Level Five: Encounter with a Riddling Mushroom Dweller

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"You know, fog is generally representative of some sort of emotional myopia," that voice—that painfully familiar, water-over-rock voice said in Jenny's ear, "Do you suppose you've been short-sighted about your feelings lately?"

"You sound like a cross between a fortune teller and my English teacher," Jenny groaned.

There was a chuckle, and the arms pulled Jenny backward so that she was basically perched on someone's lap. Her legs dangled, so she could only assume they were seated on a tall chair—a throne, perhaps.

"Hey!" Jenny protested, squirming, but the arms held her still.

"Now, hush. I'm here to help. I only just found you, and I don't want you getting lost in that fog again."

Jenny quieted, though was already getting sick of being lectured by this...whoever it was. Jenny knew she should remember—she knew that voice—but her head was strangely clouded. Now that Jenny had noticed this, she realized her thought process had been off-kilter ever since she'd started chasing whoever was in that damned coat...the coat! Jenny had followed whoever was wearing it into this crazy place, so maybe she could follow it out.

"Hey, have you seen anybody in a white fur-coat? Possibly carrying a pocket watch?" Jenny asked the mystery person, not caring that both the question and her current situation were kind of ridiculous.

"I guess you could say he's been though here," the voice said thoughtfully.

"Great! Where is he now?" Jenny asked, happy to be getting an answer to many questions piling up in her head.

"I wouldn't worry about where he is, so much as who he is," came the cryptic response.

"I don't need a fortune cookie—I need directions!" Jenny chastised.

The person laughed at her impatience, and Jenny was once again stricken by deja vu.

"You sound so familiar," she said, squinting up at where the person's face should be, "let me see you."

"Well, I would, but you chose to Look—not to See," the voice said in an obviously false apologetic tone, "see what a difference semantics make?"

"Whatever. All these riddles are giving me a migraine," Jenny, thoroughly ticked off by Mr. Mystery's mocking, pushed herself up to leave. When her hands sunk into a soft, damp, spongey material, she stopped. "What are we sitting on?"

"A giant mushroom," the voice replied matter-of-factly.

"I'm not even surprised," Jenny sighed, then frowned. "Wait, whyam I not surprised? If I was sane, I'd be freaking out right now, but I'm not. My head is so messed up..."

That's understandable," the voice reassured her, "thinking can be strange in dreams."

"Is that what all this is?" Jenny asked, equal parts relieved and confused, "A dream?"

"Yes," the voice answered, "but it's also real."

Jenny rubbed her temples, "There's that 'Riddle Migraine' again..."

This earned another annoying chuckle.

"Here. Eat this," Jenny felt another hand drop something cool and squishy into her own—a piece of mushroom, no doubt, "It should clear things up a bit."

Jenny snorted. "Yeah, right. As if I'm really dumb enough to eat mushrooms given to me by cryptic, invisible strangers."

"Do what you wish," said stranger replied, "but don't blame me if you get lost again."

With that, the arms released their grip, and Jenny slipped out of the Mystery Man's lap and off the mushroom. She felt cobblestone beneath her hands and knees. She was on the path again, but she was also back in the fog. Well...you win some, you lose some, right?

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Level Five Complete