House of Anubis: Triad of Memphis

House of Halves/House of Squares

Tyler watched from the shadows as the Sibuna members approached a certain bookshelf and input a certain code just above it of four numbers. Tyler couldn't see what the code was from where he was standing, but he noticed the bookshelf slide to the right and reveal a secret study.

He seized the opportunity and just after the others stepped through and the passage was beginning to close, he ran and slipped through. The other four turned toward him.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah asked in disbelief.

"What is this?" Tyler interrogated, looking around the room. "A secret study or something? How do you have the code? And why are you down here?"

"Just go back upstairs-" Jonah began.

"-no. Or I'll tell Mr. Carroway you've been sneaking down to the cellar."

"He never said it was off limits," Jared glared. "Besides, the cellar is always unlocked. Every unlocked door is an open door."

"Says who?"

"Says me to you, now get out." Jared pushed him back toward the wall. "Jonah. Button." He called his brother's name so that he could press the button to open the passage and they could get rid of Tyler.

Tyler continued with his questions anyway. "What was that riddle for? Is there something down here? Are you four up to something?" He watched as Jonah pressed the button but refused to backed away. "What was that?"

"Just put all this behind you and forget about it, Tyler," Sarah warned. "And don't tell a soul."

Jared shoved him out and the wall slid closed. The four let out their own sighs and continued on.

~~~~~
Mr. Rainier eventually called everyone down for dinner, but only half of the students showed up: Tyler, Rachel, William, and Niamh. He set the plates out for them and covered the rest. Mr. Carroway stepped in momentarily with a hat and trench coat in his hand and informed them that he'd be stepping out a bit for the night.

When he left, Mr. Rainier addressed the students. "Where are the others? Four of you are missing?"

"What's it to you?" Niamh challenged. "Plan to set them up for expulsion too?"

"Niamh," Rachel reprimanded. "Sorry." Rachel apologized to Mr. Rainier on Niamh's behalf.

Mr. Rainier shrugged his eyebrows as he left the room to go search for the others. Rachel leaned closer to Tyler and asked him, "Did you find them when you went looking for them?"

Tyler hesitated before he coughed a bit and then replied, "No. No, I didn't."

"That's weird," Rachel said as she furrowed her brows.

"Do you suppose they snuck out?" Niamh asked all the other three.

"Maybe they're double-dating," William joked. "Like, Sarah and Jonah, and..." His voice faded out when he remembered Niamh and all that had happened.

Luckily, Rachel joined in on the conversation. "Now that you mention it, Sarah and Jonah do have a lot of chemistry together...as far as I see."

"Too bad neither of them care to admit it," William chuckled. "Jonah doesn't strike me as the type, and knowing Sarah, she'll never be the first to admit it."

"Kind of like you, yeah?" Niamh smiled and gave a glance toward Rachel.

"How do you mean?" Rachel directed her attention towards her.

Niamh looked back over at William who mouthed for her not to say anything about it. Niamh gave a silent laugh and turned back to Rachel with a shrug. "Anyway, how's Cinderella or whatever going for you?"

"Romeo and Juliet, you mean," Tyler corrected, catching on that she meant the play. "Aren't you working backstage on that? And you don't know what it is?"

"Is that a problem?" Niamh frowned.

"N-no. Not at all." Tyler gave a fake laugh and looked down at his food.

"It's going well," Rachel nodded to answer Niamh's question. She continued conversation by asking, "How are you and Jared going?"

Niamh laid down her fork. "What?"

"Well it's obvious you two like eachother," Rachel grinned. "Any dates coming up yet?"

Niamh let out a sigh. "Actually, something tells me he has his eyes set on another girl." Niamh stood up from the table and walked out the room just as Mr. Rainier was coming in. He stepped to the side and watched her with a concerned look.

Mr. Rainier was distracted by William rushing out and bumping into him on the way. Rachel stood from her seat and excused herself, afraid she had said something wrong. Mr. Rainier and Tyler were then the only ones left.

"This is good spaghetti," Tyler complimented awkwardly.

~~~~~
The Sibuna members crossed the chasm of swinging pendulums and ended up back where the other passage had opened up for them. Sarah took a deep breath and wasted no time to lead them all down. The stairs weren't that long, and eventually they came to a corridor that automatically lit with torches lined against the walls. The particular flooring was made of sixteen divided squares: two in each row, eight in each column. Several of the squares were bare and others had the mark of Anubis, which the four of them didn't recognize yet.

Sarah took a step forward on one which sank a few inches like a pressure plate. One other square which held the mark had disappeared into the ground and spikes shot upward. Sarah's eyes widened and she took a step back off the square, and everything returned to normal.

"This must be a puzzle," Lucille told them.

"Shouldn't your parents have solved all these puzzles?" Jared asked.

"Something tells me they didn't even know about this part," Sarah admitted. "Maybe we should head back and figure out what this is. That way, no one will get brutally stabbed by those spikes."

"I'll take a picture." Jonah had his phone in hand and took a picture of the puzzle.

"Alright, let's go," Sarah said, leading the way back.

~~~~~
This is the chapter for you guys. I hope you enjoyed it, and here are the discussion questions.

Do you think Tyler will eventually get into Sibuna?

Do you think Sibuna will solve the puzzle?

That's all for now. Until next time, Aristocrats.