House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Division/House of Make-ups

Sarah stood at the gatehouse, facing the white van which had just come along. Mr. Harvey stepped out, and Sarah wondered why he would be there. He, in fact, wondered the same thing.

"What're you doing here?" he asked upon seeing her.

Sarah didn't respond.

"If you don't speak up, I'll have to inform the headmaster of this."

"I-I was passing by, and I thought I heard something," Sarah lied as she held the phone behind her back. "I came to investigate, but I guess it's nothing."

"Come on, I'll take you back over to the school."

Sarah noticed Mr. Harvey glance toward the gatehouse door as he headed back to the driver's seat, expecting Sarah to come along to the passenger's. Sarah came around the van, and while he wasn't looking, she tossed the phone into the bushes before getting inside the van.

She showed up toward the middle of chemistry class and Ms. Staffer's lecture was interrupted by Sarah opening the door and Mr. Harvey peaking his head through the door. He beckoned Ms. Staffer out into the hallway while Sarah took her seat next to Lucille since William had already moved back by Rachel by then.

"What happened? What took you so long? How did Mr. Harvey find you?" Lucille whispered to Sarah.

Sarah told her she'd explain later.

~~~~~
Later on in the day, William was with Rachel in the hall when he spotted Niamh glancing over from a few feet away. Rachel took notice and followed his gaze, but when she asked about it, he dismissed it.

"Hey, come on, I know you two are supposed to be good friends," Rachel admitted as she rubbed William's arm. "It's kind of sad to see you two like this. What happened?"

William shrugged, not wanting to explain it all and relive the mistakes.

"I think you should talk to her," Rachel suggested.

"Are you sure?" William stalled. "You know...with us and-"

"-I trust you," Rachel smiled slightly. "Because I know you'd only mean it as friends, and if I didn't trust you-well then I wouldn't be a very good girlfriend."

"O-okay," William finally sighed in agreement. He headed straight over to Niamh who pretended not to notice his approach, but William knew her well enough by now to realize she wanted to talk to him as well. "I'm sorry."

Niamh looked at him and let out a casual sigh.

"It's not like me to invade in others' privacy, although it doesn't really look that way, does it?" William chuckled softly. "And whatever it was, I know is your business. But I want to be your friend, Niamh. I really want to be your friend. You're such a cool person."

"'Cool person'?" Niamh repeated.

"Yeah," William nodded. "And I'm not just saying that to flatter you."

Niamh smiled and rolled her eyes joyfully. "You had me at the word 'friend'."

William jumped slightly in cheerfulness. He was suddenly pulled away by the arm and realized it was Jared pulling him along with the rest of the Sibuna gang. They stood apart from anyone else, prepared for Sarah to explain what happened when she went to the gatehouse. Honestly, she didn't have much to say, but it did raise question as to why Mr. Harvey would've been going to the gatehouse.

"Mr. Harvey is sort of conspiring with Mr. Carroway and Mr. Owen," William informed. "They burned down the Frobisher library. While Niamh was in there."

"So while we've been looking into the mysteries in the tunnels, you've figured all this about the teachers?" Jared inferred. "Why didn't we add him sooner?"

"So...Mr. Carroway, Mr. Owen, Mr. Rainier, and Mr. Harvey are four of the assumingly seven members of some society with some book and they're trying to deliver something and they may possibly know of that mystery man in the gatehouse," Sarah summed up all in one breath. "Because we certainly need all these mysteries at once."

"Why don't we just divide the workload?" Lucille suggested. "There are five of us after all. So, Sarah and I can look into that mystery man, William can find out more about the society, and Jonah and Jared can look more into that riddle so we can solve the next task."

"Sarah and I have been stuck since the last time we read that riddle," Jonah stated honestly. "We know what it means, but...we don't know where to find the pieces."

"This might be completely wrong," Jared warned before proceeding, "but what if those pieces to the staff are in Mr. Rainier's bags? I mean, I saw them all down in the cellar and all the stuff looked pretty Egypt-y and old."

"'Egypt-y and old'," Jonah quoted his brother. "Because that's how you confirm things."

"Okay, shut up," Jared moaned.

"That's actually not a bad thought," Sarah admitted on behalf of Jared. "Check it out as soon as you can. Meanwhile, we'll stick to Lucille's plan. Sibuna?" She held her right hand over her eye.

Before the others could do the same, Jared practically shouted, "Oh wait!" He then quieted down. "I nearly forgot. I heard something in the cellar between Mr. Carroway and Mr. Rainier, and they know the Chosen One is either Sarah or Lucille."

"How do you forget that?" Lucille stressed.

Jared shrugged.

"Too much Niamh-time maybe?" Lucille found herself saying this before she thought it better not to.

"What?" Jared was clueless.

"Oh, so there is trouble in paradise," William commented on their relationship.

Lucille just decided to leave the group, and Sarah and William were the ones to go right after her. She had been pretty quick in her exit, but Sarah and William caught up with her and walked along either side of her.

"Hey, what's up?" Sarah asked. "You're normally not like this."

"Oh, really? Like what?" Lucille sighed.

"Sarcastic," William answered for Sarah. "And angry. And kind of mean. To Jared. Your boyfriend."

"She knows that much already," Sarah explained to William referring to the last couple of parts he decided to add.

"This is just-" Lucille began but hesitated a moment to decide her choice of words. She stopped walking and pulled Sarah and William over toward the wall. "You guys know this is my first boyfriend ever-"

"-first to score a date out of all three of us; I consider that an achievement." William applauded silently, fitting this in irrelevantly and inconveniently.

Lucille ignored that comment. "I just want to make sure Jared isn't seeing someone else, you know?"

"Well do you feel like he is?" Sarah inquired.

"I don't know," Lucille shrugged. "I overheard a few things with Niamh, but at the same time, I want to believe Jared wouldn't do that to me. He wouldn't, would he?"

"You might have to ask him that yourself." William advised.

~~~~~
And that is the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. For now, here are the discussion questions.

Who else do you think is part of the secret society? (Hint: I haven't introduced many other adults)

And as a bonus (which some of you have mention some times before) who is your most and least favorite character?

Until next time, Aristocrats!