But if this is going to work, thought Will, I’ve got to get out of the maze, too.
Will watched them pass through another wall, then dug down deep into his reserves and put on a burst of speed faster than any he’d ever remembered being able to reach before. He shot past the lumbering bear, catching a glimpse of Elise and Ajay gaping at him as if they were a frozen snapshot, and realized he was heading straight at another wall himself with no time to change course. Above him and to the right he saw the snake king out of the corner of his eye, nearly level with them now and only one last wall standing between them.
Just beyond the snake, Will saw Nick rushing toward them along the top of a wall, shouting and waving his arms, trying to pull the snake’s attention away from his friends back toward him.
In the passageway just below the wall that Nick was traversing, a group of five soldier snakes turned a corner, slithering in the same direction. They hadn’t even looked up and seen him yet.
“Yo, butt uglies!” shouted Nick. “Up here!”
All five soldiers looked up at him together, then stopped and hurled their spears at him. Nick contorted and twisted his body every which way, even doing a stationary somersault, which caused the first four spears to narrowly miss him. The fifth he plucked out of the air by the shaft, twirled around a few times—mostly for show—and shouted back down at the snakes: “Thanks for the spear, suckas!”
Nick resumed sprinting along the top of the wall and hopped over to the next one as the soldier snakes angrily hissed and jabbered, falling quickly behind in the maze. Nick was approaching the snake king’s right flank now, and it hadn’t spotted him yet…
…intent as it was on the oversized bear rampaging through the maze below and to its left. As it surged forward, the snake king raised its silver trident and hurled it down toward the bear.
Ajay, glancing back from the bear’s back, saw the trident leave the snake’s hand and hurtle toward them. Will looked up just long enough to see it coming, too. He jumped, turned his body around, too late to slow down, and in midair pulsed a thought-form at the speeding trident.
“STOP NOW!” shouted Ajay in the bear’s ear.
The bear tried to slam on the brakes, but the pads of his feet kept skidding along the smooth pavers. Will’s thought-form glanced off the trident, altering its physics just enough to knock it off its deadly trajectory by a fraction of a degree.
Then, in rapid order, Will slammed into the wall ahead of him and dropped to the ground, stunned. The bear finally came to a stop three feet away from him…and the three points of the gigantic trident descended just between them, burying themselves deep into the stone.
Will rose to his feet, still wobbly, trying to shake off the impact. The bear looked at him around the shaft of the trident and he heard a deep fun-house version of Coach Jericho’s voice boom out of the bear’s mouth:
“WHICH WAY NOW, WEST?”
Will’s eye was drawn up and behind the bear. The snake king was closing in on them. He quickly turned to the open passage to their left, where he caught a glimpse of one of Ajay’s fluorescent pink arrows on the wall.
“That way!” Will shouted.
The bear started running.
“Will, jump up!” shouted Elise.
She held out her hand as they passed and Will took it and swung up to join them, landing alongside them with barely a moment to grab on to some hanks of hair before the bear was sprinting full tilt down the long corridor ahead of them.
Just behind them, the snake king reached down and yanked its trident out of the stones with a yowl. It rose up, let out a furious shout of frustration, and then barked a string of orders down at its soldiers, which were now swarming all over what was left of the maze. The snake king was just about to rush forward and make another stab at the bear with the annoying little creatures on its back when it heard a scream behind it.
That was Nick, running up just behind it on the wall, and he let the spear go as he finished the scream. The snake king whipped around and used its trident like a hockey goalie’s stick to harmlessly deflect the spear away. Then it glowered at Nick for a moment, apparently having a hard time believing that one of these puny creatures actually had the audacity to attack it with anything.
“Oh, shit,” said Nick.
The king’s anger erupted; the snake leaned down, unhinged its jaws, revealing tusk-sized fangs, and roared at Nick with an earsplitting bellow that felt like it was going to melt his face and flattened a few of the damaged walls behind him.
