Chapter 22 #3
“You are not going into that maze!” Amriel shouts.
A second later, the door flies apart and he explodes into the room.
But Calen is already moving, catching him around the midsection, taking them both to the floor amid shards of splintered wood.
A frenzied fight erupts—snarled threats, thrown fists.
Amriel twists in Calen’s grip, trying to evade the coil of the rope, trying to get to me.
I turn away, unable to look.
Reality bursts apart again. Ravenna steps from thin air, dragging a small rowboat, a paddle tucked below its planked seat. “This was the best I could do.” She’s panting, her face flushed. “All I could find.”
Amriel shouts, but I’m already wrenching the boat from Ravenna’s hands and leaping in. “It’s perfect.” I brace my boots against the struts, my knees hitting the seat as I grip the side as tightly as I can. My gyre ignites, white light joining the orange glow of sunset.
Amriel’s protests rise to a roar. My blood bellows, my resolve faltering, but I force myself to think of the maze—of the dead gray sky, that horrible island, the bubbling yellow acid. The gyre’s rings spin, its whine splitting the air.
“Sariah! Don’t you dare! What’re you even doing?”
“She’s helping you, you big blond idiot,” Calen snarls.
At the last moment, I raise my eyes. Amriel strains in Calen’s grip, his wrists bound, blood leaking from one nostril. Naked horror crawls across his face. “Why do you need a boat?” His whisper rises to a shout. “Why do you need a fucking boat?”
I flash him a smile of apology as the room falls away.
The void swallows me up. I cartwheel through the darkness, the boat shaking beneath me as I cling to it with every ounce of my strength. Somehow, Amriel’s shouts come with me, only dying away when the boat slams into something solid. I crumple into the bottom, my elbows slamming against wood.
But when my eyes open, a new landscape surrounds me. It’s exactly as I remember—the oppressive sky, the bubbling acid, the fumes already choking me.
I scramble up, paddle in hand, hopping onto the seat as I dip in my oar. I’ll have only seconds. Already, smoke rises where acid touches wood, the acrid stench stinging my eyes.
I row hard, my arms burning. The shore is so close, only seven or eight feet. Six, now. Five.
But the boat’s bow blackens and curls, yellow ooze eating through wood. Spots appear beneath me as acid sizzles through.
Four feet. Three.
The boat lists to one side, and I dart forward, planting my boot on the bow, abandoning the paddle as I launch myself.
The boat caves in completely.
Empty air whistles past for what feels like forever. Then I hit the ground hard. Actual, solid ground.
I roll, scrambling away from the edge, only glancing back once I’m ten feet away.
The boat is gone. Completely dissolved, nothing to mark its demise but a few bubbles, still popping one by one.
I stare for a moment, then collapse on my back amid sprouts of dead grass, my muscles going slack. I don’t care about the fumes assaulting my lungs or the dreadful light stabbing at my vision.
I did it. I made it through alive.
I bring the gyre to my face with a trembling arm. Then frown, because…
I count its rings again and again, but there’s no mistake. Five of the six have turned black now, the metal melted and fused. Only one ring remains.
Which means I used two rings to get here. One for me, and one for the boat, apparently.
I stare at the tangle of brass in my hand, my stomach doing a slow capsize. This gyre has saved my life three times now, but if I leave the maze again, I can never come back. I’ll sentence Amriel to an eternity of pain.
My throat prickles. I swallow the sting and shove the gyre into my pocket. I can’t let him see this. Won’t even mention it.
Let him think I have another round-trip at my disposal.
Once the gyre is tucked away, I flip the orb on my bracelet. Snarls greet me, the sounds of an ongoing fight.
“Amriel?” I venture.
The sounds cut off abruptly, light smearing across the orb.
A second later, Amriel’s face fills the crystal, but from afar, as if someone else is holding his orb.
Ropes circle his wrists, and he looks wrecked, his hair disheveled, his eyes wild, a bruise already forming on his cheek.
“Sariah? Are you safe? Tell me you’re safe. ”
I flash a thin smile. “I’m safe.” At least for now, I don’t add.
