Keepers of the Labyrinth by Erin E. Moulton

and she stretched her legs long as the trail started to wind down the hill. The white shorts bobbed and disappeared behind a thicket.
    â€œWe can’t let them win,” Sydney said, suddenly right next to Lil.
    â€œWe won’t,” Lil answered through gritted teeth.
    As they rounded the bend, there was another fork in the path. This time, the fork wrapped right and left into dark caves. They slowed to a stop, and Lil looked up to the sign that split the path.
    HOME OF THE MINOTAUR , the one on the right said.
    HOME TO DIONYSUS , the other said.
    They all hurried into the one on the right, stumbling through the dark. Lil could see an arm of light at the other end. She tensed and moved forward, slowing only so as not to trip over the unsteady, shadowed ground.
    â€œI can’t see a damn thing,” Charlie huffed.
    Lil brushed past a stalagmite, her shorts catching on it. For a moment she was snagged back, but she pulled forward regardless.
    Their footsteps and breath echoed in surround sound as they neared the domed end of the tunnel. She could see the silhouettes of the objects in her path against the ever-growing sunlight in the distance.
    â€œAlmost there. It’s easier to see here!” She looked back, spotting Charlie and Kat right away. Sydney staggered forward, the white stripes on her sneakers the only part of her visible just behind them. Lil turned back to the cave opening as a thunder of footsteps joined their own and the white shorts and A-Team shirts flicked into view at the exit. Their paths were converging. Vivi turned and blew them a kiss as she shot ahead. Lil surged forward, her eyes somersaulting in her head as she went from the darkness of the cave to the blaring Cretan sunlight. She spotted Colleen, Bente and Athenia in the trailhead just in front of them, just out beyond Team A.
    â€œRun ahead,” Kat shouted. “Go get the clue.”
    Lil turned back for just a moment. They were together, mostly moving as a pack. Sydney nodded, and Charlie waved her on. Lil shot forward, letting her legs stretch to their full length. She laid her eyes on the feet of the person just in front of her. Oh, it felt good to let her lungs expand to their full capacity. To run and breathe and think of nothing else. She matched footfalls of the girl at the rear, and doubled them, tripled them. Overtook them.
    The girl turned, startled as Lil strode past.
    â€œVivi, hurry!” the girl with dark hair shouted. “They’re coming up on us.”
    Lil laid her eyes on Vivi. She was fast and fit, and had a head start. And as Lil ran toward her, Vivi picked up her pace. Her stride was practiced and unhurried. Lil relaxed her legs more, and they fled for her, taking her on their own. As she came up shoulder to shoulder with Vivi, she wondered if the girl had reached her maximum speed or if it felt like a light jaunt. They scrambled to a standstill in front of the mentors.
    Bente held the envelope out to her, and Lil grasped the edge.
    â€œWhen you have the answer, you must tell your counselor,” she said aloud to both parties. “If you are correct, you move on.”
    Lil pulled the note card from within it. Her eyes wavered over the page as she caught her breath, trying to read the words.
    There once wa
s a woman, came acro
ss the sea
    On the ba
ck of a bull, ’twas
told in history.
    A story of a woman who came across the sea on the back of a bull, Lil thought. Her mind flashed to the stained-glass window above Charlie’s door. The picture of the woman on the back of the bull. That must be it, but what had she called her?
    Team A surrounded Colleen and whispered as Lil read the note card over again. Charlie was the first to reach her, then Sydney and Kat together. She handed the card to Charlie.
    â€œThe woman above your door—what was her name?” she whispered.
    Charlie read the note card, panting quickly and nodding. “Has to be that. Europa.”
    The