Hello. Crazy chapter, wasn't it? What could the strange piece be?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN HOUSE OF PLAYS
Mr. Winkler clapped twice. "OK guys, time to focus! It's the big night tomorrow." Please don't remind me… For some reason, I was nominated to play the main character, Sally. Or better know as Sarah. "Dress rehearsal, five minutes."
I was telling Patricia and Fabian what I heard last night. "Then he shouted, like he was shocked. It was really weird."
"Victor definitely put the puzzle piece in his safe. I crept back up and saw him do it." Fabian said.
"Then we do some safe-breaking." I concluded.
"No, how can we? He'd know it was us." Fabian said.
"Heheheh… what if we have the perfect alibi?" I said, an idea popping into my head. "Like a theatrical I came up with?"
"But I don't understand!" Amber cried desperately. We all turned to see her arguing with Mr. Winkler. "Why can't the cactus sing?"
"Because cacti can't speak, Amber." Winkler said.
"And anyways you've got a terrible voice." Jerome said from inside the camel costume next to them.
"No she hasn't," Alfie argued. "Take no notice, fair cactus."
"OK Everyone!" Winkler called everyone together. "Let's get on with it!"
"I have to admit," I told Fabian when Patricia left to find her costume. "This production came out greater than I thought it would."
"You did great." Fabian said. I left to go change into my costume for the first time.
I came out wearing a dress (and I hate dresses) and a hat. I was also wearing leather boots. The dress was a pale yellow, which made my hair look like fire, and it had a fitted bodice and a semi-full bell-shaped skirt that came from the waistline down to my calf. The sleeves were simple enough, long enough to reach a bit past my wrists. It made me feel like a Laura Croft version of Cinderella.
I found Fabian in a flash. He was wearing a suit jacket and a black tie. He had a white apron and black trousers and black shoes. He was assigned the antagonist, whom was Vincent. He represented Victor, obviously.
"Nice," I said, giving him a thumbs up. "C'mon, I'll draw your facial hair."
He looked at me, a bit surprised at first, but then he smiled. "You look nice, Mary Ann." He told me. I curtsied.
"Wipe that grin off your face, Rutter." I teased. "Don't get used to me in dresses."
"Whatever, Norton." He teased right back. "But seriously, you look amazing."
"I've always wanted to draw on your face," I admitted when I got a marker. I made him sit down on the stage and close his eyes. "I would never have thought it would be under these circumstances." I uncapped the marker and drew a vertical line above his lip. He chuckled. Line, line, line. A few lines later, Fabian had a mustache. I drew some lines on his chin.
"There you go, you look like an actual man now!" I announced. He opened his eyes. Lost in the blues of his irises for a strange moment, I fantasized what would happen if I kissed him. I blushed. Why the hell are you thinking that, Mary Ann?
"Ha ha, very funny." He said sarcastically.
"I know." I smirked. I put the marker away and everyone took his or her place for the play.
~ After Rehearsal ~
We even practiced the bow. Soon enough rehearsal was over. We went through the entire thing without messing up.
"OK guys," Winkler said after the bow. "Well done." Everyone stepped off the stage.
"So, hit us with this insane plan, then, Mary Ann." Fabian said when he, Patricia and I stepped away from the others.
"So Vicky's coming to play." I told them. "No one will be at the house. After the first few scenes, I don't come on until the second act. I've got half an hour to sneak out, steal the piece, and sneak back before I'm needed."
"Brilliant." Fabian commented.
"Sibuna." I said, doing the gesture.
"Sibuna." Fabian did the same.
"Um, aren't you forgetting something?" Patricia asked.
"Hmm?"
"The code into Victor's safe?" Patricia pointed out. I rolled my head back.
"Aw, man. I totally forgot about that!" I groaned.
"Alfie, Jerome!" Winkler yelled. "What exactly are you doing?"
The camel convulsed. "Get a move on, I'm sweltering in here." Jerome's voice said.
"I can't the zipper's stuck!" Alfie's voice responded.
