Guardians: The Triplex Part 23

What Am I?

I have no legs but I can run I have no arms but I hang on I am water that is no longer wet "Marcus, I don't know," she says.

"It's okay. Let's think about this for a sec" I reply, trying very hard not to lose it. Then from a few feet away, Kairo begins to laugh.

"She has two minutes and thirty seconds," he says.

Emmy begins to look all over the gla.s.s box to try and find some kind of opening. I know right away that will be a waste of precious time.

"Emmy, look at me and nowhere else okay?"

"Okay."

"What has no legs but can run?" I ask her.

"Time!"

"Yes, time can "run" out!"

"The answer is 'Time,'" I tell Kairo.

He shakes his head and suddenly, Emmy is gasping for air.

"No!" I shout.

"You have two more chances, Guardian" Kairo informs me with delight.

"Don't look at him Emmy. Focus."

"It's not time...maybe it's...it's..." Her voice is getting weaker. The lack of oxygen will be effecting her brain soon, if not already.

"One minute left," Kairo announces.

"Shut up!" I blare at him. His only reply is to laugh even harder.

"What has no arms?" I say to myself.

"I don't know...can't...think," she whispers. She's turning slightly blue.

"Could he mean the 'hands' of time? No time is the wrong answer," I say, thinking out loud.

"Sun...chair...go..." Emmy is getting delirious. She has no idea what she's saying now.

"It's the hands of time!" I call out to the Demon.

"Wrong again!" he says in a sing-song voice.

Emmy's eyes are rolling to the back of her head. I turn away from her knowing I will never be able to concentrate if I see her withering away. I force myself to focus only on the riddle. I read and reread all the clues. I feel like I'm missing something that's right in front of my face.

Then I look down at the third clue. That's when I realize it's not a clue at all. It's more of an omission. Yes, there's something about the third clue that is going to reveal the answer. I just need to focus in and drown out the steady laughter coming from Kairo.

"Why does it say 'I'm not water' is that because it is?" I ask out loud to no one. Emmy is now too weak to remain standing. She slinks down to the bottom of the gla.s.s. She is barely conscious.

"Emmy wake up! Emmy, please wake up!"

"You have ten seconds!" Kairo says, with utter glee.

Why does he take the time to point out that it's not water? When is water not really water...? When it's an image of water. An image that 'hangs'...on the wall?

Got it! A painting "hangs" on the wall through it has no arms, it's a painting of water, so it's not wet, and what kind of water always runs?

"It's a painting of a waterfall!"

Kairo points the Loop at the gla.s.s and Emmy is freed instantly. I quickly get down on the floor and check on her.

"Em, wake up," I beg.

She opens her eyes, shocked that she is now able to breath. She coughs for several minutes. I hold her hand and help her breath normally.

"So touching. You have ten seconds before the next game," he says.

"Marcus, I don't know if I can do this," she admits.

"You can. I know you can. He's too far away now, but If I can figure a way to get him to come closer to the force field, I can use my power and reflect his fear back to him."

"We're not gonna die here, right?"

"No, baby. We're not," I promise her.

"Okay, folks, now time for round two!" he says, throwing a jagged, crude-looking stick on the floor towards her.

He tells her to put it in her mouth so that she doesn't swallow her tongue. He doesn't want her to choke on her own blood and that kind of death is too quick.

I don't give a d.a.m.n what the Council does to me. I'm going to end this guy...

"What're you going to do to her now?" I ask.

"It's simply shocking, I tell you," he laughs and points the Loop at her.

The gla.s.s box appears. Although this time there is a keypad underneath the riddle.

"Are you suffocating her to death again?" I ask, studying Emmy inside the gla.s.s.

"And what, repeat my work? Please, have you ever heard of Mac reissuing products without some delicious new upgrade?" he brags.

"Just tell me what the h.e.l.l you what me to do," I snap.

"She gets shocked every two minutes she's in the box. That is, until you key in the right five-letter word answer to the riddle, engraved above. Other humans have lasted ten rounds. But your human is significantly smaller and weaker. So, I would hurry."

"Fine, anything else?" I ask, trying not to lose my temper, knowing it won't help.

