Carter and the Curious Maze (2 page)

Creepy Leaf Girl

C
arter
walked along the brick pathway between the tall hedges. Someone shrieked on a ride on the midway, but the sound was very far away.

“SYD-NEY!” he called, again and again, but no one called back. It got quieter and quieter. Soon all he could hear was the summer breeze rustling the leafy green bushes all around him.

He kept walking …

… when a bush rustled beside him.

“Sydney?” he called.

No answer.

He called again, “Sydney? SYDNEY!”

Then very faintly he heard, “Carter! Over here!” He spun around and saw a tiny fleck of red over the top of the bushes.

Sydney's squid hat!

“SYDNEY! WAIT!” Carter ran toward the hat. But when he got there, he found nothing but bushes, more bushes, and the brick pathway on the ground.

Carter looked up at the sky. He'd stopped hearing the midway several minutes ago, but now he couldn't
see
the huge roller coasters, either. Which was weird. The only thing above him was blue sky and a few fluffy clouds.

Where did the monster roller coasters on the midway go? Where was the swinging pirate ship? And where was his sister?

He listened hard. Absolute silence. He strained his ears, but all he heard was the wind.

Then … footsteps.

“Sydney?” he called. Something about the place, about being all alone, was making him very jumpy.

A girl walked out of the bushes. She stopped and stared. Carter stared back.

Not Sydney.

The girl was about his age and wore a long, old-fashioned dress with a bonnet.

She must be a historical performer from the midway
, Carter thought.

“H — hello? Have you seen my sister?” he said, trying to be polite. The girl stared. It took a moment for Carter to realize that there was something a bit … strange … about her. She had leaves in her bonnet, in her hair, and across the top of her shoulders.

And in her hands.

And
sprouting
out of her ears.

“What … what do you want?” he asked, edging away.

Her bonnet fell back off her head. Her eyebrows! There was definitely something very wrong with her eyebrows. They … they were green.

And GROWING!

The girl raised her arms toward Carter and dropped her head to one side. She walked forward and opened her mouth in a silent scream. A green leaf burst out of her tongue, over her lips, through her teeth …

… Carter turned and ran.

She had a leaf SPROUTING OUT OF HER MOUTH!

He ran down the pathway as fast as he could, and he didn't look over his shoulder. He'd never seen anything so weird in his life.
Who has leaves in their mouth?

What the heck was wrong with her?

He ran through the maze, turning right and left blindly until he couldn't catch his breath, then he leaned over, gasping into his knees. When he straightened up, he called out,
“Sydney? SYDNEY!” a few times, but there was no answer. Everything was very, very silent.

That girl, this place, it's too weird!

When he caught his breath, he noticed a pair of red-handled garden shears leaning up against the maze wall.

“Mr. Green? There's a very creepy, leafy girl in here, in old-fashioned clothes. And … and I can't find my sister! My mother will be looking for me soon. If you can hear me, I'd like to go home now! And I found your garden shears!” Carter was just about to pick them up when a weird, leafy thumb reached out of the hedge and snatched the shears away. Then the rest of the old man appeared and he tucked the garden shears into his smock pocket.

“No need to shout,” the old man said.

Carter tried not to scream.

I'm not scared! No one can just materialize out of thin air, right?

“Okay, very funny, Mr. Green. Good one with the leafy historical performer girl back there. And I don't know how you got rid of all the midway noises or the huge roller coasters, or why it's so cool in here. Maybe we're hidden inside some big, secret air-conditioned building or something. But really, I just want to find my sister. I'm done with your curious maze. Which way is out?”

“So you saw the lost girl, did you?” The old man stared at Carter and opened and closed the red-handled garden shears, just once.

SNIP.

“Hmmm, how curious. Most people don't get to see
her
. She must have taken a special liking to you.” Mr. Green raised his eyebrows at Carter. Awfully bushy, leafy eyebrows.

Carter frowned and backed away. He gulped.

Lost girl?

“Oh, right. Sure, ha-ha, she's some weird lost hedge girl, and only
special
people get to see her, I get it. Very funny, Mr. Green.”

“Believe me, Carter, there's nothing funny about the curious maze.”

“How … how do you know my name?”

“Oh, the maze told me.”

