The Sphinx

So, the Situation started with a simple prompt. 
You've been called by a friend, who says that someone abandoned a pet near their house, and could you take it to the shelter while they're at work? You're a nice person, so of course you agree, but when you arrive, the abandoned pet isn't what you expected.
It was simple enough. My bit for it was okay. Then Shaggy happened.

UPDATE: I have rewritten what was posted earlier today. Please forgive the changes and delay.
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"Do you think you could just pick him up for me? He's a stray and I need to take him to the shelter, but it'll be closed by the time I get off work."

Carol's voice was somewhat plaintive in his ear, and he knew she would hear him sigh. He sighed anyway. Directly into the receiver.


"How long have you had this thing?"

"I only found him last night. He's all packed up in the crate already, on the back porch. Please, Jake? Just this once."

He glanced at the truck. He was still dressed from work. His truck needed gas. The fridge at home was near empty, and he needed groceries. But it was Carol.

"Alright. Just this once. Next time you pick up a stray, you can take care of it on your own."

"Thank you, Jake! You're the best!" He could hear the relief in her voice, and knew he'd done the right thing. Or at least, he'd done the thing that he wouldn't regret when he looked back on it later.

"Yeah, alright. You concentrate on your work. I'll shoot you text once I've dropped off your thing at the shelter."

"Thanks a million, Jake. I owe you one. Talk to ya later!"

The phone went silent, and Jake hung up, sliding his phone into his pocket and moving toward his truck with a sigh. It took less than 5 minutes to get to Carol's house, and when he poked around behind the house, he saw a crate on the back patio, sitting in the shade. It wasn't the kind of crate he was expecting, though.

Instead of a little plastic cat crate (that would have made sense) there was a big wooden box-type crate. On the side, he saw the word "FRAGILE" stamped in red ink, and an arrow pointing to one end of the box. "THIS WAY UP."

The thing about the crate that bothered him was that it was easily large enough to hold a small adult human, nevermind a dog or a cat. What kind of a stray animal had she picked up that needed such a big container? Jake approached cautiously, ears tuned to any sound that might come from inside the crate. When he stooped to pick it up, he found that it was heavy, but not entirely unmanageable.

It was quite a job, getting the crate into the back of his truck, and more than once, he thought he heard a growl from inside the crate. It was a deep sound - the kind that could only come from a big animal. It made him nervous, but he tried to ignore it as he slid the crate into place and closed the tailgate.

Have crate. Will travel.​

Jake tapped "Send" and pocketed his phone again, climbing into the driver's seat. He should have known better than to get confident about this stuff. It was bound to all go wrong sooner or later. Sooner, as it happened, was exactly what Murphy's Law had in mind.

"Your time is nearly expired. Without the correct answers, the human Carol will be taken to the Labyrinth. You have 2 minutes remaining."

"Wait, what?" The voice was inside his truck. There was someone (something?) inside his truck. With an oath, Jake shoved the door open and launched himself out of the vehicle, hitting the ground hard and twisting around to face his truck. Nothing happened. Nothing moved. The man's arm stung where he'd scraped it up on landing, and after a minute, he slowly stood up, brushing gravel from his pants.

Cautiously, he approached his truck again, Jake ran a hand over the glossy red service, and peeked into the back. Nothing. Just the crate. He poked his head through the open driver's side door. No one was there.

"Hello?"

No one answered. But he'd definitely heard a voice. Still jumpy, Jake pulled his phone from his pocket again.

Is this supposed to be a joke? Ha ha, you got me. Please stop now.

No sooner had he send the text than his phone started to ring. With a violent twitch, he nearly threw the phone away before he saw the name on the screen. Carol. Why was she calling? He tapped the answer button, and immediately heard her voice on the other end.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, C'MON! Please, Jake, just pick up!"

"I'm here. Carol, what's going on?"

"JAKE! Thank God, you're still alive. Please, Jake, you gotta help me solve the riddle. I thought if you were there then he'd just ask you instead and then the time would reset. I don't know the answer, and it doesn't make sense - you're so much better at this than I am-" Carol was babbling so quickly it was hard to track what she was saying.

"Carol, slow down. What are you talking about? What riddle?" Jake made a "calm down" gesture with his free hand, despite the fact that she couldn't see him. This seemed like a serious thing, and he couldn't imagine what had her so riled up. She was still at work - or should have been.

