40

Lil’s mouth was as dry as clay as she watched the rope swing. Her mind flashed to the kitchen as she crept to pick up the garlic skins and to turn off the burner under the pot of blackening soup. Her eyes had followed the slant of light spilling from Mom’s office. And Lil could see the bottoms of her feet where they were not supposed to be. Back and forth. Back and forth. Swinging just like the rope in front of her.

Lil blinked her eyes clear of tears. It wasn’t the same, she told herself, even though death surrounded her. It was just like running through the trees. She rubbed her hands together. She knelt down with one foot in front of her and adjusted the tongue of her sneaker, flipped feet and readjusted her other one. She stood and took the disk that Bente had given her and tucked it into the waist of her pants.

“Listen, this is crazy,” Sydney said, wringing her hands. “If you land in there . . .”

“I’ll be dead,” Lil said. “I’ll be riddled with arrows.”

Sydney swallowed.

“We don’t have a choice,” Lil said. “Anyway, you’re right. It’s my fault we’re down here. And you’re right. I have no answers.”

“No—” Sydney said. “Just listen. We can find some armor or something. A shield.”

Lil looked around. “There’s nothing to make it out of. This is the only way. I want to get us out of here alive. And if I don’t go, this is where we’ll end up.” She looked around at the bones. The cavernous eye sockets, the shattered ankles of older eras.

“You can’t just jump and get that,” Sydney said. “Let’s be serious.”

“Well, not like this,” Lil agreed. “We need to clear a path. Make a short runway. Then I’ll jump off this wall.” She nodded. “And I’ll twist and catch it.”

They made their way back to the door, pushing the bones to the side. Moving them with their feet until a black path led to the head of the arrow canal.

Lil examined the trail. Run straight, curve to wall, step on fire well with left foot, leap off wall with right, angle, catch rope. She ran through it again in her mind, then went over to the fire well and did a mini step on it with her left foot. “Turn and catch rope,” she said quietly.

“What if the rope isn’t secured?” Kat said weakly. “What if it breaks and falls?”

Lil looked at the rope, swaying in the breeze. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “It won’t. I’m sure it will hold steady.”

Lil felt the charm from the Ariadne chamber sitting on her chest. Just like the way its metallic twin had sat on Mom’s. She closed her eyes and pictured Mom holding the necklace, rubbing it as though it would grant her a magical answer. She clutched it and pictured her mother on the opposite side of the counter, her eyes clearing as her thumb twisted around the spiral. Lil tucked it safely under her shirt, then lowered herself into a runner’s stance. She pictured the woods out behind the airfield. The ropes course, the challenges, the logs to jump over, the walls to push off, the trapeze to fly to. The balance beam, the vertical ropes, the rock wall. She’d done them all. Over and over she’d done them all. Unharnessed. This was the same. This was basically the same. Just run hard, jump high, aim.

“Min zeis aplos. Zeis tolmira,” she whispered, hearing her mom’s voice in her ears.

Lil flexed her back heel. Licked her lips. Tensed her muscles. Charged forward. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Her feet hit the ground. Her muscles expanded and contracted as if they breathed on their own. Her eyes landed on the fire well. Her foot met its mark, her hamstrings tightened, her left foot hit the wall hard. She sprang. The charm weighed against her chest as she turned. The cord twisted across her neck.

She aimed.

Reached.

Abs squeezing.

Fingers extending.

Lungs expanding.

The walls around her spun.

She grabbed the rope.

Knuckles clenching fast.

Weight dropping.

Swung.

Her shoulder screamed in pain and her eyes blurred with tears. She stared at the bones below, wondering how many had attempted this before falling to their deaths.

The rope extended to the end of the canal, and Lil’s feet sailed over the last of the bodies. She released the rope and landed, stumbling forward until she could steady herself. She knew she had made it past the lever, but she still waited for an arrow to zip free and sever her ankle. When nothing happened, she turned. Grabbed the handle of the lever and pulled. She watched as the shafts in the wall retracted. Disappearing into the stone. She stared down the passageway and saw Sydney helping Charlie up.

“Wait!” Lil said. She searched the ground until she found a heavy rock, grabbed it and tossed it into the center of the passage. It landed with a thunk. Nothing happened.

Lil saw Kat push against the wall and stand. She stepped toward them, but they stopped in their tracks, faces frozen, staring at her. She stopped, too, wondering if she had been hit and hadn’t sensed it. She scanned her body. No arrows. Nothing. Then she felt a hand come down hard on her shoulder. The room wobbled as a knife-sharp pain cut into her neck and the cold end of a barrel pressed against her temple.

“You three. Come here,” a gruff voice said. Lil looked out the corner of her eye. She could see his hairy knuckles wrapped around the gun’s grip. Something like the smell of stale bread and wine met her nose. She watched as Sydney helped Charlie over the valley of bones. Kat leaned against the wall with her good arm and pushed herself forward, looking as if she might pass out. Lil moved to help, but a meaty hand gripped her. He pushed the barrel into Lil’s head, turning her face to the wall. “Take that torch.” She grasped the torch and pulled it off. “Give it to the short one.”

Lil turned, catching Sydney’s eyes. She took the torch with a shaking hand as Charlie bowed against her. Eyes closing and opening slowly.

“You’ll lead the way,” he said to Sydney. “And the others will follow nicely. And if they can’t, they will remain here and die. That is the way of the labyrinth.”

“I’ll help you,” Kat said, settling her good arm under Charlie’s shoulder. Charlie opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. It had to be the cut, Lil thought. Blood poisoning? They were losing her.

“Move,” Horatio said, grasping the back of the necklace draped around Lil’s neck. It rose sharply against her windpipe. “This way.”