Page 40 of They're Watching You

“No, no, no, no.” I grab my head in both hands, spinning until my shoulder hits the wall. “You left Jordan alone withAnnabelle?”

“I follow commands, same as you.” He turns to Remington. “Now let’s duel.”

“Reming—”

“Go,” he says. “I’ll catch up with you afterward. You have your coins. Go find her.”

Torn, I grip the doorway so hard the jagged stone digs into my palms. The last thing I want to do is navigate this creepy lair alone. But too much time has passed. I glance at my phone. 1:05 a.m. Best-case scenario, Jordan is out of her mind with panic.

Worst-case scenario…

My legs liquify beneath me. Pushing the thought aside, I turn on my heels and dive back into the dark corridor. This time, I wave my phone ahead of me like a flashlight, searching for a new chamber. Did I even check the last one for a second door? I don’t remember, and everything is starting to look the same.

This place is a maze.

At that, a thought lights up, as if charged. The duel. I dig the card from my back pocket, squinting at it in the wispy light.It can’t be.

But the staircase we took is at the bottom of the card. I trace my finger through two suspiciously familiar rooms. I start to move again, glancing down at the card, which shows a chamber guarded by a hydra on the left, followed by a corridor looping off to the right.

I look up, and sure enough, I pass the chamber on my left. While there’s no creature standing guard, there is a passageway up ahead. And it veers right. My pulse quickens.

The labyrinth on the card is a replica of the catacombs.

And Mount Olympus?

That could be where Annabelle is keeping Jordan.

Ahead, light pours into the dark corridor. If it’s a door, it could lead to the passageway guarded by the cyclops on my map. I pick up my steps, turning toward the light.

I’m nearly there when something hits me like a brick to the stomach. I bounce backward, stumbling into a wall. The thing I ran into—a person—slips a hand around my waist to steady me. I catch my breath and squint up into a pair of glasses. “Maren? Are you okay?”

“Gavin,” I mutter through a cough. “Can you do anything right?”

“Why would I want to do right,” he says, a grin forming, “when messing up got me here?” His gaze flicks to his hand still on my waist.

My cheeks burn, and I shove him off me. “I didn’t just mean knocking into me like a wild boar. You ditched me back there.”

“Ditched you?” His smirk falls. “That wasn’t me. Your pal, Remington, gave me the slip. He stole my phone so I couldn’t see, and I had no way of finding you. I’ve mostly been wandering these corridors—I nearly killed myself stepping onto a staircase that I thought was a new chamber. I mean, I get it. I would find me pretty intimidating too. Remington must’ve been too afraid to duel me. But”—he waggles his brows—“the good news is that Tony, may he rest in metaphorical peace, challenged me to a duel, and I won. So now our purses are full, and we shall save the princess.”

“This isn’t a joke, Gavin.” I push past him into the passage, relief bubbling up inside me when I see that it matches the one on the map. This is the way.

“What do you mean?” he asks, chasing after me.

“Yourfriend, Dallis, the one you promised was trustworthy, abandoned Jordan.” Lantern light spills down the dark corridor and onto the arched doorway at the end. “She could already be running out of air, and we both know Annabelle wouldn’t lift a perfect finger to help her.” When we reach the doorway, sure enough, the next passage opens in both directions. According to the map, the right side is guarded by the cyclops; we have to go left to find Mount Olympus.

“Okay,” Gavin says, huffing to keep up with me. “So then, hurry up already. Let’s find her. Also, what are you looking at?”

“The maze. The one from my duel. It’s a map of the catacombs. I think if we follow it to Mount Olympus, avoiding the mythological creatures, Jordan will be there.”

“Why did you get a map and no one else?”

“Technically, Donella got the map. Anyone could’ve won it off her.” I fly through the next passage, barely slowing when I enter a wider chamber with its own alcove. There’s likely a sarcophagus inside, but I have to trust my instincts about the map. It’s my best shot at finding Jordan alive. “Maybe everyone has a clue and they don’t know it. What was your duel?”

“One of those brainteaser puzzle things where you have to be the first to say how many rectangles there are, counting the rectangles outside and excluding the colored rectangle inside, butaddingyour great-aunt’s second cousin on your dad’s side.” I roll my eyes even though he’s behind me. “As soon as I got Tony’s coin, I crumpled the puzzle up.”

“Could the rectangles have represented chambers?”

“Well, I mean…”

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