These people were indeedmad.
“And lastly, before I let you go, I will say this: you are allowed only five hours before the game becomes corrupted and the Thirteenth Hour wins.Five.Take more from the chamber, and you will have lost.” He breathed in deeply—right into the amplifier, and it was like he was breathing down my very neck. “Nowgo—and may Time bless you with all the seconds you need!”
I looked back at the cheering crowd one last time. Every one of us did.
Yes, they weremadfor cheering about everything Johnnysaid. And the Queens were there, in their neat little box, with an almost transparent curtain in front of it, too, to shield them from the sun. We still saw the silhouettes. We saw them standing there, the White Queen clapping.
“He’s not serious, is he?” Anika asked Calren, who was the only person standing with us down here, like always. Plenty of soldiers dressed in their polished armors, but they stood at a distance, eyes on us. Only our warden was allowed close.
“We’re notreallygoing to be swallowed by the Thirteenth Hour,” Reggie said, half a smile on his face.
“Of course not,” Calren said, pulling down the satin black vest he had on, and over its pockets hung three chains, like he was carrying three different clocks on him today. “It won’t come to that—it’s an easy game. You’ll figure it out long before it becomes dangerous.”
We looked at one another, dumbfounded.
Holy Hour, what Johnny said was actually true—the Thirteenth Hourcoulddevour us.
Why was I not surprised?
“I don’t want to play anymore,” Levana said. “This is nonsense, Calren!”
“We coulddie!” Erith hissed.
“You won’t die,” Calren insisted, coming closer to us. “Listen to me—nobody is going to die. Just pay attention and you will be out of there in no time. Do you understand?”
“Will there be any timewraiths in there? Tell me the truth—will they?” Mimi asked.
“There won’t. No timewraiths,” Calren said without hesitation, which was why I believed him. We all did.
And thatdidmake me feel better.
“What is it, then? What’s the Thirteen Hour like?” I asked.
Calren looked at me, pressed his lips together. “You will be all right,” was what he said, a second before the gatesbehind him began to hum, then move with a screeching sound that I felt all the way to my bones.
“Guys, remember to stick together,” someone said down the line.
“We got this. We’ll win this, too.”
“It’s just a game, that’s all. Just a game,” Cook said, and he grabbed my hand in his. His other was in Silas’s.
“Yes, it is. Just a game,” Silas said, and our eyes met briefly before Calren rushed us forward.
We hadn’t spoken much with Silas, either, since the kitchen, but in that moment, I thought I saw all the secrets he carried on his shoulders. I saw clearly how he carried them all alone.
It made me curious,morecurious—about everything.
All of it had to wait, though. Another day, another trial.
And as I walked with the other Hands toward that darkness, pushing my body forward against my every instinct, I swore to myself that when I made it out of the Labyrinth, I was going to tell the whole realmexactlywhat the Turning Trials really were.
Darkness.Sunlight didn’t reach through to us anymore.
I still had no idea how they managed to pull this off, how theymadethings overnight, raised towers and wiped out an entire forest, created black clouds that hovered over the ground—but it all felt very real. The pressure of the cold air, the way it pressed against my skin, the way I couldn’t see anything at all to the point where half my mind was convinced I didn’t even exist—it was all very real.
As soon as we walked through those gates, we had to letgo of one another so we could hold our hands up. It was instinct. We already knew that if they wanted to separate us, they would, even if we were walking down the same corridor—just like they’d done in the Tree of Years. So I didn’t bother talking, or asking the boys if they were still there. Whatever this trial had in store for us, we would either play together, or not.
The sound of the audience cheering and clapping didn’t reach us here, either. It was like we’d walked into a different world altogether, but the darkness didn’t last as long as I expected. Soon, I saw the light ahead, and my legs carried me forward faster on instinct.
