his spectacles when he saw Kate was only teasing him. Then he smiled and shrugged. “I had to go through twice.”
“So did Reynie. But he said there’s some kind of secret that gets you through faster. So why did it take you so long the second time?”
“It was a
little
faster,” Sticky protested. “Now what’s this secret you’re talking about?”
“The secret to getting through the maze,” Reynie said. “You know, the arrows.”
“Arrows? You mean the ones on those panels?”
Reynie gave Kate a look of amazement, but Kate replied, “Don’t look at me. I don’t know anything about arrows, remember? I took a shortcut.”
“That’s true,” he said. “Sticky, if you didn’t use the arrows, how did you get through?”
Sticky shuffled his feet and said, “I just kept trying one door after the other, until finally I found the staircase. It was sheer luck.”
“And you found it more quickly the second time? That’s the
really
lucky part, I guess.”
“Oh, no, that part was easy,” Sticky said. “I just remembered how I got through the first time: First I took a right, then a left, then straight ahead, then right, then right again, then left, then left again, then right, then straight ahead, and so on, until I came to the staircase. I didn’t have to waste time scratching my head over those panels, or worrying they were going to turn the lights off, or any of that stuff. I just hurried through exactly as I did before.”
“Exactly as you —,” Kate began, then just shook her head. “That’s incredible.”
Reynie laughed. “You did it the hard way, Sticky!”
“What’s the easy way?”
“Follow the wiggly arrows.”
“Oh,” Sticky said thoughtfully. “That would have been useful to know.”
The Trouble with Children Or, Why They Are Necessary
T heir supper was served in a cozy dining room with crowded bookshelves on every wall and a window overlooking the courtyard. Redbirds twittered in the elm tree outside the open window, a gentle breeze drifted into the room, and in general the children were in much better spirits, having passed the tests and at last having gotten some food in their bellies. Rhonda Kazembe had already brought them bowls of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, which they’d eagerly devoured; now she set out a great platter of fruit, and as the children reached happily for bananas and grapes and pears, she sat down and joined them.
“It’s all part of the test, you know. Being hungry and irritable. It’s important to see how you behave when other children are getting doughnuts and you’re getting nothing, and how well your mind works despite being tired and thirsty. You all did brilliantly, I must say. Just brilliantly.”
Sticky, who still felt sensitive about his performance in the maze, said, “I wouldn’t say I did brilliantly. I didn’t figure out the solution
or
find a shortcut, I just stumbled around like a twit.”
“You mustn’t belittle yourself,” Rhonda said. “I daresay very few people could have done what you did the second time through, retracing your steps so exactly. You made over a hundred turns!”
“I doubt I could have done it,” Reynie remarked.
“I
know
I couldn’t have,” said Kate through a mouthful of grapes.
Sticky ducked his head.
“Besides, you aren’t the only child ever to have trouble with the maze,” said Rhonda. “When I first went through it, I got terribly lost.”
“You got lost in the maze?” Sticky said. The others’ ears perked up.
“Oh, yes, several years ago, when I took these same tests. I thought I was very clever, because I knew right away that I was in a maze of identical rooms. I’ve often been able to sense such things. ‘Well,’ I thought to myself, ‘if every room has three exits, and I always take the exit to the right, then I’ll make my way around the house to the back in no time.’ Of course, Mr. Benedict had thought of that.”
“Who’s Mr. Benedict?”