The shop door slammed shut.
She was gone.
The words echoed through me, relentless.
She’s gone. She’s gone. She’s gone.
“No,” I rasped, shaking my head. “No—no, she can’t be?—”
Boots pounded toward me. Thistle dropped to her knees, clutching my arm. “Where is she? What happened?”
“I—I saw her,” I gasped. “They pulled her through the back?—”
Branrir’s chest rose and fell like a bellows. “How do we find her in this Saints-damned maze?”
Then I felt it.
The tether.
The burning line yanked at my chest, pulling me forward as if caught on an invisible hook.
“She’s getting farther,” I whispered.
Thistle’s dark eyes snapped to mine. “What?”
“I canfeelit.”
They both stared.
I pressed a hand to my sternum, my voice rough. “The tether. The farther she gets, the more it feels like something’s being ripped out of me.” My throat closed around the next words. “I think I can follow it.”
Branrir’s face tightened with doubt. “Youthink?”
“She’s in here somewhere,” I growled, teeth bared. “And if this is the only clue we’ve got.”
Thistle’s forehead puckered. “There are too many of them. If we charge in again, they’ll kill us all.”
“Then so be it. No more waiting.” I clenched my fists, blood dripping from my knuckles. “There’s something else we can try.” I stepped back into the maze and followed the burn beneath my ribs.
22
QUINN
They dragged me through a filthy curtain, stiff with grease. Darkness swallowed the light. I heard Mav before I saw him.
“Quinn!” His panicked voice cut through the melee.
He followed through the curtain, unaware of the danger awaiting him. I twisted in time to see his sword collide with a goblin. Another lunged for him.
He did not see the impending attack.
“Mav!” I screamed, but the warning broke too late.
Clawed hands seized the back of my cloak and yanked. The world tilted. My boots slid over the slick, uneven floor. My last glimpse of Mav was him crawling toward me, blood streaking his temple.
My captors pulled me through a door into a putrid alley. The air reeked of mold, burnt hair, and the coppery tang of blood. It climbed down my throat and burned my lungs. My heart hammered so violently I thought it capable of breaking bone. I kicked and twisted, trying to free myself from their grip.
“Unhand me!”
