Keepers of the Labyrinth (21 page)

As soon as the charm was freed from its pedestal, the chamber began to shake. Lil scrambled backward. Doors on each side sprang open like hungry mouths. Rocks skittered down from above, and Lil shielded the disk Bente had given them with one arm and her head with another. The statue of the nearest child creaked and spilled forward, an arm shattering against the floor. The labrys spinning free, its blade biting into stone.

And as everything came to a standstill once again, ten passageways extended out of the room. Lil searched for the small brick in the wall, the one that had opened like a drawer at the exit of each chamber, assuring them that their path was true. But the walls surrounding the doors remained intact, their surfaces completely smooth. There was no way of knowing which way to go.

37

L
il clutched the disk in her hand and stared openmouthed at the doors around her. She looked back at the statue of the woman holding the child. Somehow she'd chosen wrong. She must have. Otherwise, they would have been pushed one way or another, just like in all the other rooms. Her hands shook, and she bit back tears.

“I'm sorry,” she said, her hands landing in her pockets. It didn't lead anywhere. It took all her will to upturn her eyes and look to the others.

“It doesn't add up,” Sydney said.

“What doesn't add up?” Lil asked, slipping the stone charm over her head.

“Well, we got the artifact, but it doesn't go anywhere.” Sydney rubbed her arms with her hands. “It goes everywhere.”

A slight rustle and crack of wood echoed around the chamber, and Kat was right in front of her, gesturing toward the door and mouthing something. Lil's heart jumped into her throat as she looked up to see the edge of a machete wedged between the wood and the door frame.

“They're coming through,” Kat said quietly.

“Everyone up,” Lil whispered.

“Please,” Charlie said, pushing Lil's arm away. Her head lolled against the stone.

“Help me,” Lil said, grasping Kat's arm. They pulled Charlie to her feet. “We need to hide,” Lil hissed as she looked around the room.

The wood on the door creaked and moaned, and a few slivers of timber cracked off and fell to the floor.

Lil scanned the room, her eyes glancing from door to door. There was no way of knowing what was beyond them. Some looked less intimidating than others, lit at the corners by soft interior light.

A pain pierced Lil's neck and blurred her vision momentarily as Charlie squeezed her shoulder. The wood moaned and cracked behind her like teeth gnashing, and Lil lurched forward.

“Kat,” she whispered. “Leave the torch.”

Kat handed the torch off to Sydney, and Sydney hurried to the nearest statue, the couple in the center, and placed it into the man's hand. Then, all together, they hurried into the darkest doorway.

Shadows surrounded them as Lil pressed her back against hard roots. She leaned into them, trying to become a part of the wall. She couldn't detect anyone else, except for Charlie, whose arm rested limply over her shoulder. Sydney and Kat were lost in the darkness. Lil took a deep breath and released it as quietly as possible. She felt Charlie shake as the door in the chamber gave a final jolt and crashed into the room, sending out a loud thud that echoed against the stone. Lil watched as the large, barrel-chested man entered the room. He looked around, and then disappeared back out the door. As he entered again, a woman was hanging on his arm. Lil flicked her eyes away. Ashamed that there was a flutter of hope in her chest. A sense of pleasure that one of them was hurt—badly, it seemed—and the other bruised.

“Over here,” the woman said, pulling her arm across her face. Then she gestured toward the first statue. The man walked over to it, and they leaned down, peering in at where the charm had been.

Lil squeezed the artifact in the palm of her hand. “They have the virtue?” the man whispered.

“Yes,” the woman answered.

“Then they've collected them all,” the man said.

But what, Lil wondered, did he mean by virtue? And how did these people know about the disks?

“They've proven themselves extraordinarily useful,” the man said as he made his way over to the torch. He came to the fallen statue and paused, examining its shattered arm. Then he stepped on the only intact piece, three fingers, which crunched and crumbled under his boot.

The pair disappeared momentarily behind the monument of the couple. Lil could just see his hand take the torch from the statue.

