The door creaked so loudly it made Everett's ears tickle. Stepping through, he and Sybil were greeted by a straight dirt path stretching ahead. It was walled in on both sides with stone walls, ten feet high, sporadically covered in rose vines. The roses themselves were a muted maroon, and as much as it didn't make sense, he swore that as soon as they stepped through the door, the vines bristled angrily. The sun had set beyond the walls, leaving the path dark, and a dense mist settled ahead of them. Peeking just above the mist, illuminated by the orange light of the setting sun, was the top of the pine tree he had seen before, at the center of the garden. It was close enough now that he recognized it as a fir tree.

He shared a look of apprehension with Sybil, and they cautiously stepped forward into the mist.

After a short while of walking, Sybil cleared her throat.

"Uh, hey . . . so I'm sorry for yelling at you all those times."

Everett looked at her, puzzled.

"I didn't realize that you were dealing with this," she said, " and I was only thinking about how much I was hurting. It was selfish of me."

"Hey, it's just as much my fault too," he said. "I didn't pay attention." He looked around up at the walls. "Besides, you're linked to me through this garden, right? If this creepy place was the only connection you had with me, no wonder you hated every second of it."

"That's true, I suppose," she said, inspecting a nearby rose bush. "Any idea why you built this place?"

"No clue, but I have a strong hunch it's to protect, or hide away, whatever's at that tree over there." He pointed to the fir tree.

At that point, the pathway stopped at a t-intersection, and split ways, one to the left and one to the right. Further on, they split into yet even more pathways.

"Shit. I think this place is a labyrinth."

Sybil sighed. "Of course it is."

"Alright well, we'll keep our eyes on that tree. As long as we can keep our bearings we should be fine."

The sound of scraping stone behind them caused them to jerk around. They saw only the face of a stone wall and a sick-looking rose bush growing on it. The pathway behind them was gone.

Anxiety flared up within him and his mouth went dry.

"H-hey you think you could fly up and take a look around?" he said, desperately trying to hide the shaking of his voice.

"Can't," Sybil said, her breath quickening. "I’m too heavy now. I tried before already."

"Okay." He ran his fingers through his hair. "Okay okay, we can get through this, okay? We stick together, kay? We keep eyes locked on that tree, and we keep moving forward."

Sybil nodded tensely.

"Okay, let's get through this quick."

They picked the path on the right, and began quickly walking along. Left and right, forward some, back some, they picked up the pace and started jogging their way through the labyrinth. Sometimes they came across a dead end and had to turn back, but after a while they started to get a feel for the place. They always kept checking the fir tree, and before too long Everett noticed that bit by bit they were getting closer to it.

A howl echoed from somewhere behind them, causing them to skid to a stop. They whipped around, but the path behind them was empty.

"You put wolves in here??" Sybil hissed.

"It's my subconscious, I can't control it!" he exclaimed back.

He scanned the mists, heart pounding, ears on full alert. Nothing.

The mists swirled lazily, apparently empty.

Then Everett saw something: two red dots.

Eyes.

A shadow appeared just after, nearly filling up the space of the corridor. A wolf the size of a sedan, teeth bared, growling, with black shaggy fur, prowled just ahead.

It snarled, and launched towards them.

"Shit! Run!" Everett yelled as another howl screeched through the thick air.

They dashed through the labyrinth, adrenaline and terror giving them speed. Rose bushes whipped past them, the thorns scraping into their exposed bodies. Left, right, right, left, the directions no longer mattered, they just ran.

Everett saw an opportunity to double-back. He snatched Sybil’s arm and flung her into the opening of an adjacent pathway. Nearly losing his balance, he dug his heels in and turned about-face, grabbing Sybil and sprinting in the opposite direction. They ran down the corridor and ducked into a nearby dead-end, skidding to a halt.

Sybil bent down, panting, and Everett took a chance and peeped around the corner. The wolf was gone. They were safe for now.

“Oh sure! Your mind’s a real party.” Sybil coughed out between breaths. “Can’t fuckin’ wait for more!”

“Will you hush up?” Everett gasped, heartbeat ringing in his ears. “It’ll hear us!”

“It can probably already smell us!” she huffed. “What happens if we die in here, huh? What happens then?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. Best case, we wake up? Worst case, probably brain death.”

He lurched as she grabbed him by the shoulder. Pain exploded from his cheek as she decked him in the face, hard. He fell to the ground, dirt scraping his back, coughing from shock. He stared widely up at Sybil, standing over him, wings flared out and vitriol written in her face.

