Labyrinth of Stars (A Hunter Kiss Novel) (30 page)

Behind me, Grant placed his hand against the small of my back. Gentle, so gentle, but heat bloomed inside my chest—a wild burst of golden light filled with so much power I could see the glow from behind my eyes. I felt that light burn my tongue, tingle against my lips. All of me, burning.

And it felt so good. Like home.

Maxine,
I heard inside my mind. It wasn’t just Grant’s voice, but all of him—inside me, shining and warm, filling that hole that had drowned my heart. Our bond, resurrected.

Don’t be stupid again,
I thought at him.
It’s us or nothing.

That’s a lie, too,
he replied, but there was only love in his voice—because he was right about that, too. There was another life that mattered, and if push came to shove, we both knew whom I would choose.

But in the meantime, I wasn’t going to give up without a fight.

Except, I was surprised again. Fire moves fast. Fire controlled by an Aetar, even faster. Those arms turned into whips, lashing out to hit the shield. They sizzled on impact, dissolving, but the fire kept coming—again and again. I’d killed Aetar with nothing less than a touch of the armor. I couldn’t understand how it was surviving this contact.

My confusion distracted me. One tendril snaked around my shield. It happened so fast, I didn’t see until it was too late. Even the boys were too slow though Raw was the closest and tried to block the blow.

The blade sheared through my right arm as though my flesh were made of silk.

I didn’t feel anything at first, but I watched my arm fall away with distant, numb surprise.
My arm,
I thought.
My arm is gone. How strange that looks. My arm, all the way down there.

I staggered, watching the Aetar’s flaming hand cover the armor that still clung to my dismembered arm. A terrible hiss filled the air when it made contact—the creature flinched—but it did not pull away. It sank my entire limb down its massive throat, and as my flesh disappeared I glimpsed the armor shrinking, shrinking, and I remembered how I’d first found it—as nothing but a ring.

“Maxine.” Grant dragged me away. I didn’t resist, but I barely felt him. I couldn’t stop staring at the fire, searching it for that piece of myself—or even a glitter of quicksilver.

And then the pain really hit. I tried to fight through it, but dark spots filled my vision, swallowing up the fire, the heat—even the agony eating up my right side. Grant cried out, but not in pain. It was a command, and in his voice, a click. Like a door opening.

I slipped in and out of consciousness, aware of a shadow that loomed over my body, tendrils of hair that touched my face. I was carried and dragged, past the fire to twilight, as cool air washed over me—which did nothing to dull the bombs exploding inside my body.

“You morons,” I heard Jack shout, shoving everyone aside and falling to his knees beside me. He pressed a cool hand to my brow, and his voice was thick with fear. I didn’t want him touching me, but couldn’t make my throat work. “The wound’s been cauterized,” he said. “You, pick her up.”

Strong arms slipped beneath me. Tracker. I screamed when he lifted me. Dek and Mal, who were coiled around my neck, howled in shared agony. Raw and Aaz gripped their own right arms, and Zee raked his claws through the dirt, eyes narrowed with pain and rage.

“He has a fragment of the labyrinth,” Jack said, somewhere to my right. “We must leave here, now. He’ll free himself, for sure.”

More voices, but they were fuzzy. I tried so hard not to cry out. I told myself it wasn’t worse than the boys waking up, but that wasn’t true.

My arm was gone.
My arm.
Swallowed up, burned to ash—except I could still feel it there, as if it were attached. My brain, playing tricks. Had any of that been real? The white room, the fire—that old man’s familiar face, and what he’d said about my grandfather?

I lost track of time. Once, I heard Jack say, “I don’t know how, lad. He was the best at building bodies that were stronger than anything the rest of us could imagine. They had to be strong, to last longer for his torture.”

Your torture?
I wanted to ask him.
Are you the Devourer?

I didn’t hear Grant’s response. I was already gone.

