Page 74

Only when we made it through did the tension in everyone’s shoulders relax. The stones took on an even older look, fissured through to their cores, but the wires were gone. Ruins scattered the hillside, and another level blocked the sun from us. We moved in the scant light as quickly as we dared.

“See, that’s what I expected from the labyrinth,” Gunnar said when we were well away from the wires. “Those were the stories I’d been told of it. Traps, tricks, obstacle courses.”

“I’d take tripwires over leaping from stone to stone a mile in the sky,” I said.

“You weren’t shot,” Harald grunted. “I’ll take the stones.”

Tove glanced his way. “I should inspect it now.”

He shook his head. “But I’ll take both over someone attacking us.”

We all agreed with that. None of us were fighters here. It was a miracle we hadn’t experienced more casualties. A miracle I highly suspected had much to do with Lady Luck branding Astrid as hers.

Astrid kept quieter than usual, sucking on her front teeth with a bitter twist of her lips and a drag to her step that struggled to keep up with ours. I fell back to match pace with her. Grabbing the water skin from my belt, I offered it to her, the faint sound of liquid sloshing inside breaking the quiet tension around us. “How has the labyrinth compared to what you expected?” I asked, my voice low to avoid disturbing the oppressive silence of the maze.

She accepted the water with a small nod but didn’t drink. Instead, she stared at the ground as we walked, her eyes followingthe slow, deliberate bend of leaves beneath our boots. The faint crunch of foliage seemed louder in the stillness.

“It started so well,” she said finally, her voice soft, almost wistful. She handed the water back without looking up. “My father had gone into the labyrinth when he was younger and spoke so highly of it. He didn’t win, but he counted it as the greatest adventure of his life.”

Her steps faltered slightly as she kicked a loose rock in her path. The stone skittered ahead, its hollow, echoing clatter bouncing off the labyrinth’s ancient walls. “I’d come in to find that adventure myself, but more than that, I wanted to make him proud.”

She paused, glancing briefly at the others who’d all gone quiet to listen before continuing. “Then Lady Luck marked me, and I thought this would be simple. Like I was born to it. I found fresh water on my first day, had a Stone God’s blessing, and had enough food packed for weeks.”

Her tone darkened as she continued, her fingers brushing absently over the frayed edge of her sleeve. “I was attacked my second night here.” She pulled her sleeve up just enough to reveal a thick scab running across her forearm. “Lost all my food. Earned this painful cut in the process. I only survived because I happened to find a crevice in the wall that led me into a series of tunnels where I lost my attackers.” She gave a dry, bitter laugh. “Though Lady Luck must’ve had a hand in that. You all know I’m not much of a survivor.”

I thought back to how she’d hidden the last time we were attacked. The group had fallen into an uneasy hush, and even thesteady scrape of our boots against stone seemed reluctant to break the quiet.

She exhaled slowly, her gaze fixed straight ahead. “I wandered for a few days before finding Harald and Tove. Now…” She trailed off, her voice heavy with something between exhaustion and regret. “Now, with each day that goes, I wonder if making my father proud is worth this.”

Her words hung over us like a weight, and the labyrinth, in its cruel, shifting silence, offered no solace.

I didn’t want to see her leave. I didn’t want to see any of them leave. But Astrid sounded upon the verge of throwing her white stone of surrender. As if reading my thoughts, she sighed. “I’ve thought of leaving, but I fear Lady Luck’s wrath if I give up. I think I can feel her sometimes, watching me. I feel others too. We have the eyes of many Stone Gods upon us.”

“We are getting closer,” I told her. “It won’t be more than a week now.”

“How can you know? We might be moving in the wrong direction, and be stuck here another month still.”

Harald and I exchanged glances, unspoken words rushing between us. I nodded, and he offered the information. “The center sits below the brightest star in the east. We’ve been following it this whole time.”

A certain amount of trust came with giving that information out. If any of them betrayed us or abandoned the group, they’d be traveling blind without knowing about the star. But the parts of me that would have refused to share information had quieted.

“Good,” Astrid breathed. “I can last one more week.”

I remained by her side as we traveled, as opposed to Clark’s. Astrid glanced between us once but didn’t say anything. Clark didn’t move to join me either. The business with Leif drove a swift wedge between us that I didn’t know how to dislodge.

Telling him the truth of everything that had happened might do it, but something didn’t feel right inside me. Something I couldn’t name yet.

Before I could find a name for it, a wolf howled.

We all halted.

“That was close,” Gunnar whispered. “Too close.”

Aiden had gone white, and I knew he thought of Charlotte. But the howl was deeper than hers had been, and much more vicious.

It came again, this time joined by others.

“What did the book say about the labyrinth wolves?” Gunnar asked. He held a curved blade in one hand as pale as the rocks around us.