A/N: THANK YOU so much to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! I really, really appreciate it! And also thanks to everyone who's reading this story! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Three: Roses and Ghosts

"I don't believe this! This is not really happening; it can't be happening! It's a dream, nothing but a dream!" Brianna's voice sounded near hysterical. "I mean, I got transported to some maze where we're supposed to find three things and if we don't we'll just fall down dead?" she ranted. "It has to be a dream! These things don't happen in real life!"

"Yes, they do," Farid said, thinking of all the strange things he'd experienced. He'd been read out of his own world, seen things in Meggie's world he'd thought was impossible, been brought back from the dead...the maze really wasn't all that odd compared to everything else.

"No they don't!"

"Look, I don't have time to argue with you," he said, glaring. "That think said we have an hour to find a way out; we're going to need every minute of that!"

"It's only a dream," Brianna repeated, as if trying to convince herself. "I'll wake up any minute now."

There was a snarling sound behind them. They both spun around to see a huge wolf, gray as ash and advancing towards them. With another snarl it leapt up, and Farid did the only thing he could think of: he grabbed Brianna's hand and ran into the maze.

He didn't know how long the wolf chased them; his only thought was that if they stopped, they would die. Still holding Brianna's hand tightly he ran on, making turns left and right, trying to escape the wolf but knowing if they hit a dead end they would be doomed.

They ran until they could run no more, and then they collapsed onto the ground, the leafless black trees on either side of them, their thick branches reaching out like long black fingers. The wolf was no longer in sight.

Farid felt like his sides were killing him. Brianna didn't look any better as she sat down, breathing hard. Her red hair was now a wild mess.

"Still think this is a dream?" Farid gasped, trying to catch his breath.

"Let's find those three items and get out of here," Brianna said as an answer.

"Right. Black rose, silver slippers, and leaf from a blossoming tree," Farid said, then snorted, gesturing at the dead trees all around them. "The leaf is going to be hard to find."

"They'll all be hard to find!" Brianna said despairingly. "I've never even seen a black rose, and what would a pair of shoes be doing in a place like this?"

"We have to try, though," Farid said, standing up. "How much time do you think we've already spent?"

"Not long. Five or ten minutes?" Brianna guessed. "I really have no idea. But we need to get going!"

He nodded, and she realized they had just been talking as if they didn't dislike each other. Strange.

Wait a minute...

Brianna whirled back around to face him, realization dawning. "You can't read!"

"So?" he replied, looking annoyed.

"That means you never read the note!"

"What are you talking about?"

"The note I gave you! Don't you remember?"

"Oh, that," Farid said, realizing what she meant.

"Yes, that! You still don't know what it says, do you?"

"No...I figured it wasn't anything very important."

For a moment Brianna felt offended by that, but then she remembered she hadn't really given him any reason to think it would be important. "Well, it was! That was a note apologizing for what I said in the graveyard!"

He obviously wasn't expecting that, Brianna gathered from the way Farid was suddenly gaping at her.

"You...apologized?" he questioned, having found the use of his voice again.

She nodded a bit uncertainly.

"But..." His voice trailed off. He was clearly quite shocked.

Suddenly what Brianna had been planning to say to him before came out in a jumbled rush: "I never meant what I said, even as I was saying it, and I really don't know why I said it in the first place, I mean, I was just already frustrated, and you were just right there- I know you never wanted my father to-"

"You...um..." Farid broke in clumsily. "You don't have to say anything else."

"Oh...er..."

Suddenly they both felt very, very awkward.

The tension was broken when Brianna exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, we've wasted so much time! Oh, this whole thing is impossible anyway." She looked close to panicking again. "How can we find the items if we can't even see very well; it's still dark!"

Without a word Farid made a flame dance on his fingertips, shedding light around them.

"Oh yes, of course..."

He smiled slightly.

The black trees were so tightly packed together that it would be impossible to go through them. They were way too high to climb, and even if they weren't, the branches on them looked sharper than the tip of a sword, so that was out of the question. Without another word Farid and Brianna began walking, not even sure if they were looking for the three items or the exit of the maze. They came to several crossroads where they had to choose which way to turn, and twice they ended up at a dead end and were forced to retrace their steps.

There was a feeling of urgency everywhere; it seemed to be in the air, all around them. Neither spoke of it, but they both felt it, like an unwanted presence.

