Free Carter and the Curious Maze by Philippa Dowding

path.
    Right before their eyes, Mr. Green turned into an enormous and ancient tree.
    Before he disappeared completely, the old man’s voice carried on the wind: and here is the end of the curious maze!
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Chapter 16
    Here Is the End

    T he forest fell silent, the fountain was gone, and the huge tree that was once Mr. Green stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the other trees.
    Carter, Clarissa, and Arthur looked at each other.
    What just happened?
    Clarissa spoke first. “Thank you, Carter. You saved us. I’ve been waiting for someone to toss me the old man’s garden shears for ages!”
    â€œWhat do you mean, ‘waiting for someone?’ Who? Who have you been waiting for?”
    â€œYou don’t think you’re the only person to get caught in the curious maze, do you? Mr. Green has chosen many bored children for the maze over the years. But most of them just tell Mr. Green what he wants to hear. That they were scared . That the maze is interesting . That there’s nothing dull about it. And then they return to their own time like nothing happened.”
    â€œWell, why are you still here?”
    Clarissa shrugged. “I don’t get scared that easily, I guess. I just couldn’t lie and tell him I was scared. So I’ve been stuck in this maze for a long time. But as you just saw, there is more than one way out of a maze.”
    â€œThere are two ways?”
    Clarissa pointed at the old man’s red-handled garden shears, lying on the forest floor where the fountain was a moment before. “The garden shears were the key to the magic of the maze. One way out of the maze was to tell Mr. Green you’re scared. The other way out was to hide his magic garden shears, even for a moment. But I could never get close to them, the old man guarded them so well. You must have noticed that. I knew the maze would end if I could hide them in the fountain even for a second, but I didn’t know he’d turn into a tree if he got pushed in. That was a stroke of luck.”
    The children all looked at the tree that was once Mr. Green and quickly looked away.
    â€œWell … why haven’t I seen the maze before? I come to the fair every year.”
    Clarissa put her head on one side and smiled a little. “You ask a lot of questions. The maze is an ancient and magical creation. It never stays in one place for long. Or one time.”
    Carter was going to ask what she meant, but something was happening to Clarissa. She was shimmering and slowly, slowly, she faded away. For a second, he saw her standing in front of the curious maze on a sunny summer day … and a man and woman called her name. Her parents? She ran over to them, and then the image vanished. The last thing Carter saw was the smile on her face.
    Then the little hand he held let go. Arthur was fading, too! Slowly the little boy shimmered and faded, just like Clarissa. As he vanished, he locked eyes with Carter and raised his pudgy hand in goodbye.
    Then Carter heard a woman’s voice say, “There you are, Arthur! You’ve lost your cap!”
    And a little voice answered, “Mummy!”
    â€œSee you, Arthur!” Carter whispered to the dark, empty forest.
    At that moment the sun vanished, and Carter was left completely alone. The forest fell into blackness.
    His heart started to pound, and his mouth went dry. He walked over to the garden shears and picked them up. They were warm and heavy, and he could almost feel the old man’s hand upon them, which instantly made him want to put them down. He leaned them against the bottom of the tree that was Mr. Green.
    â€œMr. Green! If you can hear me … now it’s my turn! I want to go home, too!” he called.
    The forest grew darker … and small rustlings began to fill the air. He tried to stay calm.
    THINK, CARTER!
    What was he supposed to do? He thought about entering the maze (how long ago that seemed!), about meeting Arthur,