Who! Puts a sacred divination maze[1]! In the temple of Athena!! A very clever and conscientious architect! But also this is not what Redana needs right now thank you very much! Especially the part where it’s one-way and once she gets to the end, all she can do is sit down and wait for her ex-best-friend to hurt her more!! That’s pretty terrible actually!!!

It’s hearing glass splinter and smash that gives her the idea. That, and how her heaving, exaggerated breaths for air fill the entire maze. And also the part where Bella smashed through a wall next to her head and now she’s crawling on her hands and knees trying to get out of the radius of the Bella Danger Zone.

“At least I have friends now!” The words (hopefully) hit Bella from every direction at once. The words also hopefully hide the sound of her heartbeat, which is as loud as the guitar solo she played in the arena. “When I asked them to follow me, they [i]did![/i] They haven’t hit me, they haven’t torn out anybody’s throats recently, and they didn’t lie to me for my whole life, so, wow, it turns out having friends is great! I wish I’d gotten to learn what that was like instead of buying your [i]shit[/i] my whole life!!”

Redana doesn’t even know how much of what she’s saying is real and what’s just wanting to hurt Bella for hurting her, for wasting the pills, for not coming with her, and what’s hoping that if Bella smashes all the walls she can sneak around to the entrance and lock her in[2].

“Yes, milady! No, milady! Fuck you, milady, I’m a backstabbing heartless [i]bitch[/i] who tricked you all this time! Would you like tea or poison, milady? Are you going to be a good girl like me, milady?” There we go, don’t think, just be angry. And definitely don’t wonder what happens if Bella catches you...

***

[1]: a specially-trained priestess walks to the center and back while reciting a mantra. Due to the acoustics, the words uttered here hem you in on all sides; the mirrored walls take light sources and magnify them to infinity. It is a way of disassociating yourself from regular contexts, even regular thoughts, and opening yourself up for revelation. It is also fucking terrifying to be chased through.

[2]: and then she’s totally and completely, as they say, “home free.” Owls don’t exist and are fake, actually[3].

[3]: Bella is the most real thing in the universe. Everything else is negotiable.