Page 27

I swallowed the scream in my throat as the arrow passed, the rising sun caught against the sharpened iron tip.

Three seconds later, another arrow whizzed by. Not just one, I realized in horror. Many.

We both knelt. My hand dug for purchase in the stone as the sound of arrows continued. Three more seconds, then another volley. Three seconds, more arrows.

“We aren’t being attacked,”

Leif declared. He boldly stood.

“It’s an obstacle course.”

He yanked his foot with the chain.

“Get up. We have to pass together.”

I pitched my gaze over his shoulder to watch the arrows. He was right. They passed at the exact same spot every time, one row hitting at chest height with another at knee height, with a few feet in between each row. We couldn’t crawl, we couldn’t jump. We had to walk through at the exact right time to put us in the space between the rows of arrows when they passed.

This time, when Leif glanced at me, it wasn’t in disappointment. He genuinely checked to see if I was ready.

I gave a little nod.

He stepped forward three paces. When the arrows came, they split the distance between Leif and me.

Together, we both took three more steps. The arrows flew again—two in front of Leif, two between us, and two behind.

“Step,”

I breathed.

“One two three. Step.”

Further and further we inched. I still couldn’t see the end of the parapet, but it continued east, so at least I knew we moved in the right direction. If we survived this, we’d be much closer to the end.

I’d need to decide whether to continue, or backtrack to find Clark.

I pushed that problem aside. Survive this first.

Another step.

“Why do you want to win the labyrinth?”

Leif asked.

“We should focus.”

I took another step. I ventured a touch too far, and the next row of arrows passed mere inches from my face. I corrected course with my next steps.

“Talking helps me focus. Do you see yourself as the next captain of the Silver Wings?”

I didn’t care for his mocking tone.

“Yes, as a matter of fact. I do.”

He chuckled as we took our next steps.

“Not a chance. No Seaweed knows what it means to lead a business on such a grand scale. You’ll be overwhelmed in a week, your second hand will have to take over, and the crew will mutiny within a month. You’ll be tossed onto whatever island is nearest—if they don’t throw you in the sea first—and be no better off than you were when you entered this forsaken maze.”

Leif got one thing right—I had no clue how to manage a trade empire. I’d always imagined my father would be there to guide me for many long years until he grew too old to manage anymore, and he’d pass the rights into my capable hands. That was how this was meant to happen. Smoothly. Together.

But Leif didn’t know that I’d fight harder than anyone else in this labyrinth to lead those ships well. I’d do whatever it took. And I cared about the Silver Wings more than anyone else could.

I’d fight till my last breath for that empire.

I frowned as we took our next step.

“What do you need it for? Your dad is handing you his trade empire.”

“My dad is handing me nothing. If I don’t prove myself by winning this labyrinth, he’s threatened to pass his empire to someone else.”

We stepped again.

“You’re his only remaining son. He doesn’t mean it.”

His back stiffened, and I regretted bringing up the ‘remaining’ part. We stepped again before Leif replied.

“You don’t know my father. I can’t go home empty handed. It’d be better not to go home at all.”

I couldn’t summon pity for him. I hardly had a home at all. The Silver Wings were meant to be my home, complete with my family.

Leif could build his own trade empire. He wouldn’t be stealing my father’s.

Another grating sound came like rocks being struck together. Leif put up a hand, twisting until he faced the south where the sound came from, waiting for what would come next. The arrows faltered in their pattern before picking up again, but something wasn’t right. It’d changed somehow.

“It’s faster,”

we spoke at the same time.

His dark eyes landed on mine. Gears were turning in his mind, sorting through the new pattern. His chin jutted down with each time the arrows came by. We braced there for a minute until familiarizing ourselves with the new beat.

Leif turned back around. “Ready?”

he asked over his shoulder.

“And…go.”

We stepped. One and a half beats. Another step. One and a half. Again.

Leif kept count aloud as I matched his pace. The chain slid along the parapet with us.

I hardly breathed until the arrows stopped.

“Is that all?”

I looked around. The parapet stretched much further still, too far to see the end of, but a small sense of security came with knowing we were through the thick of it.

Until the ground shook.

When it stopped, half the parapet had fallen away, leaving behind stepping stones in the sky.

I’d like the arrows back.

“When I find whichever Stone God did this to us, I’m going to murder them,”

I breathed.

“We jump on three. One, two, three.”

Leif and I flung ourselves over nothingness to land on the next stone. Pain roared in my side. I gritted my teeth together as Leif counted again.

“One, two…”

We threw ourselves onto the next stone.

A strong wind came as soon as our feet touched down, threatening to grab us in its snares to throw us over the edge. I tried to be grateful the intense heat had gone, but it was hard to summon gratitude when we could still die.

“It wasn’t the Silver Queen or Lady Luck,”

Leif said as we waited for the wind to die down.

“They’ve both marked me as their favorite.”

So he was the second marked by Lady Luck. And the sole chosen competitor from the Silver Queen. I glanced to the tattoos of wheat and a fish on his ankle.

“Must be nice. Plus you’re working with Dimitri.”

He grinned, like he’d forgotten I knew that.

“That’s right. Three Stone Gods, plus my father’s wealth to buy whatever food, drinks, weapons, or potions I want. No one else stands a chance.”

I glanced down.

