Subj: Petofi's Maze chap 18
Date: 3/9/99 9:15:43 PM Central Standard Time
From: miranda

Chapter 18

Barnabas stood alone in the Drawing Room. The rest of the family was enjoying a late night feast as they celebrated Carolyn's return. Quentin and Beth were supposed to join him momentarily and spend the night searching the maze. He hoped that they would be successful tonight in finding what secret the maze held. Only two days remained before Petofi took Quentin's body.

Suddenly, Angelique appeared out of the shadows. "Barnabas, we must go down to the maze. Tom Jennings is after Julia."

"What?" Barnabas questioned. "How do you know?"

"Hurry!" Angelique said as she tugged on Barnabas' arm and lead him to the basement while explaining how she cast a spell to sense everything Tom was experiencing.

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Julia ran aimlessly through the winding passageways of the maze. When she first entered the maze she had a mental picture of which turns to take that would not lead to dead ends, but very soon she charted into unmapped areas. She could hear Tom's voice echoing through the tunnels. He was calling her, telling her how much he would hurt her for burning him with the cross. Julia's flashlight only illuminated a small part of the maze at a time making it hard to see more than a few feet in front of her. Panic rose up in her chest as she came face to face with a dead end. She quickly retraced her steps and took another turn.

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Barnabas grabbed two flashlights, fashioned a makeshift stake, and was about to charge into the maze, but turned around to find Angelique hunched at the entrance with her hands on the floor while she chanted strange words.

"Angelique, what are you doing?"

"You want to be able to find your way in and out don't you?" She snapped. "Quickly, make a torch. We need fire."

Perplexed, Barnabas quickly made a torch out of some old rags and a stick. Quentin and Beth descended the steps and stopped half of the way down at the sight of Angelique.

"Angelique?" Quentin called out. "Is that you?"

"We have no time to explain," Angelique said quickly. "The vampire is in the maze after Julia."

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Julia wondered how much longer her luck would hold out. Tom could be right behind her at any moment or he could be lost in the maze as well. His voice told her the latter was not the case. She surmised that he must be able to track her like an animal. The light from her flashlight waned indicating the life of the batteries were growing short. Julia wondered how short her own life was growing.

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Angelique led the way through the maze easily. Barnabas, who followed close behind, regretted not knowing about this spell earlier. It certainly would have saved precious time in mapping. As they hurried through the seemingly endless corridors Angelique suddenly let out a gasp.

"What is it?" Barnabas asked.

"He is very close to Julia."

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Julia stumbled and fell to the ground. What was this? A pile of skeletons? Julia's dim flashlight illuminated the many smiling skulls and white bones that lay about her. Julia looked around her. She was in some sort of room. "These must be the remains of the people who worked on the maze," Julia said to herself. "Jamison said Petofi put their bodies in here."

As Julia pulled herself to her feet her flashlight went dead. She banged it against her hand in vain and in the darkness tripped over another skeleton. She felt around the bones for the flashlight, but soon realized she had no other choice than to try and navigate the maze in pitch black darkness. She rose to her feet and with outstretched arms slowly made her way through the blackness. The many skeletons made it difficult to walk.

Julia gasped. In the darkness two red spots appeared and began to move toward her. "Julia, you are mine now," Tom hissed. The only thing Julia could see in the darkness were Tom's red glowing eyes coming closer and closer.