Chapter
Nine-A Very Dangerous Game
“Oh, obviously.” Muttered Stephanie. “I mean, we’ve done
this so many times before, why stop now?”
“It’s
okay.” I smiled to perk everyone up. “Those riddles are like mosquito bites: annoying,
but ya love to scratch them!”
Immediately I regretted my ‘pep talk’.
The group stared at me, their looks ranging from wide-eyed surprise to
narrowed, angry eyes. “Anyway,” I continued uneasily, “let’s get this over
with.”
I glanced at each box. Nothing
special. They were exactly how the riddle described them: big enough to hold
whatever object you’d want to send to someone, with a large locking ring. “Any
hints?”
“No,” answered the voiceover
monotonously. “Just pick a box.”
“Boy, that’s fair.” Northstar rolled
her eyes. The rest of us groaned. “Well, at least I didn’t say ‘It’s not
fair’!” And the groaning commenced.
“Okay, this should be a snap.” Daisy
faced the group. “Just look for one with a flaw; something that stands out. And
that’s our box!”
So we each took a box, picked it up
and examined it. Trouble was, they were all different.
Labyrinthian sighed. “Mine has a blue
spot on the bottom.”
“This one’s got a funny smell.” Sesana
backed away from hers.
“There’s a pouch in mine,” giggled
Anakerie. A few other snickers were heard. Those who hadn’t read “The
Package”-and there weren’t many of them-only stared, confused.
“So much for that idea.” Daisy sighed.
“It was a good one,” I assured her.
“But you know His Majesty is making it hard for us.” She nodded.
“I say just bloody pick one!” Raven
threw her hands up in the air.
“Last time we picked the wrong thing,
we ended up in an Oubliette.” Protested Starlight.
“You got out, didn’t you?” Raven said
matter-of-factly. “So let’s just try our luck. Crystal Boy can’t hold us here
forever.”
With a shrug, I was with Raven. There
were too many ways to torture Jareth should he try to keep up against our will.
“Alright then, which box?” Wolfie
inquired. If only it were that simple! Despite Raven’s words, I knew some of us
were worried about the consequences of a wrong answer.
“That one.” Guinevere pointed to a box
covered in glowing stripes. Our King was nothing if not creative. The Listians nodded their agreement and
Guinevere opened the box.
She reached in and retrieved a small
piece of paper, then read it aloud: “Congratulations, Listians. You’ve
earned your way to the next country.”
The boxes vanished. A path lit up, and
the Listians and I followed it, not wasting any time.
* * * * *
“Singapore.”
I spread my arms, indicating the country we were gazing at.
“Who lives here?” Queried Anya.
“Collin.” I replied as I consulted my
crystal.
With twenty-one of us, we must have
been quite the sight. But our focus wasn’t on how we looked to the semi-crowded
city we were approaching. It was finding Listian twenty-two.
* * * * *
“Here’s
her house.”
Before the Listians had a chance to
force me to the front of the group, I went ahead and knocked on my own.
A few minutes went by. Worried faces
returned. These waiting scares weren’t helping.
Someone advanced to the door and
looked us over, then with a yawn, opened it.
“Yeah?”
“Are you Collin?”
Another yawn. “Uh-huh.”
She was short, with black hair and
(when they weren’t closed) black eyes. She had on a somewhat wrinkled shirt and
jeans.
“We’re the Labyrinth List.”
“Oh, hey!” She rubbed at her eyes,
then shook her head quickly. “Sorry, I was sleeping.”
“Really, dear? We hadn’t noticed.”
Raven spoke up. Stephanie elbowed her in the side.”
“Sorry we woke you, Collin,” I began
sympathetically, “but we need you to come with us. We have a sort of
‘mission’.”
“Sure!” Collin grabbed a light jacket
and shut the door behind her.
“I have to warn you-” I started. But I
was cut off by a loud sound whizzing above us.
Looking up, I saw a skywriting plane.
Slowly, it formed white, fluffy words:
One day,
centuries ago, an alchemist brought a small bottle to the king.
“This
bottle”, said he, “holds a liquid so powerful that it will instantly dissolve
anything it touches.”
How did
the king know the man was lying?
“Aw,
how sweet,” said Rhonda sarcastically. “He included a king in that riddle.”
“The alchemist was crossing his
fingers.” Joked Beth.
“This one is simple,” Collin remarked.
“Do I just answer?”
“Yeah, if you think you know it.” I
nodded.
Collin wet her lips and replied, “If
the liquid dissolved anything, it would also dissolve the bottle.”
Within a few quick movements, the
words overhead disappeared, as did the plane, and everything around us faded
away.
“Brava, Miss Collin.” A figure in
black materialized before us.
“Speaking of kings…” Rhonda muttered.
