“The mechanical garden,” he said. “I’ll come with Master Talik.”
“I’ll be there.”
He forced a smile. “I’ll take your promise.”
“Then I promise.”Thispromise I’d keep even if the sky fell on us somehow.
I mean, time had actually moved backward at one point, even if I didn’t remember it, so stranger thingshadhappened.
He nodded, closed his eyes, breathed in deeply to gather himself. “Don’t be late,” he whispered.
I smiled. “Don’t be slow.”
Then we were on our way.
Kohen and Damonled us to the missing bar of the Labyrinth fence again. Just like last time, we had to crawl underneath, and the night was dark, no moon in sight, but I still felt like all the lights of the world were on us.
I also still feltnakedwithout March standing there beside me. I’d gotten used to his presence so quickly it was a little concerning. Good thing there was no time to dwell.
“Right,” Levana whispered when we got to the other side, hidden in the darkness. “Kitchen, metal plaques, mechanical garden. Let’s get this over with before I lose my nerve.”
“You have nerves?” Russ muttered and earned an elbow in his gut that knocked the wind out of him the very next second. A few chuckled. I smiled, too, if only to ease my anxiety.
“We’ll be all right,” I said. “In and out of the palace—no stops, no distractions.” It sounded so simple.
“And if we run into soldiers?” Erith asked.
Seth answered, “We run faster than them.”
Maybe it wasn’t much of a plan per se—but then again, none of our plans had been much of anything, and we were still here, weren’t we? Against all odds, we were still standing. Still—stupid? Brave?—enough to keep going.
And there was no going back now.
As we walked toward the dark trees close to the fence, I’d managed to convince myself, if only for a little bit, that wecouldactually pull this off for real—and survive to tell the tale.
There were no soldiers,no guards, not a single soul in sight as we went through the small woods that separated the fence of the Labyrinth from the actual Labyrinth grounds. The palace was there as we’d left it, and the tower of the Great Clock loomed in my peripheral at all times, and it felt like it wasbreathingdown my neck, too, which was all too ridiculous to even consider.
We didn’t make a single sound as we went, on our tiptoes, eyes wide open and ears strained. The lights were dimmer—or maybe it was just me. I could have sworn the last time more of the lanterns placed everywhere around the yards and the gardens had been on, but now most were off. Lifeless.
And then there was the palace.
Too quiet. We noticed it the moment we slipped through the side door—the same one we’d used before, half hidden behind the overgrown roses. We were perfectly aware of the possibility of actually getting caught this time, so we were much more cautious, silent, slower—just in case.
But the corridor beyond was dim, lit only by a few lanterns that flickered weakly as if they were about ready to give up.
No maids. No Timekeepers in dark uniforms. No footsteps echoing from somewhere deeper inside. Just silence—thick and heavy.
We waited a good long moment to make sure nobody would catch us by surprise.
“Where iseveryone?” Levana whispered from behind me.
“Sleeping, hopefully,” said Russ. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“It was the middle of the night last time, too,” Levana muttered. She was right—they’d found us right away the last time.
But maybe it was agoodthing that nobody was there to wait for us when we went through the door, right? Maybe it was a good thing that nobody was awake.
Except…rotten seconds,my thoughts insisted.Something smells like rotten seconds.
