“What is in here?” I ask Everly once the gates are locked behind us, but she doesn’t reply as we hear shouting behind us from one of the guards.

“To win and survive, you must find the middle of the maze and stay there. You have an hour.” I look around the eerily quiet maze, with its high grass walls and the sounds of the wind blowing through them. I turn and look up at the hill, seeing the royal family watching us, and wonder what the point is. They won’t be able to see us inside the maze, only hear shouts and screams from us.

“Doesn’t sound too hard,” I mutter, and Everly gives me a shake of her head, her long, blonde, curly hair bouncing around in the wind. She gets a hair tie from her wrist and puts her hair back before looking around.

“There is always a twist. Let’s just go. It’s too open here, and not safe,” she tells me.

“What about them?” I ask, pointing to the man who is staring at the guards and the blonde woman on her knees crying. I want to help them, but they don’t want to help themselves by the look of it.

“We will struggle to save ourselves and can’t make them come with us,” she says, and then there is a loud growling noise to the left of us. The growl is deep and low, sending shivers through all of us.

“Move!” my father yells and grabs my arm as he runs next to me, pulling me towards the middle path of the maze. I look back to see Everly putting an arm around Miss Drone’s waist, helping her run behind us, but we still have to go slow for her to keep up. I pull the note out when we get around a corridor, hiding it near my chest as I undo it and read what it says:

The animal is blind, only tracks sound. Be silent. And there are four of them.

That’s all it says, and I hope the D is for Dante. Thinking of him makes me smile, but then it concerns me that he is here in the castle somewhere. How do I know to trust his advice? I don’t know what to think. Do I trust my feelings or trust what is in front of me? I remember how Ryland kissed me, how Dante did also, and everything that happened between us on their ship. How could it all have been fake?

“We need to be quiet. There are four creatures who track sound, but they are blind,” I tell them all. They look at me and then at the note, before I rip it into tiny unreadable pieces and let the bits fall to the ground.

“Do you trust whoever gave you that?” my father asks. I nod, not meeting his eyes, and he sighs.

“Fine. Everyone be silent and watch your step,” he says and starts running again. I step back and put my arm under Miss Drone’s to help her walk. A loud female scream comes from our left, not far away, and then suddenly cuts off as we all stop. I don’t want to think about what happened, but it’s clear the woman who came in here with us is now dead. My father looks back at us for a second before quickly walking down the section of the maze we are in. My father takes the first right we come across, away from the scream, and we reach a dead-end.

“Go back,” my father says, and we turn around. Miss Drone trips with nearly every step and her breaths are getting louder as we carry on. I stop when we get to the next path in the maze that goes on quite far, and I hear a noise behind us. A crack on some leaves, nothing really, but something makes all of me want to stop. I turn slowly, my eyes widening in shock at the creature slowly walking towards us, stalking us with every soundless step. I bet it has been stalking us for a while, as we could have never known. It’s too silent. It looks like a large cat, but black flames cover its body and every step on the ground burns the stone path and anything on it. It lowers its head, a hissing growl slipping out of its mouth as its glassed grey eyes look at me, but aren’t seeing me. I look back at Everly who is now staring at the creature like I am, and she puts a single finger on her lips. My father stays completely silent, too, as I look back at the creature and see it moving much closer, so close that I can feel the heat from it. The creature stops and sniffs the air, and my heart seems to pound louder. The heat feels like it is tickling my skin, and I swear it can feel my heart as it pounds loud in my chest. Sweat drips down my forehead, sliding down my nose as it moves another step closer.

“NO!” a man shouts a fair distance away from us before the screaming starts. The man screams and screams, before it sounds like he is choking on something. I want to help and hate that I can’t. I can’t do anything other than stand here. The creature runs away from us and down one of the other paths as we all take a deep breath. I wipe the sweat from my head with a shaky hand and rest my head back against the bushes.

“Go. We won’t get another distraction,” I say when I’ve calmed down enough to think straight, and we start moving again. The maze path winds around and around until we finally see the end of the long path. We all move faster, running towards the opening and the white dome that can be seen, when three creatures block the path at the end. They are so silent that if we weren’t paying attention to where we were going, we would have run straight into them. They don’t make a sound as they stand tall, watching us. We are too late to stop running, and they hear us as we all crash to a halt.

