Lord Loss holds up three arms. “You came in search of a demon thief. Since there are three of you, I will give you three chances to find that thief inside the Board, to apprehend and name him. If you do, your brother will be returned to you and you can take him home, if that is your wish. Otherwise you will remain trapped in the Board for the remainder of your life—and that will be a long, slow, horrible life, Cornelius. One of unimaginable darkness and misery.”

“No,” Beranabus hisses. “You can’t ask that of him. He’s just a boy.”

“Quiet!” Lord Loss bellows. “You had your chance to be a participant. Now be silent, like any other bystander.”

I stare at the demon master, confused. “I don’t get it. I know who the thief is. I already found him. Cadaver.”

Lord Loss shrugs. “If you and your companions agree to this, I will separate your souls from your bodies—a painless process—and secure them within the Board. You must search for the demon thief there, just as you searched for him here. I’ll give you three chances to find and name him. There is no time limit, but if you name the wrong thief on three occasions, your souls will remain captive in the Board. You’ll live out the rest of your lives there, and those lives will last hundreds, maybe thousands, of years as you experience time.”

He stops and waits for my answer.

I’m still not entirely sure about the rules. Why would I name another demon as the thief when I know it’s Cadaver? Unless there will be others disguised as Cadaver and I have to separate the real thief from the fakes.

“What do you think?” I ask Dervish and Shark.

“Will we have to fight?” Shark asks Lord Loss.

“Oh, yes,” Lord Loss says with relish.

“Can we die?” Dervish frowns. “I mean, if we don’t have actual bodies…”

“Although I’ll separate your souls from your bodies, you will retain your current forms when you enter the Board,” Lord Loss explains. “If you are killed during the game, your makeshift bodies will dissolve and I will gain control of your souls.”

Shark shrugs. “I don’t quite get all that, but I’m still with you.

“Me too,” Dervish says.

I smile at them, then face Lord Loss. “OK. We’ll do it. But I want your word that—”

I get no further. Lord Loss barks a quick spell. Webs drop from the ceiling and ensnare us. We start to struggle, but then the webs go up in flames. I feel a stinging sensation. My body seems to melt away. I try to scream. A red veil passes over my eyes. Then the castle, demons and world around me blink out of existence.

Darkness. Silence. I’m crouched over, hands covering my head, trying to protect my face from the sizzling webs. Then I realise I’m not on fire. There’s no pain. I relax my hands and sit up, brushing cobweb ash from my cheeks.

I can’t see. Total blackness. I reach out with my hands but don’t touch anything. “Hello?” I call, then wait for Shark or Dervish to respond.

No answer.

I get to my feet, stretch my hands out and start walking. I count steps inside my head. Ten. Fifteen. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. On my hundred and thirtieth step, my left hand brushes something soft and sticky. I pause and explore with my fingers. It’s a wall of webs. When I try ripping through the webs, they resist.

“Dervish!” I shout. “Shark!”

No answers. No echoes. Only silence.

Walking, keeping one hand on the webby wall. I come to another wall after several minutes, blocking the way ahead. I turn right and follow the new wall. Only get twelve paces before striking another wall. So I’m either in a very long, narrow room or some sort of alley. Hand on the wall, I start back in the direction I came, trying hard not to panic.

After sixty-two paces there’s a left turn. A long walk after that, the wall curving slightly. Then I come to the mouth of another room or alley. I head down it, left hand staying in touch with the wall. After twenty-two paces I come to another turning. I start to follow it around to the left then pause. I’ve had an idea.

Lowering my hand, I shuffle twelve paces across to the right and find the wall opposite. I continue straight ahead, right hand feeling the way. After thirty-six paces I come to a halt. Turn left. Walk ahead. Ten paces… twelve… twenty.

I stop, smiling ever so slightly. I know where I am now. In a maze.

A few seconds later, the smile fades—there’s no telling how large this maze is or where the exit might be. Or even if there is an exit. I guess there’s only one way to find out. Keeping a hand on the wall, I start ahead again, further into the pitch-black, demonic maze.

I’m mapping the maze inside my head. I must have been here for hours. Trying to remember all the twists and turns I’ve taken, the paces between them. Focusing on numbers helps me not worry so much about the darkness, the silence, being all alone with no idea of where…

The darkness.

I come to a stunned stop, only now realising why I find the darkness so unsettling. It’s total darkness—there aren’t any patches of light! For the first time in my life I’m experiencing darkness as other people understand it. The lights I’ve grown up with—which I used to create windows between worlds in this universe—have disappeared.

A terrifying thought strikes like a missile—maybe I’m blind! Perhaps that’s why the darkness is absolute. Maybe Lord Loss burnt my eyes out of their sockets and it’s actually bright as day in here.

My heart thumps fast. My legs go weak. A life of blackness, lost in a maze, no friends to turn to for help… Maybe that’s what Lord Loss meant when he said I had to find and name the demon thief. Perhaps that’s why he was smirking. He knew that blind, I wouldn’t have any way of identifying Cadaver. He’s tricked me! Robbed me of my sight! Stranded me in this maze of eternal darkness!

I moan aloud, losing hope, the map of the maze disintegrating inside my head. I should have listened to Beranabus. What made me think I could strike a fair deal with a demon? I feel hysteria bubble up within me. Madness digs its claws into my brain, dragging its way to the surface.

Magic, a voice inside me whispers. Use magic to create light. Then you’ll find out if you’re blind or not.

“I don’t know how to do that,” I whimper.

This is a good time to learn, the voice says drily.

I nod slowly. The voice is right. No point freaking out when my eyes might be perfectly fine. I concentrate, drawing upon the magic. I’m not much good at fighting, but let’s see how I fare in other areas.

I imagine a ball of light, small, not too bright, like the bulb in my bedroom at home. A simple ball of light—that can’t be too much to ask for.

But it is. I can’t generate one. Or else I’ve created light, but can’t see it.

No, the voice says. You’d know if you had done it. There is no light.

“So I can’t tell if I’m blind or not. Though I don’t suppose it matters much. If this darkness holds, I might as well be blind.”

The voice doesn’t answer immediately. Then, as if speaking to a simpleton, it says, Remember the chess board?

“What about it?”

It had black squares and white squares. If those squares correspond to the worlds within the Board…

“…then half the maze is dark and half is bright!” I shout.

Exactly. So all you have to do is find your way to a white square. Then you’ll see again.

“Unless I’m in a white square already and I’m blind,” I quibble.

Just walk! the voice snaps.

Stumbling through the maze. I’ve given up trying to keep track of my route. It’s too large to map without a pen and paper (and light). I just have to keep walking and hope that I eventually find my way out by (blind) luck.

I think about the demon master’s castle and how familiar it seemed. I wonder if I saw it that first time I crossed through a window into the universe of the Demonata. I guess there’s a strong possibility that I did, especially given the fact that I saw Lord Loss beforehand.