“They've gone forward without light,” he said.

Lil pushed herself back even farther. She could feel her heart begin to race. Her fingertips throbbed with blood.

“Then they're headed to the nebulous chamber,” the woman gasped, clutching her side. “But by which purification path?”

They stepped forward, toward the tunnels, and Lil held her breath. They circled first to the left and disappeared from Lil's view. Time seemed to slow down as she waited for their faces to appear again. Each second went by with the
thu
mp thump,
then pause of footsteps as they traced their way from one side of the chamber toward them. Lil reassured herself that the light didn't reach into this passageway. That they were well hidden.

Please choose one of the first doors, Lil thought, squinting her eyes closed and then open. But a moment later, a shadow stretched out in front of the passage the girls were hiding in, and Lil couldn't stop the tremors that convulsed her body.

The shadows morphed into a giant swaying monster until an arm appeared and a foot, and there they were, right in front of her. A few yards away. She should have led everyone farther in, Lil thought. They should have run forward ceaselessly. The torchlight tickled the door, and Lil felt her back grinding into the hard roots behind her. If she could become part of the wall, she would. If she could stop the shaking. Surely, she thought, the rustling was too loud. They must have heard it. She watched as the man's eyes went wide. His nostrils flared, and the woman covered her mouth with her hand. Lil followed her gaze to the ground. The torchlight crept over a pile of bones littered at the entrance. She had assumed she had tripped over sticks, roots. But instead she saw an upturned rib cage, a tangle of arms and legs. She pressed her lips together and wondered what it was at her back that dug into her so hard.

“Perhaps this way?” the woman asked.

The man pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed at his forehead. “Doubtful,” he said, smiling.

The woman smiled as well, but Lil could see it was strained.

A rumble shook the mountain, and the man took a deep breath as his gaze went skyward. “Follow the father's roar.”

Lil shivered.

The man clasped at something just under his shirt. Lil wondered what it was as they stepped out of sight. The light slipped from between the bones and scurried out the door after them.

Lil didn't realize she had been holding her breath until Charlie breathed in next to her, her arm beginning to tremble once more. She weighed more heavily on Lil's shoulder, and Lil blinked to clear her sight as the pain shot to her collarbone. She lowered Charlie down the wall, and they sat in darkness for a few moments more, until the chamber no longer echoed with footsteps.

Once it was quiet, the girls slid toward the mouth of the passageway. There was no going farther without light. Lil stepped cautiously over the bones and reached a hand out the doorway, feeling for the torch that was stationed on the wall of the chamber. Her hand found the wooden stem quickly, and she lifted it from its casing. Just as she did, a crack echoed above her. A door sailed down like a guillotine in front of the passageway, slashing at her knuckles as she lurched and fell back, pulling the torch in as the stone grazed her knuckles. The door slammed to a halt, and sparks erupted from the bottom as flint met flint. A river of flame flowed on either side of her, and when Lil turned, she could see everything.

38

T
he flames ran down the walls, catching on loose debris, which floated toward the center of the passageway like miniature burning kites. The tangle of bones in the doorway weren't the only bones there. Rags of varying colors hung loosely from the skeletons. Flags of surrender, waved too late. One rag close to the fire lit and curled back, sending a horde of maggots skittering to the shadows of the walls. And scattered among the bones were those same pendants Lil had seen on the corpses in the arrow chamber. Little circles, with jagged lines cutting across them, glittered in the firelight.

“Oh God. I can't,” Sydney said, curling over and throwing up.

Lil swallowed hard as she tried not to do the same. “It's okay,” she said. “Don't panic.”

Kat covered her mouth, her eyes filled with tears.

“It's okay, Kat,” Lil said. “We're going to get out of this.”

“You think so?” Sydney said, wiping her mouth. “'Cause as far as I can see, no one has
ever
made it out of this.”

Lil shook her head. “You know that isn't how this works.”

“Do I?” Sydney growled.

