Carol's Story; Part 2

The continuation of Carol's Story. Because I could. :) 
Feedback is always appreciated. Let me know what you think.

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 The Labyrinth

At first, she couldn't move. Or maybe she wasn't brave enough to. When at last her lungs started to work again and her head stopped spinning, she realized that nothing, absolutely nothing, was as it should be. The light playing over her face was orange and flickering - torchlight. She could smell the burning wood and oil, and wondered where in the world she could be. The last few minutes were a blur, and all she could think about was the cheesecake lady and how mad she would be at the delay in getting a supervisor that didn't exist.

The floor under her back was stone, cold and mostly flat, though she could feel the joints between the tiles. And the air smelled like dust and sand and stone. Nothing like the stale bread smell of the back room at the mall. And she didn't hear Greg, either. Shouldn't he be worried about her? But... the mall didn't have torches.

Carol slowly sat up, putting a hand to her temple. She felt like she'd been put through one of those old-fashioned wringer dryers, squeezed from all sides until there was nothing left inside but apple sauce. Her head was still muddled, but at least the spinning had stopped. She was sitting in a passage built entire of blocks of stone, square and unyielding. The floor, the walls, even the ceiling was made of the same stuff, though the upper third of the walls had been carved with a skillful hand, like the walls in the Egyptian tombs she'd seen on TV. There were figures of people, and of animals, and lines of script that were completely foreign to her. Not runic, like the Norse letters she knew some of, and not any of the Slavik characters her grandmother had tried to teach her. The weirdest thing was that the letters seemed to glow, somehow.

Shaking her head the woman decided this, like some of the other things she was seeing, must be a hallucination, or maybe a trick of the light. Nothing was making sense just now, but she had a mounting suspicion that the "Labyrinth" the Sphinx had talked about was, unlike his riddles, very literal. What about Jake? Would he end up here, too, after he failed to answer the riddles? Had she doomed him to share her fate? No. He was better with those out of the box riddles than she was. He would be fine.

But where does that leave me?

From her right, there came a rumbling noise. Not like thunder or like the rolling of stones (she was reminded powerfully of those archeologist-turned-adventurer movies that Jake liked so much) but like someone with a really deep voice talking. There was no reply to the deep voice, and it seemed consistent, so she wasn't sure what it could be if it wasn't that. Carol turned her head and cautiously moved to the right, toward the sound. There were right-angle corners in both directions, about twelve feet either way, and no door or anything to indicate a way out. She peeked around the corner to the right, careful to keep most of her body out of sight, in case this was the sort of place she wasn't supposed to be.

Almost as soon as she'd looked, she wished she hadn't. There was a Minotaur walking toward her, apparently humming to himself. He was a huge figure, at least ten feet tall, broad-shouldered and muscular under the thick pelt of coarse brown hair that covered him from crown to heel. There was a battle axe strapped to his back, winking with the light of polished steel over his shoulder, and his only clothing appeared to be a black leather loincloth about his waist. His hands were big, with horny, black-nailed fingers (only three of them, apparently) and his feet were the hooves of a bull, cloven, black, and sharp.

The Minotaur's moist black nose wrinkled, nostrils flaring, then the humming stopped.

"I smell a human," he rumbled, and even at the distance of several yards, Carol could see the beast's eyes light up, as though with excitement. That didn't seem like a good sign. When he started to lumber forward at a swifter pace, Carol turned on her heel and ran. She sprinted, as fast as she could, to the opposite corner of the stretch where she'd woken up, dazzled by the torches flashing past her.

Skidding around the corner, already panting and wishing she'd taken Jake up on his offer of a workout buddy system thing, Carol found herself looking down another long, empty stone corridor. She ran, taking the first turn she found, then another, and a third. She only realized after the fourth turn that this was a maze, and she was getting herself lost. She paused, gasping, and looked over her shoulder, trying to listen over the pounding of her heart. What she heard was not at all reassuring.

The click of heavy, cloven hooves.

