Shai

It had taken Shai a while to fall asleep last night. She’d lain awake thinking about her life in The Cliq and the upcoming heist. And Jistan.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized she shouldn’t betray him. Couldn’t betray him. He meant too much to her. They’d recently gotten close again, so she couldn’t ruin his trust in her.

So she would tell him about The Cliq wanting the Obsidian Chest. Then maybe together they could figure out how to keep it away from Madame Kalyssah and how to rescue Shai’s mother. They would also have to figure out a way to get Ed off their backs.

But it was possible. Shai and Jistan could defeat The Cliq. She didn’t have to keep working for the gang. There must be some way out. She had to believe that.

She dragged herself out of bed and got dressed, pulling on a freshly-washed white lightmancer robe. Jistan had thought it would be a good idea to hide her mancer ability while in Zanteos, which would deceive Emperor Varo and those around him into thinking there was no way Shai could easily get through magic barriers.

She also made sure not to forget her dirks, sliding them into the thigh sheaths under her robe. She kept Nahya in her boot.

For the rest of the day, Shai and Qiara went for walks around the palace and out in the city, talking about the upcoming heist and guessing what could be inside the chest. Near dinnertime, Qiara went off to spend time with Tivon.

Shai had tried to find time to talk to Jistan alone all day, but he was always either with the emperor or Prince Keion or one of the members of their team. Apparently, Jistan had really signed the peace treaty, but only to make it harder for Emperor Varo to see their deception coming.

It was maddening that Jistan was so busy, but Shai knew he was focused on tomorrow morning’s job. She should be doing the same. So she’d just have to wait until they successfully pulled off the heist before she told him about The Cliq and her intentions to leave the gang.

If they survived, of course.

Night came before Shai knew it, and she was only able to get a couple hours of sleep, as anxious as she was. An hour before dawn, Qiara roused her and announced it was time.

They got dressed, both of them putting on skintight black outfits, similar to what they wore on most heists with The Cliq. They even put on their headscarves.

Qiara was unusually quiet as they got ready. Shai glanced over at her.

“Is something bothering you?” she asked as she pulled on her boots.

Qiara scoffed. “You mean besides the fact I’m about to risk my life for unknown treasure we won’t even get a cut of?”

“Yes. You’ve barely talked to me since you came back from Tivon’s room. You won’t even look me in the eye.”

Her friend adjusted the sash around her waist that would hold her mana regeneration potions. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“See? You’re doing it now!”

Qiara sighed, finally meeting her eyes. “There. You happy?”

“No.”

Qiara huffed, slipping vials of potions into their separate pockets. “It’s nothing. There’s just…something about Jistan…never mind. I’ll tell you after the heist.”

“What about Jistan?”

“Something I overheard…but we have no time to dwell on it. He’ll be here any minute.” She lifted her scarf over her head and adjusted the eye slit.

Dread pounded through Shai’s veins. “What is it about? Can’t you tell me now?”

“There isn’t time!” Qiara equipped her weapons. “Don’t forget to stuff pillows underneath the covers of your bed. I don’t think anyone will come into our room while we’re out, but we can’t take chances.”

Shai hurried over to her bed to do so. “Q, just tell me what you—”

There was a tap on their door. Shai checked her bed once more, then hurried to the door. She opened it to find the five other members of their team waiting in the hallway, also dressed in dark clothing with scarves over their heads.

“All set?” Jistan asked through his headscarf, his amber eyes peering out of the slit.

“Yes.” Shai looked over at Qiara, who came to the door and slipped out of the room. Shai came behind her, wishing they could finish their conversation. But it was time to focus on the job and put everything else to the back of their minds until it was done.

“Are all the guards in this hallway frozen?” Shai looked at the one next to the door to confirm. The man stared straight ahead at nothing.

Jistan nodded. “They’ll unfreeze once we’re out of the palace, but hopefully they won’t notice us missing. Everyone, don’t touch anything and watch how you walk on the rug. We don’t want to leave any wrinkles they can detect and become suspicious about.”

They started forward, allowing Jistan to lead them. Before going around every corner, he made sure to blast the next hallway with his time magic, freezing any servants or guards. He caught one guard just coming out of the privy, zipping his pants up. Qiara snickered at him, and Raz reminded her to be quiet because of those sleeping in the rooms they passed.

