Page 15 of The Labyrinth

I knew Clara was right. I needed to get some sleep. But I wasn’t in my crowded bed, and my mind wouldn’t stop racing. I closed my eyes, and tried to turn my brain off, but there was little luck there either. Ten’s pitch-black eyes filled the empty space, and the way they swapped between curiosity and anger so quickly. What had he been so curious about? I was a human. To him, I must be a dime a dozen. There were countless human women inside this camp. If he wanted one, he could just take one. What made me so special?

Stop, I thought.Just stop. I needed to stop right where I was. Ten didn’t care about me, so I shouldn’t give him any more space in my brain than necessary. He deserved zero space. None. I needed to devote my brainpower to staying alive. Focus on the task at hand.

Goodbye, Ten. Hello, survival. Instead, I thought about my family. About my mother, and Ettie’s sweet little face. What I was doing forthem. For their survival. I could handle anything thrown at me if it meant they were okay. I just had to convince myself even if it meant repeating it over and over until it was true.

Somewhere during my monotonous chant, the sun began to rise. The light of a new day streaked through the hall, brightening up first the cell across the hall, and then ours. Quiet chatter began to echo, soft whispers of gossip that didn’t quite carry all the way to my ears, no matter how hard I strained to hear.

I expected Clara to be the kind of person who slept in, but to my surprise, she rolled over and grinned at me not too long after the sun peeked its way through. “Good morning, gorgeous,” she chirped. “Sleep well?”

“Ehh…” I muttered.

She smiled at me knowingly. “It’s weird the first few nights. Being away from everything you’ve ever known. But it’ll get easier. I promise.”

I nodded. My heart was tight, thinking of my family getting up for the day. I hoped Ettie would eat her porridge without complaint. Fuck, there was so much to do without me there and—

“Besides,” Clara continued, “after breakfast, I’ll show you where the showers are! You’re going to love it.”

There was that word again.Shower. Context told me it was a kind of bath, but I couldn’t wrap my head around anything other than the tub we had at home. Unless they had been telling the truth, and the Labyrinth did in fact have running water. I almost didn’t know what to think, too confused to ask for clarification. I didn’t want Clara to think I was dumb. So I smiled and nodded, acting like I knew exactly what she was talking about.

She chattered away, talking about girls she wanted me to meet at breakfast. I grew more and more overwhelmed thinking about building a life here like so many of them had. Clara had friendships here. A routine. A whole goddamn life. I was at the beginning, looking at a crossroads. One way was the old way, everything I had known and anticipated for the rest of my days. And the other way was the unknown. I just wasn’t sure yet if the unknown was a disaster or an opportunity yet.

Clara stepped out of her robe, leaving herself bare to me, unbothered by her nudity. Like she had said last night, they had all seen and heard it all. Me, on the other hand, I looked away, immediately shy. “I can hear them unlocking cells now. We should be out soon.” A quiet laugh followed. “I’m dressed now. It’s safe to look.”

Clara was “dressed” in a skimpy slip of silk trimmed in a dainty fabric with cutouts sewn in. It was more skin than I ever showed except when I was bathing, and it was a shock to my system.

“I don’t have anything to offer you right now, because a brute I was with a couple nights ago ripped my spare. Griffin said he’d get me a new one, but he hasn’t had any luck yet.” She looked me up and down, at the dusty pants and top I still wore, tattered in places, sheer in others. “I guess that will have to do for today. If they don’t like it, they can find you new clothes.”

I tugged at the frayed hem of my shirt as the sounds of unlocking doors grew closer. I wasn’t sure how I felt about exposing my body so freely to people who were going to take what they wanted anyway.

“Good morning, Fletch!” Clara called over my shoulder. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

My curiosity had me whirling around, wanting to see whatFletchlooked like. He was completely different than Ten and Griffin, with pale orange skin that reminded me of a sunrise. He had no horns, and a tapestry of tattoos covered his shoulders and arms. But the thing that made him stand out most of all, were the two thick tentacles on either side of his legs.

Don’t stare. Don’t stare. Don’t stare.

Thankfully, his attention wasn’t on me. He grunted, not bothering to look at either of us, slammed the cage door open, and moved on to the next cell without a word. Clara grabbed my arm and pulled me to join the quiet line of girls headed back the way Griffin had led us last night. She pointed out everyone as we walked, waving and telling me about each of them.

“That’s Jessa,” she whispered, nodding her head at a tall girl with dark hair. “She’s been pregnantthreetimes since I’ve been here.”

“Three?” I was shocked. “And she’s still here?” In my mind, I didn’t think the girls would actually get pregnant. Maybe I was just naïve and clueless.

“Duh. They want as many half-humans as they can get. At first, they weren’t sure if they would even be able to get humans pregnant. But something about their genetics being more advanced than ours means it works pretty easily. On their side at least. So if a woman is producing, they might as well keep her around.”

Producing. My mouth opened, and I started to say something, but Clara was already whispering about another girl who she was almost certain was going to get killed for having a relationship with one of the monsters. She was still talking about her as she pulled me into a massive room lined with tables. Something smelled absolutely amazing.

Women were everywhere. They were sitting down, standing around, talking. Some were getting food from long tables at the front of the room. Most of them were dressed like Clara. And they all seemed…content? Maybe I was misreading the entire situation.

Milling around the women were several monsters. One looked like Ten, purple with horns. Another few looked like Fletch. Another in the corner looked like he was made entirely of stone, massive, and angry. I made a mental note to stay clear of him.

But the smell…I couldn’t remember the last time I had smelled anything this good. For the first time, I pulled on Clara, desperate to get closer to the source of the smell.

Clara laughed. “Relax. I promise there’s more than enough food to go around.”

My eyes widened as soon as we reached the breakfast tables. I couldn’t believe what I saw. Fried eggs, sitting in a dish that kept them warm. Juicy slices of bacon, still dripping with fat. Thick slices of bread, with a bowl of butter next to them. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had butter. My mouth was watering, but were those—

“Strawberries?”

Clara nodded, grabbing a plate for each of us. “They have a lot of fruit here. I don’t know where or how they grow it, but they do. But go easy today. Your stomach won’t be used to this much food, and you’ll make yourself sick.”

---