With a thrill of fear, Carol took off again. Lost was better than trampled, or chopped into little bits like kindling for the winter fire. She didn't want to die! She needed to stay alive and get good at this so that she could help Jake when he showed up - assuming he showed up at all.

The woman was still lost in thought about whether or not Jake was going to come as she rounded another corner and ran smack into something very big and very... muscly. Carol fell over, the wind knocked clean out of her by the impact with the big, solid thing. When she could gulp a lungful of air, Carol lifted her head and looked at the thing, and immediately wished she hadn't, as if by not looking she could have made it not exist. The thing she'd run into was the hindquarters of a large beast, crouching in the corridor. It turned, lumbering about in a circle to turn on her. The back half was covered in tawny fur, making her think at first of the Sphinx, but then she saw the tail, which was a segmented scorpion's tail, barbed point curled tightly off to the side. The forequarters were those of a lion, and on closer inspection the hind legs, though tawny, were shaped like those of a cow or maybe a goat, sort of boxy and bony.

Manticore.

With a growl, it swiped at her with one huge paw, and she felt the claws catch on her skin as they tore through the side of her shirt. Letting out a shriek of fear and pain, Carol rolled to her feet, staggered, and took off at a run, nearly smacking face-first into the Minotaur as she tried to backtrack. The bull-man grunted in surprise and lumbered to a halt, looking back at her as she slid past him and bolted.

Then the Manticore roared and the Minotaur bellowed back, and Carol heard the clatter of claws against steel, and she assumed the two beasts were fighting. What more could she do, but run? Trying to take different turns than she had before, the woman sprinted until she was light-headed and gasping, then finally staggered to a halt. Warm blood tickled her side as it trickled across her sweaty skin, and when she touched the bleeding area she found they were scratches only. Deep scratches, but at least they weren't gashes, or anything worse. Clutching the stitch in her side, the woman sank down to crouch against the wall, breathing hard, wishing there was something else she could do that would make more sense than just running.

"Lost, are we?" The voice was soft, almost pleasant, but too dry to be human. Much too dry.
Carol straightened a little, still breathing hard, squinting around at the seemingly empty corridor for the source of the voice. "Who's there?" Her own voice sounded sort of raspy, probably because of all that running. Somewhere nearby, she heard a dry chuckle.

"A shame, I think. A waste of effort, leaving a poor human here all on her own. Don't you agree? Some sort of hint or direction would be fair, since you were dragged across the Border."

The voice was definitely close, but she couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Then, with a thrill of terror, Carol remembered all those movies where she groaned and rolled her eyes and said "they never think to look up!" It only took a moment to brace herself, then she looked up at the ceiling.

There it was. It looked like a spider with a fat, shiny black body and a human face. It clung to the ceiling, looking down at her with a smile that showed protruding fangs, glistening with what she could only assume was venom.

It was all she could do not to scream. The spider thing reached down to her with one long, shiny leg, and she scrambled away, out of reach.

"Oh, come now. It would be an awful shame to put all that lovely flesh to waste," said the spider, still smiling, as though that was the only expression it could make. "Come here, human. I'll be sure it's quick." The spider thing was creeping down from the ceiling. It didn't seem to be very fast. Adrenaline pounding through her veins, Carol leapt to her feet and ran for her life. Again. This time, she stopped when she found an empty place far enough away from the spider thing to be relatively safe.

"I'm gonna die," she murmured to herself, covering her face with both hands, but keeping her ears alert for the sound of anything approaching. At least so far, things had been decent enough to warn her before attacking. What would happen when she found one that wasn't? What would happen if she fell down a hole and got stuck, or got eaten, or... or anything else horrible that might happen in here?

"You know, for a human, you're pretty fast." The voice was so deep it made her bones rattle. Carol tried to get to her feet again so she could run away, but her legs refused to obey. They were shaking so hard that she couldn't even brace herself against the wall, let alone stand. Fear made her throat tight and hot as she looked up and saw the Minotaur standing over her, his bloody ax gripped between both big hands.

