“That’s it? All that, for what? A window?”
“A window’s better than nothing,” Zephyr said, nimbly skippingover a crack in the ground as she joined the group in front of the wall. “At least now we can get an idea of what to expect whenever we do get through.”
Leona snorted. “Pray, tell us then, little greenfoot”—she gave Zephyr a poison-laced smile—“what lies ahead for us in this great trial?”
Beside Elyria, Cedric tensed.
Zephyr cleared her throat. “Um, I see...” She strained on the tips of her toes to peer through the pane of ice. “Hallways? That can’t be right.”
“Let me see.” Leona shouldered Zephyr out of the way, the sylvan releasing a pained gasp as the sorcerer trampled her foot.
Elyria fisted her hands at her side to keep herself from strangling the bitch.
“Not hallways,” Leona said, her voice suddenly serious. Studious. “Passages, perhaps. Narrow. Winding. Sh—” She jumped back, startled.
“What? What is it?” Belien asked, elbowing Cyren aside as he stepped next to Leona.
Her eyes met his with some unspoken understanding. “Shifting,” she said, her voice low.
“Shifting?” Nox was suddenly there, movement silent as the wind. They peered through the makeshift window and released a long breath. “It’s a labyrinth.”
29
UNITY
ELYRIA
“A labyrinth?”Zephyr was back on her tiptoes, trying to look through the icy window once more.
“Will ye all stop repeating one another?” Thraigg said with a grunt. “Yer echoes are bound to drive me insane.”
Sunlight glinted off Nox’s horns. “The real challenge is in there, then. We’re merely at the starting line.”
“And who knows what is held within,” added Cedric.
“Well, we know one thing,” said Leona, drawing her shoulders back.
Elyria caught Kit’s eye and tried not to groan. “And that would be...?”
“There’s always a prize at the center of a labyrinth.”
“Oh, therealwaysis, is there?” Kitsaid. “Says who?”
Leona’s eyes narrowed. “I—” She cleared her throat. “It is simply known.”
“Do you have any idea how daft that sounds?”
Belien stepped in front of Leona as if to shield her from Kit’s sarcasm. “Do you have any idea how stupidyousound? What if it’s the crown in there?”
“Precisely.” Leona dipped her chin at him in thanks. “Which is why we need to get in.”
“I tried,” Elyria said. “Yousaw metry.”
“Clearly, you didn’t try hard enough.”
“How about you give it a go then, Blackwood?” Kit spat.
“Gladly.” Leona stepped forward, her hand clutched around the token hanging from a chain around her neck. Her lips moving with some silent spell, she raised a hand and pointed at the wall of roots as if she might scold it into movement.