Nick turned and scampered back the way he’d come along the wall toward the right side of the maze. The snake king stormed after him, caught up in a mindless berserker rage.
Elise looked up from the back of the moving bear and saw the snake king moving after Nick. “IT’S HEADING AWAY AGAIN.”
“KEEP GOING, PLEASE!” shouted Ajay into the bear’s other ear. “THESE ARE MY MARKS ON THE WALL. WE’RE GOING THE RIGHT WAY. TWO MORE TURNS AND WE’LL BE OUT!”
“HOLD ON!” shouted the bear.
Maintaining most of his speed, the bear skidded around the corner, and Will immediately recognized the final corridor and archway ahead of them as the one that would finally take them back out to the swamp.
Except that the far end of the passage was packed with a thick column of angry snake soldiers who saw them and rushed forward, giving out a fearsome war cry, their spears raised to attack.
“DON’T STOP!” shouted Will. “DON’T STOP FOR ANYTHING!”
“IF YOU SAY SO,” the bear growled; then he lowered his head and accelerated straight at them.
Will looked over at Elise, hanging on for dear life next to him. Do you have anything left?
She looked right back at him with a challenge. Show me what you got.
Both turned to face the charging warriors. Will took in a deep breath. He heard Elise do the same.
Will looked up and quickly summoned a thought-form above the corridor: a long flat rectangle almost the exact dimensions of the passageway. Once the projection stabilized, he hurried to “fill” it in with the densest matter he could manufacture.
At the same moment, Elise sent out a narrow, concentrated column of high-frequency sound that poleaxed the warriors’ nervous systems. Every one of them stopped in their tracks, half paralyzed, let go of their spears, and grabbed for their ears.
Will dropped his thought-form plank on top of the whole column, which knocked them all to their knees, just as the galloping bear smashed into their forward ranks and carved a swath through the entire company, knocking soldiers aside and bouncing them off the walls like bowling pins. They made it all the way through to the final turn, where they rushed out under the archway and down the path that had originally brought them here, back toward the swamp.
“KEEP GOING,” shouted Will in the bear’s ear. “TO THE END OF THE WALLS!”
Rising up to look behind them, Elise could see Nick still dodging and dancing around on top of the maze walls as the snake king chased after him.
What about Nick? she sent to Will.
He can take care of himself.
What if he can’t?
Will snuck a look back at Nick and saw him hop easily over the snake king’s trident as it took a swing at him; then he made a series of rude gestures to the thing’s face, which drove it even crazier.
We need to work fast, Will sent to Elise. Keep those things away from me as long as you can. If this works, I think I’ll only need a couple of minutes.
They had nearly reached the end of the wall, where the swamp ended and the stone path began, and the bear was slowing down.
“THIS IS GOOD,” shouted Will.
Will slipped off the bear’s back as he came to a halt, landing on the beginnings of the stone path. They were about a hundred yards from the entrance to the maze and none of the soldiers had come out of the entrance after them yet. Elise and Ajay slid down after him, Elise taking a defensive stance on the path between Will and the entrance.
r />
Will moved a few steps away from them, closed his eyes, and knelt down on the stones, in deep concentration.
The bear plopped down on his haunches, shaking his head a few times, panting for breath, blood running down his face and steam rising off his fur from the exertion.
Ajay couldn’t take his wide eyes off the bear, filled with wonder at his size and power, awed by the startling energy his presence radiated.
“Does it hurt?” Ajay asked. “Being in this body, or when you change?”
“YES, IT HURTS LIKE HELL,” said the bear, looking at him, exasperated. “YOU KNOW WHAT HURTS MORE?”
Ajay meekly shook his head.
“RAMMING YOUR HEAD THROUGH A SERIES OF STONE WALLS WHILE A BUNCH OF OVERGROWN SIDEWINDERS USE YOU AS A PINCUSHION.”
“I see,” said Ajay.
He reached out his hand as if to pet the bear’s side, or comfort him.
“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT,” growled the bear.
