The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus Book 4)

cavern, being made to run aimlessly back and forth while Pasiphaë and Clytius watched in amusement. Illusion or not: unlessHazel could figure out how to get out of this maze, the traps would kill them.
    ‘Eight minutes now,’ said the voice of Pasiphaë. ‘I’d love to see you survive, truly. That would prove you worthy sacrifices to Gaia in Athens. But then, of course, we wouldn’t need your friends in the elevator.’
    Hazel’s heart pounded. She faced the wall to her left. Despite what her senses told her, that
should
be the direction of the Doors. Pasiphaë should be right in front of her.
    Hazel wanted to burst through the wall and throttle the sorceress. In eight minutes, she and Leo needed to be at the Doors of Death to let their friends out.
    But Pasiphaë was an immortal sorceress with thousands of years of experience in weaving spells. Hazel couldn’t defeat her through sheer willpower. She’d managed to fool the bandit Sciron by showing him what he expected to see. Hazel needed to figure out what Pasiphaë wanted most.
    ‘Seven minutes now,’ Pasiphaë lamented. ‘If only we had more time! So many indignities I’d like you to suffer.’
    That was it, Hazel realized. She had to run the gauntlet. She had to make the maze
more
dangerous,
more
spectacular – make Pasiphaë focus on the traps rather than the direction the Labyrinth was leading.
    ‘Leo, we’re going to jump,’ Hazel said.
    ‘But –’
    ‘It’s not as far as it looks. Go!’ She grabbed his hand and they launched themselves across the pit. When they landed, Hazel looked back and saw no pit at all – just a three-inch crack in the floor.
    ‘Come on!’ she urged.
    They ran as the voice of Pasiphaë droned on. ‘Oh, dear, no. You’ll never survive
that
way. Six minutes.’
    The ceiling above them cracked apart. Gale the weasel squeaked in alarm, but Hazel imagined a new tunnel leading off to the left – a tunnel even more dangerous, going in the wrong direction. The Mist softened under her will. The tunnel appeared, and they dashed to one side.
    Pasiphaë sighed with disappointment. ‘You really aren’t very good at this, my dear.’
    But Hazel felt a spark of hope. She’d created a tunnel. She’d driven a small wedge into the magic fabric of the Labyrinth.
    The floor collapsed under them. Hazel jumped to one side, dragging Leo with her. She imagined another tunnel, veering back the way they’d come, but full of poisonous gas. The maze obliged.
    ‘Leo, hold your breath,’ she warned.
    They plunged through the toxic fog. Hazel’s eyes felt like they were being rinsed in pepper juice, but she kept running.
    ‘Five minutes,’ Pasiphaë said. ‘Alas! If only I could watch you suffer longer.’
    They burst into a corridor with fresh air. Leo coughed. ‘If only she would shut up.’
    They ducked under a bronze garrote wire. Hazel imagined the tunnel curving back towards Pasiphaë, ever so slightly. The Mist bent to her will.
    The walls of the tunnel began to close in on either side. Hazel didn’t try to stop them. She made them close faster, shaking the floor and cracking the ceiling. She and Leo ranfor their lives, following the curve as it brought them closer to what she hoped was the centre of the room.
    ‘A pity,’ said Pasiphaë. ‘I wish I could kill you
and
your friends in the elevator, but Gaia has insisted that two of you must be kept alive until the Feast of Hope, when your blood will be put to good use! Ah, well. I will have to find other victims for my Labyrinth. You two have been second-rate failures.’
    Hazel and Leo stumbled to a stop. In front of them stretched a chasm so wide, Hazel couldn’t see the other side. From somewhere below in the darkness came the sound of hissing – thousands and thousands of snakes.
    Hazel was tempted to retreat, but the tunnel was closing behind them, leaving them stranded on a tiny ledge. Gale the weasel paced across Hazel’s shoulders and farted with anxiety.
    ‘Okay, okay,’ Leo muttered. ‘The walls are moving parts. They gotta be mechanical. Give me a second.’
    ‘No, Leo,’ Hazel said. ‘There’s no way back.’
    ‘But –’
    ‘Hold my hand,’ she said. ‘On three.’
    ‘But –’
    ‘Three!’
    ‘
What?
’
    Hazel leaped into the pit, pulling Leo with her. She tried to ignore his screaming and the flatulent weasel clinging to her neck. She bent all her will into redirecting the magic of the Labyrinth.
    Pasiphaë laughed with delight,