​Amaya tended to associated buildings with the feelings they invoked. The small cottage she and her family lived in was homey and messy, the love and warmth of its crowded interior more than making up for its shabby exterior. The tavern she ran meant raucous crowds of relaxed workers and, on occasion, misinterpreted words leading to exchanges of blows.

​Taeyeon’s castle promised a fate worse than death. ​

The multiple looming towers and blank white walls, peering down at her from atop a giant colorless cliff, caused her feet to root to the ground, refusing to move forward, and her heartbeat to increase rapidly, betraying her fear. She could almost hear the screams and pleas of prisoners echoing around inside those towers. Surely the walls were cleaned daily, or at least painted over to hide the bloodstains… ​

And Setsuko was inside there. Her cries bouncing about those towers. Her blood spattering on those pristine walls. ​

"Setsuko…” Her voice caught in as she forced her lead feet to move one step closer to the castle. ​

“Just a second.” Siwon grabbed her collar in his teeth and held her back. ​

Leeteuk raised his eyebrows. “What are you planning to do, walk in there and ask Taeyeon to please let your friend go?”

​“No…but there’s only one path to the castle.” ​

Yesung shook his head as if waking from a trance and raised his hand slightly. “I have an idea-”

​“NO.” The others replied firmly. ​

"Shindong, how heavily guarded is it?” Leeteuk asked. ​

The summoner pointed to the path leading up to the castle. “See those trees on either side? They feast on human flesh. So do the animals in that forest. It would be really risky to go from that side. We’d probably be overwhelmed within minutes.”

​“But how else would we get there? Go over the forest?” asked Kyuhyun. ​

“I have an idea,” Yesung repeated, but no one looked at him. ​

“Sungmin could fly us in over the forest,” suggested Ryeowook. ​

The shapeshifter shook his head. “I can only carry one of you at a time. It wouldn’t take long for the governess to notice us.” ​

“Besides, there are Her vultures,” Donghae added and Amaya shuddered, remembering the beasts that had flown off with the wild pig’s organs. ​

“Those are the only two ways to reach the castle. I say we take our chances with the forest,” Leeteuk said. ​

He didn’t sound very certain, and the rest of the group didn’t look convinced, either. The tavern girl crossed her arms. If it came down to a vote, she was voting against another encounter with a carnivorous tree. ​

“I have an idea,” Yesung repeated for the third time and finally, they looked at him. ​

"What is it?” asked Amaya. ​

"We can climb up the other side of the cliff,” Yesung replied. ​

“You mean the side without the path?” asked Kyuhyun. The bard nodded. “You want us to scale the cliff?” Yesung nodded again. “You’re suggesting we take the route where won’t get eaten alive, but we might fall and break our necks?” ​

Eunhyuk’s face broke into a grin. “You’re crazy!” Then he laughed, pumping a fist in the air. “Let’s do it!” ​

"Worth a shot,” shrugged Leeteuk. “Sure. Let’s go with Yesung’s plan. What have we got to lose?” ​

"Our lives,” Amaya replied. She wasn’t sure why the others laughed at her response, though; she hadn’t meant for it to be a joke.   ​

“Everyone ready?” Leeteuk called. ​

"Yup,” Donghae replied, securing the rope around his belt and adjusting his knife pouch so that he could reach it more easily. He was to climb first and carve footholds in the face of the cliff for the others with his daggers. ​

Amaya nodded, double checking the knot in the rope tying her to Donghae. She was second, in between the rogue and Eunhyuk, so that if she slipped, either of them could help her. She glanced up at the base of the castle, craning her neck. Even if she tipped her head all the way back, she couldn’t see beyond the walls. ​

The rest of the boys were lined up, all chained together by a rope, with Kyuhyun at the end, where there would be no one to catch him if he slipped. Only the elves could match Donghae in agility and with Ryeowook injured, Kyuhyun had offered to bring up the rear. ​

"But how are we going to get back down?” Amaya had asked when Leeteuk proposed this. ​

The older man waved off her concerns. “We’ll rappel, of course.” ​

"We’ll what?” But he hadn’t explained. ​

Siwon and Ryeowook would not be joining them on this mission, as neither of them could climb, and none of the party could carry them up the cliff. Neither had been happy about this decision- Ryeowook had almost cried and pouted until Leeteuk nearly gave in- but in the end, it was decided that the pair would find a relatively safe spot to wait for the others to return. ​

If we return. Amaya quickly quashed that thought. ​

Sungmin, already transformed in what Amaya silently referred to as his “Black Angel” form, now swooped down and gestured that it was all clear. He was to fly alongside the group as they climbed and help them as needed. At the same time, he needed to make sure he stayed close enough to the cliff that the governess wouldn’t spot him from her castle. ​

"No better time than now,” the shapeshifter reported, landing beside them.

