The Psychic and His Tiger (Psych Fan Fic)

5. The Riddle

"'You measure my life in hours and I serve you by expiring. I'm quick when I'm thin and slow when I'm fat. The wind is my enemy. Where am I? P.S. I'm not hurting you, Shawn. I'm helping. — Yang.'"

Maddie dug her finger's into her palms to the point where she bled. Shawn looked over at her. "Hey, hey, stop!" He took both her hands in one of his and pried her nails out of her skin. "You're hurting yourself." He said. "I'm scared." Maddie confessed. "Well, if you're going to dig your finger in your skin, at least do me a favor and dig them into mine, not yours." He said and took her hand in his, giving her a light squeeze. 

"What does she mean, 'I'm not hurting you, I'm helping'?" Jules asked. "Corrinne is popular. And a bully to Maddie, and probably other kids. Yang probably thinks that getting rid of Corrinne will make us right..." Shawn said. "No! Then it would be my fault if she died." Maddie whimpered. "You're not the one whose killing her, Madison. It wouldn't be your fault." Chief said. 

"Spencer, can you identify what this riddle means?" Lassie sighed. "Is it, like, a track? For running? Because it says 'I'm quick when I'm thin and slow when I'm fat.' Don't you have a track at your school, Maddie?" Jules asked. Maddie nodded. "Eh eh eh. That's not it. It says 'the wind is my enemy'. When you run, the wind is the best thing, because it cools you down." Shawn said. "Well, then what is it?" Lassie asked, obviously annoyed. 

"I know it. But I'm sure Maddie doesn't. Think." Shawn said and squeezed Maddie's hand again. She looked at him, puzzled. "But Yang gave us 47 minutes and we only have 39 left. I can't figure that out in 39 minutes!" Maddie cried. 

Shawn looked at her, then pointed to 'the wind is my enemy'. "Wax. Think wax." Shawn said. Maddie looked down at the paper, concentrating. She dug her fingers into Shawn's palm and he flinched, but he let her continue focusing. "A... piercing store?" She said. Shawn shook his head. "How did you get 'piercing' from 'wax'?" He asked and she pointed to her ear. "Earwax." She said. 

"No. But good guess. Think again." He said. Maddie looked at the stopwatch. 36 minutes. She breathed deeply and looked back down at the paper, searching for any clues. "This is useless, Spencer, just tell us." Lassie growled. Shawn put his finger to his lips. "Shh. Wait for ittttt..." He whispered and Maddie snapped her fingers. "Candie's Candle shop!" She yelled. Shawn smiled. "You got it, Tiger." He said. 

"We need both Mr. Spencer and Miss Spencer to catch Yang. You're our bait, Madison. Now we just have to reel Yang in." Chief said. Madison shifted her weight from foot to foot, then looked at Shawn, squeezing his hand. "Okay." 

~~~

"You need us to tell you the plan again?" Jules asked, and Maddie wrung her sweaty hands. "I got it." She said. "Repeat it back." Lassiter ordered. Jules gave him a look. "Carlton, her life may end in less than 10 minutes. Be nice." Jules said. "I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die, I'm not gonna die." Maddie breathed. Shawn shoved something in Maddie's back pocket and she turned around, looking behind her. "A stun gun? Really? Where the hell did you get that?" She asked. Shawn grinned and put his finger to his lips, signaling her to stay quiet.

"Shawn?!" A familiar voice called. Maddie turned around and her face lit up. "Pops!" She shrieked and hugged Henry. "I told you not to call me Pops, Pop, Gramps, Grandpa, Grampa, Papa, Pap, Pa, or anything of the sort." He scolded. Maddie grinned. "I don't listen." She said and hugged him again. "I know. You're a copy of my son. My god, is that a stun gun in your pocket?" Henry gasped. Maddie smirked. "I'm gonna catch a serial killer who's obsessed with my dad." She said. Shawn ruffled Maddie's hair with his hand. 

"Shawn, can I talk to you?" Henry asked and looked at Maddie, who was walking back to Lassiter and the Chief. "I'm a little busy. My 14 year old is kind of about to catch a serial killer and save a girls life." Shawn said. "Shawn, she's going to go in now." Jules called. "One moment, Dad." Shawn said and turned to Jules and Maddie. Maddie held the stun gun in front of her and Shawn swerved away. "Woah, please don't tase me in the face." He chuckled. 

"I'm not gonna die." Maddie said matter-of-factly. She wrung her hands and shook her head wildly. Shawn raised an eyebrow. "Did you guys give her something to make her this jittery?" "Coffee and an energy pill. Seems to be kicking in." Jules said. 

Shawn bent down a little to Maddie's height. "You gonna be okay, Tiger?" He asked. Maddie nodded. "Rawr." She growled and Shawn chuckled. "You can do this. Just gotta hit her with the gun, 'kay? Then come to me." He said and hugged her, burying his face in her hair. He tried to hide his fear, but it was extremely hard. 

"You got 7 minutes on the stopwatch to save that girl, Madison." Lassie yelled. Shawn stopped hugging Maddie and she looked in his eyes, a a determined but scared look on her face. "I got this." She said. She slowly walked to the candle store's door and walked in carefully, shutting the door behind her. 

Shawn waited impatiently outside, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants. Henry squeezed Shawn's arm. Suddenly, there was two loud "zings" from inside the store and a bang, then a scream. He started shaking. "She's hurt, we have to go in there!" Shawn yelled, but Lassiter held him back, afraid Shawn would run to the door and ruin their whole plan.

The door flung open and he saw Maddie's head peek out of the top. Everyone ran to the door and when they opened it, gasped quietly. "We got each other." Maddie said and gritted her teeth. There was blood seeping from her left calf. Lassie and a few other officers stepped over her. There was a woman's scream from inside, clanging, and a loud, "We got her! Clear!" The rest of the police ran inside and all Shawn could do was watch from the side. 

The EMT lifted Maddie up, carrying her to the Emergency Truck and she groaned quietly, her face turning white. Shawn ran into the truck and sat next to her quickly as the EMT's started tending to her wound until they got to the hospital. Henry ran to the back of the truck. 

"I was gonna tell you I'm proud of you both!" Henry called, and Shawn smiled faintly as the doors closed. 

"She... she knew exactly where I was shot the... f-first time." Maddie murmured, clenching her teeth and tensing up. When she had been kidnapped, 3 years before, she had been nicked on the left calf with a bullet as her kidnappers attempted to wake her up after knocking her out and abducting her.

"Hey, it's okay, it'll be over soon, alright?" Shawn assured her, squeezing her hand lightly. Maddie lifted her shaking arm. "Fist bump." She whispered, her eyes fluttering. She was gonna faint. Shawn took her arm and lowered it as she closed her eyes, then gently tapped his knuckles against hers. "Fist bump."