Damn, she is too young to lose her breath over this, TT thought.

  At the next corner, they walked into a tunnel. The corridor was shaped strangely like a snake or capital S, and when they reached its end, it was a dead end. TT's eyes widened, and his jaw dropped slightly, but he quickly collected himself before Liz could see.

  “Did we get lost?”

  “No,” said TT, annoyed. “There is no we, just me and an annoying little brat on my tail.”

  He sounded more like he was hissing than talking, but Liz didn’t mind it. She used to deal with difficult people like him, obviously she didn’t think she was one of them.

  “Hey, that is not a very nice way to call such a young lady as myself. I might get offended.”

  “Lady… my foot,” He said quietly, almost to himself.

  TT avoided eye contact with Liz, and before his cheeks turned red, blushing her face bright, he just turned around and walked back, pretending everything was according to plan. Liz continued following him, keeping herself just a few steps behind.

  Twenty-three hours remaining.

  The badge broke the silence with a dull voice coming out of it. It sounded like it was playing from the old phonograph, but it had some sort of warmth to it.

  “Wow, an hour has passed. How long is it going to take to find the exit?”

  “It would be faster if I didn’t have a paradise on my back,” TT protested.

  What did I do? Liz wondered how on earth she could make a difference at their time of arrival.

  After another two hours passed. At the next tunnel crossing, which at this point becomes a regular occurrence. Liz and TT heard someone talking loudly. They looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

  Before they could make a decision, the other group came close enough to notice this strange couple. They called them and walked toward Liz and TT, waving their hands in a friendly way. TT bites his lip and clenches his palms into fists. It made Liz also nervous. Who could know better than a veteran test-taker about what this encounter could mean?

  The group consisted of: The middle-aged man, likely a former or current warrior or a city guard; a petite woman with big glasses, Liz thought she looked like a librarian, but decided not to judge the book by its cover; and finally, an adolescent, probably close to Liz’s age. He looked like he was fresh out of school, and did the same thing Liz did, just stuck with a more experienced person to get carried to the next stage.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Great minds think alike.

  “Hey, looks like we’re not the only ones who got lost here,” said the man who was leading the pack.

  “Yeah, looks like it,” TT answered before Liz shared too much information. “There is nothing from the way we came from.” TT shared.

  “Same here,” the other group responded.

  “I guess we’re going in the same direction, then,” concluded TT.

  “I guess we are!”

  Liz and TT let them go ahead, and then followed them from behind. The newly formed party wandered further into the maze, mesmerized by the size of this thing.

  “My name is Luke, the girl with glasses is Leia, and a young fella is Han. When I formed the group with Leia, the kid approached us looking for someone who knew what to do. So we took pity on the young lad and decided to help him through this exam.”

  The boy's cheeks reddened, and he lowered his head, staring at the floor.

  “My name is TT, the same story about this girl.”

  Liz stared daggers at TT, restraining herself from kicking him in the leg. She knew that if he told the truth, it would have looked even worse on her.

  “My name is Liz, by the way.”

  “Young people nowadays come to this exam way too young. Always in a hurry, as if they had no time. But it's the opposite, the one thing we all have is an abundance of time.”

  TT nodded, agreeing with a stranger, while Liz was rolling her eyes, unable to withstand high doses of cringe. Liz focused on ignoring those two, and her eyes wandered around looking for the missed details. What if there was something that could lead her to the exit, a hint or riddle she needed to solve?

  TT and his new friend Luke were talking nonstop, sharing everything about themselves: where they grew up, their first love interest, what they like to eat, how to make a steak, what's wrong with the new generation, and who has the best fishing spot. Now everyone's ears were rotten, not only Liz’s. They were counting minutes until they were finally separated.

  When the tunnel had split again, those two were about to take the same turn, but the group convinced them it was better to separate to double their chances. Leia and Han were pulling Luke one way when Liz was pulling TT the other.

  Finally, the silence was back.

  Now that there was no one to talk with, TT remembered the task at hand. His face now lost its shine, and he was back to thinking about where to go next and how to get rid of the girl.

  Twenty hours remaining.

  The deeper into the maze, the colder it was getting. Liz was trying to ignore discomfort and not look at the shivers on her skin. TT also noticed the temperature drop and felt chilly, so he opened his backpack and took out a warm full-circle cloak made of thick fur with wool linings. He wrapped it around him, smiling. He was glad he prepared for such an occasion. Liz looked at him with puppy dog eyes, but he just smirked and kept walking.

  What a jerk.

  Liz was freezing, so she didn’t notice when TT stopped. She bumped her head into his back once again, but this time he didn’t waver. Holding her hand against her forehead, she raised her gaze to see why he stopped moving. TT was stroking his facial hair; his eyes were completely locked on the floor in front of them.