The Sphinx's Riddle

Maya's phone screen glowed in the dark bedroom. 3% battery. She scrambled to find her charging cable, tangling herself in sheets like a frantic mummy. Her cat, Luna, watched with judgment from the windowsill.

"You think this is funny?" Maya muttered, finally plugging in the phone. "This is literally my entire life right now."

Tomorrow was the Advanced Art showcase. Her piece: a ceramic sphinx she'd spent three months perfecting. The sphinx had riddles etched around its base in gold leaf—questions about identity, about who you were versus who people wanted you to be.

Her older brother Jordan popped his head in. "Still obsessing? Just let it be, May. It's fire already."

"Easy for you to say," she groaned. "You're not the one whose entire emotional stability is wrapped in one clay sculpture."

"Want me to setup the whole feng shui thing?" he offered. "Vitamin D lamp, crystals, the works?"

Maya laughed despite herself. Jordan had started doing this thing where he'd create elaborate "energy pyramids" using whatever was on her desk—sketchbooks, soda cans, once even a half-empty vitamin bottle. He claimed it helped her "channel the creative vibes." She secretly loved it.

"Yeah, setup your little pyramid," she said. "But make it quick. I need to overthink in peace."

He built his masterpiece: her phone propped on her sketchbook, Luna's toy mouse on top, the vitamin bottle balancing everything. "Boom. Certified aesthetic."

Later that night, Maya stared at her sphinx. The riddles around its base seemed to mock her. *Who are you when no one's watching?* *What would you do if you couldn't fail?*

She realized she'd been answering everyone else's questions for so long—about college, about her art, about fitting in—that she'd forgotten how to ask her own.

The next morning, Maya placed her sphinx at the center of the exhibit. Students clustered around it, reading the riddles.

"So what's the answer?" someone asked.

Maya smiled, feeling something shift in her chest. "The riddle's not about having the right answer. It's about being brave enough to keep asking."

Her phone buzzed. Jordan had texted a photo of his pyramid setup: **Pyramid still holding down the creative fort. You got this.**

Maya took a breath. Whatever happened next, she was ready to figure it out—one question at a time.