Eddie walked into the dining room in the morning to see Patricia, Joy and Fabian all looking down at a piece of paper.
Sibuna got back late last night, so hadn't yet been faced with Vincent, meaning he didn't know that they'd escaped the house.
Eddie took a seat beside Patricia and rested his arm on the back of her chair, "What are we looking at?"
"Riddles," Fabian commented, "Right, so, we can see what's going on if we look through some kind of hole," he referenced the riddle, 'You can see what's going on, take a peek through the hole to know all.'
"What abut the hole in Frobisher's Secret Study?" Patricia shrugged.
"If we look through there, then all we see is the cellar," Eddie spoke.
"That's true," Fabian nodded, "What can we possibly see besides the cellar?"
Patricia stood up from the table and walked into the kitchen. She then looked around for a moment before ripping all the sheets of kitchen towel off the roll. After that, she picked up the empty inner tube and handed it to Fabian.
"Uh, thanks?" Fabian spoke, confused.
"Look through it," Patricia demanded.
Still confused, Fabian followed Patricia's demands and looked through the tube, "What's the point of this task, Patricia?"
"What do you see?" Patricia asked.
"Uh, the other side of the table."
Patricia nodded, before picking up the piece of paper with the riddles on. She then placed the paper over the other end of the tube, blocking Fabian's view of the table, "Now what do you see?"
"The riddles," Fabian told her.
"Exactly," Patricia smiled.
Fabian lowered the tube from his eye, "I really don't get what you're saying, Patricia."
"That Victor could put some sort of indication to where the Ankh Cross piece could be over the hole, right?" Joy chipped in, helping Patricia out.
"Thank you!" Patricia exaggerated.
Eddie slowly nodded, "So, when do we go down there?"
Patricia looked around, double checking that there was no-one around them, "Let's go now."
They all nodded, before standing up from the table and walking towards the cellar door. Fabian pulled a paper clip from his pocket and was about to break into the cellar, before there was a loud knock at the front door.
All four of them jumped at this sound and immediately moved away from the cellar door. All of them hesitated before Fabian walked over to the front door and answered it. There stood Mrs. Miller.
"You!" she hissed, walking into the room, "All four of you! How did you get out?"
Fabian glanced back towards the other three, "Uh, get out of where, Miss?"
While Fabian was busy playing dumb, Eddie just march right towards his mom, "You locked us in there? You were that old woman? How could you?!"
"How did you escape?" Mrs. Miller hissed.
"Why is that any of your business?" Edie shouted, "You're the monster that locked us in there!"
"Eddie," Patricia hissed, gently pulling Eddie's arm back.
"Get off of me, Patricia!" Eddie yelled tugged his arm out of her grip.
"Eddie, seriously," Patricia rose her tone a little.
"I want to know why," Eddie stated, ignoring Patricia and talking to his mom again, "Why did you lock us in there? What are you up to?"
"That is none of you business, Edison."
"It is my business, Mom!" Eddie shouted, "You locked my friends and me up!"
The sound of Eddie's loud voice woke Vincent up, so he slowly exited his office, "What is going on down here?" he called out. His eyes widened with anger when he saw the four students, "Miller, Williamson, Rutter, Mercer, what are you doing?"
"These wonderful students," Mrs. Miller began, "Have left us a little 'thank you for having us' gift," she held up the piece of paper with riddles upon it that they left behind.
Eddie reached out his hand and tried to grab the paper off of Mrs. Miller, but she snatched it away.
"You four, please go to the dining room, now," Vincent stated in a calm voice.
Neither of them moved.
"I said go to the dining room immediately!" Vincent shouted.
Reluctantly, all four of them walked into the living room and resumed their seats from before.
"Are you okay, Eddie?" Fabian looked towards him.
Eddie just nodded.
"Let's go to school," Joy stated, "If Mrs. Miller has the riddles, then we need to beat her to the prize."
****
Mara walked into the kitchen around half an hour after Sibuna left the house, "Did you hear shouting earlier this morning?"
"Yeah," Jerome huffed, as he messed around with the food on his place, "Hey, Mara?" he then straightened his posture.
"Yeah?" Mara asked, as she sat down and poured some cereal into her bowl, then added milk.
"Do you think something weird is happening in this house again, you know, like before?"
Mara stayed quiet for a moment, she didn't want to reveal anything to Jerome, "Um... no, no I don't think anything is going on."
"Believable," Jerome mumbled under his breath, "So, what extravagant task is it this time?"
"Extravagant task? I have no clue what you're talking about," Mara lied.
"I've known you for long enough to know when you're lying," Jerome stated.
Mara huffed, "Fine, something is going on," she admitted, "But I dropped out."
****
Sibuna all looked around the drama room, looking for any indication to where the Ankh Cross piece could be.
"Beneath the faces, you'll find all," Fabian quoted part of the riddle, "Beneath..."
"Does the stage have a trap door?" Eddie asked, before jumping up on the stage and examining the floor, to see if there was any sign of an opening.
"Here," Patricia spoke, noticing a small carving in the floor.
Joy, Fabian and Eddie all walked over, joining her, "How do we open it?" Joy asked.