“All it would take is for me to jump, and you’d fall too. All your father’s wealth or the stone gods couldn’t save you from that.”

His smile withered.

“No, they certainly hadn’t accounted for you.”

His sight dropped to my necklace.

“Are you going to tell me where you got that yet?”

I tucked it away.

“The wind stopped. Jump in three, two, one.”

We jumped.

“Come on,”

he said as he righted himself.

“You don’t look the type to steal necklaces from dead bodies. I’m just curious how one of the Lord of the Isle’s necklaces ended up in your hands.”

“I’m glad you brought up Callahan. Do you plan to kill your dear godfather for Dimitri’s sake?”

I knew more about Dimitri now—about how he’d created this labyrinth when he bled himself into magic found in a garden, how the first winner used his wish to bind Dimitri to the woods and marry the girl Dimitri loved, and how their descendant became Callahan’s line.

About how Dimitri wanted revenge, all these years later.

And somehow, he thought Leif could get it for him.

“Is that it? Dimitri helps you win, and you’ll kill Callahan for him?”

He studied me.

“I’ll tell you my deal with Dimitri if you tell me about the necklace.”

My secret was worth far more than his. We jumped again. I debated a lie to convince Leif of where I’d found the necklace, anything to appease him so I could hear more about his dealings with Dimitri, when I spotted something ahead.

“We are almost to the end!”

At last, I’d be reunited with the proper ground.

We jumped across the last few stones, but it wasn’t the end. Not quite. A wall a few feet taller than Leif blocked us from the final platform. We could see the end but until we crossed the wall, we wouldn’t reach it.

“I’ll help you over first,”

Leif said, already twining his fingers together for me to step into.

I threw my sword, axe, and bag over first, then stepped into his hands. He hoisted me high enough to claw my way to the top, before the chain snapped tight.

“You have to climb at the same time,”

I called as I hung there.

“The chain won’t stretch far enough.”

From the sound of it, Leif had jumped high enough to grab the ledge beside me. He heaved himself upward.

My headache throbbed. My side seared. Yet pride gave me enough strength to haul myself to the top of the ledge on my own, panting as I sat beside him.

“You first,”

Leif said, swinging one leg over the side of the wall. We straddled it, facing each other, while the entire world sat below us.

“The necklace?”

“What makes you so sure I didn’t pluck it off a dead body?”

“Doesn’t seem your style. But I’m going to sweeten the deal. I’ll give you fifty coppers if you give me the necklace along with the honest truth of how it came to you, and in return, I tell you about Dimitri.”

Fifty coppers would feed me and Mother for a long time. My fingers curled around the necklace.

“Why do you care so much?”

“Because of Dimitri. I’m not planning to kill Callahan. I’m going to kill his daughter, coincidentally the last person to wear that necklace. So tell me, Seaweed, how did you come to acquire Allison Dellado’s necklace?”

I might as well have fallen off the parapet with how fast my head spun. The world tilted below me, throwing me off balance, plunging my reality into unknown waters.

I’d never been more grateful not to have inherited my mother’s appearances.

So this was Dimitri’s revenge. He sought to kill his first love’s descendants, but it wasn’t Callahan.

It was my mother.

She’d left that part out of her bedtime stories. All this time, I’d been focused on my father’s name. She’d changed her last name, but Leif had to mean her. Why had my mother hidden herself away all these years from her father? Surely Callahan could have protected Gerald’s wife and daughter.

What if my father didn’t protect us from those who sought to bring us harm, but hide us from those who loved us?

Nothing felt certain anymore. A rock settled in my gut, sour and sharp, making it hard to swallow.

My words came weakly.

“Dimitri wants to kill Allison?”

“He’s convinced he can smell her in the air. Says she’s entered the labyrinth. If I show him the necklace, along with your tale of how you got it, I can convince him she’s not here.”

The truth sat in front of Leif. He’d put it together soon. How I got the necklace. Who I was.

Dimitri can smell me.

Leif swung from the wall, forcing me to drop with him. We were safe—finally across the parapet and on a solid podium with a steep slide leading back into the labyrinth. I recollected my weapons, feeling lightheaded enough to tip off the edge.

The shackle around our ankles disappeared. If I fell now, Leif would be fine.

He blocked the slide, taking his sword from its sheath.

White-hot anger flashed through me.

“I thought you said you weren’t a killer.”

He held out a hand.

“The necklace and the truth. Now.”

“Perhaps Allison made copies, and that’s why you think its the same. I bought this for two coppers from a street merchant on Providence.”

“Impossible. Gerald Montclair killed Allison seventeen years ago.”

I gripped the pommel of my sword, my fingers digging into the metal, letting the feeling ground me. My mouth opened and closed wordlessly before I formed anything coherent.

“But—if she’s dead—I thought you said Dimitri wanted to kill her?”

“I told you. He thinks he smells her. What he smells is your necklace, which I will take even if I have to slice your head off to get it.”

No. That was too much. And I’d gone too long without being in control. Whatever happened seventeen years ago, I’d figure the truth out on my own. It wasn’t what he thought. My father didn’t kill my mother. He married her.

For now, Leif was becoming a problem.

Dimitri would be another problem.

But this necklace wouldn’t leave my neck. I lifted my hands to the clasp of my jewelry. The motion captured his attention. His blade lowered.

Before he could blink, I dropped the necklace and shoved him as hard as I could.