"Oh no, they're stuck!" I laughed. The three of us left to change out of our costumes.
~ Back at the house ~
It felt good to be in jeans and an old sweatshirt again. Poor Alfie and Jerome were stuck in the camel, and Trudy needed to get her sowing kit out to help!
Amber and I were laughing as we watched them struggle.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Patricia asked Fabian, who was sitting down with his eyes closed.
"Shh, shh. I'm trying to remember something." He said. We sat next to him. His eyebrows furrowed and his fingers twitched. All of a sudden, his eyes opened. "Pen and paper, quick!" he said. I pulled my notebook out and snatched a pen.
He started to draw something. Trudy freed Jerome and Alfie from their "feline jail" and Alfie sprinted for the bathroom. I watched him run, panicking all the way.
Fabian drew boxes with numbers. "OK, he pressed the top right one twice, the middle one once, and the bottom left one… one, I think."
"You only think?" Amber repeated.
"We need to know definitely." Patricia said.
"Lay off, he's gotten this much." I said defensively.
"Mary Ann, you can't do this." Patricia said to me.
"Sarah is depending on me with the treasure." I said. "I can't let Victor just take it from me."
Fabian put the pen down. He showed me the notebook. "It's 3-3-5-7." He said confidently.
"Well, Amber and I are going to go work on an assignment." Patricia said. She took Amber by the arm and they left the room.
"So what now?" I asked him.
"I don't know." He replied.
"Want to play a video game?" I asked. I took out my iPod and waved it. He smiled.
"Sure." We went over to the chairs. After a few minutes of playing various games that I had, we settled for an unnamed one. He sat in the chair and I sat on the armrest.
"No, you've got to double jump!" Fabian warned.
"OK, OK!" I said. "No, no, no! Aw man." The screen restarted.
"You just died." Fabian laughed. I groaned and fell sideways so I was lying across his lap.
"I'm dead now." I muttered, curling into a ball against him. He just laughed again.
"Someone to see you, Fabian." Trudy said, coming into the living area. I looked to see Mr. Aide Rutter, his uncle. He helped us a while back when we needed to find out what the cylinders were for. I got off Fabian's lap and we both stood up.
"Ah, there he is." Aide declared. Fabian smiled at him. "My favorite nephew." He looked at me, then back to Fabian. "Are you two stepping out yet?"
I smiled simply. "No, I've still got some homework to finish. So this is a school after all." Trudy was trying not to laugh. When I looked at Fabian, I got the impression his uncle didn't mean going outside.
Fabian's cheeks were bright red. "No! No, we're not." He told his uncle.
"Shame, I like this one." His uncle scolded. He pointed to me. "She has cheek. And a good appetite." I simply smiled again, not sure if he was complimenting me or not.
"Well, I might as well give you this while I'm here." His uncle went on. He handed Fabian an old book. It had the eye of Horus on it and it read "UNLOCKING THE EYE". "You never know when it might be some help with your schoolwork."
"Unlocking the eye." Fabian read. "Ah, thank you, Uncle Aide."
"I found it in a dusty corner," he explained. "Myths and legends, mainly, but should make an interesting read, nevertheless."
"Would you like a cup of tea, Mr. Rutter?" Trudy offered.
"Please, call me Aide." He said, "That would be lovely. White, no sugar. I'm sweet enough." Was it just me or was he flirting with our housemother? Trudy blushed and laughed. I looked at Fabian, who was still a bit red in the face.
What did 'stepping out' mean? And why did Fabian deny it so quickly?
~ The next morning ~
"Today's the day." Patricia said cheerfully.
"Oh my, I'm so nervous I don't think I can eat." I said. "Oh who am I kidding?" I sat down and took a big chunk out of some toast.
"Lots of good luck cards in the post this morning." Alfie stated, placing the whole pile of letters in the middle of the table. Everyone picked around. I got a card from Gran, telling me to break a leg but not really. "I don't want company in the hospital," she wrote. I laughed. It made some of the butterflies go away.
