Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis, but new idea, children, Derrick, Bonnie, and Wilbur are mine.
"You walk down the stairs like a horse. And where have you been?" A boy with slightly messy auburn hair whispered accusingly to a girl as she jumped off the bottom step with a quiet thud. Elijah had been pacing back and forth at the foot of the stairs for the past few minutes, eager to get started with the newest scheme he and his sister had cooked up.
"You smell like a horse." Ellie's voice taunted while she brushed a few stray curls behind her ears and readjusted her ponytail. "And it takes time to sneak past Wilbur, doofus. I'm only like three minutes late, lay off." Elijah rolled his eyes irritably, though it was unnoticeable in the dim light, and held out his hand to his sister.
"Bobby-pin?" He asked, wiggling his fingers impatiently. Ellie quickly produced one from her hair and dropped it in his hand as they began walk towards the cellar door quietly. "Izzy too scared to come?"
"No. I mean, she probably would be, but I couldn't get her up to ask. She's such a sound sleeper; I don't know how Auntie Nina gets her up in the mornings." Ellie complained, standing back as Elijah bent down to pick the cellar door's lock – a skill he had learned from his father.
"Shame, she probably would have liked to see all the old stuff that's bound to be down here." Elijah remarked, carefully opening the door to avoid creaking and stepping inside. Ellie followed while she carefully ran her hands over the white-paneled walls to find the light switch. Finding it with her fingertips, she quickly switched it on and Elijah quietly shut the door again.
"Ready?" Ellie grinned, rubbing her hands together as she looked over at her twin.
"Race you down." Elijah challenged. The two instantly began down the steep stairs, pushing each others shoulders and hissing taunts at one another. Elijah tripped over his pajama pants and fell down the last few stairs, landing in a slumped heap against the wall. Ellie gasped and froze for a moment, unsure what do or if he was okay. But Elijah quickly stood up and shook himself off while grinning at his sister as she hopped down the last few steps upon seeing he was okay. "I win."
Ellie rolled her eyes and pushed past him, mumbling about him and his stupid immature games as she examined the cellar curiously. She laid a hand on the dust and cobwebbed wall, "We must be the first people down here in ages. Think Mum and Dad were ever down here?"
"Probably. They were in this house for years, I'm sure they slipped down here once or twice." Elijah said reasonably, rubbing a hand over his nose and stopping in front of one of the old stuffed animals.
"But we got down here our third day at the house. That has to be a new record." Ellie said smugly. She picked up a dusty book off of the bookshelf and blew on it, only to wrinkle her nose at the uninteresting title and throw it back. "This place is pretty boring." She sighed.
"Yeah – wait, what's that?" He said muttered to himself, striding over to one of the tables and grinning at it. "Chemicals!"
"Here we go…" Ellie groaned, trudging across the dim room to her brother's side. He acted like that bad-boy type that didn't care about school, but Elijah was a complete nerd when it came to chemistry and science. Ellie, however, couldn't be bothered with most school subjects – she preferred sports (especially American football, Eddie had been teaching them how to play since they could walk).
"Too bad these aren't labeled…" Elijah sighed, picking up a few of the clean bottles and swirling them around. "Look at this mixing stuff; someone was a serious chemist down here."
"Interesting." Ellie said dully, circling the table and tapping a few bottles. "I like the color of this one." She pointed out, holding up a bottle with a deep red liquid in it. Elijah mumbled an agreement without looking up from the bottles he was peering curiously at.
"What happens if you mix them?" Ellie asked, picking up a bottle of blue and holding it in the other hand opposite of the red. Before Elijah could answer, she drained all of the red into the blue's bottle. It immediately began to fizz and pop loudly, and Elijah ran to her side of the table.
"Ellie! Mixing unknown chemicals is really dangerous!" He scolded, motioning wildly with his hands and looking worriedly at the now sickly purple-colored chemical in Ellie's hands.
"Chill, its fine. Look, its done fizzing already –" Ellie stopped abruptly as the bottle began to emit black smoke. Startled at this, Ellie dropped the bottle and it shattered on the floor. It began to crackle and the black smoke began coming off of it even more rapidly and thicker now.
"Ellie!" Elijah yelled in frustration, stepping backwards and coughing as he breathed in the blackness. The smoke rolled off of the puddle of purple liquid and was rapidly filling the cellar. Ellie coughed loudly and Elijah stuck out his hand for her to grab. Just as she was about to do so, the fire alarm began to blare in their ears.
"Oh, this is just great!" Ellie cried, jumping over the puddle and glass and grabbing Elijah's hand. However, as soon as their hands connected, the room began to fade.
The twins were transported to a smoke-free cellar. Their feet were planted in place, yet they were quickly moving through the cellar, their hands glued together. They stopped abruptly in front of one of the old bookcases that lined the walls and their eyes became locked with the top of it. The little squiggle decorations on the top spun quickly until the dials stopped on '1890'. Suddenly the bookcase began to slide open, a bright light behind it, but the twins didn't get to see what was beyond. With a blink of their eyes, both were back in the smoky cellar, coughing with the alarm going off in their ears.