“Split up,” my father shouts.

Everly pushes me away from her and Miss Drone as we run. “I am nothing. You must survive. Go,” Everly tells me and pushes me in the direction of another path as she takes one herself. I look back to see my father take the third path before I run as fast as I can down the path, bouncing off the bush walls and down the next part. It winds into another square and then it’s a dead end. I stop at the end and look around, knowing I need to run back. I run back down the path and a creature comes around the corner, its growl low and deep as it surprises me. I know I can’t do anything; I can’t shout for help and there is no escape. I move backwards, until my back is pressed against the bush walls, as the creature moves closer. Its fire is slowly burning the bushes around us, and the floor is melting away. I can’t die by fire. I won’t be burned again. I look down at my hands, begging for some help, begging for any way to get myself out of this. The creature growls before it lunges at me, and I jump out of the way as it hits the bush, setting it on fire. I land on the floor, picking myself up and crawling backwards as the creature shakes itself off and turns to face me. It stalks me once more as I scurry along the ground and get as far back as I can. I lift my hands, screaming as it jumps into the air. I lift my hands in defence and streams of water shoot out of my hands, landing on the creature, and it shrieks as it runs away from me. The water doesn’t stop, so I aim it at the bush on fire as I will my heart to settle down and the water to stop. It does drift off, just into little trickles that escape my fingers. What just happened? I keep myself quiet, only the sound of my heavy breathing and pounding heart making any noise as I climb through the burnt bush that leads to another path. I run towards the direction I think the gap was in and stop to look around every corner. After checking each one, I keep running and finally get to the path that has the gap in it that leads to the middle.

“Cassy!” I hear Everly shout ahead of me and I run quickly down the path, but stop in my tracks when I get to the end. Everly is holding her mother in her arms, two creatures are dead on the ground next to her, and a man dressed in all black is standing in front of them holding a green shining sword. My father is next to the water fountain in the middle of the clearing, and he is out cold. Only the movement of his chest tells me that he is alive at all. I can’t keep my eyes from drifting to the man, feeling a draw to him, a need to be close to him that takes over any other thoughts. The man drops the sword, and he walks over, each step large. I watch as he pulls the black fabric away from his face so I can see him.

“Hunter,” I say, my words carrying over to him in a whisper and he pulls me to his chest when he is close enough. He holds me tightly as I push my face into his neck and love that he still smells like my Hunter. We hold each other silently, nothing needing to be said as the relief of being near him fills my mind. When I can finally think, I remember he lied to me. He and Ryland both did. They aren’t just pirates, they are princes. I push him away as he watches me in confusion. He steps closer, but I put my hand up and step back until my back hits the bushes.

“You can’t hold me, not after you never told me who you are,” I shout and shove him further away from me.

“Little bird, I may have never told you my past, but there is something I never lied to you about,” he says each word slowly as he steps in front of me, pushing his body into mine and making me stretch my neck up to stare at him. His seductive and dark voice is like a wave smoothing out a storm in my mind.

“What didn’t you lie to me about, Hunter?” I ask.

“Every moment we had together, was me. The real me, not this prince I have to be when I’m here,” he says. I want to doubt him, to hate him and throw things his way, but the sincerity in his voice can’t be ignored. I can’t deny that Hunter has never lied to me. He has always been honest, even when he wanted to chuck me off his ship.

“You’re my pirate,” I whisper.

“And you’re my little bird, don’t forget that,” he says and leans down, taking my lips with his and sliding his hands into my hair. The kiss is urgent, fast, and over in seconds as he steps away suddenly and I find myself reaching for him, wanting the kiss to be longer.

“We don’t have much time, but I need to do something. I need to know,” Hunter asks me, and I look at him in confusion.

“Know what?” I ask and keep very still as he moves closer and leans his forehead down to mine, pressing my mark to his skin. A warm feeling spreads from my mark until it touches every part of my body and a gasp escapes my lips. Hunter moves away, and smiles down at me.

“I knew from the moment I saw you trying to escape, that I would be stuck with you,” he says, and I can’t help but laugh a little.

“I always thought you didn’t like me,” I whisper.

“It was never that. It was because I wanted you underneath me and to not steal my heart, but you did,” he tells me and then walks away, pulling his hood back up and covering his face. I watch as he walks over, picks the sword up from the ground, and comes back to me.

