Macster - The Missing Links
Riddling Frog"Shhhh," Wolf said. "Doors. Come on!"
He pointed across the cellar to a pair of plain wooden doors. They hurried over to them, and Wolf set his hand on one of the iron rings before hesitating. Clearly he didn't know which door to choose.
A loud croak throbbed in the air behind them. Spinning around, Virginia spied a large male bullfrog sitting calmly on a stone block, eyes fixed on them. "One door leads to safety," it croaked. "One door leads to a horrible death."
She groaned inwardly. That ancient riddle of the two doors. The one that had always confused her as a little girl. And now they had to solve it to get in? And here she'd thought they'd managed to bypass the Queen's defenses and enter the castle unscathed.
Wolf hurried to the block and crouched in front of the frog, and she followed him. "I learned this in school, but I can never remember it!"
"You may ask me one question," the frog said without emotion. "But I always lie."
Virginia bit her lip, gnawing at the inside of her cheek as she cudgeled her brain for the convoluted answer. "If we ask him which door is the safe door..."
"...then he'll lie, and say it's the other one," Wolf finished.
"Is that it?"
"Or is it the other way around?" he whined.
"I don't know," she whimpered.
"Time's up," the frog said with a note of satisfaction.
Before either of them could attempt to solve the riddle, Tony tramped up behind her and glared down at the frog. "You know, I have a question. What is the point of having a door that has a horrible death behind it, huh?" He reached down and grabbed the frog with both hands.
"Get your hands off me!" it cried indignantly.
"What does that achieve?" Her father shook the frog and brought it close to his face as he yelled at it. Clearly he had become fed up with this world and its dangers and rules, and she didn't blame him. He turned and began to stride toward the two doors.
"What are you doing?" the frog demanded. It sounded frightened and worried now.
"I mean, what is the purpose of your life? Just to be a pain?" He stalked to the left-hand door and wrenched it open.
"Don't touch me there!" the frog snapped, sounding violated. "Only my girlfriend touches me there!"
Ignoring him, Tony hurled the frog as hard as he could into the darkness of the passageway beyond the door. Then he slammed it shut and turned back to them, wiping his hands at a job well done, or to get the frog's slimy residue off his skin.
Suddenly a scream echoed in the cellar, and a huge explosion rocked the passageway. Tony froze in place as a fireball slammed into the door, flames shooting out of the crack around it before completely ripping it free of its hinges.
Slowly her father turned around and stared behind him through the thick but dissipating smoke at the door, which now hung cracked and broken from the doorway. Then he looked back at Wolf and Virginia.
Wolf smirked and moved toward the right-hand door. "I guess it's the other one."
And Virginia began to laugh.