“Yes,” Lil said, trying to believe. “Each one's a test. We just have to think of it as a test.”

Kat shook her head. “A test where the wrong answer means death.”

“Yes,” Lil said, moving closer to the bodies. “We just have to figure out what's going on here.”

“Ha!” Sydney closed her eyes and shook her head. “You're losing your mind. We should never have followed you.” Her voice was bitter. “We should have moved that pile of rocks and gone out of the side of the mountain to get help, but instead you led us into a torture chamber.”

“Stop, please,” Charlie said weakly from her position on the ground.

“How can you say that?” Sydney said. “You're the worst off.”

“Enough, please,” Kat said. “We all came. We all made a decision.”

Sydney's face scrunched into angry lines. “You two are defending her? We sent you into a watery grave because we have no idea what we're up against here.” She turned to Charlie. “Your shin is shattered. We're being stalked. We have no idea what this is.” Then she looked back at Lil. “You think you're going to find your mother here?” She flicked her hand to the river of bones. “Do you see her here, Lil? We're following an ancient symbol from one room to the next to the next, but never getting anywhere. Do you see any answers?” Her chin jutted to the disk that hung around Lil's neck. “You're completely delusional. And so are the rest of us for running along after you.”

Lil lurched at her before she could stop herself, slamming Sydney up against the root-scrabbled wall.

“What the hell's the matter with you,” she growled, her eyes blurring.

“You can't tell?” Sydney's face twisted.

Lil felt a pull on her arm.

“Stop, please, stop,” Kat said. “We have to work together. That's the only way this works.”

“What part of this whole night has
worked
?” Sydney shouted, kicking out.

Lil's shin smarted, and she gasped as Sydney's knee landed hard in her stomach. She dropped her hands, and Sydney fell sideways into Kat. Kat teetered, dipped to the side, her arms waving for a moment. Lil reached for her, but she seemed to tip in slow motion. Flailing like a windmill, then falling backward. Hip first, then side, then arm. Almost before Lil could comprehend what had happened, an arrow was there,
whump,
quivering to a standstill in the thick of Kat's left biceps.

“Ahhhhh!” Kat screamed, clutching at her arm. Lil was on one side of her and Sydney on the other a second later, pulling her from among the bodies. The blood trickled through Lil's hands as she examined the wound. Her head spun.

“Kat!” Lil gasped.

“Oh God,” Sydney said, clutching her stomach and dropping to her knees.

Lil shook her head, tearing a chunk out of the bottom of Kat's cardi-wrap. “It's okay,” she said, fighting to catch her breath. She wiped her eyes. “It's going to be okay.”

Kat's nostrils flared in and out as Lil grabbed the arrow.

“Leave it in,” Sydney hissed, hitting her hand away. “It'll help clot the blood. Just wrap around it.”

Lil grabbed the arrow and snapped the end off, so that only a small part of it stuck out. Her hands shook as she dropped the shaft of the arrow onto the ground.

Kat's eyes remained closed as Lil wrapped the fabric around the wound, pressing to stop it from bleeding.

“It's going to be okay, Kat,” she stuttered. “We're going to get you out of here.” Lil reached over to Sydney. “It's going to be—”

Sydney thrashed out as she got to her knees. “Don't touch me,” she said, helping Kat up. Sydney leaned her against the far wall next to Charlie. “You've done enough already.”

Charlie reached out her hand, closing her fingers over Kat's.

Lil swallowed hard. Her body ached as she looked from one of her friends to the other. What had she done? She cleared her eyes and turned to the center of the passageway, filled with bones, trying to steady her vision. Her heart beat in her head. Unwanted noise when she had to think. It pulsed in her throat. In every corner of her bruised body. She stood at the edge of the gauntlet. Sydney was right. She'd gotten them in here. And now, it seemed impossible to get out. And her mother was everywhere. And she was nowhere. And Lil's chest was on fire as she stared at the littered bones and the arrows that had struck them.

