Hieroglyphs of Ages

6: Ratheria 𓇽

"Under arrest?" I shouted in confusion. I thought Banshee was innocent. Why would he want to break the law? The officer explained, "Yes, Sir David Sterling 'Polyveiw' Banshee, you're under arrest for the stealing of an ancient artifact from the British Museum!"

"Stole?" I couldn't believe it. He saved our lives, and now he's accused of stealing! I started to trust him, and now I don't know if I can. As they started handcuffing him, Banshee spoke to me, "Chernoble, Ratheria!" "Ratheria?" I asked. What is a Ratheria? He said not another word, and he was gone. The officer had left and told us they were sending detectives to search the manor in one hour.

"Ratheria?" I kept saying to myself. I asked all his servants. They had no idea what it was. I did a little investigation of my own. I went to his bedroom, tearing through his stuff. I checked his enormous walk-in closet, the size of a regular room. I searched through all his neatly hung clothing. He had anywhere from fancy tuxedos to archeological suits. He had classy suade shoes, glorious black pants, several sets of canes, all black, except the last one was a polished mohagany brown. Each cane had a different topper made of gold (except the mahogany has a bronze falcon on top, go figure). Some canes had cat toppers, falcon toppers, lotus toppers, jackal toppers, all kinds of Egyptian styled toppers. I believe he even had a pair of black Hanes socks for each day of the year (except for February 29th). He had everything in its place.

I checked under the bed, nothing. I checked in his dressers and bedside counter. The dresser had as their placards dictate, three pairs of neatly folded shirts on the top dresser, three pants in the middle one, three pairs of, ugh, whitey tidies and a pair of socks for each. The counter had no clues there either. Just some important papers in its cubby area and a book titled Egyptology for the Modern Age.

Next, I went to the banquet room, kitchen, and library for the mysterious word of anything to lead me to the answer. In the banquet room, I checked the glass cabinet, counters, and dinner tables for it. Got nothing but a half eaten dinner roll the cleaners haven't gotten to yet, 'chew!' I haven't much luck in the kitchen either. There were just plates, silverware, and other things you would normally see in a kitchen. "Mmmm pie!" All this searching is making me hungry, so I stopped searching and had a small meal of turkey and ham, slathered with gravy, and mashed potatoes much the same. Obviously, I had three slices of their pumpkin pie, a slice of apple, and a slice of cherry. I skipped the pecan pie because I hate nuts. After my meal, I searched on.

"Ratheria, ratheria, ratheria!" I said as I searched the library top to bottom. There must be a reason he said that word. I checked every table and every shelf. "Mostly books." I thought disappointed. I had only twenty minutes left. Then I saw in the history section something quite peculiar. "Egyptology for the Modern Age?" I said out loud. Why would he have a second one of this and only one of everyone else.

I could say it's because it's his favorite subject if it was the only one, but he's an Egyptologist. Why wouldn't he have more than one.
A. The Decipherment of Egyptian Hieroglyphs
B. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt
C. The Book of the Dead
Just to name a few. So why is this book different. Why does he have one in his room and one here. Perhaps it's a clue, or perhaps it's a trap. I grabbed the book, and to my surprise, it was not a book at all. It was a control panel of some sort. I opened it up, and I saw the panel with two buttons, one red, one blue, and some screen looking thing. I pressed the blue button, and a robotic voice said: "Scanning scanning!"
A line of light (laser) shone at my face, and then my eyes and then, all of a sudden, opened a door behind the bookshelf. It was dark in there. You could barely see a couple of meters ahead. If it's a trap, if I'm gonna be a victim of an abduction ring, I'm sure not being very smart. I hesitated for a second or maybe a deci-second, but then I just walked right in there. As soon as I walked through, the door shut behind me, sealing my dark fate.