"Davi! I foun' you!" Adira shouted. "Look! I foun' Davi!"

"His name's not Davi!" Fraya protested. "It's Avvin!"

Zavid rubbed his face. "It doesn't matter. Adira, please tell me there's a way out of here."

"Always!" She pointed at what looked like a trap door. "Down."

Zavid searched for a while to find a way to open it, finally finding one. He pulled the handle, opening the trap door. Steps lead down into some lighted passage. With a sigh, he lead the little kids down the stairs. They walked down the passage for a bit, until they heard a woman say "And welcome to tonight's trivia show!"

Sphinx. Of course. "And here we have our contestants," she announced. "Zavid, Adira, Asher, Fraya, and Bree."

"Look," Zavid said. "We just want to get through here. Without anything in our way."

"Too bad," the sphinx retorted, an overzealous smile plastered on her face. "First question! What sport has you play with a black and white ball?"

"Soccer," Bree said. "Easy."

"Correct! I'll think of harder questions now. Now, Asher, what does your name mean?"

Asher hummed, when a thought popped into his head. "Happy one!" He giggled. "Did I get it?"

"You did!"

"Yay!"

"Fraya, what is a place that has a very large amount of ghosts?"

"Two, actually!" She squealed. "Camp and cemet'y."

"Precisely! Goodness, I'm making these questions too easy!" Her overly cheerful voice was starting to sound vaguely annoyed. "These last two questions are going to be difficult, so be prepared. First, who created this maze?"

Adira jumped up and down, waving her arms. "Ooh, ooh! Jossypheen, with help!"

The sphinx grinned. "Wro-" she froze, stiffening. "No, that's right! Argh!"

"Yay!"

"Not yay! Ugh!" Regaining her composure, she put on her cheesy smile again. "This is going to be the hardest. Zavid, you haven't answered yet. So this question is going to be for you! You'll never guess it! What...is my name?"

Zavid froze. That was an unfair question! When he didn't respond, the sphinx gave a dramatic laugh. "Zavid, I'm giving you thirty seconds to answer this question! What is my name?"

Thinking of a plan as quickly as he could, he stared her in the eye, and said, "Terrible, probably."

That caught her by surprise. Now with an opening, Zavid punched her square in the face, stunning her. Shifting into his manticore form, he had the kids climb on his back and then took off. The sphinx roared and chased after them. Zavid kicked up a rock, aiming it at her face. She yelped as it hit her. Before long, they had escaped her.

Seeing steps, Zavid raced up them, until they found themselves back on the beach again. The kids got off his back and he shifted back into his human form, grumbling, "Josephine, I swear."

~~o~~

"Our plan is working," Josephine murmured, observing Zavid from afar.

Askira scoffed. "We had a plan?"

"I f'eed you from a box! I woul' not have done that if I di'n't have a plan."

"You have a plan, but it not our plan."

"I have the autoritia!" Josephine snapped. "I can make your life bad!"

"Oh no, anything but that," Askira grumbled sarcastically. Josephine slapped the back of her head. "Ow!"

"Follow my plan!" She hissed.

"Fine."

"Good."

"So what's the plan?"

"We lure them into a trap...of snakes! Then, the snakes...eat them! Then we win."

"Where would we get snakes?"

Josephine makes a face. "I mess upped."

"Why don't we lure them over here?" Askira suggested. "Then, we ambush!"

"Ooh, yeah! We do that!"

~~o~~

"Help!" Came a child's scream, from a nearby hole in the sand. The team exchanged glances, then raced into the hole. "Help me!"

They stopped, looking around. "Wait..." Zavid murmured, narrowing his eyes. "There's no one..."

"It's an ambush!" Asher cried, too late. A swarm of little kids punched and kicked at them, until they were on the ground. They tied them up and then disappeared, leaving only Josephine and Askira.

"Haha! Victory!" Josephine cried. "We have won!"

Askira grabbed Zavid's backpack, digging around in it. She pulled out the dagger he had taken from her earlier. With a grin, she held the tip at his throat.

"Now," Josephine said, glaring at him. "Don't give us any more Legos," she demanded. "We want better toys and we want them now! So give us them, or else!"

His jaw dropped. "That's what this is about? Better toys?"

"Yes. Now give them to us!"

"You could have just asked! You put me through all this trouble - okay, Askira, can you put the dagger down so I can talk properly?"

"Do it," Josephine said. Grumbling, Askira threw it to the side. "Zavi," Josephine continued. "Zavi, Zavi, Zavi. You also put Askya in the box."

"I know."

"That was mean."

"No, it was-" he was interrupted by Fraya tackling Askira.

"That's what you get when you threaten Avvin!" The little girl shouted. She threw the dagger to Bree (had she cut the ropes that tied Bree or something?) and the other girl cut the ropes tying Zavid.

Zavid got to his feet, glaring down at Josephine, who stared up with wide eyes. Bree, Asher, and Adira tackled her. Getting the ropes out of his backpack, Zavid bent down and tied up Josephine and Askira.

"Finding kids is hard but capturing them isn't," he muttered, shaking his head. "Okay, I'm taking you back."

"No!" Josephine screeched.

"And making you prison cells."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Then I'm not giving you any toys."

"Noooooooooooooo!"

"Come on, you two."

He threw both of them over his shoulder and marched out of the hole, making sure his mini team was following him. "Right. You two are going in jail, then I'm going to go find the other ones that escaped."

As he took them back to the Big House, they kicked, screamed and punched, furious and crying.