They moved through the tunnels again.
Ezra walked in front, steps steady, eyes calm. He didn't slow down or hesitate. Each turn he took was deliberate. The tricks of the maze no longer worked on him. Whenever the tunnels tried to curve back on themselves, he stopped, using the arrow trick, then chose another path effectively. They continued moving into the tunnel maze.
Aliya jogged up beside him.
"Come to think of it," she said, breathing lightly, "what kind of stage was the one you came back all messed up from?"
"I had to kill two Ground Apes," Ezra answered, eyes still facing forward.
"A Ground Ape?!" Bobby shouted before he could stop himself. He stared at Ezra, his face pale. "And two of them?!"
"And you wanted us to argue about who should be the representative," Lime said, giving Bobby a sharp look from the side.
"I…I was just…" Bobby tried to explain.
"Just what?" Lime cut in.
Bobby lowered his head and kept walking.
