Chapter Thirteen: Byron

“Our next trial,” Morwenna said. “Come, come, gather around.” Morwenna beckoned to the competitors, and they obeyed, tentatively at first as the shock of one of the tavern walls sliding open hit them.

“Are you okay?” Byron placed a hand on the small of Cassie’s back, and he felt her shudder slightly beneath his touch.

Let’s just hope that’s a good shudder, his dragon murmured.

“Yes.” She glanced up at him. “Are you?”

He cracked a grin. “Yes. Thanks for asking.”

“You’re welcome.” She leaned closer to him as the couples crowded in. “Do you sense anything?”

His eyes went out of focus for a moment. “Nothing behind the doors. It’s like there’s just nothing there. No space or anything.”

“And down the corridor?” she asked.

“Endless.” He slid his hand from the small of her back and rested it on her hip. It was almost an instinctive move, and for a moment he was worried that she was going to move away, but she didn’t.

He relaxed a little. He felt as though if he let her go, he would lose her to the endlessness that surrounded them just beyond the walls. It was a strange feeling not being able to sense anything at all outside of the corridor.

“Ah, here’s our scroll.” Morwenna leaned down and retrieved a parchment scroll that was placed in the center of the wide corridor just beyond the sliding wall.

As Morwenna leaned down, Byron felt his head spin as he gazed down the never-ending corridor of wooden walls and softly glowing lanterns, but as Cassie pressed closer to him, he took a deep breath. As long as they were together, they would be okay.

“Good luck,” Stan said to all those around him.

“You, too, Stan.” Kengar lowered his head.

“Good luck to all of us,” Byron agreed.

“Some of us don’t need luck,” Nancy said, but not with any spitefulness. “We have skill and wisdom.”

“The rules are simple,” Morwenna announced, unfurling the scroll as she straightened up. “Each couple will enter a room. Once inside, you must solve the puzzles to escape. But be aware this is a timed trial, and only the fastest couples will go through to the next round. Wow, that really was quite simple.”

A low murmur spread through the couples as they inched forward, crowding in around Morwenna.

“What’s behind the doors?” someone called out.

“How should I know?” Morwenna answered.

“What if we can’t solve the puzzles?” another person asked.

“Then I imagine you don’t escape the room,” Morwenna replied.

“So, we’d be stuck inside forever?” Amelia’s voice came from somewhere behind Cassie.

“Oh, I don’t think the tavern would leave you stranded in here forever,” Morwenna said. “You’d start to smell.”

Her joke, if it were a joke, was received with a nervous ripple of laughter.

“I will remind you that all participants are here of their own free will,” Morwenna said. “No one is forcing you to enter through these doors. If you would rather exit the tavern, turn right around and be gone. All you will forfeit is your place in the competition. And your pride, perhaps.”

Another somewhat quieter murmur trickled through the competitors.

“What do you want to do?” Byron murmured to Cassie.

“I don’t want to get stuck in a room,” Cassie replied. “And I don’t think we will. How hard can it be?”

“We don’t know,” Byron told her.

And he was right, they didn’t know.

“I believe in you,” Cassie told him.

Byron’s heart skipped a happy beat at her words.

“And I believe in you.” He slipped his hand into hers, and a frisson of electricity passed between them. “Are we doing this?”

“We are.” Cassie stuck close to his side as he pushed his way to the front of the competitors.

Morwenna fixed them with a gaze that chilled his blood. “Byron and Cassie.” Her voice boomed out as if she were a host on a game show. “Pick a door.”

Byron eyed the door closest to him. “Are the rooms all the same?” Byron asked.

“I don’t know. Let me ask the tavern.” Morwenna paused for a moment, and there was utter silence until she then said, “Oh, I forgot, the tavern can’t talk.”

Byron met her beady-eyed gaze. “There’s no need for sarcasm.”

“Oh, I disagree,” Morwenna said. “There is always a need for sarcasm. Especially in these trying times.”

“Let’s just pick one.” Byron gently led Cassie forward, past Morwenna, who stood to one side. “If the tavern is so good at matchmaking, then it should match us to the right escape room.”

“What do you mean, the tavern is good at matchmaking?” Cassie asked as they headed down the corridor.

