Max Downstairs: Episode 11

“Yes, I devised three riddles, and as the riddler, I also get to choose the solver.” Tilley turned around slowly, glaring first at Mrs. Patterson, then Max, then Malvin, and finally at Keisha. She smiled a cruel smile and pointed the Staff of Truth at the young girl.

“You,” she said.

Keisha’s skin crawled. She wasn’t sure if it was the way the few remaining tendrils of smoke seemed to cling to her skin as if to hold her in place, or the fact that she had never been good at riddles. In fact, she was terrible. Arty was the clever one, while Keisha was agile and fast. Together, she and her brother made the perfect team. Without him, she felt like she was running a race she couldn’t win.    

What was it Mom always said? Do your best. That’s all anyone can expect of you.

The words wrapped around Keisha like a big hug. She could do it. She would do it—her very best even. For the Overside, the Underside, the Haven, her family, friends, even her maybe enemy, Malvin.

Keisha stepped forward. “I’m ready.”

Tilley smirked. “I’ll give you the easiest one first, just to be fair. What gets bigger, the more you take away?”

Keisha scratched her head. What gets bigger, the more you take away? What?

Her mind was a blank. Her mind was a blank. The harder she thought, the blank-er it got. The more you take away. It was as if the riddle had taken away all her brains and, in her skull, had left a huge…

“Hole!” Keisha exclaimed.

Tilley glowered but the Staff of Truth shook in her hand.

“Very good, dear,” Mrs. Patterson said. “The Staff of Truth likes your answer.”

Tilley waved a hand dismissively. “I said it was the easiest. There are still two and they are really hard. You’ll see. Riddle number two: What can you break even if you never pick it up or touch it.”  

Keisha throat seemed to close in on itself. She swallowed hard. That was hard. Arty was the one who broke things. He broke Mom’s window with a baseball he accidentally threw backwards. How does anyone throw a baseball backwards? And Dad’s mower when he put peat moss in the gas tank, that time they learned pioneers used to burn peat to heat their homes. There was only one thing Arty never broke, not to Keisha or anybody, and it wasn’t because he couldn’t touch it, even though he couldn’t …

“A promise!” Keisha blurted out.

Was it that her eyes were adjusting to the dark, or did the Staff of Truth begin to glow?

Tilley seemed to notice it. Her smirk turned upside down. But Mrs. Patterson was beaming. “You’re quite good at this, Keisha. You may have some troll in you. We love riddles.”

“Which is why you can’t help her!” Tilley screeched. She jabbed the Staff of Truth in Mrs. Patterson’s direction. A root leaped up from the ground and attached to Mrs. Patterson’s mouth like a leech.

“Never mind,” Tilley said. “I’ve saved the best for last. You’ll never guess riddle three. You’ll be trapped down here forever. What is dark but is made by light?”

Keisha’s cheeks flushed with heat. Sweat dripped down her back. She didn’t know. She didn’t know what was made by light but is dark. Or was it the other way around? Where was Arty and his clever brain when she needed it. She looked to the crevice where her brother hid. The stone he held in his hand began to glow, all on its own. And it made the most amazing, most beautiful, and darkest thing Keisha had ever seen.

She had her answer. She turned to yell it out, when a large, fat, dirt-covered root slapped itself across her mouth.

“You have to let Keisha answer. That’s not fair!” Max said.

“No one said it was a fair game.” Tilley cackled and a root slapped itself across Max’s mouth.

Arty started to move in his crevice but Max shook his head violently. Arty froze.

Tilley turned to Malvin. “Well, it’s just you and me, Malvin. We’ve won.”

Malvin looked away from Tilley. His eyes met Keisha’s. They dripped with tears. He didn’t want to win. He wanted to help them but something stopped him. Something Tilley knew. Something that was stronger than a hundred roots.  

But it didn’t stop Rascal. The kitten pounced on the root across Keisha’s mouth and bit down.

Ingredients needed for the next scene: What does Tilley know about Malvin? What will the Staff of Truth do when its special stone is returned? Will the truth make a friend out of Tilley, or will she remain the villain? 

—Stacy

The Recipe: In the comments to THIS EPISODE, give us your best ideas to answer our questions. We’ll collect your answers Tuesday at 11 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time) and will use as many as we can to write the next scene. If you want to, sign your first name to your idea so we can give you credit.

Come back next Thursday to see what we wrote!

P.S. If we don’t take your suggestion this time, be sure to keep playing—we need your help to cook up a good story!