"Good luck, you guys,” Siwon called. “We’ll be praying for you.” Ryeowook nodded. ​

"Any last words?” asked Kyuhyun. ​

"Please don’t joke about that,” Amaya groaned and the party laughed again. “It’s not funny!” ​

"Cheating death is hilarious,” Leeteuk replied. “If you walk into every situation thinking you’ll never get out of it, what happens when you do?” ​

Donghae smiled. “Dying is easy. Living is difficult. Since we’re already choosing the harder path, the easy one is funny by comparison, don’t you think?”

​Leeteuk clapped Amaya on the back. “Alright. No more talking. Let’s climb.” ​

“Amaya, don’t look down!” Ryeowook called, and she swallowed nervously, nodding. ​

It was a tedious process. Every time Donghae found a handhold, he had to chip away at the cliff until he had a space large enough for them to step on. ​

They had managed to climb a third of the way up the cliff, when Sungmin suddenly cried out, “Vultures!”

​The boys immediately flattened themselves against the cliff, clinging on to any rocks they could find, but Amaya made the mistake of looking up. She swallowed as a dozen bald black birds came into view, circling above them. ​

"They sense a feast,” Shindong said. ​

"I’ll give them one,” Eunhyuk quipped, letting go of the wall with one hand to draw his cutlass. He flung the blade into the midst of swirling black feathers, but the momentum of his throw knocked him off balance. His foot slipped on the slick stone and he yelped as he dangled in midair, held up by nothing but the rope tying him to the others.

​The sudden weight on the rope around her waist nearly caused Amaya to lose her balance as well, but she tightened her grip on the rocks, arms aching as she struggled to hold both herself and the blond man up. ​

Her right hand shifted against her will and glancing up, she realized that her handhold was beginning to crumble. Glancing around wildly for something to hold onto, she spotted a tiny ledge a little higher up and lunged for it. As she closed her fingers around the rock, she inhaled sharply as something cut into her skin. Still, she gritted her teeth against the pain and held on. ​

The weight around her waist vanished and Amaya heard the others collectively sigh in relief. Eunhyuk grinned and was about to call for Donghae to continue his climb, when a drop of something red landed on his sleeve. “Amaya!” he gasped in alarm. “You’re bleeding!” ​

"I scraped my hand a little,” she replied. “Don’t worry about it.” ​

The vultures looked disappointed that they’d missed a meal. One broke away from the group, diving headfirst towards Donghae with its curved beak forming a cruel smile. ​

It never made it. An arrow lodged itself in the bird’s throat, raining blood down on the group as the vulture gurgled. Another arrow pierced through its wing, continuing its trajectory upwards where it struck another member of the flock, and both birds tumbled helplessly to the ground. ​

From the base of the cliff, Ryeowook smiled and notched another arrow into his bow. ​

"Best shot in the world,” Donghae chuckled, before wiping the smile off in his face and focusing on drilling the next foothold, allowing the elf to take care of the vultures. ​

It didn’t take long for Sungmin to realize that Amaya’s hand was more than just scraped. At first, he thought the streak of blood that crossed her forehead when she brushed her bangs aside was from the vultures. But then he saw the way she was trying to keep the weight off her right fingers, attempting to climb with the heel of her hand. ​He flew down to her. “Amaya, are you alright?” ​

"Yeah. Fine.” ​

Reaching down, he grabbed her right hand and she flinched visibly, biting her lip to hide her cry of pain. She kept her eyes downcast as he turned her hand over, revealing her gashed fingers. ​

“I’ll get some bandages,” Sungmin told her, but she shook her head frantically.