He closes his eyes—in relief or rage, I can’t be sure. “You’re trying to kill me, aren’t you? You’re actively trying to kill me.”
“No,” I say softly. “I’m trying to save you.”
He lets go of a shuddering exhale and lets his head fall back against the floor with a thunk. “Don’t ever do that to me again. I was worried that… I thought you…”
I watch his struggle, try not to let it sway me. But goddess, it’s hard.
He tugs at his bindings, then gives up and opens his eyes. “Just come back. Right now. I’ll take you home, I’ll—”
“Amriel. No.” My smile is rueful. “We had a deal. One I’m going to uphold.”
His jaw clenches. “No. I release you. I command you not to finish the maze.”
“I have to, though.”
His throat works around some unnamed emotion. “I can’t have you risk yourself. I can’t.”
My chest nearly caves in at the look on his face, but I force my voice steady. “Look. There’s no risk. You can send the Shadow to find me, have him carry me again. He’ll keep me safe. I only have enough time left to last until dawn.”
A beat passes as he processes that. “That’s… He won’t be himself for another few minutes.”
“Fine.” I roll onto hands and knees. “Then I’ll use that time to find a door.”
“Sariah…”
“Amriel. I’m doing this. Either you can accept it and send me your Shadow, or I can spin this orb around and do it on my own.”
Someone chuckles off to the side—Calen, probably, because Amriel’s look turns murderous as he stares the person down. But he doesn’t argue, just glares at everything and everyone in the vicinity.
“All right,” I say, after a beat of silence. “I’m glad that’s settled, then.”
“Nothing is settled,” Amriel seethes. “Nothing.”
I ignore that and glance around to get my bearings. The landscape here doesn’t amount to much—just a barren shore, lifeless sand, and relentless gray clouds overhead. Then I spot it—a door, painted the same dead-grass black as everything else, half buried in the gray sand.
“Found a way out,” I say, moving toward it.
“Just don’t close the connection,” Amriel blurts. “Let me keep you in sight, all right? Until my Shadow finds you.”
The plea in his voice cracks me wide, and I nod, not trusting myself to look at him. When I reach the door, I shove it open.
Peach-colored light floods through, driving back the gloom.
I don’t hesitate. Squinting against the brightness, I make my way forward, half-sliding, half-surfing the tumble of sand that carries me through the doorway and deposits me on the other side.
When I climb free, I find myself atop a grassy bluff. The sky blazes overhead, alight with varieties of oranges and pink I have no names for.
Which is impressive enough, but when I glance down, my breath ceases completely. Awe explodes within me, coating my insides with glittering light.
Good goddess. A river stretches far below, but not like any river I’ve ever seen. This one glows. Bursts of blue and purple shimmer across its swiftly moving surface, the water so luminous it looks like liquid stars.
It’s beautiful.
Breathtaking.
For a moment, I just stare, transfixed by the way the colors shift and blend, by the way the dying sunlight fractures across the water and makes everything look like a dream.
Maybe I’ll just stand here for a moment. Stare at this magnificence until the sun sinks below the edge of the world and returns the Shadow to himself. Already, the blazing orb hovers a mere breath above the horizon.
“Sariah.” Amriel’s voice cuts through my wonderment, sharp and urgent. “Sariah, I can see you. I can see you.”
I frown, pull the bracelet to my face. “Of course you can. We’re looking right at each other.”
His eyes roll, the whites showing around the edges. “No, I mean I can see you. Right now. Through his eyes, too.”
Ice floods my veins. I spin around.
The door has disappeared. In its place is the Shadow, stalking toward me on soundless feet. His eyes glint with rage and hunger and triumph. Not an ounce of recognition flickers there.
Cold clarity sinks into me, my muscles coiling. I’m trapped between the Shadow and the river. Between my hunter and the fall.
I step back, my heels hanging into empty air.
Amriel’s voice screams from the orb, tinny and desperate. “Sariah, run!”
I consider it. I do. But there’s nowhere to go.
And in the next moment, the Shadow lunges.