Page 42 of Taurus's Quest
She unwound herself from him and then stood still as he removed the safety rope that tied her to him.
“Let’s see what we’ve got going here,” he murmured, pulling out a flashlight from his pack. The beam illuminated the fallen stone that blocked the rear of the cave.
“Guess we’re screwed, since the ceiling collapsed,” she noted.
“Only partially. Probably explains why, even if someone made it to the cave, no one found the maze.”
“Because they smartly left before the rest of the mountain could fall down and crush them?” Her sarcastic reply as he began grabbing rocks and tossing them out into the gorge.
“If I hear rumbling, I’ll get us out of here, but I think we’re good.”
“You’re a geologist now?”
He glanced at her. “Nah, but I know we don’t die in this spot.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because Sage and Olivia saw us making it into the maze.”
Which required her believing in their visions. Seemed better than convincing herself the mountain would crush them.
Soon he’d widened the passage enough for them to slip through. He led the way with a handheld flashlight, and within a few paces, the tunnel widened. Not just that, the walls became smooth and curved, meeting at the rear, where a door nestled in the stone.
A big portal made of metal, the bronze of it green, and on it, still visible, the carvings mentioned in the journal.
They’d found the entrance to the Labyrinth.
Chapter 13
A tingle of excitement went through Taurus at the sight of the big bronze door. Yeah, he’d encountered many mythical things during his tenor as a Zodiac Warrior, but discovering a Greek myth? So fucking cool. He just hoped it wouldn’t be an old dusty place without anything fun—AKA monsters to fight.
While Olivia claimed he’d have to do battle, the rockfall, combined with the age of this place, had him wondering how anything could have survived. Few things lived eternally, and he didn’t know of anything except maybe the Astraeus that didn’t require food to thrive.
Guess they’d soon find out.
“How do we open it?” Circe asked, inspecting the door that lacked a handle.
“Good question.” The diary hadn’t made mention of any special trigger or lock. So the first thing he tried? Knocking.
Rap. Rap. Rap.
“What are you doing?” she exclaimed.
“Seeing if anyone is home.”
“Shouldn’t avoiding confrontation be our goal?” she countered.
“Sounds boring.”
“I like boring,” Circe muttered.
“Let’s see if it’s pressure activated.” Taurus placed his hands on the door and gave it a firm shove. It resisted for a second before it swung open. “Well, that was easy.”
“Too easy.” A suspicious mutter by Circe, who nonetheless peered with curiosity around him as he shone the flashlight within.
The stone-carved tunnel went for several paces before bending enough he couldn’t see. Empty, and yet he didn’t let his guard down.
“I’ll take the lead,” Taurus stated as he dropped his pack, choosing to remove only a few items, which he cinched to his utility belt.