T
HERE
was no pain inside that darkness, just the drift. And I kept drifting, right into a field of stars.

I wasn’t alone. I saw a man made of silver, radiating a cool, clean light. He stood on my left, but no matter how hard I stared, I couldn’t see his face.

I didn’t need to. I knew what my father looked like.

On my right was a creature made of obsidian—not a dragon, but close enough—a wyrm, sleek and lean, and coiled with power. It writhed and twisted, and ate the light of the other man. But it was a fair trade. His silver skin absorbed the shadows that flowed from the wyrm. Both of them, consuming the other.

You are safe,
whispered my father, his skin shining with starlight.
Let go of the fear. Let go.

Let go,
murmured the darkness.
Embrace the hunt and the hunger. Be the vessel that is needed.

Why?
I asked them both, so weary.
Why does there need to be a vessel? Why did you go to so much trouble to engineer this?

I woke up before I could get an answer. Not that I expected one.

But that didn’t matter, either. Because we were no longer in the Labyrinth. I saw stars above, and in the distance, city lights. I wasn’t sure what city, but it looked familiar, and very much of earth. A dream, though. It was just a dream. I couldn’t feel my body. I floated like a ghost.

My relief, though, was short-lived. Because the sky opened up, and fire burned away the stars.

Fire, in every direction, rippling outward. I kept expecting to see the edges, but the flames never stopped, spreading over my head, raining down an inferno.

I looked back at the city, but it was already burning. Millions of voices, crying out, and none of them would have a quick death. An entire world would die slowly, just for the pleasure of the beast—who would devour their pain.

And it was my fault.

No,
I said, and—

—opened my eyes, again.

I stared, breathing hard. Nothing but the forest around me: gnarled roots and trees as big as skyscrapers, and a soft twilight that clung to the air and seemed part of its scent; sweet, light, with a hint of rose. I was surrounded by demons: scales and spikes, sharp elbows, and even sharper claws. Red eyes gleamed. Purrs rattled.

Still, just a dream. Or a vision of the future. I couldn’t take the risk, though.

For a moment, I dared to imagine that losing my arm was part of that bad dream—but no, I turned my head, and all I saw was shoulder and air.

Grant whispered, “Maxine.”

I was in so much pain I could barely see his face. I looked harder, and found him pressed against my left side, surrounded by a teeming pile of Shurik, who had spread out over the small clearing, rolling in the ferns.

His cheeks were gaunt, eyes reserved and weary—but still alive. He even managed a small smile, but it was filled with pain and regret.

I tried to reach for him, but it hurt too much to move. Grant placed his hand over mine. Between us, light flared: heart to heart. I closed my eyes, savoring the glow that spread within me.

“He tortured you,” I whispered, unable to speak louder past the pain. “You were the butler, and I never realized. Neither did the boys.”

“
I
didn’t know who I was anymore,” Grant said, hoarse. “It was as if he expected me. I never had a chance to even open my mouth. He . . . altered me . . . immediately. Even when I saw you . . . when I saw you in that place . . . I didn’t know you. I still remember how I didn’t know you.” He swallowed hard, closing his eyes. “I can recall . . . all the things he did to me. When he was finished, when I should have been dead, he would bring me back to life. Heal my wounds until he could start again.”

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

“It was my fault. I was cocky.” He kissed my brow, then my mouth, lingering there. “I don’t know what comes next, but we’re going home.”

Fire burned inside my mind. “We can’t. We have to stop this thing here, or else it’ll destroy earth. I’m sure of it.”

I heard a small sound of discontent. “I wish you had thought of that before, my dear.”

Jack paced into view, arms folded over his stomach as though he was holding himself. For a moment, I was frightened—I couldn’t separate my memories from the present moment, and all I could see was that doppelganger with his smile and those deadly eyes. Behind him, I glimpsed Sarai. But she was lingering in the shadows, and there was a hesitance in the way she stood—even in that nonhuman body—that struck me as odd.

