“Too crowded?—”
“Too hot?—”
“How are we going to ever get up?—”
They spoke at the same time, all of them, like they were relieved that they finally could. Relieved that everyone else was talking, too.
I couldn’t bring myself to say a single word, only look up at that massive structure, at those branches and those leaves, and what was glowing faintly on the bark—blue, but I couldn’t be too sure. I was too far away. I was…under.
“Do you think it’s real?” March then whispered from beside me while the others still talked.
“I don’t know. There’s…something about it.” Something I could almost touch.
“Guys—keep moving,” Cook said from behind. “The Timekeeper said not to linger.”
Of course, he was right.
On we went, March and I at the front, the needle of the seeker pointing straight ahead, but I wasn’t as terrified as I had been when we first started.
When the tunnel branched again, the seeker pulled us right, then right again, then down a short flight of iron stairs that rattled under our weight.
The next room we passed under was a bit darker, smaller, filled with what looked like mirrors arranged in a circle, each one reflecting something different despite the fact that there was nothing between them to reflect. Something…shapeless. Like ink in a glass of water—or maybe the glass was too cloudy for us to see properly. We didn’t stop to inspect it this time at all.
After that, the ceiling showed us a long, narrow corridorwith doors on both sides, each a different color, each slightly ajar.
“Definitely games,” said Levana. “What else could these places be?”
“Areallthese inside the Labyrinth?”
“It would seem so if we’reunderit.”
Shivers ran down my spine. Apparently, the Timekeeper hadn’t been kidding when he saidunder the Labyrinth.
“So many games…”
“Guys, does any of it look familiar? Do you thinkweplayed one of these games?”
“How big even is this place?” Seth whispered. “Because it feels like we’re walking through its skeleton.”
“Thanks for the image, sandbrain,” Russ muttered, and he was right. Imagining we were walking through a skeleton didnotdo us any favors.
“Just saying,” Seth said with a shrug.
The tunnel opened into wider spaces the deeper we went. More rooms than tunnels, connected with low archways and iron doors that were all open. Any time we passed through, the needle on the seeker would vibrate so hard it made my arm move, which made me wonder if Silas had used magic to get through these doors, too.
There was no way to know for sure because magic buzzed naturally in the air here with every breath I took, but it was a possibility. Since we hadn’t found him yet, and hadn’t run into a blockade, it was a very real possibility.
Eventually, we entered a circular room with a domed glass ceiling, which was a first. And when we caught a glimpse of it—our eyes were upward any time we went through a door—we all gasped, froze, panicked.
Because above us werepeople.
At least we thought so at first. A lot of people standing in a circle over the glass, except…they weren’t moving.
That’s because they weren’t made of flesh and bones. They werewooden.
Wooden mannequins filled the room above us. Life-sized, painted in colors that had faded over the years, and they stood in rows, their jointed arms frozen mid-gesture, their painted faces smiling identical smiles.
My heart might have run from me in those moments if it wasn’t for my ribcage. They looked so awfully real it was impossible.
