The Curse of the Osirians

House of Pendulums

"You can't tell me. Fine!" I complained.

"Hey," Poppy said suddenly coming up behind us.

"Hey, Poppy," I greeted.

"What are the flowers for?" She asked.

"They're from Jerome, you know his attempt at being romantic," I told her before walking off to find Nina and the others. They were in the drama studio working on learning the pendulum pattern.

I watched as Fabian called out letters of the alphabet and they hopped back and forth across a long bench.

"I did it!" Nina exclaimed as she made her way across. I gave her a thumbs up.

"Okay, Nina, now you be A. Patricia, your turn on B. Ready? Here we go," Fabian said as Patricia got up on the bench.

"What are you doing?" Mrs. Andrews asked as she walked in on us.

"Interpretive dance, miss. For drama," Alfie said quickly.

"And what are you interpreting?"

"It's an exploration into the cultural origins and influences of man's struggle against oppressive institutions. But if you have to ask, then obviously we're not doing it right. Five, six, seven, eight," Alfie said as he got on the bench and started doing a dance.

"Very well. Carry on," Mrs. Andrews said as I laughed.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Fabian asked.

"Don't know," he replied.

"That was amazing," I chuckled as Joy ran into the room.

"Hi, Fabian," she greeted before tugging on Patricia's arm. "Houston, we have a problem!" She hissed as we followed the girls out into the hallway to see Eddie passing out chocolate.

"Chocolate?" He asked me. I glanced at the box reading the label and grimaced. "Ew, no thanks!" I said. He smirked. And went back to asking other people.

"Chocolate. There you go. Enjoy, buddy. You need a chocolate. Mrs. Andrews, Mr.
Sweet, chocolate? They're fancy and french," he said as he sent me a wink. It was gross but I couldn't help but laugh as Patricia ran up to the teachers.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
What are you doing?" She gasped.

"Oh, I don't eat milk chocolate. Here," Eddie said offering the teachers the chocolate again.

"But they're a gift for him.I gave them to you," Patricia hissed and I realized she must have been trying to prank him only he had caught on and decided to retaliate.

"And a great one, and the sentiment is not lost on me, let me tell you," he told her as the teachers bit into their chocolate.

"Oh, my. What on earth?" Mrs. Andrews and Mr. Sweet said.

"You don't like?" Eddie laughed as Mrs. Andrews grabbed the box and read the label.

"Mealworms," she said in disgust.

"Beetle larvae?" Mr. Sweet quickly spat his out as they hurried out of the hallways.

"My mom made me take french class. I always thought it was pointless, but, boy, was I wrong?" Eddie said as he grinned at Patricia then sent me another smile before walking off. From the look on Patricia's face I could tell she was impressed.

*****

"I can't get that out of my head," Amber said as she hummed Fabian's song for the pendulums as we entered the study.