Judah's words hung in the air.

This truly was a moment where it would become all or nothing. Eventually, the group would be found, and they would either have their powers linked or they'd get caught. Asher turned his face down towards the ground and sighed.

How could they trust him? How could they willingly open up their power to him given what he did? He had a good reason. Or at least to him, it was. Chantel was special. She saw him for who he was, and what he could be. For someone who was always labeled and set aside by everyone else, Asher learned to hold onto those people that didn't leave him.

Everyone joined hands, Asher wanted to join, he wanted to grab onto them and pretend that everything was okay, but he knew that he had to do something first.

"I'm sorry," said Asher. "I know that I got us into this mess, but I need to explain, and I need you to let me."

Everyone gave him their attention, and Elle scoffed. Asher had never seen someone's eyes roll into the back of their head as far as Elle's just did. The others he should be able to explain the situation to and get a sympathetic ear. Elle was an entirely different game.

"Before we got the Dominions, or knew of them, I started seeing this girl," Elle muttered something under her breath and Asher pleaded. "Please, let me finish," she nodded her head and he continued to address the group. "She was beautiful and funny. She had a way of making you feel like you were the only person in the room. I think...I think I might have started falling in love with her."

Asher hated being this vulnerable., More than anything he wanted to laugh and make a joke about how he was playing and he was mystified by how hot Deidre was. If the situation wasn't as highly staked as it was right at this moment he probably would have said something like that. Instead, he had to sit here with everything out in the open with his heart on his sleeve. If Asher learned anything from life, it was that this was the point where people left him.

"I found her captivating. For the first time, it wasn't about just getting a hook-up. She accepted me for everything I was. Even the Dominions. I, of course, didn't want to tell her about that, but they attacked me at her apartment. The day I was late for magic training, Deidre showed up at the apartments and threatened her. If I didn't get you to the beach tonight, they were going to do something bad to her-" Asher's voice caught in his throat and tears started to well up. This was it. This was when they told him to get lost. "I couldn't let that happen."

He sat there quietly and closed his eyes as he felt a single tear roll down his cheek. He took a deep breath and was ready to face the music when a pair of arms wrapped around him. They squeezed him tight, and when he opened up his eyes he saw Elle standing in front of him. "I get it," she whispered to him. "People do stupid things when they're in love."

Asher hugged her back and quietly cried. The others came and patted his back before Elle let go and grabbed his hand. "Let's do this."

They joined hands, and suddenly, a power surge flowed through the circle. Asher felt his thin black hair begin to float in the air as a strong wind suddenly burst into the cottage. Tools began to fly all around them. At first, Asher thought Selena was causing a tornado to appear. When she looked just as confused as he did, he realized that this was something unknown to them. Could this be it? Could their magic get linked right now?

Asher closed his eyes and prayed for a miracle.

He felt the whole room begin to spin. When he opened his eyes he saw the world outside the window of the cottage being spun at a lightning-fast place. Balance became impossible as all five of them fell to the ground. The air started to push upward, and Asher realized that the cottage was now falling. He closed his eyes and braced for an impact, but one never came. He opened his eyes to see himself still firmly planted on the floor, but the outside was different.

You could no longer see the castle outside the window. Instead, all you could see was a tall green bush. He looked around the room and found the others had confused looks on their faces as well. Asher stood up and walked to the front door of the cottage. The destructed courtyard was no longer there. Instead, it was a long pathway that had two options to turn. The path was lined with large green bushes. Almost like they were standing in a maze.

"What the hell just happened?" Jayden asked as he held his head. He grabbed a hammer off the ground and held it up for everyone to see. "This slammed into my shoulder."

"Guys, I don't think we're in Glorianna anymore," Asher called.

The others rushed to the door and Asher walked out into the maze. Elle followed him out and squinted her eyes. "We're in some sort of maze?" she questioned. She looked at Asher who nodded. "Do we think this is a trick from Gedeon or is this a good thing?"

"Probably neither," said Selena as she appeared behind the two. "I don't see us getting out of here unless we move though. Who knows how much time we have to get away after all that commotion?"

Asher led the others down the long path. When they finally reached the end of the path in the middle they were faced with two directions to go. Left or right. Asher didn't have a preference either way, but he didn't want to be the one to make the final choice. He looked at Judah who looked down both pathways before he pointed to the right. "Let's go this way."

Asher turned to the right and started to walk when another opening came up. Each time everyone looked at Judah to see what to do. Judah would tell them to turn to the left. He would tell them to turn right. Sometimes, he would tell them to go straight.

But they never got anywhere.

