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The winter air bit at my skin as I sprinted through the labyrinth. Snow crunched beneath my boots, the sound betraying me. My breath plumed in frantic bursts. It misted before me as I ran. The wolves were closing in—I could hear their growls and snapping jaws echoing off the icy stone walls.

The labyrinth was a cruel trap in winter. The passages grew narrower and more treacherous. I slipped on a patch of ice, catching myself just in time on the frozen edge of the wall. My hands burned from the cold, and it made my fingers numb. There was no time to pause. No time to feel.

A chilling howl split the night, and my heart leapt in my chest. It came from the right—but I thought they were on my left?

They weren’t just hunting me. They were cornering me.

“Wretched labyrinth,”

I hissed, shoving myself forward. My muscles screamed in protest, exhausted from hours of running during the day, but I forced them to obey. The wolves didn’t tire. They didn’t falter. And the snow only seemed to embolden them, their dark forms blending into the shifting shadows of the labyrinth.

The moon hung low and distant in the sky, its light weak against the oppressive dark. I was running north, not east, but right now, I didn’t care. I clung to what little I could see, my eyes darting between paths as I tried to navigate the maze. My mind was too clouded with fear to focus.

A sudden snarl erupted behind me—closer now. Too close. My pulse surged as I darted left, skidding on the icy ground and nearly colliding with the wall. The wolves were right on my heels. I could feel them gaining, their hot breath curling through the frigid air.

My hand flew to the hilt of my dagger. I didn’t want to fight them—not here, not now—but I might not have a choice. If I survived, it’d be by the skin of my teeth. And Dimitri… Dimitri would send more.

Another howl rose, this one sharper, angrier. It cut through the wind like a blade, and I realized with a jolt of terror that the pack had split again. They were ahead now, waiting to block my path.

“No.”

My voice trembled.

“Not like this.”

I turned down a narrow corridor with walls glittering with frost like jagged teeth. The path was suffocatingly tight, but it gave me an advantage—the wolves couldn’t swarm me here.

Which was good, because they were here.

The first of the pack lunged into the passage, its claws scraping against the frozen ground as it bounded toward me. I whirled, my dagger flashing in the moonlight.

The blade struck true, slicing across the wolf’s muzzle. It yelped, recoiling, but another was already charging. I didn’t wait. I spun and bolted down the passage, my boots slipping but finding just enough purchase to keep me upright.

My lungs burned, my vision blurred, but I kept running, kept weaving through the labyrinth. Snowflakes fell heavier now, clinging to my lashes and cloaking the ground in an ever-thickening blanket. The wolves’ growls echoed through the twisting walls, a cruel reminder that they were still hunting me, still closing in.

At last, I saw it—the vibrant glow of a flower overtop a narrow archway that’d half-collapsed beneath a cascade of icicles.

“About time,”

I grumbled. Followed by a kinder.

“Thank you.”

I didn’t know where it led, but it didn’t matter. It was an escape, however fleeting. With a wolf snapping at my heels, I dove, slipping beneath the sharp ice just as the wolf got a mouthful of my tunic. The hem tore.

I’d lost a sleeve, and the ends of my tunic. It wasn’t a good day for my wardrobe.

But I lived.

While the wolves tried in vain to find a way after me, I examined where I was. The passage beyond was dark and cramped, the air colder than ever. But it was quiet. The wolves didn’t follow, their snarls fading into frustrated howls. I slumped against the frozen wall, her chest heaving, her hands trembling around the hilt of her dagger.

For now, I was safe. But winter had a way of turning fleeting victories into frozen graves. And I wasn’t out of the labyrinth yet.

Delilah’s light glowed again. It beckoned me deeper into the cave. My body protested that it didn’t get rest, but Delilah saved me twice today, and I wouldn’t anger her by not following her call. I pulled myself to my feet to wander down the cave, where the air tasted stale and the only light was that which Delilah provided.

Five minutes later, I was deeply grateful I’d followed Delilah when it led me to a pool of glistening blue water.