"I don't want to die," she whimpered, wishing she could look away, but not daring to.

"No one does," the Minotaur agreed. "But I'm not here to kill you. I'm here to give you directions. And you should be grateful it's been so slow around here, otherwise I might not have bothered chasing you this far."

Carol's Story

By popular demand, Carol's Story! :) 

--- 

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.

The Sphinx (Part 6)

Reunion (The End)

The sting of the sand against his face (it was like rug-burn) was enough to keep his mind sharp. He rolled over, ready to kick his attacker away. Then he saw that it was Carol. She was crying, still hugging him tight around the waist and refusing to let go.

"Hey, hey, Carol, it's okay. I'm here. It's all over." He patted her back somewhat awkwardly, uncertain how to deal with this when the dampness from the sand was seeping into his clothes and chilling his shoulders and back.

"I knew you could," she told him, shaking a little, but she lifted her head to smile at him. He felt a jolt when he saw that one side of her neck was all scratched up, like something with claws had been trying to get at her throat. The scratches stretched along her skin and under the collar of her shirt, implying that there were more injuries he couldn't see.

"What happened to you, Carol?" He sat up as well as he could, and sighed with relief when she let go, sitting up with him and shifting into his lap, wrapping her hands around one of his arms.

"The Labyrinth is not a kind place." The Sphinx was standing not far from them, still watching the pair with his fathomless eyes, which seemed to change between orange and gold and pale yellow. A predator's eyes. "I will admit I was surprised that she lasted so long without losing more than a little blood." The Sphinx gave her a solemn nod, but Carol regarded him with more than a little fear in her expression.

"There were monsters in there. Some of them weren't so bad. They just made a lot of noise and tried to scare or surprise me. But the bigger ones..." Carol shuddered again, and Jake put an arm around her, feeling like he was in a dream instead of really finished with this unreal quest. He held her, felt her warm body under his arm, knew that she was safe, and relaxed.

"You're safe now," he assured her quietly. "It's all over, and we can just go home and get those scratches taken care of, alright?" He saw her smile weakly, and felt her warm, soft cheek against his.

"Thank you, Jake. I knew you would do it. I couldn't. The tentacle thing frightened me so much, I just couldn't finish, so I had to leave, and then I couldn't figure out how to go back without scaring myself silly." She sighed, and Jake lifted his head to look at the Sphinx, but the beast was gone. He scanned the beach, frowning a little as he realized what had probably happened.

"I used my boon to get you out of the Labyrinth," he murmured, still holding Carol close to his chest, "and now we're here, instead of home."

"West coast," said Carol with a quiet laugh. "No money, no ID..."

"No shoes," he pointed out ruefully, wiggling his sandy toes. "But at least we're alive. That's definitely something." He joined her in a laugh, and started to get to his feet. She seemed unsteady, but he was more than willing to put an arm around her and keep her close, supporting her. "Do you still have your phone?"

"No. Lost it in the Labyrinth. You?"

"No. I think I lost mine in the tunnels with the giant ground squirrel."

"No one's ever going to believe that."

"Still better to be alive." He gave her a squeeze and a smile, making his way toward the dunes in the hopes that they would find a town or something nearby. From the waves, a scaly green face watched them with interest. It had been a long time since humans had strayed to this part of the world. Perhaps they would stay. It would be good for trade. With a flash of pearly scales, it turned and darted out into the cove to tell the rest of its tribe.

It would be some time before the humans realized that they weren't really home at all.

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.

The Sphinx (Part 4)

We've reached the halfway mark. Jake is on his way, and he seems to be doing alright so far. Will it last?
---

The Mountain

Jake exhaled the stale, dry air of the tunnel, the scent of the furry creature at his side, the relief of solving his second riddle, then inhaled the fresh, crisp air of a mountain breeze. He blinked rapidly, realizing suddenly that he could see again, though he had no memory of the first blinding sight of daylight after an extended period in darkness. Rubbing his eyes, he shook his head to clear it and looked around, searching for the first clues of this new riddle. The first two had been relatively easy, though in no way what he'd been expecting. It fed the hope in his chest that perhaps he would be able to rescue Carol after all.

