Free Labyrinth Society by Angie Kelly Page B

fountain. She leaned heavily against one of the large statues bordering both sides of the wide walkway leading down to the fountain. It was Mia. And she was a hot mess. Her hair had come loose from its thick ponytail and the backpack on her back was hanging half off one shoulder. I rushed over to her.
    "Mia!" I grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Are you okay?" She didn't answer me. I waved my hand and snapped my fingers in front her glazed, staring eyes and still got no response. Someone called my name. It was Lily, approaching from the direction I'd just come.
    "Tomi!" she called again. I stepped aside and Lily stopped dead in her tracks and then squealed in delight when she spotted Mia.
    "How did she get here?"
    "She must have followed us into the labyrinth. She got pulled through with me when she grabbed my arm."
    "Is she okay?" Lily nudged a still unresponsive Mia lightly on the shoulder.
    "Does she look okay?"
    Mia finally blinked and shook her head a couple of times like there was something loose inside, then pushing past us, she made a beeline straight for the fountain. We followed her.
    "I know this," she said still looking fuzzyheaded. "I've seen this before." Mia gestured towards the fountain.
    "Where?" I stood next to her and gave Lily a worried look. There wasn't going to be an easy way to break it to girlfriend about being in another country, let alone getting here through the labyrinth.
    "In one of my art books," Mia replied, squinting at the fountain in concentration trying to place it. "Isn't this the Apollo fountain?"
    "Yeah, it is! Isn't it cool?" I put my arm around her. Mia started laughing hysterically like some demented mental patient.
    "But isn't the Apollo fountain in the gardens behind the—"
    I turned Mia around slowly so she could see the huge building off in the distance and Lily and I finished her sentence in unison, "Palace of Versailles!"
    Mia stiffened and pushed away from us. "No way! No way!" she shouted stumbling forward to get a closer look and then rubbing her eyes in disbelief.
    "Way!" Lily and I responded again in unison. People were looking at us like we were crazy Americans. They had no idea how right they were.
    Before Lily or I could stop her, Mia suddenly took off running towards the palace, and we had no choice but to take off after her. She ran and ran, almost taking out a couple of tourists in her path, and took the steps leading up to the palace two at a time. Unlike Lily and Devon, I'm not athletic or even remotely a fan of activities causing me to sweat. By the time we caught up to Mia, I had a stitch in my left side, could barely breathe, and had a big smudge on the toe of one of my new shoes.
    "I'm dreaming, right? This can't be anything but a dream, right? It's a dream!"
    She started up with the hysterical, demented laughing again, and I did something I'm not proud off, especially since I'm not an advocate of senseless violence. It's so bad for your karma. But I was a little ticked at the chick for making me run and messing up my pristine new kicks. My open hand swung out and cracked Mia hard across her cheek. Even Lily flinched like I'd hit her too.
    "Ow!" Mia clutched her cheek in shock. "What's your problem?"
    I got right in her face. "You felt my hand, didn't you? This is not a dream! This is for real! Now, snap out it!" We glared at each other without speaking, while I hoped I wasn't about to get my butt kicked.
    "What's she doin' here?" came a voice from behind me.
    Alex and Devon were coming up the steps. Predictably, Alex was a little surprised, and a lot amused, but hardly mad. Devon was highly annoyed by the sight of Mia but was silent and strangely subdued. Mia was still holding her cheek but finally seemed like she was lucid… and ticked off. She rounded on Alex.
    "What am I doing here? What am I doing here? Don't you have anything else to say? For instance, how about telling me who you guys are and how is it even possible we're in France?"
    None of us