Radley's Labyrinth for Horny Monsters, Annabelle Hawthorne [smart ebook reader TXT] 📗

Not paying attention, she just happened to look down in time to see an odd-shaped stone sink into the floor. She immediately took several steps backward before crouching and holding up her spear. Eyes on the corridor, she looked at the walls, then the floor, then up. She could hear faint gears creaking.

“Oh fuck.” It suddenly occurred to her that the traps in the Labyrinth were likely not directional. They could be built for people coming in or leaving. She ran backward several paces, and a sudden blast of air blew across her back as the walls of the corridor slammed together. She turned around and stared in awe at the trap that had almost gotten her. The thick walls of the Labyrinth now blocked her way forward, but the curve of the path meant that a small opening had appeared before her on the other side of one of the shut walls. It was like looking behind the scenes at a theater, and she could see the mechanism by which the walls had been pressed together.

She was debating whether she should crawl through the gap when a voice came from the other side.

“Hello? Is someone there?” It sounded like a woman.

Immediately suspicious, Beth kept her mouth shut. The mechanism for the wall hadn’t begun retracting yet, so Beth made the decision to squeeze through. Just as her foot cleared the gap, the gears activated, the wall shifting back the other way. Beth watched the seams in the wall disappear as it locked back into place. She was in another narrow corridor, but this one had a small opening that led her into a circular room.

The room had several pillars around its perimeter that rose toward the sky but didn’t connect to anything. Each pillar looked like multiple rings stacked on top of one another. Moving carefully toward the center, Beth listened to someone grunting, the sound of stone crunching against stone making her teeth hurt. Pressing herself against a nearby pillar, she circled it, her spear held at the ready.

One of the pillars had collapsed, giant stone rings lying in a pile. Beneath the rubble, a slender arm frantically waved about, trying to push one of the bigger rings off. Crouching, spear in front of her, Beth neared the trapped creature, then knelt for a better look.

The arm was a grayish white, the flesh made of stone. A couple of cracks had appeared, and a dark substance like oil leaked from the wound.

“Do you need some help?” Beth asked.

The arm withdrew, and a face appeared in the gap. It was the face of a woman, with dark eyes like coal. “Please,” she said. “It’s too heavy for me to move.” She had a faint French accent.

“I’m not sure I can move any of these myself.” Beth stood, appraising the pile of rubble. “Well, hold on. It looks like I could maybe roll some of them down from the top. If I move enough of them, maybe you can push yourself free. What do you think?”

“I’m not in a position to offer any advice.” The woman blinked. “My name is Abella. I’m a gargoyle, in case you were wondering.”

“I’m Beth. Just a human, I’m afraid.” Beth surveyed the rocky pile, wondering how best to get to the top. If she got Abella free, maybe the gargoyle would help her escape this place. “Otherwise, this would probably be easier.”

“Then how are you going to get the blocks off me?” Abella asked.

“Leverage,” Beth said. Kneeling, she picked up a stone the size of her fist, then climbed the pile. Some of the stones shifted drastically beneath her weight, but she needed to be up top. “You okay in there?”

“I am fine, just stuck,” Abella replied. “You can only make the pile lighter.”

“Okay, then.” After choosing her footing carefully, Beth picked one of the stones that had a gap beneath it and stuck in the spear. Satisfied that her stone would fit, she wedged it beneath the spear, trying to push it as close to the gap as possible. Using the spear as a fulcrum, she pushed down on its handle, and the stone shifted slightly to one side. Grunting with effort, she tried to get the stone to move, but it settled back into its original position.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Abella informed her.

“I’m not a miracle worker.” Beth removed the spear and changed positions, repeating the process. After a couple of attempts, the stone circle slid far enough off the pile that it tumbled down the side. The rock shifted beneath her, and Beth stuck her arms out for balance. Satisfied that the pile had settled, she found another stone to start working on.

“So how did you get caught in this?” Beth asked.

“I came here with my housemates Tink and Sofia. The Minotaur had taken Tink’s goggles, and she wanted him to give them back. Shortly after we walked into the Labyrinth, we got lost. We had maps, but someone has been changing the hallways.”

“Sounds like a…Labyrinth all right.” Beth grunted and moved another rock. “I’ve seen how the halls change. It isn’t pretty.”

“The original plan was to set up a trap to ambush the Minotaur and demand he return Tink’s goggles. When we couldn’t find the Minotaur, we tried to find a dead space on the map because Sofia thought that he may have a treasure chamber. It didn’t work out, so we wandered until we found this place. We were trying to come up with a new plan, but nobody counted on the Minotaur showing up early. We got into a fight, and when this pillar collapsed, I pushed Tink out of the way to save her.” Abella grunted when the pile shifted again. “Sofia and Tink ran away, and I got stuck here.”

Beth chewed impatiently at her lip, trying to move one of the bigger stones. Her fulcrum rock wasn’t cutting it for this one, and her spear was bending far enough that