Chapter 14
Icareen through the blackness, air whooshing against my face as I spiral down, down, down toward…
Well, Ishanna knows what.
The atmosphere thickens as I descend. I whirl and bump my way through blackness, nothing to grab on to, nothing to slow me down. Then, without warning, I tumble out onto a stretch of leaf-littered ground. I roll to a stop, my belly swirling from my journey.
A few blinks, and the world swims into focus.
Trees surround me. Tall ones, like before, only these are darker, their leaves dull and dead and lusterless. In fact, hardly any light reaches me at all. The canopy weaves so tightly that starlight barely penetrates, and what does has a sickly greenish cast that makes my skin crawl.
This place feels wrong, somehow.
I push into a sit, my guts in knots, the skeletons of fallen leaves poking at my palms. I look around, but can’t tell how I arrived here. There’s no door nearby, not even a tree. As if I just…appeared. From thin air.
I frown. The door I came through must lead somewhere else now. Which…fine. I’m not going back that way, anyhow.
I pick myself up. The air hangs heavy and still, thick with a sweetness that coats my throat and makes it hard to swallow.
No magenta sparkles wheel through the air, here.
No bioluminescent moss glows invitingly underfoot.
This place is a tomb—just shadows and silence and a hideous sense of wrongness, pressing in from all sides.
I turn a slow circle, trying to get my bearings, but every direction looks the same, dark and dense and oppressive.
Then I hear it—a faint howl, ululating in the distance. Another one joins in, and another.
My heart rate picks up. Something’s out there, and not just one something, but a pack. Of…wolves, maybe? I don’t know that I want to find out.
The howls multiply. I strain to pinpoint the source, but they bounce off the twisted trees, weaving around me, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
A cold sweat breaks out on my skin. I turn again, only to catch a shadow peeling from a nearby trunk.
Eyes blink at me through the gloom, too many of them, arranged in rows down what might be a face.
I can’t find a mouth, but the thing makes a sound—a wet, clicking rattle, like bones in a cup.
Then howls the same cry that echoes in the distance. As if it’s calling to its brethren.
Fear floods my veins, cold and sharp. I don’t wait to find out what this thing is, or what it wants. I just bolt.
The forest blurs as my boots pound against gnarled roots. Howls rise behind me, swooping closer, reaching a fever pitch.
My blood screams, dead leaves bursting apart beneath my soles. I have no idea what’s chasing me, only that I can’t afford to look back. I have no desire to lock eyes with whatever’s behind me, anyway.
Fire blazes down my throat with every gasping breath. My muscles shout for relief, but I push harder.
The howls close in.
A root catches my boot. I stumble, then catch myself and continue, a stitch knifing into my side, sharp enough to make me gasp. I can’t maintain this pace, can’t—
There. A door, barely visible in the dimness, set into the trunk of a twisted oak.
I don’t slow, don’t second-guess. I just hit the door at full speed and wrench it open, hurling myself through, slamming it shut. The door vanishes, the knob disappearing from my hand, my fingers closing around nothing.
I stand there, my chest heaving, my knees trembling with relief. New trees surround me, now. Friendly ones, lit by a violet glow.
My hands shake, then my shoulders. Even my teeth chatter. The tremors spread through my whole body, and I sink to the ground, letting the burst of adrenaline run its course.
I gulp at fresh air until my breathing finally slows.
When I raise my head again, this place looks like the Wildwood I first stepped into.
But I must have arrived in a different section, because a vine-covered archway stands tall against the sky, framing the entrance to what looks like a hedge maze.
Beyond it, the fae castle rises from a clifftop, a beacon of green and blue light, marking my destination.
It’s the very place I’m trying to escape. Yet somehow, I have to go backward in order to advance.
I climb to my feet, my gaze scaling the spindly towers. Is Amriel up there right now, watching through one of his telescopes?
Maybe. Or maybe he’s already moved on.
I shove the thought away. I don’t have time to dwell on it. I need to make my way through the hedge maze, get closer to the end.
Moss squishes beneath my boots as I approach the archway. I cock an ear, but nothing moves, either inside the maze or out. Just the faintest of breezes, ruffling my braids, tickling the back of my neck.
No howling monsters. No fae king’s Shadow, either. Just a simple hedge maze—the easiest thing I’ve faced so far.
I hope.