"The riddle the sphinx gave me. Something about endless gold and horns. Look, you gotta ask him to get the whole thing. I couldn't figure out the answer."

The man was having a hard time accepting this. Even besides the whole "sphinx" bit, they had been swapping riddles since they were 12, and Carol had always been quicker to find the answer than he was. Always. Every time. The only reason he'd been able to keep up at all was because he changed the rules for his riddles every few months, adding qualifiers or including less information or giving the clues in the form of pictures. It kept her guessing, and evened the playing field. Once, she'd left him a carrot and a sticky note, and it'd taken him three whole days to figure out the clue and find the potato, which he decided meant she was craving pot roast, so he made some and invited her over for dinner.

"Carol, I still have no idea what's going on. Can you just... breathe for a minute, and start at the beginning?"

"We don't have time!" Carol's voice crackled in the phone, sounding thoroughly desperate.

"Time expired. Carol is being taken to the Labyrinth. Thank you for participating."

This time, Jake was absolutely sure that the voice came from inside the crate in the back of his truck. Not just inside his truck, but inside the crate itself. And as if that wasn't freaky enough, Carol started yelling on the other side of the phone, her voice crackling and echoing out of the earpiece like she was going through a long tunnel. ​

"You have to answer the riddle, Jake! It's the only way. You gotta help me! Please-"

"Carol?! What's happening? What riddle?" Even before he spoke, he knew that the line had gone dead. There was no sound on the other end of the line. Pulling the phone away from his face, Jake could see Carol's name flashing and "CALL ENDED" displayed underneath. Then her name, her picture, and their call disappeared. It felt extremely portentous, and he wasn't sure he liked it at all.

Severely unsettled, Jake pocketed his phone again, brushing at the gravel still sticking to his khakis, and circled around to the back of his truck. Lowering the tailgate, he heaved at the crate. The answer had to be inside. But when he pulled the crate, the whole thing came easily - too easily. He was expecting more resistance. With a yelp, the man toppled, the crate fell to the ground, and the whole ensemble busted. One side shattered spectacularly, and the lid fell off one end. When Jake sat up, rubbing his back gingerly, he saw that the crate was empty except for a heavy gold collar and fat, shiny beetle scuttling about in a panic.

"Carol's gonna kill me," he muttered, shaking his head.

It was unbelievable. Impossible. There was no way any of this was real. The phone call, the crate. The voice. Jake pushed himself up onto his knees and investigated the wreckage of the crate, looking for a walkie-talkie or a baby monitor or an "April Fools" sign - anything that would tell him this was some kind of elaborate setup. But there was nothing. Just the collar and the beetle.

With a dreamy, unreal feeling, Jake picked up the collar. It was warm to the touch, and very heavy. Heavy like metal, rather than leather, which was what he'd expected. This thing with things weighing more or less than he thought they should seemed to be a running theme. He wondered if it was important somehow.

"Jacob Williams. Will you answer the riddles?"

Jake nearly dropped the collar. He could feel the sound vibrating out of it. Shaking slightly, he gripped the collar more tightly, sensing his chances at a "normal life" slipping away rapidly.

"If I do, will it save Carol?"

There was a slight pause. Jake's head was spinning, his heart was pounding, but he knew (and both head and heart agreed) Carol was too important not to save.

"If you provide the answers within the time-limit, yes. Do you accept the challenge?"

The voice was still coming from the collar. Trippy.

"Yes."

The collar grew hot in his hands. Jake set it down hastily, and watched with wonder (but very little surprise) as a form glowed into existence, slipping its head through the collar, and folded itself into a sitting position. It was a cat. A big cat. About the size of a labrador, or maybe a german shepherd. And it had the head of a man. The head of a man wearing a black wig and a funny goatee, and super-heavy eyeliner.

Sphinx.

"Okay." Jake sat back on his heels, wondering if he was going crazy yet. "This keeps getting weirder."

"You will answer the riddles within 24 hours. Provide the correct answers, and you will win a boon. Answer incorrectly, and you will be taken to the Labyrinth. It is unlikely you would survive your stay."

"One quick question. What's a boon?"

The sphinx looked completely unimpressed. Jake wondered if this was because it was mostly cat, or if it was because he'd asked a dumb question. Probably both.

"A boon is a favor. You may ask a favor of us, including the rescue of your lady friend." The sphinx hadn't blinked yet, and it was making Jake's eyes ache in sympathy.

"Okay. That sounds fair. What's the riddle?"

"Your first riddle is-"