[https://cdn.substack.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe5d582ef-d63e-40a7-b953-3f0a1c5f4b1d_1890x1417.png]

> “Then the English sailed four ships into the harbor and took it from us. We crushed their navy in response, but let them keep the island anyway in exchange for some nutmeg trees halfway around the world. You tell me who got the better deal.”

I read too many stories growing up about naive would-be heroes, who think they can outwit a demigod or a mischievous dwarf or some other creature but only end up indebted and forced into their service. Even knowing that, I still agreed to Polly’s terms.

“Ooh, I like your style, Jade. Most people would at least ask what the favor is first before agreeing, but you’re bold. Anyway, here we go.”

I didn’t think it was possible, but Polly’s hands moved even faster this time and I could barely keep up as the shells whirled around and around. I tried looking at her hands and the shells at the same time to keep track, but it was no use, and I resigned myself to owing this little girl what was hopefully a minor favor, like pretending to be her older sister to get her out of school early. As the shells slowed though, I noticed a new pattern in her hands. I could still see the extra exertion in one hand, but as the shells swapped places, so too did the tell. It was as if she was throwing the ball between shells, the receiving hand straining just a bit as the other hand relaxed. I watched the pattern repeat itself until finally Polly stopped and the shells were displayed in front of me to choose.

“The middle one,” I said.

Polly’s cheerful demeanor faded in an instant, as she uncovered the shell to reveal the ball.

“Well, I’ll be darned. You won. I don’t believe it.”

I smiled.

“Neither do I. Now pay up, please.”

Polly bent down to dig something out of her backpack and then set two iron tokens on the box.

“Where are the other two?”

“See, the thing is, I never expected you to win the double-or-nothing and so I don’t have the other two.”

“Well then, I think that you are now in the position of owing me a favor.”

Polly frowned.

“I don’t give out favors willy nilly, especially not for this small a debt. Come back here tomorrow and I’ll have your tokens.”

“No, I don’t think so. How about this: I’ll forgive the debt, but after you show me how your little game works, I get to ask you one question and you have to answer it truthfully.”

We stared at each other while Polly considered my offer. Several times she opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, only to stop short. I was half-expecting a lucrative offer to play the game again, but I think she was scared that I had actually deduced the secret. Finally, she sighed and started flipping over the shells.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“The thing about you noobs-you’re a noob, aren’t you?-is that you think this is all a game out of some Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale. Well, it’s not. And ordinarily, there’s no way I’d agree to answer your question. But I’m a Janssen and we keep our word. Plus, I still can’t believe you won, so I’ll indulge you. Now, watch closely.”

Polly tapped the two outer shells together, and then took the ball and dropped it in the left shell. She stood back with her hands in her pockets. I bent forward and looked into it, only to find nothing there.

“Try the right one,” said Polly.

I looked in that one and there was the ball.

“But, you didn’t … how?”

“Watch again.” Polly took the ball out of the right shell, tapped the center and right shells together, and then put the ball back in the right shell. I peered into the right shell and it was now empty. Instead, the middle one held the ball.

“It’s some sort of false bottom, right? You tap the shells together to open it?”

Polly shook her head.

“Any ol’ person could do that, Jade. You should know better than… oh. I see.”

“What?”

“What level are you?”

“Umm, err.”

I didn’t want to admit that the girl was right and that I was a noob. Nothing was more embarrassing than being that player who had no idea what they’re doing and who stumbled around like a fool, playing the game so poorly that their own teammates try to off them so they didn’t get in the way. But I knew so little as it was and if I tried to pass myself off as someone more experienced, I was certain that Polly would not tell me anything at all.

“So, I’m about to be level two, once you give me the tokens. I’ve only been Questing for a few weeks though.”

Polly hit her forehead with her palm.

“Unbelievable. Lost to a friggin’ baby noob.” The girl shook her head, and a look of disgust formed on her face. “Look, I’m still going to show you how the trick actually works, but just tell me how you won. Tell me it was blind luck and I’ll sleep a little better tonight.”

I told her how I noticed the muscles in her hand flex and relax as the ball moved from one shell to the other and she nodded, a slight smile on her face.

“All right, I’m sorry I called you a noob. You clearly have some clue what you’re doing and next time I do this, I definitely need to wear gloves. And, you’re not entirely wrong about the false bottom. But, there’s only one ball. Here, hold these.”

Polly handed me the middle and right shells after fishing the ball out first. I looked inside them but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Tap them together.”

I did, and felt a tingling sensation in my hands, as if the shells were now connected with an invisible tether.

“Now, here comes the important part.”

Polly flicked the ball into middle shell with a graceful throw and I caught it, only it never arrived at the bottom of the shell. Instead, I looked down into the right shell to see the ball rolling lazily around the bottom.

“Impossible. How … you couldn’t have … I mean, I saw the ball go into the middle shell.”

I held the shells in my hand, the tension between them gone. Without asking first, I quickly tapped them together, and the tension returned but just as quickly faded.

“Look in the middle shell again.”

I did and there was the ball. I tapped them together again and the ball went to the other shell. To an outside observer, I must have looked like a crazy person, tapping shells together next to a middle schooler.

“You done or do you want to wear a hole in them? Those weren’t cheap, you know.”

I handed the shells back to Polly, who put them back on the box.

“I give up,” I said. “How does it work?”

“Well,” said Polly, “not sure I should actually be telling you, given your level. I mean, the Council came up with those for a reason. But, a promise is a promise, I guess.”

She turned the shells on their side so the insides faced me, and then tapped two of them together. The formerly opaque bottoms had changed somehow, a silvery circle in their place.

“Promise you won’t scream?” she asked me. I nodded quickly, not wanting to miss out on what she was about to show me.

“OK then. Stick your finger in one all the way to the bottom.”

I stuck my index finger into the bottom of one shell, only to see it emerge from the other one several inches away. As if not believing what I was seeing, my brain told my finger to move, and the floating finger tip obliged.

I broke my promise and screamed.

Next: Jen leaves Times Square with more questions than answers, but with a new Quest in tow.