"And, yes." Alfie said disappointed. "My folks are coming."
"Aren't you going to open yours, Patricia?" Fabian noticed.
"It says 'Open in private only'." Patricia said.
"Don't be shy, maybe it's a postcard from Joy!" Alfie said. He made a grab at it, but Patricia slapped his hand away.
"Touch, and lose a hand. I swear it." She threatened.
~ TIME WARP TO THE PLAY ~
"Oh dear, oooooh dear." I said. I fanned myself with my hand. "I'm so-o-o-o nervous." I confided in Fabian.
"You'll be fine." He assured me. "You were great during rehearsal."
"But I just saw the poster for our play. It's says 'WRITTEN BY MARY ANN NORTON'!" I said, "Why didn't anyone tell me we had a poster? I would have bought a copy! And then the next volume of this manga I'm reading came out but I haven't got it yet –"
"Mary Ann?" Fabian interrupted, eyebrow raised at me.
"Sorry, I babble when I'm nervous some times." I explained. "I've never performed in front of a crowd before."
Fabian placed a hand on mine. "You'll do fantastic. I promise." I smiled.
He took out the book his uncle gave him. "I think I may have found something." He flipped through the pages, "It's a story Tutankhamen's secret lover, Amneris." He found the page. "Here, here. Read this." He handed the book.
"Before Tutankhamen's death, the god Anubis entrusted Amneris with the Cup of Ankh – the cup of immortality." I read aloud. I flipped to the next page. "When the Elixir of Life is drunk from the Cup of Ankh, it grants immortality to all who sup from it. In the wrong hands, it could lead to tyranny, despots and all out war. Legend has it that Amneris buried the Cup of Ankh with her lover, inside Tutankhamen's tomb, where she hoped it would remain hidden forever. But there are some who believe that the Cup was found and removed from the time of the tomb's excavation in 1922!" I looked at Fabian. "So the treasure is the Cup?" He nodded. "That would explain why Sarah was so desperate."
"5 minutes!" Mr. Winkler called out. Fabian and I peered behind the curtain at the audience.
"There's Victor." Fabian pointed out.
"This could be a mistake." I started having second thoughts, "Telling the story of the girl he ruined. I guess it's too late now…" I noticed someone in the crowd. "Hey, it's Uncle Aide!" I looked around. I could've sworn I saw Rufus. "Oh dear God." I said. "I think that's…"
"What's Rufus doing here?" Fabian asked. So he was here as well…
"Guys, focus, please!" Winkler was calling directions.
"Sorry!" I called back. Patricia came to us. She played Anubis. She wore a black dress and cape. A jackal mask was to cover her face. She held an Egyptian-styled staff in her hand.
"You know that good luck card I got this morning?" she asked. I nodded. She handed it to Fabian.
"D4?" he read. "What does that mean?"
"I was really hoping you would know." She admitted.
"Maybe the secret message from Rufus." I guessed.
"Why would you say that?" she asked.
"He's in the crowd." I informed her.
"What?!" she freaked. "Is he insane? What if Victor sees him?" She walked over to the curtain and peered by.
"Maybe it's a seat number." I suggested. "Row D, seat 4. I don't know."
"No, Rufus is in row G." Patricia said.
"Well, who's D4?" I asked.
"Patricia, places for curtains up." Winkler interrupted. He shooed us off stage.
The curtains pulled back, but Mick and Mara weren't onstage! Patricia turned around. I scanned the crowd for D4. There was someone in a hoodie and beanie, but I didn't recognize her. Patricia did though.
"Joy!" she cried. She quickly realized her mistake, but she didn't know what to say.
My mind reeled. Joy was in the audience? This so-called Joy that had disappeared when I appeared, and made Patricia hate me for quite some time, was in the audience right now? What was she doing here?
"Um…" Patricia muttered. "Joy." She repeated, not looking at the girl. "Joy… Joy and sorrow!" she finally said. "The… joy of Egypt. Its… monarch Tutankhamen is… dead. And sorrow sweeps the land. Let no man enter and desecrate his sacred pyramid." She came offstage. There was applause.
