Fairy Tale Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shed

The story begins, as Charlie Reade explains, before he met Mr. Bowditch. Instead, it begins when he was seven years old when his mother was killed on the bridge near his house, walking home from the convenience store on a rainy day. It drove his dad to alcoholism to cope, and over the next few years, Charlie had to go through his childhood and teen years making it work. Eventually, his father would get clean, going to AA with the help of a former coworker, and find success in his life and career. He never knew that Charlie prayed that his family would be okay, something Charlie would feel the need to atone for throughout his life.

When Charlie turns seventeen he comes to meet Mr. Howard Bowditch under awful circumstances, doing so when he hears the old man's dog howling from the back of his house at Pine and Sycamore (a house that locals would call the 'Psycho House'). Investigating, Charlie finds Bowditch's dog, Radar, barking for help; Mr. Bowditch had fallen off a ladder in his backyard, busted his hip, and broken his knee. As the EMTs arrive, Bowditch insists that the boy not snoop, though, after urgent agreement, he would allow Charlie to look after the old dog-- once in the evening and once in the morning.

After the first night, Charlie checks in on Bowditch at the hospital, repeating the process until the man comes home in a couple of weeks. On the first day, however, as Charlie puts the ladder back near the padlocked shed, he hears the noise of something moving around inside. He goes on to quit baseball, seeing this event as an opportunity to continue his atonement and planning to fix up the house for the ailing and elderly man. He offers to mow the lawn, getting a reminder that there's nothing in the locked shed, and the work quickly develops to becoming Bowditch's recovery plan, something Charlie is quite happy to help with.

Answer: Gold

Charlie gets to work fixing up the house for Bowditch's return and while he does, his father runs some checks on the man, just to make sure his son isn't doing work for someone dangerous. Interestingly, there's next to no record of Howard Bowditch. This said, when Bowditch offers to keep Charlie on retainer for his services, Charlie still says yes. It's in doing this that Charlie discovers the first of Bowditch's many secrets. Since Bowditch has to pay his hospital bill, Charlie is allowed into his safe to collect a quantity of gold pellets from a massive bucket. With these, he heads to a jewellery shop in town and pawns them off to Mr. Heinrich, receiving a massive cheque and bringing it to the hospital. Easy as that, Bowditch is able to head home, his stay paid in full.

Charlie soon falls into a regular routine as Mr. Bowditch begins his physiotherapy, slowly and painfully regaining the ability to walk. It's a good summer, but with the coming autumn, things change for the worse. After Charlie discovers Bowditch's prostate cancer diagnosis, Radar also shows signs of her age. Charlie convinces Bowditch to have a vet called in, and medication is prescribed for the dog's pain, even though she may not live the next few months.

In the news, Charlie discovers that Mr. Heinrich has been killed in a presumed mugging at his store. This doesn't worry Bowditch too much.

At the house, Charlie takes Radar for a walk when something tries to break out of the backyard shed. Bowditch, collecting the gun from his safe, goes inside the shed alone, fires his weapon, and returns from the scene, locking it back up without letting Charlie see.

A few days after this event, Charlie receives a phone call from Bowditch who, in an emergency, claims to be having a heart attack. EMTs are called in, but the man dies on the way to the hospital. In his last words to Charlie, over the phone, he insists that everything he'll need is under the bed upstairs. Charlie takes it upon himself to look after Radar and contact Bowditch's lawyer, and within another week, things change again.

Answer: A sundial

After the funeral, Charlie is in for the biggest shock yet as Bowditch's attorney indicates that the man left everything to Charlie-- the house, the whole property, the car, the dog-- and it leads him to believe that he needs to make good on his promise to keep it safe.

Unfortunately, there's an almost-immediate problem when he shows up at Pine and Sycamore to find the house raided. The only thing left untouched is the contents of the safe, still locked away. Charlie calls the police, but stops by across the road to see if Mrs. Richland, the neighbour, has seen anything weird. The only thing she notes is that someone came by looking to sell magazine subscriptions. Weirder still, he kept pretending to laugh with an odd 'Ha-Ha'.

