Trials Excerpt

“What’s the challenge?” Ben asked the warriors.

“One of us will tell the truth. The other was granted temporary permission to lie,” Letria said, winking. “You may ask one question and one question only. Choose wisely.”

There it was. Choose wisely. Uncle Henry’s favorite playlist. Ben couldn’t afford to mess up. Not this time. Not with his uncle and Calamar watching. The clock restarted.

“Eight minutes!”

“I know this puzzle!” Ben searched his entire 14-year-old database. He had a fifty-fifty chance of picking the right tunnel. If he chose the wrong one Aris and Bastet wouldn’t really hurt him, would they? I mean, he was a key, right? The team couldn’t open Safe Harbor’s mysterious Guardian doors without him.

“We are training your body, mind and warrior spirit,” Zadra said.

Ben took in a cleansing breath and closed his eyes to think. Letria had winked at him. Was that a clue?

He remembered an extra-credit classroom assignment from Sinking Ship, the nickname for his old school. He had guessed wrong the first time. If he asked “Which is the safe door?” they would point to different doors. The truthteller would show the real door and the other would lie. Same result if he asked “Which is the wrong door?”

Ben’s eyes sprang open again. He looked at the clock. Almost down to seven minutes.

THINK BEN!

The solution? It had seemed like such a weird choice at the time but—

Oh! Got it!

Panicked, he asked, “Which tunnel will the other warrior tell me leads to the cats?”

Grinning, both warriors pointed in the same direction. The cats roared in frustration as Ben sprinted forward.

“One minute time bonus.”

“Impressive performance,” a delegate shouted overhead. “I wager an additional fifty power cells!”

So far so good.