"What is going on!? Is someone down here? Show yourself!" A loud voice that they recognized as Wilbur boomed from on top of the stairs. Sharing a look, Elijah and Ellie began to stumble through the smokey cellar, clasping each others hands for support. Praying this would work, Ellie shakily raised her hand as they stopped in front of the bookcase they had just saw in their… 'vision' and began to run her fingers over the decorations on top. Sure enough, a few turned willingly. Ellie struggled to put '1890' in as they listened to Wilbur's footsteps down the cellar stairs. As soon as the numbers were put in, the book case slid open and Ellie and Elijah tumbled in without a second thought. It quickly slid shut again, only a bit of the smoke managing to get through.
Elijah and Ellie bent over without looking around, too busy wheezing and struggling to catch their breath. When it finally came back to them, they looked up and gasped loudly.
"What is this place!?" Ellie exclaimed; both her and Elijah's eyes growing rounder by the moment as they surveyed the previously hidden room.
"It looks like a… study? But who hides a study?" Elijah mumbled while walking farther into the small hidden room and running his fingers over the dusty desk, which was still covered in books as if someone had just up and left it. While Elijah rubbed some dust off of an open book, Ellie walked to his side and spun in a circle to look at the walls.
"He looks familiar." Ellie's lips puckered in thought as her eyes slid over a portrait on the wall. Elijah looked up and followed her gaze, about to open his mouth when she clapped her hands together. "Oh yeah! That's Robert Frobisher-Smythe! Robbie's great-great-grandpa! Wasn't this his house once or something? Maybe this was his study."
"Probably… These pictures all look like they're his or related to him." Elijah muttered as he dusted off a picture on the desk. Ellie walked over and pressed her ear against the back of the bookcase that they had just came through, her face scrunched in concentration.
"I think the alarm's off now… and I hear coughing, Wilbur must be trying to clear the smoke," Ellie concluded, pushing away from the bookcase and turning back to Elijah. "Do you think he knows it was us?"
Elijah looked up from the desk and shook his head. "How would he? We didn't leave any evidence besides the broken bottle, and he'll probably think it just tipped off or something…." Elijah paused and grimaced before slapping a hand to his forehead.
"What?" Ellie demanded, taking a step towards him and looking at him worriedly.
"The fire alarm! Bonnie'll be rounding everyone because she probably thinks it's a real fire – we're not in bed, Els! How are we going to get back up there without them noticing us and still stay out of trouble!?" Elijah groaned, sinking down on one of the dusty leather couches.
"Damn," Ellie muttered under her breath, kicking the dust-covered ground moodily. "We're screwed!" She cried, pressing her face to a small hole in the back of the bookshelf. "Don't see Wilbur, let's just go out. We'll explore this tomorrow or something with Iz." Elijah agreed silently and stood up. He and Ellie ran their fingers around the back of the bookcase and it's sides before finding a small button. Elijah pressed it and the bookcase slid open obediently.
The twins slipped out, the cellar still smoky but not nearly as thick as it was. Jumping a bit when the bookcase slid shut again, Ellie and Eli cautiously walked farther into the cellar. Voices were coming from the open cellar door and then footsteps on the stairs again. Exchanging a worried glance, Ellie and Eli ran to the back of the cellar and dropped to their knees behind a bunch of moldy old boxes. Wilbur came down the stairs muttering to himself and carrying rags, a mop, and other cleaning supplies.
"Is that a door?" Ellie whispered, nudging Elijah's side and jerking her head to what looked like the outline of an old door.
"We just found a secret room behind a bookcase. I wouldn't doubt there being another secret door, let's try it." Elijah muttered, pushing Ellie's shoulder. They began crawling quietly towards the door as Wilbur's footsteps began across the cellar floor. Elijah stopped in front of the door and carefully edged it open as Ellie peeked over the boxes at Wilbur. He was too absorbed in a conversation with himself and cleaning up the chemicals to notice the door opening.
"Ellie, come on!" Elijah whispered, jabbing her side and motioning towards the small opening between the wall and door. Ellie's head whipped around from Wilbur and she bit her lip, looking worriedly between Elijah and the door. Elijah sighed and put a hand on her shoulder.
"I know it's dark, Els, but we're going to get in so much trouble if we stay here. I'll be right beside you." He whispered reassuringly. Ellie had been afraid of the dark for as long as they could remember, and though she could put on a brave face most of the time, crawling into a completely dark passage to who-knows-where was a big no-no in her book. She slowly nodded and Elijah crawled behind the door. Eyes squeezed shut, Ellie crawled in after him and he slowly shut the door again.
"Where are we? Eli, I don't like this, I really don't like this." Ellie gasped, opening her eyes now and struggling to see her brother in the darkness.
"Ellie, calm down. You're just making yourself upset over nothing. I'm going to try to walk farther down this; I think it might be a hallway or something. You can stay here if you want." Elijah offered, standing up and patting the walls on either side of him. Ellie scrambled to her feet as well, shaking her head (though Elijah couldn't see it).
