She’d been cocooned in her own thoughts when the sound of movement snapped her back to reality. She back-peddled behind a wall.

  Peering around a corner, Lara caught sight of a heavy black door, which had been swung open and was now in the process of slowly closing. As it did, she noticed someone going down the steps.

  Lethe.

  She hesitated, wanting him to get far enough ahead so as not to hear her.

  Timing herself, she rushed towards the stairwell, just barely slipping through the door. The sound echoed when it shut, bouncing against the painted white concrete around her. Lara tested the handle, confirming her theory when she found it locked.

  The likelihood of finding herself trapped in the stairwell propelled her. She’d barely let the pads of her feet touch the ground before she was on to the next step. Quietly, she flew down the stairs, slowing each time she heard Lethe’s footsteps in closer proximity.

  By the time they’d neared the two opposing doors at the base of the stairwell, Lara was struggling to muffle her labored breaths.

  She watched as Lethe took the door to their right. Waiting just a few moments longer, she followed, managing to catch the door before it fully closed, and pushed it back open. She found herself in a mossy cobblestone tunnel which fed out into a manicured garden. It was gated by a stone wall. Checking the door behind her, she found that it, too, had locked, leaving her with no choice but to go forward.

  Hit by the fresh air, she inhaled deeply, feeling the ghost of soreness in her chest. She approached the stone wall, investigating it’s height, and had placed a boot against it in an attempt to get some footing when she felt the sensation of being watched. Looking back, she startled and dropped her foot to the ground.

  Lethe eyed her, expressionlessly.

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  Lara bit her lip.

  Shit.

  “Hi,” she finally mustered. “You startled me.”

  He blinked.

  “I saw you going down the stairs. And… I just really needed to get some air, so...”

  “That’s reasonable.”

  Lara struggled to withhold her surprise that anyone had found one of her decisions “reasonable”. Recognizing the opportunity, she continued. “I have a question.”

  The image of the river shooting up to catch her hung in her mind. But, again, he’d just called her reasonable.

  “Would you be able to point me to the exit?”

  He pointed to his left.

  “Thank you.” She maintained eye contact as she took a few steps in the given direction before pausing. “Does that let me out into Freehelm?”

  Sighing, Lethe pushed off of the building and walked past her. Lara went after him, maintaining his pace.

  “It lets you back into the Lissome.” Lethe responded, eyes forward.

  “How would I get out to Freehelm?”

  They approached an expanse. The stone path wound up ahead and to their left to greet a terrace. It was lined by a tan arch that jutted out like a seashell. Stone steps led up to a marble patio which fed halfway into the Lissome. On the floors above it, portrait-sized French windows offered a view of the garden below and the hedged maze that was to their right.

  Lara’s brief pause had given Lethe enough time to take a few steps into the maze, and Lara followed.

  “Please? Could you--” she cut off, realizing she no longer heard the sound of his footsteps.

  “Lethe?” She attempted a few paths, to no avail.

  As she wandered the maze, she felt the buzz of what she assumed to be adrenaline coursing through her.

  After peeking through a few hedges, she begrudgingly gave in to the fact that he’d lost her.

  “Fine,” she exhaled into the open air.

  Frustrated, she exited the maze and headed back into the Lissome.

  By the time she’d made it back up to her room, the energetic feeling had faded into a dull hum that was overpowered by a sudden tsunami of exhaustion.

  And when she’d finally managed her way out of the suit, she climbed into bed, drifting off to nothing.