Deathstalker 07 - Deathstalker Return

whatever had unmanned Rose so utterly. But there were only the shadows, growing deeper and darker by the moment. Brett started back down the corridor, back to the entrance, and then he stopped suddenly and looked back over his shoulder. He could have sworn someone just called out his name. It was no voice he knew, but it knew him, and it promised him things. Things he'd always wanted, even if he'd never known it till just then. But he would have had to leave Rose, and he couldn't do that. The Maze was killing her. So he turned his back on the voice, and tenderly half led, half carried Rose out of the Madness Maze, and back into the waking world.
    Getting out was a lot easier than getting in, and the two of them soon staggered out of the entrance to the Maze. Lewis and Jesamine were quickly there to help Brett with Rose, but she wouldn't let him go. In the end, Brett and Rose sat down on the floor together, holding each other like frightened children. Silence watched them, remembering a time from long ago, when he had brought Investigator Frost out of the Maze in much the same way. And probably for the same reason. Jesamine tried to comfort Rose, but she shook her head stubbornly.
    "Brett. I want Brett."
    "I'm here, Rose. We're out of the Maze. We're safe now."
    "No. I'll never be safe again."
    "What happened in there?" said Lewis. "You were only in there a few moments."
    Brett didn't have an answer for him. He hugged Rose as tightly as he could, and her leathers creaked loudly, but still he couldn't seem to reach her. Her eyes were glazed over, her face was slack, as though she was fading away. So Brett did the only thing he could, no matter how much it scared him. He reached out with his esp, and deliberately reestablished the mental bond they'd shared when their minds
    first touched. Their thoughts slammed together, like two sides of the same coin, as though they belonged together and always had. Brett took her pain and shock for his own, and bore the weight of it for her, where she could not. And she took from him the strength and courage she needed, though he hadn't even known it was there. And if they both found dark places in each other's minds, the darkness was nothing compared to the shared light they generated. Brett Random and Rose Constantine; two wounded souls, healing each other.
    They finally broke the mental link, dropped back into their own heads, and helped each other onto their feet again. Brett looked at the others, and smiled weakly. Rose was her old composed self again.
    "Don't ask," said Brett.
    "I wouldn't dare," said Jesamine.
    "What did the Maze do to you?" said Lewis, stubbornly sticking to the point. Rose looked back at the entrance to the Maze.
    "I didn't expect that," she said finally. "It made me feel so small, so limited. Like a caterpiller trapped forever in its cocoon. I couldn't go on, but I couldn't go back, and staying where I was was killing me by inches. The Maze has no mercy. I would have died in there, if Brett hadn't saved me."
    "How do you feel, Brett?" said Silence.
    "Lucky to be alive," Brett growled. "That place is dangerous. It's full of everything you never wanted to see. It can unmake you, tear up everything you thought you believed in. I won't go back in there. Not for anything."
    Jesamine put a hand on Lewis's arm, and made him look at her. "You don't have to do this, Lewis. The Maze isn't anything like we thought it was. It plays games with people. You can't trust it."
    "I do have to do this, Jes," said Lewis. "This is what it's all been about. Everything we've been through was about getting me here, to this place at this time. Looking at the Maze… feels like going home. It's where I belong."
    "But I don't want you to go in," Jesamine said desperately, staring imploringly into eyes that looked like they belonged to someone else. "Lewis, even if by some miracle you do come back alive, you might not be you anymore. Even the legends couldn't disguise how different Owen and the others were after the Maze changed them. They were never the same again."
    "No. They were better. Don't try to stop me, Jes. Be happy for me. This is my duty, and my destiny, as a Deathstalker. I've always wanted this. The Maze will make me into what I have to be, to save Humanity. Which includes you. And I'd do anything to save you, Jes."
    "Maybe… the new you won't want me anymore," whispered Jesamine.
    Lewis smiled, taking both her hands in both of his. "Owen still loved Hazel."
    "They'd