“God, I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” she said, shaking out her hand. “Being tiny sucks sometimes.”

“What the hell??” Everett wheezed, hand to his cheek, scrambling away until his back hit the far wall.

“That’s for nearly killing me, Ev!” she shouted, leaning directly over him. “That’s for being so careless about me, careless about yourself! When are you going to wake up and start giving a shit about your own life? We’re going to die in this place, a place that you created, because you weren’t willing to face whatever’s at the center of this hellhole!”

She stepped back and slumped against the wall.

“Ev,” she sighed, “we’re stuck together, for life. We’re part of each other, two halves of a whole. There’s no way for either of us to get away from the Bond, no matter how hard we tried.”

She shivered and hugged herself.

“I don’t . . . I don’t think I can keep going on like this.” She met eyes with him. “I don’t think I want to.”

Slowly and painfully, Everett sat up. His jaw was sore, and now that the adrenaline was draining away, all of the scratches he received started to sting.

“You’re right. You’re completely right. I’m sorry. I didn’t pay any attention to you and the damage I was causing. I was scared, so I ran away, over and over. But you know what? No more running away. We’re here, we’re going to survive, and I’m going to face whatever I’m hiding over there, no matter what. I promise.”

Their eyes met, and an itty bitty smile spread across her face.

“Truce?” he asked.

She sighed, then a giggle escaped her lips. “Alright, truce,” she answered.

The nearby snap of a twig snapped them out of the moment.

Sybil clamped her hands over her mouth, and Everett jumped to his feet, plastering himself just next to the corner. He strained his ears for any sound.

Sure enough, he heard it. The thick, dense padding of four paws on the soft earth. Short, sniffing breaths. A low rumble of a growl. The smell of damp fur and rotten breath filled his nose. The wolf was very close.

He tiptoed back to Sybil and motioned upward. She gave a perplexed look, pointed at her wings, and shook her head. Everett shook his head in response, moved to the nearby wall, and kneeled down, forming a stepping cradle with his hands. She nodded in understanding, and used his hands to begin climbing the wall.  With a bit of a heave she made it up to the top with minimal noise, thankfully. She then flipped around, lying on her stomach, and grabbed his outstretched hands.

At that moment, an angry snarl grated their ears, and they looked to see the wolf turning the corner and breaking into a charge towards them.

“Pull me up! Pull me up!” Everett yelped. “Up, up, up, up!”

Sybil heaved with all her strength and dragged him up, straining hard until he got a good foothold. They scrambled out of reach just as the wolf slammed into the wall, shaking the foundation and knocking a stone loose.

Without hesitation and without looking back, the two ran along the top of the wall, jumping over rose vines draped across, and made their way towards the center of the labyrinth. The walls were only a couple feet wide, and it took all of Everett’s focus just to keep his balance navigating the sharp turns.

They skidded to a stop at the inner edge of the labyrinth. Just beyond was a massive field of blackberry brambles. A thick, shoulder-high expanse of tangled canes, each one bristling with thorns awaited them. The jungle was so dense that he couldn’t even see any openings, and he became acutely aware of just how vulnerable their bare skin was.

However, at least they could now very clearly see the fir tree at the center. It was large, not as large as the one behind his house, but still formidably large. Surrounding it was yet another wall, easily twenty-five feet tall, with a great iron gate blocking the entrance.

“Welp, so what now?” Sybil asked. “Normally this would be a cinch if I could fly, but I’m kinda stuck on the ground now,” she said, shrugging.

As if in response, another howl, this time mutated and sounding more like a lion's roar, pierced through the air.

They looked back, and off in the distance, near the spot where they had escaped the wolf, a new beast emerged from below. It bore a passing resemblance to the wolf, but was becoming more catlike with every second. Claws the size of a fist sunk into the stone, and the beast’s muscles rippled as it tore itself up out of the labyrinth. By the time it was on top, it had fully transformed into a giant gray and black panther, and easily lept from wall top to wall top, making a beeline for the two teens.

“Oh shit!” Everett swore. He put himself between Sybil and the incoming panther. “I’ll try and hold it off for a bit!” he called out. “Think you can find a way through those brambles?”

“You’re gonna fight off a murderous cat more than three times your size??” She yelled. “Are you crazy?”

