Page 48 of A Dead End Wedding

She gave me a cold, considering stare, clearly trying to discern my motivation. But I was pretty good at hiding my thoughts, and I even had a trick or two up my Dead End Pawn long-sleeved shirtsleeve.

“This is unnecessary.”

“It is for our pride,” Aunt Ruby said, following my lead.

“Fine.” Viviette waved a hand, and another female Fae joined their team.

Squad.

Gaggle? No, that’s geese. Crows are a murder. I wondered what you called a group of Fae?

Pay attention, Tess.

“The first team to reach the center together will prove their Alliance is the stronger and win this Trial,” the queen proclaimed.

I was so tired of proclamations.

She held up a slender hand. “Three, two, one … go!”

We gestured to the Fae team to go ahead of us, which they didn’t understand, and openly mocked us for.

“You know you have no chance, so you’re giving up this fast?” one of them said with a sneer.

“Sure,” I said cheerfully, which made them suspicious, but after a heated, whispered debate, they ran through the entrance and into the dark passageway of the maze.

“Ready, ladies?” Lorraine, our team leader, pulled out her flashlight. “Lights on!”

We each switched on our lights and followed her into the hedge.

I could almost hear the voiceover saying, “to their doom.”

The instant we crossed over the threshold, all sounds from outside the maze vanished. It was spooky.

“That’s spooky,” Aunt Ruby said, shivering.

“Did you bring a sweater?” Eleanor asked. “I have an extra one in my backpack.”

“No, I’m fine. It was more a ‘this is creepy’ shudder than an ‘I’m cold’ shudder,” Aunt Ruby said. “Which way?”

“If only we had a magical map,” I said, casting my light over our choices. The maze split immediately into three directions. We hadn’t seen which way the other team had gone, and we couldn’t hear them, either.

“Either they’re running on silent mode, or the maze cancels out sound,” Lorraine said, sounding resigned. “Either way, let’s get going. I say left, because most people go right when confronted with forks in the road. Maybe the queen counted on that.”

“Left is fine, but we should tie ourselves together,” I said. “I didn’t like the way she said ‘together,’ as if dangers in the maze will try to split us up.”

“I have a twenty-foot-long bungee cord in my backpack,” Lorraine offered.

I blinked. “Why do you have a twenty-foot-long bungee cord in your backpack?”

“She always carries it,” Aunt Ruby said.

“Since that incident in 1968,” Lorraine said.

“Ohhh. Right,” Eleanor said.

“Do I want to know … you know what? This is like Jack and flying monkeys on Mt. Fuji. I do not want to know. Let’s just run the cord through one of each of our belt loops, just in case.”

So, we did. And then we started down the left pathway, which was more like a tunnel, because the greenery grew in a curving arch overhead. We started off at a trot, eager to beat the other team to the center, but we’d only traveled twenty feet when the path disappeared into a wide pool of inky dark water.

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