Waltzing With Fate

Twists and Turns

"Should we wake them up?"
"I dont know, they look really comfortable." My eyes open a little bit as I hear Asher and Rose talking. I feel the same warm arms wrapped around me that I fell asleep with and I look up at Matteo. He is looking at Rose and Asher trying to quiet them by putting his finger up to his mouth.
"I'm awake," I groan as I turn over so I am facing Asher and Rose.
"Good morning," Matteo says as I slide up so I am sitting against the headboard of his bed.
"Good Morning," I say as I smile at him. "Matteo, do you want to start our training this morning or wait until later tonight?"
"This morning will probably be the best bet."
"Alright, I will go get changed and meet you here when I'm done getting ready."
"Okay," Matteo says as he gets out of bed. I do the same and head back to my room. Rose follows me and Asher stays behind with Matteo.
"What did Asher and I walk into this morning?"
"We fell asleep watching another movie, that's it."
"That's not what it looked like, but if you say so."
"I do say so, now let me change I have a training session to get to." After that I walk into my closet and I find a black sports bra, a blue tank top to go over it, and another pair of black shorts. I put them on and grab a pair of black socks out of my drawer. I slip on a pair of tennis shoes, and I walk over to the door between our rooms. I knock and I hear a faint come in from the other side of the door. I walk into the room and Matteo is in something similar to what he was wearing last night, but instead he has a black hoodie on.
"Lets go," he announces as he shoots Asher a look of annoyance.
"Let's go," I reply wondering if Asher did the same thing that Rose did to me. We both walk to the door of his room and we exit leaving Rose and Asher in Matteo's room. We get to the elevator and we head up to the upstairs training room. We walk through the doors and the entire room is empty except for my uncle who is standing in the middle of the room waiting for us.
"Good morning Leigh and Matteo. During today's training I want you to both use your skills to get out of the maze."
"You're starting us off with the maze?"
"Yes, Leigh, I am. I believe that the both of you are ready to conquer it together. I have made it harder than the last time that you went through it, so you will have to take this task on as a team."
"Where do we start?" I ask as I start to walk further toward the center of the room.
"You are going to start at the southeast entrance." My eyes grow as wide as saucers. The southeast entrance was the hardest part of the maze the last time that I went through it, and with him changing the maze I have no doubt that it is even harder than I remember.
Matteo looks over at me with an inquisitive look and he notices how tense I have become. He gives me a small smile and my uncle ushers us both to the door on the southeast side of the training room.
"There is a room right before the beginning of the maze that you can take time to strategize in. I will only allow ten minutes of strategy before I open the door to the maze. Good luck, and I hope you don't die, but its possible. With that being said, head into the planning room, there will be weapons waiting for you to pick from."
I lead Matteo toward the door and I open it. I lead us into the planning room. There are shelves upon shelves of weapons. There are knives, swords, bows, and other random weapons hanging from almost every hook and sitting on almost every shelf. I walk over to the shelf that holds the knives and I pick up several. I test the weight of each one in my hand to see which one is more comfortable for me to use, and I find a beautiful four inch blade with a black handle littered with pieces of gold flakes. I look over at Matteo and he is holding a knife with a five inch blade and a jade handle. I attach my knife's case to my thigh and I move on to the swords. I grab the matching sword to my knife and I put the sword on a belt around my waist. I move back to the knife section when a knife catches my eye. The knife is a diamond encrusted blade with a black handle. I grab it and I attach it's holster to my right thigh. I look over at Matteo and he is standing there waiting for me to finish grabbing my weapons. He has several knives and he grabbed a bow and some arrows from the wall behind me.
"So, what's the plan?" he asks as he leans onto the table in the middle of the room.
"The plan is to work together to get through the maze. This maze is filled with traps and puzzles that we have to figure out together or we aren't going to be able to get out of it. I almost died the last time I went through this thing, and I went through it alone, so I am guessing he made it just as hard or even harder than when I went through it." I tone my voice down to a whisper so only he can hear me. "We can't use our magic here. We can't use it at all when my uncle is watching, especially you. He doesn't know that you have powers, and we need to keep it that way."
"What about you?" Matteo asks me quietly.
"He already knows what abilities I possess, but he doesn't know that I have been strengthening them. The last time that I was in this position my abilities were even more undeveloped for magjiks our age. If he found out that I have been training he would use it against those who mean the most to us."
"Got it," Matteo responds as the gate moves open to reveal the dark maze ahead of us. I wave him forward and we creep into the maze. There are red lights on the floor and there are two paths in front of us. There is a path right in front of us and then there is a path to the left of us. I look down the path in front of us and I notice that the path has more light. I look down the path to the left and the red lights continue down it. I turn to the left and I get the inkling that something is going to happen. I look at the walls and I notice little hatches ahead of us on each side of the walls. I pat my dagger on my right thigh signaling to Matteo that he should get out one of his daggers too. He takes out one of his daggers and I do the same. I look back at him and he is on high alert. His gaze darts around the room and his eyes lock on to mine. He nods his head and gives me a comforting smile as I continue down the path.
