Page 9 of Quarter Labyrinth

I looked back long enough to see him take out the note and read it before grabbing his duffel bag and heading out. He slammed the door behind him on his wife’s cries.

FIVE

Plan two wasn’t nearly as good as plan one, but my options were limited. Half an hour later, Mother and I stood beside our small skiff with my one bag already packed from earlier, and our eyes glossy.

“I’m going to find out what’s going on,” I told her. “I’m going to find Father and bring him back to us.”

Her thin arms wrapped around me. The scent of salt in her hair filled my nose. I clung tight. Tonight hadn’t gone how we wanted, especially when we’d been lookingforward to it for two years. Leaving for the Quarter Labyrinth meant more than just righting my future. It meant righting hers.

When she pulled back, she removed her necklace. “For you, so he will know who you are.”

I stared at the silver chain with an orb pendant. Father had given that to Mother when he left us on this island, and she wore it every day of her life. I wanted to refuse. But to have something of both her and him with me would mean the world. I let her drop the cold chain over my neck, and savored the weight of it.

Then I tied my bag to the mast of the skiff and waded into the sea. Water soaked through my thin boots, drenching the hem of my tunic and freezing the skin of my thighs. I hadn’t the extra space to pack blankets. For the next few weeks, I’d need to get used to being uncomfortable.

A small bag of coins rested at my left hip, and a dagger at my right. This was as ready as I could be.

“Tell Clark I’m so sorry,” I told her. “I wish the world for him.”

“I will.”

She removed the line, and threw the remaining rope to me. With a yank, I dropped the sail and began to drift out. My throat grew thick enough that I had to swallow hard. This was it. After sixteen years, I would finally leave the island.

“Tell me this is the right thing to do,” I choked out as I got further away. “Tell me everything you’ve said is real. Promise me he is my father.”

Her smile said that she heard the shape of things unsaid. “The Silver Wings are yours,” Mother replied. “Go get them.”

She wrapped her shawl around her bony body, staying behind on the rocks as I drifted out. Her blonde hair whipped around her, but the wind couldn’t move her. It thrashed against her body. Snagged on my sails. Yet she planted herself fiercely in that spot, like an anchor I could always return to.

It felt very much like I were leaving my heart behind with her.

“Wait!” A sharp voice bit the night. Clark came running down the hill, a satchel around his torso, feet flying fast. “Wait! I’m coming with you!”

Panic rose in my chest. If this ended poorly for me, it’d kill me to have dragged sweet, innocent Clark down with me. “Go back right now!”

He’d almost reached the shore now. We paid zero regard for the sleeping island. “No! You’ll need help! You’ll need—hello, Ms. Allison—me. I’m coming.” He dove into the water. His limbs flailed as if this was their first time in the sea. “Wait for me.”

I wanted to push my oar against the rocky seabed to get away before dooming Clark to whatever my fate may be, but from how he swam, he’d drown trying to reach me. So instead, I held out my oar.

“Grab on, you stubborn boy.”

His grin turned lopsided as he got a mouthful of water. A few more strokes, and he reached the oar. I heaved him forward until his fingers latched onto the side of the skiff, and I kept my weight to the back while he dragged himself aboard.

He stood casually, as if we hadn’t just created a scene. “Pleasant day for sailing.” Water dripped from the ends of hishair, running down the long sleeves of his dark blue tunic, but he just shook his head a few times.

“You’re impossible. I thought the labyrinth wasnot your ocean, not your tide?”

“Turns out my ocean only obeys your tide.”

That didn’t even make sense. Still, I could use the help. “Grab the other oar and help me reach Aksel before he sails too far away.”

Clark wiped water from his eyes as he lifted them toward the pass. “We are trailing Aksel?”

“Best idea I’ve got,” I replied, tossing him an oar. “Unless you have a better one.”

He shrugged, driving the oar into the water to pull. I hated to admit it, but I felt better already with him at my side. Almost like this was possible.

“Clark, you need to understand that I don’t intend to return to Haven for a long while.” The shore fell further back, while my mother stayed in her place. “It isn’t too late to swim back.”

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