Page 21 of Escaping Pirates
“Uh-huh,” he said. “Very clever, indeed.”
“Here’s another!” she said, emboldened. “What has tentacles, sparkles, and wears jewelry made from sea glass?”
Harlan stared at her. “I’m not sure you understand?—”
“A kraken at a ball!” she crowed.
Harlan slowly scratched the back of his head, eyebrows drawn into one long furrow.
“I’m not sure that qualifies as a riddle,” he said.
“It does! It’s very funny. Well, maybe you had to be there for it. It’s…it’s a metaphor as well.”
“I see. Clearly my intelligence pales in comparison to yours.”
Blossom blushed, just as I had done when Harlan had complimented me the evening before. Was I like Blossom? I fought down the urge to gag.
“You give me one now,” Blossom ordered.
Harlan considered her, then smiled faintly. “Okay.The more of me you take, the more you leave behind. What am I?”
Blossom blinked. “A…treasure map?”
“No.”
“Time!”
“No.”
Blossom frowned. “I don’t know.”
“Sugar?” Harlan asked. “Any guesses?”
“The more of me you take, the more you leave behind…” she repeated slowly, then her eyes brightened. “Kisses!”
“Not what I had in mind. Elena? Any ideas?”
“Footsteps?” I guessed.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Correct.”
Blossom frowned. “That one’s too abstract. And Elena can’t guess. She isn’t supposed to say anything,” she informed Harlan. “Do another riddle.”
“All right.I follow you closely but make not a sound. I dance on the wall yet am not truly bound. I vanish at night and flee from the flame. Without light or you, I have no name. What am I?”
Blossom looked genuinely stumped. “Is it…a bad smell?”
I bit my lip to avoid laughing.
“Good guess, but no,” Harlan said.
“A puppy?” Sugar asked.
“A puppy makes noise and wouldn’t vanish at night,” Harlan pointed out, then glanced my way.
Slowly, I looked behind me to where my shadow had been cast onto the wall and pointed to it.
Harlan gave me a tiny nod, then turned to the girls. “It’s a shadow.”
