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“That was close.” Zoe peered through the vines to check the coast was clear, before she retraced her steps to the gate. “Huh, that’s odd.”
Zoe looked in surprise as she turned a corner, to be greeted by a dead end. She spun around, convinced she must be mistaken, only to shake her head in confusion.
“The gate should be right around here.” Zoe retraced her steps once more, trying to navigate her way in the rapidly approaching darkness. “What the…”
Zoe drew a startled breath as a wall of vines stood where a path had been just seconds ago. She looked at the thorny tendrils in shock, while a flicker of fear raced through her. So much for being dead. These things had a mind of their own.
“Well, I guess returning the way I came is out of the question.” Zoe peered at the one path that remained, before she sighed in frustration. “As if a town of ghosts wasn’t enough to contend with. Now I have to deal with magical weeds, too…”
Zoe paced along the path, warily watching the vast tendrils for any sign of movement. She shivered as inky swathes of night seeped through the sky, while a thick blanket of freezing fog drifted along the narrow path. Her unease grew with every creak of the vines, until she couldn’t shake the feeling that the maze was leading her somewhere. But where?
A cold gust of wind parted the fog, until Zoe drew a startled breath at the view before her. The path led her to the edge of a cliff, where a vast canyon loomed far, far, below. Zoe gulped as a narrow rope bridge swung precariously above the steep drop, connecting the footpath to a mountain ridge in the distance, where the lights of the Underworld Motel gleamed beyond.
“Those weeds might have given me quite the detour, but there’s no way I’m walking across that deathtrap…” Zoe staggered backwards, only to yelp as something sharp dug into her back. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding!”
Zoe looked in horror as an impenetrable wall of vines blocked the path she had taken. She searched for a way through, until she turned to the rope bridge in horror, realizing it was the only path that remained. As if on cue, it swung precariously in the breeze, each fraying fiber creaking like a set of rusty hinges. Zoe shook her head at the mere prospect of crossing the chasm, before she let out a cry for help.
“Spooks? Cerberus? I’m done hiding now!” Zoe called out across the void, hoping her voice would carry as far as possible. “Spooks? Hello?”
Zoe’s heart sank as the merry jingle of the poltergeist’s bells grew more distant. She shivered as a cold wind swept through the canyon, carrying a fine scattering of snow.
“That’s just typical. The one time I want a meddling poltergeist to turn up, and he’s nowhere to be found.”
Zoe wrapped her arms around herself as her teeth chattered from the cold. Reluctantly, she approached the swaying bridge, and peered over the edge into the gloomy abyss below. Pools of darkness rippled in the canyon beneath, churning like the surface of a witch’s cauldron. She glanced at a weathered signpost, and sighed in despair.
“Tartarus Valley. Well, I can see why Spooks left this place off the sightseeing tour. It gives me the creeps.” A cold breeze drifted from the darkness below, carrying strange and mournful whispers. “I guess it’s either a case of freezing to death out here, or taking this rope bridge back to the motel…”
Zoe tentatively placed a toe on the first plank of wood, testing its strength, while she gripped both sides of the swaying bridge. But despite her fear, the bridge remained stable as she slowly eased her weight onto it.
“That’s the first step taken.” Zoe drew a shaky breath as she forced herself to continue. “Just another few hundred to go…”
An eternity seemed to pass as Zoe slowly stepped across the wooden planks. Her heart pounded with every creak of the bridge, while her hands gripped the ropes so tightly, she could feel the fibers burn into her skin. She clenched her teeth as a gust of wind swept across the canyon, carrying mournful cries that seemed to stem from the abyss below.
“Please tell me that’s not what I think it is?” Zoe glanced into the darkness beneath her, where ghostly hands stretched from the shadows. “Of course. What better place to put a rope bridge than over a canyon of the dead? Jeez, the tourist brochure just writes itself…”
Zoe pressed onwards, bracing herself against the howling winds. She sighed with relief as she reached the halfway point, before she ascended towards the mountain ridge, where the bright lights of the motel awaited beyond.
“Just a few more steps to go…” Zoe let loose a laugh of giddy relief as she neared the solid ground of the cliff. “Well, I guess I had nothing to fear after all–”
Zoe gasped as a wooden plank snapped beneath her foot, until a yawning hole opened to the abyss below. Her blood turned to ice as the ropes strained and bulged, until a single strand burst free. Time slowed as one by one, hundreds of fibers followed suit, tearing free from their restraints until a final and terrible snap filled the air.
“No, no, no…”
Zoe gasped as the bridge writhed like a wounded beast, ropes snapping and wooden boards popping through the air like shrapnel. She ran across the bucking bridge, desperate to reach the canyon edge before it was too late. But with a final snap, the rope bridge tore in two, until it collapsed with a weary groan.
Zoe cried out as the bridge fell from beneath her feet, and into the abyss below. She leaped through the air, her hands outstretched as she tried to reach what remained of the bridge. But she gasped in horror as her hands clutched nothing but empty air, until the dreadful truth dawned on her. Shadow had warned her that the Underworld was a dangerous place for mortals. And she was about to discover why. With a blood-curdling scream, she tumbled towards the darkness below, where the wails of the dead greeted her.
8
Ablood-curdling scream pierced through the peace of Tartarus. As Zoe plummeted into the abyss, she cursed at her bad luck, knowing her day couldn’t get any worse than this. But as a sea of ghoulish hands emerged from the darkness below, she realized it could get much, much worse.
Zoe looked in horror as ghostly faces emerged from the gloom, their hideous features obscured behind veils of shadow, while crowns of ancient gold rested upon their brows. They called to her with cries of despair, reaching towards her with skeletal hands that sparkled with lavishly jeweled rings. Zoe drew a fearful breath, and called for help once more as she fell towards the hordes of the undead.
“Shadow, help me!”
Her cry echoed through the canyon, until the valley reverberated with her fear. But despite her plea, her call went unanswered. She tumbled towards the outstretched hands of the dead, knowing that she was a fool to expect help from the brooding God the Underworld. She would probably have been better off asking Spooks to lend a hand…
“Zoe, hold on!”