Sydney's voice echoed in her ears and doubt blurred her mind. Had she chosen wrong and sent them into a dead end? Was this like the arrow chamber, where every answer would mean death unless you could figure out a way around the mechanisms?

“But, but,” she stammered, trying to convince herself, “we have this charm. It's the same size as the others, on a leather thong just like the others.” She indicated the charms that decorated the girls' necks. Surely, it meant something.

“Ariadne,” Charlie muttered, barely blinking her eyes open.

Lil had to get everyone out. Both Charlie and Kat were fading quickly.

“Ariadne,” Charlie said again.

“She's going incoherent,” Sydney said.

“Mistress of the labyrinth,” Charlie whispered.

Kat squeezed her fingers. “It's okay, Charlie, we're here.”

“No,” she blinked in frustration. “Mistress of the labyrinth . . . would know every path.”

Tears sprang to Lil's eyes. “Of course,” she said. “Of course her chamber would lead everywhere.” She squeezed the charm. “Ariadne would be able to navigate any one of them. Maybe I did choose right”—she clutched the stone necklace and turned back to the passageway—“which means that this is a test. One we have to solve.”

Sydney looked unsure, but Lil watched her gaze dart back and forth as though her mind were constructing a diagram. Lil scanned the passage. Perhaps together they could still get everyone out alive.

The arrows were scattered among the bodies. Poking out of the piles. Two were closest to her, and she noticed they had landed in the same place. A solid slice through the ankle. She rose to her feet and scanned the other bodies. Her gaze jumped from arrow to arrow. Each embedded in the back of the ankle, bound there loosely by a tendon, for eternity.

“They bled to death,” she whispered.

“You think?” Sydney said, but she turned, holding the back of her hand to her nose. “Look, each arrow has gone through the back of the ankle. Which means . . .”

Lil lifted the torch, scanning the sides of the wall, searching the shadows.

“Which means . . . ” Sydney knelt down. “See?”

Lil leaned over next to her, following her gaze to a nozzle just a few feet away.

“Yeah,” Lil said.

“They only shoot from ankle level.” Sydney sniffed and pressed her lips together. “Probably a weighted system. When there is a change in weight on the center of the path, they're triggered. Kat fell in. Weight landed. Arrow released.”

“Could we figure out how to go between them? I could run really quickly.” Lil stood up. “Hop between them.” She thought of running through the tires on the ropes course. It was all about an even gait. Muscle memory.

Sydney got up and shook her head. “I wouldn't—”

“I know
you
—”

“Let me finish, please,” Sydney said, glaring at her.

Lil conceded.

“What I am trying to tell you is”—she pointed toward the arrow shafts—“see how some come from one side and some from the other?”

“Yeah,” Lil said, looking at the tails of the arrows. Pointing in different directions, indicating which side they flew from. “They alternate.”

“Right,” Sydney said.

“So I can't jump between, because if I jump between the ones on the right, I'll be hit by those on the left. If I jump between the ones on the left—”

“You'll be hit by the ones on the right,” Sydney said, wiping her hands along the side of her jeans.

“So how do we get across?”

Sydney shrugged. “I don't know,” she said, squinting down to the other end. “You're not meant to. That lever”—she pointed to a big wooden lever sticking out of the wall on the opposite side. Lil could see a skeletal hand reaching for it. One of them had almost made it—“is not meant to be reached, but I bet if it was, it would shut off the mechanism.”

“Maybe,” Lil said. “Maybe I could climb along the wall?”

“No,” Kat said from the floor.

Lil turned to them.

“You swing.” Kat pointed up above her head. Lil turned, peering into the shadows. A thick rope hung about five feet above them, and five feet from the entrance to the arrow canal. Just out of sight and just out of reach. It wasn't like the ropes on the course, not manicured and colorful and held in place by fasteners. It was old and knotted. And it swung in the shadows—back and forth—an empty loop at its end, waiting for the weight of a human body.