Another thing left untouched is a tape found under Bowditch's bed, and when Charlie listens to it, it changes everything. Bowditch explains that he was born in 1894 as Adrian Bowditch, and he bought the land the shed was built on. The shed, he says, is older than the property. He encourages Charlie to go inside before coming back to finish the tape and, when he does, unlocking it with Bowditch's keys, he finds a massive, decomposing insect-- killed by Bowditch a couple weeks before-- and a hole in the floor about five feet across.

Bowditch, on the tape, explains that the hole is a well between worlds, and after stepping down into the darkness, he'll find a cave leading to an unsafe, but fantastic, Other world if he chooses to go there. The creatures within it can not breathe the air from our world, but it'll be invigorating for Charlie. He also recommends bringing Radar-- she's been before-- as it'll help her. There's a sundial device deep in the palace, and it's the secret to Bowditch's longevity; he used the sundial many years ago to return youthful, taking the name Howard when he did. If Charlie puts Radar on the sundial, he might be able to bring her back to youth and health, but he should not go on it himself.

Answer: Shoes

There's a coincidence in that as soon as Charlie discovers the contents of Bowditch's shed, his father needs to head to a work retreat for the better part of a week. Charlie, unsurprisingly, sets his focus on the sundial in the Other world, though he worries about the safety of Bowditch's house. As soon as his dad departs, he heads back to Bowditch's, leaving Radar at home, grabs the gun, and heads down into the well, following Howard's instructions to reach the end of the cave and emerge into a field of poppies.

It's not long before Charlie stumbles upon a cabin in the field ahead and there, a woman with an upsetting face emerges to meet him, speaking in an almost unrecognizable language. The woman alleges to know of Radar and Bowditch (though as Adrian) and communicates that her name is Dora. Since she appears to be friendly, Charlie returns the way he came, intending to come back to meet her again.

As Charlie climbs back into the real world, he's met by the man seen around the neighbourhood and held at gunpoint for the gold in Bowditch's safe. Not wanting to risk his life, Charlie brings the man inside and opens the vault, but it grants him the perfect opportunity, turning the tables by dodging the weapon, lunging at the smaller foe, and breaking his wrist. He's able to get a bit of information from the man, including the fact that his identification names him as Christopher Polley. Charlie breaks the man's other hand and sends him off, threatening him never to return.

It takes another day before Charlie brings Radar back to the Bowditch house, setting up an alibi for his whereabouts (claiming to head to Chicago) and having his friend, Andy, lock the house and the shed. With that, the boy and the dog return to Dora's in the Other world and enjoy a meal of rich stew. While she insists the dog rest at her house, Dora suggests that Charlie meet the Googir living nearby. It's when he heads down the road that he meets the intended person-- a Goose Girl, as she's found feeding the geese. Though the girl has no mouth with which to speak, he discovers that she has the uncanny ability to throw her voice, performing ventriloquism and welcoming him to the new world. It's through her that he starts his quest in earnest.

Answer: The Gray

Charlie meets three very important people along the route to the city and the first, Leah, tells him of the risk that lays ahead, bringing up the curse that has plagued not only her land, but her people. She lets him know that the sundial rests in a plaza in the back of the city's palace, and following Howard's initials (AB) along the trail will bring him there. He departs from Leah's, and Dora's, the next morning with a light cart and food for Radar, vowing to help both of them.

The trail is quiet, as Charlie finds, though he comes across refugees on more than one occasion, all of whom are affected by The Gray, causing their faces to be malformed. He's told he's headed to death if he's headed for the city. Along the way he also stumbles upon a dwarf-like figure by the name of Peterkin, threatening him for menacing the local wildlife. Peterkin makes an off-handed remark about the Night Soldiers, something Charlie would be wise to stay clear of.

