CHAPTER#73

The doorway was secure. She sent a command to the Jabberwock to keep an eye on the mountain and used her magic to create a throne of ice. She pulled some smoked meat out of her pocket and took a bite, her stomach rumbling with hunger.

How many years had it been? Her face scrunched up as she tried to count. Being confined to this pocket world had driven her mad with rage for so long that she had been unable to keep track of time. Almost a couple years back, she had felt Emily's passing and had become terrified at the idea that she might have to spend her remaining centuries in this place forever.

That was, until the new Caretaker had moved in. She had been able to feel his presence occasionally, trying to capture his attention through the portal. However, magic at such a distance was weak at best, and she was aware that Emily had sealed it from the outside. The thought had occurred to her more than once that the magical compulsion she had cast may end up in the destruction of the entrance but hadn't cared. If he had destroyed the portal, then she felt like she could at least move on.

She stood up and approached the trees, her hand outstretched. She could feel the air currents that would lead her back home, escape only a few feet away. There was nothing stopping her from stepping through and claiming the house for herself. After all, she had the right.

"Not yet." She couldn't risk stepping through with enemies on her heels. And she definitely wouldn't go without her loyal fairy companion. Emily may have left Yuki behind, but the kitsune refused to ever do the same to her friends.

Once she heard back from Daisy, she would make her next move. Until then, it would probably be a good idea if she found that troublesome sun stone.

-

Beth waited just outside the greenhouse, smoothing out the sundress she wore. She couldn't hang clothes up in her closet because they disappeared when the cavern was opened, which meant folding them up in a dresser. She needed a better way to store her clothes if she wanted to avoid wrinkles.

She used her phone to check her makeup. She had quit wearing it since covering up the mirrors in the house, but she had used selfie mode to confirm that she had dark circles under her eyes. Happy to discover that Oliver didn't appear in her phone, she had done some quick touch-ups before setting out for a little dalliance with Asterion.

The minotaur arrived, his axe casually slung over his shoulder. He bowed his head in greeting.

"Friend Beth." His voice was the rumble of an old sports car, his dark fur shining in the sun.

"I was wondering if we could go for a walk?" She pushed open the door of the greenhouse, revealing the large space within.

"If you wish. I cannot be gone for long, not with Ratu absent."

"We won't go far. The faeries know they can find us here if they need us." She let him walk in first, admiring the thick muscle in his thighs. If Asterion had an ounce of fat on him somewhere, she had yet to find it. Closing the door behind them, she fought the urge to ask him to leave his weapon behind. If there was something in the world more important to him than his axe, she had yet to find that either.

They walked along the edge of the cliff overlooking the jungle. The world was eerily quiet, other than the rustling of the trees down below. Behind them was a large wall of glass, an eerie anomaly due to the greenhouse containing an entire world inside of it.

In her childhood, Beth had often dreamt of traveling to Fantastica, Narnia, or even being carried away by a twister to Oz. The simple act of passing through the greenhouse door sent a thrill directly to that inner child; an entire world was now laid out in front of her ready to be explored. Mike had explained that he thought nothing else lived there inside the greenhouse, but he also had no idea how far it went. She wondered if it eventually had an end, or if she could simply walk for all eternity and never see another living soul.

"We missed our path." Asterion's voice snapped her out of her trance and she turned around.

They had found an easy path that led down to the bottom of the cliffs that wasn't too hard to descend. She also liked it because it gave her a great view of a series of waterfalls that eventually emptied into a pair of rivers that trickled through the forest. She had no idea where the water came from—it blasted out of a hole in the cliff up above from underneath the greenhouse barrier.

The falling water filled several different basins, but she and Asterion had explored and discovered an offshoot near the bottom. Most of the water flowed into one area, but on the other side of the rocks was a second waterfall that filled a small pond before turning into a river that meandered into the nearby trees. Behind the rocks, the roar of the water was greatly muted, and the waterfall here fell in a smooth sheet that made it look like a pane of glass.

"I love how cool it feels down here." Beth flipped her hair away from her neck, letting the mist kiss her skin. The sun was directly overhead, warming the hidden cove. As long as they stayed out of the shadows, they wouldn't get cold.

"Hmm. I like how the sun feels." Asterion rubbed the top of his head where his hair was thin enough that she could see the dark skin beneath. She didn't know much about his past and often wondered if he had been born in a different labyrinth or even created in the current one. What was the life of a minotaur like? It was easy to imagine them as vicious creatures, but watching Asterion tilt his head, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the sun's warmth, she wondered if perhaps he was yet another victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.