The Puzzler's Mansion (14 page)

“Come on, let's keep going,” Jake said, and chose the next path for them. It led to a sign marked with a V, and there was only one way to continue out of that clearing, so they kept going straight until they reached another sign, this one with a capital letter I. Derek Bibb and Mr. Penrose were here, examining the sign closely, like it contained a whole secret language instead of a single letter. Mal, formerly Derek's biggest fan, looked wary, but the lecture was officially over. The theater director was now interested only in the puzzle.

Penrose was shaking his head. “I don't see that we're spelling anything useful.”

“Could it be something else?” asked Derek. “Perhaps we need to travel to each letter in order.”

Penrose frowned. “How would that work?” he asked. “We have S and I in consecutive clearings. Last I checked, they aren't next to each other in the alphabet.”

“You found an S?” Jake asked.

“Yes, up that way,” Derek said, pointing. “Where did you boys come from?”

“From thataway,” Mal said, gesturing behind them. “There's a V back there.”

There was only one other way out of this clearing. Shrugging, Derek said, “Shall we?” So the five of them marched down the path. Winston noticed for the first time that all of these pathways were perfectly straight—not a curve to be seen anywhere. Was that important? Maybe, although Winston couldn't see how.

They arrived at a clearing. The sign here showed the letter L.

“Evil!” shouted Mal, so suddenly that everybody jumped.

“He's right,” Jake said. “We just spelled the word EVIL. Except before that we had an O and an N.”

“On evil!” Mal said. “I don't know what it means, but it's gotta be something.”

Derek said, “But we took a different set of paths and have a completely different set of letters. Who's to say who is right?”

“What letters do you have?” Winston asked.

“T, S, I, and now L,” Penrose said, referring to his notepad.

“At least our letters spell something,” said Mal.

There was only one other path out of here, so they kept going. The boys walked slower than usual, because Penrose's jogging days were behind him. As they walked, Jake said to Winston, “So tell me you're not enjoying this.”

Winston knew what Jake was getting at. He shrugged. “I am. Of course I am.”

“So you still want to give up puzzles?”

Penrose looked at them, his eyes wide behind his glasses. “What is this?” he asked.

Mal said, “Winston wants to give up puzzles and become a football player or something.”

“I never said anything about being a football player!” Winston said a little too loudly. “I don't want to give up puzzles, either,” he said, and then surprised himself by adding, “I don't think.” He didn't really want to talk about this and wished Jake and Mal would stop bringing it up. His own thoughts were still too confused. His friends sensed this, and backed off. So did Penrose, though the curious and concerned expression did not leave his face.

They arrived at the next clearing, and Jake said, “Whoops.”

“Whoops what?”

“Whoops we've been here before.” He pointed at the O on the signpost. “This is the first letter we saw.”

They all thought about that. Derek said, “It's not the first letter
we
saw. Our first letter was a T. I think it's over this way.” He pointed down the path that led back to the garden's entrance. Beyond that, the path continued into another clearing.

“So that way is the T,” Mal said. “This way is the N that we already saw. We just came from the L in this direction. That leaves one more path out of here.” He pointed, and the group continued to walk together. This path didn't go on for very long before they reached another clearing. The sign here said P.

Looking at it, Derek said, “I think it would be splendid if I had some idea what I was doing.”

“We have to spell something,” said Penrose. “Don't you think?”

“Sure,” said Jake, “but there are a million ways to take these different paths. We could be walking in here forever.”

“Hey, we spelled the word EVIL,” Mal reminded him.

Jake shook his head. “I think we just got lucky. I don't think that means anything.”

“Wait,” Winston said. “Don't forget about the hint he gave us. What were those numbers again?”

“Nine, eight, six,” Mal said.

Winston nodded. “So the answer is going to be three words. A nine-letter word . . .”

Jake got it. “Then an eight-letter word, then a six-letter word.”

“Right.”

“How does that help us figure out what the answer
is
?
”
Mal asked.

“Here's what I think,” Winston said, and he flipped to a new page in his notepad. He spent some time scribbling letters and circles. “I've seen this kind of puzzle before,” he said. “Just not life-size, so it took me a while to recognize it. Here's how a puzzle like this would work on paper.”

“Starting from one of these circles,” Winston said, “you can trace out the name of a large city and the state it's in. Both the city and the state are seven letters long. You'll use every pathway at least once.”

(Answer,
page 246
.)

“So it's not enough to walk around the garden looking at letters,” Derek Bibb said. “We have to make a map.”

“Yes, I think so,” said Winston. “The letters and the paths.”

“Yikes,” said Mal, looking around.

They all contemplated the difficulty of the task ahead, and then Penrose clapped sharply. “Well. The best way to start is to start, wouldn't you say?”

“Maybe we should split up,” Jake said.

“Exactly what I was going to suggest,” said Derek. “We can head off in various directions, then meet back here. Or at the entrance. Yes, let's meet back at the garden entrance in fifteen minutes and compare notes.”

