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I shook long after the wolves ran away.

“We should have helped.”

I tried not to look at the boy.

“We are trying not to end up like him.”

Clark’s face was as white as the temple walls around us.

“Let’s keep moving before anything else comes.”

With a pit in my stomach, we ran toward the east—the opposite way the wolves had gone. It didn’t matter. I swore I could still hear the pound of their paws following us, and that soon I’d feel the sting of their teeth.

When the wind came, I leapt. Clark had been right last night—the days were getting colder. The change to each of the other seasons came swiftly, but the labyrinth slowly pulled us toward winter. It wouldn’t surprise me if we found frost when we woke tomorrow. I’d always found autumn to be the most beautiful, but these colors reminded me of death and the smell hit like decaying bodies. It was almost as if the maze wanted us to feel like we were dying, like our time was running short.

The day passed slowly. The water tasted awful but I could be grateful for it when we had nothing else. We were picking at all the trees for something to put in our bellies, and lapping up any pools of still water we could find.

Every so often my necklace would warm again as Delilah protected us from a danger unseen.

“At least one Stone God is on our side,”

Clark said.

“Thankfully,”

I said over my shoulder.

“I’d probably be dead without her.”

I walked a few paces ahead, my boots crunching softly against the leaves. My breath was visible in the cool air, little wisps that curled and disappeared into the stillness. Every so often, I would pause at a corner, my hand brushing against the rough, weathered stone, my eyes scanning the winding path ahead.

Clark followed close behind, his steps quieter but no less deliberate. Whenever I checked on him, his eyes were flicking to the edges of the corridor to watch for movement in the shadows. A single wolf howled in the distance, its sound bouncing eerily off the towering walls. He tightened his grip on his sword.

“We’re getting closer,”

I said, my voice barely above a whisper. I glanced behind at him, my brow furrowed.

“You feel it, don’t you?”

Clark nodded, his gaze narrowing on the path ahead.

“Yeah. The air feels… heavier.”

It was true. Each step seemed to draw us deeper into the labyrinth’s grip. The walls pressed closer, the vines creeping along the stones, curling inward like grasping fingers. The quiet of the air felt unnatural. It was broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves stirred by an unseen breeze.

I stopped at a fork in the path. My hand hovered above a faint carving on the wall. The symbol was ancient, its edges worn by time. The symbol of a wildflower.

I thought of Delilah, of the flowers in her hair and on her dresses. Of the garden outside her temple.

“This way.”

I pointed to the left.

Clark hesitated.

“How can you be sure?”

“She’s guiding us,”

I murmured. Finally, some luck in this maze.

But Leif had Dimitri guiding him as well. I’d seen him do it before. Delilah could lead us straight to the center and we still might not get there in time.

I tasted it now though. I could feel the victory.

We were near.

The symbols continued to guide us. Now that I knew to look, I found them everywhere, and wondered how long she’d been guiding us and I’d been too blind to see it. It led us through the maze, down paths I wouldn’t have thought to take but each ended up taking us closer to the east.

When the sky darkened, I paused.

“The star is so close,”

I breathed. It shone in the sky much closer than it’d ever been, near enough to see it sparkle. Finally.

We could do this. I knew we had a chance, but today I started truly believing it.

Temperatures dipped further, the chill biting through my jacket. The last of the sunrays barely touched the top of the labyrinth’s towering walls.

With the fading light, Delilah’s flower markers dimmed as well. My stomach sunk when they disappeared altogether.

“We need to stop for the night.”

Clark scanned our surroundings.

I wrapped my arms around my body to fight off the chill.

“But we’re so close.”

“Close or not, we can’t keep going like this.”

Clark stepped past me to examine the nearest wall. His fingers trailed along the rough stone where Delilah’s marker had been. Now it looked like nothing had ever been there. His finger fell.

“If we push on, we’ll be stumbling blind. We need to rest.”

I didn’t have strength to argue. Exhaustion pulled at my limbs. I glanced at the shadowed corners of the labyrinth where the faint rustle of leaves seemed louder than it should. “Fine,”

I said softly.

“But where?”

Clark’s eyes landed on a low archway, partially hidden by creeping ivy. The stone above it was etched with faint carvings, so worn by time they were nearly impossible to decipher. “There,”

he said, pointing.

I followed him. He brushed aside the ivy to reveal a narrow opening that led into a small alcove. The chamber inside was dry, its walls thick and intact, muffling the eerie sounds of the labyrinth outside. Fallen leaves and soft moss covered the ground, forming a softest ground we’d come across yet.