Arriving next at Stephen Woodleigh's house, he finds this man, Leah's uncle, to be blind. Claiming to be a former Prince Regent, Stephen explains that truth about Leah and himself-- they were purged from their castle in the city and spared from The Gray, but instead lost one of their senses due to the oppressive magic of an evil being known as Flight Killer. He tells Charlie that in the city, he'll come across a giant by the name of Hana and the Night Soldiers, undead guards who oversee all within the walls. Before that, however, he has another day of travel before he meets the next family member in their line, Claudia, who lives closest to their former palace.

Advancing down Kingdom Road, Charlie is surprised when Claudia finds him instead. Claiming deafness as her fault, Claudia believes she knew of Charlie's arrival through a dream. She has him stay the night, but sends Charlie off with new information, urging him to stay in the gatehouse outside the city before entering in the morning at first bell. To enter, he'll use the name Leah of the Gallien-- the gates still open for her. He must be quiet when he's inside, following the AB initials, and ignore the voices of the dead, for they come from something worse. He will find a square with a dry fountain in it and a huge, yellow house with brown shutters and a path through it; this is Hana's house. He'll wait for the day's two bells before passing quickly through and coming across the sundial. He must run the sundial backwards-- running it forwards will kill Radar. And when he's done he must come back exactly the way he came or he'll get lost. If he doesn't get out of the city before dark he will never escape.

Answer: After the third bell

Charlie leaves Claudia's on her three-wheeler in the morning, heading straight to the city across a positively Eldritch landscape and setting up camp in the gatehouse. It's clear that Radar may not have much time left-- it's the next day or not at all.

When the gate opens, what Charlie and Radar find is a destroyed city overrun by debris and nature's attempts to regrow. Further, it's labyrinthian. The only way they can find their way is by following the ABs on notable landmarks, left behind by Howard decades ago. Eventually they find the dry fountain and, beyond that, Hana the giant's house. On second bell, the gargantuan creature heads inside to make lunch and, following Claudia's timeline, Charlie heads through the house without worry to find the sundial.

Placing Radar on the sundial isn't a problem, but turning back the device proves difficult as, once it gets momentum, it's almost too difficult to stop. But it does its job, magically turning back the clock for the dog and reverting her back to a younger form.

Charlie and Radar head back the way they came and the problems begin. As they pass through Hana's house once again, taking care not to be seen, they emerge on the other side to find that they can't locate the AB markers. Taking wrong turns, they come across Peterkin once again and he taunts them, claiming that the Night Soldiers will catch them before long. They chase him off, but it's a waste of their time in any case.

By the time three bells ring, signifying evening, Charlie and Radar are still lost off the trail. Charlie leaves the bike behind and makes a run for the gate with the dog keeping pace. They head through a graveyard as the sun descends, finding one of the reasons not to stay in the magical city when skeletons start rising from their tombs. They make it to Gallien Road, but a series of unearthly blue lights descend from the palace tower, chasing them all the way to the gate. Charlie yells Leah's name to open the doors, allowing Radar to get out while he tosses Howard's guns through the threshold, but he's captured at the last minute by a skeletal guard and knocked unconscious.

Answer: Thirty-two

When Charlie awakens he finds he's in a cell and comes to understand that he's in a dungeon in Deep Mareen, a fortress within Lilimar holding another thirty 'whole people', unaffected by the Gray.

While his fellow captives recommend that he pretend to be from the city of Ullum far to the north, he's brought before Lord Kellin, the leader of the Night Soldiers, to explain himself. Though Charlie is successful in being evasive about his true origin, Kellin doesn't believe his lies, forcing him to head back to the cells after a trip through The Belts. It could be worse-- Charlie could be enslaved.

Charlie learns a lot about Empis while he's locked away. For instance, his roommate, Hamey, lets him know that Flight Killer was the lost brother of the Galliens, Eldin, who came back from the Dark Well before the Gray was set upon the world. Most in the kingdom believe the rest of the Galliens to be dead, but Charlie knows better. When Charlie asks if Flight Killer is also known as Gogmagog, he's told to be quiet. It doesn't much matter -- something from deep within the city hears him and its noises sound through the dungeons.