Carol. He felt a stab of concern and patted his pockets automatically for his phone, as though he might be able to check on her. If the phone had come with him on this wild adventure, he'd lost it at some point. And besides, being able to just pick up the phone and call her would have been too easy. Nothing in this new standard would allow such a simple solution to the problem of wanting to know how she was doing.

He remembered a time when they were camping together. Back in high school, or thereabouts. They'd been separated and Jake heard someone scream. Of course, he'd assumed it was Carol and run off to find her, shouting his fool head off. When he found the girl who'd screamed, he learned that it wasn't Carol, and that Carol herself had come running, assuming that he was the one who'd screamed. There had been no end of teasing after that. But at least it had made her laugh. She had a nice laugh.

With a sigh, Jake ran a hand through his hair and squinted around at the landscape again. He stood barefoot on a rocky outcropping, looking out over a steep valley filled with tall old pine trees, as different from the savanna as possible. Slowly, he turned on the spot, examining the bare slope around him and realizing that he stood above the treeline, way above where he would ordinarily have been comfortable. This was the part of the mountain that was covered in snow during the winter. It would be chilly, even in the summer (which it was now, or should have been). Of course, he'd stood barefoot on the African savanna without burning to a crisp, so it wasn't at all surprising that he was standing barefoot on the mountainside without freezing or getting blown off a cliff.

As he rotated slowly on the spot for a second time, he saw something that hadn't been there the first time around. A child sat on a boulder nearby, peering warily down at him. What struck him first was how the child was dressed. A girl of about six or seven years old, skinny and dirty, but dressed in what had obviously been very nice clothing at some point. It was ragged and dirty now, but it didn't quite mask the quality of the fabric.

"Hello." Jake lifted a hand cautiously in greeting, and the child tensed, prepared to bolt at any moment. He lowered his hand again, biting his lip in concern. A child this young shouldn't be out on a mountainside all alone. "What are you doing up here, kid?" He spoke quietly, slowly, trying to show her that he wasn't dangerous. The girl continued to watch him suspiciously, legs drawn up to her chest and arms braced against the stone, ready to slide down the opposite side of the boulder and disappear.

"Same as anyone," she answered at last, her tone stiff with what sounded like rebellion and maybe fear as well. "Tryin' ta keep safe."

"Guess I can't blame you for that. Dangerous up here alone, though, isn't it?" He considered approaching the boulder, but that would probably prompt her to bolt, so instead he sat down on the outcropping he'd been standing on, dangling one leg over the edge and carefully not looking down. Heights made him light-headed. Carol would have laughed at him, if she could see.

"More dangerous down there, where they monsters live." The girl pointed down into the valley, but seemed to relax once he was seated. "Besides. I ain't really alone. Got some of the others 'round ta help get food n' stuff."

Jake felt his stomach clench, imagining a bunch of kids out here without anyone to look after them, scrounging food from the valley when they thought "the monsters" were asleep. He didn't like it. He was about to say so when another voice interrupted them.

"Traveler." There was that dual tonality again that told him this was part of the riddle thing. With trepidation, he turned to look down the steep, rocky slope toward the trees. There was a person down there in a long coat and floppy hat. He could see wispy white hair, but the face was concealed in shadow. "It's a blessing to find you here. Please come. My people need your help." Jake looked down at him but didn't immediately answer. Slowly, he glanced up at the girl on the boulder. She was slipping quietly away, and the look on her face was one of terror. The 'please don't see me, I'm not here' kind of look that folk get when there's a gunman in the bank and they were only there to deposit their paycheck. Not that he'd been in that situation before, but he had a vivid imagination. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and the girl shook her head violently just before disappearing over the back of the boulder.

"Please, traveler, you can save many lives."

