The sound of grinding crystal was the sound of a closing cage.
The archway they had entered through was gone, replaced by a solid, seamless wall of shimmering, translucent mineral.
"Well," Jax said, his voice a little too high, a little too cheerful. "That's not ideal."
He gave the new wall a tentative poke with his crutch.
"Definitely not on the blueprints."
The chamber itself was shrinking.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The beautiful, crystalline walls were flowing, shifting, rearranging themselves with a cold, intelligent, and deeply malevolent purpose.
"It's a compactor," Jinx growled, her voice a low, dangerous thing. "A giant, sparkly trash compactor."
"The labyrinth isn't just a place," Michael said, his own voice quiet, his [Void Sense] a screaming, chaotic mess of phantom echoes and imminent, pointy death. "It's the monster."
"Luna!" Chloe's voice was a sharp, urgent command in their ears, cutting through the rising tide of panic. "I need a path! Now!"
