Page 6 of Minding the Minotaur (Monsters of the Labyrinth #1)

S AMMY

I’ve never been anywhere near the Periphery before.

I didn’t even know this place had a name.

Sure, we all know that products are stored on the edge of Sparkle, brought in on driverless cargo trains, then sprayed to remove contaminants from traveling across the Earth’s surface.

But no right-minded Sparkle citizen would go anywhere near pollution treatment zones.

Besides, I always believed everything I could ever want was right here in Sparkle.

Until today.

And now I’m prepared to give it all away, just to meet that sexy, sweet minotaur again.

On the drive here I managed to get some more intel from Clem. She says her knowledge of the Labyrinth is limited, but I also sense that she’s scared to even speak about it out loud. Jax wasn’t supposed to have told her anything. And there’ll be trouble for him if any of this leaks. I get it .

Vaporization . I shiver when Clem whispers that word again. And while it’s supposedly reserved for monsters, a human who blabs about the Labyrinth could potentially be vaporized too. I watch her knuckles whiten on the steering wheel as she speaks, her tone missing its usual upbeat lilt.

It’s horrible to think that this could happen in Sparkle City.

That the dark side of our supposedly perfect life has been covered up, like a dirty little secret.

Well, not that little, if Clem’s description of tunnels stretching down for thousands of feet can be believed.

But why would I doubt her, or the evidence of my own eyes?

As for the “official” portals into the Labyrinth (of which there are hundreds, to transport all the products), they are contained in bunkers on the edge of the Periphery.

Clem only knows this because she had to fetch her injured brother from outside one.

There were armed guards stationed in towers around the bunkers, but they didn’t help.

They just left Jax’s limp and bleeding body out on the road for her to collect.

“One thing I’m sure of though,” she muses. “No monster could get through the official portals without being apprehended.”

Thus, the portal cape remains a complete mystery. As does the hunky minotaur who emerged from it. I wonder if Jax will be able to shed any light on it. More importantly, I wonder if he can get me a job—one that gives me access to the Labyrinth.

I give a little gasp as we suddenly find ourselves driving through dense fog.

“It’s okay, we’re just passing through the Crossroads,” Clem says, and I relax a little.

The Crossroads is the point where the mirage of fertile green hills and blue sky stops abruptly. The road appears to head off into more hills in the distance, but no-one ever goes past here, because we all know that those green hills don’t really exist .

They’re just a mirage.

As the fog dissipates, I see the landscape has changed dramatically. We’re surrounded by industrial lots behind wire fences, warehouses, containers piled one on top of the other.

When she finally pulls up on a grim residential street, Clem turns and gives me a tight smile. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

“Yep,” I reply jauntily.

“It’s not like anywhere else in Sparkle.”

“I don’t care.” And I really don’t. The former me, Miss-Goody-Two Shoes who always followed the rules, is gone. Vaporized.

I get out of the car and look around. Yeah, it’s grim. I always thought living in Garnet Gardens was pretty much the lowest rung of the Sparkle ladder, but this is several steps down from that.

A row of ugly apartment blocks with peeling paint butt up to a wall made of what looks like thick black webbing, stretching up and up into the darkness.

There are no gardens or fountains here, just uneven concrete pavers, a hopscotch grid marked in chalk, and a few crates that form a makeshift playground next to some overflowing trash cans.

The yellow light from the streetlamps illuminates balconies strung with drying clothes.

Heavy rock music blasts out of one window, and I hear raised voices coming from another.

“What’s that black screen behind them?” I ask, staring up at the strange, webbed artifice.

“That’s the dome wall,” Clem whispers back.

My eyes widen. You don’t see the inner wall of the dome from Sparkle because of the mirage. At school, we were all told that the wall is a mile wide and made up of multiple layers to keep us safe. I guess from here, there’s no way of telling.

Planted along the wall’s edge are a few straggly trees. They’re barely alive. Maybe due to lack of water or light, but I guess there’s always the chance that even here, a trickle of toxins could filter in from Earth.

It’s a scary thought.

“C’mon,” Clem says, nudging me. “Don’t stand around, it’s not good to draw attention.”