“That’s the rumor,” Byron said as he walked past the first few doors. “You know, that corridor really does seem to go on and on forever.”

Cassie stared into the distance and shuddered before she stopped suddenly. “This one.” She touched a door on their right.

“Are you sure?” Byron asked as, with some effort, he tore his gaze from the boundless corridor beyond them.

“Yes.” Cassie nodded. “This one.”

“Okay.” Byron turned and faced the door. Even though he had been looking at the doors as they walked, he had not actually noticed any details until now. This door was made of solid wood, with ornate carvings of dragons that climbed up the frame and intertwined over the top in an eternal dance in a striking display. “Were they there before?”

“I don’t know. I don’t remember seeing them until I chose it.” Cassie snorted. “Maybe you’re right. The tavern matched us to the door.”

She looked up at him, and he gazed into her eyes. He wondered what she was thinking. Perhaps she was questioning whether the tavern had chosen him for her.

It wasn’t just the tavern, his dragon reminded him. It was fate.

Byron sighed inwardly. She really was perfect. She didn’t need any life-changing anything.

“If we are all ready,” Morwenna’s voice boomed along the corridor where the other couples were each standing before a door. “Then we’ll begin. Time will start as soon as you step inside the room. Be swift and true, my loyal customers, and please return promptly to pay off your tab.”

He hesitated for a moment, then reached out his hand and pushed the door open.

The old hinges creaked, and beyond lay a space steeped in darkness. Tentatively, Byron stepped inside. Cassie followed close behind him, still gripping his hand.

“If there are freaky dolls in here, I’m going to scream,” Cassie murmured as she crowded close to him.

We will protect her from freaky dolls, his dragon said with confidence. No matter how many there are or how freaky they are.

I’m just hoping that when the lights come on, we are not standing on the top of a cliff looking down,Byron said nervously. We don’t even know if we’re still going to be inside.

If we are, we can shift and fly with Cassie on our back,his dragon said.

The door swung shut behind them, leaving them in darkness. Byron couldn’t sense anything for a moment, just an empty void in all directions, except for Cassie, a warm and comforting anchor at his side. It was a strange sensation as it was so quiet, but there was no echo of their breaths or footsteps, no movement of air.

Byron tightened his hold on Cassie before the entire space around them flickered with a weak light before growing into a soft, steady glow that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once. His nose prickled as he took a breath of musty, dust-filled air and the scent of aged paper and old leather.

They were in a library.

“Books,” Byron said with a nod. “Nothing scary about books.”

Behind him, Cassie let out a long breath. “Okay. What do we do?” She let go of his hand and strode forward. “Remember, this is timed. So we have to move fast.”

Byron followed her away from the door and into a large square space amongst the tall bookshelves. It was almost as though they were standing within a small glade amongst tall trees of a dark forest. As he peered through the thin gaps between the leather-bound books into the dim light beyond it was as if he were looking past the spindly trunks of trees and thick undergrowth.

The space they were in was dominated by a worn leather sofa, in front of which sat a dark wooden coffee table. However, instead of coffee cups, there was a row of ten crystal wine glasses, each filled with different shades of red liquid.

The bookshelves themselves were colossal, disappearing up into the darkness above them, stuffed full of books of all shapes and sizes. Throughout this lit space were smaller tables that held several odd, mismatched paraphernalia. A large globe with a small magnifying lens on the frame, an old projector, an old typewriter, a set of skeleton keys in a display case, and a large hourglass that was trickling away sand.

Across one side of the room was a wooden stand with what looked like an upright maze encased in glass. It kind of looked like it should have been an old chalkboard standing there in its stead.

Movement across the room caught his eye, and he bristled.

“Is that Brushworth?” Cassie asked as the broom came into the light from a break in the shelves, sweeping lazily across the washed-out rug that was spread across the wooden floorboards.

“Who names a broom?” Byron grumbled.

“You know who,” she said lightly, but then her brow creased. “But there’s only one of him.”

“How many are there supposed to be?” Byron asked.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Cassie said. “I thought all the rooms would be the same. But if there is only one Brushworth and Brushworth is here, then the rooms must all be different.”

“That doesn’t seem fair,” Byron said indignantly. “This is a timed task. So we should all face the same room and the same puzzles.”