"Another dead end," Farid groaned, gesturing at the cluster of black trees before them.

"No," Brianna said, staring intently, "I don't think it is."

There was something different about these trees. Maybe they were a bit lighter, perhaps? She reached a hand out. It went right through.

For exactly two seconds they stared, dumbfounded.

"Come on!" Brianna then said, grabbing his hand and pulling him with her through the insubstantial trees.

Darkness.

That was Brianna's first thought. Nothing but darkness, all around her. She could no longer see anything: not the trees on either side of her, Farid...she couldn't even see her hand when she lifted it up in front of her face. Farid's fire seemed to have gone out, and there was no sign of him, either.

"Farid?" she called.

No reply.

"Farid!" she shouted, more desperately this time.

Again, no answer.

Where was he? She had had his hand just a moment ago! Brianna cursed, her fear growing, and also anger at being afraid for his sake in the first place.

She called out again and almost choked. There was not only darkness but thick fog, too, and it was growing thicker. She couldn't breathe!

"Brianna?"

"Farid?" she gasped.

But it wasn't Farid. It was a little girl, holding a candle. The child looked to be around eleven or twelve. Somehow she seemed strangely familiar...

"Brianna!" The girl reached for her hand. "Come, I can lead you out of here!"

Brianna drew away, wary. "Who are you?"

"You don't know?" The child held the candle to her face, making her features clearer. "Look at me, Brianna!"

Brianna looked. Dark hair, eyes that were strangely similar to her own...She gasped. "Rosanna?"

The girl nodded.

Brianna studied her face again. It was indeed Rosanna, but not as Brianna remembered her. This was how her sister would have been if she had lived.

"Bu-but...this can't be!" he stammered. It couldn't be her sister; her sister was dead. And the dead didn't come back to life.

Rosanna put a hand on Brianna's cheek. It felt so real.

"No," she murmured disbelievingly, but all the same she took the younger girl's hand, her heart a mixture of confusion and joy.

"I can take you away from here," Rosanna said again.

"But Farid..." Brianna started. "Do you know where he is?"

"We'll find him, and then I'll lead you both away, out of this maze."

She sounded so convincing. As she began to walk, Brianna followed, ready to go where her sister lead her. She was alive, her sister was really alive! That was all Brianna could think about.

Soon a door appeared out of the darkness. Or rather, a door shaped hole in the middle of a narrow, dirty wall. Rosanna gestured towards it, but Brianna didn't go through. It somehow seemed to her that if she went through the door she would practically be giving herself up to Death.

"Go on!" Rosanna said. "It's the way out."

"What about Farid?"

"I'll go back for him; first get yourself to safety. Go on, while you still have time!"

Though still hesitant, Brianna went through the doorway.

Once through, she saw that she was now in a gray room. The walls could have been made of stone. There was a roof as well, unlike when she had been surrounded by trees.

She whirled back around. "I thought you said this was the way out? It doesn't look like it to me!"

Rosanna began to laugh. Not a little girl's laugh, but a high, cold, evil sounding laugh. It chilled Brianna to the very bone, and she took a step back.

Then Rosanna stepped away from her. "Goodbye, Brianna," she said simply.

"Goodbye? Where are you going?" Brianna said faintly, hearing the fear in her voice as she spoke.

"You're very stupid. But then, all humans are."

Fear was making its way into Brianna's heart. "Who are you?" she whispered.

The child who looked so much like Rosanna laughed again. "Not who you thought I was."

Her voice had changed: gone from warm and child-like to cold, ice cold. Brianna felt petrified.

"I'll leave you to die now."

The words sent shivers down her spine.

The girl who was not Rosanna turned and left, walking out the doorway she had come through.

Brianna ran after her, but before she reached the doorway more appeared beside it, all looking exactly the same. Beyond them all she could see tunnels, with even more doors in their walls.

She whirled back around. More doors had appeared where the stone walls had been before. What was she to do? Attempt to find her way out? She began to imagine what would happen if she did: she would go through the original door, but she wouldn't be surrounded by darkness like she was before. Instead she would be in the tunnel she saw, with more doorways. And if she went through another door it would just lead to another tunnel, and if she continued to go through tunnels and doors she would eventually get hopelessly lost, unable to even find the center where she stood now.

No, she couldn't do that. She sat down and dropped her face in her hands. She was trapped.

How could I have been so stupid? Brianna thought. How could I have really believed that was Rosanna?

