Page 44 of Quarter Labyrinth

Harald took in the sorry lot with a crooked brow before turning for the trees. “Forest path it is.”

Then Astrid gasped. “Wait, stop!”

Literally no one was moving.

She put a hand to her heart where her shirt had been soaked through with sweat. “I feel a tug pulling me toward the stones.”

Tug was putting it mildly. A storm swirled around her, the invisible wind tangling through her hair and clothes, shoving her away from the forest. A slow smile spread. “Lady Luck is helping us.”

“She’s helping you,” One of the boys, Ivar, clarified. “Lady Luck only cares about your welfare. Who knows what the rest of us will face in there.” He eyed the hedges with distrust. Though a year younger than Harald, he was the biggest, and the heat slowed him down most. One day of summer and he prayed for the rain to return. Ivar hadn’t the money to spend at the Labyrinth Market, and would get no water save for what he could scavenge for.

Or what he could beg Clark for. Clark, of course, gave him a few sips.

The group looked between Harald and Astrid. Stones or more forest? Harald shifted his weight while worrying over his lip. Tove kept one hand firmly on him while looking at him as if he were home and everything would be alright if she kept by him.

Astrid had good reason to enter the stone maze. With a Stone God on her side, she had little to fear.

But the rest of us?

The path before us changed terrain. It turned to tunnels and walkways and stairs and towers, a maze built of stone that climbed high in the sky or dropped low into the earth. We could get lost in there for days. And most of it sat in direct sunlight. Come morning, we’d start to burn.

The wind shoved against Astrid again, and she headed into the stone path, abandoning the forest.

Harald sighed. “It’s best we stick together. We’ll trust Lady Luck.”

Clark glanced my way, and I nodded. We could take whatever this new section of the maze brought. As long as we were together.

I was about to follow when the faint sound of hoofbeats clipped against soft earth.

Dimitri.

I’d wager Leif was nearby.

My heartbeat fluttered, every ounce of blood rushing faster as the thought of him nearby ignited something in me. While the others went into the maze, I lingered.

“I need to use the privy,” I told Clark. “I’ll be right there.”

He traced the rim of his empty flask with a bony finger, his distant gaze weaving through the shadows of the forest at my back. “I’ll wait for you.”

I glanced at the others as they slunk into the stone maze, their steps slow from a long day of traveling in this heat with little water. As much as I hated trusting my life to others, they were our best shot right now at staying alive. “Keep with the group. If I’m not there in five minutes, you can backtrack for me.”

Clark’s jaw tightened, muscles flexing beneath his skin. He worked his jaw in the way that he always did when he was sorting his thoughts out, tasting them before he presented them to me.

He didn’t get his chance. Harald shot a look back to us. “Everything alright?”

“We’re fine,” I called back. Then whispered to Clark. “It’ll only be a moment. I promise.”

He nodded. I unclipped my axe and drifted into the forest. I heard him say something to Harald then their steps drift away.

I faced the forest.

The trees took a different shape at night. Thready roots looked like enormous black spiders while branches like skeleton arms stretched overhead to block the starlight. The soft underfoot muffled my steps. Almost like the forest conspired with me to keep my presence secret. If only my tattoo felt any similar inclination.

I ventured in the direction of the hoofbeats.

The sound pulled further and further away until, for a moment, all fell silent.

Then a new sound came. A low moan, followed by a hiss.

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