No, I’ll only contact him if I have to.
That decided, I stop for another backward glance, and a distressed yelp bursts from my mouth.
The wall has kept pace. Again. I try keeping my head turned, looking directly at it as I shove a foot out in front of me, and manage to put an entire pace between myself and it.
But when I face forward, then look back again, the wall has followed once more.
Panic sparks, heating me from the inside. What’s happening here? I can’t tell if the wall is moving, or if I’m not.
I keep walking, keep trying. I don’t know what else to do. But ten minutes later, a flash of brown draws my eye, and I stop, numbness trickling down my arms and collecting in my fingertips.
The lunch sack lies before me. The same one I tossed aside and walked away from fifteen minutes ago.
A sick feeling crawls up my throat, the birdsong turning harsh in my ears. I skirt around the fallen sack and break into a run. I cannotbe trapped here, going in circles without ever turning.
But clearly, I am, because ten minutes later, I pass the lunch sack again. This time, my feet catch in my hems, and I go down hard in the moss. Every bruise on my body shrieks in protest, but I just lie there, my thoughts whirling like the paper pinwheels Evelyn used to make when we were children.
It’s my first day in this labyrinth. My thirdhour. And already, I’ve been defeated by a wall.
“Help me, Ishanna,” I whimper, my hands finding my pendant. “Show me the way out of here.”
The metal warms faintly. I clutch at it, soaking up the goddess’s grace. Branches shift overhead, sunlight lancing down to sting my eyes, but I ignore the assault. If I just keep faith, Ishanna will protect me. She won’t let me die like this, stuck in an eternal loop. She won’t let me starve while a sinister wall chases me into eternity.
I pray. And pray. Until my nervous system calms and my breathing relaxes.
When I feel ready, I push myself upright. Flecks of moss cling to my palms, and I wipe them on my dress, then peer out at the forest. Thistime, I examine every branch, every trunk, every rounded stone and mossy hillock. I scour for any clues I might have missed.
My gaze slides across the scenery and stops.
I squint. There.
A tiny, arched door beckons in the distance. It’s made of wood and set into a tree trunk, nearly camouflaged by the bark, but the longer I look, the surer I become. That’s definitely a door, complete with a brass knob. And doors all open tosomewhere. I just have to get to this one.
I slant a furtive glance at the wall behind me. Before, when I kept it in sight and took a step, it didn’t move. Only when I look away does it shift, trailing after me without ever letting me see it follow.
Maybe I can use that. If I keep the wall in sight and walk backward, it might hold still. I might actuallygetsomewhere.
I try. With my back aimed at the distant door, I set out in reverse. The wall recedes, then recedes some more, and my heart lifts. Am I actually making progress? It seems so.
My breath saws in and out, harsh in the quiet. Then I realize. It’s…very quiet.Tooquiet. A heavy silence flows between the trees, much like the one that blanketed my garden before the Shadow showed up.
My belly clenches, threatening to reject the meal I just choked down. Goddess, he’s coming, isn’t he? I canfeelit. Not only in the thickening silence, but in the hairs that lift from my arms, the frantic hum that awakens in my bloodstream.
Run, it whispers.
A twig cracks, off to my left. My entire body jolts, but I can’t risk looking to see. If I break my view of the wall, I’ll have to start all over. Even now, its shadows ripple as if they’re laughing. Jeering at me.
Another crack rings through the forest, quickening my stride. I’m half-running, half-stumbling now, my hems tangling around my feet as I lurch backward.
I kick at my skirts with every step, but even when I hoist them, they still hamper my efforts. Goddess, was Amriel right? I hate to admit it—even to myself—but running backward in this dress is nearly impossible. Suddenly, dying for the sake of floor-length hems sounds like a humiliating wayto go.
I hurry faster, a scream coiling in my throat, my hamstrings burning as I flee in reverse. Then an angry roar shatters the quiet.
Adrenaline punches through me. The Shadow is close. A minute away, at most.
I fall, clamber upright, and run again. Somehow, I manage to keep the wall in my sightline, my eyes watering with the strain. I don’t care if I ultimately crash backward into the door, I’ll do anything to reach it before the Shadow reaches me.
Another roar splits the air, close enough now to vibrate in my chest. A whimper squeezes through my rapidly narrowing airway, because the Shadow sounds maddened. Feral. Like now that he’s caught my scent, he can think of nothing else.
