━ DENOUEMENT ( jerome clarke. )

38 ⊳ HOUSE OF CRUSHES.

"But, I did it right - you saw me!" The fashionista insisted, glancing over towards the prankster (who had also claimed to be good at hopscotch) for confirmation.

Confused at why the ceiling had begun to fall despite them doing it correctly, Sydney kept her narrowed eyes on the ceiling as she gave a nod, confirming, "Yeah, you did."

"It was pretty much textbook." Nina pointed out, assuming that the ancient Egyptians probably did hopscotch a different way to how they did, or that Robert Frobisher-Smythe knew a different way of hopscotch, at least.

However, Amber Millington clearly did not like the way that the ancient Egyptians and/or Robert Frobisher-Smythe played the children's game, as she muttered with a frown on her lips, "It's obvious the ancient Egyptians did not know a thing about hopscotch."

"These aren't numbers. Look, they're, like, animal symbols - is that a duck?" Nina quizzed, her eyes narrowed as she looked over the pattern on the floor, before she glanced over at the photographer of the group - Sydney Anderson - and instructed her, "Take a picture." Because she didn't have her camera (she didn't necessarily want to bring it down into tunnels filled with booby traps), she pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the pattern on the ground, sending it to the three instantly whilst the American spoke, "Okay, let's just call it a day. We need to clear our heads."

"Yeah, but even if we do learn the sequence to this, what about that chasm?" Fabian inquired, making them remember the humongous hole that they had seen before they had to run back in order to not get trapped - the hole that completely halted them in getting to the other side, and that led the nerd to asking, "How do we get over that?"

"Does the Chosen One have some sort of... secret flying ability?" Sydney asked hopefully, although Nina regretfully shook her head, and that led to the prankster coming up with a new idea and turning to the nerd of the group as she inquired, once again rather hopefully, "Can Fabian become Iron Man and make a suit?"

"Ooh, if we're going to be superheroes, then can I be the Pink Power Ranger?" Amber questioned, causing them all to send an amused look at one another whilst she continued, muttering mainly to herself as she wondered how to get over the chasm, "You know what she would do. She'd long-jump it... or pole-vault it... or would she javelin it?"

Eventually, Fabian cut in, "Amber, you're just listing sports."

"How many more traps are there going to be between us and the mask?" Nina asked panickedly, taking them back to their prior topic - the mask was a cause for concern, especially considering that lives were literally on the line, so there was no surprise that the girl was concerned and rather frustrated as she asked, "Ten? A hundred?"

"A thousand?! A hundred thousand?! A million?!"

"Amber, now you're just listing big numbers."

"Yeah, sorry." Amber muttered regretfully, informing the group (though, Sydney was already aware, having suffered through the quirk when the fashionista was awaiting the results from a poll that involved her favourite celebrity and had began listing all the great things about her, involving how great teeth she had), "I list things when I get anxious."

"Well, if none of us are able to build an Iron Man suit, then I think I'm going to have to watch a Marvel movie marathon tonight for tips, and I'd best get started now." Sydney murmured, causing them all to look at her in amusement as they went to leave the tunnel system, deciding that almost dying once was enough for one day.