Marie closes her eyes and draws a deep breath. And another. And another after that.
"Uh... Marie? What are you doing?"
Another deep breath. "Trying to calm down, you dummy," she says, half-jokingly. After another few deep breaths, she quickly shakes her head back and forth. "There, much better. I'm so sorry, Josh, I don't know what got into me. I don't usually act this way."
I don't usually act this way - the words shoot like a firework through Josh's mind. "Of course you don't. Neither of us does!" he says, excitedly.
She frowns. "What do you mean?"
"Look at me, Marie. What do you see?"
"A cute boy?" she smiles. He blushes and smiles back. "Well, it's true," she says, defensively.
"Not what I meant. Describe me."
Her eyes widen and her smile diminishes into puzzled amusement, but she plays along. "Slender build, brown eyes, dark hair, strong jaw, long, pointed, furry ears..."
He smiles in triumph. "There!" he says. "I knew the ceiling couldn't have been that low! Now tell me, did I have these ears earlier this morning?"
She frowns and thinks. "No," she says, finally.
"Did you have a tail, earlier this morning?"
Her smile is gone for good. "No," she says.
"Did either of us walk on all fours, earlier this morning?"
"No," she says again, and this time an edge of fear creeps into her voice.
"Which means..."
"...we're changing. Oh my God, they're doing something to us. We're turning into something."
He nods, confidently.
"Something stupid enough to get lost in this maze."
He nods again. "Or to fall in some other trap. I think you're right when you say we shouldn't go this way. Because it smells like animals."
"Because it smells like other people who went that way," Marie realizes.
He nods a third time - less confident, more terrified.
"This is crazy."
He shrugs. "Yes. But I have the ears, and you have the tail, and I probably couldn't get up if I tried," and as he says so he thrusts his head upwards and his spine backwards, trying to push himself up. He only manages to prance briefly before falling back down.
She closes her eyes briefly. "OK," she says, "how do we get out of here?"