"No way, I'm not sitting alone in the dark. We may be going even deeper into it but at least then we'll die together." Ellie tried to joke to cover up her panicky voice.
"Way to be encouraging, Els." Elijah muttered as they began down the passage, Ellie close behind Elijah while he felt his way along. "The ceiling is getting lower, we'll need to crawl now." He said quietly, dropping to his knees and feeling Ellie do the same beside him. She was muttering about how he was leading her to her death, but Elijah continued on anyway. He had a feeling about this.
"Why'd you stop?" Ellie hissed after a few more moments of crawling, backing up some as the auburn-haired boy halted abruptly.
"I think this is a –" Elijah paused, throwing his weight against the piece of cool metal that was blocking their path. It pushed open and Elijah grinned, "A door. Ellie, look!" He gasped, crawling out of the little passageway. Ellie scrambled out behind him and shut the metal door, looking around in astonishment.
"How did we just end up in the kitchen?" She breathed, leaning against the counter and looking at Elijah in the dull light.
"I have no clue. But that was awesome! We have to go down there again tomorrow night! But first… let's dust off, and maybe Bonnie'll buy that we've been here in the kitchen the whole time." Elijah decided, sitting up on his knees behind the island and shaking the dust out of his ruffled hair. Ellie copied him and dusted off her nightshirt and shorts, finishing after a few minutes.
"Grab some food, act like we've been eating." Ellie ordered, opening the bottom cupboard doors and pulling out a bag of crisps and biscuits. Elijah eagerly opened the bag of crisps that was flung at him – who would pass down being told to eat? He and Ellie crammed their mouths full before slowly standing up and peeking over the island. The lights were on in the entrance hall, and voices echoed from in there, so that was where they headed.
"- and you're sure Ellie isn't upstairs? Did you check the bathroom? And what about Elijah? You checked the bathroom, yes?" Bonnie fussed, turning from Eve and Addie to Alvin and Johnny.
"Bonnie, they're probably out on one of their adventures… they sneak out all the time. Our parents always used to have a heart attack when they couldn't find them, but they always turn up." Jill pointed out, unfazed at the twin's disappearance, as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.
"Oh, yes, but, there's just been a fire-alarm! Even if it was nothing, we have to know where everyone is!" Bonnie cried worriedly. Elijah and Ellie walked into the doorway between the entrance hall and the parlor, Elijah clearing his throat to announce their presence. Bonnie spun around and ran towards them, flinging her arms around both of their necks and squishing them together in a tight hug.
"Where have you two been!?" She scolded as she pulled away. Ellie held up her bag of biscuits in response.
"Ki-shen, got hung'y." Ellie said through her mouthful. Elijah nodded along at her side as the rest of the house groaned.
"There was a fire-alarm! Didn't you hear us calling for you!? And I thought I told one of you to check the kitchen for them!" Bonnie accused, her graying brown hair disheveled from her previous sleep and giving her the look of a mad woman as she flailed about the kids.
"We kinda fell asleep behind the counter. We're really sorry, Bonnie, we didn't mean to scare you. We'll take our grounding then, yeah?" Ellie sighed after swallowing her food. She was a gifted liar and excuse-maker, something Elijah found himself thankful for almost everyday. They both hung their heads guiltily; each secretly hoping Bonnie would take pity on them.
Luckily, she did. "Oh, dears… I'm sorry for yelling, you just really did scare us –" Bonnie began, frowning at them when she was interrupted.
"We actually weren't very worried, Bons." Alvin snickered from where he stood beside Johnny.
"Hush! But you're not in trouble, just, no more sneaking out for food, okay? You'll ruin your breakfast if you keep eating like this at night." The kindly woman said as she took the bag of biscuits and crisps from the twins. "Now, all of you back to bed, you have school in the morning. Wilbur's cleaning up whatever happened down in the cellar, don't you worry!" She assured, shooing the boys into their corridor and the girls up the stairs.
Isabelle walked tiredly up the stairs with Ellie at her side. The smell of smoke and mold lingered around the auburn-haired girl and Izzy raised her eyebrows at her.
"What were you really up to?" The blonde asked in an undertone, careful to make sure Jill or the other girls didn't overhear.
"Tell you tomorrow, Izzy. I need to take a shower real quick – almost catching the cellar on fire doesn't smell very good." Ellie replied mysteriously, exaggerating only a bit, before slipping into the girls bathroom. Izzy groaned and ran her hands over her face as she made her way back into her bedroom; she just had to be friends with the two biggest troublemakers ever.
So Ellie and Elijah have found Frobisher's study and the passage from the kitchen their third night at the house, not too bad. And what was vision about? Could they have inherited some of Daddy Eddie's Osirian powers? Or do they have powers unique to themselves….?
Izzy'll play a bigger role soon, don't worry! I'm thinking about updating this once a week on a Saturday night, so keep a look out for that (: Reviews and thoughts on this are seriously loved, because I'm not too sure of how I'm doing so far.
Thanks everyone!
xGaloshes