As they ventured deeper into the central tunnel, Shaggy finally had to drink his half of the heat-resistance potion, earning him another look from Daphne as he commented on how great it tasted.
"Somehow, I shouldn't be surprised—you put peanut butter on pizza," she said, shaking her head.
"Hey, don't knock it til you try it!" Shaggy pointed out.
"No thank you," she insisted. "I'll just go by your word alone."
"Oh, it's not just my word—Scoob and Scrappy will back me up on this, too!" Shaggy added.
"That doesn't change my mind at all," she replied, but was soon distracted as the crystal ball glowed even more brightly. "We must be getting really close now!"
She put the crystal away as they entered another antechamber—ahead was another tunnel, this one illuminated by lava.
"I'm sure the Lyre is up ahead in there," she said. "I'm going to change into the sandals now."
"Okay," Shaggy said, looking around the antechamber. There were gems strewn about all over the floor, but what caught his attention was a gold jar in the corner. He had just picked it up when Daphne had finished. "Well?"
"They fit perfectly," she noted. "And I think all I have to do is just will them to rise and—yup!"
She grinned as the wings lifted her off of the ground.
"Like, wow!" Shaggy commented. "It really works!"
"Lucky for us!" she said, landing gracefully back down. "This will definitely help with getting the Lyre without waking the Hydra." She paused as she noticed the golden jar in Shaggy's hands. "What's that?"
"I dunno, it was over there, just sitting by the wall—lid's still on it," Shaggy said. "But it's been opened before—the lining's torn." He shook it. "Sounds like something's still in there."
"You going to open it?" Daphne asked, her eyes wide.
Shaggy put his hand on the lid, but then hesitated.
"What's wrong?" Daphne asked.
"I was just thinking—opening random magical containers is how Scoob and I got us all into this in the first place," Shaggy sighed. "All that worrying earlier about Asmodeus and Hades wouldn't even be an issue if we hadn't—"
"A lot of bad things did happen," Daphne agreed. "But some good things happened, too. We're here, learning magic from Vincent, who's basically family to us now. And I'd like to think that we brought him some happiness in his life that he didn't know he needed but appreciated anyway."
"Yeah, well…" Shaggy sighed. "In the interest of not risking what we've got now, I'm just gonna put this jar back where I found it."
"That's fine," she replied. "That's not why we're doing this, anyway." She glanced down the lava-lit tunnel. "We've got bigger fish to fry."
"Like, I hope you're being metaphorical and aren't actually talking about fighting the Hydra…?"
"Of course I am—believe me, I don't want to have to face that thing," Daphne assured him.
She was far lighter on her feet with Hermes's sandals on as she led the way into the lava-laden chamber. There, as she'd seen in the crystal, was the Lyre on the stone platform, at the end of the tiny isthmus.
Shaggy gulped and pointed at the lava; seven Hydra heads were just barely visible—only their eyes on the top of their heads were able to be seen, sticking out of the lava like crocodiles in water. They didn't seem to be focused on anything in particular; it looked as though they were just lazing about.
"What do we do?!" Shaggy mouthed, silently.
Daphne thought for a moment.
"Wait here," she whispered.
Shaggy looked nervous as she used the winged sandals to fly up and over the isthmus, hovering over the Lyre. She cast a glance over the lava, but seeing as though she had been silent, none of the Hydra heads seemed to be even aware of her presence.
She quickly lowered herself, hiding behind the pillar. She didn't move for a moment, making sure that the Hydra hadn't been disturbed.
Shaggy, realizing what she was waiting for, gave her a thumbs-up; she returned it, and slowly, she reached up and pulled the Lyre from the stone pillar, breathing out a quiet sigh of relief.
She flew back up and back to the entrance of the tunnel.
"Piece of cake," she whispered.
"Yeah, now how about us getting out of here and getting some actual cake?" Shaggy grinned.
Daphne was about to reply when she heard a sound from the lava; pulling Shaggy into the shadows, they stared, frozen in place, as the seven Hydra heads now raised their necks out of the lava, confused about something.
"It knows something's up," Daphne realized. "But it doesn't know exactly what just happened."
"Well then, I don't wanna be here when it figures it out," Shaggy gulped. "Let's get back to the exam hall—we're done here."
Daphne nodded, and they both held their breath as they snuck back into the antechamber. Once there, out of earshot from the Hydra, they exhaled, looked at each other, and grinned triumphantly.
"We actually did it!" Daphne gushed.
"Yeah!" Shaggy grinned. "Though that last stretch had me a little nervous."
"No kidding…"
"I didn't realize that Hydras are psychic," Shaggy went on.
Daphne blinked. As she pondered over something, a trickle of dirt and pebbles fell from the ceiling of the antechamber.
"What's up?" Shaggy asked.
"I'm thinking back to Vincent's stories," she said. "I don't think the Hydra has any sort of psychic powers. When Hercules fought one, it tried to fight back with venom—its powers are literally poison and regeneration."
She frowned as more dirt and pebbles fell from the ceiling, landing on her shoulder. Brushing it off, she looked back to Shaggy.
"Anyway, I don't think it really matters. We snuck past it, we got the Lyre, and we didn't have to worry about getting ambushed by a crab like Hercules did."
"Say what?" Shaggy asked.
"Oh, you know—the legend Vincent told us," Daphne said. "When it looked like Hercules was getting a quick upper hand in the battle, a giant crab double-teamed him to help the Hydra."
"A giant… crab…?" Shaggy asked.
Daphne was about to say something when a third trickle of dirt and pebbles fell from the ceiling. The duo stared at the fallen debris, exchanged nervous glances, and then slowly glanced upward.
The giant crab perched on the ceiling glared back down at them.