The Sphinx (Part 5)

Ohmigosh there's a real riddle in this one! Whatever will we do with ourselves?! 
:D I was actually super pleased with how that riddle turned out. 

As usual, any input is appreciated. I look forward to hearing what you guys think about this as we approach THE END!
---

The Shore

Jake inhaled deeply through his nose, then out through his mouth. He could feel the whoosh-crash and constant, monotone thunder of the ocean; on his face, in his lungs, in his bones. He inhaled again, remembering the meditation class he'd taken when his mother had moved (temporarily) into the spare room in his apartment. Without those classes, he probably would have gone to jail for murder. With a last, soothing sigh, he opened his eyes.

He was seated, cross-legged on the warm sand, facing the ocean. The sun was low over the horizon, and large, slow-moving clouds cruised toward it. They would mask the sun soon enough, then pass on. It was a beautiful sight in the meantime.

"Are you ready?"

Jake turned his head. Sitting beside him on the sand was the Sphinx from Carol's back yard. He seemed larger, somehow, and his fur was a brighter shade of gold. ​At least, that was how it looked. Maybe he was misremembering. That happened sometimes.

"I'm ready. As ready as I'll ever be," he answered quietly, suddenly glad for the time he'd taken to breathe and center himself before opening his eyes. He remembered Carol's face, her smile when he presented her with a new riddle. Her laugh when he was stumped by one of hers. The freckles under her left eye. Her artfully curved eyebrows, which she complained about because they were 'hard to maintain.' He remembered her, and promised to do everything he possibly could to bring her out of the Labyrinth, wherever that might be.

The Sphinx studied him a moment longer, then nodded a little and looked out toward the ocean again.

"You see the sky, and the sky is me,

I am under the ocean, and one with the sea.

The eye of the beholder may hold you,

But no river is perfect without me, too."

Jake stared. This wasn't... what he'd been expecting. At all. It was a real riddle.

​Then again, this was the first riddle (or so he assumed) that was given by the Sphinx himself, rather than by one of his... companions? Employees?

"That's... that's a good one. Haven't heard it before."

"I should hope so. I composed it." The Sphinx sounded slightly miffed, but also proud. It was an interesting combination, and reminded Jake of one of those persnickety old ladies from church that would condescend and boast in the same breath. After a moment, he shook his head.

"I'll figure it out. Give me a minute."

"I'll give you ten." The Sphinx gazed serenely out at the ocean, smiling a little

"Very kind. Thank you." Jake settled into the sand, closed his eyes again, and tried to clear his mind so he could focus on the riddle. The traditional riddles were the ones that stumped him the most often. The nontraditional ones (or better, the ones that were actually puns) filtered through his brain much more efficiently. He took it one line at a time, trying not to overthink.

You see the sky, and the sky is me.

What was the sky? The refraction of sunlight through water particles arranged in a massive sphere. Water? Possibly. Second line.

I am under the ocean, and one with the sea.

The answer "water" still fit.

The eye of the beholder may hold you,

Incomplete sentence. What the the eye of the beholder hold? Beauty, of course.

But no river is perfect without me, too.

Well, what river was perfect without water? But a river without water wasn't a river at all, so that didn't quite fit. Smashing a square piece into a rectangular hole. It technically fit, but it wasn't quite what should have been put there. Jake went back to the beginning. Was there another answer that fit?

"Two minutes remaining."

Jake felt a spike of fear, but forced himself to breathe, to concentrate. He needed to relax, or else the answer would never come.  ​

What did he see when he looked at the sky? Jake tipped his head back and squinted at the vaulted blue sky above him. The orange gleam of the slowly setting sun blurred the colors in the west, over the ocean, and a handful of puffy clouds drifted overhead, stained pink and orange and purple. His heartbeat slowed back down to a normal pace, and his breathing became deep and even again. He saw colors, and clouds, and the slanting shadows of the clouds as they played against one another. He saw many things. But the only thing he saw every time he saw the sky were the colors. Specifically, the blue of the curved china bowl sitting on top of the world.

Blue.

The sky is me.

The sky is blue.

​The ocean is blue.

The sea is blue.

The river, when it was clean, was blue.

Jake lowered his gaze to the Sphinx, grinning broadly. Maybe it had been an easy one. Maybe it had been toned down to his level.

"Do you have your answer?" The Sphinx ​watched him calmly, as though he felt nothing.

"I think so. And I don't have time to rethink it again, so here goes: the answer is 'blue.'" As he said the words aloud, he suffered a pang of serious doubt. What if he was wrong? What if the answer was something else that was buried deeper? What if he'd missed something, and it wasn't that simple?

The Sphinx studied him, as though weighing his soul. Then his mouth began to curve upward in a slow, pleased smile.

"That is correct, human. You did well." A compliment. From a Sphinx. Jake beamed like the midsummer sun. The Sphinx slowly got to his paws, seeming to tower over him on the sand. "You have earned the right to ask a boon of me. If it is within my power, I will do my best to do so."

"Could you take Carol out of the Labyrinth, and bring her to me? I want her to be safe." ​Jake rose, dusting sand from his pants as he spoke. He was a little nervous that his request would be denied, even though he'd asked at the beginning if he would be able to rescue Carol.

After a moment, the Sphinx nodded. "So it will be. Please wait here." With a bow of his head and a slight bending of his forelegs (it looked like the Sphinx equivalent to a courtly bow) he turned and trotted away, kicking up showers of sand as he went. Shortly, he disappeared around the shoulder of a tall sand dune, and Jake was left alone on the beach with the constant, unceasing roar of the ocean. With a tense sigh, the man turned toward the heaving water and started to walk, pacing slowly toward the hard, wet sand where walking would be easier.

He lost himself in thought, allowing his mind to wander over the possibilities for the future. After something like this, there was no way that things between him and Carol could stay the same. He'd risked his life to save her (at least, he was pretty sure that he'd risked his life). That wasn't something that "just friends" did lightly, and even if they were "just friends," they would be much closer friends now. Not that he knew how that would work out, since he felt they were pretty darn close already, but he knew that things like this didn't happen and then just fade into the past.

There must have been something that would have alerted him to their presence - a sound or a feeling or something. But Jake didn't know that the Sphinx had returned until Carol hit him at a dead run, throwing her arms around his shoulders and knocking him face-first into the sand.