They walked right out the back doors of the palace and across the grass toward the Treasure Fortress. As they dashed behind trees and shrubs, Jistan paused, beginning to sway woozily. He uncapped a vial of one of his potions and tipped the lime green liquid down his throat. Shai knew he must’ve exhausted all his mana in the palace, and now he was back to full power. But he could only take so many potions before he got mana burnout, which would cause him to fall unconscious. They certainly couldn’t afford that, so it was best if he didn’t freeze all the guards in the towers at the fortress.

As they passed the first guard tower, Aladia waved her hands, and the atmosphere around them darkened to make it harder for the guards to see them. But the guards were busy playing card games again and barely glanced in their direction.

They crept as quietly as they could over the dry landscape, the grass crinkling only a few times in their wake. When they finally made it behind the fortress, Qiara showed them the location of the sewer grate in the ground.

Leiam stepped forward, brushing his hands together. Then he squatted down and grasped two of the iron bars of the grate. They glowed orange under his hands, and then he tugged up, bending the bars back to make enough space for a person to fit inside.

Qiara dropped into the hole first, creating a ball of electricity in her palm to see down the dark tunnel. It had a low ceiling, so she had to stoop, and it was only wide enough for them to walk one at a time.

“All clear,” she called. “And, Goddess, it stinks down here.”

Shai dropped in next, then Jistan, Tivon, Aladia, and Raz with his fireball to light the back of their group. He held the flames up so Leiam could see how to reseal the grate after coming down himself. When the metamancer was done, the grate looked like it had always been intact.

Shai followed Qiara down the tunnel, her feet sloshing through brown, murky water. She tried not to think about what she was stepping through, but still she gagged a couple times as her nose tried to acclimate to the putrid scent. This tunnel branched off into others they passed by, where waste from the fortress privies came through, dripping down the walls.

“Ugh, I can’t believe I agreed to this,” Aladia complained, holding her hand to the part of her scarf where her nose was.

“Just think of the greatness you’re doing for your country,” Raz said, a little too joyfully considering their situation.

“That and Jistan. The only two reasons I’m doing this.”

Shai glanced back at Jistan behind her and caught him rolling his eyes in the white glow of Qiara’s light. She grinned. But her smile dropped when she thought about what Qiara said, something she found out about him…and it nagged at Shai that she didn’t know what it was.

The tunnel suddenly opened up, and before them was a straight drop several feet into darkness. Qiara removed her headscarf, and Shai realized they didn’t need to wear them anymore, so she pulled hers down too as her friend stared over the lip of stone. Everyone else crowded around them. Qiara released her orb of lightning, and it traveled down until it hit more stone probably five stories below.

“The path down there leads to the labyrinth,” Tivon told them. “At least, according to the sewer plans I found.”

Jistan crouched down to inspect broken pieces of metal poking out of the stone, near the edge. “It appears someone thought of thieves using this as a way in. They removed the ladder that was here.”

“That won’t stop these thieves,” Aladia said, and her grin appeared wicked in the glow of Raz’s fireball. She and the others had removed their scarves too.

Jistan gestured for Aladia to step up. She cracked her knuckles and peered over the edge, holding out her hands. Tendrils of darkness snaked from her fingertips and down the stone wall, forming the rungs of a ladder.

“Huh,” Qiara said. “You’re more talented than I gave you credit for. Better than other talents you’ve used in the past.” She leveled a dark look at Aladia, who threw her a haughty look back.

Shai stared at her friend, wondering what she meant by that.

“Talents I’m sure a prince can appreciate,” Aladia said, finishing her spell and dropping her hands to her sides as she glanced over at Jistan.

“I think he’s appreciated them enough,” Qiara snapped.

Raz snickered at that. Even Leiam seemed amused. Tivon gave Jistan a look.

Shai blinked. Did everyone know something she didn’t?

Jistan seemed oblivious to it all as he stared down at Aladia’s ladder of darkness. “Alright, I suppose I’ll go first.”

“I think that’s wise,” Qiara said. “You can test it out and fall on your ass first if it doesn’t hold.” She smiled innocently at him. Shai narrowed her eyes.

Jistan stepped onto the first rung, then held onto the sides as he turned and began lowering himself down the ladder.

