Page 144 of Find My Way Down to You

I lick my lips.

“Wait.” His fingers freeze on my jaw, thumb to my lips. “Listen.”

It’s hard not to. The buzzing is hauntingly loud. A swarm of bees cutting across a field.

Cary grabs my hand. “We need to go. Which way?”

It’s hard to focus on the low ripple of water above the voices coming closer. I tune my ears. Pretend I’m on a crowded citybus with some kid dribbling his soccer ball. A baby crying. Some finance bro shouting into his phone.

I listen for the thing that calms me in the worst moments:

Music.

We run.

Around corners. Sliding through rights and lefts. The mirrors seem to glow brighter, reflecting light right into our eyes. I tug Cary with me, terror in my throat. Nightmares at our backs.

My hand tightens around his.

All Fate does is take from me. First London, which then snatched being able to call the house I grew up in my home. The city I love wasn’t mine anymore. Losing him meant losing my love for music. It frayed my friendship with Max to loose threads I can’t tie back together.

I know I can’t have Cary. But I’ll be damned if Fate yanks him from me too.

The light intensifies. It’s almost unbearable, especially with sweat falling into my eyes. Eventually the glare melts. Rays of gold soften into pinks and oranges. The stench of dread fades to the fresh scent of shore and water.

An opening. An exit.

“Come on!”

I pull and Cary trips without falling. He meets my every stride. We stumble through the wide mouth at the end of the passageway.

Free from the labyrinth’s jaws.

21

Silence.

The buzzing is gone. In its place, I hear the satisfying lap of water. A light breeze rustling cypress tree branches.

I’m bent over, hands on my knees. At some point, I lost Cary’s grip. I don’t know where. A knifing pain stabs my side. But I can’t take my stare away from the labyrinth.

Nothing else emerges after us. Slowly, the vines stretch and twine. They form a gate that seals the maze.

We’re safe.

As my breaths start to calm, I hear a slow clap from behind me.

My spine goes rigid. Sand kicks up as I hastily turn, panic cold in my belly.

Milos stands on Lethe’s shore. His smirk taunts me. Cary kneels at his side, face crumpled in agony. Milos’s fingers digcarelessly into his shoulder. The hiss he lets out vibrates through my body.

“Impressive,” Milos says. “No one has ever found their way out of my labyrinth. Though I had hoped you would.” Amusement glints in his eyes. “You truly are special, beautiful August.”

I ignore his sneer. Concentrate on Cary. His half-bowed head. The way he struggles against Milos’s grip, unable to shake him. He looks helpless.

No…powerless.

“The bargain,” I say roughly.