“You arenotgoing into that maze!” Amriel shouts. A second later, the door flies apart and he explodes into the room. But Calen is already moving, catching him around the midsection, taking them both to the floor amid shards of splintered wood. A frenzied fight erupts—snarled threats, thrown fists. Amriel twists in Calen’s grip, trying to evade the coil of the rope, trying togetto me.
I turn away, unable to look.
Reality bursts apart again. Ravenna steps from thin air, dragging a small rowboat, a paddle tucked below its planked seat. “This was the best I could do.” She’s panting, her face flushed. “All I could find.”
Amriel shouts, but I’m already wrenching the boat from Ravenna’s hands and leaping in. “It’s perfect.” I brace my boots against the struts, my knees hitting the seat as I grip the side as tightly as I can. My gyre ignites, white light joining the orange glow of sunset.
Amriel’s protests rise to a roar. My blood bellows, my resolve faltering, but I force myself to think of the maze—of the dead gray sky, that horrible island, the bubbling yellow acid. The gyre’s rings spin, its whine splitting the air.
“Sariah! Don’t you dare! What’re you evendoing?”
“She’s helping you, you big blond idiot,” Calen snarls.
At the last moment, I raise my eyes. Amriel strains in Calen’s grip, his wrists bound, blood leaking from one nostril. Naked horror crawls across his face. “Why do you need a boat?” His whisper rises to a shout. “Why do you need a fuckingboat?”
I flash him a smile of apology as the room falls away.
The void swallows me up. I cartwheel through the darkness, the boat shaking beneath me as I cling to it with every ounce of my strength. Somehow, Amriel’s shouts come with me, only dying away when theboat slams into something solid. I crumple into the bottom, my elbows slamming against wood.
But when my eyes open, a new landscape surrounds me. It’s exactly as I remember—the oppressive sky, the bubbling acid, the fumes already choking me.
I scramble up, paddle in hand, hopping onto the seat as I dip in my oar. I’ll have only seconds. Already, smoke rises where acid touches wood, the acrid stench stinging my eyes.
I row hard, my arms burning. The shore is so close, only seven or eight feet. Six, now. Five.
But the boat’s bow blackens and curls, yellow ooze eating through wood. Spots appear beneath me as acid sizzles through.
Four feet. Three.
The boat lists to one side, and I dart forward, planting my boot on the bow, abandoning the paddle as I launch myself.
The boat caves in completely.
Empty air whistles past for what feels like forever. Then I hit the ground hard. Actual, solid ground.
I roll, scrambling away from the edge, only glancing back once I’m ten feet away.
The boat is gone. Completely dissolved, nothing to mark its demise but a few bubbles, still popping one by one.
I stare for a moment, then collapse on my back amid sprouts of dead grass, my muscles going slack. I don’t care about the fumes assaulting my lungs or the dreadful light stabbing at my vision.
I did it. I made it through alive.
I bring the gyre to my face with a trembling arm. Then frown, because…
I count its rings again and again, but there’s no mistake. Five of the six have turned black now, the metal melted and fused. Only one ring remains.
Which means I usedtworings to get here. One for me, and one for the boat, apparently.
I stare at the tangle of brass in my hand, my stomach doing a slow capsize. This gyre has saved my life three times now, but if I leave themaze again, I can never come back. I’ll sentence Amriel to an eternity of pain.
My throat prickles. I swallow the sting and shove the gyre into my pocket. I can’t let him see this. Won’t even mention it.
Let him think I have another round-trip at my disposal.
Once the gyre is tucked away, I flip the orb on my bracelet. Snarls greet me, the sounds of an ongoing fight.
“Amriel?” I venture.
