-Aye, I found it. Now what do I do with it?-

  Ruby wiped away the slime and mud-covered rock to reveal a little crevasse outlined in gold. Flipping the puzzle around, Ruby figured out that the part she had slid into the rock face perfectly. “Well, let’s see what happens.” She pushed the piece in until she heard an audible click and the rocks closest to the key, swung open with a loud screech and sent red dust all over Ruby. Sighing loudly, Ruby did the best she could to remove the rust that lingered on her face. Once she could see again, Ruby fished out the glow-rock and walked beyond the door and into a long hallway made of brick and mortar. Expecting webs from spiders that could have possibly gotten through the door, Ruby was shocked to see that the hallway was virtually devoid of any refuse.

  -Odd. So where to now?-

  As if something answered her silent thought, the heavy iron and rock door closed and then tched behind her. Covered in complete darkness, Ruby heard a few tiny gears to her right that spun for about ten seconds then stopped with an audible click. Relieved that she had the foresight to grab the light-stone, Ruby fished it from her pack and tied the empty pouch to her belt. Finally able to see a good five feet in front of her, Ruby looked to her right and saw the source of the gears. A small alcove had somehow appeared with her gold puzzle piece attached to a hardened cy stand in the shape of an egg sitting atop of a small dais. Ruby hovered the bright blue light from the rock in front of her and spotted a small brass pte affixed to the base, with a simple question inscribed neatly. ‘What has to be broken before you can use it?’

  Rolling her eye briefly, Ruby saw the answer staring her in the face. “An egg, that’s the answer.” She paused and ughed, “Why put something egg-shaped right in front of you and then ask what it is?” Ruby commented aloud. A second ter, Ruby felt a cool breeze pass by her and the centerpiece began turning like a globe. Where she’d had one piece of a puzzle another appeared, this one missing contour lines but repced by numbers and direction markers in the dead center with arrows pointing in all four directions. picking the chalk out of one of her small pockets, Ruby stood on her toes and hastily drew an arrow pointing at the entrance on the brick ceiling.

  -Always leave a trail.-

  Studying the cy stand for a few minutes, Ruby pulled off her gauntlet and felt around the back of the egg and plucked a tight string. “Cute. A mystery and a trap…or arm?” She muttered while considering her options. Rubbing her hands together as she thought, Ruby reached for the egg stand and suddenly stopped.

  -The answer was that an egg must be broken to use it.-

  Just as she added together the final part to the riddle, Ruby watched as the two sections of the map split apart as though it had cracks in it. Initially reaching for both sections of the map, Ruby hesitated and only grabbed the new section. Moments ter, the little brass pte flipped and revealed a proverb.

  ‘He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.’-Socrates

  With the new section in hand, Ruby studied the numbers and concluded that they represented steps. “Okay, let’s take the fifty steps into this hallway and if the arrows are correct, I will get to an intersection.” Jogging as she counted the steps, Ruby held the map under her arm and the rock out in front so she could see clearly. Counting to fifty-two, Ruby reached the junction that the map promised would be in pce. “I guess my feet are a little smaller than whoever did this.” She chuckled to herself in order to calm her nerves. Holding the rock before her, Ruby once again stood on her toes and marked the way back and wrote the number fifty under the arrow.

  -Alright, so which way should I go, all of the hallways have an arrow for reference. Why do I feel like…-

  Without warning, Ruby heard what sounded like a pin breaking and the intersection started to spin. Acting on impulse, Ruby jumped for the center of the twirling section. “Alright now what? Figure something out before you get dizzy and pass out…think…think.” Ruby dropped to her knees and started testing the bricks on the floor to see if any of them would move or pull out. Ruby found a loose brick and pulled it out and it revealed a yered set of gears, stacked six high and color-coded spinning at different intervals. Ignoring the new puzzle for a few seconds, Ruby looked over the brick she’d removed and saw the initials for the rainbow imprinted on the cy.

  -Easy enough, line these six in a rainbow pattern.-

  When Ruby reached for the smallest gear, a loud roar and the stomping of hooves echoed in the maze. “Shit..Shit..Shit!” Noting that the sounds of something angry were getting closer, Ruby turned the first dial and to her dismay, it rotated two of the gears at the same time. “Mercy Mermaids! Why’d it do that?” Holding her blue light close to the spinners, it took about ten seconds for Ruby to spot a little pin stuck in position with the number two above it and an empty socket under where she noticed the number three. “Easy. Famous st words.” She looked up briefly and shook her head. “Naturally there wouldn't be the number one as one of the choices. Pying with the pin in both sockets for a couple of seconds confirmed what she suspected. When in the two position, she could spin three sets of the gears as a pair. When locked in the three position she could turn two sets of three. After rotating the different gears on different locks, Ruby managed to order the gears in reverse order of the rainbow. Convinced that whatever it was howling was close by, Ruby took a chance and instead of trying to reorder the gears by locks a second time, she pulled on the pile all at once. Much to her surprise, Ruby found herself holding the stack in her hands. “No way!” Ruby excimed with glee. Quickly flipping the pile over so that the color of the rainbow was correct, Ruby repced the mechanism back in its little hold.

  Slowly the intersection came to a stop and locked in pce like before. Unlike a few seconds before, Ruby heard the stomping above her.

  -Stars above, please tell me that didn’t just happen. I didn’t just go down a level. That means this pce is gigantic.-

  Ruby looked at the ceiling in all four directions and didn’t see her mark.

  -Lovely. I don’t know how far down I went. Does that matter as long as I can change the spinny things down there?-

  Using the chalk, Ruby marked the roof with arrows in all directions with the letter ‘U’ in the center. Once she finished, Ruby reached for the golden map and noted that the four arrows had been repced by one and pointed to her left.

  -If every fifty steps I have to disarm something, I will be here until I am two hundred years old.-

  Partially regretting that she’d left the comfort of Elise’s bed, Ruby took a deep breath, marked her way then headed down the passage. Walking for what seemed like forever, Ruby reached over five hundred steps in her head before she took a little break for water.

  -What was that thing howling? Please let me find this next part soon.-

  Another five hundred steps ter, Ruby stopped for more water and felt the hair on her neck stand up. Shoving the rock in its bag, the hallway went pitch bck. Ruby pressed herself tightly to the wall, and didn’t move. Within a few minutes the air in the maze thickened and smelled like well-tanned cowhide, complete with a light sweet scent she couldn’t quite pce. Knowing something was coming, Ruby slid down the wall and pced her ear to the brick. Slow and steady, Ruby heard the sound of hooves as they approached her location.

  -I really don’t want to find out what that is.-

  After retrieving her light-rock, Ruby made sure she was still headed in the direction of the arrow and started jogging. Roughly two-hundred paces ter she found herself in front of a wrought iron door, with a gap outlined in gold. Repeating what she did to enter the byrinth, Ruby pushed the map into the slit and waited. Once the door opened, Ruby held the rock in front of her and saw that she’d found a rather rge room with string tied tightly at all angles that crisscrossed the room. Swerving the rock behind her, Ruby finally glimpsed the source of the hooves. “Can’t be. Mercy Mermaid, that can’t be real.” Ruby said and darted through the door, where it closed shut behind her.

  Howling in rage and pounding on the door, Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose. “It isn’t real, the Greek stories are just that, stories. No way that the minotaur is real, especially a female one.” Ruby tried to convince herself as the beast on the opposite side kept trying to get through the door.