“Or maybe this room is tailored to our unique capabilities,” Cassie said as she turned in a slow circle. “Books are your thing, after all.”

“You might be right.” Byron beckoned to her. “If this is some sort of escape room, we’ll have to start solving puzzles to figure out how to escape. Let’s start with the most obvious.”

“The maze?” Cassie asked. “Or the wine?”

“The maze.” Byron eyed the ten glasses of wine. “I can’t see a clue as to what we have to do with the wine glasses, and if we drink ten glasses of wine, we are not going to be in any fit state to do anything other than sleep it off on the sofa.”

“The maze it is!” Cassie rushed forward. “What do we do?”

Byron stepped to the side as Brushworth swept past him before he walked around the vertical maze behind the glass panels. In the bottom left corner was a jumble of small metal squares. “There’s an identical maze on either side.” He pointed to the bottom of the maze where there were several flat, square metal pieces. “We start here, where we have to work together to guide these puzzle pieces through the maze. Using these.” He reached for two flat, round magnets with a handle on the back that resembled the paddles used in air hockey. “It looks like there’s something inscribed on the puzzle pieces. If we can get them out, we’ll be able to figure out what that is.”

“Got it.” Cassie took one paddle and darted around the other side of the maze. “It doesn’t work. I can’t get the piece to move.”

“The magnets aren’t strong enough alone. We’ll have to do it together,” Byron said. He poked his head around the side of the maze. “This is a couples’ competition, after all.”

“Of course.” Cassie took a deep breath. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Go.” They both placed their magnets on the clear glass and sure enough, the metal squares at the bottom began to lift up as they slid their paddles upward.

“Damn it!” They hadn’t gotten far when the puzzle piece dropped down to the bottom of the maze before they could guide it around a corner.

“We need to be better coordinated,” Cassie said. “One of us is moving too fast.”

“Okay, let’s try again. We should talk to each other as we’re doing it to stay in time.” Byron placed his magnet back over one of the puzzle pieces. “Ready. Go.”

“Okay. Up. Up. Too much!”

“Left, a bit more. No!”

Just as they managed to guide it around the first corner, the same thing happened, and the piece dropped with a quiet thud back into its starting position.

“We need to be more in sync,” Cassie said.

“I know.” Byron blew the air out of his cheeks as he eyed the maze through the glass. “I’m not sure how, though. Is there a couple of mirrors around here we can use to see each other as we move?”

“What if I used a spell?” Cassie asked.

“A spell…” Byron had never had a spell cast on him before.

It’s our mate. We trust her with our life, so we can trust her with a spell.

“Morwenna said nothing in the rules about not using magic,” Cassie said from the other side of the maze.

“No, she did not.” Byron gnawed on his bottom lip for a moment and then said, “A spell sounds like a good idea.”

“Okay, place your paddle on the glass, and I’ll do the same.” Cassie paused. “Ready?”

“Ready.” He listened as she spoke quietly, and it was as if her magic touched him, caressing his skin.

“Okay, let’s try it.”

Byron moved the puzzle piece upward, but it fell back down instantly.

“It didn’t work,” Cassie said in exasperation. “I think it just fizzled.”

“Perhaps there is a no magic rule after all,” he said to soothe her as his skin tingled. “Or...wait.”

“What?” Cassie asked.

“I think...” He held his free hand flat against the glass. “It’s like I can feel you.”

“Feel me?” Cassie asked.

“Yes. Try it. Close your eyes and see if you can sense my movements.” Byron closed his eyes and focused on his palm as it tingled and grew warmer. “Tell me what you are doing.”

“I have my palm on the glass.”

“Me, too.” He smiled to himself. “Now place the paddle over the puzzle piece.”

“Done,” she said quietly.

“Now we move as one,” he said.

“As one,” Cassie repeated.

Byron moved slowly at first, and it was like a thin string connected their hands. He could sense her hesitation and slowed down. But then her confidence grew, and her trust in the connection grew. Until they moved the puzzle piece effortlessly through the maze.

And then the next one. And the next. Until all the pieces were slid up to the top of the maze and out of the slot at the top.

As Cassie clasped the last piece in her hand, she spoke again, and the spell was broken. But the memory of their close connection would linger forever.