I ease the door open just enough to confirm the corridor beyond is empty. There’s silence. No voices. No footsteps. Not even the scrape of movement. The corridor lies unnaturally still, as if the house itself is holding its breath.
I glance back once to Alette. She’s pale, but looks ready.Good.
“Stay close,” I tell her.
It’s not a suggestion.
I slip into the corridor and move quickly, the others at my back. The moment we cross into the kitchen, the air changes. It’s warmer, thicker, carrying the faint scent of herbs and something far less pleasant beneath it.
Then I see it. At the far end of the kitchen, a door hangs slightly open. Rain lashes through the gap, driven sideways by the wind. The storm beyond is a blur of silver and shadow, the labyrinth barely visible through the downpour.
Freedom.
“Back exit,” I murmur, already moving.
My pulse slams hard against my ribs as I cross the room, every step expecting a shout, a hand, a blade… but nothing comes.Maybe, just maybe, we’ll all get out of this in one piece. If the gods are on our side.
I reach the door and shove it wider. Cold rain spatters across my skin, sharp and real, washing away the suffocating heat of the kitchen.
“Now,” I snap, glancing back at them. “Move.”
And I step out into the storm.
The cold rain pelts against our skin as we run, sharp and stinging like tiny needles. The labyrinth looms before us, its twisted paths barely visible in the downpour, swallowed by sheets of silver that cascade from the heavens.
We’re almost there.
I glance back. A figure steps out onto a narrow balcony above the kitchen doors, silhouetted against the dim glow of torchlight. For a single, suspended heartbeat, they just stare down at us, taking in everything. Four figures. Running. Escaping.
Then their mouth opens. “Stop them!”
The shout rips through the rain, loud and carrying, echoing off stone and winding paths.
My blood turns to ice.
“They’ve seen us,” I snap, urgency slicing through every word. “Run!”
I don’t look back again. There’s no time. There’s only the storm. The maze. And the desperate, narrowing chance to disappear before they close in.
The storm roars around us, thunder cracking overhead as we weave through the labyrinth’s winding paths. The rain blinds me, each step a gamble as we search for a way out. My lungs burn with the effort, but I don’t dare slow down. The shoutsgrow louder behind us, echoing in the air, and we all move even faster.
The labyrinth is a maze of dead ends and false hope, each turn leading us deeper into its twisted heart. The storm makes everything worse, the rain turning the ground to slick mud and the lightning casting eerie shadows that make my stomach churn. The world feels chaotic, the storm and the labyrinth converging into a nightmare brought to life.
Alette stumbles beside me, and I catch her arm before she can fall. “Keep going,” I urge, my voice barely audible over the storm’s roar.
“They’re right behind us,” she gasps, her eyes wide with fear.
We take another turn, only to find ourselves facing a solid wall of hedges. A dead end. My stomach drops, dread pooling in my gut as I spin around, searching for another path. The shouts are closer now, the sound of footsteps pounding against the ground like a war drum, relentless and unforgiving.
“This way,” Oberon says, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward another path. His grip is firm, and I follow without hesitation.
We run blindly, the labyrinth’s twists and turns disorienting us at every step. I can’t tell if we’re getting closer to freedom or deeper into its trap. Then, the ground gives way beneath me. There’s no warning. No time to react.
I drop.
A startled shout tears from my throat as my hands claw at empty air. There’s no edge, no grip, no control. The world pitches, spinning into darkness. The ground crashes up hard and unforgiving, pain detonating through my back as the breath is ripped from my lungs. Bodies hit around me at the same instant, Alette and the others.
“Alette—!” Her name tears free before I can stop it.
