Scent of Lavender: House of Anubis

And The Plot Thickens As They Say

"Fuck, I guess I'll do it" grumped Alfie, getting down on his knees to crawl into the chimney.

"Aren't you afraid of small spaces?"

"I'm afraid of everything" dismissed Alfie, with a casual shrug that he certainly did not feel. "My ancestors put their faith in me and I am not going to let them down".

Sucking in a deep breath, Alfie reached up to grab a sootstained brick and began the treacherous climb.

"You can do it Alfie!" encouraged Fabian, "just don't look down".

Of course, in a cruel twist of fate, that was just when Alfie's foot slipped and he hung precariously halfway up the chimney.

"What happened?" called Fabian seeing the falling cinders.

"You made me look down" grunted Alfie, doing his level best to not lash out at his friend, this was just his anxiety talking. Using his coping techniques from Dr. Delarosa, Alfie regained a hold on his fear and continued his climb.

A few moments later he spotted a spider web covered box placed in the opposite corner just above his current perch. "I think I see something"

"That's great! Can you get it?"

"I think so" muttered Alfie as he tried to shuffle across the chimney only to slip and hang only by his fingertips"

"Careful Alfie" scolded Fabian

"Trying" gritted back the boy. Clearly he wouldn't be able to scoot his way around the chimney, so he was going to have to jump the gap.

Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and lept. He hit the other side with a thud and quickly scrambled to gain a handhold. Dragging himself up the final few stones, Alfie grabbed the case which 'hopefully' contained whatever it is that his ancestors had wanted him to find.

"Coming down now" he warned before, dropping to the ground with a loud thud.

"Awesome work Alfie!" cheered Fabian, offering the boy a hand and helping him to his feet.

"Thanks mate, but let's agree to never have me do that again"

"Agreed" laughed Fabian as he examined the box Alfie had retrieved. "Now what do we have here?"

*Scent of Lavender - Scent of Lavender*

Elsewhere in the house Nina and Amber were cautiously making their way up the winding brick staircase of the gatehouse's lone tower room.

"Man, winding brick passageways... sound familiar Nina?" teased Amber.

"Hmmm, yeah my ancestors clearly had a favorite type of architecture" agreed Nina.

The pair reached the top of the stairs only to find a wooden door bolted shut with a large lock. Burnt into the door was a coiled cobra, its head raised and hood flared in warning. Nina's locket began to glow as she neared the door.

"Well good thing you never leave home without your necklace" joked Amber as the American girl pressed her locket into the lock causing the tumblers to turn and click before falling away. The eyes of the snake glowed bright red and the door swung open with an eerie creaking sound allowing the girls access to the hidden room.

Stepping over the threshold, the girls were immediately struck by an overwhelming wave of fear, their senses screaming that there was something VERY wrong with this space. The walls were lined with shelves and horrific sarcophagi, each with different animal heads. The pair inched into the room, playing it safe as they remembered the booby traps they had seen in the tunnels last year and had no desire to be cut in half.