Prologue

The worst news that a country could hear broke early in the morning on an average day.
Prince Calaster of Ruhig had vanished over night. Suspicion fell upon the neighboring
country, as tensions had been rising with them for years, but they were cleared of all
allegations once it was discovered that the prince was last seen going into the Maze of
Seasons.
The Maze of Seasons was a magical maze created by a wizard several centuries
ago as a hide-out from his enemies. The maze was hidden and remained undiscovered
until just 100 years ago, when a group of traveling young magicians came across it.
Three of them entered, and when no one came back, the others alerted the police. The
three mages were never seen again, and from that day forward, the maze became a
widely renowned tourist spot, where thousands of people flocked to get a glimpse of the
mighty, mysterious maze.
As dozens of people had snuck inside the maze and disappeared, however, a
magical barrier was enforced to keep people out. That didn’t stop the prince from
getting in. He was notorious for his cleverness and curiosity, so it wasn’t a surprise
when it was deduced that he had broken the barrier himself; although exactly how he
did it, no one was certain.
The country’s top wizards and witches were called to the maze by the king and
queen personally, yet none of them could pull the prince out with magic. Their spells
were useless against the maze, which had been created with powerful ancient magic for
the sole purpose of keeping other magicians out.
Two weeks into the ordeal, the king and queen were desperate. They assembled
a team of their strongest wizards, warriors and strategists to enter the maze and find
their son. Prepared and determined, they went in the maze together, only to come back
out from where they entered just an hour later. The strategists were baffled, as they
were certain they were on the right track. They tried again, and again, until they realized
it was impossible; the maze was magic, which meant it could probably change its paths
whenever someone was going the right way.
In the following weeks, hope grew dimmer for the prince. The king and queen
put forth a generous reward for anyone who could come up with a way to rescue him,
but so far, all the ideas were failures. They were starting to lose faith and grew
disheartened as the days went on, hoping and praying that someone, anyone, would help
their only son, the prince.

One of the detectives involved in the case was Detective Daniel Alter, from the small
town of Span, Ruhig. He was an intelligent man of thirty-nine, just starting to turn gray.
He was of average height and average weight, and had the general appearance of being
bored. He was assigned to the case two weeks ago, along with forty other detectives. It
had been an honor at the time, but now with no leads and no idea what to do next, he
felt as if it were a curse. One of his main jobs was to see people who had ideas and
suggestions on how to free the prince. This was no easy task, as everyone in the country
wanted the reward and therefore had some kind of an idea.
Alter saw at least fifty people a day and wrote twenty letters a night, turning
down every idea, and every night at dinner his young son, Daniel Alter Junior, bugged
him with ideas of his own. He patiently explained why each of his son’s ideas wouldn’t
work, but that did nothing to discourage the boy. When his son ran out of ideas, he
started mentioning his friend, who he said could save the prince and had many great
ideas. So each night, he pestered his father to see her. Alter would have liked very much
to say that was all very nice and to dismiss it, but generally he was obliged to listen to
anyone if they had an idea, no matter how old they were. No one could be left out.
He promised his son that he would see her after the hundreds of other people
lined up with ideas, and after that, his son seemed to calm down. One kid couldn’t
possibly hold the key to saving the prince, Alter thought. There were many other people
to see first. His son, however, was not discouraged. He was a determined young man,
and although he didn’t mention her again, he didn’t give up.

It was a hot, dry day. The detective was working at his office in Span, answering
telephone calls and completing the paperwork that had been stacking up on his desk.
Today he would meet with sixty-four people who each claimed to have the best idea
that had ever been thought up. He would probably turn down fifty-two, look into the
remaining, and turn them down tomorrow. The days had become predictable and it was
wearing him down.
As he was hanging up the phone, there was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” he said.
It was his assistant, Wendy Miller. She was a short woman of twenty-six.
“Dan is here to see you, Detective,” she said. “He’s waiting in the lobby.”
Alter rubbed his eyes. “Daniel? What’s he doing here during school hours?” he
asked.
“I’m not sure,” Wendy said. “He said it was an emergency. Should I send him
in?”
“Of course,” Alter said. As Wendy left, he sighed and leaned back in his creaky
chair. His son was inadvertently giving him a break, he figured, which was good. The
phone calls were starting to give him a migraine. Not five minutes later, his young son
came into his office. He had short, light hair, like his father, and dark eyes. He sat down
across from Alter and smiled.
