Of course it's too late. And liminal spaces are dangerous places, nobody like Johnny has any business lingering on a threshold, either a literal border or the line between engaging and fleeing. The chimaera signals its awareness of Johnny's arrival with a luxurious stretch; it could easily fetch him, would even enjoy it, but why? It's unlikely to be necessary.

"Johnny!" Zagreus hails him with mania disguised as predatoriness further disguised as friendliness. "D'you like hangman?" There are only wrong answers to that question, but one is less wrong than the rest.