"I swear we've passed this place before," Selena whined.

The path they were passing did look familiar. There was no way to be sure, but Asher was sure they walked in a giant circle. He looked at the others who were starting to get upset with one another and then had an idea.

He grabbed three leaves off of the bushes and placed them in the center of the path. He motioned for the others to gather around and he pointed to the pile of leaves. "This can be used as a marker. If we've traveled in this area, and come across this again, we will know that we've been here before."

Elle slapped her hand over her mouth and cursed. "I'm an actual idiot."

She bent down to the ground and cupped her hands in a circle over the leaves. When she picked her hands up a tiny pink flower sat in place of where Asher's leaves were. "Now they won't have a chance to blow away."

They walked down the path again, but this time, every time they passed an opening Elle would bend down and place a flower in the middle of the road. Asher had thought they were getting somewhere until he looked down on the ground and saw the same pink flower as before sprouted up in the middle of the path.

Asher felt rage boil inside of him. This was a stupid waste of time! They needed to link their magic to stop Gedeon. Instead, they were playing a game of secret garden. Only this game wouldn't end just because they wanted to. They went down every path and exhausted every way to the center they came across.

There had to be something they were missing. Something that was right under their noses.

"Something is wrong," Asher called out frustrated. "There's no way in hell we're this bad at a maze. We aren't doing something right."

Silence fell over everyone and it stayed that way for what felt like several minutes. Asher closed his eyes and began to reflect on tonight's events. He was glad that the others forgave him, but that was worthless if they couldn't link their magic.

Wait. The others forgave me! Asher thought to himself.

"That's it!" Asher screamed.

Everyone looked surprised as Asher threw an arm up in the air excitedly. "Look, this time I'm not hiding anything from you, and you guys forgave me. What if this is how we link our magic? Elora said that we had to trust each other. Maybe we have to make these choices as a team and not just let Judah decide how to handle it. No offense, Judah."

"None was taken," Judah nodded. "I think you're right."

Elle closed her eyes and touched the ground. She looked ahead toward the path with the pink flower and pointed. "I think it's this way. I can't explain it, but I can feel a lot of vibrations coming from that path."

Asher nodded. "Lead the way, Mayweather."

Elle walked until they reached another fork. This fork had two yellow flowers in the middle of the field. Asher frowned. They had already come down these paths.

"I think we should go left," said Selena. "Call me crazy, but it's just a feeling."

Asher nodded and the rest of them walked to the left, and finally, they came to a path without a flower in the middle. Asher grinned as Elle bent down and grew a flower in the middle of the path. "Might as well go down there," Jayden said.

The group nodded and began walking down the path. When they got to the end of this one it got wider. They walked into a large clearing with three paths opened and right next to each other. Asher looked at the entrances and felt a strong pull toward the one in the middle. He couldn't explain it, but he felt as if that was what they needed to do.

"Go to the middle," Asher said confidently.

The others nodded and they walked along the middle path. It stretched for what seemed like forever. Flowers began to line the bushes, and Asher began to feel hopeful that they found the way out of the maze.

When they finally reached the end of the path they stood in the clearing with a stone star embedded into the ground. Asher walked over to the star and looked at it. There were carvings of objects on each point of the star. On one, there was a tree, on another point there was a brain, then a tombstone, then a lightning bolt, and then a water droplet.

"What do you think we do?" asked Elle.

"Each of those symbols is a Dominion," Judah said. "Maybe go stand by yours."

They each took a spot next to their rightful power. Asher expected some magical cosmic event, but the longer they waited, the longer they realized it wasn't going to happen. "Maybe if we stand on them?" Selena asked.

Asher nodded and held up a three on his hand. He put a finger down, and then another, and when he had no more fingers left the group stepped onto the point of the star. This time, almost instantly. the star began to glow. Asher felt a rush of power flow through him, but when he looked down at his hands, he noticed blue smoke coming from his body.

Dark red smoke was coming from Jayden, a green from Elle, a pink from Selena, and a yellow from Judah. The smokes traveled to the center of the star and tangled in one another before becoming one knot of different colors. The smoke of his body disappeared and Asher gasped as he felt a sudden surge of power flow through him.

He raised his hand and watched a giant wave of water instantly form into the air.

"We did it," he whispered. "We had to have done it!"

Asher suddenly opened his eyes and he was standing back in the cottage. The others were with him as well, but something was different. Now he was stronger. He had a power that felt like nothing he had ever felt before.

"I think they're in here!" screamed a man from outside the cottage.

Asher looked at the others and grinned. "Looks like we have some company."