Reapers - Thirteen Brothers

XXXXVII - Labyrinth

"Will you just make it work already?" Rosario snapped at her. "We don't have all day."

"Okay," Apple said smiling.

She fumbled with the angles and buttons of the mesh, setting it so that it faced the Gate perfectly. Afterward, Apple stepped aside, allowing the long line of red horizontal light from the machine flash into the middle of the archway. The Gate Hacker seemed to be scanning the portal with infrared rays. The device emitted a soft beeping sound after several moments.

Frowning, Apple picked it up and read the strange symbols being quickly flashed on the tiny LED screen.

"That's odd," Apple murmured to herself.

"What's wrong?" Rosario asked, her eyes edgily shifting around. "Why isn't it working?"

Wordlessly, Apple set the device on the ground again and started pushing and arranging the angled mesh. Again with the beeping.

I expected something miraculous to happen, like a blinding light flashing from the Gate, meaning we were saved. Just our luck, nothing happened.

Apple finally faced us after pushing a small red button on the device. It sprung back into a metal cube.

"Apple doesn't know why," she said. "But the spiritual particles in this Gate seemed to be static. Something's preventing the Hacker from altering the movement of the—"

Rosario interrupted impatiently. "Can you make it work or not?"

Apple shook her blond head, fumbling on the seam of her frilly dress as though she was a child who's just been scolded. "Apple is sorry. Apple has malfunctioned."

"Saying sorry wouldn't open the Gate, would it?" Rosario scoffed, slinging Vincent's limp arm over her shoulder. "Let's get a move on. I have a feeling that Cairo's familiars will flock here soon."

"No kidding," I chided.

The renewed frustration couldn't be more evident on Rosario's face as she looked around aimlessly. Her eyes finally fixed blankly on the woods beyond the willow trees. We had nowhere to hide.

"Where do we go now?" I asked.

Rosario didn't answer. She was still staring at the labyrinth.

"Rosario! We don't have time to—"

She shoved me aside and stepped closer to the willows. Carefully, she pushed the curtain of tendrils that hindered her view of the labyrinth's forest.

"D-don't tell me..." I stuttered, turning to Vincent for some support. Sadly, he wasn't conscious enough to side with me on this. "You can't be serious! The labyrinth? Who knows whatever the hell's in there? Mei said—"

"Mei said. Mei said—Mei's not here," Rosario muttered with full-force sarcasm, butting me out before I could even reason out. It was becoming an annoying habit of her, not letting people finish what they were supposed to say. "Look. I can't heal Master Vincent while we're exposed like this. The labyrinth's a perfect hiding place. No one would go there."

"You're right," I retorted bitterly. "No one in their right mind would go there."

She gave me a look that said shut up.

Before I could say more, I heard several voices. And they weren't Alex's or Archie's. More guards were coming and they didn't sound too far.

Apple was the first to go in. She hesitantly pushed aside the willow tendrils for us, her head down as she did. Quickly, Rosario and I hauled Vincent into the woods. It was the stupidest idea ever but it wasn't like I had any choice.