He was halfway down when Qiara looked at Shai and motioned forward. “After you. I’ll send an electric orb to help you see.”

Aladia stepped up as if to protest, but she stopped when Qiara turned a glare on her.

“You go last to make sure your ladder stays together,” the electromancer hissed.

Aladia frowned, crossing her arms.

Shai shook her head, not sure she wanted to know why they seemed even more hostile toward each other than usual. She proceeded down the ladder, grateful when Qiara sent an orb of light to follow her. It was strange, grabbing onto tangible shadows. It felt like her hands and feet would go right through them.

And then she did have one heart-pounding moment when she almost slipped, her foot passing through one rung of the ladder. From above, Aladia called, “Oops, my apologies. Lost concentration for a moment.”

Shai clenched her teeth, hoping the evil girl hadn’t done that on purpose.

When Shai saw she was close to Jistan at the bottom, she used her foot to try to feel for the floor.

“Here, I’ll help you.” He stepped forward, and she turned as he grabbed her around the waist, lowering her to the ground in front of him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, staring up at him as their eyes met in the soft glow of the electric orb. His hands lingered on her waist, her hands touching his forearms. And that familiar spark passed between them, her heart stuttering in her chest.

“Um, Shai…after this job is over, there’s something I have to tell you,” he said, his tone low.

“There’s something I have to tell you too,” she said.

He was so close to her again. If she stood on her tiptoes—

Qiara landed on the dirt beside them, and Jistan quickly released Shai, averting his eyes.

The electromancer wiped her forehead. “Whew! Thought for sure that witch was going to let me fall on purpose.”

Shai was temporarily speechless from that moment of closeness with Jistan. But she forced herself to focus. They were in the middle of a job.

The prince himself seemed a little flustered. “Q, we’re a team,” he told her, slowly turning away from Shai. “We’re here to support each other, not bring each other down.”

“I think some people need to learn that more than others,” Qiara grumbled. She made her electric orb float to her palm, then held it out, inspecting the tunnel before them.

Shai turned to Jistan again. “Is something going on with you, Q, and Aladia?”

His eyebrows came together in confusion. “No. I don’t think so.”

“Huh.” She frowned, staring after Qiara.

The others came down the ladder, and Aladia arrived last, letting each rung of darkness evaporate after her hand left it. Finally, there was no trace of the ladder. Aladia gulped down one of her potions, then tucked the empty vial back in her sash.

“The entrance to the labyrinth is ahead,” Qiara reported, peering around the next corner. There was much more space here, with the ceiling now several feet above them. The next hallway was wider, so they could walk two at a time comfortably. And best of all, the ground was dry. The smell had lessened as well.

“This is one of the entrances,” Tivon said. “Most likely on the bottommost level.”

“Wait, this labyrinth has multiple stories like a building?” Leiam cried.

“Yes. We have to get to the center by going up and through the maze.”

“A little fact you forgot to mention?” Jistan said to his friend.

“It may have slipped my mind. But I believe Leiam can help us through it by using his connection to the metal walls. And I will try to determine any traps we come across before we trip them.”

“Good. Then let’s get started.” Jistan started walking ahead.

“Wait!” Tivon cried, jerking the prince back by his arm.

The section of floor Jistan was just standing on shot up suddenly and met the ceiling with a booming thud, making Shai jump. The path had vanished, becoming a stone wall.

“Whoa!” Jistan said, his mouth gaping. Shai’s own throat had closed at how close he just came to his end.

“You almost became a pancake,” Qiara said in astonishment.

“I told you we have to be careful,” Tivon said. “That was a fake entrance.”

Jistan flashed him a small smile, patting his shoulder. “See, I told you we needed you on this job. You saved my life before we’ve even started.”

Tivon’s returning smile was weak; he already looked sick of the maze. Shai felt the same.

She approached the wall, running her hand over the hard gray stone. Then she walked along next to it, sensing magic nearby.

“So, we’ve already reached a dead end and we haven’t even entered the maze yet?” Aladia asked.

“No,” Tivon said. “We just have to find the real entrance.”

Shai stopped about twenty feet down. “It’s here. This part of the wall is an illusion.” To prove her point, she stuck her hand through it. Then she curled her fingers into a fist, and the illusion vanished as she undid the magic.

“Clever,” Raz said.

