Carol's Story

By popular demand, Carol's Story! :) 

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Taken

There was a sort of buzzing at the back of her mind as she hung up the phone. Carol took a deep breath and decided to ignore it, running a hand through her short hair. Jake hadn't liked it when she cut it short, but that was his business. If he liked it long, maybe he should have said something. Then again, he was taking care of the sphinx problem for her... Carol shook her head, pocketed her phone, and made her way toward the counter up front. 

"Thanks for covering for me, Greg." She flashed the man a smile and took her place behind the register. "Nothing caught fire while I was away?" 

Greg, a lanky youth that was more leg than anything else, gave her a sheepish smile. Since the time he'd burned popcorn in the break room microwave, no one could resist the temptation to tease him about setting things on fire. Not that he had ever actually made flames behind the snack counter, but that was just the way things went. Escalation, and all that. 

"No, nothing caught fire. Didn't have any customers, either." 

"Good. Otherwise, someone might have noticed that you're not me." She gave him a wink and scanned the food court. The mall was pretty dead today, but that was to be expected. It was a weekday, and school wasn't out yet. 

But there was more than the lack of people that was bothering her. The buzzing at the back of her skull refused to be ignored. It was starting to hurt, even, like a sinus headache, only in the wrong place. She didn't like it at all. But she knew how to fix it. She had to answer the riddle. Even thinking about it made her tense and anxious. 

How am I supposed to answer a question that doesn't make any sense? How can it be a riddle if-
 
"Miss?" 

Carol jolted back to the present, ​startled to see that there was a customer looking at her impatiently over the cash register. An older woman, with freshly-painted nails and a face like a tortoise that had just eaten a lemon.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. How can I help you?" 

"Well, to start, you can pay attention," snapped the woman unpleasantly. "I want the February special - the Cheesecake Blast shake." 

Carol was temporarily thrown for a loop, and took a full handful of heart beats to make sense of the woman's request. "But... it's August, ma'am. This month's special is the Double Double with Bacon." Carol gestured helpfully at the banner to her left, as if anyone could miss a five-foot cheeseburger. The woman scowled. 

"I didn't order a Double Double. I ordered a Cheesecake Blast shake." 

"Ma'am, that's a seasonal item. It's not on our menu right now." 

She was having none of that. After a five-minute argument about what qualified as a "seasonal item" and a demand to see Carol's supervisor, Carol fled into the back room, wishing there was some way she could escape this. Except she was effectively the shift manager, being the senior clerk on duty. Greg, who was working on unpacking a box of ready-bake buns, looked at her curiously. 

"You okay? You look terrible." 

"Thanks." 

"No, I mean it. You look really pale. Why don't  you sit down for a while? I can man the front."

"Don't go out there," she groaned. "The devil's got a craving for cheesecake." 

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

Carol could feel the blood draining from her face. She knew that voice. It was the Sphinx. Ignoring Greg's baffled, almost frightened expression, she scrambled for her phone, heart pounding, the cheesecake lady forgotten. Fumbling, she managed to punch the button that would call Jake. He was in the #1 speed-dial slot on her phone. Who else would be?

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

"I'm here. Carol, what's going on?" Jake sounded nervous, but not near nervous enough to her way of thinking.

"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, slow down. What are you talking about? What riddle?" Jake cut her off, and she could tell he was making that "sit down and breathe" gesture he used when she was upset. She tried to breathe, but there were too many words spilling out of her mouth to allow any such thing. 

"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." It wasn't even a real riddle! If Jake had been the one making the riddle, at least it would have made sense!

"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 nearly shouted into the phone, feeling the time winding down on her clock. Not fast enough. 

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

"You have to answer the riddle, Jake! It's the only way. You gotta help me! Please-" Carol felt a jerk from somewhere in the region of her stomach, like someone had thrown a lasso over her and was yanking her backwards through the wall. She dropped her phone with a yelp of terror, fell backwards, almost through the floor... and landed flat on her back on cold, hard stone.