chapter thirty-three

The next few days passed like they were all knit together. There was no way for anyone to tell time in the labyrinth, so Thea wasn't sure how long she'd been living in Zared's cave. The labyrinth at least attempted to mimic time, by dimming its natural glow so they could sleep, brightening again when it was time to rise.

Thea made herself a bed against the far wall out of some extra fabrics, just big enough to fit her frame. Zared tried to argue that she should take his bed, but she wouldn't allow him to move until his wound was healed over. It was looking better by the day, but she still worried that the scab would open up if he tried to overexert himself.

She didn't mind being patient. The cavern was full of good crops that kept them both fed, and Zared had been surprisingly good company. She told him stories of the surface, about the different kingdoms, and even about each of her sisters. He loved hearing about her family, though never asked about his own—and she was thankful for that. Now that there was a chance of her surviving the labyrinth, the last thing she wanted to think about was what would happen if she actually escaped.

Ceyden won't forget our deal...

She climbed out of her make-shift bed, stretching to life even though the cavern walls were still dark. She needed to get her thoughts moving to something else.

Thea moved over to the rose, careful not to wake Zared, who was still snoring in his bed. The flower warmed in her touch, and the petals' glow acted like a tiny torch that helped her see where she was going. She stepped over to the wall that acted as the hidden door, trying to hide the rose's glow so it didn't disturb Zared.

"How do you work?" she whispered to the flower.

For the last few days, she and Zared had looked at the bloom from every angle imaginable. She tried talking to it, watering it, holding it upside down, even mapping out the petals like they were some sort of key to escaping the maze. The only thing they were certain about was that it wilted when Zared touched it, and its presence was causing the other roses in the maze to wilt. Thea looked over at one of the rosebushes that grew in the cave. The flowers were all drooping, with half the petals littered on the stone floor.

Seeing them wilt made Zared nervous, like it was some sort of timer that was counting down to the end. Thea wasn't sure what it meant, but she wanted to help Zared. Now that he'd realized she wasn't a threat above or below the surface, he'd been... kind. It was so strange how someone with such a terrible family, living in such miserable circumstances, could have a heart as warm as his.

He deserves to be free.

She leaned against the stone wall, studying the petals like a compass that would hopefully point her to the answer. Nothing looked different, yet she still felt she was missing something every time it warmed in her palm.

"I'm listening," she whispered. "How do I help Zared?"

Footsteps echoed behind her, causing Thea to stiffen until she realized the sound was coming from behind the magic door. Someone was right outside the hidden cavern... they couldn't come in, could they? She pressed her ear to the wall.

"There must be a way out without that blasted flower!"

Thea recognized the voice immediately. The last time she heard it, he was threatening to cut off her fingers. A chill shivered down her spine as she quieted her breathing .

"We've only got a few days left of the food we brought," one of the other men said. "We need to figure something out fast. I wish we had strangled that little girl while we had the chance."

Thea swallowed hard.

"What good would that have done?" the lead snorted. "It's the beast who has the rose. Malik should have given us a better way to find him... How does he expect us to destroy the flower if we can't even find it?"

Destroy the flower?

"Maybe the girl already destroyed it and escaped," another man groaned. "She might have figured it out after we tried to take it."

"Nah, Malik said she'd be too cautious to destroy it. She's still here somewhere... I can feel it in my bones."

Destroy it and escape? Is that how the rose works?

She looked back at the bloom and the stem grew hot in her hand to the point where she had to drop it with a hiss. She narrowed her eyes on the bloom, trying to figure out what it was trying to tell her. She picked it up again, carefully touching the stem before deciding it was cool to the touch. It made her drop it when she thought of destroying it... Does that mean that's not the answer?

I bet Malik told them whatever it took to convince them to destroy the key, but still...

"Come on, let's keep looking," the leader said. "Or else the only escape from these tunnels will be into Tarteron."

Tarteron... the deepest and darkest grave of Underworth. She hadn't thought about it until now, but it made sense that the bodies of the prisoners would be sent there. Or at least the ones that weren't utilized for skeleton decorations...

"But how do they get there...?" Thea wondered aloud, right as she heard shuffling from inside the cave. The labyrinth's glow returned, brightening the space a little at a time as she moved back into the center of the room.

Zared was out of bed, standing over the fire and poking it with an old scrap of metal.

"What are you doing up?" Thea asked, causing Zared to jump and clang the metal scrap against the bubbling pot.

"I-I, uh..." He looked between Thea and the pot, eyes wide like a toddler caught with his hands in a cookie jar. "I thought you were still sleeping."

"I'm not."

"Yes, I can see that." He sighed, dropping the metal scrap to the ground with a clatter. "I was only trying to make tea... I thought I could surprise you before you woke up. "

Tea?

"What about your injury?" Thea asked.

"Is that all you ever ask about?"

"Well, someone has to."

"I feel fine. I'm making tea," he said pointedly. "Now, would you like some or not?"

Thea debated on whether scolding him was worth it, but he really did look better. "Tea sounds lovely. I have a few questions to ask while you brew it."

"Questions?" Zared asked as he dropped a few leaves into the bubbling pot. "About what?"

Thea took her spot at the table, folding her hands on top of the stone. "About where the bodies of the prisoners go."

Zared paused, his silence only filled by the bubbling of the pot. "I dispose of them," he said solemnly.

"How?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why don't you want to share?"

"It's not exactly the kind of thing a lady should hear about." Zared scooped a cup into the boiled tea, barely even flinching from the hot water.

"I'm no lady. I'm a convicted prisoner, remember?"

"You look like a lady to me."

"And since when do you judge people based on appearances?"

Zared froze, his claws still half-dipped in the water before he finished scooping out the tea in the second cup. He couldn't argue that one.

"I receive portals from Underworth's king," Zared explained. "He opens them once every few weeks, and I bring the bodies that aren't too eviscerated to carry."

Thea's stomach tightened as she thought about the cracked and beheaded skeletons that lined the tunnels. She guessed some were too much for even a beast to drag around.

"So the portal opens into Underworth?" Thea asked.

"It opens into Tarteron," Zared said as he placed the cups on the table. " Directly into Tarteron. It's not much of a view."

But it does lead into Underworth...

"I overheard the men from the other day by the door." Thea reached for her cup. The tea smelled surprisingly good. Zared had been listening to her instructions, after all. "They were talking about their plans to destroy the rose. They said something about how destroying it would allow them to escape."

Zared's gaze drifted to the rose, his expression pondering through the steam of his cup. "I doubt that. It sounds like a trick Malik would use to remove the rose from the playing field."

"That was my thought, too." Thea sipped her tea, the warm liquid coating her throat. "They also mentioned another way out... through Tarteron."

"You mean through death?"

"Well... in most cases, yes." Thea tapped her fingers on the edge of the cracked cup. "But what if someone who was alive went into Tarteron?"

Zared nearly spit out his tea, his eyes wide as he set the cup down with a clear of his throat. "You do know that Underworth is cursed, right? Only those gifted with magic can survive on its soil without having their lifespans sapped."

"Yes, I'm aware." Thea fidgeted in her seat, recalling all the scary stories she'd heard about the kingdom as a child.

But they weren't nearly as scary as the labyrinth stories.

"So what are you really asking?" Zared met her gaze, already seeming to know what she was thinking before she spoke it.

"I'm asking where the portal opens," she said firmly. "And if I can escape the labyrinth through it."