The sun hasn't fully risen when I roll up the tattered old map we found in the house. The wood beneath the table is soft with rot, and a spider the size of my fist scuttles across the floor like it owns the place.
Ren steps over it without flinching. Of course he does.
"This is the fourth ruined place we've stumbled into with a symbol carved into the wall," he mutters, pointing to a faint emblem inked into the corner of the map; a swirling spiral with wings, like a god's eye in flight. "You're telling me that's a coincidence?"
"I don't believe in coincidence anymore," I say.
He leans over the map, hair falling into his face. He's got that look again. The one that says he's about to suggest something very stupid or very smart, and I haven't figured out which.
"Okay," he says. "So we agree. The first temple, the one we nearly drowned in? Not random. It was a piece of something bigger."
"The pendant," I add. "The statue. The illusions. All of it was meant to lead us somewhere."
"To you," Ren says. "It's all been about you from the start."
I hesitate. "Maybe. But not just me."
He arches an eyebrow. "You think we're both cursed?"
"I think I'm cursed," I reply. "But you… you've been tangled in this since the first time we met. Or maybe before."
I don't say what I really mean: that he's always been there. Even before I remembered him. Even before the pendant, and the vision, and the bleeding statue. He's always been part of this story.
"We need answers," I say instead. "Real ones."
"So we hunt them down," Ren replies. "We find the next temple. We follow the signs. We tear this curse apart one piece at a time."
I nod slowly. "There might be more visions."
"There might be more death traps."
"There will be more death traps," I mutter. "Let's be honest."
He grins. "At least we're good at dying dramatically."
"Speak for yourself," I shoot back, folding the map. "I plan on surviving this one."
We pack quickly. The abandoned house doesn't offer much—just the map, a rusted dagger, and a mirror I absolutely refuse to look into.
Before we leave, Ren glances back at the single bed.
"What?" I ask.
He shrugs. "Just… next time, I'm taking the blanket."
I roll my eyes. "Next time, we're getting two beds."
He looks at me, smirks, and says, "No fun in that."