Labyrinth Book One ✔

Chapter 2

“Psst.”

“Psst.”

“Wake up!”

A faint, disembodied voice rouses me from my dormant state. Slowly but surely, my eyelids flutter open. My mouth is dry, and a dull throbbing ache pulses violently in my brow line. My eyes open to more darkness, witnessing nothing but a slither of light pooling through a barred window. I hear sobs and frightened whispers among the shadows, and from somewhere beyond, I hear the faintest sounds of the waves lapping against the shore.

That means that we are on the coast somewhere. Even if I was tall enough to see through the bars, all beaches look the same at night. We could be anywhere.

“Thank the heavens you’re awake. It’s almost time,” a dark-haired female speaks.

Her face becomes more apparent as she steps into the moonlight. I blink forcefully as her image forms before my eyes. She’s a captive like myself. Judging by our cold and dank surroundings, we’re in a dungeon.

Terrible memories rush to the forefront of my thoughts, and hot tears burn my eyes as my situation becomes real. The legend is true, just like Mama told me. Monsters exist, and they have snatched me away from my family. I may never see them again.

“What is your name?” I ask the woman beside me, grateful she speaks my native language. I roll onto a kneeling position, then rub my temples to mitigate the pain in my head.

“Serena,” she replies in a timid voice. “What is yours?”

“I’m Carina,” I offer, desperate to make an ally.

“Where are we?” I ask, in the hope that she knows something about this place.

Her shoulders slump. “I don’t know. Somewhere far from home. Two women hoisted me up to look outside, but there's nothing but white sand for miles from left to right.”

Balaeter is known for its volcanic black shale, not pale sand.

“I saw the ship as it came to dock at the port. It cut through the water faster than a shark,” I tell her. “All I remember is being dragged from my parent’s bedroom, only to wake up here. For all I know, I could have been unconscious for days.”

Serena shakes her head. “Not days, look,” she points to the moon's silvery glow. “The moon is blue tonight, as it is every summer’s end.”

So, it had been hours, not days, since the hunters took me from my parents.

“What do you think will happen to us?” I ask, bracing myself for the bad news.

“I don’t know,” she replies. “The tales seem to end when the women are taken. No one has ever returned to give an account of what happens to them once they get here.”

It is just as I feared, feeling my heart sink with hopelessness.

A woman cries out. I can’t understand the language she uses, but as the sound of footsteps beyond the door grows louder, I realize she is trying to warn us that someone is coming.

I scramble up as the women dart to the far corner of the cell and huddle together. Neither of us knows what fate has in store for us or if we are likely to live to face another day.