The House of Hades

Hazel cries and screams when the tunnel collapses until she notices Leo staring. Leo promises Frank will be fine, and Hazel knows they must continue. Gale the polecat joins them, and Hazel senses a presence. She hears a woman’s voice, and she and Leo magically move to the doorway of a cavern. Across the cavern, Leo and Hazel see the Doors of Death chained to the floor. The giant Clytius guards the Doors, and the sorceress Pasiphaë appears. The doors ding, and Pasiphaë reveals they have 12 minutes until Percy and Annabeth arrive. If someone doesn’t push the up button when they arrive, the Doors won’t open and they will disappear. Pasiphaë promises Percy and Annabeth can live if Hazel and Leo die because they need two demigods alive to be sacrificed to Gaea. The cavern dissolves into darkness.

Layers of Mist enfold Hazel and Leo into Pasiphaë’s new stone Labyrinth. Hazel knows it’s an illusion but doesn’t know how to break through. Hazel and Leo are forced to run and avoid the traps while Pasiphaë laughs. Hazel knows the only way to beat Pasiphaë is to make her see what she wants to see, which is a more dangerous maze.