The Sphinx loomed over the two children, standing tall against Harry like a protective mother bear with her cubs. Sharp eyes fixed on the two of them as they stared up in fear and wonder. Penelope felt herself shaking in her boots as the directness of it’s gaze bore into her.
This was completely unnatural. Not of this world. Impossible. There was no thinkable way that a creature from ancient Greek myth was standing in front of her. In an underground part of her garden she had no idea existed before. Even for her child mind this was stupid. How could this thing even be here? How were they? So many unanswerable questions filled her head. It took everything in her will power not to crumble in fear.
It’s powerful eyes darted towards Alice. She had remained strong in the face of this strange beast. Whatever feelings she may have had about how strange this was, they didn’t matter to her now. All that mattered was getting her friend back from this beast.
“You continue to stand there, even after I have explicitly told you to leave,” The Sphinx said. It wasn’t annoyed at the children. Quite the opposite. Through it’s monotone and even voice, Alice thought she heard an impressed quality to it. “Why?”
“Because you have our friend,” Alice said, puffing up her chest like she’d seen her mother do. “You have our friend and we want him back.”
“I see,” the Sphinx said. It lowered it’s head to the ground, meeting eye-level with the terrified Harry beside it. It slowly turned back to them, its face passive but with a clear smile. “However you must see, he is not going anywhere soon. This world around him is just too dangerous for a little boy. He must be protected.”
“Protected from what?” Penelope squeaked up. “He has us.”
“And you lost him in this underworld,” it said. “I saw how he fell. Down and down he went, falling further into this dangerous and fearful space. How could you leave a small child such as this on there own?”
“We came after him—”
“You came after him?” It responded, standing up straight like a deer in headlights. “Well, then I suppose that’s alright then.”
It’s cat legs began walking towards them, deliberately slow to show off it’s strength and agility. The human face stared them down, measuring how quickly they could escape should it need to run after them. Alice knew that this thing could easily catch them. What it would do next was a mystery, but filled her with anxiety.
Penelope stood behind her, shaking violently as the creature approached. She gripped her friends shirt tight, refusing to let go for anything. What else could she do? This beast from myth stood above them, between them and their lost friend, ready to pounce if it meant making them flee for their lives.
Yet it hung back. The sphinx remained just enough away from them as to not be fully in control. It’s dark eyes measured each of them, darting back and forth between who was who and what they were going to attempt. Despite the human face and wings on the back, all Penelope could see was a cat stalking a mouse.
She let out a squeak.
“You are not the brave one,” the Sphinx said, turning from Penelope to Alice. “However, you are. Tell me: were you the one to figure out how to navigate this underground maze?”
Alice looked up, confused by the politeness. Didn’t it just tell them to run away? Was it playing games with them? Was it genuinely curious? How much longer did it have to sit around and let them live?
“To accept the fear around us?” Alice spoke up. “Yes, that was me.”
“I see,” it muttered. “You are a smart one, then. And courageous. Not many people your age would have been able to figure it out. Not many grown adults could, either. Congratulations are in order for your wonderful accomplishments.”
The sphinx lowered its head as if bowing. It pulled its front legs in and shifted itself down, bringing it’s face to the ground for a few seconds. Alice thanked it cautiously, wondering if this was some trick it was pulling once more.
She didn’t know much about the sphinx of legend. All she knew was what it looked like and it’s attitude towards the adventurers who came across it. She heard that it guarded the road between places. The Gates of Thebes, the afterlife, some connection between the living human world and the animals. Perhaps that last part is stuff that Harry mentioned about the Egyptian Sphinx. She wasn’t sure anymore.
But she did know one thing about the Sphinx. A way to get it to do what you wanted.
“Will you let my friend go if I beat your riddles?”
This caught the attention of the beast. Its ears flickered back and it’s eyebrows raised. More emotion was shown from the question than had been seen in it this entire time. The Riddles. The damn Riddles always found a way to come up. How could they not? It was the thing it was most famous for. The Riddles of Thebes would be it’s albatross for all time.
It quickly regained its composure. That brief flicker of emotion would have to be brought up for some other time. A huff of air released from it’s nose and it nodded lightly.
“Very well,” it said. “Then I challenge you to two riddles. Answer them correctly, and you are all free to go. Answer either one incorrectly, and I shall banish you from this place forever, leaving your friend with me.”
