Summary: The Sibuna Club Makes An Important Discovery
Evie's Notes: Enjoy the new chapter - xo Evie
------------------------------
Fabian was glaring at the map that Eddie, K.T. and Joy had found during his free period. It was the final thing standing between them and finding the Frobisher Crypt. Fabian had tried plugging it in as coordinates, sudoku, various equations and star maps... still he had had no luck.
"Are you still looking at that map?" asked Nina as the now Sibuna Ten entered the drama studio for play rehearsal.
"Yeah, it's driving me crazy," grumbled Fabian angrily.
"Why couldn't the solution be easy for once" whined Amber, "Easy like ABC, 123"
"Wait! Say that again" asked Jerome, turning to look at Amber.
"Why couldn't the solution be easy?"
"No, the other thing,"
"Oh, easy like ABC, 123" replied Amber.
"What if it's a number letter code, like each number is a letter. My dad said sometimes people pass notes like that in jail" explained Jerome.
Just then Miss Valentine entered the classroom and called for everyone to get on the stage for warm ups.
"That's a great idea Jerome, I'll take a look at it that way after rehearsal" grinned Fabian, shoving the notebook with the code in his backpack and joining the others for warm ups.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
Miss Wilson looked up and smiled when she heard a knock on her office door.
"You sent for me, miss?" asked Joy, shifting uncomfortably in the doorway.
"Yes, yes. Please come in and make yourself comfortable" welcomed the woman, directing the girl to take a seat in one of the chairs and help herself to the bags of crisps on the desk.
Joy took a seat but didn't take the offered snack, fidgeting with a loose string on her skirt.
"Joy, I wanted to talk to you about one of your extracurriculars" began the woman. " The Jackal website appears to be very informative about the school. How do you, as the editor, verify the claims that are made on it?"
"What it boils down to really is that I trust my staff" shrugged Joy. "I mean some wild stuff has been going down here for years, so if something pops up on The Jackal it is true".
"Interesting" hummed Miss Wilson as she scribbled down some notes. Using her highlighter to mark certain articles, she passed Joy a selection of papers. "So you are saying that all of these are true?"
Joy skimmed over the articles, and yeah they did look bad when not interspersed with the light and fluffy content she carefully placed to soften the blow. "Student frames teacher for inappropriate relationship", "Student put on public trial for accusing house teacher of fraud", "Student cuts classes and gets special treatment", "Mr. Sweet: a study in sexism", "My year away and how it hurt me", "The dark history of the school's founders".
"Yes, they are all true," admitted Joy.
"Very well, that's all I needed from you today. Thank you for your help, Miss Mercer".
Joy quickly fled the office with one thought on loop in her head, "Just who was Miss Wilson and what the fuck was that about?"
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
Jerome, Alfie, Liliana and Poppy were having lunch together in the gazebo. Their time together had been going quite well, but the older students knew that their little sister was struggling with something.
"Alright, out with it poops, what's bothering you?" demanded Jerome, flicking a grape in his little sister's direction.
"It's nothing gerbil," snapped the girl, trying to brush off their concern.
"Penelope," sighed Alfie in a warning tone.
"It's just Missy," gave in Poppy.
"Yeah, where has she been? I haven't seen her in a while" remarked Lili, suddenly realizing the absence of her little sister's other half.
"Mirabel says that she went home with her parents because her Aunt Renee died. But I know all of Missy's relatives and she doesn't have an Aunt Renee".
At the name the three older kids sat up straight, haunted looks on their faces. It seemed that Rufus was still making his presence known even beyond the grave. And there was only one person who would use that alias in order to kidnap a child, Vera.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
The Sibuna club gathered in the Living room that evening to recap.
"Well I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jerome and Amber were right" shared Fabian, holding up the translated message. "Each number corresponds to a number of the alphabet. I decoded it to read: "I guard your house from strangers outside, where the heart is".
"What the fuck does that mean?" asked Patricia.
"I don't know..." admitted Nina, "but at least it's in English now".
"Well what guards houses from strangers?" asked K.T.
"Doors?" suggested her girlfriend.
"Maybe" said Alfie.
"Where the heart is, is obviously home" said Eddie.
"So 'door home'?" parroted back Amber, confused as to where this is going.
"Well since it's a map, the home probably means house... so door house" suggested Liliana
"Who needs a whole house for a door?" asked Jerome.
