First, just a box of rocks.
Neo had heard the saying dumber than a box of rocks before, but he was not sure that was what it had to be referring to. Maybe the shapeshifter was trying to tell him it looked rather useless?
Then, the words all change.
Scrambled letters were what first came to mind, like a word puzzle. It was obvious.
Punished so badly for how he talks,
That part made no sense whatsoever. Who was punishing who for how they talked? Was it referring to himself, and how he was so informal? That was doubtful, but he couldn't let go of any hints.
And the clue that's disarranged.
The last piece had to be just filler info. He couldn't think of anything else that it meant. As he wrote the words down, he glanced at Christopher's door. It was one in the morning - past time to get some rest. However, Neo hardly ever slept, able to go days without rest with no explanation on how or why.
He had the clues laid out in front of him. The obvious suggestion was that she was being held at Glo mine, but they already checked there. So he was stuck. He paused in his rambling thoughts, looking over the Welsh lettering. He could read Welsh, thanks to Fleur. De Cymru was, SouthernWales. Nantgarw must have been a village or town. Glo was coal. That meant the mine was a coal mine.
More hesitation. He glanced at the riddle, reading it over again. Figuring he was correct about the first line, it meant they were looked upon as useless. Perhaps the Welsh words? The next line - the letters, once nothing, were looked upon as hints. Then the third line. Some kids weren't allowed to speak Welsh in schools, so that meant the clue was Welsh.
The last line. The clue that was disarranged… was it in the wrong place? Or was he looking at the wrong words? He looked at the newspaper clipping. The red arrows… of course. They were pointing at Glo mines, De Cymru, crossing out Nantgarw, and circling back around to one thing. Glo Factory.
Neo smiled, laughing light as he ran his fingers through his hair. He stood up, about to run to Christopher's room and inform him of their new lead, but paused. Christopher was being slow and patient about the whole situation, but Neo knew better. They were running out of time. Quilliene was running out of time.
He was doubtful Christopher would listen to him anyway when he would try to explain the clue. Pulling his gloves down to his wrists, he swept up the papers in a pile, then paused. Best to leave them if Christopher wanted to figure it out for himself. Then, he simply walked out the door.
He had to find the queen, with or without the prince - and he had to do it as soon as possible.