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“Does anyone else feel like we’ve been walking in circles?” Brandon muttered, glancing at the identical trees surrounding us.

“Told you,” Silas said. “This forest is messing with us on purpose.”

Brandon snorted. “Or maybe you’re just shit at directions.”

“Tucker, you’re getting on my last nerve, I swear—”

“Guys,” I interrupted, exhaling sharply. “Can we focus? You know, on getting the sigils?”

Marnie chuckled beside me. “I honestly don’t know how you survived living in the same dorm with them for so long.”

I didn’t know how, either. “I barely did,” I said dryly, earning a smirk from her.

Behind us, Silas was still grumbling, “I feel wildly unappreciated right now.”

“You’ll live,” I called over my shoulder, and the exchange between us brought me a flicker of warmth, easing the anxiety clawing at me since the competition began.

Except it was short-lived.

The deeper we went into the forest, the heavier the air felt. Shadows stretched for too long under the night sky, and the trees only seemed to close in tighter with every step we took.

“You know,” Brandon said after a while, “we should really come up with a way to mark where we’ve been.”

Marnie raised an eyebrow at him. “And how exactly do you plan to do that? Leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind?”

“Maybe carve something into the trees,” he suggested, ignoring her sarcasm.

Silas snickered. “With what? Your stick?”

“It’s a spear.”

“No, it’s a glorified stick.”

“You have a fucking branch to defend yourself with; stop talking.”

Marnie stifled a laugh at both Brandon and Silas, and I couldn’t help but crack a small smile.

Sometimes, I wished—no, I always hoped for a moment like this where everything felt normal, like we were just a group of friends out for a walk in the woods instead of being hunted by monsters and Celestial judgment.

But that wasn’t the case. Not for me. Not ever.

A sudden rustling sound had us all stop.

I tightened my grip on my blade, my pulse so loud it drowned out the words Brandon was muttering.

“Relax,” a familiar voice drawled from somewhere to the left.

Hunter stepped into view with his spear hanging loosely at his side, and relief shot through me, seeing him again, even if it was under different circumstances.

“Finally!” Silas said.

Hunter rolled his eyes at him before they locked on me, his focus so intense it felt almost tangible. “Any luck?”

I shook my head, though I was finding it impossible to breathe. “Nothing yet.”

His gaze lingered on me for a moment too long, reminding me of how much was still left unspoken between us.

My chest tightened, and everyone around us seemed to notice. Marnie cleared her throat loudly, and I tore my gaze away.

Suddenly, the ground became the most fascinating thing in the world as I stared at it. Unlike everything else, it wasn’t threatening to tip me over the edge. It was solid, steady—something I could rely on when the rest of me felt like I was free-falling.

Gravity couldn’t pull me under as long as my focus stayed there.

The five of us moved together this time, as the earlier humor had drained from our group. The only sounds were the crunch of leaves and the occasional twig snap as we stalked through the forest. Hunter took the lead, guiding us through paths like he knew exactly where he was going.

“Does anyone else feel like we’re being watched?” Marnie whispered, glancing over her shoulder as she shuddered.

“We’re always being watched,” Silas muttered. “The Council are probably having a good laugh at us right now from the comfort of their headquarters.”

“Either that or the monster from earlier is watching us, too,” Brandon added.

I opened my mouth to say something reassuring, but honestly, I wasn’t sure I could come up with anything worth comforting.

“Wait, stop.” Hunter held up a hand, and we all came to a standstill beside him. My gaze tracked his, and that was when I saw a faint golden glow peeking out from beneath the roots of a gnarled tree. It was barely visible through the dense underbrush. Still, there was no mistaking what it was.

“Another stone,” I whispered.

“Thank fuck,” Silas said, stepping forward, but Hunter slapped a hand against Silas’s chest, stopping him in his tracks.

Hunter approached it cautiously, the group spreading out in a loose circle around the tree. The sigil stone pulsed faintly, just as the last one had done before we realized it was cursed. Up close, I stared at its intricate carvings that seemed to shift the longer I kept my eyes on it.