Grant squeezed my hand. “Jack. There’s something else you didn’t tell us.” His voice shook a little; he was as rattled as me, which was a small comfort.

“The Devourer,” I said. “He says that he’s you.”

Jack stared. “What are you talking about?”

Zee leaned forward on his claws. “You, Meddling Man. Monster is part of you. Broken away. Locked up. But you.”

My grandfather looked at us like we were crazy—and I
felt
crazy for even considering it. But the truth had always been strange. And there was something about this, what had happened in that place, that made me wonder who was living the real lie. I couldn’t afford to discount
anything
.

“He said he was you,” I told Jack. “The part you didn’t want.”

He appeared genuinely affronted. “That’s ridiculous. What’s even more ridiculous is that you would believe him.”

“Jack,” said my husband, in a deceptively calm voice, “your light is identical to his.”

That surprised me. And terrified me at the same time. It was the confirmation I didn’t want to hear.

My grandfather froze. “No.”

“The energy patterns, the essence . . . it’s the same.” Grant leaned forward, Shurik tumbling from his chest into his lap. “I don’t know how, but you
are
part of each other.”

I’d never seen Jack look so lost and confused—so utterly bewildered. It hurt; my first instinct was grief—for him, for me—except I didn’t know if I could trust what I felt.

“You can,” Grant murmured to me, rubbing my hand. “He
is
confused. I don’t think he knew.”

“Of course I didn’t!” Jack’s voice was hoarse, strangled. “How . . . how is this . . .” He turned, seeking out Sarai. “This can’t be possible.”

If anything, she seemed to sink deeper into the shadows. Inhuman body, but so
human
in her posture, in the way she carried herself—as if secrets were a burden that had been freshly pressed on her shoulders.

“Sarai,” Jack said again. “You have always been my friend.”

And I am still your friend,
she whispered, across all our minds.
But you have not always been as you are now, Old Wolf. And I am sorry . . . I am so very sorry . . . that this is how you must learn the truth.

My grandfather staggered. I saw movement behind him—Tracker. I hadn’t noticed him nestled in a knot of roots, but he glided free, jumping down to press his shoulder against Jack’s so that he wouldn’t fall. His eyes were hooded, dark, his mouth set in an impossibly grim line.

Jack sank to his knees. “No.”

You do not remember.
Sarai moved closer, bowing her head.
We all changed after we found flesh. You changed most of all, my friend. As if two different beings inhabited your skin. It happened slowly, over time. You were always good. But the shadow in you lengthened. And it became a force that was just as strong, and terrible.

He could not have looked more lost, or devastated. “But I remember what
he
did. I remember what he did to
me
. We couldn’t have inhabited the same body.”

Same body, different mind. The tortures he inflicted on you were very real.
He
was very real. Someone wholly different from you. Of course it felt as if another entity was torturing you. Because that was the truth. One truth, anyway.

“He had a split personality,” I said, haunted by the memory of my grandfather’s face, my grandfather himself, eating what I now knew was Grant’s heart. “That’s what you’re telling us.”

We made the split permanent,
whispered Sarai, pressing her delicate white snout against Jack’s brow.
We loved you, brother. We could not abandon you to the sins of your shadow. So we pulled you both apart and cast him away. And you did not remember. No one remembered, save us. We have many secrets, but that is our greatest. We wanted to protect you from it.

Jack shuddered, bowing his head into his hands. I struggled to rise, which hurt so badly I almost went unconscious. Raw and Aaz pressed me down, and instead it was Zee who went to my grandfather. The little demon crouched and pressed a gentle claw against his cheek.

“Meddling Man,” he whispered. “All have shadows.”

“The things he did,” Jack breathed. “What I did.”

“No,” I croaked, wishing I could cry, wishing I could stand and go to him, whole. “It wasn’t you.”

But that only made him curl harder into himself. Zee sighed, letting his little hand drop.