“What’s the big emergency?” he asked. His son cleared his throat.
“Well, it’s not really an emergency… I mean, it is, but for someone else,” his
son said. The detective stared. “Okay, well, the thing is…”
“Just spit it out, son,” Alter sighed.
“I brought Anne with me.”
The detective blinked. “Who?” he asked.
“You remember! The girl I told you about who can save the prince! If you just
listen to her for five minutes, please, I promise you won’t be disappointed.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Alter said. “I could get in trouble. I can only see
people in order on the list, and there are at least two, three hundred people in front of
your friend. I already explained this to you.”
“But the prince could be dead by then!” Daniel said. “Anne can save him, I
know she can!”
“Please! How old is she? She can’t be as smart as you think she is. I’ve had men
and women in their seventies with law degrees, medical degrees, you name it, come in
here with ideas that got us nowhere. I’m sorry, but I simply can’t see her. If you would
—“
Both of the Alters went silent as the office door opened. There stood a short girl
with black hair, brown eyes, an oversized sweater, and if that wasn’t silly enough, she
wore a large backpack which nearly reached her knees.
“Uh,” the detective said, “are you lost?”
“No, I believe this is the right place. I hope you don’t mind me letting myself
in,” she said, eyeing the elder Alter.
“Anne!” Daniel said, grabbing her hand and pulling her in. “Dad! This is Anne!”
he said.
The detective held his face in his hands and groaned.
“I’m sorry you wasted your time, but you have to leave now. Dan, you too.
You’re going to be grounded for wasting a school day like this.”
“Actually,” Anne said, closing the door behind her and walking closer to the
detective’s desk. “You have every obligation to see me.”
“Is that so?” the detective asked.
“The next person on the list is Miss Serena Ellroy, isn’t it? Her train is delayed
three towns over, she won’t make her appointment.”
Alter stared at her for a moment. “Now you’re making things up,” he said.
“Check with Mrs. Miller if you don’t believe me,” Anne said. The detective
rolled his eyes. He stood up and walked past the girl, sticking his head outside his
office.
“Wendy!” he said. “Confirm Mrs.… er…”
“Miss Serena Ellroy,” Anne said quietly.
The detective frowned. “Confirm Miss Ellroy’s appointment.”
“Miss Ellroy hasn’t arrived in town yet,” Wendy said. “I’m not sure where she
is…”
Alter slipped back inside, rubbing his head. He looked at Anne.
“How did you know that?” he asked.
“I checked her train schedule on the way over here.”
“How did you know she was the first appointment today?”
“I checked your files.”
The detective looked startled. “My files!”
“I came here yesterday. Mrs. Miller let me in your office,” Anne said. Both the
detective and his son seemed surprised by this.
“You didn’t tell me that,” Daniel whispered to her.
 “I was afraid you would think badly of me for coming here without
permission… but it had to be done,” she whispered back.
“Wait! Wait a minute! You were in my office, rifling through my papers?” the
detective asked.
“I didn’t look at anything personal, just the list of people waiting to be seen,”
she said. “You shouldn’t be so worried; I put everything back in its proper place. You
didn’t even notice.”
“Get out! You’re a little… a little felon. Get out of my office,” he said, sitting at
his desk and suddenly opening the drawers, pulling out papers and making sure they
were all accounted for.
“Please, dad! Just listen to her!” Daniel begged. Anne stepped ahead of him, in
front of the desk.
“My apologies, but your very assistant let me in; maybe you should tell her you
don’t know me, and that the girl who stopped by last night to pick up a file you forgot to
bring home wasn’t really a newly hired intern. I’m sure the mistake won’t happen again
if you do,” Anne paused and adjusted her turtleneck, which was so big that it covered
the lower half of her face. “Besides, you have an obligation to see me, as I said. If an
appointment can’t be met, the first person to come to you must be seen instead. That
was also in your files.”
The detective looked somewhat frantic as he shifted through papers, trying to
find what she was talking about. As he looked, Anne winked at Daniel, who was
grinning.
Alter groaned loudly and pushed a stack of papers off his desk. “Fine!” he said.
“Sit down.”
Anne sat down in a chair beside Daniel. The detective took out a pad of paper
and a pencil and sighed heavily.