Penelope gulped. A direct threat from this creature was new. It had played with them before, toying with their fear of the unknown for the entire time they had known it. But up until now, it could have been mere amusement at the small children. A thing to play with after being in here for so long. Now, it was ready to take them down.
“This is the first riddle. Listen closely:”
‘Silent and dark, I creep in your dreams,
In every shadow, the more real I seem.
Though not alive, I can terrify,
In every corner, I quietly lie.
What am I?’
The sphinx gazed at the two children, watching as they thought through what it could possibly mean. The themes of fear, dreams, shadows, all of it combined to send shock waves of fright through them. If it had been trying to scare them, it was succeeding.
Penelope was too scared to think. The sphinx was dominating every part of her mind now. Her legs froze in the ground and refused to move. Her grip tightened on Alice’s shirt, sweat piling up in her little hands. Her mind refused to think about the riddle for a single second. There was only so much she could focus on at one time.
Alice, meanwhile, already knew the answer. Her parent’s loved riddles and had given her loads over the years. This one was something she had already heard from them. She smirked confidently, putting her arms on her hips.
“Nightmares,” she said. “You are a nightmare.”
“Very good,” the Sphinx said, smiling and nodding. “You are halfway there. However, I believe you have had enough talking.”
Alice froze. The Sphinx turned its head towards Penelope. Its gaze bore into her, causing a more violent shiver than ever.
“You must answer the second riddle.”
“That’s not fair!” Alice yelled. “She doesn’t have to answer them! I can do it! Let me!”
“Two riddles for two children. It is the most obvious choice, isn’t it?”
The sphinx let out a devious smile. So this had been it’s plan all along? Alice was strong and clever. She could answer these questions with ease, standing up in the face of this danger. Penelope, on the other hand, was not.
She tensed up and the sphinx got closer to her. The breath from its mouth flowed over to her, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. The eyes. The terrible eyes drilled themselves into her mind until it was the only thing she could see.
“Now, little one, answer this riddle, and your friend goes free:”
‘I’m no beast with eyes that glare,
But in your psyche, I’m always there.
In moments of doubt and gloom,
In your thoughts, I loom.
What am I?’
It killed Alice that she knew the answer. She could just whisper it into her friends ear and they could win. They could run from here with Harry and be done with it all. If only she could just say it.
But it was too risky. The Sphinx watched over them equally. It was now close enough to strike back at them as easily as swatting a fly, no second thoughts given. The powerful claws, each like razor swords sharpened to an edge. Its breath was poison on their skin. Its stare the tiger lurking in the long grass, waiting for the right moment to strike.
Penelope stared the creature back down. Her grip on Alice’s shirt refused to falter, getting so tight her shaking hands became white as chalk. She looked back up to the Sphinx as a mouse does to a cat. Her mind screamed at her to run – to get out while she can. That small childlike wonder of this place completely disappeared.
And in a brief moment, just a third of a second, her eyes flashed down to Harry.
He looked back to her with hope. Without fear or worry. He knew that she would get through this and save all of them.
It was how he always was. Whenever they played pretend he never went as the hero, the one saving the day. He always stayed in the back, pushing his friends forward to defeat the monster or to rescue the lost animal. His support stayed the entire time, never waving nor resigning. He would always be there for them.
And they would be there for him.
Penelope closed her eyes and focused. She tried to think over the riddle. Her breathing became deliberate as she put all of her minds attention to the words.
This was clearly about fear again. The doubt and gloom, the thoughts, the looming. Just like the sphinx, it terrified them. But that wasn’t the answer. With riddles, the answer was never in the words. It was what it all related to. How all the different expressions came together to reveal the hidden meaning behind it all.
The riddle seemed to be about fear of the mind. The thing in the back of the brain that held you back. The anxiety of everyday life that would appear when it was at its worse. Like crossing the river, how it became rapid and violent as her mind created that image for her.
And suddenly she knew it. She looked back to Harry, gave a smile, and then back to the Sphinx.
“Worry. You are worry.”
The Sphinx hesitated. A brief twitch in its eyes sent fear through Penelope. The confidence in her answer waned, and her own worry rose to the surface. Was she wrong? Was it something else? Would they loose Harry because she misheard the creature or misinterpreted the meaning?
It quickly turned to the side and let out a barrage of curses at the gods and the underground and the children. Paws stamped the ground like an angry child having a tantrum.
