House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Elements/House of Notes

Upon entering the next task room, another riddle was recited by the same disembodied figure. Jonah already had his phone out to record, expecting the riddle to come their way.

Some are made friends with fire,
And some with water,
Some with air,
And some with earth.
Some are made enemies with fire,
And some with water,
Some with air,
And some with earth.
And some with two or three of these,
And some of all.
Each soul accordingly,
While it is in its body,
Is weighted and constricted by these four.

Before them were four podiums, each with a square indentation at the surface, meant for something to be placed in each of them. A hieroglyph had also be etched onto the stone of each podium, perhaps explaining what they were. Lined around the room's perimeter were dozens of blocks, each with their own hieroglyph, each able to fit like a puzzle piece onto the podiums. But the Sibuna members were cautious before risking anything.

"We should be getting back now," Jonah declared. "We'll find out how to solve this later."

The five of them all headed back above ground to sleep for the night and solve the task another day.

~~~~~
The next day, Saturday, William and Rachel had to go over to the school for theater rehearsal, along with Niamh for the backstage crew. Niamh insisted that William wait for Rachel instead of avoiding her as that would only make it harder for them to work well together in the play. As they were waiting in the foyer, Niamh received a call, and she stepped outside to take it.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Niamh," the caller on the other end greeted disdainfully.

"I told you not to call me here."

"You go by my rules, Niamh. And I do whatever I want," the person retaliated with a stern yet calm nature. "I hope you received my text message earlier. And you better fulfill it."

"I already got it signed, and it'll be ready for you, but please-" Niamh glanced around although no one was there in her vicinity. "-just keep things on the down-low, alright?"

"Mm...I'll see you this parents' day."

The caller then hung up and Niamh put her phone away. She heaved a sigh and waited out on the porch until William and Rachel had finally come outside. They all headed to the school in silence, each for their own reasons.

~~~~~
Eventually Mr. Carroway had left the house for the day, as did Mr. Rainier, and all who were left in the house were the Sibuna members. Lucille had informed Jared to meet her privately in the kitchen, which he did, grinning at the sight of her.

"'Sup?" Jared greeted.

"So...that date last night?" Lucille phrased this as a question, more so requesting that they actually discuss it.

"That date last night," Jared repeated. "Yeah, so I was thinking, and I think maybe we'd just be better off as friends."

Lucille's heart dropped in that moment.

"Gotcha!"

Lucille slapped his arm as he started laughing.

"I'm kidding, silly," Jared admitted. "It's actually my way of asking you out. You know, like, the I-really-want-to-be-with-you thing. Because I really, really want to be with you."

"I knew it!" Sarah squealed, coming into view from just outside the kitchen. "I. Knew. It. Ooh, I better tell Jonah." She hurried back out.

"She gets like that sometimes," Lucille explained.

"I see."

The two of them went to find the others after their lovely moment, to devote some time toward the mystery at hand. Apparently Tyler and Jonah had spent some time researching as to what the riddle really meant towards the puzzle. All that they found was the importance of the four elements: air, water, fire, and earth to the ancient Egyptians, and how they believed all life was made of those four things, some creatures were created more valuable than others, hence why the last three lines were as follows: "Each soul accordingly, While it is in its body, Is weighted and constricted by these four."

"If it talks about how different life forms are more valuable than other life forms," Lucille began, "and there are four podiums...what if each podium represents an element, and we have to place the most valuable blocks within them?"

"That might be the solution," Jonah approved. "Tyler, what were the most valuable creatures for each element?"

Tyler went to typing to until he found just what they needed. He read them off as he read.

"Okay...for air it was the hawk. For water-the fish. For fire...salamanders. And for earth...it's snakes."

"Great, and all we have to do is translate that to hieroglyphics," Sarah concluded.

"I've got it covered," Tyler declared, placing the responsibility on himself. "We can get through this one on no time."

The others left him to it, and just as the four of them were leaving the room, Mr. Rainier was returning back to the house. He gave them a friendly smile and headed up the stairs. The four watched him and found him slipping into Mr. Carroway's office.

"What's he doing in Carroway's office when Carroway isn't here?" Jared muttered to the others.

"Well obviously he's trespassing," Jonah replied.

"Wait, so that means Carroway leaves his office unlocked?" Jared asked.

The four of them all retreated back out of sight as Mr. Rainier left the office, descended the staircase, and left back out of Anubis house.

"Come on," Jared told the others, leading them up to the caretaker office.

"That doesn't give us any right to trespass!" Lucille yell-whispered, even though no one was around to raise suspicion.

"I'd have to disagree and say it gives us every right to trespass," Jared admitted and made his way into the office.

"Aw, adorable disagreements; I love it!" Sarah squealed.

The three of them decided to follow Jared into the office, leaving the door cracked. A slip of paper was found folded on top of Mr. Carroway's desk, and Jonah was the first to pick it up. The others glanced over his shoulder, Jared to the right of him, and Sarah and Lucille to the left. He unfolded it and gave his best attempt to read what was written on the slip, which appeared to be a foreign language.

It read: نجنا , يجب إلينا أن نقدم لك

Jonah attempted sounding out being only slightly familiar with written Arabic: "N-naj-nuh-"

Jared cut him off and read it aloud for its English equivalent.

"Deliver us and we shall deliver you."

~~~~~
Hmm, strange things are happening. What they are exactly, you won't know just yet, but still, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter. For now, here are the discussion questions:

Should Niamh tell someone about that random caller?

What do you think that phrase on the slip of paper pertains to?

Until next time, Aristocrats!