Finna stares at the handful of coarse clumps on the floor, all that was left of the rune.

Hearn huffs one more time and pushes on his knees to stand straight. "Guess we won't stay and rest. Which way?"

Finna's head spins from one corridor to another. Her brow is furrowed, and she pushes a hand into her hair, tugging at it. She hisses, baring her teeth at the dark walls. For now, it must be out of frustration or worry, but soon it's going to be because of the headache. I don't want to see her like that. She said that in the vision she looked to be in a bad shape.

My eyes open wide as the thought strikes me. "It doesn't matter," I say.

"Huh?" Finna says.

"It doesn't matter!" I shout. "The vision showed us nearly being there, so we'll get there."

"Ah, a determinist," Rworg says. "I would not have guessed."

"A what?" Finna says, but flinches and winces, like someone poked her with a needle. "You sure?" she asks through clenched teeth.

I nod, meeting her gaze as firmly as I can. "I think so."

"That's not what she asked," Hearn says. "Still, I feel the air getting thicker already."

Rworg slaps his fist into his palm and recites something in Kerthar. It's a rhythmic litany of sounds lasting just a couple of seconds. He nods firmly and points to the left. "We go here."

Before I can say anything, he starts running, motioning for us to follow.

Finna splutters her lips and blasts into a run. "Was that a damn counting rhyme?" she shouts as she sprints after him.

Rworg laughs, easy and free.

Hearn sighs. "Go ahead," he says. "I'll be fine. I'll catch up."

I nod at him. He might be less affected than the rest of us. Or maybe he isn't, but I need the justification to keep up with Rworg and Finna. I don't remember if Finna mentioned Hearn being with us in the vision, but if I'm right, there's nothing that I can do about that. The thought makes me almost trip.

I hate everything about it. I can't believe this place might be even worse than the Rides.

The air does get thicker. It's acrid in my nose and lungs, and I gasp for air. I haven't sprinted this hard since running away from Mandollel. Well, not counting escaping from the collapsing tunnel, but the distance was much shorter that time.

I reel my mind back. The burning sensation in my lungs keeps me focused, barely. Hearn's wheezing sounds from behind me, but at least he hasn't been swallowed into the potential maze of twisted up space and infinite corridors. I can barely see Rworg and Finna sprinting ahead of me, their forms hazy in the gloom.

I push myself harder. How can they both be so much faster than me? Hearn keeps falling farther and farther behind, but I can't stop to wait. I wonder how my lungs look after breathing in all the mana. Are they scorched? Healthier than ever? I dig my fingers into my palms and clench my teeth as hard as I can, hissing and panting through them. We must be moving deeper into slower time, if mana keeps getting thicker like this. It's a grim thought, Jonun whizzing into the future faster and faster while we get slower and slower.

A small sound repeats, pulling me back from my thoughts. Like a dog whimpering in pain. I hear it through the haze of my thoughts, the thundering of blood in my ears, and the wheezing of my breath. How long have we been sprinting? Ten minutes? I get closer to Rworg and Finna, and realize the whimpering sound is her. She's hugging her sides and stumbling. That's the reason I caught up in the first place. Her face is pale and sweaty, but we're all sweaty after all the running.

"She can't keep this up!" I croak.

"I'm… right… here," she says, squeezing out the words one at a time.

Rworg crouches and grabs her. He pushes his shoulder against her hips and lifts her to dangle behind his neck like a huge scarf. Finna yelps and grunts as Rworg starts running again, bouncing up and down.

"Hold on," Rworg says. I don't know if he means Finna should grab on to him, or if it's just general encouragement.

It can't be comfortable for her, but I guess it beats the alternative. She was barely standing at the end. I hope she's still conscious once we get to where we are going. He's running slower, so I don't have to push myself as hard anymore. It makes it even harder to keep my thoughts straight, stop them from spiraling. I watch Finna, and it somehow makes it easier, the pained grunts and her grimacing pushing away random scattered thoughts.

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"Wait!" Finna shouts as we pass another intersection.

"No time," Rworg says, stomping ahead.

Finna starts to struggle, kicking and screaming. "I said wait! We're here!"

It looks like Rworg wants to keep running, but he comes to a halt. Finna manages to punch him in the ear and kicks her heel into his ribs before Rworg puts her down and steps away. He rubs his side and grimaces.

Finna stumbles and almost loses her balance, like the mana is pressing down on her.

I step closer and place a hand on her shoulder, steadying her. "You want help? Lean on me."

She grunts and grabs on to my arm. She's pointing at the next corridor, and I lead her there, letting her lean on my arm.

The corridor turns sharply after just ten steps, but ends in a simple opening in the corridor wall. Inside is a small room, roughly six steps wide and deep. In the middle of the room, a black cube sits on a stone pedestal. Finna shrugs off my arm and stumbles in.

