Labyrinth Society Read Online Free PDF Page A

nightshirt on me. The clock by my bed read 10:45. I'd been out for hours. My head hurt and my mouth was dry. A warm breeze blew in from my open bedroom window. I sat up abruptly as scattered memories came flooding back. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and tried to stand. But my legs felt like jelly, and I had to sit back down.
    What happened? I was still a little fuzzy-headed. The last thing I remembered was being near the pond in the center of the labyrinth with Alex. I remembered the brightness of the sun on the copper disks encircling the center of the labyrinth. I remembered Alex's ring with the labyrinth on it, which seemed weird. I tried to stand up again. This time I was a little steadier. I put on my robe and walked over to the bedroom door and pressed an ear against it. I didn't hear anything and opened the door. The hallway was dark. There were no signs of life coming from either Tomi or Lily's bedrooms. I headed downstairs and heard voices coming from the kitchen.
    "So, now we have to babysit her? Like we don't have better things to do?" I recognized Devon's voice right away. I didn't have to see her to know her face was screwed up like she smelled something bad.
    "No one said anything about babysitting. All I said was to keep Mia from going into the labyrinth. She's obviously not ready," said Mrs. Tarpley. Her voice had the same firm " don't question me " quality it had earlier when she and Devon were arguing.
    "Yeah, if I hadn't been there to pull her back, no telling where she'd have ended up," commented Alex.
    "But I thought it wasn't possible without a ring?" said Tomi.
    "Well, she was with Alex," Lily pointed out. "Maybe he somehow triggered it."
    "I don't see how. I was a good ten feet away from her when she went all wonky," replied Alex indignantly.
    What in the world were they talking about? What wasn't I ready for?" I inched closer to the closed kitchen door to hear more.
    "It doesn't matter how it happened. I don't want it happening again. Am I clear?" Mrs. Tarpley asked. I heard murmurs of agreement from the others.
    "Good. Now, how are the preparations for Saturday going?"
    They all started talking excitedly at once. I heard Tomi saying something about diary translations. Devon said something about school uniforms. Alex was going on about searching birth and death records, and Lily was talking about a priest. One thing was crystal clear to me. They weren't talking about rock climbing. Mrs. Tarpley had lied to me. Where were they going and why didn't they didn't want me to know about it?
    "Nosy!" said the weird deep voice behind me, startling me so bad I took a step forward and the floorboard beneath my right foot creaked loudly. Conversation came to an abrupt stop. Realizing I was about to be busted and there was no time to run back upstairs, I walked into the kitchen and ran smack into Alex, who'd come out to see what the noise was.
    "Mia! Are you okay? You gave me a fright out there." He guided me to a nearby chair like I was frail.
    Everyone — except Devon — started fussing over me. Tomi jumped up and got me a glass of water. Lily pushed a stool over so I could prop my feet up. Mrs. Tarpley asked if I was hungry. I could so get used to this. When I met Devon's gaze, the blonde gave me a look letting me know she knew I'd had been eavesdropping. She angrily rolled her eyes.
    "It's no big deal. I'm fine." I brushed aside their concern but was both pleased and puzzled as to why they seemed to care so much.
    "Are you sure?" asked Mrs. Tarpley. "You slept for so long we were getting worried." She gently smoothed the hair away from my forehead, reminding me of something my grandma used to do.
    "It must have been the heat." I couldn't look at any of them.
    No one said a word, because we all knew whatever happened to me in the labyrinth had nothing to do with the heat. Then I noticed something I hadn't noticed before. I couldn't help but notice now with all of them so close to me. They were