“What’s your big idea?” he asked.
“I want to see the maze for myself, first of all,” she said. The detective scoffed.
“I’m on the case and even I haven’t seen the maze in person. There’s no need.
It’s big and magical. Seeing it won’t help me or you come up with ideas.”
“How do you know that?” Anne asked.
He frowned. “Because I’m older and more experienced, and I know that there’s
no point in making a four hour trip to a maze where they probably won’t even let me
near. It’s been on complete lockdown with guards and police officers patrolling the area
since the prince went missing in it.”
“Perhaps you could ask for special permission.”
“They wouldn’t even consider it. They put me at a desk answering letters and
making phone calls. It’s obvious they don’t need me.”
Anne smiled. “I’m certain that you could be useful,” she said.
He smirked. “Flattery won’t help you here. Besides seeing the maze, what other
ideas do you have?”
“None until I can visit the maze,” she said.
“Then we’re done.” Alter dropped his pencil and pushed the notepad away.
“You’ll leave now, right? I have other appointments.”
 “Certainly.” Anne stood up with Daniel to leave. She paused at the door. The
detective looked up and saw her in front of his desk with her hand out.
“I realized we never had a formal introduction.” She grabbed his hand and
shook, saying, “My name is Anne August. It was a pleasure to meet you, Detective
Alter.”
“Sure,” he said. As she walked out the door, his son frowned at him.
“She really could have saved him,” he said, “if you had only done what she
said.” Then he followed her out, leaving his father alone. He took a deep breath, sighed,
and went back to his work.

Three days later, as Detective Daniel Alter was interviewing a young man who
suggested burning down the maze to find the prince, his assistant Wendy interrupted.
“No, no, the maze is impervious to the elements and magic of any kind,” Alter
said. “And besides, if it was even possible, it would probably kill Prince Calaster in the
process.”
“Oh,” the man said. “But what if—“
“Detective,” Wendy opened the door. “Sorry to bug you, but you have an urgent
call waiting.”
“Thank you,” the detective said. “Please help Mr.…”
“Dave,” the man said.
“Yes. Please help Mr. Dave find his way out of the building.”
The detective waited until the man left, then picked up his phone and answered
the line that was waiting.
“Hello, Detective Alter here,” he said.
“Detective,” the voice on the line said. She sounded unfamiliar to him. “This is
Lisa Mosley, director of detectives on the prince’s case. You’re being reassigned.”
“Reassigned? To what department?” the detective took up a pencil.
“To the scene itself; we need you to investigate the area where the prince
disappeared.”
Alter blinked. “I think we have a bad connection. Did you say you want me to
investigate… where he disappeared?”
“That’s right. Will that be a problem?”
“Of… of course not. When should I leave?”
“First thing tomorrow morning. If you catch the 8:30 train, you should make it
to Scáth while it’s still light out. Go to the maze as soon as you arrive; there will be a
camp there where you can sleep. We can’t waste more time.”
Alter finished scratching down the notes. “I got all that. Uh… why me, and why
so suddenly?”
“It was an order from the higher ups. Congratulations. Any other questions?”
“No… no, thank you.”
He hung up the phone and scratched his head. Quickly, he opened his office
door and looked around until he saw Wendy.
“Wendy! I just got promoted!”
She stared at him. “Promoted! For what?”
 “I… I don’t know, actually. Some woman involved in the prince’s case was on
the line, she told me to go to Scáth tomorrow.”
“Well, that’s great!” Wendy smiled.
The detective scratched his head again. “I guess it is,” he said.
“You don’t seem all that excited about it.”
“No! I’m excited… and nervous. I have no idea what I’m supposed to do over
there that the other detectives haven’t.”
Wendy smiled again. “Well, they wouldn’t have promoted you if they didn’t
need you, would they? Just give it your best!”
“You’re right,” Alter smiled. “Do you mind watching Dan again? I know I ask
you to all the time, but I don’t think I can get a babysitter so suddenly…”
“Nonsense! It’ll be fun. Richard and I love taking care of Dan.”
“Good! I’ll drop him off tonight. I’ll need to start packing, too… this is all so
sudden.”
“Hey, think about it; no more staying late to write letters or make phone calls!”
she said.
“That’s true. That’s the best part!” he said.
That night, Alter drove his son to Wendy’s house and packed his bags. The next
day would be interesting.