"If he doesn't have a problem, I'll join gladly" I replied, getting up. She smiled at me "But, a warning. I suck at riddles and puzzles" I warned her, gently. She shrugged.
                          
"To be honest, I suck at them too... But, it's Malcolm's birthday and he likes all things that comes with thinking" she explained. I nodded and pulled my hand out.
                          
"Scott" I presented myself.
                          
"I'm Nyssa" she shook my hand.
                          
"So, shall we?"
                          
~oOo~
                          
While waiting for the girl to take us to our room, I chatted a little with Nyssa and Malcolm. They met in a summer camp, since both of them has dyslexia and something else. ADHD, I guess. I didn't quiet understood what, since I'm not good with acronyms.
                          
"Nyssa, Malcolm and Scott?" We heard our names being called, so we got up from our seats and followed the girl into a room. It was a typical safari tent, from the old movies, with things scattered around, like it's been a fight "OK, you're in a group expedition in the middle of Egypt" the girl started to tell us "Your mentor, Professor Tian, was last seen in this tent, but you haven't heard from him in the last twenty four hours... You only have fifteen minutes to solve the puzzle, find the key and get out of this tent, before the person or demon that took him, comes back for it..." she smirked at us, locking us in the room.
                          
The first thing I look for is a clock. She said we had fifteen minutes to solve the puzzles or we're getting stuck here. Luckily, Malcolm was already in motion.
                          
"Scott, can you turn those two sand clocks over there?" he asked me, pointing at a table where, as he said, two sand clocks were standing. One of them had 13 minutes, the other one, 11 minutes. I do as told and turned to them.
                          
"OK, what now?" I asked, not sure what to do.
                          
"You have to check them" Malcolm instructed me. I nodded, listening "Those are the only way to run the time, so, when the 11 clock is done, turning it over again" I nodded, again, a little upset. I didn't come here to check sand clocks!
                          
"But, what do we do now?" Nyssa turned to him, a little hysterical under pressure.
                          
"First, Nyssa... calm down. We've been in worst than this..." he pointed out to her. Nyssa breathed deep and calmed "Second, I think we need to start with the guy... what was his name?"
                          
"Um, Professor Tian" I told him.
                          
"Yes! Thanks, man!" he thanked me. I was taken aback, but I liked to be taking into account "OK, Tian sounds like is a mythological name..." I suddenly remembered it.
                          
"Isn't Tian the name of the Chinese Sky god or something?" I helpfully helped. Redundant, I know.
                          
"I'm not sure..." Nyssa admitted "We're more into greek and roman than chinese..."
                          
"Frank is gonna kill us one day" Malcolm chuckled to himself "OK, if Tian is a god, then, he wasn't kidnapped... Maybe he run away and the 'demon' is coming to get us" he used air quotation marks, sounding reasonable.
                          
"Then, let's find the damn key"
                          
~oOo~
                          
2 minutes left in the 11 minutes sand clock
                          
It looked like we (mostly Malcolm, but Nyssa and I helped him) are almost done figuring the where's the key to get out. We had to solve a puzzle about Paris (so many tiny pieces!) two riddles about science and now, Malcolm was reading a carton box, which appeared to have the last question to find the key.
                          
"Um, guys...?" I called them, impatient "The 11 sand clock is running out of sand!" I warned them.
                          
"I found it!" Malcolm shouted, happy.
                          
"You find the key?" Nyssa asked him, smiling.
                          
"Nope. I found the question" Cue to a whack in the arm by Nyssa "Ouch! Nyssa!" he whined at the end, rubbing his arm.
                          
"Guys, though we can have like... 6 more minutes, I wanna get out of here" I did fast math before saying the number.
                          
"OK, OK, you're right" Malcolm agreed "'In what scenario, 90 is larger than 100?'" After he read, he gave us a puzzled look.
                          
"In no scenario 90 is larger than 100!" Nyssa protested "I'd know, I'm a mechanic!"
                          
"It's not a measure, is not a weight... Urgh!!" Malcolm complained, grabbing his hair.
                          
"What if it time?" I proposed, desperate "Is not measure of height or weight... But what if it's a measure of time?"
                          
"But where would it be a measure of time?" Malcolm questioned me. I looked around the 'tent' and saw a few things out of place: two tiny chocolates and, what I never paid attention before, a microwave.
                          
"Why would it be a microwave in a tent, in the middle of the desert?" I answered him with another question, walking to the microwave.
                          
"Of course!" Nyssa understood what I was saying "Puck the smaller one! I bet the key is inside"
                          
"I'm lost" Malcolm admitted, while I placed the chocolate in the microwave. Nyssa laughed at him.
                          
"Look at the screen" she pointed to me, where I put 1'30".
                          
"We have 1 minutes and 30 seconds left of the first sand clock" Malcolm warned us.
                          
"Enough time to get the key" I relaxed, waiting for the microwave to make a sound. When it did, I opened it and saw a small bronze key inside or it.
                          
"We got it!!" Nyssa celebrated. I smirked and rushed to opened the door.
                          
"Free at last!!" I over reacted on purpose, making the other two laugh.
                          
"Congratulations!" the girl from before told us "You're the first ones out!"
                          
"Thanks, guys... I hope I didn't ruined your night" I apologized to them, since my friends were still trapped.
                          
"You didn't" Malcolm assured me hugging Nyssa from the side and waving while leaving. I sat back in the seats and sighed to myself.
                          
Did I mentioned how much I much I hate to be the third wheel?
                          
Or the fifth?
                          
Or, in this case, the seventh?
                          
----
                          
Wow, I'm done!!
                          
This chapter was long over due, so I wanna thank my fellow FanFiction writer, EmpessRey, for helping me with the puzzles and riddles (I know I just wrote two, but they based the entire shot)
                          
Next weekend would be Father's Day in Argentina, so I'd probably post the chapter a little late, but besides from that... nothing much.
                          
If you want me to write about a couple (friends/brothers/sisters/frenemies/lovely), just write me a comment or a PM and I'll add you to the list!!