I get closer and see that the cube is made of metal—coarse black iron. Finna runs her hands over the cube, the sound of her fingers on the metal a rough hiss. Finally, she slaps the cube, howling in frustration. That's when her legs buckle.

I've been waiting for it, watching her wobble already for a while. She falls backwards, and I catch her, stopping her from falling all the way to the floor.

"It's just a cube," she says. "There's no way to open it."

"My turn," Rworg says, grabbing the sledgehammer on his belt. He yanks it out of its loop, and the haft breaks. One half of the hammer is in his hand, the other clatters on the floor, next to the cube.

"Huh?" Rworg says.

It shouldn't be possible! Except… if the time freeze effect has ended. Henna didn't have that much mana to feed into it, maybe she wasn't as powerful as Lictor in general. We have traveled through fast and slow time after leaving Jonun, could that have affected the duration of the freeze as well?

I focus on Finna's face to pull myself together, the sweat gleaming on her pale skin. Her eyes are turning over, and I tap her cheek, first lightly, then slapping a bit harder. "We need you!"

"Piss… off," she says, eyes swimming in her head.

I move to slap her again, but her hand whips up and grabs my wrist.

"Take me on a date first," Finna says.

She must be delirious. How is that related to anything? I tense my face, trying to hold it together. "The hammer broke. You need to fix it!" I say, fishing the pouch out from inside my shirt.

"I don't fix hammers," she groans, pushing herself away from me, falling on all fours to the floor.

"No! The time freeze. You need to use the Time Gem on it."

"Hearn can do it," Finna says, pressing her face to the floor. She clenches her fists, muscles and veins clearly visible on her thin arms.

"The old is not here," Rworg says. He pushes the pieces of the hammer together. The splintered wood holds together, but it wouldn't take a single swing, much less a hit.

I spin around, but he's right. Hearn isn't anywhere. He couldn't have got lost? Where the hell… There's no time. I continue pulling out the pouch and fish out the Time Gem from inside it. It gleams and reflects the dim light, intensifying and shooting beams of pale blue to rotate as I turn the Gem in my hand. It's beautiful and impossible. I turn it slowly and the beams of light flow through the air, revealing the clouds of mana vapor.

Finna grunts and her back arcs. Right.

I push the Gem into Finna's fist, pressing it into it through her clenched thumb and fingers. "It might help!" I shout. "Maybe you can suck the mana from the air to power it?"

I'm pretty proud of the idea. Two birds with a single arrow. All of our problems solved at—

"The hammer," Finna hisses.

She still has her head pressed on the floor, hair covering her face. Her back moves as she pants and wheezes. I watch it rise and fall, mezmerised, but Rworg pushes me aside, placing the hammer next to her. "Here," he says.

A light starts to glow inside Finna's fist. First her fingers turn red, then her fingers move and the light escapes, blazing white gashes across the air, painfully bright to look at.

It gets brighter and brighter at the same time as Finna seems to start feeling better. She pushes first on her knees, then up to standing. Her back straightens and her eyes clear up. The mana swims in the air and my head is still woozy and mouth sticky, coated with the ozone taste, but she looks great. Her full lips are slightly parted, her breathing setting the mana vapor swirling before her face.

She wrinkles her nose and throws her hair, raising an eyebrow. "What are you staring at," she says, clutching the blazing Gem in her left hand.

"Erm," I say.

"Watch this," she says, pinching the light with all the fingers of her right hand. She pulls a handful off it, stretching it out from the Gem. It doesn't come easily, her face tensing with effort as she pulls the Gem and her other hand further away from each other. The light stretches and stretches, sticky like honey or pitch. She drags it down, pressing the light down with her whole body into the sledgehammer.

The hammer glows brighter and brighter. I want to watch it, see what happens, but my eyes burn and tears streak down my face. I remember it will flash and fight to turn my head, close my eyes. It's like being in a dream. One part of me tries so hard to do something, but the rest of me wants to stare at the interesting miniature sun and keeps my face pointed at it.

I grasp at whatever thoughts flicker in my mind. Where is Hearn? Actually, where is Rworg? I spin around, but see neither. The room is empty. The light behind me flares, the black walls turning white for an instant, with my shadow stretching pitch black ahead of me.

I blink, my eyesight completely shot. How long do afterimages usually last? I've never paid attention to that.

"Hah, that wasn't so bad," Finna says, behind me. "I must be really good at this." There's a clicking sound, metal tapping stone. "I think it worked. I feel really great, actually. That must have…"

Her voice trails off and she grunts. I turn around and see her grimacing, one eye closed.

"The headache's back," she says, the Gem in one hand, the hammer in another. "It's actually getting…"

The sledgehammer drops from her hand as she falls back to her knees. It lands in a weird way, dropping to lay on the floor without bouncing or clattering at all.

I pick it up.

It's up to me, now.

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