Holy shit.” I throw myself back in my chair, raking my hand through my long hair. “I had no idea.”

“No-one does, except the dome authorities and the peripherals. I shouldn’t know either, but Jax had an accident and got pretty messed up.

I took him to hospital. At first, he just said he’d got caught in a piece of machinery, but they didn’t look like wounds caused by machinery.

I finally forced him to tell me the truth about his job, supervising all the stuff that comes out of the Labyrinth.

Dealing with monsters every single day.”

“That’s heavy,” I breathe, but weirdly, I’m not as alarmed as perhaps I should be. “How does he get down there?”

“Through some kind of portal.”

It dawns on me suddenly. “You mean a portal cape?”

“A what?”

“A cape, that’s what the minotaur called it. I saw it on the ground, a big cloak made of some sort of shimmery material.”

“Jax never mentioned a cape. He goes into a contraption in a big metal bunker, and that transports him. Sounds like that cape thing could be an illegal method.”

I hesitate, thinking. “The minotaur—he did seem super anxious about being spotted. He disappeared when some people walked past.” I huff wistfully. “I didn’t even get his name.”

“Frankly, that’s a good thing,” Clem says grimly. “If anyone saw one of them talking to you, they’d interrogate you. And that wouldn’t end well.”

“What would they do to him?”

“Make him disappear. Permanently. Maybe you too, for all I know.”

“How?”

“Vaporization, Jax called it, but he wouldn’t tell me more than that.”

I shudder. “That sounds horrible.”

“Yeah. Apparently, the authorities don’t play nice when it comes to monsters escaping.”

Shit. No wonder my minotaur disappeared so fast. I register that I’ve just thought of him as mine with a strange little heart flutter. At the same time, Clem’s startling revelation has given me hope that I might find him again.

“I want to go there,” I blurt.

“Where?”

“The Labyrinth.”

Clem snorts. “That’s a truly fucked idea.”

I have a sudden brain wave. “Maybe Jax could get me a job.”

Clem looks horrified. “You wouldn’t survive for a minute in that environment, Sammy.”

“Jax has.”

“But he’s experienced, and he still got messed up. Between the monsters and the dome authorities, it’s fucking dangerous work. I’m sure he’s had other close shaves he won’t tell me about.” She pauses. “He’s got… he’s got nasty scars all over him, Sammy.”

I swallow hard. “The minotaur I met, he—he seemed nice. Really—sweet,” I finish lamely .

Clem snorts. “Yeah, until he tears you limb from limb. Or worse.” She gives a little shudder.

But I don’t feel fear. Not remotely. What I feel is a tingle of excitement running down my spine, a telltale throb between my legs. “I’ll risk it.”

Clem throws her fork down into her bowl. “Over my dead body.”

“I have to earn money, Clem. I have zero savings. Soon I won’t even be able to pay the rent on this shithole.”

My bestie reaches across the table and squeezes my arm. “I’ll help you with money, babe. And you’ll find another job soon.”

“You reckon? Now I’ve been blacklisted by DeVines, who the hell is going to take me on? I’ll be labelled as that awful person who got Ronald DeVine’s niece locked up. No business will even consider me.”

Clem bites her lip, and her eyes cloud suddenly with uncertainty. And that, for ever-confident Clem, is saying something.

“Besides, something has to change soon, or I’ll go crazy.

” I wave a hand at my cramped kitchenette.

“Look at my life. It’s pitiful. Hanging out for a promotion sometime in the next twenty years, hoping to meet a guy who won’t cheat on me.

If that’s all I’ve got to aspire to, then why not take a chance? ”

“You’ll meet someone better than Jake.”

I snort. “Yeah, like Aiden. Shall I add more names to the roll call of fuckwits?”

Clem’s lips quirk. “Point taken.”

Truth is, Clem and I have a pact. No more casual dating, no more guys who use us, then move on. We’re waiting to meet someone who’s loving and decent, someone we could settle down with, maybe even try for a kid with—if we’re one of the lucky couples.

I set my jaw. “I’d be happy to work as a peripheral.” I remember the minotaur’s beautiful brown eyes, his big, buff, sexy body, his kind words. “I’ll even take my chances in the Labyrinth.”

Clem’s eyes search my face, and then her frown dissipates, and a new expression dawns in its place. I know she’s always loved me, but this is different.

This is admiration. Respect. “You really mean that, don’t you?”

“You bet I do.”

Clem exhales. “Wow, who is this Samantha Buggins?”

I tilt my chin, flick my golden hair over my shoulders. “The new kick-ass one.”

“Go girl,” she breathes.

I meet her gaze with a shining challenge in my eyes. I’ve never felt so sure about anything in my life. “Help me do this, Clem.”

She nods, her mouth forming a slow grin. “I still think you’re batshit crazy. But okay. Let’s go talk to Jax.”