moved under the night sky. The Searchers were arriving, our forces gathering. As our numbers amassed, the strike teams began to move forward into the garden, making their way toward the manor house. Rowan Estate’s windows were black. The stately home stood silent, giving every indication that it was empty.
I pawed the ground anxiously as we waited. With our separate mission in play, we were among the last of the teams to move out. I lifted my muzzle, testing the air for any signs of danger. Or allies.
Where were the Nightshade and Bane packs?
As much as this was a quasi-surprise attack, the Keepers would be anticipating our arrival. Anika and all the Searchers knew that. Our enemies were waiting for us, but where?
Would my father be running with Emile’s wolves, ready to turn on his adversary when the right moment came? Were they on their way here now?
“It’s time.” Adne closed the portal, sheathed her skeans, and pulled out that wicked steel whip she’d used in the practice match with Shay while we were in Denver.
“You should stay here.” Connor frowned. “I don’t like risking you.”
Adne laughed. “Sorry, Connor. All the Weavers are in this fight. Including me. Anika’s orders, remember?”
He shook his head but trudged down the slope with Adne grinning as she kept pace with him.
Ren, Mason, Bryn, and I formed a protective ring around Shay and the two Searchers. I took point, while Bryn and Mason trotted beside them. Ren stayed at our rear. As we entered the garden, I snarled at the marble incubi and succubi that were arranged like sentinels all around us.
“Don’t worry, Calla,” Shay said. “We’re keeping an eye on them.”
“Yes, we are,” Connor said. “And if they break open those shells, we’ll know that Bosque is already here.”
I sniffed the air, still bristling.
We’d made it a few yards into the estate grounds when the first shouts rose from the teams ahead of us.
“Looks like we’ve got incoming,” Connor said.
Shay drew his swords, squinting into the distance.
I waited to hear the ringing of steel and snarls of wolves, assuming that our allies would encounter Guardian resistance as they closed in on Rowan Estate. But the Searchers’ shouts weren’t battle cries. They were confused yells, filled with fear.
“What’s happening?” Adne and Connor were standing back-to-back as they scanned the gardens around us.
I snarled, wanting to run into whatever conflict was taking place ahead. But our directive was to keep out of the fray.
“Look!” Shay pointed the tip of one sword at the tall hedges that lined the garden’s paths. The hedges were moving. Not moving, growing.
Connor swore, bolting forward as the thick knotted branches swarmed over the path, breaking through the paved walkways and twisting in wild patterns around us. The hedge climbed before our eyes, rising at an impossible speed.
“Connor!” Adne shouted as a new hedge burst up between us, blocking our way to him.
I heard him yell but couldn’t see through the wall of branches that separated us.
Adne was running along the hedge, shouting Connor’s name. A yelp sounded behind me. I wheeled around to see Mason being thrown backward as new branches, fast and hard as whiplashes, slammed into his body. Bryn barked, leaping after him, snapping at the attacking vines. I howled in frustration as Bryn, Mason, Ren, and Shay disappeared from sight.
I turned back around, racing after Adne, who was still running and shouting. She changed direction as a new hedge appeared, blocking her path forward. I threw myself into the air, crashing into her. She struggled as I pinned her down.
I was still snarling when I shifted forms. “Stop it! Adne, stop!”
She was breathing hard, but she pulled her fists back so she was no longer beating at my chest and shoulders. “We have to find him!”
“It’s not just him.” I stood up, pulling her to her feet. “We lost the others too.”
“What?” Her eyes widened as she wheeled around to see the labyrinth that had exploded from the earth to surround us.
“We’re cut off.” I pressed my hands against the hedge and thorns pierced my skin.
A howl broke through the night.
Adne looked at me, her eyebrow raised. “Friends?”
“No,” I said quietly.
Another howl sounded, and another. The wolves’ cries rose one by one, filling the air with their battle song. I turned in a slow circle, listening, tracking their calls.
“We’re surrounded.”
Adne swore under her breath. “They’re separating us. Keeping the teams apart.”
I nodded. “They were waiting for us.”
She strode along the labyrinth walls, turning corners, finding dead ends. “What do you want to bet that the Keepers’ side has a map that solves this maze?”
“That does seem likely.” I looked up at the hedge. It was too high to jump.
“We’re sitting ducks in here,” Adne said. “The wolves will hunt us, take each group one by one, and none of us will see them coming.”
“We have to find a way out,” I said. “Keep going.”
The howls were close now. Hundreds of wolves were running. I could smell them, hear their paws crunching in the snow as they descended on the garden from all sides. The other Searcher teams were still panicked, shouting as they tried to escape the maze. Men and women were calling out for one another, trying to find their allies.
Then the screams began.
Adne closed her eyes. “It’s started.”
TWENTY-TWO
THE SOUNDS OF BATTLE filled my ears and I wished I could shut them out. The buzz of crossbow bolts whizzed in the air; growls and snarls rose toward the sky. If I were in the midst of the fight, it wouldn’t have bothered me. But this unseen war-violence and death that might be lurking around any corner-sent fear scurrying up and down my spine. We hadn’t run into any wolves yet, but it was only a matter of time. Adne and I could fight off three or four, but I had a feeling we wouldn’t be facing anywhere near that few.
And there were other sounds too, building my anxiety. Screams of a pain beyond the kind any Guardian could cause.
“There’s a wraith in the maze,” I whispered. “Maybe more than one.”
Having hit another dead end, Adne and I crouched low, desperate to come up with a plan. The maze wasn’t only cutting us off, it constantly changed shape. Hedges sprang up only to sink back into the earth. Thorny branches shot out in the middle of the path, tripping us as we’d run.
“Are you sure?” she asked.
I nodded, wishing I wasn’t. “We have to find Shay.”
I shifted into wolf form, prepared to attack any enemy Guardians we encountered, and we started to run again. I hoped we were heading in the direction of where we’d first been separated.
“Look!” Adne turned toward a new opening in the labyrinth. “Let’s go.”
I caught the scent just before we turned the corner. Grabbing Adne’s shirt as I shifted forms, I screamed, “Stop!”
I was dragging her backward when it came into view. The wraith slithered from behind the curved hedges, moving slowly toward us.