​“Sungmin, please. I’m fine.” ​

"You can’t climb like this.” He made a move as if to fly down to Leeteuk, who had most of the medical equipment in his pack, but Amaya grabbed his sleeve. ​

"I’m fine,” she insisted. Sungmin was about to protest, when Donghae called down to them. ​“Hey! You two okay? Is something wrong?” ​

"We’re fine!” Amaya called back, sending Sungmin a meaningful look. The shapeshifter sighed and shrugged.

​“Will you just climb already?” snapped Kyuhyun from the end of the line. “I’m hanging by my fingertips here!” ​

Amaya smiled. Ignoring Sungmin’s offer of a hand, she raised her arm and reached for the next step.  

Donghae sighed as he hauled himself up onto the top of the cliff. Laying on his stomach, he reached down and grasped Amaya’s hands, pulling her the rest of the way up by her sore arms. The others followed one at a time, complaining in no uncertain terms about their aching muscles. ​

Amaya rolled onto her back and rubbed at her shoulders, reminding herself that after her first day running the Drunken Angel alone, she’d been pretty sore, too. The pain would fade by the next day. ​

"My dad would probably say that aching muscles build character,” she remembered Setsuko joking after finding her friend lying nearly comatose in bed the next day, even the slightest movements too painful to carry out. ​

Amaya smiled. She missed talking to her best friend so much. Could she even recall what Setsuko’s voice sounded like? Closing her eyes, she tried to imagine it. Chatting with her casually at the tavern, helping her with her siblings, playfully screaming- ​

Screaming. ​

Amaya’s eyes flew open. ​

That wasn’t her imagination. ​

“Setsuko!” she called out, jumping to her feet, her aching body forgotten. “Setsuko, where are you?” ​

"Amaya, who are you talking to?” Donghae asked. ​

"She’s being tortured,” Amaya replied. “I can hear her screaming.” ​

"No one’s screaming,” Kyuhyun replied. “Except for you, that is. Keep it down, will you? Do you want to get caught?” ​

“No, I can hear her,” Amaya insisted, as her friend’s cries of pain grew louder. She drew the sword from her belt and took off towards the castle. “Hang on, Setsuko, I’m coming!” ​

"Amaya! Come back!” ​

She didn’t even hear Leeteuk’s shout. She couldn’t hear anything but her best friend’s screams. All the noises around her had been filtered out, except for that one sound, that painfully familiar cry. Was it growing more distant the further she went? Why was it fading away? “Setsuko! Where are you?” She couldn’t lose her friend, not again! Come back, come back, come b- ​

She slammed face first into something hard and stumbled backwards. A hand on her arm steadied her and she blinked up at an amused Leeteuk. “Your nose looks broken,” Kyuhyun commented. ​

Dazed, she could only nod in thanks as Donghae pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her. As she wiped the blood from her nose, she glanced around her. ​

And stopped breathing. ​

Surrounding the four of them were glass mirrors, extending in every possible direction. Even the ceiling and the floor reflected her shocked face, showing endless hallways and passages. The mirror she had just ran into could be distinguished by the others by the blood spatter where her nose had rammed into it with too much force, but as she watched, the blood broke into tiny droplets and rolled off the glass, vanishing into thin air. The mirrors seemed to spin as she slowly glanced to both sides. ​

"What happened?” she asked. She had been running towards the castle. How had they ended up here? ​

"That’s what I was going to ask you,” Donghae replied, looking puzzled. “How did we get here? I remember you dashing off with a dazed look on your face, mumbling something about how your best friend was screaming. We went after you, and-” ​

"Now we’re stuck in Taeyeon’s Mirror Maze,” Leeteuk interrupted. ​

"What’s that?” Amaya asked.

