Chapter 8

Same day 9:30

House of Symbols

I quickly managed to close the passage just as Alfie's mom came in. It was probably best that I did close the passage. After all, I probably was the first person in probably a century to find it.

"Doing some light reading?" Alfie's mom asked.

"Yeah," I lied. That would act as a good excuse in case anyone ever questioned me about the journal.

I carried the journal with me to my room. Fabian was out, so I tossed the book in the package I had received. I would most certainly look at it tomorrow. I grabbed my computer and began inserting the names from the sheet of paper in to a Word document, so I could search them on the Internet in the future. What did they all have in common?

At around 9:50, I made my way into the bathroom. I finished and was in bed when Victor gave his pin speech. I saved the document to my drive and went to bed.

Next morning, Fabian woke me up for breakfast. I slumped out of bed and made my way to the table. The table was full of breakfast food. Eggs, bacon, sausages, French toast, pancakes, milk, orange juice, and cereal boxes were around the table in no particular order.

"What a feast," I exclaimed.

"I know. Alfie's parents are leaving today and Trudy offered them some left-overs," Fabian exclaimed, "Needless to say, they accepted."

Trudy added some muffins and syrup to the table. After Mr. Lewis blessed the food, everyone dug in. After some French toast, pancakes, a couple glasses of orange juice, muffins, and some eggs I was stuffed. Just looking around, I could tell everyone else was full, or getting full.

"That was a delicious meal Trudy. My wife and I will take some of the left-overs home with us," Alfie's dad said after a brief pause.

"Feel free to take some. Let me get some bags," Trudy encouraged.

Trudy packed away some food while the two left upstairs to get their suitcases. I was surprised when the other house members brought the left-overs to Trudy.

"Thanks, darlings." Trudy exclaimed. She had just finished packing some eggs in a bag when Mr. and Mrs. Lewis came downstairs. After packing up the left-overs, we said goodbye. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis promised to come back later.

After they had left, I walked back into my room to practice guitar. I had got the hang of the chords, but was working on speed right now. I practiced combining the chords together, but could never seem to put together a song. Fabian came in and saw me practicing.

"You're getting good. Let's play a song with the chords you know. Here is a love song called Achy Breaky Heart. All you need is the C and G chords." Fabian wrote out the words to Achy Breaky Heart and the Chords that accompanied the lyrics.

"I'll sing, you play." After the first practice of Achy Breaky Heart, Fabian congratulated me. He did mention that my timing was a little off. He suggested practicing Achy Breaky Heart and gave me the D chord to practice.

After Fabian had left, I snuck a look at the book I had found in the secret hiding space. Unfortunately, I couldn't read anything. It appeared to be made of symbols of sorts. I only recognized an ankh, a sarcophagus, and a river, but I had to assume the symbols all had something to do with Egypt.

I wonder if this code had been decoded. If anyone would know, it would probably be Victor. He seemed very knowledgeable about the Frobisher-Smythes. I made my ways to Victor's office and knocked.

"One second," Victor cried. He hurriedly hid some papers he was working on.

"Come in."

"Was Robert Frobisher Smythe a….a…", I began stepping in.

'Cryptologist,' Thoth finished.

"Cryptologist," I finished.

"I do not know. He was envied for his masterpieces in the field of Egyptology. It was certainly possible he wrote in code to hide his secrets from other Egyptologists. Why do you ask?"

'Oh s^%*. I can't believe I just gave what I found away. Should I tell him Thoth?'

'Irrelevant. He's not going to figure out the code. That being said, he will decipher the symbols for you. You will be the one who cracks the code. Who you get involved in this case is another matter entirely."

"I found something I believe belongs to Robert Frobisher-Smythe. However, it is written in code."

"Is it a book of some sort? Have an F on the side?"

"Yeah. How did you know?"

"No. No. No. That can't be. It's impossible. But yet, he claims it is so. Let me make some phone calls. I will be back with you tomorrow."

"Vic-"

"I am very busy. Goodbye," Victor said ushering me out of the door.

'What was that all about," I wondered, already out in the hallway. I didn't give it much further thought, but instead, went downstairs. Seeing Trudy in the kitchen reminded me of the cookies I had wanted.

"Did you make me the cookies yet Trudy?" I asked.

"I've been busy. Not yet. Why don't you find something to do."

I thanked Trudy for the information and went back into my room. I grabbed the photo-album I received where I had first found a lead to the diary, or book. I was still not sure what it was.

"Yo mate. Turn on the light. I can't see my Bio homework," Mick cried.

'It's not that dark Mick. Why would he be working on his Bio homework over Christmas break? His biology teacher must be tough.' I carefully made my way over, and turned the light on.

"Thanks mate." I nodded, and made my way back to the photo-album. To my amazement, the cover of the photo-album sparkled a gold color. Finally, a message appeared. It read:

When the man behind the wall has seen what cannot be seen

A mystery will begin involving a pharaoh and a queen

Your journey will begin on a starless night

When you find Thomas Crapper's home and go up, up, up, right

And then left, south, south, up, up, right, left, south, right

And then left, south, right, right, up, left, left, up, right, right will reveal quite a sight

Take the sour wines and dump to find

A marrow revelation and a relaxed state of mind

'What on Earth could that mean?'