[Incomplete/Abandoned] Eyes Like Stars || A Heartless Marissa Meyer Story

Chapter 7 (part 1 of 2)- Dead End

Jack didn't really want to lead the way through the maze, but since apparently Jill didn't either, he sort of got stuck doing it. Since he was actually on a quest he didn't bother to memorize where he was going. It would likely be a good long while before he got to come back here.

Jack kept looking down trails, but kept with a main route, following his gut and random impulses through the spiraling passages. At one point Jill decided that they were on the wrong side of a hedge, and they pushed their way into the leafy branches.

The strong hedges pulled at them, but they'd chosen a good spot to get through and with just a few scratches ( which quickly healed up from the treacle they consumed on a daily basis ) pushed through onto the other side. Jack tugged his pack out behind them and waited for Jill to point the way, since apparently she knew where she was going now.

They were in a strange part of the maze. It was like a dead end, but if you looked far enough down the way that you were supposed to get in, that wasn't through the hedges, all that could be seen was a thick swirling mist, black and white that refused to mix together into any sort of gray.

As Jack took stock of their surroundings he still kept most of his attention on his little sister. Jill had seemed to gain confidence when she'd led them through the hedge, and she took a few hesitant steps forward away from the bushes.

When nothing drastic happened, and emboldened Jill walked confidently out into the middle of the dead ended path. Jack watched as she tilted her head and looked down to the ground at her feet. Suddenly, he noticed what she had.

On the ground at his sister's feet was a large root. This would seem to be pretty normal, but instead of looking like it could be a root to one of the hedges it was polished and black. Certainly wood, but too pretty to grow in the ground in anyplace other than their strange maze world.

Jack found himself stepping protectively away from the hedge in Jill's direction, but just as his trepidation caused him to open his mouth to warn her, Jill bent down and grasped the strange root with both hands.

With a mighty rumble, the root twisted and grew. The dirt in the ground churned up as the polished black wood grew upward and downward, Jill still grasping tightly to the middle of it.

For just a moment Jack was unable to move, but he came to his senses quickly, pushing off from the imploding ground towards his sister.

The black root was whipping around like crazy, but it was now clear that in the middle of the frenzy it was solidifying into a single thick strand, like a fire pole extending in both directions, up into the sky and down into the dark, churning ground.

And Jill, holding on tightly as her blonde hair and white frock whipped around her, was falling down along the pole, her hands unable to get purchase on the polished wood.

Jack was doing all he could to get to her as the wind spiraled around him, pushing him in the opposite direction as he wanted to go. Some of the mist from the entrance to the clearing had migrated into the situation as well, the black and the white separating as they each wound around Jack's limbs, tugging him in different directions.

No, this was not happening. Jack was not about to get separated from his little sister this easily. As he was being tossed around by the wind he managed to locate one of the whipping roots that might make this possible.

The next time one of the black roots came past him Jack planted his feet against it, and pushing off with all of his strength he managed to launch himself and his pack into the middle of the growing cyclone towards his sister.

This broke him free from the mist and he was able to grab the black pole that was forming, just as Jill was disappearing under the churning ground, and moments later Jack was following, the dirt swallowing him up as the world got dark.

Jack could feel that he was still falling through the earth, but he was choking, suffocating without air to breathe in. He couldn't tell where Jill was, just knew she had to still be beneath him, sliding down the black pole.

Jack tried to keep his hands on the polished wood, holding on for as long as he could until he inevitably lost consciousness, falling backward off the pole as the earth swallowed him, and he continued to fall, down, down, down.

A/N: Okay, I've finally gotten my sh*t together with this story. I have stuff drafted for where I want the plot to go in each chapter and how I want the story to progress, which makes actually writing up the chapters a lot simpler. Also, (fingers crossed) I might actually be able to have an upload schedule now, since writing these chapters is easier, and I have a better idea of what I'm doing. The goal is to update on Sunday each week, and that goes for all of the parts of the chapter. So when I have something like this where I have a lot to get through in an outline I'll put out all the parts sometime in the week but have it all up by Sunday. Big goals, stay tuned to see if I can manage them.