Page 28 of Quarter Labyrinth

I tried to pull my arm free, but she held fast.

Black spread beneath her hand. At first I thought it was a mist, but it darkened, pooling together to form shapes that sank into my skin.

When she pulled away, a tattoo presented itself on my forearm. Brown ink, streaks of red, and saturated gold. A heart.

And it beat.

The sound was subtle, like the fall of the rain, but it was there. The tattoo pulsed with each beat as if it were alive on my arm.

“What is this?” I hissed through gritted teeth.

She inspected her work with pride. “A heartbeat. Guard your heart.” Then she stepped back, smoothing the folds of her dress. “I’ll send you a warm meal tonight. I’m suddenly very interested in keeping you alive. When you are ready to rest your head, the meal will appear.”

Then she and the doors were gone.

The sound of my tattoo filled the space she’d left.

I reallyreallydidn’t like the Stone Gods.

Her mirror image remained on Clark’s side a moment longer, saying something to him I didn’t hear. When I took three steps toward him, he nodded, and she disappeared from there as well.

Clark looked at me. I swore heartbreak rested in his eyes.

“We should leave this cursed forest,” I said, aiming myself toward the center. I pulled the sleeve of my tunic to cover the tattoo, though nothing could stop the noise of it. “Leif’s probably halfway to the center by now.”

Clark frowned. “Leif?”

“Vincent’s son.” When that didn’t seem to register, I added, “The boy from the market who had a key to get in.”

“Right. The sooner we get out of this labyrinth, the better.”

I didn’t ask him where he’d gone this morning. Didn’t ask what the Stone God had asked of him. I simply pressed my arm close to my side as if that could hide it’s sound, and pressed onward.

The forest broke up ahead for a staircase that looked as if it would crumble underfoot. It didn’t. We climbed to find two staircases, each leading in opposite directions. The one we picked led to a corridor with stained glass windows and a broken chandelier, and that led to two more staircases.

All day, we wound through the stairwells and corridors as rain fell endlessly, until our bodies were soaked and our legs so tired we had to drag ourselves up by the railings. And all the while, my heartbeat tattoo beat along.

“I will never go up another stair in my life after this labyrinth,” Clark said. He flicked his red hair from his eyes, as rain fell down his cheeks.

“We can swear off stairs together.”

But not yet. As long as there were no Stone Gods in this endless loop of stairs and broken glass, I’d be happy.

At last, the stairs led to a balcony overlooking a sparkling sea. Leap pads drifted aimlessly on it, daisies growing by its shore, and rocky hills beyond. A castle once stood there, but now it’d broken down to become part of the hills.

And not a stairwell in sight.

I swam while Clark waded to the other side.

Clark took the new landscape in with a wary eye. “Let’s find cover quickly. You never know who is lurking behind the stones.”

It took an hour to find a crevice between two rocks that led to a cave. We nestled ourselves inside as the sun set, enjoying the first moment of dry air we’d gotten all day.

“I’ll take watch first,” I said as I wrung out my shirt. “I’ll wake you at midnight—assuming we are close enough to hear that clock still.”

Clark leaned his head back against the cave wall. If he didn’t regret coming earlier, I bet he regretted it now. A day of climbing stairs, and we couldn’t tell if we’d gotten closer to the center or further away.

I was starting to be very impressed with all those who had won before.

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