Descending from Ordinary

Chapter 15

Jacob and Mateus stood up as well, making their way to stand face to face with the new guy. Standing next to one another, the stranger made Jacob feel on the shorter side, but it only encouraged Jacob to stand taller. This guy's look was...different. His outfit consisted of a leaf-green cape that was pinned to his leather shoulder caps that extended past his shoulders, making him look broader than he probably was. He wore brown pants, boots, and leather cuffs that looked like nothing but leaves neatly glued together. And there was one more thing—his ears. They were short, but most definitely pointy. That was something Jacob couldn't miss.

"Same here," Mateus replied, brushing his clothes off. "How did you get stuck in this place?"

"I'm...I'm on an expedition."

"Expedition, huh? You wouldn't happen to be going to the Enchanted Forest, would you?"

The man raised an eyebrow. "It is. Is... that where you're going as well?"

Jacob nodded. "Well, trying to, anyways..."

"Mateus," Mateus put out a hand with a small smile, then nodded towards Jacob. "This is my friend, Jacob."

With slight hesitation, the stranger took Mateus's welcoming hand with a slight shake. "Tom."

"Maybe we can help each other out now!"

Tom nodded. "Maybe so."

Without warning, the hissing, pale flashes bolted past them. They held their breaths for a split second. Tom quickly did a sweep with his eyes, making sure they were still alone.

"We should go," he said, slowly continuing to walk. "It's not safe to stay in one place for long during the waves."

"Waves?" Jacob questioned as they followed behind.

"Yes, waves. Well...more like patterns. While I've been here, I've been able to figure out when the vampires appear and how many there usually are. Fortunately, this is the last wave of vamps for a while, but that also means there's going to be most of all. Now that I think about it...it's oddly quiet right now. Almost suspicious. Maybe that cult leader vampire recalled the other vampires and is planning something else..."

Jacob gave Mateus a nervous look. "Or maybe it's the others...! What if they're all chasing after them right now and that's why there's none after us??"

Mateus put an assuring hand on Jacob's shoulder. "They're doing fine, I know it. They have to be."

"Others?" Tom looked at them from over his shoulder.

Mateus nodded. "There were originally five of us, but we got split up while we were on the run."

"And I'm guessing you haven't been here long?"

"I'd say it's been around half an hour. I'm not really sure. It's hard to keep track of time when you're running for your life, you know?"

Tom let out a small laugh. It wasn't one that indicated something was funny, though. It was more of a tiny huff of...disbelief or amusement. Jacob couldn't tell which. "Trust me, it isn't that what's keeping you from keeping track of the time. It's the maze itself."

"What...?" Mateus looked as perplexed as Jacob. "What do you mean?"

"The maze...it...I'm not sure how it works exactly. But...time flows differently. As in, in a way, it doesn't flow at all. But does."

"And that's supposed to mean.......?" Mateus raised an eyebrow.

"Time outside of the maze is still flowing normally, if not, faster. Time here, inside the maze, is flowing either not at all, or massively slow."

"How slow are we talking here?"

"So slow it's almost not flowing at all. Like I said, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but...I'm almost certain that I have been here for...three days, maybe? Three days of the sun not setting feels like an eternity...and that's part of the curse. That's why the witch set it. So people would feel helpless and trapped. To win."

"No way..." Jacob could barely keep his mouth closed. If time flowed slower in the maze...then, the longer they were there, time would be flying away back in the real time. It made him nervous to think about how many real minutes, hours, days, or even...weeks they would spend trapped inside that maze.

"That vampires..." Mateus looked as if deep in thought. "She said something to us before she disappeared. It was like a riddle."

"Didn't we tell her we didn't want the riddle, though?" Jacob wondered.

"Yeah, but I guess when you're an evil witch and you want to tell a riddle, you're gonna tell a riddle. But still, it honestly sounded like it could have some meaning to it."

"Ah, the riddle..." Tom concentrated, trying to think back to when he'd heard the riddle himself. "I was also given one."

"Uh..." Jacob attempted to recall the moment as well. "S... something about a heart? And I heard her say something about the sky, too."

"And the exit..." Tom added. "She was giving a hint on how to get out of here...! She had to be."

"Well, that would've been a great time to pay attention, am I right?" Mateus chimed.