Page 130 of Saints & Sinners

I clung to those words, now holding the blue charm stone like it was the last piece of sanity I had left in me.

My breathing slowed just a little as I pressed the charm against my chest, letting the cold surface sink into my skin.

One breath in. One breath out.

The maze was still there, surrounding me, but the necklace anchored me, pulling me back from it all.

I wasn’t out of the labyrinth yet, but at least I wasn’t lost in my head anymore.

“I can do this,” I whispered, my voice breaking the silence. “I can figure this out.”

I wasn’t going to let this place win.

Not now. Not when I still had time to prove myself to others.

With the sigil stone in my other hand, I straightened, stepping forward—and then another. I didn’t know where I was going, but I wasn’t frozen anymore, and for now, that was enough to keep me going.

Chapter Fifty-Nine

“Grace!” My voice echoed through the maze but was quickly swallowed by the twisting walls of branches and dense mist curling around my feet.

I couldn’t see her.

I couldn’t see anyone.

The thought gnawed at me as I stalked forward, intent on finding her, but every pathway I took and every section I turned looked identical to the last.

“Grace!” I shouted again, the word cracking in my throat.

Only silence answered.

I swore under my breath, and I forced myself to keep moving. Why didn’t I stop her before she touched the stone? My jaw clenched at the memory of it all despite my warning. She rarely listened, and why should she after I had angered her the night of the ball?

“Fuck,” I whispered, annoyed at myself, before a faint sound reached my ears—footsteps, hurried and uneven.

I stilled, my muscles bunching up as I gripped the edge of my spear tighter. The steps grew louder and closer, accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing. The footsteps were practically on top of me now as I rounded the next corner and collided withsomething solid, the force knocking me back a step.

The other figure hit the ground with a grunt, scrambling back as they looked up at me.

It wasn’t Grace.

It was just Matt from the Healers Sector. He was younger than me, with wiry limbs and wide, panicked eyes. His uniform was torn, and dirt was smeared across his face.

“I—I’m sorry!” His hands raised defensively. “I don’t want to fight, okay? I don’t even know where I am going—I just—” His gaze darted around like he was expecting something to leap out at him.

Poor guy must have encountered one too many of those shadow beasts.

I took a step closer, but he shook his head, whimpering. Before I could say anything, he staggered to his feet and bolted down another path.

I stood there for a moment, watching the empty space where he’d been, but he no longer mattered to me. What mattered was finding Grace.

Her name burned on my tongue as I shouted it again into the silence and was met with nothing.

I forced my legs to keep moving, even as my lungs burned, and my muscles ached. Somewhere out there was another sigil stone, the real one, and I desperately wanted to find it. That thought was the only thing keeping me moving, even as exhaustionstarted consuming me with every step.

“Grace.”

I came to an abrupt stop and turned in all directions to where the voice had come from. “Hunter?” I whispered, but there was nothing. I went to say his name again, but that was when I heard it. My name once more, and the faintest whispers followed close behind. I froze, my ears straining to hear more, but what they were saying wasn’t clear.

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