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It stabbed at my own heart. It threatened to close my throat. Breathing was difficult with the weight of so much fear and madness weighing on my mind.
When we reached the amphitheater’s floor, I glanced around. We had to go deeper. I whirled around and caught sight of Ferrier still descending the stone steps of the amphitheater.
“Ferrier, we’re going to have to go back underground. Can you do that?”
Her face paled, and her head began to shake.
“I promise we will be okay. The wraiths won’t get you. I won’t let them. He won’t let them.” I placed a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “All of this is his. And it won’t hurt you now.”
But Ash turned toward me, and I felt his mind within my own, shifting. The amphitheater morphed, its stones cracking and splitting. Dirt tumbled down as a tunnel opened up beneath the steps.
“That’s it!” I rushed toward it.
“Wait,” Ash said. Suddenly the magic was yanked out of my mind. I gasped and stumbled forward. I fell into the stone steps beside the entrance to the tunnel and turned. Ash stood over me, his magic no longer linked with mine.
“If we go in there, every monster in this place will come after us. I cannot keep you safe in there.”
“Yes, you can.” I stood up, my chest close to his.
“No. This place will descend on us. It doesn’t want me to leave. I’m tied to this place. If it senses that I’m attempting an escape, it will throw everything it can at me—at anyone who tries to leave. That’s what this place does, it kills those who try to leave, as the king commanded.”
Ferrier clapped a hand over her mouth. Edith wrapped an arm around her sister’s shoulder.
“You crafted this door to be your final escape,” I reminded him. “It’s a way out, I know it.”
“If death is your way out, then, yes.”
“I still think you’re wrong.” I glanced at them, arms wide. “We have to try.”
Edith shrugged. “I at least want to see the door. Come on, Ferrier. You can do it. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Ash, I know you’ll keep us safe. You won’t let them hurt—”
“It’s not like that. Of course, I want you to stay safe. I’ve tried to keep everyone in here safe and alive for years now. But I’ve failed. I created this place with the magic of twenty mages. I can’t defend against everything that’s in here. Not when it’s all coming toward us at once. And it will. It’s coming now.”
The blue mist twirled in agitated spirals. This place was angry at us.
“Then we should hurry,” I said and darted into the dark tunnel.
20
My footsteps echoed down the long stone corridor and back again.
I pictured a light hovering before me, and to my delight, a glowing orb bobbed along the top of the tunnel ahead of me as I ran. It was so much easier now that I could see and manipulate my magic, but with each spell, I felt a small tug on my bones and muscles, the price of the magic. My legs ached a little now, and I was reminded of Ash mentioning how tired he was after creating the Labyrinth. Or the times I’d seen Guild members stumbling along the roads toward their luxury club, where they’d sleep off the exhaustion brought on by doing magic.
This magic was really so simple, I had no idea why it had taken me so long to learn it. It seemed more like faith than magic—all I had to do was trust that it would work. I wondered if doubt, even more than skill, was what separated the weaker mages from those with greater power.
As we pushed deeper into the tunnels, an eerie chill swept over me. The mist pricked my skin, as if fighting my presence here. It stung and grew so thick that it was hard to breathe.
We’d reached the heart of the Labyrinth.
We stood at a convergence of four tunnels: one turned to the right, one to the left, and one continued straight ahead. I stopped and spun. Edith and Ferrier caught up a few steps later, our loud breaths the only sound for several moments.
“What now?” Edith asked.
I glanced at Ash. He appeared uncomfortable, as if his very soul was exposed. We had come to the darkest part of his heart, the center of the maze, but also the exit. I sensed that he had always tried to avoid this place. In the eighty years that he’d lived here and walked this maze, he had never once come here.
Cantering hooves echoed down the corridor. I glanced to my left.
