House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Blackmail/House of Proposals

By Monday, Rusk and Mr. Harvey had their plan fully devised. Towards the end of school, Mr. Harvey held Jared back in his classroom until most of the students headed off down the hall and Rusk walked right in.

"Before you say anything," Rusk began, holding up a hand to show Lucille's locket dangling from his clutch, "I have a proposal for you."

"What kind of proposal?"

"Well...if you get me some things...I'll give your precious Chosen One back."

"Isn't the whole point of her kidnapping because you need her for something? What makes you think I trust you?"

"Because I'm telling you to." Rusk paced a bit. "I'm using her for the ceremony of course, but afterwards, I'll have no use for her. Don't think I'll be so cowardly not to kill her. Because if you don't do this for me...you'll never see her again."

Jared shifted on his feet. He took a deep breath and said, "Okay. What do you need?"

"I need these two duffel bags. They contain pieces to the important objects I need. And I need this particular book, written in Arabic and Coptic - think you can do that?"

"With flying colors."

"Wonderful," Rusk remarked, flashing a smile. He also tossed the locket into Jared's hands. "Keep this as a little reminder. Bring the items to Mr. Harvey's place once you retrieve them."

He left the room and shortly after, Jared grabbed his bag to leave as well.

~~~~~
Tyler and Rachel were back to studying together at Anubis house when William walked in on them in the living room. He didn't say anything and just went into the kitchen as he had intended to do.

Niamh headed in shortly after, in search for him. She approached him in the kitchen and muttered her news to him.

"So, I'm getting some better living arrangements. Jared and I headed to a group home this weekend, and I did all the negotiating, and now they're working on all the legal informati-"

"-that's awesome!" William embraced Niamh in a hug.

"Not a hugger; not a hugger," Niamh complained as she pried him off.

"And Rusk will be out of your life?" William asked.

"Hopefully, I think so...I know you weren't so involved in this with me, but...thank you. For being a friend."

"Best friend," William corrected within a fake cough.

"William," Jared called from the door. He nodded for him to follow him out.

William dismissed himself from Niamh and followed Jared to his room where Jonah and Sarah were gathered as well. As William took a seat on the ground, Jared took the time to explain his encounter with Rusk and what he said.

"You're not going to do it, are you?" Sarah clarified.

"Do you guys not see the bigger picture here?" Jared asked rhetorically. "Am I actually the smart one?"

"If Rusk asked him to bring everything to Mr. Harvey's place, there's a chance Lucille might be kept there," Jonah figured.

Jared clapped his hands together. "And that is why we're twins. I can lead him on and find Lucille in the meantime."

"So what're you going to give to him?" Sarah asked.

"I was thinking we remove any of the remaining pieces from the bags which we need. Of course, the missing duffel bag has some of them and we can't yet get those. He doesn't know of the staffs we've constructed so far, so he won't be aware of the missing pieces. Then, I can also take the book but easily get it back once I get Lucille out of there."

"Wait, Rusk only asked for two bags," Jonah reiterated from Jared's encounter. "Wouldn't it make sense that he knows there's only two bags because he's stolen the other one?"

"And what if this doesn't go as planned?" William brought up.

"Well, I've got three more people to back me up."

~~~~~
Food was eventually brought down to Lucille on a tray. Rusk decided to take this moment to untie her arms and legs, but he put chains around her ankles which led from the wall so that she wouldn't get any "funny" ideas. After he left, Lucille emitted a glowing orb from her hand, one which she'd been practicing for the majority of time she was down there. She wasn't aware if it caused harm; she just used it for light. In the corner of the cellar, there was a black duffel bag, and Lucille could only assume it was the missing bag which Sibuna couldn't find in Anubis house's cellar.

She crawled as far as her chains would let her which was just far enough that she could stretch, reach out, and pull the duffel bag towards her. She made her way back up against the wall and kept one hand occupied with the orb while the other shifted through the bag and found certain pieces which would make part of the final staff and certain pieces which had no use at all.

She lifted the ankh out of the bag and was then tossed into a vision.

It showed her a more in depth visual of what William had explained to her and Sibuna a while ago about Mr. Rainier as the curator of a museum which he had burned down. It showed him in the museum just as they were closing up for the night, but Rusk had walked in, ignoring security. Mr. Rainier told them to excuse him and that he'd make this quick. They discussed certain things which Lucille couldn't hear, but she could easily assume it concerned the staff pieces.

The scene then changed to Mr. Rainier frantically stuffing artifacts into bags. A person walked into the museum, a person she distinctly recognized.

Mr. Rainier approached her with the duffel bags.

"If you do this, you'll lose everything," Nina admitted. "You'll have to start over."

"I'm quite ready for that," Mr. Rainier nodded. "Now I should get it going. I already have the police on the way, and if they catch me starting the fire myself, they'll certainly have something to say."

"Anubis house. The Secret Society. Are you really sure that's the path you want to take? You know if you do...the children will never trust you."

"If it means their protection, so be it...Now take these someplace I can find them. Goodbye, Nina."

He handed the bags off to Nina so that she could take them away, and he backed away into the center of the museum.

~~~~~
Well, that's a little more on Mr. Rainier. Hmm, maybe he's not a bad guy after all...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Here are the discussion questions, as usual:

Do you think Jared's plan will work as opposed to Rusk's?

Do you think Mr. Rainier is truly good or truly evil?

Until next time, Aristocrats!