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If others came by, I didn’t know it. It turned out that I could sleep, and I slept through the night.

When I woke, Clark was gone.

Aurelia Brightspire, a girl of goldenheart, ventured into the labyrinth when time was at its start. Her purpose was clear—to find a spark of magic to mend the fractures of her crumbling kin.

But the labyrinth held no cure.

Undeterred, she braved its shadows again, this time seeking a thread of time, a way to weave the past anew, to when her family was whole. Yet, the forest turned its back once more, and time remained unyielding.

Ever the hopeful, she attempted a third time. What she sought then, no soul can say, for Aurelia never left the labyrinth. She lingers still, restless in the maze.

With each Quarter Labyrinth, she clings one who enters. Drawn to the desperation of their stories—heroes, broken and bold.

She whispers of hope, of fixing the pieces that cannot be mended.

But her touch is cursed, her yearning too sharp—her meddling leaves scars.

The ones she marks always emerge with splintered souls, their burdens heavier still.For Aurelia’s sorrow knows no bounds, and her gift is one of ruin.

FOURTEEN

“Clark?” I hissed. His bag was gone as well. I hustled to my feet and held my axe like a shield before me, stepping through the curtain of pink flowers to find a forest of tall, white barked trees where I was alone. I dared to speak louder. “Clark!”

No reply, save for the shimmering rain that tapped against petals. All around, the silver streaks fell through the forest, hanging like a mist. Where were the screams from last night, or the competitors racing through?

Where was Clark?

We’d slept too long.We needed to move.

I turned, and froze.

I was not alone. A woman stood under a canopy of pink petals with a smile painted red and dress stained green. She looked like a bride getting married in the labyrinth, with her sandals built of twisting vines and her lashes painted brown. She had a glassy complexion, rosy cheeks, and sparkling green eyes.

Her black hair had been pinned on the top of her head. On her finger glinted a silver ring.

“I trust you slept well in my forest,” she said. Her voice was as smooth as a river, and an icy feeling spread over my shoulders.

Her forest? Something about her didn’t look human. Perhaps it was her sculpted figure as if drawn from someone’s imagination, or the way her eyes glinted as if she’d captured the sun within them. Whatever she was, I didn’t care to anger her. So I said, “I did. Thank you for it’s protection.”

I started off toward the south, before her melodic voice called out. “He’s not that way.”

Slowly, I faced her. That smile hadn’t left her face, but gooseflesh rose on my arms. “Where is he?”

She beckoned me to follow her. “I will show you.”

“I’ll search for him on my—”

Two doors appeared, captured between trunks of snow-white trees. One a golden pink, fitted with gold hinges and a black knob. The other a silky brown and looking like something stolen from a castle with ancient carvings etched on it.

My breathing hitched. The woman watched me with a keen eye as if my face might give something away. I schooled it to neutrality.

“What is this?”

“You’ve slept in the Forest of Choices. As such, I’m giving you your choice. The boy, or the labyrinth.”

I kept my distance, but looked over the doors better. Nothing sat behind them, but I had no doubt that if I walked through either, I wouldn’t be in this forest anymore.

It was only then that I noticed a small temple nestled in the heart of the forest. Falling petals landed upon the colonnade of white columns, raised podium, and a triangular pediment adorned with pink vines. A pool had been built before it, and the surface of the water glistened like a mirror that rippled with each raindrop.