Princess of the Silver Ocean - Chapter 88

“W-what?” he stammered, backing away from her a bit, “W-why are y-you giving me that look?”

She tilted her head, her eyes glued to the gargoyle and fairy who were speaking to the elderly elf couple, and said.

“You have been very cooperative since you joined this team,” she said, causing him to flinch at how scary her tone was.

“W-what are you i-implying?” the troll asked her, scratching his cheek.

“Oh nothing,” Astoria shrugged and uncrossed her arms, “Just keep up this team player, is all I want to say. You try and sabotage this team, and I will make you pay.”

She emphasized the ‘make you pay’ part. The troll gulped nervously, nodding his head vigorously in fear.

‘Scary!’ the troll thought, breaking in a cold sweat, ‘Why is Nexi suddenly so scary- argh!’

“Good,” Astoria smiled, tugging some loose strands of her blue-black wavy hair behind her ear.

“You guys!” they both heard Laurelai scream, waving at them frantically, “Let’s go! We know where the Hyacinth Statue is.”

Astoria nodded and began walking towards Davitt and the fairy, Laojin following close behind her. The poor troll was still in shock from what Astoria had told him. He had noticed that something was off about Nexi ever since she returned to the academy. He heard countless rumors about how she was no longer afraid of Misty or her gang of bullies.

He found it strange, not to mention scary, how Nexi’s personality and overall vibe just took a whole 360° turn. She came back confident, temperamental, and strong. He found that quite amusing. Was it even possible for someone who was as timid as a bird and as soulless as a doll to be that happy and confident in themselves? The team walked for a few minutes and reached the hyacinth statue.

“Wow?” Laurelai exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air, “The statue is huge!”

“And look,” Davitt pointed to a lady wearing a white t-shirt with a hyacinth flower on the front, “We found our riddler.”

They walked to the anthousai and found Misty’s team there bickering.

“I freaking told you that the answer was a shadow!” one of Misty’s group members yelled, “But no one was listening to me – argh!”

Another group member answered, her jaw clenched from anger.

“Well, maybe if you spoke loud enough for all of us to hear,” the female teammate stated, “We would have taken your answer, but nooo, you mumble to yourself like we have extremely great hearing. We’re not the Panotti!”

(Note: According to Wikipedia, the Panotti are a mythical race of people who possess large ears covering their entire bodies.)

“I never said-”

“Would you two shut the hell up!” Misty yelled, enraged as her fists shook with anger, “Let us go. We are done here.”

As Misty turned around, she came face-to-face with Astoria’s team. Astoria smirked and crossed her arms.

‘What great teamwork,’ she thought sarcastically.

“Oh, it is you guys,” Misty crossed her arms and crinkled her nose in disgust.

Laurelai rolled her eyes.

“Your team has such amazing teamwork,” the gargoyle class president said sarcastically.

Everyone stared at him with widened eyes. They were shocked that he was the one to say such a thing. Astoria was not as surprised as the rest of them. After all, gargoyles are usually chaotic evil. They are cunning, extremely malevolent, and sentient.

“Shut it, gargoyle boy!” Misty hissed and walked away from them, bumping her shoulder roughly against the gargoyles.

Davitt turned to face Misty, whose back could be seen a few meters away from them.

“Wow,” the fairy said, after a moment of silence, “I did not know you could speak so…so…”

She could not find the word to describe it.

“Sarcastically with a hint of malevolence?” Astoria suggested, tilting her head at the fairy.

Laurelai gulped and nodded.

“Let’s go,” Davitt said, ignoring what they said to him.

Laojin and the fairy exchanged glances, and both shrugged. They followed behind Davitt, and Astoria smiled, walking close to them.

“You must be another team from Leararts Academy,” the anthousai said with a smile upon seeing them stand in front of her.

Astoria nodded, and the anthousai bowed at her and the fairy. The two girls exchanged confused glances.

