☾ ☽
It's halfway through class and neither of our classmates have returned yet. I have, however, got myself finished with the sarcophagus, and now I just need to paint everything. I decided to have the flowers in my vase be native to Egypt—jasmines, chrysanthemums, nymphaea lotus. The colors of the petals are gonna be a sharp contrast from the more neutral, sandy colors of the sarcophagus and the background, which is supposed to imitate the Valley of the Kings, where King Tut's tomb is located as well as so many other pharaohs' tombs. I figured I'd stick with the whole ancient Egypt theme we've had going on in this house for the past three years.
"Anyone know where KT and Eddie have gone to?" Denby questions, checking her watch for the third time in ten minutes. "Is KT growing the apple tree herself? Fabian?"
"Hm?" Fabian looks up from where he's focused on his easel. Yeah, he's not that interested in art, he's so got a book. Typical Rutter. "Oh, um, I don't know, Miss, but I do know she needs a certain shade of red."
Denby doubts it, obviously, but looks over to me next. "Ashley, where's your cousin?"
"Honestly," I say, focusing back on my canvas. "wouldn't be surprised if he's actually climbed up a tree and chosen the tallest leaf. Also, the only time I've ever cared to know where he is is to make sure he's not in the same country as me."
"All right..."
I continue working, but something catches my eye. It's Alfie next to me and Joy next to him, and neither of them are painting. They're both... scribbling. I'd scold them both if I didn't notice how alarmed they both look. "Alfie? Joy?"
"Ashley, help me," Alfie says, eyes wide. Two of the descendants. I look across to Patricia and Jerome, both of who look like they're doing the exact same thing. Fabian looks just as concerned as I do as our eyes meet. Oh, no. I set down my paintbrush and step over to Alfie, grabbing his hand to try and pull his arm away, but he won't budge. "Ash. Ashley, help—"
"I'm try—" But all of a sudden, Alfie and Joy's hands both stop. All that's left is their scribbles on their sketchbooks. Something's going on with the descended—first chanting and now this?
"Ashley," Joy says slowly, "you better tell us what's going on right now."
"Trust me," I say, glancing between them and the three across the room, "I would if I knew. You guys... drew almost exactly the same thing. How's that possible?"
"Excuse me, guys," Jerome's voice says, "what just happened here?"
"It's witchcraft," Alfie states.
"Give me these," I say quickly, snatching both scribble drawings from Alfie and Joy. I quickly fold them and stuff them into my bag, hoping to get them in before Denby notices something is up, but she hears Fabian telling them to give him theirs before Denby sees.
"Before I see what?" Denby inquires. She can't see these. She holds out her hand for Patricia's sketchbook, to her protest, but she ends up giving it over. "I think I should collect these, don't you?"
"Oh, no, Miss," I state, shaking my head. "It's just warm-ups." Hoping to sway her out of it, I continue. "I've got them, too, they're really not interesting. Alfie, uh, took a picture of my canvas and sent it over to Fabian and he didn't—he didn't want them to see before it's time to show them off, you know? Kind of a surprise—Mrs. Burton says I'm her top student, you know. Can't—can't have anyone seeing what I've got until I'm ready."
"I'm sure you are her top student," Denby says, "and I'd like to see yours as well." She forces Jerome to give over his sketch and comes over to me. "And the ones you've stuffed into her bag."
I'll happily give her my warm-up sketches, which sometimes amount to nothing more than scribbles. Nothing like what just happened, though, but maybe if I give her two of mine... no, she'll see me tear them from my sketchbook instead of taking them out of my bag. Before I get a chance to make a choice, she takes my bag from me and takes Joy and Alfie's sketches, before taking my own sketchbook and flipping through it, probably hoping to find something like theirs.
"You can't do that, give those back," I say quickly, stepping towards her.
"That's where you're wrong, Miss Adams," Denby tells me. She looks over my unfinished canvas. "Interesting. Fan of ancient Egypt, are we?" I shut my mouth, not dignifying her with a response. "Detention, Patricia, Alfie, and Ashley."
"Why?" Patricia asks, scoffing.
"Insubordination, and copying." The bell rings. "Now go."
I glare at our teacher as I gather my things, following my fellow detainees and the two they allegedly copied off of out of the classroom. "That was weird," Jerome states, rubbing his hand.
"Very," Joy agrees. "Did it feel like someone else was drawing it?"
"Tired," Patricia cuts in quickly, "um, it was because we were tired. I mean, it's got to be."
Jerome and Joy share doubtful looks as they look at us. Alfie says, "Yeah, I mean, if I had a penny for every time someone told me that I draw something without concentrating when I'm tired, well, then, a-haaa, I'd have a lot of pennies. Anyway, come on," Alfie grabs mine and Patricia's arms and pulls us away.
—
"So what exactly were you drawing?" KT questions in the lounge. She and Eddie've finally got back from the gatehouse, but we immediately told them about what happened in art and we don't know what happened with them at the gatehouse yet.
"Oh, it was weird," Alfie says. "I felt someone's hand on mine, like a ghost hand, moving it around."
"Maybe something's trying to get through," Fabian suggests, "give you a message."
I shrug. "The ghost stuff usually happens with me, though. I haven't gotten any ghosts lately. Why wouldn't the ghosts go through me then? 'Cause, you know... Bringer of Death."
Eddie looks over at us. "Fabian's right. It's a message. It's your ancestors. Okay, they were giving you a message."
"Well, if that's true," Fabian says quickly, "that means the drawings might be able to help us. We have to get them back."
"And if Denby's got them, uh... we need to come to detention with you."
"Finally, something you're an expert at," Patricia remarks.