“If not very annoying,” Qiara muttered. She sidled closer to Tivon. “I’ll stay by you in case you need to save my life too.”

“Er…very well.” Tivon rubbed the back of his neck. Shai had to smile at these two.

“Can we go now and get this over with?” Leiam said.

“Tell us which way to go, metamancer,” Aladia said.

He cast her an irritated look, then walked to the entrance. He cautiously tested the floor with his foot to make sure it wouldn’t smash him, then proceeded forward. Everyone else came behind him. Shai couldn’t help holding her breath, wondering if something else was going to try to kill them this soon.

The ground remained gray stone, but the walls and ceiling changed. It was all silver metal now, metal that gleamed from the light of Qiara’s orb and Raz’s fireball. Leiam gazed around at it all in wonder, as if in a metamancer’s dream world. He let his fingertips brush the wall as he took careful steps forward.

Helio light suddenly flared on, blazing from panels in the walls and ceiling. Raz and Qiara gratefully extinguished their magical orbs as they continued on.

They came to their first turn, and then a three-way split. One path went left, one right, and the other straight ahead with giant steps leading up to the next level.

“We have to go up, right?” Jistan asked. “If we’re on the bottom.”

“Yes,” Leiam said. “But not here, that’s a dead end. This way.” He turned left. Took a few steps, then stopped. “No, wait, this way.” He walked back to the right.

“Oh, Goddess, we’re doomed,” Qiara moaned.

“Better to get lost than end up dead,” Shai said, following after Leiam with the others. She kept close to the front, trying to sense any magical traps they might come across.

“There’s so much metal,” Leiam said. “It’s a bit confusing.”

The corridor widened when they turned the next corner. And Shai felt magical wards in the air.

“Wait,” she said.

Leiam stopped instantly, and Shai walked past him, watching the walls on either side. She took gradual steps, but her foot triggered a rune before she could detect it. Gouts of flames burst from the walls toward her, hot and blinding. She raised both of her hands quickly, undoing the magic. The fire faded, leaving the hallway smelling of smoke. She sighed in relief.

“I’m over this already,” Leiam said, a slight tremor in his voice.

“We’re doing fine,” Jistan said. “I told you, we wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”

The metamancer grunted.

They continued down the labyrinth corridors, making turns based on Leiam’s suggestions. Eventually the floor turned from stone to metal, and their footsteps echoed hollowly around them. Shai figured they must be getting closer to the center, but this also meant something could come at them from below. The only benefit now was that Leiam didn’t have to touch the walls to sense the metal; he could feel it through his boots.

They came to another set of stairs, which Leiam said was the right way up, so they started to ascend. Shai sensed the vibrations of magic only a moment before they heard a low rushing sound.

“What’s that noise?” Qiara asked.

Ahead, a tidal wave cascaded down the stairs toward them. Shai raised her hands, but the water wasn’t magic, it had only been released from a magical ward. She sucked in her breath.

“Watch out!” Jistan cried, trying to brace himself against the wall, but when the wave reached him, it knocked him over. All seven of them tumbled back down the stairs, rolling across the floor at the bottom.

The wave swept past and flowed down the two corridors behind them, sloshing against the walls. Shai raised her head from the water, gasping for breath. She was soaked from head to toe, her curls dripping and hanging wet around her face. She wiped a hand over her eyes.

Her companions sputtered and coughed as they blinked away water too. Shai was close to Qiara, and they helped each other stand as the water started to ebb away.

Some of Qiara’s wet braids flopped into her face, and she brushed them back. “What the hell was the point of that? Are waves going to keep coming to stop us from going upstairs?”

Before anyone could answer, they heard another sound. A clank, followed by what sounded like gears groaning.

“Now what?” Raz asked.

Shai looked around, a feeling of dread slithering down her spine.

“Are the walls…moving?” Leiam asked, squinting.

Tivon walked closer to the nearest wall, studying it. Disbelief colored his tone as he said, “I believe the labyrinth is changing.”

Jistan looked at him in alarm. “I thought it only changes once a day at noon.”

“Usually, yes. But I think when we triggered that wave, it triggered the labyrinth to morph with us in it.”

All of their eyes widened at the revelation. And then the floor began shifting too, splitting in the middle to reveal a dark pit whose bottom couldn’t be seen.