Hopeful (My Sequel to Heartless) Unfinished

Chapter 44 - Riddle Me This

As soon as Jest and the two soldiers accompanying him opened the door Jest knew something bad would happen. And he was right. As soon as they stepped through the door, the two soldiers suddenly fell through the floor, their screames echoing through the void. Jest whirled around and back away from where they were standing. 

"Hello, Joker." A voice said from everywhere and nowhere. 

"Mariah." Jest said bitterly, "Tell me where Cath is and maybe I'll go easy on you." He said looking around for the source of the voice. 

Mariah laughed, "Now now, it wouldn't be much fun if I just told you where she was, right? I thought you were a fan of games." She said teasing. 

"I only like games where the players don't cheat." He said gesturing to the spot where his men fell through the floor. 

"I'm not cheating, I just know the rules better than you. I wasn't the one who told your pathetic group to split up, and I certainly wasn't the one who made them choose doors that lead the their doom." 

Jest's eyes widened, "You killed them?" He asked shocked. 

Mariah laughed, "No, at least, not yet. You see I'm not a big fan of people breaking into my house." She said boredly, "Before I do anything, I'm at least going to have some fun with them." 

Jest clenched his jaw, "Where. is. Cath." He asked trying to hold back his temper. 

"You keep asking the wrong questions." She said clicking her tongue.

"Then what's the right question?" Jest responded exasperated. 

"Now, I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it would be cheating if I told you." She said teasingly. "But I'll give you a hint. You know she's in this house. You know you're in this house. There are ways to get to her, but you need to find the way. How do you take the first step?"

Jest took a deep breath. He needed to think like her. Mariah herself is made of riddles and puzzles. And now he had a clue. She didn't ask WHAT is the first step, she asked HOW would he take the first step. He smirked, "Like this." He said taking one step forward. 

Suddenly the room lit up to reveal a hallway filled with doors all of them a different design. Jest felt his heart sink. This would not be easy. He took another deep breath as Mariah's voice sounded. 

"Oh! I love this part. It's probably one of my more complicated puzzles. And before you start trying to open the doors, they're all locked" She said with glee in her voice. 

"How do I find the door that leads to Cath?" He asked trying to hide his desperation. 

"There we go! You're learning!" She said with a giggle that made Jest's head hurt. "Here's another hint: you'll find the key on this door, it holds the thing you've been looking for." 

Jest looked down the hallway of doors as he thought of the riddle. There were at least a hundred doors. Not to mention if he found this key, he wouldn't know which door it would unlock. 

"Oh, I should probably mention, you only get one chance to find this key or I'll make sure you never leave this house alive." She said casually. 

Jest blanched and felt his palms sweat. Closing his eyes he began to repeat the riddle. He just needed to focus on finding this key. 

Opening his eyes he began to search the door in front of him. 

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Each room had a theme on the door. One room's theme was a doll house that had little moving dolls on the door. The little dolls spat curses at him as he searched their home for this mystery key. Another room was farm themed and had a twister swirling in the background. 

But no key. 

As he reached the last door Jest felt sick. He had failed. He couldn't find this key. 

Mariah Hatter and her forsaken obsession with keys. He would be here for days, if not weeks. Maybe there was no key. Maybe she WAS cheating.

He needed to review what he knew. Mariah Hatter loves riddles. Mariah Hatter loves keys. But there's no key on any of the doors. Maybe the key was a riddle itself? Maybe it wasn't a traditional key. 

He went back to walking along the doors and examining each room theme. 

"Tick tock Jester, Cath isn't getting any younger and I'm not getting any more patient." Mariah's voice said sounding as if she were right next to him. 

Jest clenched his fist and was about ready to beg for the key when he stopped in front of one door. This one was music themed and looked as if the whole door was a piece of sheet music with little instruments in place of where the notes would be. 

And then he found the key. 

It was the key the song was in, the White Kingdom's national anthem. That was the answer.

"The key is G major." He said feeling a weight lift from  his shoulders. A relieved smile touched his lips as he wiped some sweat off of his brow. 

"And you're quite certain?" Mariah asked sweetly. 

Jest closed his eyes and swarllowed hard, "Yes. I'm certain."

And then one by one each door fell through the floor leaving one door left at the very end. 

Jest ran to the door and swung it open. "Cath!" He shouted desperately. 

She stood standing with her eyes fixed on Jest, no expression on her face. 

Jest went over and hugged her tightly. "Thank Hearts you're okay." He said with a breath of relief. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Cath asked coldly. 

Jest pulled away slightly and furrowed his brow, "Are you alright?" He asked. 

Cath shoved him away from her, "How dare you address royalty in such a casual way! Guards! Off with his head!" She shouted. 

Suddenly two guards appeared at his side and took hold of him. 

"Wha-" he started until his saw the hole in Cath's chest, right where her heart should be. 

And then suddenly a large crowd of people appeared behind her, each one with a bloody red gash across their necks. 

Jest was forced to his knees and Cath walked up and took his face in her hands, "I may have loved you once but I will never make that mistake again." She said before taking the sword from a guard. "Say hello to Peter Pumpkin for me." She said before lifting the sword.

And for the second time, Jest would lose his head.