Chapter Five—O, Canada!

 

“Are they real?” Gasped Northstar, shaking. Lori and Cheralyn stepped cautiously forward. Two snakes watched them for only a second before lurching forward and snapping. The girls jumped back quicker than lightning.

“YES!” they answered in unison.

“That jerk!” I growled, controlling my anger just enough to keep an eye on the poisonous reptiles. “He never said there were two parts to the riddle!”

“We never asked.” Mollie replied bitterly.

The snakes drew closer to our tightly packed group. Frantically, I searched around, hoping against hope that there was something to save us.

A small breeze blew into the forest then. I gazed at the tree branches; they were swinging gently with it.

All except one—a low branch within reach.

“There!” I cried. The Listians looked to where I pointed. Immediately, we proceeded.

It wasn’t simple, but slowly…carefully…we climbed the tree, onto the branch, and jumped over the snakes. We’d passed the second half of the test, and the snakes vanished.

We were in Canada.

Before we could fully breath a sigh of relief, the King’s voice sounded above us.

“Well done, ladies. You made it, and not a moment too soon.”

“That was going too far, Jareth!” said Stephanie, shaking her head.

“Someone could have gotten hurt!” Added Cheralyn.

“Fortunately, no one was.”

“You son of a—” Anakerie began. Rave put a hand on her shoulder before she could finish.

“Careful, Ana.” She warned. “He’s capable of worse.”

“That I am, my lady. But as you’ve completed the first test, I will not persist with further challenges…for a time.”

“Just tell us where to find the next Listian, Jareth!” I ordered.

“Dear girl, I’m not the only one who possesses a crystal.”

Again, he was gone.

“What is he talking about?” wondered Anony. “None of us have a crystal!”

Anger sprang anew. The List members’ patience was all but gone. I played with my castle necklace, waiting out the storm.

Guinevere came over, observing my necklace.

“Where’d you get it?” she inquired.

“I’d like to say it was ‘made for me’, but it’s only a key chain I bought on a choir trip to the mall.”

Her eyes must have met the red cord that held the key chain, then the castle itself; the flags and turrets. The stairs surrounding a plastic, marble-like sphere. Nothing special, but to me, it was magical.

And then Guinevere tilted her head to the side and mumbled, “I wonder…”

She held the castle in her hand and looked it over, then fingered the clear marble. “Can you see anything in this?”

“Guin, it’s plastic.”

“I know, but His Tightness said one of us had a crystal, and this is the closest thing I can think of. So humor me.”

I nodded, and she handed the castle back to me. Putting all my focus on the marble, I waited.

No more than a few seconds went by before colors swam through it. My face lit up; I announced, “We have a crystal!”

“Huh?” Chorused the rest of the group.

I held up my necklace, indicating the marble, and continued.

“I should be able to find our next Listian with this!”

All the previously angry voices dispersed. I sighed happily. The bounty on my head was postponed.

Again, I observed my crystal. A name was slowly forming.

Rhonda.

“We’re going to find Rhonda, guys!” I told them.

Canada was a big country; it’d take forever to find our fellow Listian. But now we had a little magic with us. And morale was high. We could do this.

Holding tight to my crystal, I closed my eyes and said, “Take us to Rhonda.”

At first, nothing happened. At least, it didn’t feel like anything was happening. However, when I opened my eyes, I was in awe at how the land went rushing past us, like a movie in fast-forward.

And then we were there.

 

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

 

“It’s so cold!” shivered Stephanie. The other ‘warm-climate’ members agreed, rubbing their arms. (Lori stood proudly, now glad she was wearing what she was.) I shrugged indifferently.

“You’re not cold?” Queried FireDstany, sneezing.

“I live in Wisconsin.” Was my casual reply.

“Ahhh.” The Listians nodded.

“Are we close?” Daisy wanted to know.

“Yeah.” I answered pointing to a house across the way. “I think that’s where she lives.”

We crossed the street and went up to the house. I knocked on the door and tried to look as nonchalant as possible. People passing by on the street stared at us, and all we could do was smile nervously.

Not a moment too soon, the door opened and a person stood in its place. She was tall, with red-brown hair, and dressed in magenta from head to toe. A beautiful necklace—a pewter dragon’s claw holding a crystal—hung around her neck.

“Rhonda?” I asked hopefully.

“Uh-huh.”

“Labyrinth Listians.” I spread my arms to indicate the crowd that was trying, unsuccessfully, to get warm. “Um, I don’t suppose you’ve checked your e-mail recently?”

“No, I’ve been Labyrinth.”

Many loud groans made their way up from behind me.

“Rhonda, we need to talk.”

 

*                      *                      *                      *                      *

 

The explanation went as well as I expected—yet another member added to the Mob that was to deal with me later.

“Well done, Libby.” Remarked Jareth, appearing in front of us again.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Oh, immensely. Now, are you ready for your next riddle?”

“Do your worst!” Rhonda jeered. It was painfully obvious how quickly her zeal would burn out.

“Very well; here you are:

 

You’re walking along when you come to a fork in the road.

You know that down one of the paths is a tribe of cannibals

who will eat you up, but down the other path is a nice tribe who

will grant you safe passage. There is a tribesman at the fork,

though you don’t know to which tribe he belongs. You know

that the cannibals always lie, and the nice tribe always tells

the truth. You need to find out which path leads to the nice

tribe, and you can only ask one question. What will it be?”

 

“It’s like the Alph and Ralph riddle!” Jess exclaimed.

“That always confuses me!” Moaned Helen.

“Come on, guys. We’ve solved one already. We can solve this one, too!”

We all turned to Stephanie. She shrugged, the corners of her mouth turning upward. “I’m determined to teach His Tightness that you don’t mess with Listians!”

I smiled as well. With The Biting Faery in a better mood, I hoped that the rest of them would soon follow suit.

“‘One question’.” Repeated Cybil, thinking hard. “Only one.”

“Wouldn’t the cannibals eventually eat each other?” Michaellah smirked.

“And then the tribe members that were left could go over to the nice tribe’s and ‘have them for dinner’.” Rhonda added.

The two of them giggled, until they noticed they were being given odd glances and narrowed eyes. Then they cleared their throats.

“The cannibals always lie.” Lady Sarai pondered aloud. “So you’d have to ask a question that wouldn’t matter what the answer was.”

“’Which way to the nice tribe’?” Guessed Labyrinthian.

“No.” Rave shook her head. “If he was a cannibal, he’d lie and point you to his tribe.”

“That goes for the opposite, too.” Tawnya pointed out. “The nice tribesman wouldn’t lie, but he’d point you in the same direction.”

“I’ve got it!” exclaimed Beth. “You ask, ‘Which way to your tribe?’ If he’s a cannibal, he’ll lie, and point you to the nice tribe. If he’s a nice tribesman, he’ll point you the same way!”

“Quite right, Beth.” Praised the King.

“Thank you.” Beth grinned.

“Nevertheless, you have a second half to this riddle as well.”

 

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