“Who did this?” he asks, turning my face to the side and seeing the bruising from the guard who punched me.

“The guards on the ship. It’s nothing,” I mumble.

“I will hunt them down and kill them for touching you,” he says, and I don’t doubt his words for a second. The anger in them is too strong and I know I can’t tell him about my arms. I look him over, not seeing the usual feather in his hair that I’m used to, and I remember that Ryland didn’t have his, either.

“Where is your feather?” I ask.

“Hidden. Those are the only things my mother ever gave us and we won’t lose them,” he says gently and I pick up a piece of his hair, rubbing it with my fingers as we stare at each other.

“Get in the fountain, and I'm going to make sure you’re safe until the guards come. The other two are dead and the old lady is on her way to death. My father will be happy for now,” he tells me softly. I look away from him to see Everly holding Miss Drone to her chest as Miss Drone talks to her. Everly just keeps shaking her head, tears streaming down her face.

“Miss Drone?” I ask, walking over but Hunter grabs my arm before I get far from him.

“Trust us? Trust the pirates whose hearts you stole?” he asks me, and I give him a single nod before he lets go. I run over to Everly and Miss Drone, only looking back once to see Hunter running towards the entrance of the maze. When I get close, Miss Drone is still whispering something to Everly, words I cannot hear, but I catch the end bit when I get to them.

“The sea will keep you safe, but you are destined for land as well. There is evil here now, but there will not always be.” Miss Drone stops talking when she sees me. They both look up at me, silence spreading between us.

“How can I help?” I ask Everly before kneeling down. Everly looks up at me with pain written across her face, and I don’t know how to comfort her. I want to reach out, tell her everything will be good in the end, but I know that’s not a truth. That would be a lie, a bad one at that, and I respect her too much to lie to her.

“Help me get her in there?” Everly asks me. I pick up Miss Drone’s legs and Everly gets her arms under her mother’s shoulders as we carry her towards the waterfall in the middle of the opening. The water will protect us from the creatures, so it makes sense. Everly steps first into the shallow water and I step in next, gasping in a breath at how cold it is. I look over at my father just outside the water, and know that if the creatures come, I could pull him into the water.

“No time,” Miss Drone says as we get to the middle of the water fountain and rest her back against it.

“You can’t leave me. I can’t be alone in this horrid world,” Everly cries out, her words barely understandable. I reach over, putting my hand on her shoulder, and she rests her head against it as she cries.

“You are not alone. Cassandra will protect you, the Sea God told me once,” Miss Drone whispers in a croaky voice to Everly, reaching up and putting her hand on her daughter’s cheek. Everly just sobs harder, her cries filling the night.

“You saw the Sea God?” I ask Miss Drone. She turns her head to look at me, but every movement is stiff and looks difficult.

“On the day you were born, I saw him in the water,” she replies.

“And I’m meant to keep Everly safe?” I ask.

“He told me you two will keep each other safe, and I know it’s true. He walked over and touched my pregnant stomach and I felt a wave of power. It was that single touch that told me who he was and who my child would be,” she says and coughs loudly, her hand going to her mouth as blood pours out.

“Mother, rest. You need to rest,” Everly tells her, pulling her mum closer to her.

“Love...love…you,” Miss Drone whispers before her head falls to the side. Everly screams, a scream filled with untold pain, and I keep very still as I hold my hand on her shoulder for comfort. There’s nothing I can do for Everly, except be there for her. Everly lets go of her mother when the screaming stops and lets her mother’s body slide down the wall to float in the water. Miss Drone looks peaceful, almost like she is sleeping. I look over to see Everly staring at her mother’s body, which floats in the water between us silently. I wonder why she doesn’t sink, and I wonder if the Sea God has some magic involved in this.

“Everly?” I ask her.

She doesn’t look my way as she speaks. “Death. Promise me his death for this,” she begs, and the wind blows through my hair as I answer her.

“I promise.” She bursts into tears as I pull her to my side and rest my head over hers. My eyes catch Hunter’s across the clearing, as he stands silently, watching from the shadows. My bond with him is flittering between us as sorrow fills me for the life just lost. I hold Everly closer, knowing my promise will be kept. Death will come for the king.