Page 98 of Dance of Madness

Nico and I trade places. He returns to his seat as I walk down to the main floor. I step closer to Tony, eyeing him through my mask.

“Last chance,” I mutter.

“Flight,” he blurts. “I choose flight.”

I frown. “Did younoticethe dueling pistols?”

“Wolf,” The Bull grunts. “He's made his choice.”

Blue-balling little fucker.

I escort Tony over to the archway. I give him the usual rundown: it's a labyrinth, you get a head start, maybe you’ll get out, blah blah fucking blah.

He won’t. Get out, that is.

He takes off, his panicky, frantic breathing almost louder than his footsteps. I give him a minute, then dive in after him, my senses tuning. My skin tingling.

Every nerve jangling with the hunger I’ve never been able to control.

The thrill of the fuckinghunt.

Gradually my pace slows, though, until I’m at a dead stop in the middle of the maze, glaring at a wall.

The thrill isn’t as good.

Not withouther.

It feels cheap by comparison. A shitty imitation.

I don’t hunger for this hunt like I do when it’s Milena. I don’t feel the same hounding sensation at my heels, spurring me on.

I exhale and run my hand through my hair.

I need to figure my shit out. I need to go to her. I need to?—

“I—I think I see the way out!”

I’m ripped back to reality when I hear Tony’s voice.

“I-it’s real!!”

Fuck.

It’s not bullshit. When they're given the option to run, we hint that they might survive the labyrinth, that there might be a way out.There really is one.

By the sounds of it, this motherfucker is closer to it than anyone has ever been allowed to get.

Can’t have that.

I take off at a dead run, bolting down corridors and rounding corners so hard I slam into the wall.

Tony may be near the exit, but I know this fucking maze like the back of my hand. Roughly eleven seconds after the moron calledout, letting me know exactly where he was, I round another corner and smash into him from the side.

He grunts as he hits the wall next to him so hard that blood splatters the stone. He wheezes and whimpers, dropping to his knees and holding his cracked skull.

“I—I’m so close...please…”

“Not close enough.”

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