Against his better judgment, Everett found himself with a goofy smile on his face.

“. . .yeah, probably!” he shouted. “Now go!”

She hesitated for a moment, then bolted down the perimeter wall.

He turned to face the beast, steeling himself. Flicks of saliva flung off the ivory teeth of the panther every time its head bobbed up and down. It’s body stretched and compressed with each leap, launching hundreds of pounds of muscle ever closer. It’s claws dug into the stone surface, leaving perforations everywhere they made contact. And the red eyes, they burned with rage and contempt, never blinking, never wavering.

Seeing his inevitable death bounding straight towards him with laser focus, Everett could only feel . . . 

. . . strangely detached from it all?

“Hey Brain!” he yelled into thin air, throwing up his hands. “I’m done running! I’m done! Standing my ground here! So can I at least fuckin’ get some kind of weapon or something?”

At that very moment, aquamarine mist burst from his chest, twisting and coalescing into the shape of a long two-handed sword, forming directly into his outstretched hand. It was long, nearly as long as he was tall, yet it felt light and well balanced in his hands. The single edged blade had an elegant curve and was made of blue steel, and turquoise gemstones embellished the hilt. Dewdrops were scattered across the blade, and a bit of steam rose from it. It felt good to hold.

It felt like it was meant for her.

Wait, him.

What?

~~~

Sybil dashed along the wall at the edge of the forest of brambles, searching for any kind of weakness or opening. She beat her wings to give her extra momentum, giving no thought towards balancing on the narrow walkway. Pixies’ agility was second to none, and even though she felt like a lumbering elephant in this large form, she still had no trouble keeping her feet.

“If only I could fly!” she exclaimed, breathing hard. The sea of brambles yielded no passage, no matter where she looked. Damn, she shouldn’t have left Ev back there. She took a chance to look back, preparing for the worst, hoping with all her might that he hadn’t been brutally eviscerated.

He was standing on the wall, facing down the beast, and he was . . . holding a sword? Not only that, but he looked different. Proud. Confident.

Feminine?

She blinked. What the heck? Why would he . . . unless . . .

It all clicked.

She gasped and threw her hands to her mouth. The doll, the playing dress-up, the childhood friends! The crippling body embarrassment, the obsession with girl’s clothes! The three hours in the bathroom spent trying to style hair like a girl’s! Pretending to be a damsel in distress up in the treehouse! Looking at raunchy women’s catalogs and crying instead of jerking off! Accidentally buying a shirt from the women’s section and wearing it for two weeks at a time! The sudden depression during puberty! All of the late-night conversations about how girls were cooler, nicer, softer, or better than guys!

Memory after memory after memory flooded to her mind of all of the signs throughout their life, pointing to one earth-shattering fact:

Her human was actually a girl.

Everett--or Ev? Ev for now--was a girl!

“Holy shit,” she said, nearly falling off the wall. She caught herself and plopped down on the edge, clutching her head. How could she have missed something so massive right in front of her? How could she have been so blind? It all made so much sense! No wonder life had become so painful for them, Ev was trying so hard to be something she wasn’t!

And with rising horror, Sybil realized she hadn’t even tried to show Ev any kind of understanding, compassion, or love through all of this.

Then she had an idea. She stood back up, surveying the field of brambles. It was a dumb idea, but it was worth a shot.

“HEY GARDEN!” she screamed. “I know the secret you’ve been trying so hard to hide!”

“Ev is a girl!”

Silence. And then a rumble.

The whole field of blackberries shifted and undulated, piling on top of each other, tangling together, forming a writhing, horrifying mass of thorny spaghetti, directly in front of Sybil. The voice of Everett, but boomier, deeper, and more ragged, rumbled from a gigantic maw.

“THEN YOU MUST BE SILENCED.”

Blackberry brambles, rose bushes, vines and thorns, every plant in the garden pulled up their roots and converged on Sybil’s location. Swarming masses of canes and branches and flowers roiled over the garden walls, a tsunami of plant life pushing towards her from every direction.

Sybil breathed deep. There, she felt it. The Bond between her and Ev was beginning to strengthen. She took another deep breath. Sweet, sugary Magic, the food by which she sustained herself, was starting to flow back into her body in the physical world. It was only a small amount, but here in the mindscape, that power was amplified tenfold.

Her hands billowed steam, then erupted into flames. A grin slowly spread across her face.

“I think it’s high time I helped Ev do some spring cleaning.”