How it Ends ▸ House of Anubis [4]

chapter four. house of darkness

            "Coincidence," he agrees with a nod. "Definitely. Go on, Eddie."

            Eddie looks between us. "What's a coincidence?" I gesture for him to continue, wanting the whole story behind this touchstone before we tell him about our translations. "Okay, whatever. So this thing, Cornelian says that some legend says whoever completes the pyramid, puts all five pieces together, can clam all the gold of Ra. Like, actual gold. And people have literally died—killed each other—trying to get this gold. You should've heard Dexter, he sounded a little too interested in that particular part of the story."

            Fabian sighs. "Well... you were right. We're interested." I nod. "I just wish we'd gotten a chance to see the touchstone. Maybe there was a plaque or something nearby that could give some more information. Especially considering the hieroglyphs."

            "Hieroglyphs?"

            "In Lily's diary," I explain. "You know we've been working on them. The third set of pages stuck together with hieroglyphs, we've managed to translate two of them pretty easily: 'pyramid' and 'Ra.'" Eddie's eyebrows raise. "But we haven't finished translating them yet," I add quickly, "so maybe it's nothing related to that touchstone—which we absolutely don't know is cursed. Hence, coincidence."

            Eddie scoffs. "Nothing in Lily Henry's diary is a coincidence. She literally dreamed about Ammit being summoned and wrote down in hieroglyphs everything we needed to defeat her and Frobisher. By the way, was English not an option for her or—?"

            Fabian grabs my arm before I reach forward to smack the back of his head. "Okay, we have two days left in the school year, and we don't know if this even is anything. So for the moment, let's operate under the assumption it's a coincidence and should something happen... then we do what we do best."

—

            For the rest of the bus ride back to the house, we didn't talk about any possible Sibuna things. Instead, Fabian and I excitedly showed Eddie the photos we'd taken of and in front of the exhibits. Eddie didn't really care much, it seems, but he humored us anyways. I mean, anything to prevent Fabian from talking about his valedictorian loss.

            When we arrive back to the house, the first thing my senses notice is the smell of food. And not just any food—Trudy's amazing cooking. Leaving the new Anubis students behind, the real Anubis students end up pushing each other to get to the table fastest. Cupcakes, carrots, breadsticks—there's something here for everybody.

            "Oh, peanut butter and fluff!" I shout, making a dive for the plate of sandwiches before Alfie beats me to it. I grab the plate and stick my tongue out at Alfie, who frowns. But he has surprisingly quick reflexes when it comes to food (okay, maybe not that surprisingly) and he grabs a sandwich with the hand that's not holding a cupcake. "Hey! Alfie!"

            "Cat like reflexes!" Alfie declares, biting into the sandwich and the cupcake at the same time. "Amazing. This is amazing."

            I scrunch my nose up, setting the plate of sandwiches back. "Well, there goes my appetite. Ooh, chocolate cake. Way better than chocolate cupcakes."

            Before I can cut myself a piece of cake, there's an intense and loud clapping from behind us. It's Mr. Sweet, who looks upset with us. "Everybody. Form a line. Now!"

            "A little early for graduation," remarks Jerome, "isn't it, Mr. Sweet?"

            I frown as Sweet steps forward. "An exhibit went 'missing,'" he does air quotes here, "during your museum visit."