House of Silence

By the time the door finally opened for Patricia, the other door had opened as well. She hurried out, "What happened? Did someone lock me in?" she questioned.

Alfie tried to say something to her, but no sound escaped his lips. He realized this and panicked, trying to talk, but nothing.

Jerome, Mick, Joy and Mara all tried to talk as well, but like Alfie, there was nothing.

"Ok…this really isn't good," Patricia said, taking out her mobile again, "Yeah, Nina, get everyone onto the second floor, the wing on the right, towards the back. Just…just hurry," she said.

She looked back at them, still angry with each other, and Alfie more confused than angry. She sighed, wondering what happened. But she looked over her shoulder, at the shrine. She was sure that had something to do with this.

Soon the others arrived. Nina and Fabian hurried, "What happened?" Fabian asked, "What's wrong?"

"I'll let Alfie explain," Patricia said, "Alfie?"

He started talking, but no sound escaped his mouth.

"See?" she said.

"What happened?" Fabian asked, "I mean, seriously, what happened? Who did this?"

"Do you think someone did this?" Amber asked him.

"Well…something happened," Fabian said, "And I'm going to guess it was something someone did."

"I got locked in a room, they were arguing I imagine, and then this happened," Patricia said.

"A room?" Nina asked.

"So you were safe?" Amber asked her, "A door protected you?"

"It was a shrine room," Patricia said, "Maybe it was ground zero, and I was safe? I don't know."

"Shrine?" Noah asked with more curiosity, "Show me!"

She led Noah and the others into the room, with the silent five staying back and out of the way, glaring at each other.

Noah looked at the items in the main room in passing, and then at the shrine room, nodding once, "Mertseger," she said simply, quietly, "I get it."

"Mertseger?" Fabian asked, "I never heard of her."

"I don't think I could pronounce that," Amber said, "So yeah, same."

"Mertseger," Noah said again, "The Goddess of Tomb Builders."

"And what does that have to do with silence?" Amber asked. It was something they were all thinking.

Noah smiled a little, "This is where my knowledge comes in handy," she said, "She's a lover of silence. You five must have made her mad, in the room that is like a shrine to her, connected to the real shrine, and she did this," Noah said.

"How do they fix it?" Nina asked Noah.

The other girl shrugged, "Honestly? I don't know."

"Ok," Patricia said, "Maybe we should leave? Or stay and try to figure this out? But I think our search is over."

Nina nodded, "Yeah. This is far more important for now."

"I need to do some research," Noah told them, "Maybe returning would be the best. Call a cab or two, so everyone can get a ride, and we'll figure this out."

"Tomorrow is Monday," Fabian said.

"I'll work as fast as possible," Noah said, "I'll get us an answer, and help them before school begins. I promise."

By the time they got back to Anubis House, Noah was still thinking, trying to get anything out of her memory that she could about Mertseger that could be useful. But she admitted that she didn't get anywhere.

"Now what?" Patricia asked, "What do we do with them?"

"Stash them in their rooms?" Fabian asked.

"That could work," Noah said, "Try that. If Mr. Wolf or Trudy comes around, someone will have to intercept."

"You really sound like a leader," Amber said.

"I'm the one with the knowledge," Noah said, "I figure that this might be best."

"I have no problem with it," Nina said.

"I think I'm leader," Amber told Nina, "No offense. You have the necklace, but I created Sibuna."

"Well, it's not important," Nina said, "All that matters is that we function."


Hours later, Trudy was calling everyone for dinner. They came out, with Fabian and Patricia with the silenced group, just in case. Nina was distracting Trudy with conversation while the others took their seats at the table.

"Well, enjoy," Trudy said, looking at her watch, "Oh, I have to be going! I'll be late for my appointment, bye everyone!" she called, but didn't pay attention to the lack of voices returning the goodbye. Nina's conversation had helped eat up time to create the distraction.

"Ok, so far so good," Fabian said, "Noah?"

"I'm still looking," she said, "It's kind of hard. I haven't found anything about a curse of muteness."

"Well, so this is a first? Even in terms of mythology?" Nina asked.

"It looks like that," Noah said, "Should they feel honored?" She shook her head, "Well, I'll keep looking. There has to be something."

"Maybe something in that room," Patricia said.

"Why would that curse be in that room without a way to undo it?" Amber asked, "What if Frobisher made a mistake and triggered it?"

"That's a good point," Noah said.

"I'm impressed," Patricia said.

Alfie looked proudly at Amber, but of course could say nothing. The other four were just waiting for some sort of answer. They were sick of silence.

"So, we have to go back then?" Noah wondered, "I wish we had thought of this earlier…"

"Can we make the trip now?" Fabian asked.

"It might not yield us anything," Noah said, "I'd like to do some more research. It might be that Frobisher knew the answer, and it wasn't something in the room that would undo it. We have to consider that as well."

"Right. Just please, hurry," Nina told her.


School was troublesome the next day, and still no answers had presented themselves. It was still early, and they had managed to get through their first class without problems, but barely. That was good, at least.

"How are we going to get them through the rest of the day?" Nina wondered.

"It'll be hard in French, especially," Fabian said.

"Anything?" Nina asked Noah.

The girl shook her head, "I'm sorry, but no." She toyed with her tie as she said it, feeling sorry about it.

"We'll figure it out," Fabian said, "Somehow, we'll get it."

"What do you think caused it?" Nina asked.

Patricia walked over to join them, "I assume they were arguing. I couldn't quite hear the whole time, but it sounded like that, the little I did hear."

"So, arguing…they angered the Goddess, I imagine. They broke the silence with their anger," Noah said.

"How sure are you?" Nina asked.

"That sounds right to me," Noah said, but that's all she had. No idea how sure she was.

"Well, it could be true," Fabian said.

"It sounds like it to me," Amber said as she too joined, "I would be angry." They looked at her, "Oh, I left them. The silence was really…driving me crazy. I wouldn't have thought that silence would do that."

"Yeah," Fabian nodded, "I can see that it might be like that."

"So, how do we want to do this?" Patricia asked.

"Go and say sorry?" Amber wondered.

"That…might work," Noah said, "Actually, I like that. Yes! Repent! If they repent, that might do it! Yes! They have to try!"

"If they try and it doesn't work, then what?" Amber asked, "We're out of ideas, right?"

"Unfortunately," Fabian said, "But that's just for now."

The others were going to say the same, but didn't get the chance before Fabian did.

"We'll find more answers," Nina agreed, "If it doesn't work out, we'll find another option."

Noah even nodded, though very skeptical, "Yes. We'll find something, somehow. Someway. Frobisher had to have a countermeasure somewhere. If he wanted people to solve this, then why include a trap like that and no possible way to fix it?"

"Right, Frobisher would have wanted to test people. To truly test them. How better than getting over this?" Fabian mused.

"It's settled then, right?" Patricia asked, "We go and try it. But when?"

"Now," Fabian said, "We go now."