the one where she almost succeeds

3. Light
 Mae squinted into the darkness of the room and felt the hairs on her neck rise with the growing apprehension that she was going to not like whatever was down there. Her bow and arrows seemed useless if she couldn’t see. Her fingers tightened around the hilt of the bow as she took a hesitant step forward. A vine snaked its way up the stairs, making a slithering noise. Mae picked up almost instantly on the noise but could not determine where it was coming from until too late. She let out a small squeal as it wrapped around her ankle and jerked her down quickly into the darkness. She plunged her hand outwards as a bright shaft of light lit up the small basement. Her eyes widened.
 Maybe making it light wasn’t the best solution…
  A towering thing hissed and lunged at her. The brief stint of sunlight that she had wielded faded until she was cast into an even greater darkness.
But that thing could still see. Again, she felt her palms burn with the contained energy and let it all go with a bang. The thing had been seconds away from ripping her neck out but being blinded by the flash of light, it staggered back squealing. Fallen weapons were strewn about the floor. Picking one rickety looking sword up, Mae swung it with all of her might at the creature. It was enough to distract it.
 Stringing her bow with an arrow, Mae let one fly as the fading light dimmed once more. It squealed. She had vaguely seen the layout of the room but she no longer wanted to be anywhere near the monster. Ducking to avoid any sudden attacks, Mae wove her way in the darkness towards the staircase. The light from the room above was strangely not filtering any light into the room save for the top step.
 “Blast it!” hissed Mae, slamming her shins into the bottom step and nearly face-planting into her escape. Tendrils of vines snaked around her ankles and brought her skidding backwards. Grasping an arrow, she began slicing wildly around her feet and was rewarded with another scream from the monster. She could hear the steady slithering of more vines but she was done.
 Hurtling herself around, Mae held out both palms with a blast of her demigod powers. The light began to blind her, but it definitely hurt the creature in front of her. The vines slackened, leaving Mae room to escape. She stumbled up the stairs and found her way into the room from whence she had come.
 She was really starting to hate this house of horrors that Hephaestus had made.
 At least this time, she thought, I will have made it out.
 She took another step and found herself thrown forward from a loose floorboard. She went tumbling past the escape out and went straight towards a thin hallway that led back to the room that she had begun. The walls slammed shut like a door, leaving her in the same room as she had started.
 Breathing hard, Mae scowled darker than ever. Mae immediately took to the door once more to face all of her fears. She was going to make it all the way through this blasted haunted house, even if it was the last thing she ever did…