Chapter Sixteen

Steven clutched the back of his head and crawled up from between the vanity and the wall. "Whose house did I fall asleep in?" he muttered, glancing around in confusion. "Linda? I mean, Marissa?" His eyes fell on the vanity, where a mirror pulsed with a red glow. Instinctively, he leaped back and threw two quick punches into the air before him.

Twin bursts of blue light shot out, shattering the mirror atop the vanity.

"Wait a minute," Steven scratched his head, "didn't I already win? Who—or what—was I fighting again?" He strode toward the door of the dance studio. A blue orb, the size of a clenched fist, materialized and floated after him.

"Hey, Dylan," Steven reached for his ear, only to find the communicator he'd worn had been smashed in half. "Beautiful," he muttered, plucking off the ruined device and tossing it aside.

The foyer of the lonely house looked almost exactly as it had when everyone left. Only one thing was different—the kitchen door stood open, and a scarecrow was positioned right in front of it.

"I remember you." Steven eyed the scarecrow. "Lanny! Where the hell are you?!" he shouted.

No one, and nothing, answered.

"Well, I'm not staying here alone." Steven turned toward the front door. "Ah! Son of a—!"

The scarecrow, having slipped from Steven's sight, now stood blocking the front entrance, making him stumble back, cursing incoherently at the sight.

"How did I forget about that?" Steven stared down the scarecrow, stepping forward, trying to push aside its arm barring the way.

That sharpened limb spun the entire scarecrow around, pointing its tip at Steven's throat.

He reflexively jumped back and threw two more punches. The blue light surged forth but stopped just short of the scarecrow, then vanished entirely.

"This again?!" Steven yelled.

The scarecrow imitated him, bouncing backward. This time, blue light appeared before the scarecrow, then shot toward Steven.

Steven threw up a barrier. The oncoming light smashed into him, barrier and all, launching him onto the half-burned sofa inside the fireplace.

Another orb of blue light came streaking from the same spot.

Steven scrambled to his feet, dove aside, and rolled into the kitchen.

Unlike the foyer, the kitchen was thick with fog.

Steven glanced back to check the scarecrow's position. Suddenly, something invisible swept his leg out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor. His face collided with a hard, flat object. Looking up, he saw the word "Welcome" printed on the doormat.

Bang! Bang!

Something was pounding the ground, drawing closer.

The dense fog blinded Steven, leaving him in a sea of white.

Bang!

The final thud landed right beside his foot. The next instant, a sharpened wooden stick pierced the mist, stabbing toward him. With it came the scarecrow's profile, emerging from the fog.

Steven rolled over and dove through the open back door of the house.

Expecting to land in mud, he instead hit hard ground. He looked back in time to see a wall materialize outside the kitchen, joining with others that already existed and sealing him within this section.

A crisscross of walls carved out countless corridors, all sealed overhead, forming a closed labyrinth.

The sound of rain was cut off outside.

The labyrinth felt unreal. Its ground, walls, and ceiling were all hard and perfectly smooth, yet the air was saturated with the scent of rain-soaked earth. There was no lighting, but the walls emitted a faint glow, casting an eerie, shadowy atmosphere.

Steven pressed his hand against the last-formed wall. Blue light welled from his palm, growing brighter, forcing him to close his eyes. Yet the wall, bathed in light, remained utterly unaffected—not even a hint of blurring.

"Damn it!" Steven stopped channeling the spirit energy, muttering a curse.

"Sorry to interrupt," came a voice in his ear, sounding strikingly like Dylan's. "Something's coming your way."

Steven reached for his communicator and shuddered. "Damn it! Don’t talk into my ear!" he shouted, swatting at both sides of his head.

Screee—

A grating screech echoed from the left corridor, like nails on a chalkboard or a fork scraping a plate.

Steven twisted around, but the shadowy passage revealed nothing.

Screee—

The sound drew closer.

After surveying his options, Steven dashed down a different passage.

Screech, screech, screech...

The noise quickened, joined by the pounding of something heavy running.

Whatever it was, it was closing in, and Steven, panicked, broke into a run.

His limited view forced him to keep whipping his head around. His gasps echoed between the walls, giving him the constant sense that something was right behind.

As his pace faltered and he stumbled through the maze, he blundered into a dead end. He leaned against the wall, bent double, hands on his knees.

The pursuing footsteps suddenly halted.

Steven stifled his breathing, straining to listen. Just then, the wall at his back seemed to vanish. He toppled backward, landing on the floor.

"I think I know what's coming next," Steven muttered, twisting around to look where the wall had been.

