“Or just trying to kill us.”
“Always the optimist.”
I shot him a wry grin, his level-headedness giving me courage while the blaze at our backs bore down on us. My breaths werelabored as we ran, both from the smog and the incline of the tunnel. We were gaining elevation inside the mountain. Leo was right. The firewasleading us somewhere. Leading usup.
But what was at the top?
The path curved sharply, causing me to ram into the sidewall. Dirt and rocks embedded themselves in my skin as Leo helped me regain my footing, but those precious seconds cost us. With another surge of power, the blaze nipped at our heels and elbows. Sweat dripped from my forehead, my dress clinging to my skin like paste.
A fork in the path appeared ahead. Leo yanked me away from the flames and toward the left side, but his grip on my hand slipped. I called out his name and fell forward in an attempt to grab onto him, our sweat-slicked skin making it impossible to get a good hold.
My knees hit the floor as another coughing fit overtook me. Smoke flowed around us, so thick I couldn’t even see him anymore. Soot clogged my throat. My eyes were heavy, my hands blackened, and the roar of the fire drowned out any sound of Leo’s voice.
Flames erupted from the spot he’d stood moments ago. I let out a scream that felt like nails clawing at my neck.
“Rose!” shouted his distant voice. “Get out of here, Rose,” he said. “I’ll find you!”
The fire ripped past me and down the left tunnel, the one he’d been aiming for before we got separated. In a haze, I pushed to my feet and staggered down the right side, away from the inferno.
I was alone. No magic, no friends, not even a weapon—Horace hadn’t given me back my dagger from when he gutted the pheasant.
There was nowhere to go but up.
I climbed higher and higher, looking back every few seconds to see if the blaze was catching up to me, but it seemed to have stayed where it was. If it wasn’t chasing me, it was probably chasing Leo. The thought made me sick to my stomach. My lungs were filled with smoke, my visionswimming and pounding.
He would be fine. We wouldallbe fine. I just had to keep going.
My thighs burned from the exertion of moving uphill, but I couldn’t slow down. I skimmed my hand against the tunnel wall, both to keep myself going straight and to prevent me from falling.
Right as I thought I couldn’t possibly move another foot, that there couldn’t possibly be more to the path, I caught sight of the end of the tunnel.
But it wasn’t an opening. It didn’t lead to fresh air or a way out.
It was a dead end.
“No,” I called out weakly, slumping to the ground.
This was it. The only way back out of the mountain was down the path I’d come.
Why would the trial have led me here only to force me back? If it was going to kill me, it had its chance. Was there something I was missing? Or perhaps it was to mess with my head. The Fates only knew Gayl loved to do that.
A cool breeze brushed against my hot neck. I let out a sigh and leaned my head back, welcoming a reprieve from the sweltering heat.
My neck snapped forward.
How was that possible? Where was the wind coming from?
I scanned the ceiling for cracks, but there wasn’t so much as a sliver for the wind to get through. All that stood before me was a solid wall.
Like in the arena with the creature.
Thathad been a solid wall, and yet we’d walked right through it. An invisible portal masked to look like stone and rock. Could it be that simple? Another portal?
I felt along the ground for a rock and pulled one free, taking a deep breath to calm my thundering pulse as I threw it against the wall.
It disappeared.
I smiled. “Found you.”
