“Woohoo! One down.” Mikhail’s fist shot up and he grinned at Zinaida and Klara. He couldn’t believe that actually worked.

  “That. Was. Awesome!” Zinaida said, clapping him on the back.

  “You idiot,” Klara snapped, pushing past him and peering around the corner. “Matvei and Irmina have fled.”

  “Idiot? I took down a mountain,” Mikhail said, indignant.

  “Yeah,” Klara said, “and you’ve given him a serious head injury, if not killed him.”

  Zinaida went to Yeger and knelt by him. She pushed his collar down and placed two fingers on his throat.

  “Oh, come on,” Klara said. “Why there? Why not his wrist?”

  “It’s just a bit of skin,” Zin said with a smirk. She removed her hand and pulled his collar up. “He’s still alive. So long as he gets a healing extract in the next few hours, he’ll be fine. No need to get so antsy about it.” Zinaida relieved him of the rope and grappling hook. “We should get going, though. He’ll wake up any second, and he might be a touch grumpy.”

  “At least we gained something useful from it,” Mikhail muttered, scowling at Klara.

  Klara stepped up to him and dropped her voice. “Remember what I told you at the start?”

  Mikhail locked eyes with her, and despite his efforts to keep calm, his intestines tied themselves into no less than four knots. “Something about unpleasant times ahead if I ruined this?”

  “I let the first time go, but now—”

  “Come on,” Zinaida said, grabbing Klara’s arm. “I dunno about you, but I want to win this challenge, and we’re not getting any closer by arguing.” She winked at Mikhail and pulled Klara away.

  Mikhail stared at Klara, at the rage glittering in her black eyes. Rage directed at him. “I was only trying to help,” he said.

  “You could help a lot more by doing what you’re told,” Klara said.

  “Klara!” Zinaida said. “Lay off Borislav, all right?”

  “You’re going to defend him now, too?” Klara said, rounding on Zinaida.

  Zinaida met Klara’s glare with one of her own.

  Mikhail backed up, concerned the air between them might ignite. “Um. We should probably go,” he said. “Before Yeger wakes up.”

  Without another word, Klara turned and strode down the left-hand path.

  Zinaida and Mikhail followed in silence as Klara took them through turn after turn. Finally, they reached an intersection that looked remarkably familiar. Mikhail almost laughed when he saw the chunk of rock missing from one corner. The kind of chunk a thrown pickaxe would leave—though the pickaxe had disappeared.

  Klara had led them in a circle.

  “This is where we started,” Zinaida said.

  “You think I don’t know that?” Klara said, glaring at them both.

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  “Oh, I know you know,” Zinaida said, her voice cold. “But we need to work as a team, and maybe someone else here has a better sense of direction.”

  Klara’s face turned purple. “So why the depths didn’t you or Mikhail memorise a path out of here?”

  Mikhail’s hearts stopped, and his stomach lurched as he stared at Klara with wide-eyed horror.

  “What’s your problem now?” Klara asked, throwing her hands up and scowling at him.

  “Mikhail?” Zinaida said, a look of understanding dawning on her face. “Mikhail Koskov? Oh, that explains so, so much. No wonder you two can’t stand each other.” She laughed. “I was so sure about the ex-lover thing. But… ew.”

  “She was going to find out eventually,” Klara said defensively.

  “Perhaps,” Mikhail said. “But I wasn’t planning on staying long enough to be discovered.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have told me you were here!” Klara said, her voice rising. “I should have told Yefimova who you were. I don’t know why I didn’t.”

  Mikhail glanced at the platform hanging high above them and wondered how far voices carried. “Klara, calm down, please. You don’t know who can hear us.”

  “This is ridiculous,” Klara said. “I came here to train, to be a Sentinel, I didn’t ask for you”—she jabbed her finger at Mikhail—“to come and ruin it all.”

  “I haven’t ruined anything!” Mikhail said, cheeks burning.

  “Mikhail is right,” Zinaida said, looking at Klara. “Nothing has been ruined yet, but this exercise will be if you don’t stop attacking him.”

  Klara blanched. “You’re not serious. I’m the reason this exercise is going to the depths?”

  “Clearly. Mikhail and I have been focused on the task, while you’re off wanting to do crazy stunts like wall running, and leading us down blind alleys.”

  Oooh great. Mikhail could only watch as the two women rounded on each other, eyes flashing. So much for team building exercise.

  “I see,” Klara said. “You and Mikhail. The perfect team. Well I’m so sorry that I’m getting in the way of your wonderful little ‘friendship.’ ”

  Wait, what?

  “How typical,” Zinaida said. “I respect a guy’s quick thinking, and you assume I want him.”

  “Could have fooled me, the way you’ve been pandering to him all day.”

  “Oh, you did not—”

  “Hey!” Mikhail said, leaping between the two enraged Nishkuks, hands raised placatingly. “You’re both right. I am making things hard for you. You know, Klara, that I’d never be involved with the Sentinels by choice. I’m only here because it was my last option. Now, we’re stuck in a team together, so I’ll do whatever I can to help you both win this—just tell me what to do. I’ll be out of your lives as fast as I can.”

  Klara stared at Mikhail, her brow furrowed. For a moment, he thought he’d got through to her. Then she turned and stalked back the way they’d come.

  “Klara, wait!” Mikhail yelled, running after her. “Where are you going?”

  She spun, eyes flashing. “I’m going to climb that cursed wall and get out of here—exactly as I first planned. You two can do whatever you want, I don’t care.” She resumed her march, leaving Mikhail staring after her. This was not good.

  Boots crunched on the cobblestone behind him and Zinaida stopped by his side.

  “We should go with her,” Mikhail said.

  “No,” Zinaida said, a hard edge to her voice. “We need to keep going. Klara has to learn that she can’t just insult a team and expect it to still function.”

  Mikhail chewed his lip as he gazed at Klara’s retreating back. “This won’t damage her chance of going to Katavsk, will it?”

  Zinaida snorted. “Do you care? She refused to help you.”

  If he was honest, he did care. He hadn’t come here to ruin her training.

  “Come on,” Zinaida said, a forced smile on her face. “We can still make something from this pile of muck Klara left us with.” She gripped his shoulder then left.

  Mikhail watched Klara disappear around a corner. Despite the odds riding against him, he’d hoped they might somehow reconcile their differences. However, he pivoted and followed Zinaida. He’d be a fool to turn down a willing offer of help.