By the time they arrived at Jebediah's Mystery Cabin there was already a small crowd of rickshaws parked around it and a line to get in stretching halfway down the block.

"Wow, word gets around fast, doesn't it?" Sarah said.

"This is why I told you idiots to keep it down," Max said with a scowl. "Now we're going to have to figure out a way to clear out this line. I suppose I could try the good old bomb threat, but that did get me banned from the water park. If I get myself banned from Jebediah's Mystery Cabin, too, I'm screwed."

"Well, we could just wait in line like everybody else," Sarah said.

"No, we can't! Don't these people realize they're hindering a very important investigation? Hmm, come to think of it that might be a good angle to go with. I'm glad I picked this thing up." He pulled a bullhorn out of some inner pocket, held it in front of his mouth and pointed it at the line of people. "Clear aside! Everyone clear aside! We are in the midst of a very important official investigation and your cooperation is appreciated. Please step aside and let us pass."

"I'm not sure how I feel about your methods," Sarah said.

"They work, don't they?" Max said. "Everyone is letting us walk right past them. Bobby wait here with the rickshaw. We shouldn't be in there too long and we'll most likely need a ride to the location of the next clue."

Dr. Octavius sent Maurice to walk down the length of the line and see if he could spot Pauline waiting in it while the rest of them went inside. A capybara in a beat up old brown hat greeted them at the entrance.

"Are you Jebediah?" Max asked.

"Indeed I am. Welcome to my Mystery Cabin! Goodness has there ever been a lot of business today. I don't usually get this many visitors in an entire year!"

"You haven't happened to see a young man who was behaving rather oddly, have you?" Dr. Octavius asked. "Perhaps more like a chicken?"

"No, can't say that I have," Jebediah said. "Of course everything behaves strangely inside the Mystery Cabin! Come inside and see how the floors and walls flaunt the laws of physics!"

"Yeah, yeah, let's skip past the educational stuff and just show us where the water flows uphill." Max pushed his way into the main room whereupon he immediately lost his balance on the extremely tilted floor. He hit the ground and then began rolling uphill. He smacked into the wall and then continued rolling up it until he was finally stopped by the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Danielle asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Something tells me we're in the right place." He tried to stand up, but was a little confused exactly which way "up" was and fell down again, once more smacking into the ceiling.

"Try stepping carefully down the wall," Jebediah called out to him.

"Okay," Max said as he stood up and immediately felt wobbly on his feet, attempted to overcorrect his balance by leaning back and then fell again, rolling once more into the ceiling. "Would one of you be so kind as to lend me a hand?"

"I think I've got the hang of it," Danielle said as she climbed up the tilted floor, placed her feet on the wall and walked straight up it to where Max was huddled in a ball on the ceiling. "Here give me your hand."

He reached up to grab it and rose unsteadily to his feet. As soon as he was upright he lost his sense of balance again and fell over, pulling Danielle down with him.

"I'm all right," Danielle said as she attempted to stand up. "I know which way is up." She proceeded to bump her head against the wall and fell down again, smashing Max further against the ceiling. "Okay, maybe I don't. How do you get down from here?"

"You could try jumping," Dr. Octavius said.

"On it," Max said as he staggered unsteadily to his feet and attempted to leap before he crashed into the wall and rolled back into the ceiling knocking Danielle over again who had just managed to stand up.

"I think this is exactly why I haven't been getting a lot of repeat business," Jebediah sighed. "Look, just position yourselves on the wall and inch your way down."

Max sat down right where the wall met the ceiling and slowly butt-scooched his way down until his feet made contact with the floor. Danielle followed his example and soon they were both standing unsteadily on the slanted floor.

"Try not to fall again, would you?" Dr. Octavius said. "Now, could you show us to this spot where water flows uphill? This seems interesting merely from a scientific standpoint if nothing else."

"Water would flow uphill right here, considering I rolled uphill," Max said. "Watch and learn, people." He grabbed a bottle of water from the little souvenir stand that was set up in the corner and poured it all over the floor where it flowed downhill.

"What?" Max sputtered. "Why is it doing that?"

"It's a mystery," Jebediah said. "That's why I call it the Mystery Cabin. By the way you owe me five strands of floss for that water bottle."

"Oh, sure. Pay the man, would you Sarah?"

Sarah grumbled something under her breath as she peeled off the floss and handed it to Jebediah.

"No, if you want to see where the water flows uphill, you'll need to head on into the next room. Just be sure to watch your step."

"Got it," Max said as he made his way carefully toward the doorway to the next room.

This time the floor slanted sharply in the opposite direction. There was also an elaborate canal carved into the floor where water indeed appeared to be flowing uphill.

"Well, this has got to be the right place. Everyone fan out and start looking for the clue!"

"I don't see any sign of Pauline here," Dr. Octavius said.

"That's because she's already been here, found the clue, solved it, and is on her way to the next one. We need to hurry. Especially since it looks like old Jebediah is already letting more people in. Hey! Hey! We're still in the middle of an official investigation here. This is very important. You people need to wait outside until I give the all clear."

"Wait, you didn't say this was an investigation," Jebediah said. "I thought you were tourists like everyone else."

"Do I look like a stupid tourist?" Max asked. "I have half a mind to charge you with reckless contempt of authority if you keep questioning me. Now get these people out of here. And maybe you ought to step outside also." He shoved Jebediah out the door and then pulled it shut and latched it. He nearly lost his balance again on the tilted floor but somehow managed to stay upright as he scurried back into the room with the canal. "Anybody find that clue yet?"

