The Lost Labyrinth

11. Lost Books And An Old Poet

Being stuck in a huge hole wasn't fun. Trying to get out was even worse. I'd hoisted Maeve on my back, trying to see if she could climb the wall. She was just getting a grip when all of a sudden my knees buckled and she fell. We were lying on the floor in the middle of the night, tired and had little hope of ever getting out.

We sat there for a couple more minutes discussing what we should do. When all of a sudden the floor beneath us started making odd sounds. Like a creaking sound. A huge crack formed beneath us. It split the floor in two. Cracks were now everywhere along the floor. I looked at Maeve. She looked terrified. Then it happened. The ground broke off.

We fell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up to a sunset. I was lying on something hard. I looked around to see a dock. Around the dock was water, lake water. It had all sorts of plants growing in it. But it was beautiful. Surrounding the lake were a lot of pine trees. They looked so mysterious and wistful. I loved it.

I looked behind me to see a hill. On the hill was a small house. The house looked old and abandoned. It was a little broken down. A couple of smashed windows and loose wood on the walls. There were wooden steps leading up to the house. On each step was a word. It made some kind of sentence. There were about 10 steps. I read the sentence out loud for Maeve to hear; do not enter, the flame haired girl is around. Beware.

Well, that was scary. The only flame haired girl I knew...was Amalie. But how could it be her? She wasn't here. The writing looked old, it couldn't be. I guess this was just another sign that we weren't alone.

"Maeve, something is seriously wrong now" I said.
"Ya think?!"
"My point is, we have to get out now. It's not safe here".

We got off the floor and began to walk towards the house. This could be the worst decision or the best decision. There's only one way to find out.

I grabbed the door handle. As soon as I pulled it, it broke off. I dropped the handle and used my hands to open the door. Inside the house was a dusty bed and an old dining table. That was it. On the dining table were papers upon papers and stacks of books. All of the books and papers had a name. It was the same name each time. The same author; James J. Smith. I looked around at all the papers.

For some reason, this guy's name seems familiar to me. Oh! In english class with Mme Welles we learned about this guy. He was a famous author who went missing before he released his second novel. No one ever knew what happened to him.

I think we just found all of his last manuscripts. This was really cool.

James J. Smith wasn't just any author though. He was a poet. He'd make his poems into full books with a hidden story. He was probably the best author of the 1800's.

Finding his work was almost like finding treasure. But we didn't have time for this, we had to get out.

I quickly flipped through a couple of pages in the books. So did Maeve. Then I heard a voice speak. It wasn't Maeve's. It was an older voice. A woman's voice. Cassandra's voice. I turned around, to see her staring at me.

"We meet again" she said.

She was being super creepy.

"What do you want?!" I said.
"Oh, nothing" she said softly. "I just want to give you a little explanation. A clue to what's going on."
"Go on"
"In case you didn't know, you probably didn't, I was the creator of labyrinth before that girl."

I just remembered that Maeve was still here too. But she kept on looking at the books and papers like it was nothing. Like Cassandra wasn't even there. Cassandra saw me looking at me at Maeve and said "She can't hear or see me right now". That explains a lot. She probably be freaking out and screaming by now anyways.
"So, you created the labyrinth? Why? What's the point of torturing people?!" I asked.

She seemed to be annoyed by my little comment. She looked angry. Then she said "Watch you're back. Watch what you say".

Then she disappeared in a flash of light.

I had no idea why she was being like this. I don't know why she cared so much about me.

She created the labyrinth to destroy us. But she was using it for her own fun. It's so...cruel.

Behind me, Maeve was still looking at the papers. I turned to help her look through them for any more valuable information. While searching I found it.

I found something unbelievable...