Page 45 of Eternal Night

"Do you think it's because they're volcanic?" I asked him, catching his inked hand in mine and squeezing his fingers, the worry in his eyes making my chest heavy. "Can that help them … absorb curses?"

The look in Kai's red eyes was almost pitying. I swallowed, throwing a glare in the direction of the grinding of stone on stone. He thought it was all me, nothing to do with the daggers. I didn't want to admit I suspected the same. Mostly because that meant I'd managed to break someone else's curse but could do fuck all about my own.

"Show of hands," I said, swallowing the knot in my throat. "Who thinks we should ignore the new pathway and just stay here because it's pretty defensible?"

Anything coming at us could only come from one direction, and it would run right into us.

Emlyn and Kai lifted their hands. Kai grabbed Harvey's limp hand and lifted it, too.

Wynvail sighed. "It doesn't work like that. He's the puppet-master holding our strings. If he wants us to go through a passage, we have no choice. You know what happens when you try to disobey, Halwen. You got crushed in the passage."

I winced. I did. But that didn't mean I wanted to jump when Cronus told me to jump. I wrapped my wings around myself, my jaw set. "I'm not his damn puppet."

Wynvail's disdainful laugh said I was sorely mistaken.

"Harvey almostdied,"I hissed, panic beating at my chest and emerging as bared teeth and harsh words."Youalmost died. And you think we should keep doing what he tells us to? He's a maniac!"

"Yes," Wynvail agreed slowly, one beat away from an eye roll. "That's why we should do what he tells us to."

"Oryou could keep your filthy mouth shut," Kai snarled, coming to my defence with snakes lashing the air and ink twisting around his arms. "It's your fault we're in this maze in the first place; if we hadn't come to your house, he'd—"

"Have found you anyway," Wynvail argued, cruelty turning his face into something cold and monstrous. The master of the fighting pit was with us. I shuddered.

"And we'd all be dead," Emlyn cut in, smoothing the fight before it could begin. "And Haley's right; this place is easier to defend. We should—"

Em cut off, his expression freezing. He held Harvey closer, protective.

Cold spread through my body, all my hairs standing on end when the sound of shifting stone came from all around us. From every direction—left, right, ahead, behind. Everywhere.

I was going to be sick.

I turned, scanning the walls on either side of us with wide eyes, my breath catching, breaking.

"Two openings, three, four,five,"Kai counted, his voice losing its sharp edge. Fear drenched his expression and I hated the sight of it so much I wanted to cry.

"I tried to warn you," Wynvail muttered, grabbing my arm and tearing me away from Kai.1

Kai froze for a moment, going entirely still, not a single breath moving his chest. His expression went utterly blank, red eyes blinking once. I knew we were in trouble when his tail lashed the air, the single warning he gave before power fulminated in the maze.

Shit.Magic tore through the whole chamber until snakes writhed against my skin, so powerful I swore I could hear their hissing.

Wynvail barked a sound of pain that slashed the tender flesh of my heart, and I staggered. Not again. Please, I couldn’t watch him die again.

"Kai," I gasped, breathing faster, too fast. "Too soon, Kai, I can't—"

He'd been prone on the ground, his throat slit, bleeding outminutesago, and I couldn't cope with the thought of him getting hurt again. Kai’s venom would kill him and I’d have to watch him wither away all over again, my soul terrifyingly silent.

White light erupted, so bright I was forced to shield my eyes when what I needed was to grab both of them by the backs of their necks and slam their skulls together.

"The maze is opening!" Emlyn growled, anger deep in his voice. It was such a rare sound that Kai stopped in the act of slashing his hand through the air, probably to deliver a fatal blow to Wynvail. The moon-bright light cut out, too; I had to blink fast so my eyes focused again.

"Whatisthat?" Kai breathed, edging closer to me, pressing me between him and Wynvail, two sides of the same psycho coin.

I drew my knives again, my palms slick on the pink handles and my heart sprinting rapidly as I stared at the chambers opening up all around us. We were surrounded. Kai's snakes thrashed in the air, betraying his panic.

I stared at the gaps opening rapidly in the walls, like Cronus had pushed a fast-forward button. The first shadow that emerged was tall and broad, with a massive head, bulging arms bared by a sleeveless leather top and—and one eye. My panicked stare jumped from doorway to doorway, finding the same creature in every opening.

And each of their eyes was milky with Cronus's compulsion.

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