I hear a rustle in front of me and I stop. I look closer and I see the outline of someone standing there waiting for us to approach. I notice the daggers in their hands and I notice their stiff posture. Matteo walks up beside me and he spots the person in front of us. The soldier realizes that we have seen them and they rush us. The soldier slices out with the dagger in their left hand and I dodge it. Matteo comes at the soldier from the right side and catches the soldier with his knife. The soldier doesn't flinch and comes at us again. He grazes my arm with a knife and I force myself to avoid wincing from the stinging that I feel in my right arm. Matteo sneaks behind the soldier and kicks his knees out from underneath him. Matteo moves and puts his knife to the throat of the soldier. Instead of letting Matteo slit the soldier's throat I knock the soldier out cold.
Matteo lets go of the soldier and ushers me forward. We head down the dark halfway lit with red lights on the floor and the lights from the cameras in it. I keep my eyes trained forward and so does Matteo. We walk down each path with care watching for soldiers to pop out from the walls and ceilings. The color of the lights change from dark red to a hazy orange as we get into the eastern portion of the maze.
"We are out of the southeastern part of the maze. I anticipate that there are going to be more soldiers popping up soon because there was only one so far." I whisper to Matteo as I point to the lights on the floor. He gives me a thumbs up and we keep moving down the hall.
I hear a crash behind us. I look back and the path behind Matteo and I is crashing down. The lights around us flicker and go dim.
"Shit," I whisper as I reach out to where Matteo was. I feel something cold and metal against my back. I hear the sound of a bullet racking into the chamber of a gun behind me as well as ahead of me. I try to step backwards, but I am knocked off balance by the butt of a gun being slammed into my stomach.
"Matteo," I yell as I gain some stability back.
"I'm right here."
"Good," I say as I survey the hall. I notice four soldiers around us. Matteo is in between two of them and I am between the other two. Matteo elbows the guy behind them and the guy behind him stumbles back. The guy in front of me presses the gun further into me.
"You move and she dies," The soldier behind me says as the soldier in front of me moves toward Matteo. The soldier behind me moves his gun to my head, and I can feel the touch of a cold barrel against my skin. Matteo's face stays blank as he looks between me and the soldiers around us. His face changes a little and his eyes dart to my hands and back up to meet my eyes. I think that he is trying to tell me to use my magic, but I can't. My uncle will know. I move my head side to side to tell him no and his eyes dart to the floor in defeat. He looks back up at me and looks at me apologetically.
"Do it, she means nothing to me. It only gets her off my back." The coldness in his voice is undeniable as he says those words. My jaw drops and I find myself looking for even a hint of warmth in his tone or in his expressions. I stand there, just as stunned as the soldiers near me. Matteo takes advantage of this and he slams his elbow into the diaphragm of the soldier behind him. The soldier doubles over in pain.
I take advantage of this and I slam my foot into the right kneecap of the soldier behind me. The soldier behind me collapses. The soldier in front of me pulls his knife. He slices forward and I dodge it. He recovers from his attempt and I lash out with my knife. I catch him with it on his arm. He winces. I move forward and knock him off balance. He stumbles back. I send a punch to his temple and he falls.
I look over at Matteo. There is a soldier on the ground near him and the other soldier is tiring himself out. Matteo looks focused and calm. He looks like he is calculating every move he makes very carefully. I smile softly as I watch every movement he makes.
Before I have a chance to register what is happening I feel a sharp pain rip through my body. Matteo looks over at me and his eyes grow wide. I look down and I see blood oozing out of the left side of my stomach. I put pressure on it. The blood covers my hands.
Matteo runs over to me. The soldier he was fighting is laying on the ground in a small pool of blood. I feel myself start to collapse. Matteo catches me in time to slowly lower me to the ground. I look at him and his eyes are glossy. I look at the soldier who shot me and their eyes are as wide as saucers as they turn around and run off.
"Leigh, everything is going to be okay. Just keep your eyes open and keep breathing." Matteo says as he takes off his shirt and uses it to put pressure on my stomach. I wince. He notices and mouths an I'm sorry. I feel myself start to get light headed. My eyes start to close.
"Don't close them. Focus on keeping yourself alert." I try to focus on keeping my eyes open, but closing them seems more and more tempting. I feel a sense of warmth flood through my body.
"Matteo, you can't, he will know," I whisper.
"I don't care. I will not lose you."
"Matteo you can't," I say as the warmth builds. "Matteo stop."
"No, I will not fail you like I failed my sister,"
"Matteo, you need to stop." I feel the warmth subside and I notice Matteo's expression change. He picks me up and he ties his shirt around my waist to put continuous pressure on my gun shot. He follows the changing lights. I try to keep track of where we are, but I can't focus. I try to push away the pain, but the more I try to push it away the worse it gets.
I can almost hear my uncle laughing at my pain. I can hear him telling me that I should have done better or that I was hurt because I made a mistake. I did what I could in the position we were put in, and Matteo did what he could to get us out of the situation we were in.
"We are almost out of the maze, Leigh, I can see the door." I nod slowly as I try to keep my mind on something other than the pain.
I watch as the dark hallways get brighter the closer we get to the door of the maze. I feel myself get lost in the darkness that is slowly fading. My eyes flutter shut and the world around me goes dark.