"You only get one chance with this one. If you key in the wrong answer, I'm gonna deep fry her like b.u.t.ter on a stick at the state fair."

I look over at him, perplexed.

"Human activities amuse me," he says.

"Just start," I counter.

"As you wish."

He points the Loop at the gla.s.s and the keypad lights up.

"It has the entire alphabet printed on it. Given the number of s.p.a.ces on the screen, the answer is a five letter word. There's a timer next to it. It counts down from 120 seconds," I explain to Emmy.

"Read the riddle," she says.

On the Way Home...

A mother is walking home with her 3 children One is an Angel One is a demon One is human She encounters a beast which blocks her path.

The beast demands two of her three children as a sacrifice.

Who makes it home?

As soon as I am done reading the riddle, I look over at the timer and we have only ten seconds before Emmy will be shocked. She reads the express on my face and tears flood into her eyes.

"Let me do it, Kairo. Let me be in the box!" Emmy shakes her head. Kairo just laughs and says he's having too much fun to switch victims.

She looks as me with sheer terror as she puts the stick in her mouth. The timer is down to three seconds. We look at each other knowing nothing can stop what's about to take place.

The timer hits zero.

The jolt of electricity rips through her body. She convulses uncontrollably from side to side. Her jaw clenches and drool drips down the side of her face. Enraged, I bang on the gla.s.s and curse Kairo. I vow to the heavens that I will kill him.

The electricity stops just as easily as it came on. The timer starts up again and gives us two minutes.

She falls to the bottom of the gla.s.s box and weeps heavily. I tell her I'm sorry this is happening but that I will get her out. She looks up at me and tells me she's okay.

I'm okay until I spot that her fingers are now a morose blue-black color and blood is dripping from her nose to the front of her shirt.

"Read," she begs me. I pull myself together and reread the riddle. Emmy thinks hard and replies: "Okay, okay. The mother gave two of her children away. Which one would she have held on to? Is it the Angel? Or the Demon?" she says.

"I would say the Angel but then again, we have to consider who's asking the question. It's from a Demon so in his eyes, the child that should be kept is the Demon, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Emmy, we can't guess! We only have one shot. If we're wrong..."

The timer reads five seconds.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's the human?" she says.

"They're all five-letter words. It could be any-"

The timer is down to zero.

She didn't even have time to put the stick in her mouth before the b.a.s.t.a.r.d turns the electricity back on with the Loop. Immediately, Emmy's body violently jerks around like a fish ripped from the water and flung onto a fisherman's boat.

A small river of blood leaps from her mouth onto the floor of the gla.s.s box. I smell urine and searing flesh. Emmy has lost control of her bladder and there are welts all over her. The girl I love is being cooked within her own skin.

The timer starts up again and gives us two minutes.

"I'm gonna tell him we'll do whatever he wants. I can't let this happen to you," I plead with her.

She crawls up to the gla.s.s and whispers something to me.

"Are you sure?" I ask her. She nods yes.

The timer gives us five more seconds.

I do as she says. I go up to the key pad and press the keys that spell out: "No one"

The timer goes off. Nothing happens. Emmy had the right answer.

Kairo stands up and is livid.

"How the h.e.l.l did you guess that?" he demands.

"Get her out of the d.a.m.n box!" I scream.

He uses the Loop and the gla.s.s box disappears into the floor.

Angry, Kairo gets up from his throne and takes a step closer toward the force field. Then he uses his powers. He can move things like Ameana can but his ability is far more advanced. He lifts Emmy into the air with just his index finger and without touching her, he is able to force her to spread her arms and legs out wide so he can examine her. He rotates her three hundred and sixty degrees.

"What are you?" he shouts.

I yell at him to put her down. He warns me if I interfere, he'll kill her on the spot. Then with the slightest move of his little finger, he slices Emmy open.

In complete horror, I gasp her name.

"Relax, she's in suspended animation. She can't feel anything. At least not until I begin the third game."

"Put her down!" I demand.

"I just want to see if she's really human. She has freaky eyes and she's been able to withstand more than most. And she knew the answer to a riddle that no one else was able to guess."