Escape The Night (Joey Graceffa x Male!OC)

All Out War

Leo's POV

Me and the remaining others are sat on the sofas, reading out the description of the next owner we have to find.

"His name is Colin Wentworth, he's from New Haven, Connecticut, and fought in the Great War. He has the power to leave the house at any time, but he refuses to go out without the stash of German gold he recovered during the Blitzkrieg. Colin liked to move the gold daily, and one of his hiding spots was in a locked box. He kept the combination hidden in riddles, which he wrote down in a notebook."

So we're dealing with a gold-crazy war veteran? Sounds like heaps of fun.

"Why does everyone in the 1920s love riddles so much." Tim grumbles.
"I hate riddles." Oli says, annoyed.
I usually love riddles, but right now, I'm sick and tired of them.
"Something to do with the number of letters in the Answer." Joey deduces.
"So we need to find a safe and a notebook. Okay." I say, and get up to search the rooms all over again.

But before we even do anything, Eagle-eyes Oli spots the safe tucked up under a desk compartment. Damn dude. I help him lift it onto the table, and we all take a look at it.
"How many numbers is it this time?"
"Three."
"I'm assuming we'll find the code hidden in Colin's notebook?" I ask, "Since he likes riddles so much."
"Yeah, that's probably it."
"Let's go find the notebook then."

We start combing through all the bookshelves we can for any sign of a notebook, in every room - except one.
I realise this as me and Joey are looking around. "Joey, have we checked the study?"
He looks over at me. "No, I don't think so."
We head to the study. "I feel like a study would have a notebook in it, right?" Just as I say that, we walk in and see a small, spiral notebook sat on the desk.

"Wait, is this..." I pick it up.
"Is that it?"

I open it and see some riddles written inside.
"We've found it guys!" Joey shouts, and we go back to the others.
"You've got it?"
"Yeah we've got it."
"Where was it?" Ask Eva and Oli.
"In the study." I tell them, and they nod in realisation.

We reconvene at the safe and read the notebook. There are three riddles inside that we have to solve.

"It can be dropped from the tallest of buildings and survive, but drop it from the smallest ship and it won't."

I rack my brains to find the most logical answer, that's what riddles are about. If you think about it too much, you just get confused.
"I say paper, 'cause.."
Lele interrupts Tim. "I say feather."
"A feather?"
"I think it's paper too." I chime in, agreeing with Tim - paper doesn't survive in water.
Joey counts the letters in feather.
"F, E, A, T, H, E, R."
"That's 7." I say.
"I said paper 'cause when you put-"
"Okay let's put feather down." Lele interrupts Tim again.
"Chill." I roll my eyes at her energy. Joey then counts paper.
"Okay so paper, P, A, P, E, R. Okay so 5." We write down paper so we don't forget and we move to the next riddle.

"What is so delicate, that even mentioning it, breaks it?"

Oh this one's a classic. The others seem a bit stumped.
"That's really confusing."
"Love?"
"What is so delicate...like a blanket? That's delicate?"
"You wouldn't break a blanket."
"That's true."

"It's silence." I answer.

They all look at me. "If you mention the word 'silence', it breaks the silence." I explain. Their eyes widen.
"Oh yeah, silence."
"Yeah, like breaking the silence!"
"Nice one Lee!"
We spell out silence and count the number of letters. "S, I, L, E, N, C, E. 7" Tim says, and we write it down. Onto the final riddle.

"If you give me food I live, if you give me water I die."

There's a pause, then Lele answers. "Fire."
I look to Joey and he's considering it.
"No..." Eva says unsure.
"She's right, feeding a fire makes it larger, but water puts it out." I say, backing her up.
Then it clicks in Joey's mind. "Yes, you're right!"
Lele grins smugly and I laugh.
"So F, I, R, E. 4. The answer is 4."
"So it's 5, 7, 4, right?" I say, and Lele puts the numbers in the padlock.
"Oh!"
It unlocks!
"Yeah!"
"You got it, you got it."
She removes the padlock, and opens the box.