James Dashner - The Eye of Minds

Michael and Sarah had barely rounded the first bend of the corridor when he saw a bright orange glow. As if triggered by the sight, a gust of warm air blew past them, stirring Michael’s hair and clothes. It felt good—almost made him want to lie back down and try sleeping.

Neither of them spoke as they continued on. Michael stared at the warm light as they approached it. It was inviting, like a campfire on a cool night. What scared him was thinking about its source. If they really were inside a volcano, it was sure to be unpleasant.

Abruptly the tunnel widened and the space opened up. The ceiling stretched until it was at least thirty feet high. Farther ahead, Michael could tell that the space got even bigger—a cavern was waiting for them, and the fiery orange light grew stronger. The temperature had risen, and the air was heavy with humidity.

Soon they came to a tiny pool of bubbling molten rock. Michael was mesmerized by its glowing beauty until he recalled what he’d learned in geology class—it meant they were standing on a layer of cooled lava that had to be on top of a vast amount of uncooled lava. Michael suddenly had visions of the floor cracking open, spouts of liquid fire shooting up to incinerate them, and he shivered.

“Wanna go for a swim?” he asked awkwardly.

Sarah let go of his hand and patted his shoulder. “No thanks. You go right ahead.” Her face was glistening with sweat.

“It’s hot,” he said.

“Yeah, and it’s gonna get worse. Come on—we’re not going to find any food, and the longer this takes, the weaker we’ll be.”

“This is gonna suck, huh?”

She nodded. “Yeah, it’s gonna suck. But there’s no other way to go. The code is pretty straightforward about that.”

They started walking again, moving ever deeper into the volcano.

When Michael and Sarah reached the end of the tunnel, they stopped and stared. It opened into a massive cavern filled with pools of bubbling lava.

The expanse before them reminded Michael of the coat of a tiger. Rivers of the steaming magma churned, cut through with ribbons of cooled black rock. An even more amazing sight was the waterfall-like flows of lava spilling through cracks in the walls, spitting and hissing as they poured into pools of bubbling rock. Flames burst from the streams that ran the length of the cavern—and Michael and Sarah had to cross it all.

Blasts of hot air blew over them in waves as they stared.

“Worse than I thought,” Michael muttered.

Sarah closed her eyes for a moment, then pointed to the far side. “There’s another tunnel over there, and the Path seems to point in that direction. I don’t sense any other way. Do you?”

He scanned the code himself and sighed. “Nope. Guess that’s where we’re going.”

“We better hurry or we’ll die from dehydration. I doubt there’s a drinking fountain anywhere nearby.”

“Come on,” Michael urged. Standing there was starting to freak him out, and he wanted to get moving.

There was a short slope from the tunnel down to the cavern floor, and they took advantage of their lookout point to figure out the best path across, using both what lay before them and quick glimpses of the programming itself. It all combined to form a maze of cooled rock, columns of fire, and cascading lava, encompassed by the now-familiar hints in the complicated code of where they needed to go. Taking the lead, Michael picked his way carefully down the slope among the scattered rocks and dirt. The ground leveled off, and the heat pounded him, making him catch his breath. It was loud. A low roar buzzed in his ears.

“You ready?” he shouted to Sarah. Sweat poured down her face now, and her clothes were soaked through. Michael knew he was just as drenched.

She nodded, looking too weary to talk. He hoped so badly in that moment that they were close to the end of the stupid Path. He hated Kaine and Agent Weber and the VNS.

Michael nodded back to Sarah.

Then he began to cross the cavern, Sarah right behind him.

He felt like his body was being slowly roasted in a giant oven.

They moved across a three-foot-wide swath of rock that cut through the lava, and made it to the center of the cavern floor. That part was easy enough, though the heat coming off the lava and the fear of being burned by the boiling rock made Michael’s heart thump rapidly. He tried to hurry and be smart at the same time, but the panic was beginning to swell inside him, making him claustrophobic even though the cave was so huge.

Step by step, they made their way across the natural bridge, Michael’s eyes burning from the heat. When they reached the other side he decided to go to the right, zigzagging through a labyrinth of connected rocky islands among the brightly glowing pools of magma. They could always double back if necessary, but he relied on his instincts and quick scans of the surrounding code.

They moved along a narrow line of black stone. Michael could feel the heat through his shoes—it was so hot, he worried that the soles would melt. When they reached the end, they stepped onto a round island that was totally surrounded by a ring of bright orange magma.

He moved to go to the left, but Sarah grabbed his arm and leaned in.

“Seems like we should go that way!” she shouted, pointing straight ahead at a row of black boulders. They looked like stepping-stones in a garden. “Look—on the other side there’s another bridge that goes all the way to the wall. Then we can shoot along the edge, climb up to that hole, and get out of here.”

Michael studied the area for a bit, and it seemed like she was right. The direction in which he had almost gone ended up ahead at a huge gap that they would’ve had to get a running start to leap over.

“Sounds like a plan. You wanna lead this time?”

He grinned to show he was joking, but she took it seriously and jumped onto the first small island. Her arms windmilled until she caught her balance, almost making his heart explode out of his chest.

“Be careful!” he yelled at her.

“Just trying to give you a scare,” she called back.

“Not funny! At all!”

Sarah jumped to the next island, and as soon as she was safe and settled, Michael followed, hopping onto the first rock.

“Take your time!” he shouted.

“Relax,” she replied.

She hurdled the next gap, and then the next, not waiting for him anymore. Michael followed her quickly, terrified by the possibility of her slipping into the magma. Rock by rock, he bounded across the lava after her, and soon they’d made it safely to the long spit of black rock on the other side.

Sarah pulled him into a fierce hug, surprising him.

“That was scary,” she whispered into his ear. “Oh man, that was scary.”

He wrapped his arms tightly around her shoulders. “Yeah, you were a little reckless, don’t ya think?” Despite being in the middle of a volcano, he was enjoying the hug far too much and didn’t want it to end.

“Better to just do it than worry over every single step.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

She pulled back, looked at him. A tear had leaked out of her eye, cutting its way through the grime down her cheek until it formed into a drop at her chin. Then it fell and landed on her shirt.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded, then hugged him again. “Come on, let’s get up to that next tunnel and cool off.”

“Let’s hope.”

They ran across the bridge, which seemed safe compared to the stepping-stones. On the other side there was a slope of dirt and rocks that stretched to the wall of the cavern. They scrambled up to get as far away from the lava as possible, then ran along the edge toward the mouth of the next tunnel, Sarah right in front of Michael.