But if he left the ragged child here to fend for herself... would he ever forgive himself? ​

"Could I check back with you later?" Jake looked down at the stranger in the coat, trying to do a quick calculation in his head. How much time did he have left? Could he help the child, then go save the people for the riddle?

"Sir, we haven't time. We need your assistance now." The stranger paused slightly, and it was just long enough to make Jake wonder if he was going to say more. "The riddle waits for you, traveler." Something about that struck a sour note in Jake's mind. After all, he wasn't just doing this for himself. This was for Carol. And Carol would take a frying pan to his face if she ever thought he had left a child to die on the mountain so he could solve a riddle - even if it was the riddle that would bring her back from the Labyrinth.

"I'm sorry. I have something else that I need to do. But if you're around later, I'll come find you." Jake stood up, sketched a sort of salute when he realized waving goodbye would be a fine cherry on top of that No Thanks Cake he'd just served, and turned to walk toward the boulder. So maybe Carol would never know... but he'd done the right thing. Right? The man touched the boulder and glanced back down the slope. The stranger in the coat was gone. When he looked around the boulder toward where the child had disappeared, the child was gone, too.

Great. Did I just throw my whole riddle quest on its ear for no reason? Jake started to get worried then, circling the boulder to make sure he hadn't missed anything. When he came up empty, the man muttered an oath that would have made his mother wince. ​

"Is 'e gone?"

Jake almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the child's voice almost directly behind him. Spinning on the spot, he clutched at his chest feeling his heart pound as the girl peered at him out of the bushes with large, dark eyes.

"Yeah. He's gone. I was starting to think you'd run off." Jake gave her a rueful smile, still trying to calm himself a little.

The girl shook her head, emerging slowly from the bushes and standing in front of him, looking up into his face curiously. "You didn't go with 'im. Why?"

"Because... it's not right to leave kids alone in the middle of nowhere. I'm gonna help you and your friends find somewhere safe, if I can." Jake crouched, so his eyes were on her level, and gave her another, more relaxed smile. "Kids are as important as anyone else. Those folk down there, they've got each other to rely on. You and your friends - I think I can do more good up here than down there."

She didn't reply to that. Rather, she stared at him as though trying to decide whether or not he was crazy. Slowly, she shook her head. "You don't make sense, sir," she informed him, but smiled very slightly. "Thank you."

Thank you for not making sense? Maybe. It didn't really matter. He extended a hand to her and, when she took it, gave her fingers a squeeze. "Let's go see what we can do to help your friends, huh?" She nodded, her smile broadening, and turned to lead him away.

Then the figure in the coat from earlier was standing in their path, and the girl was gone. Jake felt the rush of disorientation that came with those moments where reality suddenly changed without warning. He glanced around, reaching for the girl and finding nothing. "What did you do with her? Where is she?"

"She was but a part of the riddle," said the figure dismissively. "Worry not."

"I'm worrying," snapped Jake. "I made my choice, assuming I would actually be able to do some good. What right do you have to take that away from me?"

There was a ​beat of silence, then the figure in the coat laughed quietly. It was an unpleasant laugh, chilling and dry. "She does not exist. None of this exists. Your choice is but a part of the game, and nothing you do here has any purpose outside of the Riddle." When his little speech was finished, the figure laughed again. Jake kept a lid on his anger, but felt his nails biting into his palms as his hands curled into fists.

"Is that all this is to you? A game? You have no right to play with people like this!"

"On the contrary, that is what I'm here for. To play the game. The game keeps the balance, the balance allows fools like you to make their choices and feel important in their own pathetic lives. But that such is life." The figure's coat rose and fell in an expressive shrug. "This was the third riddle, and your answer was correct. You may pass to the next riddle."

Jake felt the words like a 2x4 to the head. He put a hand to his eyes, ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. "My answer was correct? But how does that even-"

Before he had finished his protest, reality had changed again. Rude.

The Sphinx (Part 3)

The saga continues! I hope you're enjoying reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ;) Any input is absolutely appreciated.

