Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 51038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 255(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
We go around down a hallway, take a right, then a quick left, then down another hallway, take a left and a quick right, and then, even though I’m nearly ready to fall over, breathless from the hard run, he kicks it up a notch and starts running faster.
At this point, he’s literally dragging me and there’s no way for me to go on. So I just stop. Which almost lands me face first on the ground, because he doesn’t. And if he didn’t let go of my hand, I probably would’ve face planted. “Stop,” I say, trying to keep my voice low, but having a hard time because of my ragged breathing. “Stop! I can’t go any further.”
He doesn’t even respond, just swoops me up in his arms and before I can even blink, we’re on the move again.
At this point, I’m fuckin’ terrified and I’m just about to start throwing a fit, and force him to stop and explain what the hell is happening, when we come upon a door. He opens it, we go inside, and then he sets me down, slams the door closed, and leans against it.
Those eyes of his, when his gaze meets mine, are filled with terror. “Are you OK?” He asks. And he’s not even out of breath.
Even though I didn’t run that last hundred-yard dash, I am still finding it very difficult to breathe. “What,” I wheeze, “is going on?”
“Don’t worry,” Aric says. “We’re safe here.”
And that’s when I realize, I know where we are. We’re in his room. The very one we left when we started kissing. Only there’s no sign of Declan and Quaid.
“The kiss,” Aric says. “The kissing. Don’t you get it? You took out of the present and sent us into the past!”
“What?” I scoff. “That’s impossible!”
“Look around, Star. This is my room. We were just there.” He points to the bathroom, which is dark. But the same beaded curtain is hanging in the doorway. “This isn’t the present. Look!” He points to the bed, which was made up perfectly when left, but is now a mess of covers and pillows. “And look there!” He points to the place where the holographic strippers in cages were, but aren’t now. “This is the past, Star. This is a moment from my fucking past! I haven’t beaten the maze! I haven’t killed the Minotaur! We’re back!”
I look around, nearly in a blind panic. But when I turn back to Aric and see the fear in his eyes—I… I become… strong. I think. I feel a sudden protectiveness over him. And an anger. At his father, the god Ares, for putting this man through hell as a child. At all of this. And the unfairness of it.
I walk over to him, slip my arms around his waist, and press my head into his chest. “It’s OK,” I say. “This might look like the past, Aric, but it’s not. I wasn’t there and I’m here now.” I look up at him, find him looking down at me with such… vulnerability, I nearly come undone. “I’m here now,” I say again. “And you’re never gonna run this maze alone again. Not ever.”
There’s a moment where he doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t move, not one inch. But then he lets out a scoff. “Little Star, the Eighth is gonna save me, huh?”
I nod, pressing my lips together to hide my smile before saying, “That’s right. Little Star the Eighth is gonna save you.”
His breath comes out of him in a long, slow exhale. Then he takes a quick one in, and he’s talking. “The music saved me. I didn’t know what it was back then. I only knew that if I ran, the walls would sing. The faster I went, the more words I got. They never made any sense, not at first. It was just jumbled music. Like I was underwater.”
“I heard it,” I say, excitement in my voice. “I heard it! I think it was my song!”
“Our song,” Aric corrects me. “It was you, I think. Singing to me all those years ago. Urging me to try harder. To keep going. You’re the reason I got out. I followed your voice and it led me to a control room.”
I back up a little so I can look up at him. “A control room?”
“Yeah. Like… the maze was a game. And someone was controlling it. My father, obviously. I always knew it had to be somewhat fake because I was the only one in here. And in the real Labyrinth, there were always people in there trying to beat the Minotaur and find the secret cache of treasure.”
“It was like a training ground,” I say.
“Well, I hadn’t thought of it that way, but… maybe. It doesn’t matter anymore because your brother…” He stops here.