House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Frauds/House of Staffs

Lucille, Jared, Sarah, Jonah, William, and Niamh stood together in the living room that evening, hearing as people came into the house, one after another, and wait together in the foyer. Mr. Rainier eventually slipped in to see them.

"Before they head into the cellar, you should all make it into Frobisher's study."

Sarah, Lucille, Jared, and Jonah agreed with that. Jonah handed the book to Mr. Rainier, which he would need, and he held onto the bag which they were using to hold all of Ptah's staff pieces. William decided he'd stay with Niamh to make sure she was safe even though she still had the gun tucked away on her person.

"Why don't you head down with us?" Sarah asked William. "Then you can find somewhere to hide before they get down there."

William nodded. Niamh stayed with Mr. Rainier and watched as the others headed into the kitchen to crawl through the bread oven.

Down in the cellar William decided to hide under the stairs just as he and Jared had once before, where it was conveniently shaded and an unlikely place for the Society members to search.

The other four went into the Frobisher study and waited there until they were certain Niamh and the Society were coming down.

"Is anyone else like...really nervous?" Jared asked. "I mean, the world could potentially end, and there's so many things I haven't done like dye Jonah's hair in his sleep."

"You've done that four times actually," Jonah sighed.

"Shh, shh," Sarah hushed them as she peered through the hole to see all the people heading into the cellar. Mr. Owen, Mr. Carroway, Mr. Harvey, Ms. Staffer, Mr. Duval, Mr. Rainier, the unknown member, and Niamh.

"Let's go," Sarah nodded to the others.

They headed through the tunnels until they were back in the final room, the words still written on either side of the wall, spelling out their potential fates. They each read, as alternate endings to the same riddle, "-will grant you redemption" and "-will flood this world in crimson".

Jonah took the pieces out of the bag, connecting each part until the ankh was finally pieced on top and everyone held their breaths. Not that anything should've happened, but they were all very tense.

Lucille grabbed the staff and went to the slot on the center of the room. Jared held onto it as well and together, they pushed it into the slot and twisted it until it clicked and stopped, triggering the wall in between the two phrases to slide away to the left and reveal the three indentations for each of the staffs, most identifiable by the shapes at the top of each.

Jonah and Sarah agreed to go back for the other staffs.

"If we survive this, what are you going to do?" Lucille asked Jared as they waited.

"Throw a huge party," Jared responded, completing the emphasis with a big hand gesture. "And rub it in the Society's face."

Lucille chuckled.

"And what will you do?"

Lucille shrugged. "Go to that party, I guess."

Sarah and Jonah came back, each with a staff in hand. Lucille pulled Ptah's staff up from the ground, and the four of them faced the wall.

~~~~~
William watched as each of the Society members slipped on their robes, Mr. Owen draped in the gold one, the others in the silver. Random artifacts were placed on the table by Mr. Rainier, and he opened the book to a certain page. Niamh stood on one side of the table, holding a flashlight toward the words so she could read them aloud, and Mr. Rainier stood on the opposite side of the table, prepared to pretend to connect the pieces together. Mr. Owen announced the beginning of the ritual, and the other six of them began circling around, reciting something in Arabic.

Mr. Rainier nodded to Niamh and she gazed down at the page not understanding any of what she was reading but doing her best to make convincing sounds. And the Society didn't stop her so she must've been doing a satisfactory-enough job.

William heard steps overhead and held his breath once he realized who had just entered the cellar. Niamh glanced over at him and nearly dropped the flashlight, and the ceremony ceased.

"This girl and this man-" he pointed a finger at Mr. Rainier, "-have conned you. You can carry on with your ceremony, but I can assure you, you will be getting nowhere anytime soon. My sister is not the real Chosen One."

"Sister?" Mr. Rainier repeated, glancing over at Niamh.

"The real Chosen One-what was her name? Lucille? Is probably with her group of friends now, piecing those staffs together. Those aren't even the real staff pieces," Rusk revealed, gesturing to the table this time. "I bet Niamh could tell you where they are."

Niamh dropped the flashlight and quickly reached for the gun, and a loud bang rang in everyone's ears all of sudden, stunning them for a moment, even Niamh herself. Luckily she had only fired straight up into the ceiling.

"Niamh, run!" William suddenly shouted coming from behind the stairs.

William took advantage of no one being able to see all that well by heading to the shelves and entering the code to head into the study and then the tunnels to alert the others. Meanwhile, Niamh dropped the gun and took off running up the steps before the others recuperated enough to follow her.

William went as fast as he could through the tunnels and arrived to the rest of Sibuna just as Lucille was about to set Ptah's staff into the wall.

"Guys, Rusk came. Niamh's in trouble," William alerted them even though he was out of breath.

They all turned around, and Lucille didn't finish fitting the staff in. Instead, it rested in her hand.

"Well where is she now?" Jared asked.

"She's run off," William informed them. "She had a bit of a head start ahead of them, so hopefully she's gotten away."

"Well we have to go make sure." Jared grabbed the other two staffs from the wall and rushed toward the doorway. He paused and turned back to the others. "Well come on!"

~~~~~
That's the chapter for you all! I think at this point, I'm just going to reserve all the discussion questions for that long list of inquiries I usually give at the end. So anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and until next time, Aristocrats!