It had taken a stupidly short amount of time before Jill had realized she had seen the same statue in the same position at least four times. Jill had a map. Getting through the maze should have been a breeze. It had been the one boon the judges had granted her when they had realized that someone had entered her little brother into the game illegally.

Jill should have known they would not have played fair. The Maze might have been a state-sanctioned game that both entertained the unfairly rich and financially benefited the winners of the game, but everyone knew the game was rigged, even for innocent bystanders.

The judges had designed the map to be confusing, and now she was their free entertainment. Her brother was the carrot on the stick to get her to follow their whims. Jill could imagine their cackling, the fat man’s in particular. When he had made jokes about the situation, his entire body jiggled, and she knew he was doing it now while she stumbled around.

Sighing, Jill tucked her map into her pocket, and she tried playing the game for real.