Grant turned his head to cough. Blood flecked his mouth. I’d almost forgotten he was sick, and I watched that, and forgot my own ravaged flesh. I would heal. He would not.

Somehow, I found the strength to touch his back. Inside my mind, he whispered,
I should have accepted my own death. I should have known this would never work. But I wanted to see our daughter, and so I got selfish. And I dragged you into it.

I was already selfish enough for both of us. If you hadn’t gone first, it would have been me. And I’m the one who’s pregnant.

So we’re both idiots,
he said.
Great.

All I wanted to do was cry.
I love you.

I love you more,
he replied, and glanced down at my stomach.
I wrote her letters, before all this happened. Just in case. I stored them in your mother’s chest, in Seattle.

I was dying on the inside. I couldn’t imagine life without him. I couldn’t even think past this moment we were in—which was already so full of grief.

But you will,
he said.
For her.

I hadn’t seen Oturu this entire time, but from the shadows, deep beyond the trees, I heard him whisper, “Hunter.”

All the little demons sat up, alert. Even the Shurik went still. I listened, breathless, but there was nothing to hear. Except, after a brief moment, I saw a faint glow against the trees: a blush of fire.

“Hurry,” Jack choked out, but it was too late.

I heard a low, moaning wail, and a tendril of fire snaked around one of the massive Labyrinth trees. Heat rolled over me. I wanted to gag on the terror I felt, a sudden dread of losing even more than an arm.

Grant stood, fierce, but I rallied all my strength and pushed him out of the way as the tentacle snapped down. It caught us both, and we were snatched up like pieces of straw, hauled up through the trees. Zee and the boys clung to us, while Shurik were scattered, flung away. Higher, toward a wall of flame. I was blind with fear and pain, but I still felt a tingle—a brief warning—just as we were thrown through a Labyrinth door.

It was another nightmare of a world. My throat burned on the fumes of sulfur and blood. Red clouds scarred my eyes, red smoke drifting over red water running into a horizon full of spitting shadows that boiled and hissed like volcanic spit. The air tasted rank. I could hardly breathe, and the pain was so wild inside me, it was all I could do just to stay conscious.

The red sky disappeared behind writhing limbs of fire, rough and hoary. My skin crawled—heart pounding, light-headed. Grant began to sing, but the tentacles wrapped tighter around his body, burning him, squeezing his voice to silence. Squeezing even more, until a muffled cry escaped him, like he was screaming in his throat. The sound cut right through me. Our bond flickered, weakened.

And in its place, I felt the darkness rise. I felt the heat of the wyrm encircle my heart, and it felt so good and safe—for once, for the first time, it felt like me.

I’m yours,
I said to the darkness, and I meant it, with all my soul.

I grabbed that fire with my good hand, and the flames burned, lit me up like an oiled match. I heard the
whumpf
as my body ignited, felt my hair rise, smelled my flesh cooking. I felt the pain, but I didn’t care.

I was too hungry.

The fire was food, and so was the light. Power roared through me, over my skin. Fire flickered out, turned to ash. More tendrils swept down to grab me, but I soaked them into my body.

Still, the Aetar did not die.

A stout figure appeared at the corner of my eye. Jack. He ran toward us, holding the crystal skull. Shouting at the top of his lungs. I felt the entire weight of that flaming monster shift and turn.

“Wolf,” whispered the Devourer, and the hunger in that one word almost rivaled mine. Grant and I were tossed down. Small hands wrapped around my arm as I flailed through the sky.

Zee, hugging me so tight I could hardly breathe.

We hit sand. Grant lay on his back, chest heaving. Zee was small and strong, bracing me against his shoulder. I followed his gaze, watching the fire hover over Jack, its writhing body sprawled across the red sky like a thundercloud, as far as the eye could see. An enormous face made of fire pushed free: cold, expressionless eyes staring down at my grandfather.