Page 41 of Quarter Labyrinth

“I was put on the spot and had to come up with something quickly.”

“So you said we were lovers?”

Clark backed up a pace. “I’m not good at lying!”

“Thatisa lie,” I hissed.

“I mean coming up with ones. Geez, Ren. You’d think the idea made you sick. It’s a good cover. We are lovers who come from nothing and hope to gain a secure future for ourselves by winning the labyrinth. Nothing too dramatic, nothing frightening for other competitors.”

I calmed my breath when I noticed a few of the others watching our lover’s quarrel. Being mad at Clark was futile, anyway. Not when he was so pure. So good. Even this lie had been nothing but the innocent wishing of a love-struck boy.

And I had to go stomping over him every time.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

“Sorry that you got mad or that the idea makes you sick?”

I paused to sort through my words to find the ones that held the least thorns. “It doesn’t make me sick. I simply don’t want to raise hope where there is none.”

He nodded. “Say that all you want. But three truths.” He held up his fingers. “One, we protect each other when no one else does. Two, when you laugh, your eyes search for mine. And three, when I lean close—”

I hadn’t realized how close he already was. He whispered the last words.

“You don’t pull away.”

Before I could answer, he retreated. “I don’t need to change your mind. I just need to show you that your mind is already made up, and it picked me.” With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets and rejoined the group.

I stitched myself together before following him.

Lady Luck once had a name—and quite a long one. That name is now forgotten. Whenfirstshe bested the labyrinth, the islands stopped using her name and called her fortunate. Hersecondtriumph birthed whispers of lies. “She cheats!” they muttered with jealous cries. By thethird, at twenty- nine years old, “Lady Luck,” they proclaimed, her story retold.

None would enter the labyrinth without asking Lady Luck for her favors. But Lady Lucky had no favors to give. She had her sights set on the end again. For afourthtime, Lady Luck entered the labyrinth. Now at the age of thirty-three, with years well worn, Lady Luck learned her victories could not last forever.“One more victory,” the king of the labyrinth decreed, “And no more shall you quench this need.”So when she claimed her final crown, Lady Luck made her plea: “Let me stay in the maze I adore, to guide the lost through every door.”

The king sighed and granted her vow,

Then vanished with Lady Luck, who abides there now.

It is customary for Lady Luck to select twocompetitors—one bold and strong and one an underdog.She whispers hints, a nudge, a clue, and when they triumph,she triumphs too.For Lady Luck, clever and keen, has won thirty-one times unseen.

TWENTY

“So,” Clark said as he twisted a stem of grass and plopped it in his mouth. Here, we were desperate for any food we could get. I followed suit. “Any one met the stone gods yet?”

A stretch of silence, then a girl raised her hand. “I met Lady Luck.”

I made my face match the impressiveness of those around me as if I had any idea who that was.

The girl—Astrid, I think—waited for our grunts of interest before continuing. “She has an ordinary look about her, save for her outdated gown. I hadn’t realized she was a stone god at all until she waved her hand and a table appearedwith three chalices upon it. I had to pick one to drink—two were bad but one was good.”

Wretched odds if you asked me. I’d tip the glasses over and walk away.

We couldn’t risk lighting a fire, so all I had was the moonlight to see the soft lines of Astrid’s round face as she mapped out the scene with her hands before her. “If I drank the good one, I’d be given three daggers that never miss. The bad ones stole time—three nights or five nights.”

Every eye went to her waist. She’d been twirling one of the daggers around all day as we traveled, with the other two bearing the same green gem and gold pommel. If she’d drunk one of the other chalices, she’d either still be frozen or she’d be too far behind to catch us.

“That was a reckless deal to make,” I told her.

Astrid’s smile wilted.

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