It looked small and harmless—an object I would gladly collect just for how beautiful it looked. However, the memory of the boy screaming earlier was still fresh in my mind, and I knew that this could just as well be deadly.

“It doesn’t look... cursed?” Marnie said, though there was doubt in her voice.

Hunter crouched by the tree, his spear resting across his knee as he studied the stone. “Looks can be deceiving.”

I knelt beside him, trying to get a closer look at the stone. It was impossible to tell which was the real stone and which wasn’t.

My fingers trembled slightly as I reached for it, but Hunter gripped my wrist, pulling it back. I glanced up at him, and the warning look in his eyes sent an unexpected pulse to my core. Swallowing, I stared right back at him with as much conviction as I could muster. “I can handle myself.”

His jaw flexed. “I know.” A pause. “But that doesn’t mean I want you to.”

I pulled my wrist back. “Then, who else will do it? You?”

“If it means that you’re not the one risking it, then yeah,” he shot back without hesitation.

Sometimes, I wanted to punch him and kiss him all at once. It was a baffling thought.

“You don’t get to decide for me.” I have had too much of that in my life.

“I’m not—”

Before he could fight me on this, I slapped my hand over the stone’s smooth surface just as he yelled my name not to.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, the ground beneath us trembled.

The golden light from the stone spread outward in a wave, illuminating the glade as the trees groaned and their branches curled unnaturally toward the sky.

I stood with the stone in my hand, staring at everyone else as the light continued to spread, swallowing the clearing in its glow.

“What’s happening?” Marnie called out in panic, but I could barely hold myself up. I grabbed Hunter’s arm as he held me, ensuring I didn’t fall.

The ground shifted, cracked, and splintered, and the blade Hunter had given me slipped from my grip, disappearing into the cracks below us.

“It’s changing!” Brandon cried out as the glade went silently still, and then branches twisted together, forming thick, impenetrable walls.

My wide eyes shot to Hunter before another branch came between us, separating me from him, from everyone.

“Grace!” His voice sounded urgent, but I could no longer see him as the world fractured. Everything around me became an endless maze that stretched as far as I could see.

Mist crept in through the branches, and everything became colder, heavier, and still. The only sound was the faint hiss of the sigil stone pulsing in my hand. I looked down at it, its angelic carvings glowing faintly in the dimness.

I was alone.

Fear settled in my chest, and my breaths turned shallow as I whirled around. Everything started spinning, and I couldn’t focus. Pressing a hand to my chest, I could feel each thump of my heart pounding against it, almost as if it were trying to escape its confines. Much how I felt right now.

Trapped and alone.

My fingers curled into the fabric of my uniform, and nails dug into my palms as the edges of my vision blurred.

Stop , I tried to tell my mind, but the panic didn’t lessen for one second. My legs felt even more unsteady than before, and I stumbled forward, bracing myself against the rough bark of the maze-like wall.

I started clawing at my neck, wanting to breathe, but then my fingers brushed something cool and smooth.

Hunter’s necklace.

I closed my eyes, gripping the small charm between my fingers as its familiar shape grounded me.

I could still hear his voice from the day he’d given it to me.

What’s this?

It’s something to focus on. When it gets too much, hold it and ground yourself.

I clung to those words, now holding the blue charm stone like it was the last piece of sanity I had left in me.

My breathing slowed just a little as I pressed the charm against my chest, letting the cold surface sink into my skin.

One breath in. One breath out.

The maze was still there, surrounding me, but the necklace anchored me, pulling me back from it all.

I wasn’t out of the labyrinth yet, but at least I wasn’t lost in my head anymore.

“I can do this,” I whispered, my voice breaking the silence. “I can figure this out.”

I wasn’t going to let this place win.

Not now. Not when I still had time to prove myself to others.

With the sigil stone in my other hand, I straightened, stepping forward—and then another. I didn’t know where I was going, but I wasn’t frozen anymore, and for now, that was enough to keep me going.