"Good improvisation." I whispered. She nodded.
"Let's try to stay on script this time," Winkler advised. "OK?" She nodded again.
A narrator said that some time had past since the death of King Tut. The music changed and I knew my time was up. Fabian gave me a thumbs up.
I walked onstage. "My name is Sally." I said to the audience. "I am seven years old. The time has come, my story shall be told. I feel only sorrow, like a bird without wings." I held my hands together against my chest. "My parents are leaving for the Valley of the Kings."
I tipped my hat forward a bit. "They named our house Anubis, after the god of the afterlife. It hurts to say the name, like being slit by a knife. Tutankhamen's death was over three thousand years ago. But Father likes to dig in the earth, going so very low.
"Mother says they won't be gone for too long. She sings me a soothing song. But they're leaving me alone again, with HIM to play with Lewis chessmen. Someone, please help me! I'm feeling so alone." I hugged myself. "The things he does below the house, it shakes me to the bone."
Mick and Mara enter the stage. They are both dressed like archaeologists. "Mummy, Daddy, no!" I cried.
"Our work is very important," Mick told me. He stood on my left while Mara stood on my right. "We must go. Goodbye, Sally." He kissed me on the cheek. I pretended to wipe a tear away. Mara kisses me on the other cheek, and pats my head.
They walked off as I said, "Please… Please don't leave me!" I covered my face in my hands and made weeping noises. I peered at the crowd through my fingers. Some people in the crowd are tearing up.
Fabian walked on stage as Vincent. Alfie, dressed as a snake, comes in dancing. Fabian is holding a bird doll. "This house belongs to us now, my pretty," Fabian announced. He looks to Alfie and holds up a fake rat. He laughs and feeds it down the mouth of the snake costume. Alfie makes chewing noises and then burps loudly. The audience laughed.
Fabian pulled out a pocket-watch. "It's is ten o'clock." He tells me. I shrink back. "You know what that means." I heard Trudy make a laughing noise. "You have five minutes to get into bed, do you hear?"
"Yes Vincent." I replied, and ran offstage.
Once I was out of sight, I heard Fabian say, "Because I want to be able to hear a pin drop." Some of the people laughed. He dropped the pin he should have pulled out, because the background music played the sound of a pin dropping. He laughed and walked offstage.
I zipped up my jacket. I would have left earlier, but I lost my flashlight. It was dark out there, and I needed a light to see where I was going.
"Mary Ann, you don't have to do this." Fabian whispered when he came offstage.
"Yeah, I do." I replied. "Our search is oh-va if I don't rescue the piece."
"I'll come with you." He offered.
"You can't," I told him, "You know that." I was about to leave when he stopped me.
"Mary Ann," he said slowly, stalling. "Be careful, yeah?"
"Always have." I smiled. Then I left.
I managed to make it to the house within five minutes. I really hated these shoes!
I shut the door behind me and ran up the stairs. The clock in the hallway started to chime. I snuck into his office. "Alright," I muttered as I rounded the desk to the safe.
"The code is 3-3-5-5-7-7." I remembered. 'Bop, bop, bop, bop' the machine went as I hit the buttons.
"Please be right, Fabes." I whispered. I hit the door handle.
It wouldn't budge.
"Oh God. OhGodOhGodOhGod." I said, "No!" I hit some random buttons. Nope, obviously. I hit the code Fabian gave me. Still no luck.
Long shot, I thought, but maybe Victor wrote down the code somewhere? I went to his desk and rummaged around. No written code, but I found a bronze coin with my name engraved on it. I found some more coins, each with a different name, but all of the names were of someone in the house.
I suddenly heard the front door slam from downstairs. I froze. Oh, crap! What if it's Victor? I shoved the coins back and ducked by the desk. The person started to come up the stairs. They opened the door to the office. Shit!
I ducked lower and started to breathe very slowly.