The ship docked in the harbor of Crete, and the twins and the Athenians were immediately met with armed guards, who escorted them to the palace, a large, fortified structure decorated with numerous question marks. The question mark theme was repeated in the throne room, with a giant one sculpted into the shape of the throne.
A thin man dressed in green sat on the throne, smirking at the fourteen prisoners below him. "Ah, I see another batch of fresh Athenian food has arrived for my nygmataur," he said. "We must make sure you're well fed and clean before entering the labyrinth tomorrow – my pet has such a sensitive palate, and he likes to feed on fat. Take them to their chambers, and see that they can't get out," he said, gesturing to the guard. "And enjoy your evening, for it will be your last one alive," he added, smiling.
"Since it is our last one alive, are we allowed a last request?" asked J.J., as Nygma gestured at the guard to take them away.
Nygma stared at him in confusion. "I suppose…depending on the request," he replied. "What is yours?"
"I'd love to meet Jonathan Crane," said J.J. "I was told he was being kept prisoner here, and my sister and I have heard so much about his brilliant mind. It would be an honor to shake his hand before we die, just to touch genius."
"That's certainly an odd request," replied Nygma. "I was expecting more like a favorite last meal or something. But I certainly see no harm in it – take them to see Crane," he added, gesturing to the guard.
The guard nodded, and led Arleen and J.J. down the corridor to a locked door. The guard removed a key, unlocked it, and gestured inside. "You have five minutes," he muttered.
"Plenty of time," said J.J., smiling at his sister. "Hello? Mr. Crane?" he called, entering the room.
"Who are you?" asked a tall, thin man, staring at them in confusion. He appeared to be sewing something together, which looked like a makeshift rope crafted from various cloth. "What do you want?"
"To talk to you," replied J.J. "I'm J.J., and this is Arleen, and we need your help finding our way in and out of the labyrinth. Jervis Tetch said you might know a secret route through it, since you designed it."
"Yes, I did. You were brought from Athens with the other sacrifices, weren't you?" asked Crane, studying them.
"That's right," said J.J., nodding. "But we have no intention of being sacrificed to the nygmataur. We're the children of the God of the Underworld and the Goddess of Spring, and we're going to prove ourselves worthy of godhood by slaying the beast."
"I think not," said Crane, quietly. "I think you are bound to be disappointed on that score."
"What do you mean?" asked Arleen. "You mean this thing can't be killed?"
"In a manner of speaking," agreed Crane. "Something that is not alive cannot die."
"Wait, it's not alive?" asked J.J. "It's an un-dead, half-bull, half-man?"
"Great, J.J., you got us involved in vampires or something!" snapped Arleen. "And we didn't bring anything to hunt those! No stakes or holy water or nothing!"
"It's not a vampire," replied Crane. "But it is similar to a vampire in that it doesn't exist."
"What are you talking about?" asked J.J.
Crane sighed heavily. "Nygma had me design the labyrinth, and told everyone it was to house his half-bull, half-man monster, which he claimed he had captured single-handedly. He spread stories of his bravery in ensnaring the beast, but it's all a lie. Nygma has never done anything brave in his life – even when he conquered Athens, he stayed back to watch the fighting from the ships. But he kidnapped me because he knew I was not only a great architect, but a great inventor, and that I had invented a gas which made everyone hallucinate whatever they feared most. And if you tell people that there's a half-bull, half-man monster inside the labyrinth, guess what they're going to hallucinate?"
"So wait…there's nothing in the labyrinth?" asked J.J. "The sacrifices are just gassed when they enter it, and die from fright?"
"Fright, or one of the many traps Nygma has put in place," replied Crane. "This whole thing is a kind of sick amusement for him – he has a nice view where he can see out over the labyrinth and watch the people stuck inside it. Sometimes they die quickly from fear hallucinations, sometimes they die slowly from starvation, and sometimes they die from Nygma's riddle chambers, depending on where they wander through the maze."
"But you know where those are, right?" asked J.J. "And you can help us avoid them – give us a map or something…"
"I don't know where they are," interrupted Crane. "My design didn't include any of those riddle rooms – Nygma ordered them built separately, and I have no idea where in the labyrinth he installed them. I'm afraid I can be of little help to you. There is no monster for you to slay to prove yourselves heroic, and there is no way out of the labyrinth once inside it."
The twins were silent – they shared a despairing look, and both regretted coming here in the first place. Then J.J. shook his head. "We can't give up," he said. "Maybe there's no monster, but we can still save the other twelve people who were sent here with us from dying in the labyrinth. That would be a heroic thing to do."
"And you can still help us," agreed Arleen. "You must know when they administer the fear gas, and if we can avoid that, we'll be spared the hallucinations, which should help us keep our wits about us during the riddle rooms."
"You children have determination, I'll say that for you," said Crane. "Tomorrow morning, you will be taken to the labyrinth. After the doors are shut, the fear gas will disperse from a copper bull's head hanging above the door – I would recommend holding your breath and leaving that room as quickly as possible. A large amount of gas is pumped out, but if you're not in the room with the bull's head, it should disperse fairly quickly in the open air of the labyrinth, and its effects should be mild to non-existent. But once you're in the maze, you're on your own. There is nothing I can do to help you in there. There is nothing anyone can do to help you in there. You will have no one to rely on but yourselves."
"So what else is new?" asked J.J., with more confidence than he felt. "Leenie and me have always got each other's backs, right, Leenie? We can always rely on each other."
"Yeah, we can always rely on each other to support each other's insane ideas, even if they end up getting us into trouble and ultimately killed," muttered Arleen, looking around the room. She nodded at the cloth in Crane's hand. "You're sewing something to escape from here?"
"Yes, I've been working on it for months, stealing scraps of cloth and discarded material so no one will notice," agreed Crane. "It's almost long enough to reach the ground, and then I can climb down it to freedom."
"How are you going to get off Crete though?" asked J.J. "Even if you escape from the palace, you're kinda trapped on this island."
"One plan at a time," retorted Crane. "And you children certainly have bigger problems to worry about. Don't focus on me when you should be focusing on saving yourselves."
"Yeah," agreed Arleen, staring at the spool of thread in Crane's hand. "Can we borrow that?" she asked, pointing at it. "I've got an idea."