The moment we crossed the threshold, everything changed.

  The air thickened, heavy with the scent of damp stone, rot, and something else—something metallic, like old blood. The passage stretched out before us, a tunnel of shifting walls, cracked tiles, and jagged, unnatural turns that shouldn’t have been possible.

  The Labyrinth was alive, and it knew we were here.

  No one spoke at first. We barely breathed.

  Then the walls moved.

  The stone groaned as the floor beneath us shifted like a living thing, realigning into a new configuration. Passages that had been there seconds ago sealed shut, while new ones yawned open, leading deeper into the maze.

  “Yeah,” Finn muttered. “That’s not creepy at all.”

  Aaron scowled. “We’re trapped already?”

  “We were never going back,” I said.

  A whisper slithered through the tunnels. Low. Familiar. Wrong.

  "Welcome back, Commander."

  My breath hitched.

  That voice.

  The others stiffened. Finn’s knuckles whitened around the hilt of his sword. Chloe reached for her bow.

  Luna swallowed. “Please tell me that was one of you.”

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I didn’t answer. I knew what they’d heard. Who they’d heard.

  “Mark,” Damien said carefully. “Who—”

  “Not now,” I cut him off. “Keep moving.”

  I didn’t look back. If I did, I wasn’t sure what I’d see.

  The Labyrinth fed off fear.

  And if it was already speaking to me, then it knew exactly what to use against me.

  We walked.

  Every step felt wrong. The walls seemed closer than before, pressing in just slightly. The ceiling had once been stone, but now it shimmered like liquid glass, reflecting faint, distorted shapes.

  Somewhere in the distance, something laughed.

  Soft. Almost human. Almost.

  Aaron whispered, “Where exactly are we going?”

  I forced myself to focus. “Deeper.”

  Finn shot me a look. “Deeper? That’s the plan? Into the scary murder maze?”

  I sighed. “The deeper we go, the harder we’ll be to track. If we stay near the entrance, they’ll find us instantly.”

  “That’s assuming the Labyrinth doesn’t kill us first,” Harris muttered.

  “We’ll be fine,” Damien said, though he didn’t sound convinced.

  We kept moving.

  After what felt like hours—but could’ve been minutes, time was wrong down here—the corridor opened into a massive chamber.

  The walls were towering, stretching into an endless void of darkness, and the floor was lined with statues.

  No—not statues.

  I felt it before I fully saw it. The hair on my arms rose, a sickening dread crawling up my spine.

  The figures were people. Petrified.

  Chloe cursed. “Please tell me this isn’t—”

  “Medusa,” Luna whispered.

  “Not necessarily,” Damien muttered. “Could be any gorgon. Or something worse.”

  “Something worse?” Max echoed. “Great. Love that.”

  I stepped forward, carefully inspecting the closest figure. The details were too perfect—the creases in the armor, the expression frozen in a half-scream.

  “Recently turned,” I murmured. “Some within the last few weeks.”

  Finn grimaced. “Meaning something’s still here.”

  Silence.

  Then—

  A scraping hiss echoed from the far end of the chamber.

  Something moved.

  Not fast. Not aggressive. Just... watching. Waiting.

  Aaron slowly raised his bow. “Permission to panic?”

  “No,” I said. “Not yet.”

  I motioned for them to stick together.

  The statues made it hard to tell where the threat was, but I could feel it. The weight of eyes on us.

  Then a voice—raspy and full of hunger.

  "Fresh prey... it has been so long."

  I whirled—

  And the thing charged.