There were five of them and only three paths out of the clearing, so they broke into smaller groups: Derek went off on his own, Jake and Mal went another way, and Penrose and Winston took the third path.

“So, what were your friends talking about?” Penrose asked as they walked. “Something about not wanting to solve puzzles anymore? That's hard to believe.”

Winston didn't want to get into it all over again—the trouble with his teachers, missing out on Adventureland—so he said, “I don't know. I guess I wondered what it would be like to do something different.”

“Like what?”

“Well . . . ,” Winston said. That was the problem, wasn't it? He had no idea.

Penrose saw the blankness on Winston's face and smiled. “I think you might wait to give up your passion until something comes along to replace it. My opinion is, you can't wake up one morning and decide to become a stamp collector. Or a gardener!” he said, sweeping an arm at the greenery around them. “You have to
want
to do these things, on a deeper level.” He made an old, wrinkled fist and tapped himself several times below his rib cage.

“I guess that's true,” Winston said. Right at the moment, he wasn't sure what he wanted.

They walked through a few clearings, and Winston carefully noted down the letters and the paths. Penrose then said he was getting tired, and he would meet Winston back at the garden entrance. “I'm glad we are working on something together, Winston,” he said. “I was hoping we would before the weekend was over.” He shuffled off.

Winston could now go a lot faster, and did. He got interested looks—
what is he up to?
—from Gerard and Kimberly as he raced past them, trying to run and write in his notebook at the same time. Whether or not he'd be solving puzzles tomorrow, he was certainly enjoying this one right now. He didn't get to cover every path, but he did pretty well, and he arrived back at the garden entrance with a good idea of how the map would work.

The brats were there, being reprimanded—not by their mother but by Derek. His lecture this time was not about theater, but about manners. The boys, downcast, were sitting on one of the benches, their hands and faces covered in dirt. They'd been having a dirt fight—throwing clumps of soil from the two large flowerpots at each other. One of the two orchids was leaning to the side, fainting in slow motion. Penrose sat on the other bench, shaking his head in disbelief.

Betty came running out of the garden. “Oh, no!” she said. “I stepped away for less than five minutes . . . ! I'm so sorry.” She looked at the damaged orchid and seemed almost about to cry. Then she rounded on her boys. “Didn't I ask you to behave? Can't I leave you for a minute? You get back to the house right now. We are getting you washed up, and when we get back home, the two of you are going to be
punished—
” She continued in this vein for some time, until both boys started crying. It was a relief when the three of them left for the house. Richard had insisted she come, sure, but how much game playing did Betty McGinley think she was going to do this weekend, with those two travel-size demons alongside her?

“What a shame,” Derek said of the fallen flower. He tried straightening it up, to no avail. Richard came out of the garden, looking concerned, and Winston saw his face fall when he saw the damaged orchid. “Betty's kids,” Derek said to him, and that was all the explanation Richard needed.

Richard prodded at the plant. “It's not uprooted, just tilting. It'll live until Freddie gets back on Monday. What a shame.” He turned to the few of them gathered there. “How are you all doing on this?”

“I think Winston here has us on the right track,” said Derek. “We shall see.”

Mal and Jake came running out of the garden, stopping just short of bowling over Richard. He stepped aside, laughing. “Now this is the sort of enthusiasm I was
hoping
to see from kids this weekend.”

“Betty's boys are certainly enthusiastic,” Derek replied.

“Yes,” Richard said, nodding at the dark joke. “Aren't they, though.” He was no longer comparing the brats' exuberance to himself at that age. “Excuse me, I'm going to see how the others are faring.” He disappeared back into the garden.

Mal and Jake and Winston grouped themselves together on the
grass, working and reworking their map. Derek came over and contributed his own notes. Winston scribbled, erased, scribbled some more, and soon they believed they had the whole map sketched out. They brought it over to the bench where Penrose was sitting, and together the five of them stared at it.

“This is somewhat larger than your example,” Derek said to Winston.

“Yeah,” Winston said. “But we know we're looking for three words, and the lengths of the words will be nine, eight, and six. And I think we have to start on the E.”

“The E?” Jake asked. “Why the E?”

“Do you remember? It was painted red instead of black, and had a big circle painted around it. I think that was another hint. That's the starting point.”

(Continue reading to see the answer to this puzzle.)

*   *   *

“Explosive!” Mal shouted, and again everybody jumped. “Sorry,” he said, sheepish, noticing their glares. “But that's nine letters, starting with E . . .”

“You can't make the word
explosive
,” Winston said, tracing it out on the map. “There's no way from the P to the L. And the only way from the O to the S is through the N.”

“Well, nuts.” Mal squinted again at the map.

“I like EX, anyway,” said Jake.

“So do I,” said Derek.

“E . . . X . . . P,” said Penrose.

“EXPO?” Winston said. “Or we can go back to the E again . . . EXPE . . . EXPENSIVE!” He traced it out. “EXPENSIVE works!”

Silence fell among the group again.

“PON . . . ?” Jake said.

“POT . . . ?” Winston said.