"Wait a sec! We have a door house... the Gate House!!" exclaimed Nina.
"That's right! Which is also where we found that body... which was probably stolen too" supported Alfie.
"So the vault is somewhere in the Gate House?" asked Jerome.
"My money is on it being somewhere in the creepy room behind the organ" bet Amber.
"Hold up, you guys found a body!" shrieked K.T.
"Shhh, don't yell" scolded Nina. "I say we go tomorrow and try to find it. We have all the staff pieces and now we have a possible location"
The group all nodded in various states of agreement.
"What about Ms. Denby? It's her house" worried Joy, not wanting to get caught by the woman in her house.
"Don't worry about that" Eddie comforted his friend. "My dad has called for a Professional Development Day tomorrow. That's why we only have a half day of classes. Ms. Denby will be stuck at the school for the training".
"It's settled then. Tomorrow after classes let out we'll head over to the gatehouse and put an end to this once and for all" grinned Nina.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
The Sibuna Ten snuck their way over to the gate house as soon as classes were over Thursday afternoon. Nina quickly punched in the code that the group had secured the last time they had staked out the building. Ushering them in quickly the group split up to investigate the building.
Fabian, Alfie, Patricia, Jerome and Lili started searching the main room for any clues. The creepy bottles of pickled items and the spooky books were still there on display. Lili let out a shout of excitement as she uncovered a very familiar item.
"Guys I found the Scarab!" she shouted
"Great work Liliana" grinned Fabian, "Put it in the backpack and we'll work on getting the others out of it later".
Nina, Amber, Eddie, Joy and K.T. went immediately to the room behind the organ that they had discovered last time. As soon as Eddie stepped into the room he went rigid in shock.
"Eddie you good?" asked Joy worriedly.
"This is the room from my vision"
"Yes! That means we're in the right place" cheered K.T. excitedly.
Nina called the others up to the room to help search the space. Eddie told them that he remembered that the entrance had been somewhere on the floor. Alfie, Patricia and Jerome pushed the desk out of the middle of the room and rolled up the carpet. Underneath was a large sun design with a hole in the middle which looked about the size of the staff. Nina and Fabian quickly assembled the staff and placed it in the floor's opening. Yet nothing happened.
"What's wrong? Why isn't anything happening?" asked Amber.
"Did we get the wrong artifacts?" worried Alfie.
Eddie's vision went white as the scene from months ago again flashed through his mind, reminding him what was missing.
"The key! K.T. where is your grandmother's key? We need it" demanded Eddie.
K.T. slid the key off the chain around her neck and passed it over to Eddie. The Osirian took the key and pushed it into a lock on the floor beside the staff. He twisted the ornate moon key, causing the floor to fall away to reveal a dark drop and a set of stairs descending into the darkness.
"After you Osirian" teased Joy.
"Finally we'll have the physical proof to get this place shut down!" added KT.
"You're right, thank you sketchy Frobishers" chuckled Joy.
Nina and Eddie joined hands and began to walk down the stairs into the darkness. The route's wooden stairs were rickety and winding as the group spiraled down into the depths of the gatehouse. Eventually the Sibunas reached the bottom of the stairs.
Flicking on their torches they looked around in awe, shocked by what they saw. Piles and piles of gold, artifacts and jars filled the space. In the center sat a giant golden sledge decorated with beautiful gems that sparkled in the light of the torches.
"Wow" breathed Lili in shock and awe of her surroundings.
'Yeesh, I knew my ancestors were bad, but I didn't expect them to have stolen THIS much," commented K.T.
"I can't believe we finally found it" celebrated Amber, hugging Alfie's arm tightly.
The room suddenly filled with the scent of lavender as a swirl of purple mist appeared forming the familiar shape of Amneris. "Well done my apprentice" congratulated the woman. "We now have all we need to help me cross over".
"Thank you Amneris" blushed Nina, happy with the praise from her ghostly mentor.
"Young man" Amneris said, addressing Eddie, "Take helpers and go get the body and staff from upstairs".
"Uhhhh" protested Eddie.
"Just do as she asks Eddie" ordered Nina. Eddie just nodded stiffly, and signaled for Patricia and Alfie to help him go get the mysterious mummy from the room above them.