"There's usually a lever of kinds backstage," Fabian spoke, "I'll go and find it," he then walked off backstage, while the rest of them remained back the trapdoor, waiting for it to open.
A few seconds after Fabian left, the trap door flap fell open.
"Good job, Fabian," Joy called out, before she jumped down the hatch, Patricia and Eddie followed her.
"Okay, so... that door leads to backstage, right?" Eddie checked, pointing towards a door.
Joy nodded, "I think so."
Fabian walked back round from backstage and jumped down the trap door to join them. All of them then looked around. It looked pretty dusty, as if no one had been down there in a while.
Eddie placed his hand on the top of what looked to be a prop chest. He then wiped his hand over it to clean off the dust. After that, he opened the chest and searched through it. He threw out clothes, hats and any other accessories that were in there, until he came across another chest inside it.
"I've got something," Eddie stated.
They all walked over to him.
"It has the Eye of Horus on it," Fabian pointed out.
Patricia huffed, "You mean we need Nina to open it?"
Fabian nodded gently and unsurely, "We'll find a way around it. Eddie, hide it in your bag and we'll sort it out after school."
Eddie nodded, before shoving the chest in his bag. They then all quickly exited and shut the trap door again.
****
Nina and Lavender both stood in front of Vincent's desk, while he and Mrs. Miller stood the other.
"Exceedingly good job," Vincent spoke, as he looked at the piece of the Ankh Cross, which Nina and Lavender had gotten last night, "You can go to school now."
"Okay, Vincent," Nina nodded, before going to exit.
"You go," Lavender told Nina, "I need to speak to Vincent quickly."
Nina nodded, before leaving Vincent's office and walking downstairs.
"What do you need?" Vincent interrogated.
"Nina collapsed last night," Lavender told her, "Then, after she regained consciousness, she said 'Sibuna'."
Vincent filled up with anger and fury but tried not to let it show, "Okay, thank you. Dismissed."
Lavender nodded, before walking out of his office.
Once Lavender was out of earshot, Vincent turned to Mrs. Miller, "It seems the curse is wearing off of Ms Martin."
"Is there anything we can do?" Mrs. Miller enquired.
"Yes," Vincent nodded, "Keep her away from those old friends of her's. The main spark of her memories must come them. And whatever you do, do not tell her about taking the human souls at the street party - that might lead her to want to protect her old friends."
"Okay, Vincent," Mrs. Miller nodded, before exiting his office.
****
Sibuna all walked back from school, they were planning to head down to Frobisher's secret study to check out Patricia's theory.
Upon entering the house, Eddie quickly rushed upstairs just enough to see whether Vincent was in his office, or not. He then turned round to face the other three, "Yeah, he's in there."
Fabian nodded, before he and the rest of them walked up to the cellar door. He then used a paperclip to try and open the door.
"Time's don't change," they all heard a voice sound from behind them. Quickly, and in panic, they snapped their heads around to see Jerome.
"Jerome, hi," Fabian mumbled, withdrawing the paperclip from the lock.
"So, what are you four up to?" Jerome asked, already having a good idea on what the answer is.
They all paused for a moment and shared a few looks, until Patricia spoke, "Vincent asked us to... uh, check the coal stock."
"How long do you think I've known you, Williamson?" Jerome rose his eyebrows, "You don't do things to help people. So, what's it this time?"
"What's what this time?" Patricia asked. She knew exactly what Jerome was talking about, but didn't want to be straight up with him.
Jerome huffed, as he leant against the wall, "So, it's not only Joy who's not telling me the truth."
Fabian looked down to the paperclip in his hand. He paused for a few seconds, before shoving it in his pocket. "Jerome, it would benefit you to stay out of this."
Jerome held his hands in surrender, "Okay. Get back to your creeping around and being mysterious. Don't let me intrude."
Fabian waited until Jerome had left the hall, before sticking the paper clip back in the lock and unlocking it.
All of them then slowly crept down into the cellar.
****
Jerome walked into the living room, where Mara sat reading a book, "Tell me what's going on with them," he demanded.
"I dropped out for a reason, Jerome," Mara told him, not looking up from the book that she was reading.
"You must know at least something," Jerome sat beside her.
Mara huffed, before closing her book and place it beside her. She then turned to face Jerome, "They're on a hunt for the Ankh Cross, that's all I know."
"The Ankh Cross?" Jerome questioned.
Mara shrugged, "I have no idea, I didn't hang around long enough to find out that much about it. Why do you care, anyway?"
"Because I care about Joy," Jerome told her, "I want to know she's safe."
"If it's what you want to hear, then yes, she's safe," Mara lied.
****
[Hello there. Welcome back. This was supposed to be up on the fifth, but I was busy, sorry. In order for me to finish by the end of April, I will probably have a new chapter up ever 4/5 days, so prepare yourself to regular af updates (hopefully, if I can cba to write them)
Will the riddle lead to the peeping hole in Frobisher's Secret Study?
What does Vincent mean about taking human souls at the street party?
Will Jerome find out what's happening with Sibuna?
Ps. Please check out my new book on thanksssss! Byeee ^_^]