The Way Home | ONC2021

Chapter 10

Zhandra reads the first sentence. "To see the truth, let the nectar flow." She looks at Gabe again. "Is the candy-flavored liquid you gave us earlier called nectar?" She demands, but Gabe remains silent. The tips of his lips turn down. "I am sure you can answer the question. It's not task-related." 

It is Aristotle who answers. "My dear, he could have answered you if you would have asked him before you read the riddle. If he answers your question, that would be considered cheating."

Oh, right, you can't help unless we have solved the riddle." She recalls. The feeling of hopelessness intensifies. 'Even if the nectar is the drink we had earlier, we don't have any more of it.' Then she remembers that she had scooped some liquid into the jar while doing the earlier task. 'It smelled felt the same as the one Gabe had given us. Could they be the same? But Gabe didn't say anything about it when we were about to enter the book. Could it be that Gabe himself doesn't know of its existence in the Dwelling of the Dark?' She wonders, and keeping her eyes on Gabe, takes out the small jar from her pocket. 

At first, Gabe doesn't react, but when Zhandra opens the cork and takes a drop of the liquid on her finger, the fairy's eyes almost pop out of their sockets. "That's the-"

Aristotle coughs. Loudly. 

Gabe shuts up right away and averts his gaze. Then, slowly looking up at the now angry face on the book, he mouths an apology.

Aristotle puffs his cheeks and gives his companion a condescending look. 

'So it probably is the same thing we drank.' Zhandra concludes. 'The previous riddle referred to it as nectar, so, it is possible that this time too, this liquid is the nectar that the riddle is talking about.' She closes the jar and returns it to her pocket. "What could let it flow mean?" She voices her thoughts more to herself than the other three occupants of the room. But even after giving it a lot of thought, nothing comes to her mind. 

It is the soft sounds of her brother's snore that bring her back to the present. She shakes her head when her eyes fall on the tiny sleeping form. "Of course, he fell asleep. It is way past his bedtime." Zhandra tells Gabe, who subconsciously looks at his pocket watch. When the siblings had returned home after finishing the second task, it was already past ten pm (time moved at different speeds in Dwelling of the dark and human realm). So, just fifteen minutes in there meant two hours in human time. 

Zhandra had been trying to solve the riddle for almost an hour now. It was eleven. They just had an hour before the gates to the fairyland would close on Gabe and Aristotle forever, and Zhandra was still stuck on making sense of the third riddle. 

For the first time, she feels like they would fail Gabe and Aristotle. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. It is at this point that she remembers the promise she had made to her daddy. 

"Oh-O." She facepalms and goes to Alex. "Hey, Alex. Wake up. You haven't brushed and changed yet." She shakes his shoulders, and the boy groans softly. "No, I will not give you my crayons. You have taken enough."

"Alex?" Zhandra calls again and turns the sleepy boy to face her. "Wake up. I will help you, alright."

"Not giving it. Mine." Alex continues to talk in his sleep. "Go back under the bed." He mutters irritably and turns his face away once more. 

Seeing her brother's resolve not to wake up, the older accepts defeat. "Daddy is going to be so upset with me." She whines and slides down the foot of the bed. 

Just as Zhandra is about to give up and accept that she had indeed failed Gabe and Aristotle, she feels something wet and sticking seeping through her shorts.