"Ah!" I heard Fourth's voice. I turned and saw her.
Her two feet were submerged in the mud. Everyone stopped running, and we helped her from getting stuck because the mud is thick and tight.
"It's not mud anymore, that's quicksand," Ninth informed us.
"Help me," Fourth sobbed. She is alarmed. I recall that the same thing happened to Aeizen during volleyball. We witnessed how the mud almost swallowed her alive.
We calm Fourth down first and at the same time, we would pull her up. Fourth followed our instructions. Even though her arms were already red, she endured the pain until she was completely lifted. Glad that her case wasn't severe. We took a deep breath and resumed walking.
I frowned because I haven't seen any mud on our way lately. Fourth and I were in the last row of the team, but why didn't anyone else fall as a victim before her? I thought that maybe the quicksand also spurts out of nowhere here inside the maze, and you will be surprised who's the next target. We have to be careful and vigilant at all times. Everyone stopped when our leader, Third, stopped. He is the one that we chose to be today's silver team's leader because he already possesses the traits of a leader. Good thing he agreed.
"There's a card," he picked it up from near his feet. It must be the card Author mentioned.
"That's probably the first one!" Aeith beamed from what we discovered.
"Something's written again," Fifth noticed and read the new writing at the top of the map.
Go to the right
We wasted no time, and we saw two directions again. Third is holding the first card we found. It's just the size of an ordinary calling card, printed and it is silver in color. Third hid the first card in his tracksuit's pocket. We turn right and run.
"What the!" we heard a boy's voice that seemed to writhe in pain. It's Seventh. We saw him sitting and frowning while holding his butt.
"Be careful guys, there's moss there. I didn't see it. When I fell, my ass hit the rock... Aw!" he warned us as he pointed at the moss with pebbles and rocks near where we were standing. He slowly stood up and shook the dirt off his tracksuit.
"Ahaha, poor you!" Aeith made fun of him. We stared at her. "Oh, hehe sorry."
"The second card," First picked up what he saw was the second card stuck to one of the rocks. Third took it and hid it again in his pocket.
"Come on," Fifth led a hand on Seventh because it looked like the effect of his fall was bad.
We avoided stepping on the moss and ran slowly over the rocky ground. I notice that every time we turn, there is an accident waiting for us. When someone has an accident, we pick up a new card. When we learned the pattern, we immediately read what was written on the map.
Go to the right
This is again written at the top of the map. We ran until we could see two directions again, and we turned right. Out of fear, I warned everyone not to run first because we might be in danger again. We just kept walking slowly but surely. Miraculously, nothing bad was happening yet. It's not that I want to trouble, I'm just making sure.
"We can run now because it takes so long when we just walk," Seventh advised us to run while he's limping.
We made sure that he was okay with running, then they agreed with him but something unexpected happened. I was about to take a step to run again when I heard concrete crumbling and a man shout.
"Help!" I looked around to see who was missing among us. It's Fifth! Where is he?
Everyone looked back and saw the collapsed part of what we were stepping on. We bent down and saw two hands clinging to the uncrumpled part of the concrete. We saw Fifth. This is it, something bad will happen if we rush.
"Brad! Hold my hand!"
All the boys rushed and came to the rescue. They lifted Fifth up. We soon breathed a sigh of relief when they rescued Fifth. They took a deep breath and Fifth is still pale.
We were surprised when the part where Fifth stood before collapsed. All of a sudden, it fell to pieces. Luckily, Fifth was able to hold on; otherwise, he would be gone now. Bending down earlier to see what was below the ground where he fell, we saw that beneath it was a sky. I don't know if this maze is floating in the sky. If so, we also don't know how that happened. This causes us to be more cautious than ever.
***
We are currently sitting and circling in the middle of the maze passage. We rested for a while because we also ran a long way. Third pulled out of his pocket the 2 cards he had found. According to Author, there are 5 of them so we need a long run again. For now, we will first talk about the card and to answer the riddles. This is what's written on the first card.
Death throe - 2 syllables
What are the first 2 letters of the words when pronounced?
The second card shows:
Hay - a word of greetings or expression.
Remove the H, you will get the missing letter.
That's what's written on the two cards.
"What does that mean?" Fourth wondered, yet we're all confused. We all shrugged and stared blankly at the cards that lay in front of us.
"Oh, so that's the spelling of 'throe'. I thought R-O-W, haha!" Seventh had something in his mind, but it turned out to be wordplay.
"Shut up. I'm concentrating." Aeith scolded him.
"'When the H is removed from 'hay', only the letters A and Y will be left. It does not say 'missing letters' but 'missing letter', it means only one letter. Either A or Y is the missing letter?" doubtful answer of Fifth.
"No. The answer won't be taken lightly. The riddles are deep." Sixth objected. I'm glad that she's starting to contribute to the conversation in the team.
They continued their discussion, but nothing seems to fit as of now. Everyone stopped speaking for a few seconds, so I looked up while thinking deeply.
"Why?" Aeith and Fourth stared at me. "W-Why?"
"So, you also don't know the answer, Second? You're the one we hope who can answer these," Aeith sighed heavily as if she's hopeless.
"You serious, why me?" I shrugged them off. I didn't expect that I would be the one they expected to answer the riddles we are reading today. I don't know why, but my brain isn't flowing very well. I might be totally useless this time. I've thought about it a few times, but still have no sensible clue. It's just fun because we all work together to answer the riddles. Everyone is thinking deeply and sharing opinions that may be the answer to our question.
"We're just wasting our time." I gazed at First because of what he claimed.
"He's right," Ninth agreed.
"Okay, so far, we haven't solved any riddles." Third opened the map and there was another direction written on the map. "We must proceed now to the left." He stood up and shook the dirt off his clothes. "Let's go."