Cass heard their voices next.

  “Can you believe we need to add a third containment circle,” one of them complained to the other. A man’s voice. A touch nasally. “We weren’t even done with the first two.”

  “Third?” another scoffed. A woman’s voice, sharp like high heels on tile. “I think you mean fourth.”

  The pair walked toward her.

  Atmospheric Sense said their hands were full. One carried a stacked set of box-like objects in their arms. The other had a bag in either hand. Their clothing flapped around them as they moved.

  Priests then. Or workmen.

  The man snorted. “You didn’t help with the storage room renovation. What are you whining about?”

  “I can complain about what I want to,” the woman snapped. “Either way, it’s too many of these. I’m exhausted from the ones I did work on. I doubt anyone else is in much better condition.”

  They stepped into the intersection.

  Priest of Fortitude (lvl 19)

  Priest of Fortitude (lvl 23)

  Cass held her breath.

  They weren’t looking for her. They were weaker than her.

  They weren’t combatants.

  They could still raise the alarm if they spotted her.

  How quickly would their paladins get here if they shouted? How far would Cass get?

  “It can’t be helped. Tonight’s the big night.” The man sighed, readjusting the stack of books in his arms. The books glowed silver in Cass’s Mana Sense.

  “I suppose,” the woman agreed. The bags in either hand were filled with brushes and chisels intermixed with sealed jars of shimmering silver powder. “Do you think we’ll get boons?”

  Neither so much as glanced in Cass’s direction as they turned right down the hallway, away from Cass.

  “With that many demons?” the man said, “I would hope so! Maybe I’ll finally get Iron Heart.”

  “Oh, looking to become a paladin?” the woman teased, but Cass’s thoughts drifted away from their chatter, her mind spinning on the pair of words: ‘many demons.’

  How could they have more than one? Were there other demons here? That was bad, wasn’t it?

  Cass was still convinced Alyx was wrong about the risk Salos posed, but there had to be some kernel of truth to Alyx’s fears. How dangerous would a rogue demon be to the city?

  Could these people hold such a dangerous creature? She’d slipped out of their grasp with comparable ease. What would happen when their other demons escaped?

  Cass shook her head. She had to have misunderstood.

  And even if she wasn’t, what could she do about it? Monsters like Alyx had described weren’t something she could stop. The best thing she could do was escape this place and warn the authorities.

  Yes. This changed nothing.

  Focus on escape.

  The pair of priests had disappeared down the corridor.

  She was alone again.

  It was too quiet. There was too much empty space. Too many empty rooms lining the hallway.

  What was it all for?

  She crept forward. She needed to put as much space between herself and her prison before they noticed she was gone. Ideally, she wanted to figure out how to get out of here before they found her.

  It didn’t take long for her to stumble into familiar surroundings.

  A meeting point of five hallways, two on either side of the one she currently stood in. A pair of big doors directly across from her. A banner with a copper crescent hanging from the ceiling. A pair of guards were at the door.

  She’d reached the center of the loop.

  And caught up to the pair of priests who’d passed her. One guard opened the big door for the priests, and the two entered.

  In the brief window the door was open, Atmospheric Sense poked inside to find a collection of priests hunched over the floor in circles. The doors shut again before Cass could gather any further details.

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  What were they doing in there? She’d seen the beginnings of magic circles in there earlier. Perhaps they were finishing them and adding another one?

  Why? What exactly was happening tonight?

  Cass shook her head. She did not want to stick around to find out. Her focus needed to be on escape.

  Speaking of. What now?

  She lurked a little down the hall, Stealth spinning furiously around her to hide her presence. Did she dare get closer to the paladins?

  Not yet.

  She turned around, retracing her steps. She’d run away from the center via most of the other four corridors, but she hadn’t tried turning around down this one. There had always been too many enemies too close on her heels to try it.

  What would she do if she ended up back where she started?

  The halls looked all alike to Cass—green glass walls and floors.

  Maybe she should find a place to hide until night. They had to sleep at some point, didn’t they?

  Except, the priests had said something about tonight being special. Maybe they wouldn’t. Maybe they would be even more active after dark.

  There would be a way out. She would find it.