I dropped to my knees to drink. Somehow the water wasn’t frozen, and nothing had ever tasted more glorious. I drank until my stomach could burst, then I rolled to my side.

Delilah looked down upon me. She wore a thick dress with long sleeves and stitching up the middle, with a wool cloak over her shoulders. The black fur contrasted the white of her stone skin.

In surprise, I scrambled to my feet.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“No one ever is,”

she said with a smile as if it were a joke I didn’t understand. Her hair had been braided then wrapped like a crown on her head, though a wayward piece fell as she tilted her head.

“You are a difficult mortal to keep alive.”

I dried my mouth.

“I appreciate the effort. Truly, I do.”

“It’s not over yet.”

She passed me a thick wool cloak colored green and white, like snow overtop grass. I eagerly wrapped it around myself as she went on.

“The Stone Gods loyal to Dimitri have set their sights on you to gain his favor. You might not win this one.”

It took a moment to realize she meant the labyrinth. My fingers fell from the laces of the cloak.

“No, winning is everything to me. Those are my father’s ships.”

“And yet, most of the labyrinth wants you dead. How long do you suppose you can outrun them?”

For as long as she’s able to keep me alive, I thought, but it didn’t feel fair to say it. Truth was, I was at her mercy here. Without Delilah, I’d be dead.

But without me.

“You wouldn’t get your mortality if I left.”

“You can trade someone’s life for mine before you leave.”

I frowned.

“That wasn’t our deal. I have to win, remember?”

“What do you think happens then? You’ll be taken out of the labyrinth. I need you to slay someone before you win, and bind their existence to the labyrinth in exchange for me.”

“But if you aren’t a Stone God anymore, who will keep me safe?”

She grinned.

“This is a delicate game you and I chose to play.”

I thought for a bit.

“Get me to the end—but before I step into the center, I will wait to kill the next person who reaches it.”

“No longer set on killing Leif Balgoran?”

Her knowing eyes went to my pocket, where Clark’s note was.

I can’t stay and watch you fall in love with someone else.

I tugged my cloak tighter.

“I’m thinking an easier target.”

Delilah chuckled.

“Regardless, I can’t get you to the end. I can keep you safe, but that was our deal. Stone Gods can manipulate, but I can’t force the winner. You must earn your victory.”

I couldn’t be more than a few days away from the center. Perhaps only one. But that one day was filled with Stone Gods, wolves, and perhaps other competitors who were all just as determined to win—and far deadlier.

“Remember your vow. You will free me—or you will gain one more Stone God trying to kill you.”

Then she vanished, leaving behind a cold cave and the rippling water.

When I turned, a new face appeared.

Thief grew up as boys often do—with a knack for trouble. Whatever scheme danced through his mind, he followed it. And more often than not, it was the thieving kind. When the labyrinth opened on his island, Thief saw it as a golden opportunity. A maze filled with riches, with Pearls too distracted to guard their purses? It was a thief’s paradise.

He slipped through the shadows, quick as a whisper. Before long, his pockets jingled with stolen coins. He dreamed of wealth beyond measure, a boy well on his way to becoming rich. But fate has a way of weaving threads unnoticed.

Deep within the labyrinth, Thief stumbled into Dimitri’s temple. Tokens lay scattered at the altar, offerings from desperate souls seeking the god’s favor.

And, of course, Thief took them too.

Dimitri watched the boy’s escapades with amusement, enjoying the daring of his nimble fingers.

But when the boy dared to steal from the god himself, amusement turned to wrath.

In retribution, Dimitri transformed Thief into a Stone God. He gave him the labyrinth as his playground and whatever riches he desired.

But there was a price.

No longer could Thief take what was not freely given. He could not steal from the mortals who wandered the maze. Instead, Dimitri decreed, he must trade with them—bargain for what he desired.

And so, Thief remains within the labyrinth, surrounded by treasures, yet longing for the thrill of the steal. A lesson etched in stone.

For even the cleverest hands cannot outwit the gods forever.