Labyrinth: The Keeper Chronicles, a prequel by Katherine Wynter Page B

ready.”
    “What about my things in the dorm?”
    Her mom smoothed back her hair. “Don't worry about that; we'll take care of it for you. All you need to do for now is rest.”
    Rest. That sounded like a good idea. Except what if she saw that thing when she closed her eyes? “So…none of that was real? Not the labyrinth or the monster or even one point I thought I saw Jason—all of that was the drugs?”
    “I'm afraid so, princess.” Her mom’s voice hardened. “You were given almost a lethal dose by that sick girl.”
    The beeping on the monitor intensified. “Emily? Did they catch her?”
    “She killed herself,” her mom answered.
    Letting her head rest back against the pillow, Rebekah curled up on her side facing her mom and the window. For a while she said nothing, just lay there with her mom and listened to the reassuring sounds of the machinery. She was alive. Somehow. She rubbed the thick welts on her wrist. “Did Jason stop by?”
    An unreadable expression crossed her mom's face. “No, princess, he didn't. I'm sorry.”
    Her entire body hurt from the ordeal, but somehow those six words were the more painful than anything else. "I saw him there, in whatever that was. He saved me." She swallowed and blinked back the tears that formed in her eyes. “Maybe he'll stop by tomorrow.”
    “Maybe,” her mom said with a sad shake of the head. Then under her breath, “but I don’t think it likely.”
     
    *              *              *
     
    Jason stood, hands chained behind his back, feet shackled together, and waited. Rebekah was alive. Her mom and told him that much when he stopped by the hospital. Whatever happened to him now, he'd at least saved her. That was enough.
    Elder Xou sat at the head of a conference table. Seated to his left and right were six leaders of key Keeper families in the region as well as Detective Nolan, their liaison with the police force, and Grothick, leader of the Satyrs. The end of the table was occupied by a team of lawyers from the Trenton Group. An agenda printed on expensive white paper sat in front of each person, a glass of ice water positioned perfectly to the top right corner. If it weren't for the fact that armed Keepers stood watch around the edges of the room with whatever knives, swords, axes, maces, or butcher's knives they preferred close at hand, a casual observer might have thought them negotiating a contract.
    It was more like a hostile takeover.
    The Trenton Group lawyer buttoned the front of her expensive jacket and spoke. “We convene this Council meeting to adjudicate on the legality of Keeper Jason Riggs executing of the final clause of the Satyr-Keeper Agreement of 1857. First, we'll hear from the leader of the Satyrs. Grothick, what say you?”
    The Satyr rose and removed his hat. “The language of the Agreement binds us to the Keepers providing certain terms are kept by both parties and can only be voided by the redemption of an extreme favor by the Keepers of the region. Nothing in the language specified that the Keeper with whom the exchange was made had to be a member of the Council or seek its approval. The Agreement was binding and, having been fulfilled, must be honored. We are free.”
    “Thank you,” the lawyer said. It wasn't often that Trenton Group sharks were women, but his one was. She couldn't have been more than twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old and the diamond necklace at her throat probably cost more money than he would see in a lifetime. Lawyers. “Elder Xou, what say you?”
    “No disagreement.”
    Jason blinked. Did I really just hear that?
    The lawyer crossed her arms. “If there's no dispute, there's no need for mediation. Our fee is still due.” She started to gather up her papers.
    Elder Xou cleared his throat. “Mrs. Van Novak, there's no disagreement that what Keeper Riggs did was keeping in the spirit of the Agreement, and we don't dispute that. We called this meeting to discuss the terms