The Court has taken on a more menacing mood in the dark with lights flashing in one direction but misleading us down another. The map helps lead us away from the dead ends, but it can’t tell us where Sophia is. We rush through garden after garden, running down corridors, getting turned around in a hall of mirrors intended to disorient us. I want to scream and shatter them all.
“We need to get out of here,” I say desperately to Ashton, who’s examining the map, flipping it around to make better sense of it. But with our distorted reflections looking back at us, it’s impossible to know which way to go, even with the map.
Then I remember Arden’s map, the one she drew for me to help explain the Court. I search above the hedges and spot the branches of the tree in the center of the Court, sprouting toward the star-scattered sky. Standing beside Ashton, I inspect the map and turn it so we’re viewing it correctly.
“There. I think … we should go back toward the dorms. She said to find her in her room if we were looking.”
“Are you sure?” Grant asks, doubtful. “Why would Vic take her there?”
“He may not be with her,” I tell him. “She could just be a means to an end. But I need to be sure she’s safe.”
Before we can clear the mirrors, I hear Sophia’s voice and stop abruptly in my steps. Ashton’s head perks to the side, hearing her too. We hold our breaths, listening.
“She almost died!” Sophia cries, sounding hysterical. “That’s not what you said would happen.”
“I didn’t say anything about what would happen. But you did it. And I have the fingerprints to prove it.”
My eyes widen at the deep tenor of Vic’s voice. My heart is attempting to pound out of my chest. I want to rip through these hedges to reach them. To get Sophia away from his poisonous tongue.
“No, no, no,” Sophia pleads desperately. “I didn’t mean to. I only did what you asked.”
“Then keep your mouth shut. Besides, even if you did talk, no one’s going to believe an addict who’s so high most of the time she doesn’t even know her own name.”
“My name’s Sophia,” she snaps angrily, like she’s proving a point.
Vic laughs maniacally, like she’s proven his point.
Ashton is holding up the map, trying to determine the best route to get to them. She draws her finger from us to them—or at least where it sounds like they are. Grant and I nod.
“Here. It’s what you’re worth.”
I falter in my steps again, needing to hear what he says next. Ashton and Grant continue without realizing they’re leaving me behind.
“I want my life back!” she cries, her words strangled by sobs. “What am I supposed to do with these?”
“Choke on them, for all I care. We’re done.”
And then Vic walks through the framed mirror—or what I thought was a mirror—and appears right in front of me.
Neither one of us moves.
My surprise is mirrored in his frozen stance. And on his face … literally. He’s wearing a faceless silver mask, acting like the mirror he just walked through. I see my startled expression staring back at me, wide, dark eyes and quivering chin.
But that’s not who I am.
I set my jaw and narrow my eyes. Adrenaline takes the place of panic. I take a step and set my hands upon his shoulders, slamming my knee between his legs. He folds in half with a grunt of pain.
“You piece of shit,” I mutter, driving an elbow down between his shoulder blades.
Vic collapses to the ground.
I swing my leg … but fall onto my back, my breath leaving me in a forceful burst. I try to breathe in, but it’s like someone’s standing on my chest. The sound of voices sends Vic stumbling to his feet. He disappears back through the illusional mirror.
Fighting for my breath, I roll to my hands and knees.
“Omigod, are you okay?” a girl asks.
A hand reaches for my shoulder, but I brush it off with a wave of my hand, getting to my feet. I breathe in again, air filling my lungs. And I take off through the mirror, after the monster.
I catch sight of the black cape whipping around a corner and race after it. Bumping into a few people without apology, leaving them cursing in my wake. We weave through the passages, somehow avoiding the gardens. Which means he knows the pattern of the maze. He knows where he’s going … and I’m following him willingly.
Despite knowing this, I can’t let up. Watching for the flare of his cape or the flutter of the black feather on his wide-brimmed hat, which reminds me of something out of The Three Musketeers but the evil version.
I round a corner and run into a wall of branches. A dead end. I spin, searching, backtracking, but don’t catch sight of him. Remembering the false wall the night that I was lost in the Court, I carefully feel along the hedge, my heart stammering and my breath panting.
And just when it gives, emptying into a void, a hand reaches out and grabs my wrist, yanking me forward. A fist collides with my stomach, leaving me sputtering for air.
“You’re not going to get to her in time,” he growls in my ear.
I want to ask who, but I know. Sophia.
He swings again, colliding with my temple, and black spots fill my vision. I try to shake it off but fall to my knees.
“What the hell are you doing?” a guy yells, sending Vic running again.
Hands help me to my feet.
A face painted gold with bright green eyes fills my vision. “Are you okay? We should get her some help.”
I don’t know who he’s talking to while I wrestle out of his grip, fighting to focus while faltering along the hedges.
“Hey, where are you going?” a girl calls to me. “You need to get looked at.”
Using the wall of shrubbery to hold me up, I force my legs to carry me toward the dorm, knowing exactly which building it is. I’m so close. I wave the group off. “I’ll be okay. Going to my room.”
They don’t follow, but I overhear someone saying they should let the cricket know. He’s around somewhere.
I blink away the dizziness, able to stand upright by the time I reach the rose trellis. Except … security is guarding the doors. And I have no idea what I look like. The last thing I want is for them to hold me up, asking stupid questions while Sophia could be … I refuse to go there. I will get to her in time.
The yard is scattered with princesses and fairies, laughing and talking. It’s easy enough to skirt the perimeter and disappear into the bushes. I reach for the grate, lifting it up and crawling beneath. The small window into the basement is open, so I slide in backward on my belly and drop to the ground. Arms close tightly around me.
“What took you so long?” Vic hisses in my ear.
I stomp on the instep of his boot, and he hollers, releasing me. A phone clatters to the floor, flashing yellow dots displayed on the screen. He knew where I was the entire time.
“Bitch!”
“Never denied it,” I say through clenched teeth.
This time, when he swings, I’m ready and block him with my forearm, but his strength knocks me back a few steps. He’s stronger than I am, and I need an advantage. A height advantage would be nice.
I pick up an old wooden chair covered in webs and swing it at him, knocking him off-balance. Then I run, hoping to remember the way through the dark. My hands skim along the wall as I search for the stairs.