"Ah!" Second heard Fourth's voice. She turned and saw her.
Her two feet were submerged in the mud. Everyone stopped running, and they helped her from getting stuck because the mud is thick and tight.
"It's not mud anymore, that's quicksand," Ninth informed them.
"Help me," Fourth sobbed. She is alarmed. She recalls that the same thing happened to Aeizen during volleyball. They witnessed how the mud almost swallowed her alive.
They calm Fourth down first, and at the same time, they would pull her up. Fourth followed their instructions. Even though her arms were already red, she endured the pain until she was completely lifted. Glad that her case wasn't severe. They took a deep breath and resumed walking.
She frowned because she hadn't seen any mud on their way lately. Fourth and Second were in the last row of the team, but why didn't anyone else fall as a victim before her?
She thought that maybe the quicksand also spurts out of nowhere here inside the maze, and you will be surprised who's the next target. They have to be careful and vigilant at all times.
Everyone stopped when their leader, Third, stopped. He is the one that they 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," Third picked it up from near his feet. It must be the card Author mentioned.
"That's probably the first one!" Aeith beamed from what they discovered.
"Something's written again," Fifth noticed and read the new writing at the top of the map.
Go to the right
They wasted no time, and they saw two directions again. Third is holding the first card they 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. They turn right and run.
"What the!" they heard a boy's voice that seemed to writhe in pain. It's Seventh. They 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 them as he pointed at the moss with pebbles and rocks near where they were standing. He slowly stood up and shook the dirt off his tracksuit.
"Ahaha, poor you!" Aeith made fun of him. They 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.
They avoided stepping on the moss and ran slowly over the rocky ground. She notices that every time they turn, there is an accident waiting for them. When someone has an accident, they pick up a new card. When they learned the pattern, they read hurriedly what was written on the map.
Go to the right
This is again written at the top of the map. They ran until they could see two directions again, and they turned right. Out of fear, she warned everyone not to run first because they might be in danger again. They just kept walking slowly but surely. Miraculously, nothing bad was happening yet. It's not that she want to trouble, she's just making sure.
"We can run now because it takes so long when we just walk," Seventh advised them to run while he was limping.
They made sure that he was okay with running, then they agreed with him, but something unexpected happened. She was about to take a step to run again when she heard concrete crumbling and a man shout.
"Help!" She looked around to see who was missing among them. It's Fifth! Where is he?
Everyone turned their backs and saw the collapsed part of what they were stepping on. They bent down and saw two hands clinging to the uncrumpled part of the concrete. They saw Fifth. This is it; something bad will happen if they rush.
"Brad! Hold my hand!"
All the boys rushed and came to the rescue. They lifted Fifth. They soon breathed a sigh of relief when they rescued Fifth. They took a deep breath, and Fifth is still pale.
They were shocked 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, they saw that beneath it was a sky. She doesn't know if this maze is floating in the sky. If so, they also don't know how that happened. This causes them to be more cautious than ever.
***
They are currently sitting and circling in the middle of the maze passage. They rested for a while because they 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 they need a long run again. For now, they will first talk about the card and 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 they're all confused. They all shrugged and stared blankly at the cards that lay in front of them.
"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. She's 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 she looked up while thinking deeply.
"Why?" Aeith and Fourth stared at her. "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 were hopeless.
"You serious, why me?" She shrugged them off. She didn't expect that she would be the one they expected to answer the riddles they are reading today. She doesn't know why, but her brain isn't flowing very well. She might be totally useless this time. She's thought about it a few times but still has no sensible clue. It's just fun because they all work together to answer the riddles. Everyone is thinking deeply and sharing opinions that may be the answer to their question.
"We're just wasting our time." She 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."