Aside from Atticus, there were no candidates I’d wish dead. At least I could be sure that the victim wasn’t Lear—she was somewhere ahead of me.
I also had no idea what had killed them. The caverns were alive with danger, so it didn’t necessarily follow that the minotaur was responsible. Ididknow that he’d be drawn by the sound, which meant I needed to get movingnow.
Pivoting on my heel, I pocketed my pouch as I began walking fast, trying and failing to muffle the sounds of my footsteps. The blanket of gritty dirt and dead leaves made it impossible.
At one point, the muffled roar of a waterfall reached me. The idea of a swim would have delighted me if I didn’t suspect that the water might be contaminated or something.
I clamped my lips shut as I barreled through a cluster of buzzing mosquitos. A cluster that seemed to go on and on and on. A tinypinchtold me that I’d been bit on my neck. Great.
I picked up speed, finally becoming clear of the swarm. My pace faltered as I came upon a large pile of rocks. They blocked my path, but not completely. The pile didn’t reach the ceiling, which meant I’d have enough room to slide over it and clamber down the other side.
I rolled my shoulders. Yes, I could do that. I crossed to the pile, my gut clenching as I noticed two things.
One, it wasn’t merely a heap of rocks. There were also small bones there.Ew.
Two, critters were crawling all over it.
I did a full-body shiver.
It was fine. I could ignore the insects, I could ignore the bones, I could—
A faraway growl echoed along the passage. Ghostly fingers whispered down my spine. Yeah, I was totally scaling this pile, all else be damned.
I quickly began to climb, careful not to dislodge any rocks—the sound would for sure attract the minotaur’s attention.
I almost snatched back my hand as a centipede skittered over it.Dear gods.I shuddered. Fuck this Xalbia bullshit.
Up and up I climbed, telling myself a scorpion hadn’t found its way onto my back. Telling myself there weren’t ants in my hair. Telling myself the spider on my arm wasn’t poisonous.
Finally, I reached the top of the heap. I cautiously eased my way over it, thanking the gods when no rocks went skipping down the pile.
I descended the mountain of rocks, bones, and insects … only to step right into an ankle-deep puddle. Adirtypuddle. Wonderful.
Having bigger things to worry about, I moved out of the puddle and then danced on the spot—shaking my limbs, batting at my hair, ridding myself of every insect, hissing when something bit my shoulder.
When I was sure I was free of the little buggers that had been crawling all over me, I exhaled heavily. Fine tremors were running through my entire body. To think that I hadn’t even finished the second circuit yet …
Needing to get out of hereyesterday, I forced myself to continue onward. I pushed my way through more spiny foliage, stepped over more tree roots, encountered more mosquito swarms, and came too close to toppling into an army ant’s nest. The whole while, the sound of the waterfall became louder and louder.
Reaching a stone wall, I paused. It was angled so that it lay at a slight incline. It was also covered in something that looked like grease.
Two vines draped over it like ropes. One seemed thick and sturdy. The other looked thin and frail. I reached for the first vine and—
Wait.
I stilled, my fingers mere inches away from it. Thorns. It was covered in tiny thorns.Well, shit.
Letting out a quiet curse, I closed my hand around the slimmer vine and tugged hard. It held. I yanked harder. It still held. Clinging to it tight with both hands, I stepped onto the wall.
And my foot slipped right off.
I kept hold of the vine, but my knees bashed into the grimy wall.Fuck!
Anger became a flame in my blood. Anger at the Sovereigns. Anger at Xalbia. Anger at whoever designed and created the labyrinth.
I tightened my grip on the vine and tried ascending the wall again. Same result. I retried it once more. Again, I achieved the same result.
Hissing through my teeth at the throbbing pain in my abused knees, I switched tactics; used only my hands to heave my way up the wall. It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t fast. It wasn’t painless—the rough vine burned and grazed my palms, taking away layers of skin.
