Page 81 of The Summer Show

If we weren’t under the watchful eye of amateur and professional paparazzi …

Maybe then I would be bold and daring and risk the heart that wasn’t just mine anymore.

But here we were. A man and a woman and two rubber mallets, with no clue about what was around the next corner. We were about to find out, though.

A T-intersection. Two possibilities. One might lead to certain death.

No coin to flip. No oracle. Eenie meanie miney mo was out of the question. As a kid, you figured out pretty quickly which thing was going to get mo’d, and as two former children, Nick and I both knew that mo would fall on the path that tracked right.

“Which way?” Nick asked me.

“Left.”

“Why left?”

“Why not?”

“Okay.”

He set off to the left.

“Wait—you’re not going to argue with me about it?”

He looked confused. “Should I?”

“Well, maybe?”

“I trust you. Come on.” He tucked the mallet under the arm holding the shield and held out his open hand.

I stared at his palm for the longest time. For a man who worked with his hands, they looked soft. Strong, but soft.

“How are your hands not totally ruined from working construction?”

“Gloves.”

My heart rolled over and made happy sounds as I placed my hand in his. Safe. Cocooned by warmth and strength. Heat traveled up my arm to the rest of my body, and honestly it was a miracle that I wasn’t glowing as we turned the next corner and jerked to a stop.

The path was blocked by a sphinx. Or rather, someone doing an excellent cosplay of the mythological being. She was completely convincing with her lion’s body and eagle’s wings. Her tail twitched at the end like a cat that’s had enough of human nonsense.

She spoke slowly and in Greek as we approached.

In the earpiece, Memo said, “She has a riddle for you. If you solve it you can pass. If not, then you must fight her champions.”

Riddles. I could do this. Over the years, I’d heard every riddle known to mankind at least a dozen times. Every school year there was always at least one child that discovered riddles and adopted them as their whole personality. I got to hear them all.

“Who or what are her champions?” I asked.

“Pray you do not find out,” Memo said darkly. “That is what Mairi told me.”

I squeezed Nick’s hand. “Is it just me or does this feel more real than it should?”

“TV magic, I guess.”

The sphinx spoke again.

“Okay, this is the riddle,” Memo said through the earpiece. “What has four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?”

From the blank expression on Nick’s face, I knew he wasn’t one of those riddle kids. I moved in front of him, my back to the Sphinx.

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