Heads down, we walk swiftly across the cracked pavers to the nearest apartment block and Clem presses one of many buzzers next to the battered entrance. A moment later, a male voice crackles over the speaker.

“Yeah?”

“It’s Clem.”

“What the fuck?”

“Just open up, will you? I’ve brought someone who needs your help.”

“Who?”

“A friend.”

Another curse, but the buzzer zaps, and we’re through.

We climb the dirty stairwell, until a door with scuffed paint opens and a guy stands there scowling at us, a cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth.

He wears a black shirt and scruffy jeans over lean hips.

His arrowed cheeks are hollow, but his eyes are the same vivid green as Clem’s.

They dart from her to me and back again.

He removes the cigarette from his mouth with long fingers. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Whatever. This is Sammy.” Clem barges past him and I follow her into a cramped living area, housing a small messy kitchen and a threadbare sofa and coffee table. There’s a full ashtray of cigarette butts, and the whole place smells of smoke.

“Why in flaming fuck’s name have you brought her here?” Jax’s scowl deepens as he follows us in.

“She’s my friend. And she needs a job.”

He puts the cigarette to his lips and drags slowly, staring at me through narrowed eyes. “You’ve come to the wrong place,” he growls on the exhale.

Suddenly, Clem plants both hands on his chest and pushes him into the room, until he falls backward onto the sofa.

“Listen to me,” she says, standing over him, hands on hips. “I saved your sorry ass when you nearly carked it, covered up all the lies in the hospital, so now you can help Sammy. She’s my best friend and she lost her job today. So, return the favor, okay?”

Sprawled on the sofa, he takes another slow drag of his cigarette, sending smoke spiraling up toward the cracked ceiling. “What kind of job?”

“Something in the Labyrinth.”

His mouth slackens momentarily, then he lets out a hoarse laugh, followed by a hacking volley of coughs. “She’s clearly nuts, your friend.”

“And you’re nuts for smoking, idiot.” Clem wrenches the cigarette out of his fingers and grinds it into the ashtray. “You’re not going the way Dad did.”

“Ah, shut it, will you? The cough is just ‘cos I had a cold.”

“Dumb bastard!”

“Nagging bitch!”

I blink. This is not the kind of language you hear in Sparkle.

It’s not the kind of language Clem uses when she’s dutifully working through the DeVines accounts, neatly compiling figures in her perfect handwriting.

Typing out statements. But oh boy, it’s clear there are two sides to my bestie.

I’ve always known that, but never as much as I do right now.

“You’ve got contacts down there, so use them,” she demands.

Jax leans forward, pushes Clem aside, and reaches for the pouch of tobacco on the coffee table. But Clem is quicker, clamping her fingers around his sinewy arm. Jax curses. Clem scowls at him .

These two are clearly used to fighting dirty.

I always wanted a brother or sister.

But now, I’m not so sure I missed out on much.

I cough nervously and they both turn and look at me.

“Sorry, hon,” Clem apologizes. “It’s just, I want to keep this stupid git alive for some unfathomable reason.”

“Of course,” I agree.

They slump onto the sofa together and she gives him a playful punch on the arm. Jax puts his arm around her and gives her a hug.

Seems the spat is over.

Two pairs of brilliant green eyes peruse me. His are a tad friendlier now. “How come you need a job, Blondie?”

I smirk awkwardly, still not sure what to make of this guy.

“I got sacked from DeVines today.” I inhale a lungful of the smoky air, then go on to explain the circumstances.

When I get to the bit where I stomped on my uniform, Jax nods. “We get quite a few ex DeVines employees working in the Periphery. Very bitter about their treatment. I expect my sis will be one of them soon.”

“Gah, I would never put a foot wrong.” She slaps her hand over her mouth. “Sorry Sammy, I know it wasn’t your fault.”

“It’s okay.” I feel strangely unfazed, more excited about this unexpected direction my life has suddenly taken. Excited about a chance to get close to—maybe even inside—the Labyrinth. I hesitate, licking my lips.

Clem says, “Go on, tell him the rest. He might be able to shed some light on it.”

“Then… as I left, I met a—a minotaur, in the parking lot.”

Jax’s eyes widen. “Well, shit me,” he says. “That’s unheard of.”

I nod. “Clem said as much.”

