House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Robes/House of Connections

Jared, Jonah, Lucille, and Sarah rushed to Anubis house following school, forgetting to update Tyler that they were heading down to the cellar early. Once they arrived, they took notice of Mr. Carroway standing in front of the door. He turned around toward them just as they were coming in and frowned at the sight of them.

The four students looked behind him and noticed a padlock on the cellar door.

"Wait, wait, what is that?" Jared pointed.

"I'm afraid the cellar is off limits. He squinted at them menacingly. "Just cautious measures to ensure you miscreants aren't wandering where you shouldn't."

He left their presence and headed up the stairs. They waited until he was in his office before they started complaining.

"This is unfair," Jared declared. "You don't think he knows we've been going down there, do you?"

"No matter," Sarah grinned. "I know a second entrance."

She lead them to the entrance through the disguised oven, which Lucille herself had no idea about. She placed her locket against it and opened the passage, and the four of them crawled through.

Lucille lead them down the steps but slowed her pace once she rounded the corner and noticed a cardboard box on the table in the cellar.

"Maybe he's trying to hide something," she muttered as the four of them gathered around it.

Sarah lifted up the flaps and inside there were seven folded robes, all made of silk. Six of them were of a silvery color and one was golden with a silver hem. Buried within the robes was also an ancient book within scarred binding. Sarah reached in to lift it up and opened to a random page and realized the entire book was compromised of a foreign language.

"Arabic maybe?" she asked, instinctively holding it out to Jared.

Jared wasn't able to identify or read any of it which suggested that it was something other than Arabic. Lucille caught sight of it and shook her head. "Th-that's Coptic."

"Okay, so you can automatically read a foreign language as well," Jonah stated. "What is Coptic exactly?"

"The language used in Ancient Egypt. Before Arabic took over," Lucille responded.

The book was still in Sarah's hand when it suddenly began glowing, and she dropped it back in the box as all four of them took a step away. They gradually leaned back in to see it flip to a certain page, and at the top, a piece of isolated text caught their interest.

"Wait, wait, that's Arabic," Jared pointed. He came to a sudden realization as did everyone else as he read it aloud, "'Deliver us and we shall deliver you'."

The four of them glanced around at eachother.

"Guys, that's the exact same thing the note to Carroway said," Jared emphasized.

"We know," Jonah nodded.

"This pizza parlor means business," Jared muttered.

"We should just...get past that wall in the tunnels," Lucille declared, shutting the book.

The others agreed and hopped on board and decided to continue on to the real task at hand. Whatever Mr. Carroway and his co-conspirators were up to would have to be investigated another time.

~~~~~
"Niamh. Niamh." William had been trailing Niamh back to Anubis house, trying to reconcile with her and get them back on a best friend basis.

He didn't know why she ended up reacting so angrily, but he understood that she had every right to, as she probably had her own reasons.

She entered Anubis house and slammed the door in his face but he opened it up himself and continued inside. She marched up the steps, but William grabbed her arm before she could go too far.

"Niamh, please give me a chance to explain," he pleaded.

"I thought we were friends, William," Niamh sighed.

William's face expressed the very sorrow he felt. And at the same time he felt that she might have been a tad bit overreacting, he still knew what he did was incredibly wrong.

"I know it doesn't seem like that big a deal, but it is to me," Niamh explained on her own behalf. "And now I just-I just don't know if I can trust you anymore."

William realized he was still holding onto Niamh and released her arm. She shrugged and headed up the stairs, and William stared longingly until she was out of sight. And it was then he realized he was once again alone.

~~~~~
Down in the tunnels, Lucille gripped the Eye of Horus in her hands, and Jared held the Wings of Isis. They pressed them into the wall at the same time, triggering the wall to fall forward and slam to the ground with a loud thump. They stepped through to the next room which held the next task.

The entire room appeared empty. The floor and walls were bare, and across the way was a passageway to lead them forward, but none of them risked crossing at that time. After a few moments, the next riddle played for them.

"Free our lady,
Our beginning of time,
With the heptad of the spear.
A blade to pierce the finest,
The goblet of a lioness,
And five rods of the sere."

"Does anyone else recognize-"

"-the first two lines of the riddle?" Sarah finished Lucille's words. "I think these tasks and riddles are starting to connect."

"Thinking back to the original riddle," Jonah began, "which spoke of Sekhmet, Ptah, and Nefertum...you guys don't think we're actually...unleashing them, do you?"

"Now that you mention it," Jared added, "Lucille and my vision did sort of, kind of mention awakening something."

"More than one something," Lucille corrected.

"Like maybe, three gods," Sarah muttered. "And our fourth task is for Sekhmet directly. And then eventually Ptah. And eventually Nefertum..."

"Maybe we should do some research before we try anything," Jonah suggested wisely. "Get to know who these gods really were to the Egyptians, what this riddle means, and what we've actually gotten ourselves into. Because to be honest, we don't even really know."

The four of them fell silent as they glanced around at eachother. They eventually decided they'd start to head back and get their research done to return to the tunnels once they absolutely understood the next task.

~~~~~
And that is the chapter for you all! Do you guys know what a heptad is? It would help in understanding the riddle, but you'll definitely figure it out soon enough anyway, if you don't. But aside from that, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Here are the discussion questions:

What do you think Mr. Carroway's robes and book are for?

Should Niamh forgive William?

And also, in these up and coming chapters, the Triad of Memphis will actually come to make sense. Because here on out, it'll be coming much more into play with the later course of events. But anyway, that's all for now. Until next time, Aristocrats!