"We're looking," Sarah said. "There's some shelves on the walls where everything sticks to the underside and things fall off the top. But other than some souvenirs for this place there doesn't seem to be much on them."

"Have you studied these souvenirs carefully?" Max asked. "One of them could be a clue. Or have a clue hidden inside it." He grabbed a snow globe and attempted to smash it on the ground, but instead it floated out of his hand and thumped gently against the ceiling. "Does someone want to go up there and get that thing so I can attempt to smash it again?"

"I don't know how to get up there," Sarah said.

Dr. Octavius was studying the shelves. "I suppose you could just climb onto the top side of these shelves since everything on top falls. You'd probably fall right up to the ceiling. Don't ask me how to get back down again though. I haven't got a clue."

"Come on, Doc. Use your science skills to figure it out. That could be the clue to a huge fortune and we're just letting it lay there on the ceiling!"

"Isn't your theory that Pauline already discovered the clue and has moved on?" Sarah asked.

"Yes, didn't I already say that?"

"Then if the clue was hidden inside a souvenir, wouldn't it already be smashed? Either that or you're wrong and Pauline hasn't been here yet."

"Oh, she's been here. I detect the unmistakable scent of poultry."

"Um, that's probably me," they heard a voice calling from the other room. "Could I get a little help in here?"

"Maurice?" Sarah called out as she went back through the doorway and saw a chicken stuck in the corner where the wall met the ceiling.

"Yeah, it's me. I checked out the whole line. No sign of Pauline in my body. I came back to tell you guys but the front door was locked. Luckily I'm small enough to wiggle through the window. But then I lost my balance and rolled right up the wall. Do you think you could help me down?"

"Never mind that," Max shouted from the other room. "We don't have time for his nonsense. I already knew Pauline wasn't going to be standing in that line because as I've already told you, she's been here, found the clue and left. So he's just bringing us useless information. And now he's wasting our time asking us to get his clumsy ass down when we need to be searching for this clue! Seriously, watch your step, you moron."

"Well, I'm going to help him down," Sarah said. "You guys can keep looking. I think I've got the hang of it having watched you all fall up the wall several times." She carefully walked up the wall, grabbed Maurice and made her way back to the floor without falling.

"Showoff," Max muttered. "Nevermind, both of you get in here and help us look."

"Um, guys?" Danielle said.

"Not now, four-eyes," Max said. "We've got to find this clue. Save whatever uninteresting tourist observation you have about how crazy this place is for later."

"No, I think I found something."

"What? Where?"

"In the canal itself. Doesn't it look like there's writing on the bottom of it?"

"Let me see," Max said as he shoved Danielle aside. "I'll be damned. There is something written there. Let's see...

Number of room, number of legs, equal do they be

But if you wish to find the clue, you must ask for the key."

"Yeah, that sounds like a clue, all right," Sarah said. "Danielle did it again!"

"What are you talking about?" Max asked. "I'm the one who read it out loud. What are you giving her credit for?"

"I'm just happy I could be of some help," Danielle said.

"Yeah, well, it was only a matter of time before I had spotted that on my own

anyway, so thank you, but your extremely minor help was largely unnecessary. Plus, the real skill comes from solving these clues and I haven't seen you do that yet, lady. Speaking of which, does anybody have any idea what the hell this is talking about? Doc, you got any ideas?"

"No," Dr. Octavius said. "But it looks like we're about to have some company." He pointed out the crooked window on the wall.

Max looked out and saw a familiar looking purple vehicle come spinning down

the street causing the people in line to scatter in all directions. It came to a stop right in front of Jebediah's Mystery Cabin.

"Oh no, not this guy again. Well, at least we locked the front door. That ought to keep him out for a little bit."

There was a loud crackling sound and then the door blew inward off its hinges. The large figure in the purple robes had to duck a little as he came through the doorway before resuming his full height upon entering the front room.

"Uh, well at least he'll probably lose his balance on the tilted floor and fall up the walls just like did."

The figure waved his hands and suddenly levitated off the floor. He hovered a few inches above it and floated into the room with the canal. "You will tell me where the clue is."

"Clue? What clue? We're just here sightseeing."

The figure raised its arm forward with its palm facing up. Suddenly it clutched its hand into a fist and Max felt a sharp tightening sensation in his chest.

"Do not lie to me. Give me the clue."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, mister," Max said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, for God's sake, Max, just tell him where the clue is," Sarah said. "It's not worth dying over."

Max was about to argue with her but then the tightening sensation increased. He felt like he was about to pop. "All right, I'll tell you one thing though. The clue is definitely not in the canal."

"I did not ask you where the clue isn't," the figure said in its deep menacing voice. "Tell me where the clue is."

"What are you, stupid?" Max asked. "It's in the canal! Look, for God's sake! There's writing at the bottom of it."

The figure glanced over at the canal and studied it for a moment. Finally it opened up its hand and the crushing sensation in Max's chest immediately ceased. He collapsed to the floor, which he bounced off of and then fell straight into the wall on the opposite side of the room where he came to a rest.

The figure waved its other hand and the canal suddenly ripped out of the ground and began floating in the air, spilling water in every direction. The figure whirled around and floated out the front door, with the uprooted canal trailing after it as it got aboard its vehicle and took off down the street.

Jebediah poked his head through the front door and surveyed the damage. "What the hell have you people done to my Mystery Cabin? Someone's got to pay for this mess!"

"You'd better hope you've got yourself some good insurance," Max said. "Because this wasn't our fault. And something tells me that purple dude isn't going to pay out. In the meantime, anyone want to help me get off this wall?"