Carter started to get just the tiniest prickle at this neck, like he should maybe be the faintest bit afraid. This old guy was creepy. Still, it wouldn't be hard for Mr. Green to figure out his name; he would have heard Sydney shouting it. The old man was doing a pretty convincing job of being weird and scary, though, Carter had to admit.

Carter darted his eyes at Mr. Green's thumb … and quickly looked away. He kept his voice steady.

“Look, I really just want to get out of here. My mom's coming to get me soon. What's the trick?”

“Oh, there's no trick to it, Carter. It's really quite simple: just keep walking. Every maze is a journey. You just have to choose the right path. Hopefully, in your case, the choices you make won't be
too
dull
.” The old man turned his back on Carter and started to shuffle away.

“But how far is it?”

Mr. Green stopped and looked back. “Oh, that's up to you. Everyone finds a different pathway out of the maze. No doubt you'll bump into a few others looking for an end to it. Try not to be
too
bored now.” Mr. Green rustled away.

Others?

Carter didn't like the sound of that at all. If there were “others” in the maze anything like the Creepy Leaf Girl, he'd just as soon not find out.

“Maybe I should just follow you back to the start?” Carter yelled after Mr. Green, who was disappearing around a leafy corner.

“You can try to follow me if you wish, but the rules are quite clear: you must go in only one direction, forward. Once you've entered the curious maze, it's a one-way journey to the end, I'm afraid. Your journey. You might not like the consequences if you try to go backward. And the maze definitely won't like it. But it's up to you.” The old man's voice faded away.

“Rules? What rules? No one said anything about rules!” Carter yelled, alone once again. What did the old man mean,
You might not like the consequences
? Or the
maze
wouldn't like it?

That was crazy. It was slowly dawning on Carter that maybe Mr. Green was just crazy? All the more reason to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Carter made a decision: he'd follow Mr. Green. He took two steps backward …

… and yelped! The bushes rustled and rose up all around him in a tight, green wall. Vines curled out of the hedge and shook in his face, like fists shaking in anger.

Someone must be moving the hedge around!

There was NO way out now; the bushes held him tight. He called out, “Okay, Mr. Green. I get it! I won't try to trick the maze. It doesn't like it when I go backward. Like you said.”

No one answered him.

The bushes moved away from Carter, and the pathway reappeared at his feet.

Time to be sneaky.

Carter pretended to take two steps forward, and then he spun around to follow Mr. Green one more time. But the bushes rose up faster this time, angry leaf fists shaking in his face … then everything went black.

 

Boys and Soldiers

C
arter
opened his eyes. His head hurt, and he lay face down on the pathway. Vines from the hedge curled slowly around his feet and up his leg. As soon as he sat up, the vines quickly vanished back into the hedge.

Weird!

He sat up and groaned. He felt the back of his head: it had a bump on it.

Something hit me!

He opened and closed his eyes, trying to clear his blurry vision. The maze was a solid green wall all around him. There was no way out.

Then, suddenly, there was. He watched as a few bushes slid sideways, and a pathway appeared.

“Okay, so your employees are in leafy green suits back there, moving the bushes around. Good one again, Mr. Green,” he said. But no one answered. All he heard was the wind. Then …

… SNIP!

He groaned and stood up, rubbing the back of his head. A brick from the pathway was out of place at his feet. Carter picked it up and heaved it a little, feeling the weight of it. The brick was definitely heavy enough to knock him out.

But it was also possible that when the hedge had reared up and scared him, he tripped over the brick and knocked
himself
out.

Who would bash me on the head? That's crazy. I must have tripped … right?

“You should probably tell your employees not to trip kids, Mr. Green,”
Carter called out. There was no answer.

He thought he heard a faint SNIP! on the other side of the hedge, but when he stood still and listened … there was nothing but silence. The pathway was ahead of him now, and there was only one direction to go.

This maze has to end sometime … just keep walking. And try not to trip and knock yourself out or bump into Creepy Leaf Girl again.

Carter started walking. He was beginning to realize that a path in any direction was better than no path at all.

Then … he heard it: “Carter! Carter!”

SYDNEY!

“HERE! I'M HERE! HELP! SYDNEY!” Carter ran down the pathway. He had to find his sister! He had to get out of there! He must be getting near the end of the stupid maze; he'd been running so long. He ran, calling for Sydney again and again … but once again, there was no answer. She had vanished.

He wanted to scream in frustration. Instead, he stopped to catch his breath … and the hedge right beside him rustled.