“How the fuck did they get there?” Jax reaches for the tobacco pouch again, and Clem slaps him. He slides back onto the sofa with a wry grin. “I’ll chain smoke when you’re gone.”

“Fucking moron,” Clem spits out.

Before they can set on each other again, I say quickly, “He was in a cape. It made him invisible and then he… disappeared.”

“A cape?” Jax scratches his head with the back of his thumb.

“They do have some weird shit down there they keep pretty quiet about. But there are rumors. Antiquities they found after the apocalypse. Maybe—I dunno, but maybe he’d got hold of something like that.

What a fucking lunatic to try it though.

He’ll be in deep shit if he carries on like that. ”

“Yeah, he could get vaporized, right?” I say anxiously. “What even is that?”

Jax shoots upright, his brows tightening. “Who told you that?” He glares at Clem. “Did you tell her?”

“Sorry,” Clem grimaces, “it just slipped out. Sammy won’t say a word.”

“Fucking promise me you won’t mention that word to anyone,” he says, glaring at me. “On your fucking life, blondie.”

His fierce response surprises me. This whole vaporization thing must be a risk to him too. But there’s no going back now. “Why would I tell anyone? I’ve been sacked, shamed, probably blacklisted. And I need a job.” I take a deep breath. “I’ll literally take anything. Anywhere.”

“Really?”

“I mean, not anything … not, you know… selling my body.”

I think about the minotaur’s ripped pecs and abs, his huge biceps. Would I? Sell my body to him? A thick veil of heat spreads low in my belly, spilling into my panties. Oh, goddess, yes, I probably would.

I bite my lip, the famous Buggins blush spreading across my cheeks .

Jax relaxes a tad, and smirks. “There’s probably a few monsters that would love to partake of you, Blondie.” The way he says it is not in any way lascivious. Clearly, I’m not his type. Which is good, ’cos he isn’t mine either.

“Look, I’ll see what I can do. Occasionally, a job comes up for a human.

But it’s always been given to a peripheral.

One they can trust.” He narrows his eyes, looking me up and down.

“I reckon I could talk you up, say your record is second to none, with an unbroken work history, good credentials at DeVines. That you left because you could no longer tolerate their values.”

“That’s not how it happened.”

“You hate DeVines, right?”

“Yes but…”

“And you left.”

“Because I got sacked.”

“The truth is always relative, Blondie.”

I pause, trying to take all this in. “What about me being female?”

Jax looks perplexed. “What about it?”

“I mean… Doesn’t that put me at a disadvantage? Aren’t a lot of the, um, species quite big ?”

“Sure, but on level one the monsters tend to be pretty docile. I wouldn’t put you forward for anything on the lower levels, no way.

Not unless you want to get your bones crunched.

” He says it so matter-of-factly I have no idea if he’s joking or not.

Then he grins. “Okay. Leave it with me, I’ll see what I can do. ”

Clem throws her arms around his neck and hugs him, and he rolls his eyes at me over her shoulder as he returns the hug. I glance down at the arm he’s hugging her with. There’s a ring of flames tattooed on his bicep, and I realize with a jolt that it’s covering up a huge welt of scars.

Are these from the accident that nearly killed him?

Clem’s words bring me back. “He’s not so bad, my bro, right?

” she says, and despite her bright smile I see the look of worry in her eyes.

His smoking habit, his scars, that haunted look he has about him, all disguised behind an air of indifference.

I realize how much of a worry he must be for her, living and working out here.

Not one of us, but not one of them either.

Just like I might be very soon.

Maybe I’m getting in over my head, but even so, it’s not fear that surges through my veins.

It’s excitement.

“I’ll be in touch tomorrow,” Jax says. “Got a telephone where you are?”

“Sure.” I recite my number, and he scribbles it on a cigarette paper with the stub of a pencil.

“Nothing shonky, right?” Clem squints at him. “Sammy’s had enough of being used up.”

“Yeah, no worries.”

She hugs him again, and he sees us to the door. He doesn’t try to hug me, which I’m grateful for, too many guys see my tits and get all creepy. But not Jax.

“Okay, you can piss off now, both of you. I need a fag,” he says, waving a dismissive hand.

Clem flips her brother the bird as he closes the door in our faces.