“Of course. Any time.”
She sounds like she means it. Her warmth stays with me as I hurry along the room’s perimeter. When I come close, I tap Ravenna’s shoulder. She twists in her seat and takes me in, her eyes wide.
“Sariah! What?—”
“I need your help,” I whisper. Heads turn nearby, then swivel away again when I raise my hands in apology.
She frowns. “You meannow?”
“Yes, now. Please.” Because once Amriel wakes up, he’ll follow my scent, and I have a feeling that if I haven’t made it back into the labyrinth by then, I never will.
Ravenna’s brow furrows, but she rises and tugs at Calen, who peers over at me, his eyes glinting in the low light. “Do wehaveto leave?”
“Yes,” she hisses. “Sariah wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
A heavy sigh bleeds out of him, but he lets his mate tow him along as we make for the exit.
“Sorry,” she whispers to me. “He loves music. He gets cranky if he’s interrupted.”
I push down my surprise as we emerge into the passageway. Themoment the doors swing shut behind us, I spin to face Ravenna. She has on some kind of elaborate red dress—a glistening, low-necked thing that sets off the brown in her eyes and matches the shade of her lips.
“Wow,” I say. “You look…stunning.”
She gives me acome-onlook. “Please tell me you didn’t pull me out here to tell methat?”
“No, I just… You look good. Like, really good.”
Calen chuckles, and Ravenna delivers a half-hearted slap to his chest to silence him. “Sariah, what’s thisabout?”
“It’s… I need your help. I need to know if I can transport something into the maze, by gyre. I can obviously get myself in there, but can I also take something along?”
A line appears between her brows. “Well, sure. You should be able to. I’ve transported things by gyre plenty of times.”
“Right, but my gyre is different. It can’t take more than one person at a time, but do you think it could still take an object?”
She peers into my eyes, her focus narrowing. “I don’t see why not. Your clothes always go with you. Anything you’re holding. Why, what’re you thinking?”
Hope flickers at the center of my chest, and I grab hold, crafting my words from its heat. “A boat. I need a boat. Preferably a small one, with a paddle. Something sturdy enough to withstand a lake of acid for thirty seconds, at least.”
Her eyes pop. “A lake ofacid?”
I give her a rueful smile. “The labyrinth isn’t a nice place. But I’m so close to the end. I just need a boat. And maybe some luck.”
“A lake of acid,” she repeats, her voice flat.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds. I’mthis closeto shore.” I hold up a thumb and forefinger. “I just need something to jump from.”
She stares for another beat, then drags her hands down her face and props her hands on her hips, a look of concentration passing over her features. “Okay. A boat that can survive a lake of acid. Great. That’s great. But we don’t have any boats here. I could get one, maybe, but it’d have to come from the Cloisters. Do you need it right now?”
“Yes. As soon as possible. Before Amriel wakes up and realizes I’m gone.”
“Before he…” Her head tilts, her look turning sly. “Wait. Sweetheart. Did you?—?”
“Yes,” I rush out. “And it was incredible. It was everything you said it’d be. And now I need to help him. I need to save him. Which means I need a boat.”
Off to the side, Calen laughs under his breath. He mutters something that sounds like, “Mates.”
Ravenna ignores him and takes me by the arms, her eyes brightening. “I knew it. I knew it would happen. And Igetit. So here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll go get my gyre from my room, transport to the Cloisters, find a boat for you and bring it back.”