Liliana was busy messaging her MI6 contact to let him know they had found a suspicious space of Englavista's that needed to be processed. "Agent Jacobson and his team are on their way, we have maybe an hour before they get here".
Eddie and the others returned then, carrying the staff and body between them.
"Place the body on the ground, and step back" directed the ghostly woman. "Nina, twist open the top of the staff. Blonde girl go find my crown". Lili and Amber both looked at each other before shrugging and both going to sort through the piles of treasure to find the priestess' crown.
Nina twisted the top of the staff off to find a shocking surprise inside, a singular tear of gold.
"Ahhh, the gift of Anubis" crooned Amneris lovingly, "I will be reunited with him soon. Pour the tear on the body's head". Nina did so, not even questioning the strange direction from the Spirit. The group watched with bated breath as the substance glowed and sunk into the wrappings disappearing from sight.
"Found it!" shouted Amber, holding up a beautiful crown for everyone to see.
"Place the Scarab on the body" ordered Amneris. Patricia, holder of the backpack, quickly followed the spirit's directions.
Amneris' ghostly form moved to hover over the body. "At last my beautiful scarab. How I have missed you".
"That's yours?" asked K.T.
"Yes, it was gifted to me by my mistress Hatshepsut as a way to preserve the knowledge of her reign. When I was chased out of my home and fled to Thebes I was followed. My murderers took it from me and buried it along with all knowledge of my mistress' reign" explained the ghost sadly.
The scarab began to glow a bright green color, so strong that the students had to look away for fear of permanently harming their eyes. When the glow died away, the Sibunas were shocked to find seven unconscious students lying on the ground, with Amneris and the scarab nowhere in sight.
Alfie let out a hoarse scream and the others all took a step back as the bandaged body on the ground sat up, before turning to look at them. Reaching up, the hands began to unwrap the head, revealing a gorgeous woman with long black hair, eyes lined in kohl and amethyst. "Ugh, being mummified is the worst," declared the woman, unraveling the rest of her bonds to reveal a beautiful white dress and a pair of reed sandals.
"Amneris?" asked Nina, in shock.
"Yes, my dear" replied the newly resurrected woman, pushing herself to her feet. She took the golden crown from a dumbstruck Amber and placed it on her head. "Thank you my Apprentice for all of your help this year. Finally I shall be reunited with my love in the field of golden rushes".
Picking up the abandoned staff, Amneris walked over to Nina and placed a kiss on the girl's forehead before boarding the sledge. Chanting the woman intoned, "allah rae 'adeuki. 'ahdarani 'iilaa almanzil fi haqlik min aliandifae aldhahabi"
The Sibuna club watched in awe as the sledge began to grow a golden haze and a large glittering portal opened above the sledge, pulling it up into itself. "Farewell my dears, beware the black bird and creeping cat, they seek to bring you harm". With that Amneris and the sledge disappeared from sight and the portal closed leaving the Sibuna Club alone with piles of stolen treasure and seven unconscious classmates.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
It was quickly declared that Lili, Nina, Eddie and Jerome would remain behind at the house to wait for the cops. The remaining six would work together to smuggle the bodies of their unconscious classmates out of the gatehouse and to Alfie's car where he would then drive them to the Millington estate. There the victims of the Society would hide until the Sibuna Club could ensure that all of the villainous adults were locked up.
The group worked hard, and had just smuggled the last body, Jason from Osiris House, into Alfie's back seat when the MI6 cars began arriving. Driving away, Alfie did his best to keep a cool head, knowing that his car was currently full of bodies and it would look VERY bad if he was to be pulled over. Luckily, the agents were more focused on the house and its treasures, so they let him pass without being searched.
It took several hours for everything to be documented and analyzed. Unfortunately for the Sibuna club, Ms. Denby managed to wriggle her way out of arrest by claiming that the treasure had been there for years before her move to the school this fall. And while it did have the desired effect of casting more shade on the Frobisher name and strengthening the case against Englavista, the discovery did nothing about the more pressing issue of the Society. So as happy as the Sibunas were for the win, they still went to bed with heavy hearts knowing that a great danger still loomed within their household.
------------------------------
Amneris' Chant: God Ra I call to you. Bring me home to your field of golden rushes.
Evie's Notes 2: Thank you all so much for reading 💕! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know your favorite part of in the comments! I hope to see you all next week 💗!
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story as a whole in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie🌺