The other key thing he learns, and the part that's most pertinent to him, is that the Night Soldiers are preparing for the upcoming Fair One, a tournament in which prisoners go head-to-head to the death for a chance to fight against Hana's daughter, Red Molly. Lord Kellin has been amassing thirty-two whole people to fight on Flight Killer's orders and Charlie is number thirty-one. At the same time, Charlie's fellow captors start to notice changes in the boy -- his hair goes golden over the days and his eyes shift from brown to hazel, potentially to blue. It's not long before the others start to believe he's the future prince and saviour, come to free them from the dungeons. A few days later, Pursey, who's been serving the prisoners their daily meals, leaves Charlie a note and claims there's a way out of Deep Maleen through the Officials' Room.

Before long, the thirty-second whole person, Cla, is brought to the dungeons and it appears he has a mean streak. Charlie dreams of Leah on the night before he's set to fight in the Fair One and he's reassured that he's faster than he thinks. It might not matter -- the next day when the prisoners are brought to the Team Room next to the arena, Charlie discovers he's in the last match-up; it's him against Cla for the waiting and eager audience, and they don't want him to win.

Answer: The Snab

The fights of the Fair One start with very little fanfare and within a few battles the reality of the event sets in. Some prisoners return almost immediately, leaving the dead, including Charlie's cellmate, Hamey, on the battleground. Charlie is begged to do something as the presumed promised prince, but he has his own fight to contend with. When the time finally comes for Charlie to face Cla in the arena, he comes to the epiphany he needed, understanding that his foe has no peripheral vision. Before Flight Killer and his consort, he's able to fell the brutish warrior by tactically staying out of his sight and climbing onto his back. Kellin, returning Charlie to the Team Room, suggests that next time he'll fight a friend instead of a rival. The others, discovering what has occurred, kneel before him before they return to their cells. They all agree they need to get out.

In the evening, Charlie is surprised by two keys to freedom, the first being a note from Pursey instructing him to check behind the tall cabinet in the Officials' Room and the second being a visit from the giant, red cricket he saved from Peterkin's hands. The cricket, who he later discovers is known as 'The Snab', the 'King of the Small Ones', bears a note from Claudia; she and others are prepared to help however they can.

When the second round falls upon the remaining prisoners, Charlie rallies the group and prepares them for his plan, using provided buckets of water as a weapon and dousing the skeletal guards with them, causing them to explode in an electrical burst. Through these means they're able to destroy half-a-dozen of Kellin's men and make it into the Officials' Room, locking themselves into the tunnel behind the cabinet and escaping Deep Maleen.

The tunnel leads to a trolley house on Gallien Road, and though the group is en route for an easy escape, the Night Soldiers and Red Molly emerge searching for the prisoners and Peterkin, ever the thorn in Charlie's side, alerts them to their whereabouts (getting himself killed in the process). Charlie is fortunate, however, that he stashed his backpack before being captured. He's able to retrieve his weapons and shoot Red Molly with Christopher Polley's gun, killing her in eight shots and expending the weapon. At the same time, the monarchs crest the city wall, killing all of the Night Soldiers and allowing Charlie to escape out the gates, reuniting with Radar, the Galliens, and a growing army of Grays as the doors to Lilimar close shut behind him.

Answer: The moons kiss

The night of Charlie's return, he joins the Galliens and a small contingent of former prisoners to discuss the matters at hand and, most importantly, Charlie is told he needs to lead the others to put an end to Flight Killer as he is Adrian's heir prince. Worse, this must be done before the two moons in the sky, Bella and Arabella, 'kiss'; they keep getting closer and closer to colliding, and on the day this happens, the Dark Well will open once again.

