Ishtar
I laughed at his whimper. I was beginning to understand the murderous tendencies of the place. The curse. The way the curse distorted everything. I couldn't tell him that those trying to kill us used to be my pets. The octopus in the pond was named Thief because I had stolen it from an exhibit. Its anguish at being captive echoed through the glass. I couldn't leave it there. I tried releasing it back into the ocean, but it wouldn't let me. Placing it in my castle pond seemed like the best solution, but the curse had warped it, turned it into a raging animal that didn't remember me saving it.
The maze had been my creation. I had planted each yew tree with painstaking precision. I watched the slow-growing plants form the hedges over the years. I had cared for them like little childr
