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“An animal that looks like death and kills you with its scream.” She shivered. “To avoid death, you require ear protection, which I’m sure they won’t provide.”
“Shh,” Kaley hissed, glaring at us.
Great, now I felt like we were in grade school.
“If you reach the center of the maze, you’re safe. No one can harm you. Until you get there, nothing is off the table. Caden will be in the center, ensuring no one cheats.” Quinley raised both hands, and the crowd went wild.
When Eamon lifted the lute, my stomach churned. This was it. The last day of my life. I had to put some distance between myself and Curry and his followers and hope like hell I could find Kieran.
Eamon thrummed the lute.
I grabbed the hilt of my sword and rushed inside, Curry, Lesli, and Mackenna right behind me. I heard them unsheathe their weapons, and I could feel a sense of the attack to come.
As I stepped into the maze, the trail split and fog misted from the vines on the path, thickening in seconds. I didn’t want to hang around to find out if this fog was anything like the one in the cave trial.
Betting that they would put the fog in the direction we needed to go, I pivoted right just as Curry, Lesli, and Mackenna blocked my way.
Curry had his sword in hand while Lesli and Mackenna held daggers. At least they weren’t all using swords. I wondered if Kieran had trained me with a sword to put me on more equal ground with Curry.
I lifted my sword, the sun glinting off the white snowflake that signified Winter. “What do you want?” I already knew, but I wanted to hear them say it.
“You need to run,” Moire whispered, appearing at my side.
Any doubt I’d held toward Moire shattered completely. She reminded me of Maeve. She was different and not as cutthroat as the rest.
“Stop being frosty,” Mackenna seethed as the fog drifted toward them, thick as a cloud. “You’re going to die alongside her.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t plan it that way anyway,” Moire shot back, removing a knife with shaky hands. “At least this way, I go down protecting my princess, the rightful queen.”
Oh damn. She wasn’t pulling punches. I refused to let something happen to her. She was a good person, and she didn’t know I didn’t want to be queen. “If you want to hurt her, you have to go through me.” I stepped forward and whispered, “Run. If you see Kieran, send him this way.”
Moire’s eyes became the size of saucers, and she nodded and spun on her heels, going to the left. I hoped she found the center before these three idiots killed me and came searching for her.
The white cloud blanketed the three of them and moved toward me.
Mackenna whimpered. “Something’s wrong.”
My heart raced. Whatever was in the fog would come for me next. I spun and ran after Moire. I didn’t give a damn if it was the wrong direction as long as I got away from the fog, but then the mist swirled around me too.
I stumbled and fell to my knees. I lowered my hands, making sure the sword didn’t stab me as I crawled after Moire.
Curry coughed somewhere behind me, and I turned to see if he was close, but all I saw was white. The cloud had taken them.
“I can’t breathe,” Lesli croaked behind me, and I knew I had to get the fuck out of here.
My chest tightened, and I tried to breathe slowly, but as the mist thickened around me, the end had to be near. I couldn’t see, smell, or hear a damn thing except for my heartbeat hammering in my ears.
Small goals, I chanted in my head. I had to channel Stan; he’d been on battlefields, which was exactly what this was.
I crawled forward, inch by inch. That was my one goal.
My eyes burned, and dirt kicked up around me. Time seemed to go on forever.
“Princess Alina?” I thought I heard, though it had to be my imagination. Still, it was enough to keep me powering on.
One more foot, I kept repeating, pushing myself onward. Then something amazing happened.
The fog didn’t seem as opaque.
