Chapter 24

"I told you,"Graham said. "I told you, if a riddle leads you somewhere, you have to do what it says. It told us to split up, so we should have?—"

"Yeah, and it's too damn late now," Jeremy snapped. "It is what it is. This isn't ideal, but Caeda made it clear. We aren't in any real danger. Three out of four of them are eternal. They'll live."

"But doesn't this mean that we failed?" I asked, peering at that ball of golden light overhead. It was so pretty, I couldn't stop looking at it. "We were told to protect our brides, and we didn't. That must mean we failed."

"Or that this maze was never meant for us," Luci said.

"What do you mean?" Graham asked.

"You all hate Caeda because you think that she's not matriarchal enough. And I'm not saying that I don't understand, but she sent the women away to fight." His eyes suggested that should have been answer enough, but we all just kept staring at him. "You really don't get it?"

"I do." Jeremy cursed under his breath. "This isn't about us. She doesn't care what we do in here. She wants to see the women fight. Their intelligence, their ability to protect themselves, matters more to her than we do."

Hmm. Made sense. "That fascinated me, you know. I was expecting to be greeted by a man, but her husband wasn't even present."

"Probably because we have a very narrow view of the picture," Luci said. "The girls will be fine. I have no doubt that all of them can defend themselves. Let's carry on."

"Are we going to at least search for their minds?" Graham asked, a bit of annoyance in his tone. "They couldn't have gone far."

"You haven't done that already?" Jeremy lifted his hand and pointed to the right. "Somewhere over there, maybe a couple hundred yards away, I can feel her. Can't reach her thoughts, though, and I can't teleport to her. Something's blocking me."

I stretched my mind out for Rain, but much like what had happened with Warren and Graham yesterday, I hit a wall. I could still feel her energy, though. Like Laila, Rain was somewhere off to our right.

"You'll feel their pain if they're in trouble," Connor said. "Otherwise, I agree. Move forward."

So, we did. For a few minutes, we walked in silence.

I should have been worried. Rationally, I knew that. There should've been something going through my mind. But I was so relaxed.

Although I had taken LSD a few times in the sixties, I had never taken mushrooms. I wasn't sure that these were even the same ones we used on Earth for hallucinogenic effects. My stomach wasn't upset, and my time in the ER had taught me that it should have been.

Everything was just perfect. The wind, which had been cool earlier, was warm against my skin. Overhead, the stars twinkled and swirled like an intricate light show. All the smells in the air, from the salty ocean in the distance to the flowers growing atop the bushes, had me feeling at one with the world around me.

Like Luci, I agreed. Rain was no child. She had lived through awful times, and she would live through more, but this was nothing to her. Contrary to what Amara, Jake, and even Graham had said earlier, I had faith in her. Rain would make it out of here in one piece, proving whatever Caeda hoped she would.

In my usual state, I probably would've been angry with Graham for the way he talked to her earlier. At this moment, I wasn't sure I was capable of anger. I simply disagreed.

Regardless of who Jake and Graham saw Rain to be because of her childhood experiences, she wasn't that girl anymore. Over the nearly two years since we had met and fallen in love, I'd watched her develop in immeasurable ways. Then again, perhaps I was only seeing what had always been.

At the beginning of our story, she was attacked by a Demon wearing her brother's body. That was the only time she had been in any true danger since. Every other time, it was one of us who got hurt.

Although, that was what made me wonder. Rain was good at expressing her positive feelings with just about anyone. But she rarely shared the vulnerable ones. For a long time, I questioned how she felt because of it.

Now, seeing the way Graham and Jake both treated her, how they threw back moments of vulnerability in her face, moments from her childhood, I had to understand why. It wasn't that she didn't want to be vulnerable, she'd just been made to feel ashamed of it.

Jeremy stopped.

So did Graham.

I walked straight into his back, not realizing our pace had slowed. Or perhaps I had realized it, but my limbs weren't working as quickly as they should have.

Warren rammed into my back from behind. And not in the fun way.

"Shh," Jeremy said.

I rolled onto the tips of my toes to see over him and Graham.

Straight ahead sat a clearing. Unlike the last one, there was no lake, only a cluster of trees. I didn't even see another bush lined archway.

"Is this the exit?—"

"Shh," Jeremy repeated.

Leaves rustled. Branches cracked.

Somewhere in that cluster of trees, a blur moved at rapid speed.

"Look what you did," Jeremy said, then took off after it.

Graham followed him.

"What did I do?" I asked.

"The deer, you idiot," Graham called.