Ajay pulled his hand back, but he noticed more than a few bleeding wounds in the bear’s side and ribs, at least one that looked serious.
“Leave him alone, Ajay,” said Elise.
“All right,” said Ajay. “But aren’t you going to change back now?”
“I FIGURED I’D WAIT A FEW MINUTES. SEE HOW THINGS GO.”
“Yes. Good idea—”
Then for the first time, Ajay noticed a thin strap of studded leather around the bear’s right shoulder, with a small pouch attached.
“What’s the pouch for?” he asked.
“THAT’S WHERE I KEEP MY CLOTHES.”
“Oh. Is there a time limit for how long you can stay this way?”
“YES. BECAUSE I GET VERY, VERY HUNGRY. SOMETIMES SO HUNGRY I CONSIDER EATING CHILDREN.”
“Ajay,” asked Will, behind him, deep in concentration, eyes closed. “Can you do something to grab the big snake’s attention? Maybe pull him off Nick for a minute?”
“I can certainly try,” said Ajay, reaching for his pack.
Then Will went deeper inside. Took in a series of expansive breaths until he worked his way back down to the place where he’d first connected with the plants.
An interior location, deep underground.
He felt the same sensation, of the ground dropping away below him, and this time found his way there almost at once, but the space appeared indistinct at first and pitch dark. Moments later, something appeared, swimming up toward him from he didn’t know where.
A source of light.
Or maybe, Will realized, it was a being.
It took the form of a round tube, open at the top like a funnel, snaking up toward him out of the ground, or maybe a black void. Oscillating with some kind of electrical force that traveled continually up and down its gently waving length. He studied it; the being didn’t seem to be composed of matter at all but was made entirely of energy. Not one that he could identify, like electricity, but more like a spiritual kind.
He knew immediately that it had appeared in response to his reaching out for help. Maybe he’d even invited it to come, although he wasn’t entirely sure how he’d done it.
Will transmitted a series of pictures about what he hoped to communicate. He needed their help. The process wasn’t easy or quick and he had to concentrate fiercely on each picture, in sequence, as if he were a small child building a sentence. Then he repeated the message, one image after another, finding it slightly easier and quicker the second time around.
The tube stayed right in front of him, weaving back and forth. Listening wasn’t quite the right word for what it appeared to be doing, but absorbing seemed to fit. The edge of the tube folded gently in and out, as if it were taking each image in, almost like food.
Then the tube nodded and turned slightly. Four other identical tubes immediately shot up out of nowhere and joined it. All five of them hung in the way before him, swaying in unison. The first tube turned to the others and the others now seemed to “absorb” the message from the first one. He saw energy passing or exchanging between them.
Then the other tubes vanished as quickly as they’d appeared. The first tube turned to face Will again. Once again it seemed to nod.
Then it disappeared instantly as well.
Will opened his eyes. Ajay was standing nearby, holding a flare gun. The bear was still resting. Elise stood on the path, focused on the entrance to the maze.
“I’m ready, Will,” said Ajay.
Elise glanced back at him.
Whatever you just did, she sent, it better work.
We’re about to find out, he answered.
I hope so, ’cause snaky-boys are starting to come around back at the entrance. The whole pack of ’em could come charging out after us at any second.
Will nodded at her. He had to trust this process. He didn’t know what else to do. Elise put out her hand and helped pull him to his feet.
“Go ahead, Ajay,” said Will. “Fire away.”
“I took the liberty, before we left, of slightly modifying the payload,” said Ajay. “So, as you’ll see, this isn’t exactly an ordinary flare—”
“STOP YAPPING AND SHOOT IT ALREADY,” said the bear, getting back on his feet.
In the distance to the left, they could see Nick still hopping around from wall to wall and avoiding the snake king’s attacks. But he was starting to tire; the swipes and stabs from the thing’s trident were getting closer and closer to him.
Ajay pointed the flare gun toward the maze and pulled the trigger. A jet of light arced up over the stone walls and exploded high in the air, just to the right and above the snake king.