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The Burrow

When Jake opened his eyes, there was no sunlight. Perhaps more startling, there was no pain. He remembered falling, but nothing beyond that. Maybe he'd landed on something soft - or maybe he hadn't landed at all. When reality became stranger than dreams, there was no telling what laws of physics might be broken hither and yon just to make things work.

Still, he wasn't going to complain about the part where things didn't hurt.

Slowly, the man took stock of where he was. He was seated (not standing, so that was an interesting change) in the dark, on a dry, cool, sandy floor. It was firm beneath him and didn't seem to be the sort of floor that would randomly give way under his weight. Then again, there was always the chance that this place was not what it seemed. That chance had much better odds than he was comfortable betting against. Cautiously, he felt around with his hands and bare feet. The floor was the same for some distance in front, but to the sides and behind him he could feel the ground curve upward and into an uneven wall. When he touched the wall, sand showered down on his hands, making him wonder if he was in some sort of huge rabbit warren or something similar.

After some hesitation, he pushed himself to his knees, and then up to his feet, bumping his head against the ceiling and showering himself with dry earth. Not wanting to cause a cave-in, Jake hastily crouched again. This was not the sort of place where a human was meant to be. This was an animal place. He would need to think like an animal to get anywhere with this.

There was no light, so he couldn't see, but he could hear and smell and feel. Through the earth around him, he felt tiny vibrations, like something heavy moving through an adjacent tunnel. In the air, he smelled something damp, but not unpleasant. Water, probably, though he couldn't be really sure. And somewhere, in the hollow spaces in the earth, he heard a whump whump whump sound, like a huge fan, though he couldn't feel any airflow.

Hesitantly, he crawled forward, feeling ahead cautiously with his hands as he went. It was a good thing he did, too, because the tunnel didn't go in a straight line. It curved to the right, then to the left, then dipped down and slanted upward. Passages opened up to the left and right, but they were clearly joining this one, like this was a main thoroughfare. Which made him wonder why it ended in a dead end, where he'd come in.

The whump whump whump was getting louder and closer as he went, though he hadn't yet encountered anything that might be a living creature. It was unnerving, and the longer he went without finding anything but dry, sandy darkness, the more unsettled he got. Suddenly, something changed. Jake tilted his head, still feeling his way forward and sensing more than feeling or seeing the open space just ahead. Maybe it was the sound that gave it away. Whump whump. It stopped, and so did he. It felt like he was being looked at.

Steeling his nerves against the unknown danger ahead, Jake pushed forward.

Carol was depending on him.

Or else this was a hallucination and he would wake up in a psych ward. But at least that way, Carol was already safe.

"You have come far."​ The voice was like the sphinx, but unlike. It had the same dual tonality, but was lighter in timbre. Curious, considering they were underground. "Are you ready for the second riddle?"

Jake moved forward, feeling with his hands and confirming that the area just ahead opened out to either side, so he couldn't touch the walls. Reaching up, he found he couldn't touch the ceiling either. He pulled himself forward, sat up cross-legged, and settled himself. "I'm ready." Asking questions just now seemed like a terrible idea. Then again, this might be his only chance? Before he could think about that more deeply, the not-sphinx spoke again.

"What am I?"

​That... was an unfair question. And not a riddle. But the first one hadn't been a riddle in the traditional sense either, and he still wasn't sure how falling into a hole qualified as solving it. Jake frowned into the darkness, feeling rather blindsided, no pun intended.

"I suppose you're not going to give me any hints?"

"You have all the information you need."

"Am I allowed to leave this room and return when I have the answer?"

"Yes."

"How much time do I have to give you the answer?"

"Ten minutes."

"Generous of you." Jake's tone was very dry, and the creature in the darkness laughed softly.

"I try to be fair," it admitted, and Jake thought he could hear a smile in the creature's tone. "I don't get to play this game very often. It's uncommon for a human to solve the first riddle."

"Maybe after I solve this one, you could answer some questions?" Jake was already getting back to his knees, preparing to crawl away and explore one or two of the side passages to learn what he could about the animal that dug them.

