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

gem-encrusted wand. Once he was across the gap in the middle, he moved closer to the cage, his eyes on Tink. She was motionless, and it wasn’t until she sighed that a tremendous load lifted off his chest.

Approaching the food table, he saw Tink lift her head, her nose in the air. Sniffing around, she turned to face Mike, who was almost twenty feet away. A large smile broke out on her face, followed immediately by a frown.

“Tink hates the Labyrinth,” she whispered. “Tink wants to go home and never come back.”

“I’m working on it.” The cage door was padlocked shut. After a few quick cuts with the knife, Mike pulled the whole mechanism free and set it down on the table.

Tink pushed open the door and threw herself into Mike’s arms. “Tink so happy to see husband. Snake lady try to make Tink do a bad thing, get mad when Tink refuse.”

Snake lady? Mike thought about the large snakeskin they had found. “Okay, Tink, we can go after we get your goggles.”

“Snake lady has them.” Tink shook her head. “Husband can’t talk to snake lady. Snake lady has bad magic.”

“Seems like everybody does these days.” Grabbing Tink’s hand, he led her away from the table covered in food, his stomach growling in protest. They needed to get out of there as quickly as possible. Mike squeezed Tink’s hand as they ran across the middle of the room toward where he had come in.

Braziers all around the room lit themselves, casting away the shadows. Mike and Tink slid to a halt when they saw that the Minotaur now blocked their path, his fierce eyes locked onto Mike. Mike pushed Tink behind him, drawing the dagger. The Minotaur held a small bag in one hand and his ax in the other.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Mike said. “We just want to leave.”

“Hmm.” The Minotaur let out a snort. “You may not leave without her permission.”

“And you do not have it.” The voice was powerful, filling every portion of the room.

Mike felt Cerulea grab tightly onto his ear, letting out a tiny squeak of fear. Looking all around, Mike froze in place when he realized the walls were moving. Something large was circling the room, scattering gold coins and treasure chests everywhere. Clutching the dagger, Mike stared in awe as the head of a snake appeared.

No, not just a snake. It was a massive cobra. It coiled itself up enough that it was able to sit upright and regard him with glittering eyes. The hood of the cobra expanded, revealing intricate red-and-yellow patterns beneath its folds, and it tilted its nose downward, revealing a crown of gold atop its head. A tongue the length of Tink flicked out at them, tasting the air.

The cobra opened its mouth and spat a crumpled figure out onto the floor.

“Sofia,” Mike whispered.

The cyclops was motionless but still breathing.

“Troublesome little mortals, snooping around my chamber.” The voice came from the snake, though its mouth remained shut. The voice was feminine, with a very thick accent that sounded Asian. Circling Mike, the cobra stared down at him. “You have sent a small army in to retrieve my treasure, haven’t you, Caretaker?”

“We came to retrieve what is rightfully ours,” Mike said, his mouth and throat suddenly dry. “We have no interest in your belongings and would prefer to leave you in peace.”

The snake chuckled. “Isn’t that what all intruders say? ‘We didn’t mean it’?” The snake continued winding her way around the chamber. Mike couldn’t see the end of her tail. “I suppose if I just give you the goggles, you will be on your way?”

“Yeah. That’s the gist of it.”

“Ha!” The snake’s mouth opened into a grin, revealing three-foot-long fangs. “So I hand over a divine object and you will walk away, never to darken my doorstep again. Such generosity would not paint me well.”

“I…I don’t want a divine object. Just the goggles. Because they are Tink’s, and we really need them.”

“Hssssss.” The snake contemplated Mike. “You really have no idea about anything. Let’s say I let you leave. What then of your friends?”

“My friends?” Mike looked around.

The Minotaur walked over to the long dining table Mike had been at to grab something Mike couldn’t see. With a flourish, he pulled free an unseen cloth. Beth and Abella sat at the table, staring straight ahead. The Minotaur folded up the garment, parts of his body invisible behind it. He then opened his bag and pulled out a small glass jar with a pair of glowing lights inside. Carmina and Olivia banged their hands against the glass.

“Yes. Your friends.” The snake slithered up to the table. “They were so kind to follow Asterion here. After a lovely chat, they decided they would prefer to remain. I’m sure I could find some use for them.”

“They would never agree to that.” Mike moved cautiously toward Sofia. Seeing no reaction from the snake or the Minotaur, he knelt by her side. “Are you okay?”

“I feel so gross.” Sofia stared into the distance, blinking rapidly. “But she didn’t hurt me. I…just can’t move.”

“What about the others?” Mike looked up at the snake. “What’s wrong with them?”

“You will find out soon enough.” The snake was slithering again, heading for the pagoda in the corner. Large flaps of fabric cast eerie shadows as she disappeared behind its folds. “Firsthand.”

The snake continued moving behind the pagoda but never came out the other side. Instead, the shadows condensed themselves down into a slender form that casually walked across the back wall. A bronze-skinned woman, wearing a kimono, appeared. Long dark hair was topped with a tiny golden crown.

“I was a fool to be lured here by the last Caretaker,” she said, walking toward him. Deep-set eyes sat above refined cheekbones, and it wasn’t until she came closer that he realized that portions of her skin consisted of scales that replicated the same patterns he had seen on her serpentine body. “And I would be a fool