Page 29 of Quarter Labyrinth

True to the Stone God’s word, warm soup and bread arrived that night. We ate quickly, before Clark curled himself into a corner to sleep.

“You never told me what your choices were,” he mumbled as he closed his eyes. He almost looked peaceful, if he weren’t clutching his sword in his hands like he was frightened it’d run away if he didn’t hold tight.

“She made me pick between the labyrinth or you. One door led to you, the other kept me in the labyrinth. Though, she’d led me to believe you weren’t in the labyrinth anymore.”

I wondered what she wanted to know by my choice. She claimed to be impressed by my loyalty, but my loyalty was thin at best. It should be ironclad. Clark abandoned his entire life for me without hesitation, risking everything to follow me into thelabyrinth so I could live my life that I’d been clear wouldn’t include him. Any other girl would swoon for him. He was handsome, kind, and loyal, and everything someone should want.

Yet I didn’t. Try as I might…I just didn’t.

There was only the sound of rain for a while until Clark spoke. “Which one did you pick?”

“You of course. I picked you. Turns out, you were in the labyrinth the whole time.” The truth, but the words tasted wrong on my lips. Twisted and bitter.

In the darkness, I saw him smile.

If only he knew half the reason I picked him was his theory about reaching the center first. I cleared my throat. “How about your two doors?”

Clark stayed still for so long that I thought he’d fallen asleep. Then he mumbled, “Nothing of note.”

His words sounded like a lie too.

FIFTEEN

I tried to picture what the Stone God could have offered Clark that he cared about. His family never wanted him, he had no friends but me, and no ambitions for his future. What options could she have enticed him with?

Clark didn’t speak again before his breathing turned rhythmic.

Now somewhat alone, I could inspect my tattoo better before the night turned too dark to see anything. I rolled up my sleeve tostare at the design.

It was beautiful in a tragic sort of way. The heart pulsed consistently, the coloring coming to life before settling down again. But something about the heart looked sad, like it took all its energy to muster up the strength for each beat. As if it were one teardropaway from breaking.

Guard your heart, she had said. If damage came to the tattoo, would it hurt my real heart? I pressed a thumb to it, but felt nothing inside my body.

I dropped my hand and sighed.

There’d never be quiet again. For the rest of my life, I’d have this constant pound coming from my arm.

I turned my focus to the slip between the rocks, watching the rain fall outside. Occasionally someone shouted, or something clattered in the distance. The labyrinth didn’t sleep. It was as alive as the tattoo on my forearm, breathing magic into the rain-soaked air.

We were tired from days of travel. After tonight, I didn’t care to sleep more than a few hours at a time.

Rest could come after we’d won.

Something glittered in the sky. I shifted to see it better. A star, bright and glowing, watched over us. It shone enough to pierce through the clouds.

My father mapped his course based on the stars, and as such, I’d studied them relentlessly. I knew the constellations as well as I knew the back of my hand. Which ones came out at which times of the year. Which ones were good omens and which ones were bad signs.

This star was new.

I made sure my axe was clipped to my back and that Clark slept soundly, before slithering out of our cave to see the star better.

Stars had guided us here. It made sense that Callahan wanted someone familiar with the stars to be the new captain of the mightiest trade vessels in the Hundred Islands.

I kept close to the ruins scattered through the rocky hills as I climbed higher toward the skies. The star flickered as if happy to see me. A few other stars peeked through breaks in the clouds, but none like this one. None so intentional.

Voices chattered from behind a crumbled stone wall, and I dropped to my knees to curl myself into the rocks. I barely saw the tops of their heads before they were gone again.

I glanced back up. I ought to return to the cave to keep guard over Clark. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that the star meant something.

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