“This will do nicely,”

Clark said, setting his sword against the wall and dropping his pack. He scanned the alcove again, his brow furrowed.

“It’s sheltered, at least. Too dark to read anything, but I’ll survive a night without my book.”

I knelt to run her hand over the moss. It left off a putid scent. Still.

“It’s not the worst place we’ve stayed.”

Clark chuckled, lowering himself onto the moss with a heavy sigh.

“That’s a low bar.”

We worked in silence, gathering what little we had to make the space more comfortable. I lay out my pack to rest upon while Clark pulled the ivy back over the archway to obscure it. As the last traces of daylight disappeared, we settled in. I sat with my back against the wall, hugging my knees as I stared at the twilight.

“Do you think Delilah’s markings will still be there in the morning?”

Clark glanced at me, his face half-lit by the faint light.

“I’m not sure. She led us here at least.”

I listened for other sounds, but the labyrinth lay quiet.

“Do you think anyone else has made it this far?”

“I’d wager ten coppers that we are one of the furthest ones. The center is so close. There can’t be many between it and us.”

A shiver of excitement ran up my arms. It was a new feeling compared to the fear from before. I quite liked the taste of it.

“If we win, we can wager with a lot more than ten coppers. We’ll start wagering ships.”

Clark huffed a quiet laugh, then put on a fake voice as if we were high class.

“I’ll wager your fastest ship that I’ll deliver all my wares by the morning.”

“With these storms, not likely.”

“You’d be surprised. The people need their gold, and I’ve got a hundred thousand tons to be delivered.”

I leaned my head back, placing my axe on my lap.

“Our ships can’t hold that much weight.”

“Don’t spoil the fun. Twenty thousand then. The people of the Shallows need their gold.”

“Better.”

The silence settled around us, broken only by the faint whistle of wind threading through the labyrinth. Clark’s eyelids fluttered. Twice he stopped himself, jolting his body awake.

“Get some rest,”

I told him.

“I’ll keep watch.”

“Wake me if anything happens,”

he murmured. His eyelids shut.

The labyrinth kept quiet for hours while I thought of the center, how close we were, and what would happen when we won. Would the maze tremble before disappearing? Would we have to find our way out? And how would I get to the Silver Wings to tell them I’d won?

Once I won, how long until I found my father?

I’d tried not to think of my father often while in the labyrinth. He’d consumed so much of my thoughts my entire life that it felt like closing the door on half of me. I’d open the door soon. Winning this labyrinth meant nothing if I couldn’t find him, because my life as captain of the Silver Wings was always meant to happen at his side. Without him there, it wouldn’t be as beautiful.

But two years without correspondence from him…

When this was over, I’d be forced to deal with the possibility that my father was dead.

The thoughts kept me awake, swirling like leaves caught in a restless wind. I closed my eyes, trying to calm my racing mind, when the faint sound of scrambling feet echoed through the maze.

My eyes snapped open. I fumbled for my weapons, my fingers brushing over the cool hilt of my axe, and crawled to the ivy-covered archway. Peering through the tangled vines, I squinted into the darkness, but the path ahead seemed empty, the shadows lying heavy and still.

The sound grew louder, hurried and desperate—a frantic rhythm of boots slapping against stone. My pulse quickened. Then came a ragged shout that cut through the quiet like a blade.

Clark’s head snapped up. His gaze darted to mine, and I pressed a finger to my lips.

“Someone’s fighting,”

I whispered.

He scooted to my side and stared into the maze alongside me. The sound grew nearer, until a figure burst into view, sprinting down the path toward us. His silhouette was backlit by the faint glow of a distant torch, casting him in flickering shadows.

The runner moved like his life depended on it—because it did. Behind him, three others were in relentless pursuit.

“He's injured,”

I whispered, noticing the uneven rhythm of his steps. His limp slowed him, and his breaths came in haggard, shallow gasps that echoed through the corridor. He clutched a dagger in one hand, its edge glinting weakly in the dim light.

“He’s not going to make it,”

Clark muttered beside me.

The lead pursuer surged forward with a burst of speed, closing the gap in an instant. The impact was brutal. The attacker tackled the runner from behind, their bodies colliding with a sickening thud that reverberated through the walls.

I froze. my heart hammered in my chest as loudly as it beat from my tattoo. My necklace warmed against my skin. Delilah was protecting us from their sight.

When the boy lifted his head, his wide, frantic eyes scanned the darkness. He didn’t see us, hidden in the shadows of the ivy, but I saw him.

“That’s Leif.”