  She repeated that to herself as she stalked down the halls.

  And yet, less than ten minutes later, she again faced the center of the loop.

  Cass glared at the doors. She was doing something wrong.

  There had to be a way to navigate this place. The cultists were doing it.

  Case in point, a pair of paladins walked into the crossroads from the hall to Cass’s left.

  “Shift change already?” one of the two standing guards asked.

  “Yup,” one newcomer said.

  “About time,” muttered the second guard, stretching as he stepped away from the door.

  “Later,” the first guard said with a wave.

  The newcomers took the guard’s places while the relieved guards walked in opposite directions.

  Where were they going? Was one of them leaving the complex? She could follow one of them if she were careful. If the two standing guard didn’t notice her slip through.

  Did she go left or right?

  It was a coin flip. She didn’t have enough information for it to be anything else.

  The two stepped into their respective halls. The guards settled into their relaxed but ready stances.

  It was now or never.

  Cass Stormstride Sprinted down the hall, Stepping onto the gust before they saw her. She hooked her wind to the left, landing behind the paladin with Stealth flaring to the max.

  Focus: 173/549

  Would they see her? Was she too close?

  All she could hear was her pounding heart. Surely they could hear it, too.

  Yet the guards behind her stared blankly down the middle hall. The man in front of her continued plodding forward without turning.

  She crept behind him, taking half a step for each of his. Slowly, the distance between them increased to something far more comfortable.

  Cass followed him through the halls. He turned left at the first junction. Straight through the second. Left again. Then right.

  There wasn’t any pattern Cass could see. But he didn’t hesitate at any point. Wherever he was going, he was confident in the path.

  Could he be leading her out?

  Ahead was a large, open area swarming with people. There were two dozen paladins, at least—maybe more. Most of them were sparring, wood swords snapping at heavy shields. Some rested along the edges of the room as their Stamina recovered, some chatting with one another, some with focused expressions.

  All of them in the green and copper of the Copper Crescent.

  Cass hung back. This was not the exit.

  What now? What had she learned?

  There were other points of interest in these halls than the central cathedral. It was possible to navigate from one to another. That meant the twisting couldn’t be random. Or, if it was, the cultists had some method of stabilizing the randomness.

  Before Cass could decide what to do with that information, a paladin ran into the room from a hallway on the far side of the room. “Everyone at the ready! The demon escaped. Orders are to spread out and find it!”

  Like a disturbed ant’s nest, the orderly paladins jumped into a frenzy, men and women trading sparring equipment for live steel.

  Cass’s blood ran cold. They’d discovered she was free.

  She couldn’t stay here.

  She turned and ran down the hallway, hoping Stealth would hide her a little longer.

  They poured from the room behind her, heavily armored paladins stomping down the hallway. There were so many. Running would just put her back where she started, spiraling around the central cathedral until they caught her.

  She needed to hide.

  She whipped around the corner of a crossroads. Where could she hide?

  There were countless doors along the hallway. She yanked on the nearest handle. Locked. It didn’t budge.

  The paladins stormed closer.

  The next door. Locked.

  The next. Locked.

  Locked.

  Locked.

  She turned the next corner and pushed at the next door. Locked.

  The hallway came to a dead end in front of her.

  How? Why now? She was in an endlessly looping complex. How did she stumble down the one hallway that ended?

  Behind her, she could feel the paladin’s approach. They didn’t know she was so close. They would search around her prison first, wouldn’t they? Maybe around the central cathedral? There was no reason for them to come this way.

  And yet, they continued toward her.

  If she backtracked to the crossroads, would they see her? Did she risk it?

  There were two more doors here. She’d try them first.

  She crossed the hall, yanking on the next door’s handle. It didn’t move.

  One left. All the way at the end of the hall. Unlike the others, it was locked on the outside. She could see the latch.

  The latch would be a giveaway that she was hiding here. Could she use it as a faint? Open it and then run somewhere else?

  They were close. There wasn’t time for another plan. Was there even time for this plan? Was hiding here the best she could do?

  They stepped into the crossroad behind her.

  She unlatched it. The door swung open. Cass darted in and shut the door as quietly and quickly as possible.

  Stealth has increased to level 12.