Minotaur and the maze

I spun around and around on my spinny chair. Me, Basil, and Miriam, were sitting at the library at one of the tables by the computers. The whole area was surrounded by shelves adorned with hundreds upon thousands of books. There were a lot of people here today, most were checking out books about the maze. Same as we were. So we sat at the table researching old tactics to survive the maze. And Goddess above the books were old, back when Crete had just started the hell that was the maze we had still been hopeful. People made guides and pamphlets and sometimes people even tried to make maps of what they thought the maze looked like. Then, after generation after generation of children had been slaughtered we'd stopped trying. Or at least most of us had. We were lucky that our library still had some of the books, they were the kind of books we weren't allowed to check out but since Miriam's mom worked at the library she was able to get the books out from the back for us. I know none of us would likely be chosen but Miriam was obsessively nervous about it. Then again, nobody comes out of the maze alive, you get chosen as a sacrifice, not some contestant on a game show or something. "Why are we even doing this?" Basil asked, he had pinned his black hair back with a bobby pin so his bangs didn't hang over his eyes, I think he just wants the girls around town to see those hazel eyes of his. The way they fawned over him made me sick. "Because dirt eyes, todays the day. If any of us get chosen I don't wanna just keel over and die" Miriam rolled her gray eyes fluffing up her light blue hair nervously. I knew she wasn't trying to be mean, she was just nervous, ever since her cousin got picked she had been losing her mind every time people were going to be chosen. She wasn't the most…physically strong, and she was the kind of kid everyone knew would freak out if she actually got sent into the maze. I spun a little too fast, rocketing to the floor, "Woah!" I cried out hitting my head on Miriam's chair. "Careful wolf," Basil helped me up "Don't go too fast". I knew he only called me that because Dad used to call me that, and dad only called me that because I had a wolfcut, but it was still cute. And it was nice to have something to remind me of him. Basil had always looked like dad, same black hair, but we both had my mothers eyes, I had her dark brown hair too. "Yeah, don't want you scratching up your pretty face" Miriam teased, "Is it because-" Miriam cut me off "Because if you get hurt you'll look like trash during the maze and it's all televised so then people are more likely to vote things out of your favor" Miriam declared. Me and Basil groaned, then I chuckled "We'll be fine, there's got to be what, high twenty girls in my age group to be chosen from. Those are alright odds. And there's even more twelve year olds so you'll be fine Mir" I rolled my eyes. "And we get to celebrate your birthday in seven days, are we going to an escape room again?" Basil asked "Duh" Miriam closed her book finally, we had already been at this for hours. Miriam's birthdays were always the best, normally she invited me, Basil, and some other kids, and we all went to some escape room nearby. It was always a really great time and something to distract ourselves from the fact that people were in the maze. I hated the games, Crete was a bunch of cruel spawns of Hades. I mean what psycho thinks to make a maze with a bull man inside and send children in it just because of some…actually none of us knew why Crete had started the maze punishment. Nobody from back then was alive and clearly we hadn't thought it important enough to write it down. "We should head home, they'll be picking kids soon. Meet you there Mir" I smiled at Miriam standing up and grabbing my bag. It had an owl and an olive branch on it, two of the symbols of our patron Athena. Miriam nodded collecting all her survival books, she had at least five and most of them were egregiously thick. Sometimes I think she should carry a bag, or maybe not always carry so many books and stop shoving random things in her pockets. We headed out, Miriam taking the path to one of the nicer neighborhoods, me and Basil heading down to the apothecary. Our mother owned the place having taken over after the death of my father, the original owner. We lived in the small apartment above the shop, sometimes my mother made us help dry ingredients or work at the counter. We both headed up the backstairs, "I'm going to help mum close up, go do your hair, or whatever girls do" Basil told me. I rolled my eyes at him "You know I haven't done my hair since it went short" I mumbled. Basil didn't respond, instead heading down the main stairs to go help Mom clean up the shop. The apothecary was always extremely busy today, a lot of people bought herbs and medicine so that they might be able to sneak it into the maze. It never worked but Mom didn't mind, at least she was getting extra sales even though I didn't see why it mattered so much. She always got loads of sales, even on normal days, since she was the only trusted apothecary this side of the Theatre of Dionysus but we were even more busy today. I grabbed some of my nicer clothes. An olive green dress with tiny silver embellishments on the hems that looked like leaves, the sleeves were so long I had to roll them back a bit and I would certainly trip over the bottom if I ran. It had been my dress of choice for the past three years and likely would be until I turned sixteen, then I wouldn't have to dress up as much. Thank Athena, I hate wearing this thing. Those little silver bits are all scratchy on the inside and the fabric is all see through on the sleeves so I can't wear a shirt underneath. And I always have to shower after because the glitter on those stupid sleeves got all over my skin. I like glitter and all, but I'd rather not be covered in the stuff. I'd look like a disco ball. I heard Basil and Mom talking downstairs, the walls were so thin I could hear the entire house, made it hard to sleep sometimes. I didn't go downstairs, I didn't really feel like talking to anybody. I didn't ever really feel like talking to people who weren't Miriam, she had been my best friend since kindergarten. We had gone through three rounds of picking kids together and I had been there to watch when her cousin was in the game. I had been there to comfort her, you don't go through that with somebody without becoming close. And she was so pretty, she had these gray eyes that sparkled in the sun. She used to have this deep chocolate hair but she dyed it a lot. Right now it was blue, the only color she seemed to keep returning to. She looked quite nice with blue hair, though I thought the rose gold looked better when she got tan in the summer. I was a little jealous. Not just because she was pretty, and Gods she really is, but mostly because she can tan. My olive skin always just burns, I hate getting sunburns. "Addison!" I heard Mom call out "Addie" I mumbled correcting her even though I knew she couldn't hear me "Come down please!" She continued. I sighed running down the stairs.