As Charlie is informed, Leah and Eldin (now Flight Killer), were close in their childhood but years of ridicule over his deformities led him to break down, causing him to lash out at Empis and cause The Gray. Eldin, now, is no more than a tool for a dangerous magic, and magic is hard to destroy. Leah will lead the assault on Lilimar as is her right as Queen of Empis, but Charlie might need to deal the final blow if she can't bring herself to kill her brother.

By morning, Charlie is followed by Iota, Jaya, Eris, and Radar, and with The Snab leading the way, they are brought before Leah, joining her before entering the city through a door in the trolley storage.

She only agrees to let Charlie join when she sees his striking, now-blue eyes, realizing he's the foretold prince. They form a pact; if she leads them to the Dark Well, Charlie will leave Eldin's fate to her.

The infiltration begins with a visit to Hana's house as the group follows her mourning cries through the city. Charlie fells her with little effort, firing Bowditch's .45 into her head as she retaliates. Passing by the mermaid's pool and the sundial, they enter the arena through the treasury, coming across the kitchen and determining that they need to save Pursey if he's still alive. Heading through the reception room of the palace, they ascend the spires and find their way to High Lord Kellin's chambers, attacking him in his slumber in retribution. Though they're able to kill him -- The Snab leading an army of rats to destroy the foe -- Iota is killed by a poisoned blade. The group later finds Pursey as well, missing a hand in one of the dungeons. Charlie sends Jaya back to the gates with Pursey under her care and the others continue onward, descending deeper than Deep Maleen.

Answer: Yes

The remaining members of the group descend into the tunnels below the palace's deepest tunnels, finding caverns filled with otherworldly light and emitting an unearthly, bone-deep thrumming. Eris flees back the way they came, unable to take the feeling, but Charlie, Leah, and Radar emerge into a vast chamber below, one big enough to appear to be another world altogether. Below, they reach Flight Killer's group near the Dark Well, and not a moment too soon as above them, projected into the sky, they witness the two moons of Empis colliding with one another, signifying the opening of the Dark Well.

As the lid of the well lifts from its place, Eldin appears to morph, revealing awful black tentacles below his robes as though he were the Cthulhu of this world. Leah, tearing open the hole in her throat, shouts for her brother to stop but Eldin responds that he can't as he's too far gone. She advances on him and, after a struggle, manages to stab him in the eye with her sword, ending his life as the creature in the Dark Well drags him in and emerges forth.

Charlie thinks fast, realizing that his fairy tale is like all the others. Knowing the being's name to be Gogmagog, he speaks as the prince of another world and commands it to return to its lair. Sure enough, this works, allowing the Dark Well to seal itself once again and stave off the beast. Though he, Leah, and Radar are spared a dark fate, Eldin's consort emerges and attacks Charlie, biting his arm and poisoning him before dying herself. There's little to do but head back the way they came, and with that, Charlie, Leah, and Radar are able, barely, to reunite with The Snab as he guides them back with a fleet of fireflies. They emerge into Lilimar as the clouds break, to find the others in the city walls. There, Charlie announces the death of Flight Killer, the closure of the Dark Well, and the return of Leah, Queen of the Gallien, before falling unconscious.

Safe back in the city, Charlie spends several weeks recovering from the poison bite. Seen over by Dora and Radar as the former begins to shake the effects of The Gray, he suffers from terrible dreams before they, too, fade away. Lilimar starts to heal and clean, and in his final days there, Leah suggests that he return to his world or else he may yet find he's not a fit for both. They say their goodbyes before he heads back the way he came, staying one last night at Dora's before taking Radar, grabbing a sledgehammer, and returning to his world.

Charlie makes it back to the shed and breaks through the locked door to find snow covering the ground and, shortly after, discovers he's been gone for four months. He returns home to the shocked relief of his father, who believed him missing. Fortunately, proving the truth of his disappearance is easy -- Charlie brings his father to Empis' cavern once the following week. It's the last time Charlie visits. In the coming year, they seal the well with steel and concrete, preventing anyone else from entering it, as he promised Bowditch he would.