She remembered the warning at the beginning of the maze: But be on your guard. Nothing is as it seems.

Of course that...thing couldn't have been her sister. Her sister had been dead for years. How could she have fallen for it?

Brianna felt despair seeping into her. So this was it. She would die, for she certainly wouldn't be able to find her way out. She wondered what had become of Farid after she had lost him in the darkness. Perhaps he was dead, or trapped somewhere, like her.

Tears gathered in her eyes. She wiped them away, but more came. Soon the sound of her sobs were echoing loudly through all the tunnels, but there was no one around to hear.

oOoOoOo

Where was Brianna?

That was the only thought going through Farid's head. As soon as they had gone through the insubstantial trees he had lost her. His flame had gone out, and now he was standing in utter darkness. He tried to call up more fire, but it wouldn't work. So he called Brianna's name in the dark.

He called again and again, but there was no reply.

Fear gripped his heart like a cold hand, its icy fingers clutching it. Brianna was gone, and now he was completely alone. In the dark.

Don't panic, he told himself. Just stay calm. It was hard. Then he remembered what he had been thinking when he went through the trees in the first place. The trees had seemed to make a dead end, looking almost exactly like the other dead ends they had come to. But this one was different. There must be something hidden beyond it, or else why would it be disguised to look normal?

One of the three items, Farid thought, something like excitement breaking through his fear. One of the three items must be hidden here. He stumbled around, looking for anything in the midst of all the darkness.

Soon he saw something that made him stop in terror.

Ghosts.

Several pale figures, both men and women, as white as if they had been dusted with freshly fallen snow. They were all standing- no, floating- around a small table, on which lay a rose. Its stem and leaves were dark green, its petals black as night. Tiny drops of water hung on the petals, like pearly tears.

The ghosts floated and swirled around the black rose. It all would have been very beautiful if only Farid hadn't been so scared.

He had seen ghosts before, though no one else seemed to be able to. Dustfinger had always said they were just his imagination. Imaginary or not, they terrified him, and the ghosts by the rose were no exception. But these ghosts seemed somehow different. Much more innocent than the other ghosts, but at the same time more terrible as well...

Now you're just thinking about it too much, Farid told himself. Go get the rose, it's only a few feet away!

Would the ghosts simply let him take the rose? There wasn't exactly much they could do to stop him, was there, transparent as they were? He stepped forward. Only when his fingers closed around the flower did the ghosts finally turn their transparent heads towards him. Heart pounding, Farid paused.

When the ghosts didn't do anything he stepped back, rose in hand. This was too easy...

Suddenly the ghosts spoke, in a united, watery whisper. "What do you desire?"

The question puzzled Farid. "What? What are you-"

"What do you desire?" Once again, they spoke united. "You have the rose. We are bound to the rose; we must do what the master of the rose desires, provided that the request does not require us to leave our place of darkness. We ask you again: what do you desire?"

This was too easy, much too easy. The ghosts were letting him take the rose, and on top of that, they were going to help him with whatever he wished? It was way too easy; it must be some kind of trick.

"Do you know where Brianna is?"

"Yes," came the watery whisper.

"Can you take me to her?" Farid asked.

"Yes. Follow us."

It seemed too convenient to be real, but Farid followed the ghosts as they began to glide away, holding the rose tightly. Soon they came to a door. Through it Farid could see a tunnel, with more doorways.

"Is she in there?" he asked, his throat dry.

"Yes."

He started to go through, but the ghosts' whisper stopped him.

"Wait. We have an offer to make you."

"I'm not interested," Farid said quickly, but the ghosts continued anyway.

"We know of your pain. You feel as though you are suffocating in your sorrow. You feel that no one understands. You have nothing left but despair and fear. But you long for an escape."

Their words, spoken in the same whisper, sent shivers down Farid's spine. He didn't say anything.

"We feel no pain," they continued. "We feel nothing. Become one of us, and you as well will feel nothing. We are offering you an escape. Become a ghost, and forget your pain."

Every word the ghosts had spoken was true. Farid did feel that he was suffocating in sorrow. He did feel that no one understood. He was drowning in longing and despair. And yes, he did long for an escape.

Become one of us...you will feel nothing...we are offering you an escape...forget your pain.

Suddenly, the prospect of becoming a ghost seemed very appealing.

A/N: Please review! I'll really, really love it if you do! :)