I step inside. The castle sinks from view, swallowed by the towering hedges. Tangled vines twine upward as if reaching for the narrow strip of sky. Overhead, the stars are fading, ceding to the impending dawn.
My skin prickles, but I roll my shoulders to shake it off. The sun will rise soon and the Shadow will come hunting, but this time, I have a strategy. A way to evade him. With any luck, he won’t catch me again.
Leafy corridors branch off to my left and my right. Both look identical, save for the cluster of glowing orange mushrooms in the righthand one. With nothing else to tip the balance, I head in that direction. Why not? I’ve always liked mushrooms. And the color orange.
I follow the corridor through a left-hand turn, then stop. Dead end. I turn back, retracing my steps, engraving the route on my mind.
The other direction brings me deeper into the maze.
Each time I hit a wall, I make my way back, mentally crossing off options, keeping track as best I can.
Every so often, I pass another cluster of mushrooms, all glowing cheerfully orange, but I don’t dare investigate.
They might be poisonous, and besides—I don’t trust this place.
My plan consists of heading toward the castle, touching nothing, and trying not to die.
I push further into the maze, my legs growing heavier with each turn. How long since I entered here? An hour? Two? And how long since I last slept? Nearly a whole day, I realize.
No wonder my body begs for rest. But dawn is upon me, and with it, the Shadow.
I force myself onward.
I soon reach yet another dead end, where I spin a perplexed circle. I could swear I’ve exhausted every other option, that this corridor had to lead me out. But it doesn’t. Dense vines hem me in on three sides, leaving me no choice but to go back.
I grit my teeth. The first rays of sun lighten the sky.
I backtrack to the last junction. I must have gotten turned around. I probably should have left myself a trail of some type, dropped stones along the way to mark my path, but it’s too late now.
I’m peering down the right-hand corridor when a sound echoes behind me—a guttural rumble, almost like a laugh.
I tense, ice and fire clashing beneath my skin. I’m not alone in here. Goddess, why would I be? That would be too easy.
My frantic glance bounces off the walls. The corridor before me looks familiar—I could swear I’ve explored it already, that it leads to nothing but another wall. But my only other choice is to go back, toward whatever else is in here.
A voice cuts through the quiet, low and rumbling, definitely male. The maze muffles the words, but a second voice joins in, equally low-pitched.
My chest seizes, my whole body locking up. Whoever they are, they’re coming my way, leaving me with no choice.
I hurry down the corridor, away from the voices. Maybe their owners are friendly, but I doubt it. Alanna wanted Amriel’s mate to fail. She wouldn’t have populated this labyrinth with anything that aims to help me.
I break into a jog, my hand finding my dagger, sliding it free. Air whistles along the blade as I pick up speed. The leafy passageway stretches and stretches, the walls pressing in, too high, too close—
I skid around a corner and pull up short.
Another dead end.
“No,” I whimper. I spin, searching for a way out, but there’s nothing here except a solid wall, a cluster of orange mushrooms sprouting from its base.
The voices grow louder, accompanied by heavy steps.
I back away, my breath coming too fast, white noise filling my head.
Two figures round the corner. Not men, not fae. They’re more like goblins, but shorter and squatter, with toad-like green skin and tusks that jut from their lower jaws. Their eyes lock onto mine. Grins split their doughy features.
“Look at this,” one says. “We found a pretty.”
“Ooh,” the second answers. “How long since we saw a pretty?”
Beady eyes home in on me. “Too long.”
I raise my dagger in a shaking grip. “Stay back,” I call. “I don’t want any trouble. I’m just trying to find my way out of here.”
One laughs, a wet, phlegmy sound. “We’ll show you out. But once we do, we get to keep you. Our other pretty didn’t last too long, but you… You’ll last.”
My stomach burbles. I would definitely throw up if I’d eaten actual food in the past week. “Stay back,” I hiss, stabbing at the air for emphasis.
The creatures don’t listen. They lumber toward me, their strange bodies forcing them into a swinging gait. I edge backward, the mushrooms squelching beneath my boot.
“Mmm,” the first one says. “It’s even prettier than our last pretty. I want it. I want it now.”
The second one licks its lips, its tongue too long, too green. “Let’s catch it. Put it on the wheel.”
A shiver trips down my spine. The wheel? Goddess, I’ve never wanted clarification less in my life. I sidle backward, a soundless scream ringing in my head.
If only the Shadow were here. He would scatter these creatures with a single roar. But I left him behind. I chose this.
I’m alone.