​“A trap Taeyeon created to protect her castle,” the wizard replied. “You can’t see it as you approach, but she can activate it without knowing anyone is here. There are ways of avoiding it, but you have to be really careful…” He glared at Amaya. ​

"Where are the others?” Donghae asked. ​

"Probably trapped in a different part of the maze,” Leeteuk replied. ​

"But where?” asked Kyuhyun. The four of them were reflected endlessly in every direction, their faces overlapping each other’s again and again. Amaya peered towards one, her brow furrowing in confusion. The face looking back at her looked puzzled as well, but the one behind it was wearing a knowing smile. She drew back. ​

"How can my reflection not do what I’m doing?” she asked. ​

"Poisonous apples aren’t the only thing Taeyeon is good with,” Leeteuk said grimly. “Taeyeon is a master of illusions. She can blind you to reality.” ​

"So these mirrors might not actually be real?” Kyuhyun reached out and tapped one. ​

"They feel pretty real,” Amaya mumbled, tucking the bloody handkerchief in her pocket. She’d have to wash it before she gave it back to Donghae. ​

Just then, something slashed Leeteuk across the arm, disappearing as quickly as it came. “What-” Before Donghae could finish the question, he was forced to duck as another projectile barely missed his cheek.

​The third time the object attacked, though, Kyuhyun knocked it out of the air with his sword. The weapon clattered to the floor and Amaya gasped in recognition. ​

It was Eunhyuk’s cutlass. ​

At least, it looked like Eunhyuk’s cutlass, but none of them had ever seen it fly so fast. There was something wrong with the way it had spun in the air, and the gash blooming on Leeteuk’s arm was too shallow for the way they’d seen it cut. ​

"Like I said, She’s a master of illusions,” Leeteuk replied grimly. ​

“But this is real,” Amaya protested as she bent down to pick up the dagger. ​

“Wait! Don’t touch it!” ​

The hilt melted away, flattening and twisting as it morphed into the head of a cobra. Amaya jumped backwards as the cobra reared its head to meet her eyes. ​

The mirrors melted away from her view, replaced by a long corridor stone walls and tapestries and suits of armor. This was how the castle should look, she reasoned. Of course! The maze must have been the actual illusion. This was reality. ​

“Leeteuk! We got out of her maze! See?” ​

There was no one in the corridor but her. ​

But there was something moving along the walls- the tapestries were alive. She crept closer, squinting at one. ​

The first scene was of Ryeowook and Siwon desperately trying to fend off a swarm of attacking ravens. Another depicted Amaya’s mother sitting alone in an empty house, staring out the window with lifeless eyes, with broken bowls scattered around the room. There was Setsuko shackled to a wall as some sort of creature crept towards her. She caught a glimpse of Kyuhyun being dragged away by the ghosts of his people, Sungmin falling from the sky in his Black Angel form with ragged wings, Eunhyuk standing helpless and empty-handed before a mass of approaching shadows… ​

"This is reality, Amaya.” ​

The girl whipped her head around, but there was no one behind her, even though the voice had been speaking directly into her ear. ​

"This is the future.” ​

She swore she felt an icy hand touch her shoulder, long fingernails digging to her arm, but again, there was nothing. Amaya could only shake her head, eyes fixated to the tapestry as shivers ran down her spine. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t draw her eyes from the scenes painted before her in mockingly bright threads. She saw Yesung struggling as he was dragged away by his leg, Shindong’s arms both hanging from joints that shouldn’t exist, Leeteuk’s eyes widening as he was buried under a mountain of glass, Donghae exhausted and beaten on the floor, his handsome face no longer recognizable. ​

"This is your doing.” ​

She shook her head again. “No,” she whispered and the air rippled. Confused. ​

“No,” she repeated more loudly. Her hand reached out for the tapestry and ripped it down from the wall. Angrily, she tore it in half- ​

“Amaya, what are you doing?” Kyuhyun’s confused voice interrupted her. ​

And she was back in the maze again, Eunhyuk’s cutlass clenched in her hands as if she were trying to break it, though she didn’t remember picking it up. It had all been a hallucination, but she couldn’t erase the images from her mind. ​

And that voice. Taunting her with all the things she didn’t want to hear.

​This is not my doing, she reminded herself. ​

The governess was toying with her, playing games to make her surrender without actually needing to engage her. Fight it. She couldn’t, wouldn’t give in to these tricks.

​Taeyeon, she growled silently. Where are you, you coward? ​

Meanwhile, Leeteuk had been staring intently at the cutlass. He glanced at the mirrors, then back at the dagger, before finally bursting out laughing.

​“What’s so funny?” Kyuhyun grumbled. ​

The wizard just smiled. “I think I know how we’re getting out of here.”