When he turned, he continued through the maze more cautiously. Every corridor looked like the last and every second spent doing anything but all-out sprinting to the center of the maze felt like risking not onlyhislife and future, but Stella’s.
Footsteps rapidly approaching from his left gave Teddy pause. He crouched low and waited. The second the assailant came around the corner, Teddy drove his shoulder into their gut. It was like slamming into a wall. Their opposing momentum knocked them both back a step.
Christophe Wallthrew was a beast—six feet of broad muscle with a chip on his shoulder, known for using his fists over any other weapon. Teddy ducked the first punch from one of Christophe’s meaty fists, but the second caught him in his ribs. The blow knocked the wind out of Teddy. He gasped in an aching breath just in time for Christophe to pound into his back with a two-fisted blow.
Teddy fell to his hands and knees, rolling to the side to narrowly avoid a knee to the face. He leaped to his feet, ignoring the searingache in his side and the snap of his spine cracking back into place as he came to standing.
As long as he tried to fight Christophe this way, he would lose. Teddy called magic from his cuff and shot a bolt of lightning into his opponent’s chest.
Christophe flew backward into the wall. His body shook and twitched violently until Teddy dropped the magic.
A blur of movement to his right caught his eye as Katerina Shank darted by.
“Shit!” Teddy turned to give chase when a body barreled into him and sent him sprawling.
The pain of his knees hitting the gravel stunned him. He stayed on the ground, assessing his battered body. He looked up in time to see Jeneva Lampry, the huntmaster’s daughter, disappear down the corridor after Katerina.
It took every bit of Teddy’s willpower to launch himself back to his feet. Instead of giving chase, he took the path they hadn’t, praying it would be a shorter journey to the center.
He ran as fast as he could. Keeping a mental inventory of the twists and turns in the narrow corridors was becoming more difficult with the distraction of his labored breathing, his probably broken ribs, and the fact that every turn looked the same. The ivy cloaked any identifying features on the walls, and more than once, he wondered if he was just being led in circles.
As he jogged down a long straightaway, the crowd noise escalated. He was getting close. He could feel it. That, or he’d been made delusional by pain.
He rounded a corner at the same time Dixon darted out of the corridor across from him. The crowd roared and Teddy couldn’t tell if it was in reaction to the two of them clashing or something else in the maze.
“You’re so close!” It was Alexandra’s voice that cut through all the noise and the rush of blood in Teddy’s ears.
The sound filled Teddy with a raw, animal desperation.
Dixon’s face whipped toward the crowd. He’d heard it too. BeforeDixon could take a step forward, Teddy tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face. Dixon’s head snapped back, and Teddy doubled down. He threaded his hand into Dixon’s dark hair and slammed his head into the ground again.
Teddy didn’t wait to see if it had been enough to kill Dixon. He was so close to the finish.
He pushed to his feet and breathlessly stumbled onward.
37
STELLA
Stella sprinted down the narrow corridor of the ivy maze, gulping in humid air.
The magical cuff they’d given her could limit her summoning, but it had just occurred to her that she knew a spell that could help her avoid any magical booby traps.
The maze itself was a marvel. She had no idea how they’d managed to create the massive stone walls and keep it under wraps, but she probably shouldn’t have been surprised by anything about the tournament after fighting an Octobear in the first challenge.
She could tell by the pulse of her bond that she was gradually wandering closer to Teddy, but she tried not to let that distract her.
Rosie had insisted she put some dried lavender in her vest in case she needed to do a spell. Stella was relieved for that now, since she had foolishly assumed she’d have full access to her elemental summoning magic. She paused before a split in the maze and pulled out a few sprigs of lavender. Slowing her pace, she gripped the lavender buds in her palm and pulled up the spell in her mind.
Stella squeezed the lavender and whispered the incantation. “Grant me vision to light my way, so from this path, I won’t stray. Keepme calm throughout this fight, and bring that which is hidden into sight.”
A tingling power rushed from the lavender in her hand, through her body and up to her eyes. Stella blinked and opened her palm. The lavender had turned to dust, but it had done the job.
The spell cast the torchlit path in front of her in a pale purple haze. According to the memory she’d pulled the spell from, that haze should cling to anything magical in her path. With her clear sight, Stella continued at a faster clip. She took the left path at the next split and had to quickly double back when she reached a dead end a few turns later.
As she turned down the opposite hall, she stopped short. The lavender haze gathered around the wall in front of her. It all seemed to be tied to a faint line across the ground that looked almost like a magical trip wire at the end of the straightaway. If she could jump it, she could duck around the bend in the corridor just beyond it for cover.
Stella steeled herself with a breath and took a running leap. As she landed, footsteps pounded from the hallway she was about to step into.