Because it had lost.
It finally managed to calm down. The slow breathing returned and it nodded in respect of the well-earned victory.
“Correct,” it said. “I will let you all leave. If you wish to escape, merely head into that tree stump there, and you shall return to the surface.”
Penelope and Alice rushed to Harry, opening their arms wide to hug him close. They all smelled terrible, the mixture of mud and wet river water filling their clothes. But right now they didn’t care.
They were together again.
After their brief hug and joy, they turned to where the Sphinx had mentioned. Alice cautiously stepped forward, eyeing the tree stump as if a new beast would jump out of it. Instead, all she saw was a set of stairs leading up. How it worked, she had no idea. She rushed around the side of the tree, finding that the stairs disappeared from sight.
It must have been some kind of illusion. One to mask the way out of here. Or maybe it was…
Alice turned to the Sphinx.
“Did you make this?” she asked.
It gave a brief nod. “As soon as you answered the riddle, the way appeared for you. They are all over the forest here. Ways out for those lost, once they conquer their fears. Your friend was her worry, the small boy was fear of abandonment. You, on the other hand, was fear of leaving your friends behind. You conquered that when you let go of your rope, choosing to care for them over yourself. I wonder if you even noticed that you did so.”
Alice looked into her hands and back to Penelope. It was right! They had completely forgotten about the rope when they chose to go into the depths of the forest together. The fear of being lost was overshadowed by the need to find Harry.
It looked around for a moment, before letting out a sigh.
“I would recommend not coming back here. In fact, I urge it. This is not a space any human should journey to, let alone a child your age. You have conquered your fears, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still something you will worry about. You will have days they reappear. Days where the worry and anxiety creeps its way back into your mind, testing your courage. Today was just the day you showed yourself that you could push past it. Now go. Go up the stairs and to the surface.”
Penelope and Harry needed no further encouragement. They darted up from the ground and up the tree. In the time it took for Alice to notice them running, they were gone. But she remained, staring back up to the Sphinx.
“What was this place?” she asked. “What was it, really? Surely it’s not our imagination playing tricks on us, right?”
“Your imagination, a real place, does it really matter? You’re experiences were true, and that is the most important thing.”
Alice looked to the beast, trying to understand what exactly it meant. This whole time, everything was in her mind? Or was it real? Was it a mix of the two? Or, like it said, did it even matter? If they conquered their fears in their mind, perhaps they would be able to do so in the ‘real world’. It was just a matter of practice, she guessed.
She sighed and slowly made her way towards the staircase. It rose up high, now she looked. Up into the ceiling above them and further still. Would they appear in the forest? Back where they started? She couldn’t be sure.
She gave one last look back to the Sphinx. It gave her a polite nod, subtly urging her to continue along.
Alice smiled, and nodded back to the beast. She took hold of the stairs railings and walked up. The ground gradually disappeared from view, all the creatures and trees becoming ants and grass. The Sphinx remained staring up at her like a kind parent watching them go on their first day of school. It was calming. A fitting end to the long day.
Once she reached the top, she realised they were at the edge of the forest. Penelope and Harry were back to playing again as Elena Smith, Penelopes mum, called them in for a meal. They rushed up, excitedly telling them about their adventures. The mother gave a polite smile back to them, nodding along just as if it were any other story they had.
“That sounds wonderful, dears. Now clean yourself up before lunch. Your dad has made an incredible meal.”
No time must have past, from what Alice could tell. The other two headed inside, quickly washing their hands and feet. As Elena saw Alice approach she let out a smile.
“You three sound like you had fun today.”
Alice looked back to the forest, letting its aura wash over her one more time. Before, it had seemed so dark, even in the bright light. The trees hid their threats, the bushes even more animals. Shadows covered its shape to the point there didn’t even seem to be an ending.
Now, it was just a forest. An incredible, awe inspiring forest.
“Yes,” she said, smiling. “I think we had a great time together.”
She headed inside, following Elena Smith’s guiding hand.
From within the bushes of the forest, hidden in what shadows remained, a pair of eyes slowly watched her enter. Pride flowed through it’s iris. Pride in how brave and courageous all those three children were. Pride at being able to make it through unscathed.
It quietly jumped back through the bushes and into the forest, hiding, waiting to be found once more.
Read Part Three Here
Thank you to Aniruddha Banerjee for the riddles resources. They can be found here.
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