Ahead, there’s a light. But it’s not the soft light of day. There’s something off about the illumination; it’s a little too golden.
We slow our approach as we near a bend in the tunnel. When we peer around the curve, our jaws drop.
A lit room bigger than the palace’s main hall is packed floor to ceiling with more treasures than the Temptresses had when we once raided their trove. Golden thrones. Bejeweled crowns. Rubies the size of my fist. Everywhere I look, a treasure more ornate than the last rests.
Royce and I gawk as we stumble forward.
A golden peacock, its tail spread wide behind it, sits atop a table whose entire surface is made of emerald. Where feathers should be, thousands of gemstones rest in a blue-and-green pattern. Past that is a sculpture as big as any fountain back home. It’s made of a diamond surface that’s meant to represent a pond. Several swans made from glistening pearls float upon it, their necks intertwined.
The room stretches on and on. I think I even spot a ship made entirely of gold buried under statues dripping in diamonds and clustered with crystals.
“Everything in here is valuable,” Royce breathes. “How are we ever supposed to choose?”
“We need to think like the Oracle,” I say as I peer under tables and over stacks searching for anything that stands out from everything else. “What would she value?”
“Time? The future? The past?” Royce picks up a gold platter, looking at his reflection before tossing it back into the pile. “I can’t imagine any of this stuff holds the same value to an immortal being who can see all things.”
He’s right. Besides, any of these things could have different value based on who you ask.
There’s another sign at the far end of the cave where the tunnel continues. I move toward it and read:
Decide what you value
And take it in hand.
Then venture forward
To see where you land.
I go over the words again and again. Since my father was cursed by Dionysus using his words against him, I’ve always thought I’d be better at figuring out riddles, that when needed I’d be able to figure out all the ways words could be twisted to have different meanings and results.
This sign makes it sound like I have to choose what I find most valuable. But the first sign had also hinted I should take the one thing I wouldn’t want to leave behind. I scan the items. Is there something here I couldn’t live without?
“Maybe it’s water or food,” I say, scanning a table laden down with silver dishes. “Humans can’t live without that.” But there’s nothing edible on the table.
“Breath?” Royce ventures. “Can’t live without that either.”
“How are we supposed to hold that in our hands?” I ask.
He cups his hands, blowing into them before sealing them quickly together.
I eye his hands, but it just doesn’t feel right. “But what about everything else we need to live. Like a heartbeat? Like blood? There are so many things besides breath.”
He releases his hands and points at me knowingly, a smile spreading across his face. “See, this is why I brought you along. You’re full of good thoughts.”
I laugh. “I’m pretty sure it was me who made you come.”
He steps closer, looping his fingers through mine. “You didn’t make me do anything. I would’ve come no matter what.” He leans his forehead down against mine.
I’ve just closed my eyes, relaxing against him, when he gasps and pulls back.
“That’s it. I’ve got it,” he says.
“Got what?” I say, opening my eyes to find a gleam in his.
“I know the answer,” he says. He brings our clasped hands up between us. “It’s you. You’re the most valuable thing in the room to me.”
I can’t help the smile that slides across my face or the feeling of elation that lights up my heart. And after the vision I had and coming back to find my real Royce, I know deep down that he’s right. I don’t need any of these treasures. I simply need him.
I give his hand a squeeze. “How come I didn’t think of that?”
“I can’t let you have all the good ideas,” he replies, smiling.
And while I would love to stand there staring at him, at the way his eyes hold mine, I know we need to keep moving. I give his hand one last squeeze. “Ready to test your theory?”
He nods, and hand in hand, we approach the sign and walk past it into the tunnel.
Our torches cast small puddles of light around us as we move onward. We don’t let go of each other’s hand, and the warmth of his fingers around mine is welcome in the cold of the cave.
The path starts to slant downward, and an odd plunking noise sounds every so often. Weird, rippling shadows appear on the wall ahead of us, and the tunnel opens up into a wide cavern with yet another sign waiting for us.
From crystal’s end
Drink one single drop.
But touch flesh to the lake,
Your journey will stop.
I groan and rub my forehead. These signs are only making my headache worse. If the Oracle doesn’t want to be found, she shouldn’t have a pathway to her cave.
Royce and I step forward into the vaulted space. Unlike the cavern filled with gold, this one is filled with pristine crystals. They grow like sharp daggers from the cavern walls. Some are long and slender while others sit like squat shrubs against the ground. Still others have fallen from their bases, laying either whole or in shattered pieces along the sandy cave floor.
The sand slopes down toward a round lake. In the center of the lake, a giant crystal hangs from the roof of the cavern. Every few seconds, water drips and falls into the lake, creating a giant ripple that cascades across the water and laps onto the shore.
“So I guess that’s the crystal we’re supposed to drink from,” Royce says.
“How are we supposed to get out there if we can’t touch the water?” I ask.
But my words cut off as the tunnel we walked through seals in with dirt. I scan the rest of the cavern. There’s no other way out. Great. Now we’re stuck here until we can figure out how to get to the center of a lake we can’t touch.
We decide to go opposite ways around the lake. Using my torch, I prowl along the edges looking for anything resembling a boat. Too bad I can’t go back for the gold one I saw in the last cavern.
My feet crunch over ground-up crystal fragments as I move along the shore. But there’s nothing hiding behind the towering crystals except more crystals. The only other thing I see is my golden reflection sliding across the fragmented surfaces to stare back at me.
“Find anything?” Royce asks from the other side of the lake.
“No,” I call back. “Nothing.” I kick at the bits at my feet as the large crystal continues to send droplets careening into the water below.
After circling the lake twice, Royce and I collapse near where we entered. He grabs a handful of crystal shards in his hands as we think. The unending plunk of droplets echoes continually off the walls.
Plunk.
Plunk.
Plunk.
“Maybe we could knock the main crystal down somehow?” he says.
“But we don’t know how deep the lake is. It could sink,” I counter with a heavy sigh.