I lean forward in my seat, inquiring of Eddie and KT, "What did Harriet say?" Eddie explains that the descended's ancestors took an oath with each other after Frobisher was cursed—mine weren't included in that, seeing as how they were already awaiting trial, which explains why I'm not getting any ghostly visitors. Harriet also kind of confirmed that Frobisher is, in fact, evil, which we already knew. KT was the only one that needed convincing.
"And what do we do about my great-grandpa?" KT asks us once Eddie's finished his explanation.
"Yeah, and what about Victor and Sweet?" Alfie adds. "I mean, I'm sorry, dude, but are they still involved?"
"No, I don't think so," Fabian answers, sitting next to me. I'm with him; Denby's the only one who knows about Frobisher. "Not this time." KT asks why not, and I'm curious to know why he thinks so, too. "Well, the book. Denby stole it from Victor's office. Why didn't he just give it to her? No, no, I think she's doing this alone."
"One way to find out," Eddie says. "Ask him."
—
Fabian and Eddie went back to the house to see if they could confirm Victor and Denby are working together again. They came back half an hour later to tell us that yeah, Victor has no clue, which means Sweet probably doesn't know either. It's a short relief for us when we find out, but by then, school's ended and Alfie, Patricia, and I have to report to detention.
Denby sits at the front of the classroom as Patricia works on schoolwork, Alfie chooses a book from the shelf, and I absentmindedly scribble. I think part of me is hoping my ancestors—the ones that decided to abandon Lily—are gonna come around and do the same thing to me they did to the others, so that we at least have one copy of the drawing.
I check the clock on the wall. Fabian, Eddie, and KT are supposed to be making a ruckus in the hallway to get themselves into detention any minute now. The second hand on the clock goes around three times and all of a sudden, there's this wild screaming from the hallway. It cuts into the silence of detention and causes me to jump, dropping my pencil onto the floor.
"What on earth is that?" Denby says, getting up from her desk. I share a glance with Patricia and Alfie as we hear Denby order the three to join detention, and they all come into the room. Fabian gives us a thumbs-up as he sits next to Patricia, and Eddie next to Alfie, and finally, KT next to me.
There's a knock at the door and Victor opens it. "Miss Denby, I need a word."
"Oh, yes, yes, of course, Victor," Denby says, getting up again.
"Victor saves the day," Eddie whispers as Denby joins Victor in the hallway, "who would've thought?" With Denby distracted and the door closed, Fabian jumps up from his chair and runs over to Denby's desk, taking photographs of the scribbles with his phone.
"Come on," Patricia complains, "just take the drawing."
"No," Fabian says, "if she comes back and see they're gone, she'll realize they're important, and we can't risk her figuring it out before we do."
"Fabian, hurry up," I urge him, tapping my pencil against the desk as I keep an eye on the door. "There's only four drawings, how long does it take?"
"I'm almost done," Fabian says, but the figures outside the door are moving and I whisper-shout at him. He barely gets back to the desk before Denby comes back into the room.
"All right," Denby says, gathering her things, "I have things I need to do. You can leave."
—
Fabian's going to try and decode what Alfie and Jerome were chanting last night. He asked for my help and I happily agreed to it, wanting to get to the bottom of this sooner rather than later. So, after I changed out of my uniform, I went back down to his and Eddie's room with my brand new Sibuna notebook—aka the notebook I'm putting all translations in—ready to help.
Except, I'm no help. Fabian's no help. None of us can tell anything they're saying.
"If walrus had an 'f' somewhere in it," I groan, rubbing my temples, "I'd wonder if they're talking about walruses."
Fabian shakes his head. "I can't translate it."
I lean over and play the recording again. "It's... it's not Arabic or Latin or any language on this planet. It's just gibberish—why would their ancestors make them speak gibberish in the middle of the freakin' night?!"
"Ash, calm down," Fabian tells me.
"We're back to the beginning—"
"Yeah, I know, we're back to square one."
Eddie looks between us, a thoughtful look on his face. "Back to—wait."
Fabian looks up. "What, are you gonna translate it?"
"You barely speak English," I add, closing my notebook.
But Eddie just snatches my notebook and opens it back to the page, pointing at something he made me write down. "Wollof—it's follow backwards. It's like back masking—classic rock and roll trick. Okay, you play the song forward, it's an ordinary song. Play it backwards, hidden meaning."
"We need to play the recording backward," I realize as Fabian finds the controls needed to reverse the audio. It works! We can hear it clearly now!
"Follow the symbols. Follow the symbols."
Fabian lets out a victorious laugh. "Eddie, you are a genius!"
"Follow the symbols," I repeat, nodding. "Awesome. What does that mean?"
Fabian and Eddie look at each other, and then they snap their fingers. "The drawings!"
—
I've stayed in their room most of the afternoon, trying to decode what the drawings mean and, well, follow the symbols. No luck yet, so I went to get us some sodas, but when I get back, there's movement on the cameras. A very familiar girl in a school uniform.
"Why is KT in the gatehouse?" I ask frantically, setting the cans on Eddie's bed as the two scramble off of it and to the computer. "When did she get away from us?!"
"She's going up the stairs!" Eddie exclaims as her figure disappears out of the first camera's range.
On the other camera, a male appears. It's Frobisher, in real time, and the sight of him makes my blood run cold. "Frobisher—no, no, get out!"
"Uh, nice welcome," Patricia's voice says sarcastically from behind us.
"No!" Fabian shouts. "KT's at the gatehouse—"
"So is Frobisher," Eddie adds as Patricia and Alfie rush over to the computer.
"Does she have any idea what she's doing?" Fabian asks, his voice strained and kind of angry.
What does she think she's doing?! We never go anywhere alone! We watch as Frobisher disappears from the frame, but he comes back seconds later and hides. He's waiting for her, the evil—no! And then KT comes into view and we're all speaking over each other.
Kara Tatiana Rush, turn around and get out of there, now!