“It is an honour that I get to meet you, princess Nexi,” the anthousai smiled at her and then turned to the fairy, “and you too, fairy princess of the Summer Court.”

The two girls bowed back, and the anthousai opened her mouth to speak.

“Fortunately here,” the anthousai said, “There is only a riddle and no challenge.”

Laojin sighed in relief.

“Are you ready for your riddle?” the anthousai asked them, and they nodded.

“Here is your riddle,” the anthousai’s tone grew serious, “I am at the beginning of time and part of past, present, and future. I am part of history, but not of here and now. In a moment, you will find me if you know what I am. What am I?”

“The beginning of time,” Astoria mumbled, pressing her lips together.

“Part of past, present, and future,” Laojin added, biting his lip as he thought of what that could mean.

“Part of history, but not of here and now,” Laurelai twirled a strand of her red locks.

Davitt was silent as he also tried to figure out the answer. After a while, he had some theories.

“What is at the beginning of time?” he asked his teammates as he turned to face them.

“Well,” Astoria said, clasping her hands behind her body, “If you are asking about that figuratively, then the letter ‘T’ would be the answer?”

Laojin nodded.

“When you think about,” the troll said, “The letter ‘T’ is also found in the words past, present, and future.”

“And in the word history,” the fairy added, nodding her head.

“And it is in the word moment’ so shall we go with the letter T and see if that is the answer?” Davitt, as the team’s leader, asked his teammates.

They all nodded.

“Go for it,” Astoria said, “I am pretty sure that is the answer.”

“I agree,” Laojin and Laurelai said in unison, causing them to quickly glance at each other and then look back at the gargoyle class president.

Davitt nodded and faced the anthousai, who was waiting patiently for their answer.

“We will go with the answer, the letter T,” he told her.

“Are you sure?” the anthousai asked him, “Is that your final answer?”

She earned a nod from all of them and smiled.

“All right then,” she clapped her hands together, “Your answer is…”

‘Ah,’ Astoria thought, internally sighing, ‘Waiting for her to tell us if we are correct or not is kind of suspenseful. It is like we are in a game show with ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ type of vibes.’

“Correct!” the anthousai exclaimed, clapping her hands and smiling.

“Yes!” the team exclaimed, some members clenching their hands above their heads.

“May I know whether this is your first location or not?” the anthousai asked them.

“This is our second location,” Laurelai said, holding two fingers in the air.

“And what puzzle piece did you get? May you show me so that I can give you the correct one?” the anthousai smiled.

Astoria opened her belt bag and grabbed the puzzle piece. She held it in her hand and showed it to the anthousai, who nodded. The anthousai reached into her handbag and pulled out their puzzle piece.

“Here you go,” she said, holding out their puzzle piece in her tiny hands.

Astoria grabbed it and thanked her. She then put the piece in her belt bag.

“Wow,” Laojin said to Davitt, “We finished solving this riddle in less than ten minutes. That is awesome!”

Laurelai nodded her head in agreement, her green eyes showing a hint of happiness at their excellent teamwork.

“Thank you,” Davitt said to the anthousai, “We will get going now.”

He bowed at her, and the rest do the team did the same. They then walked away, and the fairy took out the map.

“Ah,” the fairy said, skipping as she walked, “This is so much fun!”

She felt giddy and thought she would burst into happiness.

“Okay, on a serious note,” she stopped skipping and paused, staring at the map in her hands.

“The next stop should be the Bookends bookstore,” the fairy told them, “as it is the closest to the park. Someone hail a cab.”

Laojin did as the fairy said when he saw a blue can heading their way. The cab stopped in front of them, and they all sat inside. Astoria took out the transport card, and the cab driver asked where they were going.

“To Bookends Bookstore, please,” Laurelai told the driver, “And make it snappy.”

The cab driver nodded and handed the swiping machine to Astoria, who swiped the transport card. She gave back the swiping machine to the driver, who put it away.. The driver turned the radio on and began to drive to the said location.