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A darkness that I now knew was gobbelins, coming back to life from whatever hell my ancestors had trapped them in. Gola had known they were coming - that it had been my destiny to clash with them in some way.
I broke the surface to breathe and saw my teammates had drifted to the opposite side of the pool, where they were talking in hushed voices. I could have stretched my senses to overhear their conversation or even gone to join them, but instead I dove again.
There was a deep corner of the pool I wanted to see closer, where the sunlight didn’t quite reach. Something was pulling me there, and I knew better than to ignore my instincts.
The water grew colder and numbed my limbs, and the walls of the pool here were bare of all plants. The splotch of darkness could be a cave, or even a tunnel. But where would it lead?
Could it possibly lead all the way to another part of the labyrinth?
Just as I was about to kick back to the surface, movement caught my eye, and a familiar voice slunk into my mind.
Looking for the Book of Prophecy? You can find it through there, though there are easier passages.
A swirl of inky darkness surrounded me.
Gola, I said in my mind, my lungs already starting to ache.How are you here?
Tinkling, watery laughter filled my head.I am a water elemental. Your memory floated to me, so I came to visit.
I ignored the way that didn’t make much sense.Is that really a tunnel? To another section?
The darkness that was really a faded Goddess formed itself into a small octopus-shaped creature, and its eight legs pointed to the tunnel, its bulbous head nodding before it twirled around me, suckers gently plucking at my skin.
These are not the weapons you need, Gola teased, her octopus tentacles curling around my knives.Find your weapons, Kana. I shouldn’t need to tell you again - Haret depends on you.
My lungs were burning now, and I snatched one of my knives back from her, sheathing it at my thigh.Kassian and Luca? But we’ve been separated by the Trial.
Only two? Yet you carry so many, many knives.
I frowned. Was I supposed to have more than Kas and Luca? Rush was a prophet - Nicolas had told me that. I wanted to ask her more questions, but my body was rebelling, thrashing against her tentacles as it struggled toward the surface.
I needed air more than answers, and she was helping with neither.
Beware the darkness, princess. It’s thicker than blood or water, and it will eat... you... alive...
With that disturbing image, Gola propelled me to the surface, where I burst out of the water, gulping the air. I felt her body dissipate as it slid down my legs and deeper into the pool again, and once I’d filled my lungs a few times, I stuck my face back in the water, trying to see where she’d gone.
But the pool was clear and empty again.
Even the tunnel seemed to have vanished, although she had told me theBook of Prophecywas through there. And since that was the book Janus had been given, then there were two entrances to their section, maybe even more.
Interesting.
Popping my head back up, I scanned for Jillian and Darnell, debating how much to tell them.
But... they weren’t there. And as I swam toward the bank, I realized my boots and clothes were gone too.
“Are you fucking serious?” I yelled into the labyrinth. “Bring me my Goddess-damned stuff!”
There was no answer, though. They’d stolen my clothes like a high school prank and tried to leave me.
Would the mist and the maze route them back to me? Or would I have to go searching for them with no shoes?
Fucking pains in my ass.
Grumbling to myself, I climbed out of the water, wringing my tunic as dry as I could get it. I really couldn’t risk walking anywhere without shoes. But the sun was warm and bright, and something unexpected tickled in my gut - the desire to simply wait and see what happened.
Even though it chafed against my nature and training to sit back and watch, I settled down on a flat rock near the water’s edge and began to sun myself dry, waiting for the mist to bring them back here and hoping like hell that the rules hadn’t changed.
