Page 21

I hated summer more than spring. The only good thing was how Clark’s and my water got delivered the next night, along with our food. I half expected the other Seaweeds to make a bid for it, but they allowed us to eat in peace.

Clark shared some of his water. I did not.

“We need them to like us,”

he argued.

“We need to stay alive,”

I argued back.

He sighed, and I ended up cracking long enough to hand Tove the last of my flask.

“Thank you,”

Harald whispered as his little sister greedily took the water. Then he addressed the group.

“Summer changes things. I’d like to cross through the stone maze here, but it offers no protection from the sun and I worry about our ability to maintain any speed when we are dying of thirst. I propose we go through the forest. If the direction the Archer told me is true, the forest is slightly out of the way, but we need the shade.”

We were all too hot to argue. Each breath felt like hot coals in my throat, every step slow and every thought sluggish. The colors of the labyrinth brightened to saturated greens and browns as every tree had come to life as the sweet fragrance of pine drifted through the maze.

But the thick leaves gave the feeling of being enclosed, the sense of disorientation growing with each twist and turn. They also blocked most of the breeze. It left stifling pockets of still air. Even the patches of dappled shade that occasionally appeared offered little relief.

My only solace was how the star continued to grow closer.

However, the absence of rain made the sound of my heartbeat tattoo quite difficult to hide, and twice that day I’d caught one of the others checking for what made that sound. I concocted a delightful lie about being sick as a kid, and my parents paid for a bit of magic to make my heartbeat visible on my forearm so they could have a sense of peace, but so far none had asked. I kept the story in my back pocket anyway.

I crossed my arms as we stood at the crossroads while twilight painted the sky colors of lavender and orange. With hope, night would provide relief from this heat.

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.

Quickly, I crouched in the thick of bushes, pulling myself into a tight ball to look around. Thorns snagged my skin and raked until red showed. Something moved ahead. It wasn’t Dimitri. The shape of it looked more like Leif, and he hunched over a limp figure on the ground.

I flinched at the sharp sound of steel.

Clouds parted for moonlight to wade in, allowing me the view of Leif’s face as he stared down upon his next victim. He trembled, but the hand holding his dagger didn’t waver.

“I had no choice,”

the voice—female—sputtered. She clutched a hand to her abdomen where an arrow had pierced her.

A silver bow gleamed over Leif’s shoulder.

The girl choked on something, making her words strained.

“Someone threatened us. Said we had to kill him or they’d kill us.”

Leif pressed the blade against her throat. “Who?”

When she didn’t answer, he pressed until a drop of blood slid down her throat.

“Tell me who wanted Luke dead, and I won’t kill you.”

She made a sound I couldn’t place. Was that laughter? Then she said, “Liar.”

He made a low noise in the back of his throat. Then he sliced, and her laughter ended.

Leif stayed on his knees for a minute later, staring at the body, his chest rising and falling heavily, and his shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world pressed against them. I ought to return to Clark. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away. When Leif finally moved, it was to clean his blade with a sigh that rattled through his whole body.

Then he stood, adjusted himself into a posture of indifference, and cut a path through the trees leading away from me, leaving behind the scent of copper and a girl with lifeless eyes.