The Witch’s Labyrinth

"Here" appears to be an abandoned corner of an auxiliary school building filled with rows of chalkboards. Someone has arranged the outdated panels into a small maze which runs the length of the empty hallway, weaving in and out of vacant classrooms. I've never been to this side of campus before and probably wouldn't have found it without Adeline's help, but I've heard about this place before.

Humans call it the "chalk graveyard". It was popular freshman year for friends to dare each other to enter the maze, claiming the place was haunted. Of course, ghosts don't exist and all the supernaturals thought the rumors were ridiculous. We never did go check it out for ourselves.

Coming from somewhere deep within the graveyard, I can faintly hear the sinuous dance of a intricate guitar. Adeline leads me into the maze, following the sound. As we walk, I read the erasable graffiti left by students over the years on the forgotten blackboards. There are generic messages, like "C&B forever", "Kyle was NOT here", "You lose The Game", and "Simon haz a big dik". Some messages are more esoteric. "Fear fear", "live and let love", "big brother is watching us", and "no one knows the real me".

However, as we go deeper into the maze and the music gets closer, the writings become even more bizarre: "the maze reveals the true you", "the chalk is alive", "the graves have eyes", "lost! please help!", "I've been erased".

"Uh… Adeline? What is this place?" I whisper.

"It's a shadow witch's labyrinth," a voice says from behind me.

I jump. "What is with the two of you and popping out of nowhere?!" I hadn't even noticed the guitar music had stopped until Alastair scared the living daylights out of me. "Also, what's a shadow labyrinth?"

"A shadow witch's labyrinth," he corrects.

"At least we theorize a shadow witch created this one, based on its properties," Adeline chimes in helpfully.

"Thanks. That explains so much," I say dryly.

"You're funny," Adeline says with a completely straight face. She gestures to me with her thumb, looking at Alastair as she says, just as seriously, "I like him. Can we keep him?"

Alastair sighs, rolling his eyes. "He's not a puppy, Addy."

"Could have fooled me," she mutters. "You should have seen him in the library, looking like a stray abandoned by his master."

I am feeling increasingly uncomfortable by the direction this conversation is going. So, in an attempt to change topics, I ask, "So, Adeline, what's a witch's labyrinth?"

Adeline's eyes light up as she turns back to me. It's the most emotion I've seen on her face, so I assume she likes explaining magic. "Labyrinths are created by witches, usually by accident, when they are in extreme distress," Adeline supplies. "It's kind of like a defense mechanism, providing a safe place to hide and rest. Each one is slightly different, based on the creator's magical affinity. For example, Deron's burned up half of Mom's vegetable garden after-"

"Addy," Alastair warns, giving her a disapproving look.

"Right, sorry." She flushes slightly. Why did he cut her off? Damn, I really wanted to know what might have caused Deron "extreme distress"!

"Anyways," she continues, "this labyrinth is pretty famous among the high schoolers in the coven. No one knows who made it and some of the adults say it's been here at least since the early 2000s. It's lost most of its magic by now, so it hardly affects supernaturals anymore, but most humans are put off by the labyrinth and instinctively know to stay away. If they do enter the maze, they can go temporarily insane."

Welp, that explains the unnerving chalk writing. "That sounds like pretty powerful magic for some high schooler," I say slowly. "Didn't you say witches with psychic abilities were super rare, Adeline?"

"We're all friends now, you can call me Addy. And yes, but like Alastair said, this maze was probably created by a shadow witch, not a psion." Addy explains.

"We are most certainly not friends," Alastair mutters under his breath.

Addy completely ignores his unpleasant comment which twists at my heart. "Shadow witches manipulate light to create illusions. Not nearly as rare as psions."

"Ok, that's enough magic lessons for today," Alastair says suddenly, clapping his hands together. "You need to leave now." He makes shooing motions with his arms at me.

"Why are you being like this, Al?" Addy wines in a surprisingly childish tone.

"I already told you. This isn't a good idea." Alastair's voice turns hard.

"But Al! He's so cool! Please?" she pouts, flashing her older brother large puppy dog eyes. Compared to her previously candid demeanor, her behavior comes across as comically fake.

"You shouldn't have brought him here in the first place, Addy," Alastair says through clenched teeth.

"Al," Addy stands up straighter, abandoning her cute younger sister act when it fails her. "You're being completely irrational," she says matter-of-factly. "So he is a little infatuated. So what? Assuming he mates on Sunday, all those feelings will be dissolved by the bond." Her words sting, and I'm afraid she's right. "So what's the harm in being friends? Hm? I've never had a werewolf friend before! We could eat lunch together!" She returns to pouting, doubling down harder than ever. "Please, big brodwer? Pwetty please?"

Alastair pauses, a war of emotions passing through his violet eyes. Addy pounces on his hesitation. "Or we could go to the game on Saturday together!" She turns to me excitedly. "I've been trying to get Alastair to take me to one of the supervaristy games for ages! But he says football is stupid and won't sit through even one game for his only sister!" She clutches her heart dramatically, laying the guilt on thick. "Your boyfriend's on the team, right? So you'll be going anyways, right, Cameron?" She looks expectantly at me. I shuffle awkwardly.

"Well yeah, but I actually… um…"

"I'm sure Alastair would go if you went with us!" she tacks on hopefully.

"Well… I'll go— if—um—I'll go if Alastair goes." So much for shopping with Mom. I look up to meet Alastair's steady gaze. I can't read anything in his expression. Goddess I wish I could read his mind.

Finally, he slumps slightly and sighs. "I must be a masochist," he mutters. I wonder if he is talking about going to the game or hanging out with me. "Fine. Whatever. Sure. We can… sit in the bleachers together at the game on Saturday,"

Addy squeals, wrapping her arms around her much taller brother's neck.

"But we are not eating lunch together." He sighs, looking suddenly exhausted. "I'm going to find an empty classroom to take a nap."

And with that he picks up his guitar case from where it lies next to him and wanders deeper into the labyrinth.