A starburst of bright white light immediately grabbed the snake’s attention and it whirled away from Nick, looking up at this wonder in the sky.
Will reached out for Nick’s mind and sent an urgent message:
Get back to where we first came into the maze. Fast.
Nick whipped his head toward Will and the others, and Will could practically read his thoughts:
Where the heck did that come from?
Then Nick noticed that the snake king was distracted by the flare and immediately took off sprinting along the tops of the remaining walls in their direction. The big serpent was so mesmerized that he didn’t even notice him go.
As Ajay’s flare hung in the air and began to slowly descend, the gloomy perpetual twilight over the swamp turned bright as a desert under a noonday sun. And then this brilliant marvel of light began to change.
At the entrance to the maze, as Elise had warned, the column of snake soldiers had started to trickle out after them again, but now they all quickly turned, stopped, and stared up at the dazzling light show above the maze.
“Wait for it,” said Ajay.
Another stage of the flare detonated with a series of loud, staccato bursts, like gunfire. Both the snake king and the soldiers recoiled with fear at the sound. The lights that flowed down from this new eruption organized into an image, in stark white, bright reds, and greens: The gigantic face of an Old Testament deity, bearded and stern, stared balefully down at them. Somehow, a deep rumbling issued from it, as if it were speaking to them—the Voice of God.
Will heard audible gasps from the soldiers near the archways, while the snake king backed away from the image and dropped its trident in fear.
Then, just below the deity’s face, a third stage of the flare took shape—the outline of a red neon sign, surrounded by twinkling lights, and then three letters appeared in the middle of the sign, as if an ON switch had just been flipped:
OMG
Elise turned to Ajay. “Really?”
“I couldn’t resist,” said Ajay.
“How’d you do the voice trick?” asked Will.
“Oh, a timed minor detonation built in by layering the pyrotechnics,” said Ajay. “No biggie.”
Nick bounded down from the last wall in the maze and splashed through the swamp toward them, just as the dazzling image of the face over the maze began to decay.
r /> The snake king and its soldiers were all still cowering in fear, but there was no telling how long that effect would last once the image disappeared. The snake king reached for its trident again and raised it tentatively, as if to guard itself against the shimmering visage.
“Will?” asked Elise.
“I don’t know,” he said, looking around anxiously. “I don’t know if it’s going to work.”
“If what’s gonna work?” asked Nick as he ran up to join them, shaking himself dry. Then he noticed the bear. “Hey, look at you!”
“CORK IT, MCLEISH,” growled the bear.
Then Will heard a strange high-frequency sound rising out of the maze. An eerie keening like a cable being stretched or tightened, or tension gradually ratcheting up through a network of piano wires.
“Ajay, keep your eyes on the maze,” said Will. “Tell me what you see.”
The sound continued to build until it hurt their ears. Ajay jumped on top of a low stone wall nearby to look back toward the maze and opened his eyes wide.
“What the heck is that?” said Nick, turning back toward the maze.
“Something’s moving,” said Ajay. “All along the walls—I can’t quite make out what it is—”
The bear loped over to him. “HOP ON MY SHOULDER, KID!”
Ajay jumped onto the bear’s back and shifted himself onto his shoulder; then the bear stood up to his full height and turned toward the maze. Ajay sat nestled in his right shoulder, as tiny as a doll dwarfed by the giant animal, hanging on to his neck as he gazed intently into the distance.
Above the maze, the last of the flare winked out, and the gloom slowly settled over the swamp again.
“It looks like thousands of snakes, wriggling around,” said Ajay, peering intently into the dim distance. “No, wait, that’s not quite right—”
“Which part isn’t right?” asked Elise.
“They’re not snakes; they’re the vines. They’re moving, disengaging from the walls, everywhere…they’re everywhere.”
They could all see some kind of writhing movement throughout the maze now; in some places it was so thick it appeared as if the walls themselves had come to life. Then they started to hear barks and shouts of alarm from the snake-men inside.