A tall, gaunt humanoid creature appeared. It looked like someone afflicted with both gigantism and rickets: its hunched back nearly grazed the ceiling. Its limbs, though human in basic form, were grotesquely elongated. Like the walls, it glowed faintly.

The creature bent low, its head level with Steven. It had no lips; jagged teeth jutted from its mouth. Where its nose should have been, there was a sunken hole, pitch black. Four charred, fingerlike appendages forked out where its eyes belonged.

Two tentacle-like appendages sprouted from its waist, whipping through the air. Each was as thick as a thumb, bristling with what looked like hard barbs. Every time the barbs scraped the wall, they produced that maddening noise.

"Ahem!" Steven coughed, nimbly shifting his head aside.

One tentacle lashed out, stabbing the spot where his head had just been.

He lifted an eyebrow, pointing past the creature.

Two blue, glowing planes appeared in the air and collided with a thunderous crash.

The creature spun, thrashing its tentacles, easily shattering the planes.

Steven took the opportunity to bolt, but his hurried steps drew the creature's attention again.

It lunged, hands on the ground, scrambling forward before springing at him.

A blue burst of light knocked Steven sideways, but the creature's tentacle still grazed his calf, slicing open his pants and laying a shallow gash along his leg.

The creature shrieked, spinning wildly, its tentacles flailing.

Steven bent low, clutching his bleeding leg with one hand while pointing to a side corridor with the other.

Two blue, footprint-shaped lights flickered on the ground, alternating down the corridor, mimicking running footsteps.

The creature gave chase, the lights speeding up to lead it deeper into the maze.

Within Steven's line of sight, a patch of white light, brighter than the surrounding walls, caught his attention. He tore off the shredded cuff of his pants, wrapped it around his wound, and crept toward the glow as quietly as possible.

The light was cast by a gravestone. The inscription read: Donald Doone.

Unlike the rest of the labyrinth, real earth had been scattered around the grave. As Steven stopped a few steps away, something beneath the soil pressed up from below.

"Finally making an entrance, and you pick a cliché like this," Steven sneered, though his tone lacked its usual levity.

A humanoid figure clawed its way out of the ground. But it wasn’t Donald’s corpse as Steven had expected—it was the scarecrow he’d seen so many times before.

Steven frowned.

In that instant, a rigid hand clamped onto his shoulder.

Startled, Steven jumped back—his injured leg gave way, and he fell.

"Damn it, playing by no rules," he muttered, struggling up.

A man with a bowed head shambled toward him, dragging his feet. He wore a mechanic's uniform with a tag reading "Donald" at the collar. A distinct ligature mark scarred his neck, and livor mortis mottled his exposed arms.

His movements were awkward, every muscle twitching violently.

"Mr. Doone," Steven said quietly.

"Yes." The man jerked his head up, revealing a swollen, bluish face.

"Goddamn! Can you not just jump-scare me?" Steven looked away, exasperated. "Alright, I know I’m in a lousy situation, so I don’t have much room to talk. But still—a piece of advice: you can’t escape this. The military’s here too. If I’m not mistaken, they’ve brought a consciousness assimilator for you. Compared to that, the Guild’s policy is much more lenient—if you cooperate."

The man hung his head again, pacing before Steven.

"You understand every word I say, don’t you?" Steven continued. "And you know what the 'Guild' is." He shot a glance at the scarecrow. "That 'Red Light, Green Light,' now this maze—a complex environment, a lethal hunter, a mechanism that tracks by sound—you’re trying to construct a 'Fermat Space,' aren’t you? No ordinary spirit could manage this. If I recall, the Guild has a lab at the town university. I’d wager a part of you escaped from there and merged with Donald’s consciousness after his death."

"That’s not it," the man rasped, halting. "But it doesn’t matter."

Steven clenched his fist, blue light flaring. "Fine, then let’s do this. Watch closely—it won’t be as easy as you think."

"What do you think," the man said, "will happen next?"

"Oh, for the love of—why do villains always talk so much?" Steven rubbed his head. "Ever wonder how bad guys usually end up?"

"You won’t die," the man said. "How could I kill you? Your consciousness is... so irresistible."

"Uh—what?" Steven blinked, taking a step back. "You’re not... telling me your sexual orientation, are you?"

"You’re wounded," the man said, "and you’re worried about losing control. In this state, your consciousness expresses itself negatively. That’s exactly what I want." He slowly raised a hand. "Here, a gift for you—my new Kelly."

A white orb of light appeared beside Steven, trembling in the air, chiming like a bell.

From deep within the labyrinth, a shriek rang out.

Screee—screee—

The sound of tentacles scraping walls followed.

Steven frantically punched, dispersing the white light.

But instantly, another orb appeared, ringing its bell.

"Now," the man said, "run."