"I doubt it. You're on a deadline, Human."​

Good point. With a nod he wasn't entirely sure the creature could see, Jake turned to leave the cavern. He felt his way forward with his hands, moving more confidently now. As he departed, he felt the whump whump start up again, both in his ears and through his bones. Less a vibration than a rapid change in air pressure. Not enough to make his ears pop, but enough to make him slightly disoriented, which definitely made the anxious feeling in his gut more pronounced. Interesting.

When he found a passage branching off from the main run, Jake realized it was narrower, and slanted upward. He followed it, scrabbling a little at the dry earth on the way up and trying not to slide backwards. He'd actually managed to work up a decent sweat by the time he reached the top of the incline, where he saw a landscape very much like the one he'd been trapped in before, with the gazelle. There was tall grass in all directions, though the sky overhead was velvety black with pricks of silvery light scattered thickly above. He'd never seen so many stars before. If he hadn't known he only had ten minutes to solve this puzzle, then he might have been tempted to just sit down and watch the sky for an hour or two.

Quickly, Jake surveyed the land closer at hand, and noticed something startling that he hadn't before. First, he was standing on top of a fair-sized hill, which put him above the heads of the swaying grasses. Second, the grass was easily twice or maybe even three times his own height. Conclusion - he was tiny. Probably no bigger than a large mouse. Shaking his head, he turned and slid down into the hole again, allowing himself to skid down the slope into the warren below. Reorienting himself by the noise coming from the big cavern, he moved away from it, looking for another side passage. The way he figured, he probably had time to poke around in one more passage before he needed to get back to the big cavern and provide his answer.

The next passage branched off in the opposite direction, and wound gradually downward. When he had descended about a single tunnel height, the passage straightened out, and he found a pile of soft stuff, like feathers or fur. A nest of some sort. Cautiously, he explored the nest, and found a furry creature larger than himself, sleeping in the midst of it. It woke when he touched it, and snuffled at him, but didn't immediately attack. Jake guessed that it wouldn't hurt him while he was in the middle of the Riddle, and tried to calm his pounding heart. This could turn out very badly. On the other hand, sitting there and doing nothing wasn't going to make this puzzle any easier to solve.

Trying not to smell like fear, Jake made soothing noises to the big furry creature and ran his hands over it gently. He felt short, smooth fur, short, sturdy front legs, powerful haunches, and a long tail with longer, shaggier hair on it than the rest of the body. At that point, the creature decided it had had enough of this touching nonsense, and nearly bowled Jake over as it rushed past him, up the winding passage to the main run. The man lay still on his back, winded, but glad he wasn't bleeding. After a taking a minute to recover, he rolled back to his hands and knees and started up the slope. By the time he reached the big cavern, he was tired, but thought he had an answer. The whump whump whump noise stopped again as he crossed the threshold.

"Do you know what I am?"

"I think so." Jake sat down and crossed his legs again, taking a deep breath and calming himself somewhat. "You live in a hot, dry, sandy place. There's water somewhere inside your warren. There are nests inside, for sleeping. And you signal your family with noise and air pressure. You dug these tunnels, I would guess, but your tail is long, not sure. So I would guess that you're a ground squirrel, or something in that family."

There was a slight pause before he replied. "I can accept this answer. It's technically correct."

"I could have answered 'infuriating,' and that would have been true, too. But there you go." Jake was rewarded with a quiet laugh and the sound of claws on the dry, sandy floor. In a moment, there was fur against his arm as she creature took a seat beside him.

"You are brave and clever, but the next riddle will not be kind to you."

"How many riddles are there in all?"

"Four."

"And I've passed two?"

"Correct."

"What happens if I fail?"

There was the slightest of hesitations before the answer came. "You will be lost to the Labyrinth and its occupants." Jake didn't like the sound of that, but what more could he expect? It was a magic riddle competition, and he was playing with the high rollers now.

"Are you ready?" The creature spoke quietly, and not unkindly.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Then go. And remember that not everything is as it seems."