“Well?” Willow calls from below. “What do you see? How close are we to the second circle?”
Tearing my attention off the fire wyvern, I assess the maze. Calling down as I make a pathway out, instructing lefts and rights over my shoulder. I pause when the wyvern belts a shower of flame into the second circle. Then I quickly map out the second circle, blurting out directions as quickly as I can and praying they’re remembering them.
The wyvern lifts up off the wall with its beatingwings and swings its attention to our circle. I swear that even across the long distance between us, it’s eyes zero in on me.
I drop down beneath the ledge. “We have to go!”
I begin to descend quickly, knuckles white beneath the blood as I attempt to balance moving fast with moving cautiously.
“You’re close enough, jump!” Lyra calls.
I shake my head, trying to descend faster.
“Jump!” Lyra calls. “It’s coming!”
I rip my attention off the ivy in front of me and look down below. My heart spirals at the space between me and the rest of the women. All of them crowd together, linking their arms in some makeshift netting of hands on wrists. Sucking in a breath, I push off the wall and leap.
The fall is quick. Their arms brace me as I bounce into them, Lyra stumbling before she regains her balance. They all help me to my feet, and we run. Turn after turn, just as I saw it. We make it to the outer ring. We run harder, faster, with whatever energy we have left.
We get to the second circle, making our way past four turns, some crackling with flame, until we arrive at a fifth. Then turn again.
We stop at a dead end, where a woman’s limp body is bent at unnatural angles, her eyes wide and unblinking.
Willow turns to face me. “Now what?”
The screech of the wyvern is loud enough that we all buckle underneath it, covering our ears. Three women race down a path behind us, and we have barely enough time to hide behind a wall when the wyvern dips down into it and blasts another barrel of flame.
When the beating of wings fade, we all peek out from the wall. Flame cuts us off from backtracking.
“Here,” Aelia whispers, pointing down a bend around the corner of the wall. “There’s another pool I saw when we ran in here.”
We follow her to it, and she takes no extra time for explanations. She wades into the water until she’s forced to swim the rest of the way to the wall, then dips beneath and disappears.
A roar shakes the air behind us.
As we turn to assess the distance, its molten gaze peeks over the wall behind us before it crests completely. Landing on the wall with a force that shakes the leaves free, it splays its mighty wings to either side. Its yellow-scaled chest inflating as daggered jaws open wide to expose an orb of glowing orange creeping up its throat.
The women all dive in, disappearing beneath the surface as I reach for Lyra again. Not giving her another chance to be fearful, I shove her headfirst beneath the water and dive in after her.
The water above us explodes into an array of orange and yellow color, bubbling and boiling the surface of the water as I force us lower away from it. She faces me, cheeks puffed and eyes wide as she shakes her head. Her hands claw at me, panicked and screaming in her mouth. With a flick of her chin toward the surface, her throat bulges.
She needs air.
I didn’t give her a proper warning to fill her lungs first.
I pull her with me away from the fire and toward the wall, tugging her with what strength I have left. Her movements are becoming sluggish, eyes fighting to stay open.
I yank her close to me, her dark lashes slowly fluttering open to look at me. Grabbing either side of her face, I draw her to my mouth and press my lips against hers.
Take it. Take it from me, Lyra.
Nudging open her mouth until she gives in, I release half a breath into her mouth, pressing against her hard to keep the seal.
I snap my mouth shut as she does hers, and there’s a slight life to her now. But my own lungs scream in protest.
We don’t have much time.
Several shadows shift in the water, and hands grab us. We’re pulled beneath the wall and dragged through the depths until we break through the surface on the other side. Not able to thank the other women just yet for their assistance, I’m panting heavily. Grateful for fresh air.
