Lost and Found

Chapter 12 - A Few Wrong Turns...

Ciao tutti!

So yeah, it's been a while. A long, long, while. But I've been busy, I've been procrastinating, I've also totally forgotten about this book on the way but hey, at least I remembered now!

This chapter has been written for ages but I wanted to make it longer so I left it but now I've just said stuff it I'll just publish a really short one (sorry about that).

Also, in case you've forgotten what's happening (I have too) here's a quick recap:

Nya and Pat made it through the maze, past a weird voice that just wanted to chat and a raging monster that just wanted to destroy them. They got captured by some Umbra (shadowy monsters) who took Nya and Pat to their master.
Their master (PLOT TWIST!) turns out to be Nya's mum who they were looking for in the first place. They think she's been processed by the umbra master of shadow black magic. Nya accidentally frees her mother (i.e. the umbra master) and they escape (just) with their lives, jumping off the back of the raging monster that wanted to destroy them before and is still kinda set on it. And that is where we begin.

Thank you for reading!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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In the seconds that Nya was in the air, something seemed wrong. She could hear the air rushing past her ears, the roar of the monster, the scraping of rock against rock. But something was missing.

She hit the top of one of the walls of the maze with a jolt, almost slipping off but managing to drag herself on with only a scraped knee. Pat wasn't so lucky. He was hanging by one hand to the edge of the rock wall, his fingers pale with strain.

"Ah, Nya? A little help?"

She grabbed his arm and dragged him onto the metre-wide wall, careful to make sure he didn't put too much pressure on his wounded arm. They sat on the wall, breathing heavily and trying to be invisible to the monster that was now picking up rocks and throwing them at the Umbra scuttling below, turning them into sticky black blobs. It had obviously forgotten about the voice in it's ear.

It was then that Nya realised the sound that was missing.

"The drums have stopped," she said. And somewhere in the back of her mind, something was trying to tell her the drums had a connection to the now free Master of the Umbra, but she couldn't quite grasp what it was exactly. At the moment, all she knew was that setting her Mum free had been one of the worst mistakes of her life.

Pat meanwhile was processing this. His mind was starting to make connections too, between the Umbra's story and an old legend his dad used to tell him, to keep him from walking into caves.

But neither Nya or Pat got much more thinking time, because the Umbra had began to try and talk to the monster (which was probably one of the Umbra itself, considering it was made from shadows), but the monster simply was not taking it, and was, as usual, in a rage again.

It stepped one ginormous step back and banged into the maze wall on which Nya and Pat sat, literally jolting them out of their thoughts. Nya would have toppled off the edge if Pat hadn't grabbed her arm at the last minute.

They ran along the top of the maze walls in a single file, not knowing the way to the exit but only wanting to get away from the Umbra, big and small.

She seemed to be doing a lot of running lately, Nya thought as her and Pat sprinted, turning sharp corners and generally trying not to fall to their deaths.

Eventually they ran out of breath and stopped panting, hands on their knees. They could no longer see the Umbra or the monster, but distant roars told them they were still not far away. The maze still stretched out before them in every direction, the darkness eventually swallowing it.

"Should we close our eyes again?" asked Pat. But he sounded nervous, and for a good reason. On the floor of the maze, closing your eyes was fine when the worst thing that could happen to you would be to walk into a wall. On the narrow walkway and long fall on either side, maybe it wasn't the best idea. But then again, they had no others.

"Maybe one of us should close our eyes and the other can lead them? That might work. As long as they don't just walk off the edge without any warning."

Pat nodded, but before they could figure the details of who was doing what, a whispering voice interrupted them.

You're back. And still lost.... said the voice.

Hecatura had come back to haunt them. But Nya wasn't scared of the stupid voice anymore.

"Yeah, so what? We worked out your little eye trick and are about to get un-lost."

The voice cackled. You've gained confidence, but you're still lost. Haven't I told you before? Your little tricks don't work here...

Of course it works, thought Nya. Or at least it did before. She quickly closed her eyes and waited. Nothing. She couldn't feel her surroundings, she had no idea what was going on outside the blackness. She found herself staring at the kaleidoscope patterns on the inside of her eyelids.

"Why won't it work?" Nya demanded, scared that once again her only tool, only trick had been proved wrong. 

The master has been set free, this is no longer her prison. Maybe she gave you the power so you could get to her and set her free. But how would I know, for I'm only a voice...

"But wouldn't you know, as all you do is hang about this maze? How do you even exist actually, since we're talking about it?" asked Pat, a little annoyed.

Hecatura sighed, the wispy sound floating around Nya's head. For a few seconds there was silence. Then the voice spoke once more.

Sit down, listen, for I shall not be able to speak much longer. I promise there is no danger coming for a while. 

For a while. Of course there's more coming, thought Nya. But there wasn't much else they could do, as they had no idea how to get back out. Better to sit out the voice's rambling, and then see if she'll help us, though Nya. Plus, it might be interesting.

Hecatura sighed again, long and sad, almost as if it was her last breath.

I think it is time to tell my story.