Jareth strode forward and grasped
Collin’s hand, planting a kiss upon it. Collin roughly seized it back.
“Clever girl. And a wonderful List
member, as I’m sure all of you would agree.”
“Quit mocking us, Jareth!” I ordered.
“We know you’re annoyed by the quantity of Listians.”
“Oh, my, such big words.”
“Okay, okay, we know you two are madly
in love with each other, but you can stop bickering now.” Raven said as she
stepped between us.
“How’s Cheralyn?” Lori asked. A chorus
of voices repeated the question simultaneously.
“Cheralyn is well.” The King answered
simply. “However, I’ll need to keep her for further recuperation.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
Anakerie spoke up angrily. “Did you come to gloat? Because you can do that
anytime, can’t you?”
“Calm yourself, Anakerie.” Jareth
raised his hands. “Your esteemed Listian is resting comfortably. No harm will
come to her.”
“The question remains.” Labyrinthian
glared at His Tightness through her glasses. “Why are you here?”
“Have we forgotten already?” Jareth
cocked his head the side. “The second half of your riddle?”
“Which would be?” Jess asked
impatiently.
Jareth reached into the folds of his
cap and pulled out two vials. One with red liquid, the other with blue, both
with corks inside. He held them slightly apart.
“As in the riddle, one of these vials holds a liquid that dissolves anything. Although, magic keeps said liquid from eating away at said vials. In order to proceed to Australia-your last country-one of you must drink from one vial. If you choose the correct one, you’ll be on your way to the end of the road. If not, well…I’m sure you can guess…”
“You’re asking us to risk the life of one
of our own!” Tawyna was horrified.
“There’s no way!” Anony said firmly.
“We won’t do it!” Northstar agreed.
“Well then,” Jareth smiled, “forget
Australia.”
Oh, the urge to shout “That’s not
fair!” was agonizing. “You can thank your favorite Listian, of course.” The
King added, smiling.
I felt my face grow hot and my fists
clench.
“I know I’m to blame for all of this,
but you don’t have to keep rubbing it in!”
Without a second thought, I snatched
the vial with the blue liquid and pulled out the cork. I took a quick, deep
breath and drank the contents.
The Listians stared at me, wide-eyed
with surprise and worry. Jareth’s expression was somewhat similar, until he
smiled once again. This time, it wasn’t an annoying smile, but rather one of
admiration. A breathless moment went by.
“It, um, tasted like watered down
cough syrup.” I shuddered. I honestly couldn’t stand the stuff.
“It was.” Jareth replied. “Actually,
they both were.”
Closed eyes and relieved sighs spread
among the group. I rejoined them, putting on a somewhat happy face.
Stephanie came up to me, pulled her
arm back, and socked me on the arm. I was more shocked than hurt, but I rubbed
the spot anyway, and look at my friend, confused.
“Don’t you ever scare me like that
again!” She commanded. Then she gave me a strong hug.
“I’m sorry.” I returned the gesture.
“Honestly, you didn’t think she was in
any real danger, did you?” Jareth inquired.
“Of course we did, you maniac!”
Starlight put a hand on my shoulder. “You’re known for your dangerous stunts.
Look what happened to Cheralyn!”
“A dreadful mistake on my part, I
assure you.”
“Yeah, well, no more!” Wolfie affirmed
forcefully. “This ends now.”
“You’re stronger than this, naturally.
You’ve proved yourselves to be as such by making it this far. Do you really
want to quit when you only have one country left?”
Some inspirational speech. Obviously
we hadn’t wanted to play this game in the first place.
“We’re ready for the rest of this
adventure.” Raven declared. “After all, girls, it’s not like he’s purposely
trying to kill us, is it?”
“That’s the spirit.” Jareth nodded.
“Quiet you.” Raven glared at him.
“We do only have one country left.”
Guinevere pointed out.
“To come all this way and then stop
would be a waste.” Fire Dstany established.
“I’m in,” Sesana sighed.
“Me too, I guess.” Anya shrugged.
“Yeah.” Jess agreed. “Ditto for me.”
“Might as well finish what we
started.” Lori joined the large group that wished to continue the journey.
“And you, dear girl?” Jareth turned
his gaze on me. His eyes burned into mine. I could see them urging me on.
“Yes. I’m in as well.” I said almost
defiantly.
“Very good. Then by all means,
proceed.” He disappeared as quickly as he’d come.
“Why do I feel like an idiot who got
suckered into some sort of scam?” I murmured.
“Well, he generally seemed to want us
to go on.” Michaellah said.
“He also generally had us convinced
that those vials held dissolving liquid,” argued Alex.
“Let’s go.” Coaxed Moonbaby. “We only
have Australia now.”
I held my crystal and closed my eyes
and, cringing past the memory of what might have happened with those vials, I
thought Australia.