Keepers of the Labyrinth (9 page)

As Charlie, Kat and Sydney circled, Bente pulled a shoulder walkie from a clip on her lapel. “Team D to checkpoint.”

The radio crackled and Lil stopped to listen. “Team A likewise.”

“We're neck and neck,” Sydney gasped. “Where's our clue? We have to go!”

Bente looked to Sydney and reached for her pocket, but then the radio crackled again, and she tilted her head to listen.

“Team C right behind Team A. Wrong trail. Disqualified. Returning to dining hall.”

“Team B at correct checkpoint,” came another voice. “Moving forward with three teams.”

Bente nodded and pulled the envelope from her pocket, holding it out to the girls. Lil plucked it from her fingers and tore the seal.

“What's it say?” Sydney said.

Lil read the note card.

“
Just ahead there's a
fork in the road.

Y
our job is to take t
he tale often told

A
bout an old man whos
e dreams were to fly

But whose son flew
too high in the sky.
”

Sydney snapped her fingers. “Those people in the stained glass, on my window.” She looked to Charlie. “What were their names?”

“I thought you said that wasn't applicable reading,” Charlie said.

“Scholarship,” Lil said. “We don't have time for fighting.”

“Let's focus,” Kat agreed.

“Daedalus and Icarus,” Charlie said. They started jogging past Bente down the trail.

Lil turned and jogged backward. “Are you coming with us?” she shouted at their mentor.

Bente pulled a tube from her backpack and took a sip of water from a mouthpiece. “I'll meet you there. If you've chosen the right path, that is.” She turned and darted through the trees.

Lil hurried to catch up with the others, and they moved steadily forward in a pack.

12

T
he trail forked, and they took a right, following a sign that said
DAEDALUS A
ND ICARUS
.
They climbed higher and higher, and Lil figured that was why the trail was named for the famous mythological duo. Going up and up and up. Sweat pouring down, down, down.

Lil could hear footsteps and voices on the wind, but she couldn't tell if they were above, below or beside them somewhere in the woods. These paths, Aestos had said, would intersect, which meant one of the other teams was close. Probably Team A. They could be on top of each other at any second.

They huffed their way to another fork, where a wooden box sat in the middle of the two paths. Lil pulled the front of it open and extracted an envelope. She tore the seal and read:

“C
retan stories will t
ell you,

Though they
likely are untrue,

A beast lived in the
labyrinth.

The beas
t was ‘you know who.
'”

“The Minotaur!” they all shouted together. Of course, that was the most common mythological beast, Lil thought. Half man, half bull. Anyone would recognize it. They jumped up and ran forward down the path, moments later coming out in a clearing. Footsteps sounded around them, and Lil spotted a trail just below. She saw white shorts, white shirts. Blue stripes and bobbing ponytails.

Her heart jolted into her throat, and she stretched her legs long as the trail started to wind down the hill. The white shorts bobbed and disappeared behind a thicket.

“We can't let them win,” Sydney said, suddenly right next to Lil.

“We won't,” Lil answered through gritted teeth.

As they rounded the bend, there was another fork in the path. This time, the fork wrapped right and left into dark caves. They slowed to a stop, and Lil looked up to the sign that split the path.

HOME OF THE MINOTAUR
, the one on the right said.

HOME
TO DIONYSUS
, the other said.

They all hurried into the one on the right, stumbling through the dark. Lil could see an arm of light at the other end. She tensed and moved forward, slowing only so as not to trip over the unsteady, shadowed ground.

“I can't see a damn thing,” Charlie huffed.

Lil brushed past a stalagmite, her shorts catching on it. For a moment she was snagged back, but she pulled forward regardless.

Their footsteps and breath echoed in surround sound as they neared the domed end of the tunnel. She could see the silhouettes of the objects in her path against the ever-growing sunlight in the distance.

“Almost there. It's easier to see here!” She looked back, spotting Charlie and Kat right away. Sydney staggered forward, the white stripes on her sneakers the only part of her visible just behind them. Lil turned back to the cave opening as a thunder of footsteps joined their own and the white shorts and A-Team shirts flicked into view at the exit. Their paths were converging. Vivi turned and blew them a kiss as she shot ahead. Lil surged forward, her eyes somersaulting in her head as she went from the darkness of the cave to the blaring Cretan sunlight. She spotted Colleen, Bente and Athenia in the trailhead just in front of them, just out beyond Team A.

“Run ahead,” Kat shouted. “Go get the clue.”

Lil turned back for just a moment. They were together, mostly moving as a pack. Sydney nodded, and Charlie waved her on. Lil shot forward, letting her legs stretch to their full length. She laid her eyes on the feet of the person just in front of her. Oh, it felt good to let her lungs expand to their full capacity. To run and breathe and think of nothing else. She matched footfalls of the girl at the rear, and doubled them, tripled them. Overtook them.

The girl turned, startled as Lil strode past.

“Vivi, hurry!” the girl with dark hair shouted. “They're coming up on us.”

Lil laid her eyes on Vivi. She was fast and fit, and had a head start. And as Lil ran toward her, Vivi picked up her pace. Her stride was practiced and unhurried. Lil relaxed her legs more, and they fled for her, taking her on their own. As she came up shoulder to shoulder with Vivi, she wondered if the girl had reached her maximum speed or if it felt like a light jaunt. They scrambled to a standstill in front of the mentors.

Bente held the envelope out to her, and Lil grasped the edge.

“When you have the answer, you must tell your counselor,” she said aloud to both parties. “If you are correct, you move on.”

Lil pulled the note card from within it. Her eyes wavered over the page as she caught her breath, trying to read the words.

There once wa
s a woman, came acro
ss the sea

On the ba
ck of a bull, 'twas
told in history.

