Varian's POV:
"Look, guys, i get that you want to play some prank, but if I've learned anything this past week, body swap compounds are not to be messed with" i explained to my cousins.
Ruddiger nodded and chittered in agreement.
"But-" Allison started
"No, seriously, what do you plan to do if there isn't a way for it to wear off? i used the last of the antidote and don't have the supplies to make another one, i'm sorry"
"Okay"
"Are they still on about that?" Ellie asked as she and the others entered the room.
"Yeah"
they all crowded around my chair.
"Uh, guys? What are you doing?" i asked.
"This is an intervention"
"What?"
"You've been working nonstop since we left Corona and you need a break" Ellie said.
"What? No i don't"
"Varian, even Ruddiger thinks so"
I looked over at him and he nodded.
"Wha-"
"Just a day, that's all we ask"
"Guys, i have alot to do today, i can't take a break" i said.
"Leave that to us!"
"What?"
"We can handle your to do list, you go upstairs and relax"
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely, you go relax"
"Don't burn down the lab, I don't wanna explain to my aunt and uncle how their basement got wrecked"
"Setting up your lab down here was kinda antisocial of you, just saying" Hugo called after me.
"It's called keeping myself away from potential distractions"
"And yet you have your girlfriend serving as your assistant?"
"'serving' isn't the word I would use, I'd just prefer to say 'helping', makes it less weird"
"How is it weird?"
"I help him in his lab by choice"
"Does he pay you?"
"What?"
"Or are you just a guinea pig for experiments?"
"When have you ever seen him testing his experiments on me!?"
"Guys!"
Nuru stepped in to stop them, since I was halfway up the stairs.
"What we need to do is set up a day for you two to actually become friends" I suggested
"I'd have to look at my work schedule, Var" Ellie told me.
"Ellie" I deadpanned "I am your work schedule, we can make it work"
"I'll consider it..." She said
"Uh uh, not happening!"
"Hugo!" Nuru yelled "Will you just not be petty for a few hours so we can help our friend!?"
"Sorry, your highness, not happening"
"Nuru, Yong, if you two could keep these two from killing each other that would be great"
"On it!"
"We'll do our best"
"Later guys!"
"Enjoy the day off!"
Elizabeth's POV:
"So, where do we start?" Nuru asked.
I grabbed the to-do list on the desk
"Any chance any of you know how to decode complex riddles?" I asked.
"What?"
"First item on the list, decode the riddle leading to the next totem"
"I can take a look at it" Nuru said.
I handed her the copy Varian had written down, since he insisted on not marking up his mom's work directly
"Huh, i'm usually pretty good at these but this one seems tricky"
"What is it?"
"It's a collection of riddles actually" she said "the first one, If I have it, I don't share it. If I share it, I don't have it. What is it?"
"Secret" Hugo casually said
"Hugo, that's not the riddle for secret"
"Did you just assume there could only be one riddle for everything?"
"Well, there's more, 20 21 14 14 5 12, it's just a bunch of numbers"
"Is it a code?" i asked
"do they form a word if you rearrange and look from a different angle?" Yong asked
"You've got to be kidding me" Hugo snatched the paper
"Hey!"
He started mumbling to himself before suddenly "Tunnel"
"What?"
"Match the numbers up to the right letter in the English alphabet, your welcome"
"Hugo that-"
"No, he uh... he's right"
"What about this one? it's some kind of poem"
"Let's hear it"
"Below the floor, A spider creeps, Some people sleep down here. Even though it can be dark, Movement is detected. Enter, please come on down and, Never have any fear. Tell me, what is this place?"
"Kinda creepy considering how cheerful Varian makes his mother out to be.." Yong said.
"Yeah, kinda..."
"Basement" Hugo said, causing me to jump noticing he was looking over my shoulder.
I may have punched him.
"Ow!"
"Sorry! Reflexes!"
Nuru held back a laugh "Reflexes to someone sneaking up on you or reflexes to seeing him?"
"Oh ha ha"
"I genuinely didn't mean that"
"Elizabeth, look at the letters that are capitalized, and the phrasing of the sentences"
"I thought her name was Ellie" Yong said.
"Ellie is a nickname" i sighed "But it is what i would prefer to go by, if you don't mind"
"Look at the poem again, girly" Hugo pointed to it.
I looked over it again.
"alright, fine whatever, what about this, Genius? got any ideas for this?" i held up the page to show him a strange sketch of random shapes
"Looks to me like Ulla's pen stopped working" he joked.
"So now even the puzzle master is stumped" i said with a small laugh.
"maybe we can come back to that one" Yong said "I don't know about you three, but i'm hungry"
"Yong's right" Nuru said "we should take a small break, we don't want to overwork ourselves"
"Okay, okay"
we went upstairs just in time for lunch.
"How's it going?" Varian asked when we met him in the dining room
"Hugo's shockingly good at riddles" Nuru said.
"Why thank you, Princess" Hugo said with a joking smile.
"don't let it get to your head"
"We just have one left to go" i held up the journal "But even our supposed expert couldn't figure it out, it's just a bunch of abstract shapes"
Varian nodded to what i was saying but he didn't look up, he just placed a hand under my chin and turned my head to look out the window at the castle.
Wait
i held up the journal page then lowered it again
"Guys, it's the castle" i said
"What?"
"Just really abstract, i guess to make it less obvious what it was"
"That just seems kinda lazy, could she not think of a riddle for 'castle'?" Hugo asked.
"Lets not question the reasoning behind why the clues are what they are"
"Fine fine, so what now?"
"We wait" Varian said
"What?"
"You actually want to wait to get this done?" Hugo asked.
"Who are you, and what have you done with Varian?" Yong asked.
"Sneaking into the castle to get the totem will draw unwanted attention, and we'll likely end up in another prison cell, that's the last thing i want, i'm sure the rest of you will agree"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"We need a method that isn't suspicious"
"I couldn't help but overhear" Varian's uncle walked in "i may be able to help you kids, this weekend is the harvest festival, it's three days long and at the end of the last day there's a kingdom wide party in the place grounds, it's your best bet"
"Is your uncle really encouraging us to start a heist?"
"It's not a heist, Hugo" Varian said "And that might just work"