Riddles in the Rain

Maya's golden retriever, Buster, nudged her leg with that wet-nose urgency that meant someone was at the door. She groaned, scrolling through her iPhone—a disaster zone of unanswered texts and left-on-read messages from the party she'd bailed on three hours ago.

"You're better off," she told Buster, who tilted his head like he understood everything and nothing at once.

Her phone buzzed. An unknown number: *You missed the riddle.*

Maya's heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did when Lucas—senior class president,Track MVP, walking lightning storm of a human—was involved. She'd spent all week building up the courage to talk to him at Skylar's party, only to freeze in the doorway and bolt like a scared rabbit.

Outside, thunder rattled her window. Rain drummed against the glass, a million tiny fingers demanding attention.

Another text: *The sphinx waits for no one.*

Maya stared at her screen. Lucas had made a Sphinx reference? Since when did the cool kids know Greek mythology?

She grabbed her hoodie and headed out into the storm, Buster trotting happily beside her like this was exactly what they'd planned. Rain plastered her hair to her face, but she didn't care. The sphinx riddle—what walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, three in the evening—had always been her favorite. The answer: a human, crawling, walking, then leaning on a cane.

The party was still going when she arrived, music thumping against her chest. Maya found Lucas on the porch, exactly where she knew he'd be.

"You came back," he said, surprised. Lightning flashed behind him, illuminating everything.

"You're really doing sphinx riddles now?" Maya asked, trying to sound chill and failing spectacularly.

Lucas shrugged, looking almost embarrassed. "I looked it up. After you left. Thought maybe..."

"Thought maybe what?"

"Thought maybe you'd appreciate it." He smiled, and Maya's stomach did that thing again. "You know what else walks on four legs, then two, then three?"

"A human," she said automatically.

"Wrong," Lucas said. "A dog. Then a teenager. Then an adult with bad knees."

Buster chose that moment to shake rainwater all over both of them, sending them into fits of laughter that drowned out the thunder.

"That's such bull," Maya said, grinning. "But I'll take it."

*FIN*