Page 47 of Quarter Labyrinth

“The Leif I played with is gone. The one that roams this labyrinth is the monster his father created him to be, and there’s not a scrap of mercy in him.”

There were two dead bodies in the labyrinth to attest to that. Perhaps more. The labyrinth first found Leif as a young boy, but now he was a man, and he knew what to expect from this maze. The corridors, paths, and tricks might have reset, but he’d navigated them twice before. We were running wild on his playground.

I twisted my axe. If it came to it, could I kill him?

Harald dragged a finger down the blunt edge of his blade with his gaze latched onto Tove’s tiny frame. “What I’m about to tell you is told in confidence, okay?”

I tilted my head, considering his words. Secrets were something to be shared with friends, not those who planned to abandon you at the first sign of trouble. Did Harald trust me, or was this his way of trying to breed trust, or tricking me into thinking he trusted me so he could betray me later?

I banished the thoughts. Those were the labyrinth talking. Looking at Harald’s light brown eyes…there wasn’t a scrap of deceit in him.

I nodded.

“I made a deal with Marcellus Jasper before leaving. We win, and he gets the Silver Wings. But if I die in here, he tears up Tove’s contract. She’s too young and too small for him to care, so he agreed.” He inhaled deeply before continuing. “I don’t know you or Clark well, so I have no business asking this, but I’mgoing to ask it anyway. If I die, would you take Tove under your wing? She has no family to return to.”

His words swelled in the deep caverns of my heart. Clark and I knew something about not having family. “She’ll be taken care of,” I said, and I meant it. I wouldn’t let this labyrinth turn me into a monster as it had to Leif. If there was humanity within me, I intended to keep it.

Harald might have mumbled his thanks, but the sound splintered when a scuffle came from down one of the paths, like a beast dragging their claws against a rock, and my blood ran cold.

TWENTY-THREE

Harald and I rose together, his sword raised high as I gripped my axe, its familiar weight grounding me. Side by side, we peered into the darkness, searching for the source of the sound.

“It could be an animal,” I whispered.

“I haven’t seen a single animal in the labyrinth, have you?”

No, I hadn’t. Why would there be free food roaming the woods when others had to purchase it at the market? This labyrinth didn’t seem intenton keeping us alive.

Something moved, but it was only Clark rising to his feet beside me. His sword scraped along the stone pavers as he picked it up.

Carefully, I reached into my bag to take out my potion and slid it into the pocket of my trousers. Clark eyed the movement but said nothing. A few weeks in the labyrinth and his opinions on poison might have changed.

I returned both hands to my axe. Moonlight bounced from its silver surface, soaking the pavilion in a silver glow, and bathing the three corridors surrounding us in the same light. But a fourth path jutted off from the south, one covered in an arched trellis that seemed determined to keep all moonlight out.

The sound came from that way.

But it’d been a minute, and no further sound came. Perhaps it was nothing. I lowered my axe.

And three figures came barreling toward us.

“Wake up,” Harald bellowed. The urgency of his words echoed off the stone. The seven who still slept suddenly jumped to their feet. Harald placed himself before a cowering Tove to defend whatever came.

Clark and I charged.

The clash of steel rang out as the first attacker lunged, his blade slicing through the air in a deadly arc. I sidestepped, my boots crunching on the gravel, and brought my weapon up just in time to catch the sword against the thick wooden haft.

With a grunt, I shoved forward, throwing the attacker off balance. I was vaguely aware of the other two attackers moving around me, one engaged with Harald and the other fighting Ivar.Gunnar braced himself nearby Harald, looking ready to help should the need arise but not eager to bloody himself. Astrid was nowhere to be seen. Aiden, Barrett, and Charlotte cowered in a circle.

Clark stepped in to fight the one nearest me. Their swords met in the air, the sheer size of the opponent dwarfing us. Clark struggled against the pressure.

I slid a hand from my axe to the dagger at my waist, and slammed it into the attacker’s thigh.

He let out a cry as he stumbled back into a shed of moonlight.

Bjorn.

He clocked us at the same time that we recognized him.

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