Page 15 of Quarter Labyrinth

The officers pointed us in the direction of the labyrinth, as if there could be any confusion. “Good luck.”

From how he said that, we needed it.

I gathered my courage and marched forward.

The night smelled of fire, as hundreds were ablaze. They burned from every corner of the woods, most accompanied by travelers. Some looked prideful, many confident, others already weary. But one constant ran through them all. Each looked to the labyrinth as often as their hearts pounded.

And yet, none had entered.

“We have until sundown tomorrow,” Clark said as he took it all in. “Why are they not inside?”

“I’d guess there’s some test of wits. Look at them. Plenty are strong enough to get past a physical challenge. The labyrinth must be sealed with a trick—and that is why I brought you.” I tried to sound confident, but the sheer number of competitors still outside the labyrinth shook me. We’d heard it was difficult to get in, but could so many really have been unable to?

They were civil now, but as the sun came up and started to set tomorrow, their manners would drown beneath desperation.

“Come, let’s go see what’s so difficult about the gate,” I started. We only took two steps when a voice spoke.

“Look who showed up!”

Bjorn staggered down the fjord, surrounded by his passe of followers. Had they grown in number? He must have arrived looking like a beast who could handle anything, and the weak flocked to his side.

For all his strength, he still hadn’t gotten in.

His mouth was a wicked thing, curling in amusement at our sight. “Haven’s lost girl and the unwanted son of the shipwright. Came to better your fortunes like the rest of us.”

“Bjorn. Didn’t think you’d reach the labyrinth.” I kept a manner of joking to my tone, but something felt off about his. His words stretched taut. His eyes hazy.

I tried to move past, but he drove his spear into the rocks at my feet.

He wagged a finger at Clark. “You don’t even like sailing. This one gets sick as a fish, he does,” Bjorn told the rest of his crew in a tone loud enough for half the forest to hear.

Clark’s lips flattened. He moved the papayas to one arm to grab my hand with the other and pull me away, but Bjorn stood in our way again.

Now his finger pointed to me. “This one, however, she lives on the sea more than the island. I would too, if I had that tiny shack to call home. She’s as Seaweed as it gets.”

I suddenly wished my knife were larger, if only so I could draw it against Bjorn. “Let us through.”

He must have had the same thought as me, for his eyes darkened. His knuckles grew white as his grip tightened over his spear. “In fact, she’d be capable of leading the Silver Wings. A girl practically made of the sea.”

Bjorn just casually delivered the highest compliment I’d ever received. So why did it make my bones shiver?

In his next breath, his expression turned stone hard.

“And she comes from nothing, so she has nothing to lose.” He talked to himself now, while his fingers shifted. Before I could step away, he’d drawn the spear from the rocks, and with his mind decided, he spun it in his hand and stabbed forward.

Three things happened at once.

First, I ducked. I did not intend to die like that.

Second, Clark heroically sacrificed himself by throwing his body in front of mine. Made wildly irrelevant by my ducking, but I appreciated the thought.

Third, and most importantly, one of the officers had already withdrawn their cutlass, and they threw it to deflect the spear. Both weapons clattered on the stone. Our skin remained untorn.

The island fell into a hush.

“There is no killing outside the Quarter Labyrinth!” the officer shouted, cleaving the silence with a deadly glare.

“I’d like no killing inside, either,” I said as I stood. My weak knees barely held me, and the copper taste of blood filled my mouth. At some point, I must have bit my cheek

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