House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Escape/House of Pushes

Jared crept into Mr. Rainier's room while he wasn't there and shut the door behind himself quietly. Mr. Rainier didn't have that large of a room and many of his things were cramped together, but he seemed to make use of all the space that was given to him.

Jared headed over to the dresser where he found a few letters sprawled on top, a few pictures of what looked like family, and a tiny, handheld music box which was rusting at the edges. Jared found those things to be unimportant so he headed to the duffel bags located atop Mr. Rainier's mattress. There were three of them, and he unzipped one, finding a bunch of ancient artifacts and relics which he might have seen at some time in his life, but couldn't really tell what it meant. He was about to dig further until he heard footsteps approaching, so he zipped the bag up quickly and hid himself in the closet.

Mr. Rainier came inside and glanced around for a moment before heading over to the bags, lifting them up, and heading back out. Jared waited until it was clear to come out and eventually left the room himself, figuring those bags were important secrets of Rainier's, and he'd have to figure out where they were going.

~~~~~
Sarah led Lucille and Jonah out as they carried William. They heard footsteps marching around and then ascending the stairs. Sarah beckoned the others to dive behind the non-visible side of the desk which wouldn't provide very good cover if this guy came and walked around.

"I hope this child eats this stuff," the man muttered to himself audibly, crumpling some bag in his hand.

Sarah peaked up from the desk briefly to see the man typing something into his phone and shot her head back down. She didn't recognize the man, but his hair was reddish and unkempt which contrasted with the full formal suit of his.

"I'm about to do something stupid," she whispered to the others.

"Wait-" Lucille was too late to stop her.

Sarah jumped out into view, and the guy dropped both his phone and his bag of food. Sarah danced around, taunting him until he charged toward her.

"Guys, take him! Go!" Sarah yelled.

Jonah and Lucille grabbed William, attracting the man's attention who suddenly realized they were trying to make off with the very child he kidnapped. He headed toward them instead and was in reach of Lucille's shoulder. He grabbed onto the chain around her neck instead as she kept moving which came snapping off from around her neck.

She stopped in place and twisted her body around to see this man holding and marveling her Eye of Horus necklace.

"You..." he muttered, glancing up at Lucille.

Sarah suddenly came running in, leaping onto the man's shoulders, her arms hugging around her throat. Lucille dropped William's tied up feet for a moment to yank back her necklace as he was distracted by a child squirming on his back. They headed off to the balcony, straggling over the railing where they could've possibly plummeted to the ground floor.

"Sarah!" both Lucille and Jonah yelled.

Jonah set the rest of William down, and he and Lucille worked together to safely pull Sarah off the man's back, and by sudden reflex, Jonah pushed the man over the railing.

"Jonah!" Lucille screamed.

The three of them leaned over the railing to see that the man had fallen on his back and was now unconscious.

"He could be dead!" Lucille slapped at Jonah repeatedly to which he tried to shield himself.

Sarah pulled and held Lucille back. "He's moving, look. Just...Don't push any more people over railings, alright Jonah?"

Lucille slipped her Eye of Horus and its broken chain into her pocket. She and Jonah took hold of William again and followed Sarah down the stairs. Sarah stopped at the ground floor for a brief moment to take few pictures of the man's face.

"We're reporting him to the police?" Lucille inquired.

"No," Sarah shook her head, "we're keeping a photo of him so that if we come across anything-anything at all which we can link back to this man, we'll have an idea of who he is. And we won't forget his face."

"A ginger kidnapper," Jonah chimed-in. "That's just about all we know of him."

"Wait," Sarah paused before running back up the stairs and then returning hastily. She held up his phone. "We could know more."

~~~~~
Jared followed Mr. Rainier, stopping at the edge of the top stair to watch him continue towards the cellar. Mr, rainier unlocked the padlock with his own key and headed down with the bags, leaving the cellar slightly cracked. Jared debated between heading down there after him or just staying above ground, but decided the former would be the better option, not taking much time to think it through.

He slipped down there as well, diving out of sight and into the shadows while Mr. Rainier's back was turned where he was looking over the table.

Jared got a good sight of him brushing his hand over the robes which were now spread out on one side of the table. The book was set in the corner, and his duffel bags were set on the floor except for one which Mr. Rainier had brought up to occupy the table's available space.

He unzipped it and looked inside, nodding at its contents.

Jared heard him mutter something, something which he couldn't quite hear to the best quality, but it sounded akin to, "Forgive me."

Mr. Rainier headed back up and out of the cellar, and Jared heard him locking the padlock. Jared didn't think about the situation of getting out while he approached the table where Mr. Rainier just stood.

~~~~~
Eventually Sarah, Lucille, and Jonah returned back to Anubis house, and they set William up in Lucille and Sarah's room as to not startle Tyler by taking him in his own.

"Hopefully Tyler can get all these files onto my computer," Sarah stated, referring to the man's phone. "And then we'll just drop it back off around the gatehouse."

"We're going back there?" Jonah questioned. "The man has seen our faces!"

"And he won't see us again," Sarah declared. "We'll be discreet about it, or better yet, only one of us will go. Now I'm going down to see Tyler. If I see Jared along the way, I'll tell him to come up. Meanwhile, find a way to get William out of those ropes." Sarah grabbed her computer and was out the door.

~~~~~
And that is the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and here are some discussion questions.

Do you think they'll discover the man's identity?

How do you think the man knew where to find William?

What do you think Mr. Rainier wants forgiveness for?

Until next time, Aristocrats!