Decoding the Sphinx

Leo's thumb hovered over the Instagram notification. Another group selfie from the party he hadn't been invited to. His iPhone screen glowed in his dark room, illuminating the half-eaten spinach salad his mom had packed for lunch—because apparently, now that he'd turned fifteen, he needed to start caring about nutrition.

Whatever.

The real story wasn't happening on some crowded beach. It was happening in the alley behind the 7-Eleven, where someone had tagged a giant sphinx in neon spray paint. Same sphinx that had appeared in three other spots around school, each with a different riddle underneath.

"What seeks but cannot find, runs but has no legs?"

Leo had spent all weekend trying to crack it. His dad, currently sprawled on their couch dealing with another cable internet outage (third time this month), had just rolled his eyes when Leo asked for help. "You and your mystery nonsense, kid. Just ask Maya out already."

Because apparently, his dad believed in direct confrontation over ancient-Egyptian-style puzzle-solving.

Monday morning, Leo found himself at his locker, heart doing that stupid fluttery thing it always did when Maya was near. She was examining the sphinx tag on the gym door, her phone raised to take a photo.

"Weird, right?" she said, not looking up. "Like, what's the point?"

"Maybe it's not about the point," Leo heard himself say. "Maybe it's about the riddle."

Maya turned, and whoa, up close she had these tiny gold flecks in her brown eyes. "What riddle?"

Leo's mouth went dry. He quoted the line from memory, feeling incredibly stupid the whole time. But Maya's expression shifted from bored to intrigued.

"That's deep," she said. "You think whoever's doing this will post another one?"

"Maybe. I mean, if you're into that kind of mystery stuff."

"I am," Maya said, smiling. And somehow, standing there in the hallway between third and fourth period, while his dad was probably still arguing with the cable company and his spinach salad was wilting in his backpack, Leo felt like he'd already solved the biggest riddle of all.

Sometimes you don't need legs to run toward something. Sometimes you just need to stop seeking and start finding.

The sphinx graffiti was still there when he walked Maya to her next class, but the real mystery—how to talk to the girl he'd been crushing on since seventh grade—had finally been decoded.