Wild ― Piper McLean

―x. a dead princess hosts a knockoff battle royale

VERONA ONLY FELT SLIGHTLY LESS EXHAUSTED when she woke an indeterminable amount of time later, but she'd take whatever she could get. 

It wasn't long after she opened her eyes that they broke camp and started back down the tunnel, taking each twist and turn in relative stride. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, and Verona wondered what they'd be facing at the end of it—maybe some sort of gross sewer monster, or a dungeon, or maybe some inevitable mythological figure's den of evil. 

Really, Verona wasn't optimistic. 

They ended up at a set of polished steel elevator doors, each engraved with a cursive letter M. Next to the elevator was a directory, like for a department store. 

"M for Macy's?" Piper guessed. "I think they have one in downtown Chicago."

"Or Monocle Motors still?" Leo said. "Guys, read the directory. It's messed up." 

Parking, Kennels, Main Entrance: Sewer Level
Furnishings and Café M: 1
Women's Fashion and Magical Appliances: 2
Men's Wear and Weaponry: 3
Cosmetics, Potions, Poisons & Sundries: 4

"Kennels for what?" Piper said. "And what kind of department store has its entrance in a sewer?" 

"One we're probably going to regret walking into," Verona muttered. 

"Man, what does 'sundries' even mean?" Leo asked. "Is that like underwear?"

"When in doubt, start at the top," Jason suggested.

🌿

The doors slid open on the fourth floor, and the scent of perfume wafted into the elevator. Jason stepped out first, sword at the ready. 

"Guys," he said. "You're got to see this." 

Piper joined him and caught her breath. "This is not Macy's."

Verona and Leo stepped up on either side of the pair and took in the sight. 

The department store looked like the inside of a kaleidoscope. The whole ceiling was a stained glass mosaic of astrological signs around a giant sun. The daylight streaming through it washed everything in a thousand different colors. The upper flowers made a ring of balconies around a huge central atrium, so they could see all the way down to the ground floor. Gold railings glittered so brightly, they were hard to look at.

Aside from the stained glass ceiling and the elevator, Verona couldn't see any other windows or doors, but two sets of glass escalators ran between the levels. The carpeting was a riot of different patterns and colors, and the racks of merchandise were just as bizarre. There was too much to take in all at once, but Verona saw normal stuff like shirt racks and shoe trees mixed with armored mannequins, beds of nails, and fur coats that were definitely mumbling about something. 

Verona shuddered. 

Leo stepped to the railing and looked down. "Check it out."

In the middle of the atrium was a fountain spraying water twenty feet in the air, changing color from red to yellow to blue. The pool glittered with gold coins, and on either side of the fountain stood a gilded cage—like an oversized canary cage.

Inside of one cage, a miniature hurricane swirled. Somebody had imprisoned the storm spirits, and the cage shuddered as they struggled to escape. In the other, frozen like a statue, was a short, buff satyr holding a tree-branch club.

"Coach Hedge!" Piper said. "We've got to get down there."

A voice asked, "May I help you find something?"