“Sydney?” he whispered.
Please be Sydney!

Not Sydney.

A small boy popped his head through the hedge. He stared at Carter and then slowly stepped out onto the path. He was about five years old and wore short pants, a white shirt, and a matching jacket. He had a soft cap on his head and leather lace-up shoes. He wasn't covered in leaves, though, Carter quickly noted. The little boy was wearing old-fashioned clothes, just like Creepy Leaf Girl. Maybe they were historical performers who had wandered away from some midway stage show?

Pretty
convincing
historical performers.

“Mummy?” the little boy sniffled. He rubbed his nose with a grubby hand and looked around.

Carter shook his head. “No. I'm Carter. Are you lost? Are you looking for your mom?”

The boy looked at Carter and nodded. He looked around once more and disappeared into the opposite hedge. Carter heard him say, “Mummy?” again, his voice more distant. Then the little boy was gone.

“Um, Mr. Green?” Carter shouted. “There's a lost kid in here! You should probably help him!” He considered following the little boy, maybe try to help him, but he didn't want the maze to close in around him again.

Plus, he was starting to feel a little like a lost kid himself.

He kept walking.

Okay, that kid is in here with you, so you're not all alone. He probably wandered off from the lost children tent … which must mean you're getting close to the exit. Someone will find him. He and Creepy Leaf Girl can find their way out together. Just keep walking!

Carter walked along. How long had he been in here? The sun looked just a little lower in the sky, and he realized he might have been unconscious longer than he thought. He started to jog slowly along the turning and twisting pathway. At each corner he had to choose which direction to go.

For the thousandth time he wished he had a cellphone; then he could just call his sister and she'd come and get him. Or at the very least he'd know what time it was.

But his mother always said, “No, not until you're thirteen.” He always argued that it would come in handy if he was ever lost or late.

It was little comfort that he was SO right on both counts now.

This maze has to end sometime, doesn't it?

He slowed to a walk. And heard footsteps again. He stopped and listened carefully.

Sydney?

But it couldn't be Sydney. This time it sounded like many, many footsteps coming his way along the path. They sounded like angry footsteps, if that was possible. Almost like marching footsteps.

What could that be?

Carter ducked into the nearest part of the hedge.

Definitely not Sydney this time, either.

Suddenly a man burst through the bushes right beside him. He crashed through the branches and cursed. The man wore a red jacket with brass buttons and tight grey pants with tall black boots. A white sash criss-crossed his chest. He looked familiar, like a long-ago soldier that Carter had seen in history shows on TV.

Blood dripped off the soldier's arm, which he held tightly with his other hand. Carter saw a slash of skin and a bloody wound under the soldier's sleeve.

Carter gasped and bit his tongue, willing himself to stay invisible in the hedge. Vines curled slowly into his face and caressed his lips. He quietly tried to push them away. Part of him wanted to help the wounded soldier, but a bigger part wanted to stay hidden. The soldier took a sharp breath and looked around wildly, clutching his wounded arm. A drop of blood splashed onto the pathway at his feet.

Carter stared. He tried to keep his breathing steady and quiet. The marching footsteps were closer, and the wounded man in the red coat jumped back into the hedges. He looked right at Carter.

“Bloody blighters,” he whispered, looking over his shoulder.

Carter jumped.

“Wh … what? Sss … orry?” Carter had never seen somebody clutching a wound before, especially not somebody dressed in an old-fashioned soldier's uniform.

Another historical performer? That's three now!

But Carter couldn't stare too long. The marching feet were louder, closer.

The wounded soldier took another sharp breath, looked around, and then dashed into the hedge across the pathway. As soon as he disappeared, the owners of the angry footsteps appeared. Ten soldiers in blue coats marched right past Carter. He held his breath.

The soldiers in blue carried GUNS. Old-fashioned guns with sharp knives on the end.

Carter gulped. The word “bayonet” whispered in his head.…

What was going on? The soldier in red was really hurt. Why were these men chasing him? Where the heck was Mr. Green? Did he know that lost children and injured men were running around?

Carter forced himself to stay still and perfectly hidden until the angry marching footsteps faded away down the path.

Once the soldiers were gone, he popped his head out of the hedge. He should probably run and get the police, but how?

SNIP.

SNIP.

The bushes rustled, and a voice whispered in his ear: “Are you
scared
yet, Carter?”