Page 21 of The Labyrinth

Ten dropped my hand, and stormed up the steps closest to us, unlocking the thick black doors. I stood at the base of the stairs, looking up. “Are you coming? Or did you want to wait until someone else walks by?”

I couldn’t get over the size of the building we stood in front of. Tall peaks rose from each corner, with looming roofs stretching toward the sky. Windows covered every square surface of the front,real glass, not just the see-through paper we used in our lone opening. The house stretched from one grassy street to the other, and Ten stood impatiently in the doorway, waiting for me to step inside as if this werenormal. As if this happened every day. I couldn’t process a home of this size, and he expected me to just stroll inside with him and pretend like it was ordinary. “Um.”

“We don’t have time for this.” Ten stomped down the stairs, scooping me up into his arms, and carrying me up the stairs two at a time. He deposited me inside the door, and slammed it behind us with a loud thunk.

Was all of this…his?My mouth dropped open as I took in the room I stood in. A shiny white stone covered every surface, polished until it gleamed. Black veins threaded through it, darker than even Ten’s eyes. Never mind the sheer size of the room. Actual stairs led down to a smaller, separate space. Tall pillars stretched from floor to ceiling, thick and foreboding. It was absolutely massive, and cleaner than anything I had ever seen.

And yet damn near empty. Bits of furniture here and there, almost negligible. A random small table. A long couch that looked less comfortable than my bed back in the village stretched across the smaller room. At the far end, there was a fireplace contained inside a piece of glass. I was confused. How could he cook on the fire if it was contained by glass? Maybe he had a second fireplace in another room, one used for cooking. The house was certainly big enough for it.

“Come with me. I’ll show you the kitchen,” Ten said, brushing past me down the hallway through a door at the other end of the white room. “I’m going to guess you’re hungry.”

I trotted behind him. I knew what a kitchen was because that’s what we called the small area in my shack where we prepared food. But that was an area. And right now we were walking into an entire room.

I gasped as I stepped inside. This wasn’t a kitchen. This was…this was…I didn’t know what this was, but my mind was struggling to process it. Ten walked over to a massive grey box with a door. He opened it. A light pinged on inside, revealing shelves lined with food. “This is the refrigerator,” he offered. “You are to help yourself. I will not always be home, and I need to trust you’ll be able to feed yourself when I’m gone.”

I scoffed. “Of course I can feed myself.” I stepped closer to therefrigerator, eyes wide as I studied the foods I had never seen before. Colors, everywhere. I reached in to touch a shiny red sphere, and retracted my hand when I realized it was cool inside. “It’s cold.”

Ten rolled his eyes. “Of course it’s cold. It’s the refrigerator. Did you think it would be hot? Pick what you’d like.”

I was silent, afraid to reach my hand inside again. So I simply stared longingly at the food within.

Something must have clicked inside Ten, because he cursed under his breath. “You’ve never seen a refrigerator before, have you?”

I shook my head. “No. I mean, we wouldn’t have enough food to keep in it anyway. But why is it cold?”

“It keeps the food preserved for longer.” Ten’s voice was the gentlest I had ever heard it. “So it doesn’t go bad right away. Cold things stay fresh longer. Like meat. We don’t need to salt or smoke our meat here to keep it cured.”

I had thought a bathtub with running water was the utmost luxury I could possibly think of. But this? Arefrigeratorfilled with food that wouldn’t go bad in the heat? It seemed like too much for one person. It seemed like too much for me. I was too overwhelmed to pick anything, my eyes bouncing between the bright green leaves, and the red and orange orbs.

Ten huffed, and spun me around. In the middle of the expansive space was a large table with chairs. He pointed to one. “Sit. I’ll get you food.”

I did as he ordered, moving to the chair as if I were sleepwalking. Was this real life? Was this really happening, or would I wake up tomorrow and it all be a dream, inspired by my hungry stomach. I sat across the table, and watched Ten’s broad back as he rummaged inside the large cold box.

He pulled out one of the red circles, along with a block of what looked like cheese, and other things I couldn’t figure out. He grabbed a plate that looked far too fancy for my hands, and began to arrange it.

Ten whirled around, presenting me with a mountain of food. “Eat.”

I looked down at the plate. There was so much there. So many options. I didn’t know where to begin. I was too dirty to touch this food. I was too uncivilized to be offered this much luxury. I belonged on the other side of the wall, in my dirty village, with my dirty brown food. Spiraling, I looked up at Ten, propped up on his forearms on the opposite side of the table. I watched him watch me.

Something flashed in his eyes, and he leaned over the table. “Here,” he murmured. Ten scooped up some of the cheese, placing it on the crusty-looking bread. He topped it with a small green vegetable. When he held it up to my mouth, I leaned back as if the food was going to bite me. He smirked. “It’s just food, Rissa. It’s bread, cheese, and an olive.”

An olive. That’s what the strange green thing was. I’d had bread and cheese before. Just not such fine quality. And the olive on top…I salivated. But when Ten held the food up to my mouth again, I opened my lips and took a bite.

“Mmm…” I moaned, letting my eyes close, savoring the mouthful. There was something so sensual about the way Ten held the food to my lips, the way I had eaten it out of his hand. On top of that, I had never tasted food like this before. It was salty, tangy, and the bread was so fluffy. “Holy fuck, that’s good.”

Ten laughed quietly. When I opened my eyes, he was looking at me with a strange expression. I grabbed the rest of the bite he was holding still, stuffing the whole thing into my mouth.So fucking good. I quickly ate the rest of the cheese on the plate, inhaled the bread, and popped the olives into my mouth one by one. Shit, Ettie would have loved that bread.

My heart broke for a moment, thinking about my sweet sister. It was unlikely she would ever get to taste something as rich as this. Living my life in the past would only cause me pain though. I had to hope my family was doing well, would do better in my absence, and continue to put one foot in front of the other. The only thing left on the plate Ten made for me was the small red orb thing. I touched it lightly. “What is this?”

“An apple.” He held it out to me, engulfing the small thing in his massive palm. “It’s a fruit. Sweet. You’ll like it.”

I took it, our hands brushing lightly against one another. The same noticeable flicker of electricity shot through my body with his touch. Could he feel it, too? Or was it all just in my head?Get a grip, Rissa. Get a hold of yourself.

I clutched the apple as if it were nothing more than dust, like it would drift out of my touch with the lightest breeze. When I brought it to my lips, it was hard. With Ten’s stern gaze locked onto me, I bit into the apple with a sharp crunch.

Sweet juice immediately filled my mouth, sweeter than anything I had ever tasted before. Sweeter than the cake I reminisced to Ettie about. I realized that Ten giving this to me meant something. Something I couldn’t comprehend, even by the way he watched me gobble the rest of the fruit, never once looking away. I was sure I was an embarrassment, with dirt, dust, and apple all over my face, but he still just watched. When I finished, I wished there was more apple, but remembered Clara’s words about not eating too much. I also realized I should give him something in return.

“Thank you,” I whispered, wiping the apple juice from my lips with the back of my hand. It was sticky, sweetening my words with its residue. My thanks were an offering. A bridge between our two worlds. An understanding we weren’t the same on the outside, but maybe I understood him on the inside.

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