“Tell us about it,” Mira said.
Jace gave a weary sigh. “It was bad. I chose not to wear a parachute. Back then, I thought speed was more important than a safety net. These walls are part of a maze. At the center is a herd of horses.”
“Scary,” Cole said.
“Says the guy with nightmares about bunnies,” Jace snapped. “I haven’t finished.”
“What’s the threat?” Mira asked.
“There was a monster,” Jace said. “A big one. Maybe twice my height. It had blades for hands. The lifeboat set me down in the center with the horses, but the monster chased me into the maze. It played cat and mouse for a while. I swear it toyed with me for fun. Then it drove me up the tower. There were no rooms—just a spiral stairway that went up and up. I seriously thought I would die from exhaustion. The monster was right behind me, its blades scraping against the stone steps. I could hear it breathing. At the top was a musty room with no windows. I was cornered. I knew I was dead. There was no way out, no way back to the lifeboat.”
“How’d you make it?” Cole asked.
“The room had lots of old chests and trunks,” Jace said. “Inside one of them I found the golden rope. As soon as I picked it up, I could feel that it moved however I wanted. When the monster entered the room, I used the rope to dodge around it and zoomed down the stairs. That was the first time the rope saved my life. It was also my closest call as a scout.”
“I never heard that story,” Mira said.
“I’ve never told it,” Jace said, looking up at the tower.
“What other living things were here besides the horses?” Mira asked.
“Just the horses,” Jace said. “While running from the monster, I got a good tour of this place. There are about twenty horses at the center of the maze, near the base of the tower. They roam free in a field.”
“Do you remember how to get to the middle?” Mira asked.
“With the rope, I was able to get on top of the walls,” Jace said. “That made the maze a snap. It seems a lot worse when you’re down inside of it.” He stared up at the top of the wall. “Might be hard to get up there right now.”
“If only we had some plastic cups,” Cole mused.
Jace chuckled. “Sorry about falling back there.”
“I’m just glad I wasn’t the only one,” Cole replied.
“Those walls must be thirty feet high,” Mira said. “I don’t see a way up. We’ll have to chance the maze.”
They walked through the archway and into a long corridor of stone. Mira and Cole looked to Jace.
“This way, I think,” Jace said. “It’s been a long time. My last visit was pretty frantic.”
“Does the monster live in the tower?” Mira asked.
“I don’t think so,” Jace replied. “The room felt more like a storage room than a lair. When it attacked me last time, the creature appeared in the maze.”
“Do you think you could recognize Honor as a horse?” Cole asked Mira.
“I sure hope so,” she replied. “This is our last try. What if the creature corners us? I just use my guess and get us out, right?”
“We don’t let it corner us,” Jace said. “We split up. Cole and I will try to lead it on a chase while you get to the center of the maze. Only waste your guess to save your life.”
They reached an intersection, and Jace turned. The new corridor let the lofty tower peek into view over the high walls of the maze. “I wonder if my rope is up there?” Jace asked.
“Don’t you have it with you?” Mira asked.
“Always,” Jace said, removing the golden strand from his pocket.
“Shouldn’t it work here?” Cole wondered.
Jace whipped the golden string around. “Nope. Not a bad thought, though.”
“I don’t think Trillian would put a working rope up there,” Mira said. “He’s making it hard to win. Cole’s mean neighbor was a giant! We shouldn’t expect any favors. The tower is probably just a death trap in this version.”
They reached a four-way intersection, and Jace stood with his hands on his hips. “I’m just guessing now,” he said, turning left.
They were halfway to the next intersection when the monster stepped into view. The shiny black creature walked upright like a human and bristled with countless slender spikes. Lacking a neck, the broad head didn’t rise much higher than its powerful shoulders. At the end of each long arm protruded a pair of cruel blades, like sickles.
Tugging Cole and Mira, Jace turned and raced back the way they had come. Glancing back, Cole saw the monster loping after them, arms swinging.
“Split up!” Jace yelled as they reached the four-way intersection. Jace kept going straight, Mira went left, and Cole turned right, which was back toward where they had entered.
Heart drumming, Cole ran hard, looking back just in time to see the monster continue straight through the intersection, following Jace. Cole skidded to a stop.
What good would it do for him to head back to the entrance without getting chased? If he reversed his direction and followed Mira, he might catch up in time to help her. If the monster caught up to her, she would need somebody to distract it.
Cole ran after Mira. As he neared the intersection, he wondered if the monster might be waiting for him just out of sight. If so, Cole knew he was about to find out what he looked like on the inside.
The intersection was clear. Cole charged forward, the way Mira had gone. After a couple more intersections, Cole realized it would take incredible luck for him to choose the same turns she had. Plus, she was a little faster than him, so it wasn’t likely he’d catch her.
Cole decided his goal should instead be to reach the center of the maze. If he got there ahead of the others, he would wait, maybe study the horses a little. He kept his eyes and ears open, aware that around any corner he could run into the monster.
He wondered if Jace was all right. The monster hadn’t seemed too fast. Of course, it also hadn’t seemed to be going at full speed. Would the monster toy with Jace like last time, or would it go for a quick kill?
Cole hit a dead end and doubled back. Sweat glossed his face and arms, and it was getting hard to breathe. Even chased by a monster, there were limits to how long a person could sprint. Especially when the monster was out of view.
Slowing to a jog, Cole kept using his glimpses of the tower to take turns toward the center of the maze. More dead ends led to more course corrections.