Miss Van Helsing's self-righteous rant did not earn her any points in Declan's book. Clearly, she'd never actually had to fight for her life or she would have been a bit less gung-ho about it. At least Professor Darrow had stepped in before he'd been able to voice his scathing remark. Bickering just now, he reflected, likely wasn't a great idea. The sphinx seemed rather indifferent to the group's divided opinions. It seemed they were going to go along with it.

He'd stared blankly at the others once the riddle had been stated. Thankfully, Professor Darrow had come to the rescue once more. The others - much smarter than himself, he wasn't too proud to admit - agreed. He nodded tersely toward Professor Cramming, "Best get on with it."