Page 133 of A Drop of Anguish
Together, we work our way back the way we came. Past the empty cauldron and the still-snoozing minotaur. To the corridor with the slaughtered remains of the giant Komodo dragon and into the winding maze.
The roar sounds again, closer this time.
“What the hell is that?” Janet whispers.
“That’s a very angry demon prince,” I tell her.
“What?” she shrieks.
The ground rumbles from some unseen destruction. Crashing and crunching and more roars. He’s on a rampage, and with the way sound bounces through this place, I can’t tell how far away he is.
“He’s coming for us,” Thompson says. “What the hell did they do to him?”
“I don’t know. Took away his memories and made him into this mindless beast, I guess? He won’t know who we are. He’ll kill without thought.”
“Great,” Janet says through panicked breaths. “Wonderful. Just what I was hoping to hear.”
I pull her into my arms. “We’re going to get out of here. I promise.”
I don’t like making promises I’m unsure I can keep, but sometimes it’s for the best.
We continue running through the winding maze. Lola darts up and down, guiding our way so we don’t have to double back and risk greeting this new version of Jarron face-to-face.
We make it to the beginning of the maze, and I look up at the wall of stone before me. It’s straight up, over a hundred feet. There are a few boulders I can use to get started, but after that, there’s nearly smooth stone. No foot holds and very few ledges.
But we have to get moving because Jarron’s echoing shriek is getting closer.
Once we’re in his sights, we won’t be able to escape. He’s too fast. Too strong. Even if I used the nullifier on him, I couldn’t fight him off. I learned that the hard way with Mr. Vandozer.
I begin the climb anyway. I climb onto the first boulder, then the next, seeking out a reasonable path.
Lola flutters over my head. “Candice, can you even climb this?”
I press my lips together. Probably not. But I don’t say it. Sweat drips down my temple.
“I can carry you,” Thompson says. “But I have to be honest, I don’t think we’re going to make it before he finds us.”
I pause. My lips tremble, but I don’t let emotions drown me. I keep climbing.
“Jarron wouldn’t hurt us, would he?” Janet asks, voice shaking.
“Jarron wouldn’t. But that’s not Jarron,” I say.
“Isn’t it, though?” Lola squeaks.
“I know we have to get out, but…” Janet stops and looks down at the tunnel below us. “What if we wait for him? What if we can talk sense into him? Even as a demon he’d be intelligent. He’d be somewhat him.”
“She did something to him,” I say through my panting breath as I claw up onto the next bolder. “Made him go into full beast mode. There isn’t any compassion in him right now.”
“Yeah, but—”
“He won’t hurt you.” Thompson’s voice is louder now, more determined. His words feel… definitive.
I stop. His words settle between us all for a moment. I face him, expression full of terror and sadness. My broken heart aches so badly it’s almost worse than the fear.
Thompson stomps forward. He grabs my upper arm and pulls me to face him. His eyes are wild, intense. Desperate. “He will not hurt you.”
My breath hitches. I don’t know if I believe that.
