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“We’re lost, aren’t we?”

Even though she was speaking normally, in the silence of the endless wheat fields that the team had been walking in, Judy’s sudden question sounded as loud as a gunshot. 

At first, no one answered. Then Roy glanced over at the blunt girl. “Judes, I don’t think it’s a good idea to take jabs at our leader right now.”

Judy glared back. “I’m not ‘taking jabs’ at anybody! I’m just stating a fact. We’ve been walking for hours and haven’t gotten anywhere!”

Gen stopped in his tracks but said nothing. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Vinson looking up at him, his expression full of concern. 

Gen shielded his eyes from the sun and scanned the horizon. The truth was, he was starting to worry as well. It had seemed so simple. They would walk through the fields towards the mountains in the distance. What could have been so hard about that? Sure, the various dirt paths running through the fields zigzagged, but he had kept an eye on the mountains to make sure they were walking toward them this whole time. Judy was right, though: they had been walking for two—maybe three—hours, and the mountains didn’t seem even a slight bit closer. He felt frustrated. Did he have to fail as a leader in something as simple as walking? 

“We’re not lost,” he finally said. “We just need to keep moving towards those mountains. If anything, I can run on ahead and cut us a straight path through the wheat.” 

When he turned back to his team, however, he noticed Vinson staring up at the sky, shielding his eyes.

“The sun… it has not moved,” the young boy said quietly. 

Now the whole team was looking up. Gen realized with a start that Vinson was right: they had been walking for hours—it should have been at least midday by now—but the sun was still cheerily hanging up in the sky just a short distance above the horizon. 

“Is this another maze?” Judy said worriedly. 

That was what Gen was afraid of. He dropped his backpack onto the dirt path, then crouched down into a sprint start position, focusing speed energy into his feet. A gentle green glow began to surround his sneakers. “I’ll blaze us a path!” 

Sprinting forward into the wheat, Gen projected a small energy field around him to help him cut through the thick stalks. The wind roared past him as his energy carried him forward at superhuman speed towards the mountains in the distance. Grains of golden wheat and bits of stalk sprayed into the air around him. 

“...come back!” Gen barely managed to hear his team’s voices over the wind. He stopped abruptly, his energy blasting a small crater among the stalks of wheat. What was wrong? He looked back. 

Startled, he found that besides the crater at his feet, the wheat field looked untouched. The path that he had blazed had disappeared, and the golden stalks were swaying gently in the wind as if nothing had ever disturbed them. As short of a time that he was running, he should have only been a few dozen feet away from his team, but a golden haze seemed to blur his vision, and he could barely make out where their hands were waving frantically.

Frightened, Gen focused his energy again and darted back towards his team, squinting to make sure that he was running in the right direction. Thankfully, in a moment he burst out through the wheat stalks back onto the dirt path. Judy stopped him with a strong hand on his shoulder to make sure he didn’t go flying into the wheat on the other side of the path. 

Panting, Gen looked back. The wheat had closed back up where he had exited, and there was no trace he had ever gone in. He glanced up at the sun and the mountains. There were no other landmarks. He looked along the dirt path they were on, seeing the many turns that disappeared into the golden stalks. They all appeared the same. 

“Okay… I guess we really are lost,” Gen said reluctantly.

“Finally admitted it, eh?” said a strange voice. 

Startled, the team whirled around. Right behind Judy, sticking out of the stalks of wheat, was a big head that looked like it was made out of a coffee sack. It had a big green button sewn onto its face for one eye, and a tiny blue one for the other, though it looked somewhat in the wrong place. It wore a dirty straw hat, and its mouth looked just like a tear in the burlap. 

Judy screamed and swatted the head with a full backhand, red strength energy blazing around her fist. The head, which didn’t seem attached to anything, went flying into the wheat on the other side of the path. A moment later, it popped out right behind Gen. 

“Temper, temper. And here I just wanted to help.”

Gen turned around, trying to keep his voice calm. “Hello, and who might you be?”

“I am the Keeper of the Corn Maze!” the head declared cheerily. 

“But… it is wheat,” Vinson commented, confused. 

“Ah yes, it is wheat, isn’t it?” The Keeper said mournfully. “Quite an unfortunate mistake. But Keeper of the Wheat Maze just doesn’t have the same ring, you know?”

“Can you help us find the way?” Roy asked hopefully.

“The first step to finding the way is to admit you’re lost,” the Keeper said, seeming to turn meaningfully towards Gen. “But beat me in a game and you’re as good as there! Let the Corn Maze Games begin!”

“Wheat,” muttered Vinson.