The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey

adults would never let us go now — not even if Rhonda and Milligan came with us.”

“Of course not,” said Kate. “We’ll have to sneak out.”

“Oh boy,” said Sticky, who hadn’t thought about this yet. “If a Ten Man doesn’t kill me, my parents surely will.”

Reynie grimaced, imagining how Miss Perumal would react when she discovered he’d gone. He quickly forced the image out of his mind (just as, moments before, he had forced away the image of a Ten Man seizing him in some far-off place where no one could protect him).

“Are we agreed, then?” Kate asked.

“Agreed,” said Constance and Reynie.

Sticky let out a deep breath. “Agreed.”

Everyone looked at the envelope then, wondering where in the world — and into what unknown dangers — it was to take them.

The Journey Begins

Reynie opened the envelope, took out two sheets of stationery, and began to read:

Dear friends,

I greet you from afar! By now I trust you’re enjoying one another’s company again. I’m very pleased to think of it.

Rhonda will have given you a few details concerning your trip. The rest are these: She and Milligan shall accompany you, but you should think of them as passengers and yourselves as pilots. It is you who must solve the clues that will bring us together again for our celebration. I know you are more than up to the challenge, and I do look forward to hearing stories from your journey.

That journey begins here, where the four of you are gathered. Your first steps should be in the direction that the riddle on the following page takes you. May your adventures bring you closer together, even as they take you far from home.

Warm regards,

Mr. Benedict

For a short time the children sat in silence. Now that they’d been given a moment to reflect upon it, they were deeply moved by Mr. Benedict’s gesture. He’d gone to a great deal of trouble to offer them something special. Little had he known that his own fate was about to take such a terrible turn, or that his gift would lead the children into danger. He would never want them to put themselves at risk — least of all on his account — which was one reason they cared enough about him to do so.

“Are you ready?” Reynie asked finally.

The others murmured their assent, adopting expressions of concentration as Reynie read the riddle aloud:

“Looking for something? Open me.

I’m sure that your something inside of me lies.

Of course you can always find hope in me

(Though despair must come first; and later, surprise),

What’s sought, though, depends on the seeker —

One looks for bobbin; another, for beaker;

Others, for nature; still others, for nurture —

The quarry will vary from searcher to searcher.

And yet (I suspect this will strike you as strange),

My contents are set and will not ever change.

If you still cannot guess what I mean, here’s a clue:

The answer — what I mean — lies inside of me, too.”

“You must be kidding,” Kate said when Reynie had finished. “That’s the riddle? But it’s nonsense! Nothing can hold all those things!”

Reynie looked at her curiously. “It isn’t nonsense, Kate.”

“It’s impossible, is what it is,” said Constance, rolling her eyes. “I wouldn’t have thought I could feel angry at him — not right now — but did he really have to make it so hard? How are we supposed to help him?”

“It sounds like magic,” Sticky said in an awed tone. “After all, he wouldn’t give us an impossible riddle. Maybe the answer just seems impossible, but isn’t really! Like magic!”

Constance made a point of getting Sticky’s attention, then rolled her eyes again. “It isn’t magic, Sticky.”

Sticky glared at her. “Well, do you have a better idea? If it isn’t nonsense, and it isn’t impossible, and it isn’t magic —”

“It’s a dictionary,” Reynie said, standing up. “Now let’s go find it.”

When Kate had stopped smacking herself on the forehead; and Sticky had worked through the riddle aloud (“So ‘hope’ comes after ‘despair’ but before ‘surprise’ because the words are in alphabetical order! I get it!”); and Constance had rudely pointed out that the riddle had been solved already and didn’t require Sticky’s decoding; and Reynie had grabbed Sticky’s arm to prevent him from giving Constance a painful finger-thump on the head — when, in short, they were ready, the children developed their plan.