A story of a woman who came across the sea on the back of a bull, Lil thought. Her mind flashed to the stained-glass window above Charlie's door. The picture of the woman on the back of the bull. That must be it, but what had she called her?

Team A surrounded Colleen and whispered as Lil read the note card over again. Charlie was the first to reach her, then Sydney and Kat together. She handed the card to Charlie.

“The woman above your door—what was her name?” she whispered.

Charlie read the note card, panting quickly and nodding. “Has to be that. Europa.”

The others agreed, and Lil turned to Bente. Bente reached into her pocket and pulled out a green flag, her smile broadening.

“It's not always a bad thing to stay in the discounted housing, is it?” she whispered, winking. “Plenty of history there.”

“And we have a correct one here as well!” Colleen said, holding up another green flag.

Lil wondered who had gotten the answer and how they had known. Did everyone here know all of the history of Crete?

“All right,” Sydney said, clapping. “Let's get a move on.”

Bente looked at Sydney, her eyebrows shooting up as she turned and picked up a large backpack full of what Lil could see was climbing gear. A rope hung down the outside in a figure-eight coil, carabiners hanging off the end.

“You set the pace,” Bente said, stepping to the side. “I'll be right behind you.”

Lil looked up at the sign and spotted the Europa trail. Up they would climb once more. She took a deep breath, wondering if Bente was watching her. Then she started the hike to the top.

“Welcome, Team B,” Athenia shouted from behind them as Teams A and D flew ahead. Lil lifted her head and planted her eyes on a distant patch of sun. Now it was a race.

• • •

A shiver ran up Lil's back. The trees here were different from Vermont, sure, but everything else was very similar to the ropes course behind her house. She stared at the cable walk and the rope swing. To the right was the swaying log, and to the left, the initiative wall. In the distance, she could see the raiders' bridge, cargo net, rock wall and zip line.

“All teams gather!” Bente shouted, and she blew a whistle that hung around her neck. “Congratulations, Teams A, B and D. You have made it to the final checkpoint. We will commence the ropes course. During this course, you will be critiqued on teamwork, team leadership, agility, endurance and, of course, brains. You may, I repeat, you
may
split up the tasks, but all members must do at least two stations together. I am in charge of the climbing gear for the high course and will prepare you on the ground for a safe climb. Colleen,” she said, turning to her colleague, “will be stationed at the top of the rock wall to help you change carabiners and prepare you for the zip line. Athenia will help you from the zip line and distribute the final clue. You will not, I repeat, you will not, go ahead without a counselor's permission. Each team will go independently and be timed. When you reach the end of the zip line, there will be one final clue. In order to win, you must have the fastest time
and
the accurate destination. To signal your arrival at that destination, you will fire the flare gun. Only when we see that signal will the watch stop.” She looked around as if to see if her instructions were sinking in. “We will proceed in alphabetical order in three minutes.”

“I don't like the looks of this,” Sydney said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“It's okay,” Lil said as the others crowded around. “We'll split up the tasks by skill. Our entire group will do the easiest ones together.”

Bente jotted a few notes on her clipboard. Lil hoped it was for leadership or teamwork, anything that would put them ahead of Team A.

Vivi's voice carried over to them as if she had heard the pen marking the paper. “All right, Team A! We can do this.”

“I'm scared of heights,” Kat said.

“Me too,” Sydney said.

Lil looked from Kat to Sydney, then turned to Charlie. “What about you? How do you feel about heights?”

Charlie shrugged. “I work backstage at Charles de Gaulle Players on the weekends. I can do heights.” She looked over Lil's shoulder. “Flying, though. Not my expertise.”

“Okay.” Lil got down in the sand.

“Have you done this before?” Sydney asked, scowling.

Lil nodded. “Many times.” She placed a finger in the dirt and quickly laid out their plan.”We'll all do the rope swing. It's lowest to the ground.” She scribbled a squiggly rope with a loop at the bottom. “Then we'll all do the balance log. The initiative wall is the hardest low-ropes course, but it's still close to the ground. If Kat and Sydney can do that one, Charlie and I could prep for the high course.”

Kat rubbed her palms together. “I can do the initiative wall. My mother says I have strong hands and arms.”

“I'll try,” Sydney said.

“Nice,” Lil said. “Charlie and I will have made our way over to the high course while you are doing this. You'll run to tag us, then Charlie.” She drew big squares in the sand. “You'll climb and cross the raiders' bridge and roll down this cargo net.”

“Okay.” Charlie's nostrils flared as she took a deep inhale. “Then I'll tag you.”

“Right,” Lil said. “You'll tag me and I'll climb the rock wall and go down the zip line.” She drew a long swaying line in the dirt. “Is that manageable?” She looked up at the others. “The problem is that this leaves me alone on the other side of the zip line with a clue, which I bet Charlie would be the most equipped to answer.”

“Je suis désolée,”
Charlie said, staring at the zip line. “I don't—”

“What do you mean? You already know the final answer,” Sydney said.

Lil looked over at her, confused.

“One minute, teams!” Bente said from the center of the three groups.

“You heard Bente: she said that there is often an advantage to staying in Hall D. All that history. The only myth we haven't covered yet is . . .” Sydney scowled as if working out a math problem. “The one above your door.”

“Ariadne,” Lil said. “Of course.”

“But what if it's not?” Kat said. “What if the relation to our dorms has been coincidental?”

“Ten seconds, people!” Bente shouted.

Sydney shrugged. “Is anyone else going to fly?”

The others shook their heads.

“Then it doesn't matter, does it?” Sydney said.

“And let's move!” Bente shouted, blowing her whistle. “Team A! You're up!”