Chapter 10

      Acacia woke up on a sunny and sandy beach, clothes dry but caked with mud. “Ugh, gross,” she muttered under her breath, trying to brush the mud away. As soon as she sat up, a throbbing headache hit her, making her cringe like she’d been punched.

      Acacia uncurled the fingers of her hand where Gullen had stabbed her with poison. It didn’t hurt anymore, but the veins were still clearly infected with the poison, as they were inky black and lumpy. Dried mud and blood covered the wound, though, and she could put up with that for a while. Acacia sat up again, ignoring the pounding headache and standing up on her still-very-wobbly legs.

      Remembering the horrible churning waves of the ocean, Acacia glanced around, and settled onto the fact that she must’ve washed up here. Shuddering thoroughly, she leaned against a large boulder closest to her.

      An entire row of large rocks and boulders were lined up unevenly in a row, and there were many other rows of boulders behind the first row. But there were also gaps between rocks that were obviously not just a missing boulder.

      It’s a rocky maze, Acacia thought. Beyond the maze, she could see the lush green of leaves on trees. A forest. Maybe she could seek refuge there.

     Something fuzzed behind her brain, reminding her about…about what? Claris and Annice, Acacia realized. Claris had fallen into the ocean, and had hopefully washed up on the beach too. Maybe she was already in the forest…

      Acacia refused to let her mind tell her how slim the chance of Claris being with her on the strange island was. Or if she even survived the raging sea storm…

      “Nope!” Acacia said out loud, silencing her worrying mind. Annice had probably gotten Gullen back to Hillary Hills and warned the adults. And any second now, someone would burst out of the rocky maze and tell her that this was part of the dragons’ stunts and she just got unlucky and people were coming to get her and her friends.

      Nothing happened.

      Acacia forced herself to get off the boulder and try to get into the forest, but her exhausted legs seemed to have a different thought in mind. Until she saw it. A blur of black at the start of the maze. It looked like a black cloak. And her legs were totally ready and geared up to run.

      Even so, curiosity got the best of her. She shuffled silently to the entrance, promising herself that she would just take a small peek. Sticking her head into the maze, she caught glimpse of the black creature. It was a bit like a choco-coa fountain, that kept running non-stop and was shaped like an oval sliced in half, not a tiered cake.

      Acacia ducked back behind the boulder. That was definitely not a black cloaked person. Was it even a person? It could move and stunk of decay. She shuffled away from the entrance. Whatever that was, dangerous or not, she was not going to talk to it. Or socialise.

      Making herself as flat as possible, she stared at the entrance, half expecting the choco-coa fountain creature to charge out and lunge at her. It didn’t. But that only added to her nerves, which was also why she didn’t notice Claris behind her until they crashed.

      “OH, MY JEALOUS ANGELS, CLARIS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?” Acacia probably should’ve tackle-hugged Claris instead of shouting at her, but the black choco-coa fountain creature had made her extremely paranoid, even if it might be a source of help.

      Claris grinned. “Miss me that much? Cause I—” Acacia slapped her hand over Claris’s mouth. The choco-coa fountain creature had stalked out of the maze and was currently moving towards them. Claris paled. “I think you screamed loud enough,” she hissed through Acacia’s hand.

      The CFC (Choco-coa-Fountain-Creature) suddenly lunged at them, which looked pretty strange, given that when it leaped some of the inky black goo covering it dripped off. But that was hardly important at the moment.

      Acacia shoved Claris aside and ducked, and the CFC sailed over her head as it smashed onto the sand in surprise. The black goo splattered everywhere, and the CFC looked like something you just dipped in soya sauce and plopped it on the ground. The CFC fell face-down, and Acacia wondered if it’s face hurt. Not that Acacia could tell the face from the body. Everything was a gooey mess.

      Claris grabbed Acacia’s injured wrist—breaking some of the scabs—before charging towards the maze entrance. Both girls ran for some time, before Claris halted and pointed to the two roads they could take. One was correct and the other was obviously not, but there was no way to tell. Awesome.

      The good thing was, there was no sign of the CFC, which was good. Claris tried climbing on one of the boulders to check, but the rock was too smooth, and she slipped. Acacia was fighting her own battle. Her Elemenability and Magiability were both neutralised, and the pain was seeping back into the injury.

      Claris grumbled something that sounded like ‘hole lotter youth’ before grabbing Acacia’s hand and leading her through the left road. They had to back track after a while, but Acacia wasn’t surprised anymore. This maze was seemingly endless.

      Then she saw a CFC standing on a large boulder on the next bend. It was dripping goo onto the rock, and it had a mouth. Inside the mouth were big teeth, with no fangs, but stream of black and blood trickled down the sharp teeth in small streams, and though it had no eyes, its grin said it all.

      “Go faster, gofastergofaster!” Acacia hissed at Claris. Claris quickened her pace, but she couldn’t make another wrong turn. A CFC plopped in front of them. It had the same horrifying grin, and it started to…slither wasn’t the right word. Neither was crawl. It sort of moved like a snail, but much faster, as it came up in front a Claris. Another CFC cut of their escape route as it landed beside Acacia.

      Hundreds of CFCs gathered. Most of them floating.     

      “TRANSPORT US OUT OF HERE! NOW!” Claris yelled at Acacia, panicking. Acacia tried, but she couldn’t.

      Until someone pressed their palm onto Acacia’s, and the energy that surged from the contact overpowered Gullen’s poison. Acacia grabbed onto Claris’s hand, before leaping into the air and transporting away.