The silence was awful.
Not normal silence. Not tired silence.
It was the kind of silence that came after a boss fight that ended too easily.
The kind that made you suspicious of the floor. And the walls. And your teammates.
And breathing.
Merlin stared at the sealed stone gate behind them.
It didn't look like a wall.
It looked like a scar.
Welded shut by force, not design. Twisted in the middle like the labyrinth itself had flinched at the last second and slammed the door to save its own skin.
"Okay," Nathan said, wheezing on the floor, "I vote we stay right here forever."
"No," Merlin said.
"I didn't mean forever-forever," he amended. "I meant like, you know. Until it dies of old age."
"It's not going to die of old age," Seraphina said, still crouched, still pale.
"It'll die when we kill it," Elara added flatly.
Nathan turned to her like she'd just said gravity was optional. "Are you volunteering?! Because I'm not even qualified to stab lizards!"
Then the wall moved.
