The Book of Life
Summary: An update on the cult and the Sibuna Club is on the hunt for elixir.
Evie's Notes: Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had a wonderful week . Thank you so much your support of this story, it truly means the world to me 💜! I hope that you all enjoy the this new update 🌺.
"I don't care how you do it Cole, we just need it done as soon as possible" snapped Lilah into her cell phone as she hurried down the halls of her apartment building. "Victor and Vera said that we are responsible for finding the next sacrifice and you have done jack shit to prepare for the ceremony. We only have until the end of next week before the meeting".
"Oh fuck off Lilah, I've already arranged for the students of my 'At-Risk Youth' program to attend the Frobisher Accademy Carnival on Friday. While they're there we will be able to snatch one of them and store them in the crypt"
"And how do you plan to explain away one of the students going missing?"
"There won't be any need to explain it away, between the rap sheet on some of these kids and Thomas' ability to list them as runaways we will be able to shift any suspicion off of us".
"I have to give it to you Cole, we might actually be able to pull off that plan" commented the reporter, grudgingly impressed by the Assistant Mayor's plan.
"Don't worry Miss Knight, everything is going according to plan".
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
Nina had searched most of the school at this point and still couldn't find her boyfriend. Reaching the doors of the library, Nina mentaly smacked herself for not starting here in her search. Entering the library, Nina waved happily at Trudy, who was seated behind the circulation desk, before heading towards the back corner table where the boy she was looking for was hard at work.
"Any luck with translating The Book of Isis?" asked Nina, sitting down beside Fabian.
"Yeah… yeah a little" muttered Fabian, not taking his eyes off the screen showing the hieroglyphics. "From what I've gathered the book focuses primarily on the Mask of Anubis and the various benefits that come from the Tears of Gold. The actual recipe is supposed to be something called 'The Book of Life'".
"Any clues on where we might find this "Book of Life'?"
"Given that Frobisher was able to successfully create the elixir once, it stands to reason that he had access to this book. Given that we didn't find it in the old Library last year, the next place I would suggest searching would be Frobisher's study".
"You are brilliant, Fabian" praised Nina, "We can check out the study after lights out".
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
Twenty minutes after pin drop found the Sibuna Club gathered in the kitchen ready to find the Book of Life. The group quickly crawled through the bread oven down into the cellar. Fabian put the code, 1890, into the bookshelf causing the wall to slide aside and reveal the familiar dusty study of the house's previous owner, Robert Frobisher-Smythe.
"Alright, we are looking for a tome called 'The Book of Life'. Robert is tricky though and he could have disguised it as another book, so check each journal carefully" coached Fabian.
The group of five quickly set to work searching the room for the missing elixir recipe.
"Hey, hey look at this! Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead!" celebrated Alfie, pulling out a huge dusty tome.
"Alright give it a look and see if you find anything in it" directed Fabian, motioning for the others to keep looking.
It took another ten minutes of searching but Amber finally let out a shout of victory and waved a dust and cobweb covered tome over her head. "Found it! Frobisher was even nice enough to translate it for us".
"Let me see" Nina took the book and glanced at the ingredient list. "Eucalyptus leaves, cyperus root, crushed wintergreen, vanilla, tear of gold, salt crystals, python venom, ylang ylang, water, cannabis, eagle eyes and sandalwood. Seems doable".
"Some of those ingredients might take a while to get… but at least we have the recipe now" grinned Fabian. Alfie snapped a photo of the recipe before carefully securing the book in his knapsack.
"I say we call it a night and get some well deserved sleep" proposed Amber, looking to be half asleep in the room's only armchair.
"Amby's right, we all still have to go to classes tomorrow" agreed Alfie, helping his girlfriend to her feet.
The other three agreed, but as Nina went to push the release button she froze in horror at the sounds echoing on the other side of the bookcase door. "It's Victor and Vera! What are we going to do?" she hissed worriedly.
Given that the Sibuna crew was no longer using the Frobisher tunnels on a daily basis, the club members had become regrettably lax in wearing their amulets. None of the present members had their amulet on them and Victor and Vera would be coming through the doorway any moment!
The group cast their eyes frantically around the room in search of an escape. Alfie was the first to spot a large rectangular mirror resting in the corner. "Quick, Trixie! Help me lift this, everyone else get on the bookshelf" ordered the boy.
The duo lifted the mirror like a shield as the bookcase spun depositing the students in the all too familiar tunnels once again. A gentle hum began as soon as the bookcase spun and the Sibuna Club shut their eyes tight as the beam approached, hoping that Alfie's crazy plan would actually work and save them from a day of darkness.
The beam of light scanned up the five students body's looking for the amulets. Luckily for the Sibuna Club, when the light reached the mirror, it refracted back on itself and destroyed the source of the beam in a minor explosion.
"Yes!" cheered Amber quietly, jumping up and down. The group hustled off the bookshelf and sent it back into the study. As Nina placed her eye against the peephole she saw that they were just in time as the next moment saw Victor and Vera stepping through the doorway.
"They're in," warned Nina. "We need to get moving!". Fabian nodded and led the group down the familiar dusty, spiderweb coated passageways.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
"So, how exactly are we planning to get out?" asked Amber after the group had crossed through the horn chamber. "We don't have the amulet to open the extra tunnel".
"I figure we'll give Victor and Vera some time to find whatever it is they're looking for in the study before heading back" suggested Nina. "Besides it might be fun to poke around down here now that there is no Senkhara breathing down our necks"
"Just Amneris" whispered Amber darkly, before following her friends through the next doorway into the reflector chamber.
Nina stood in the center of the room eyeing the various paintings and etchings on the walls, until one caught her eye. She noticed a carving of a familiar half-moon on one of the upper bricks that matched the symbol she had noticed her cousin etching into her notebooks and on the key around her neck. The stone in question slightly jutted out from the wall, making Nina wonder if it would move.
"Hey Patricia? Can you reach that stone with the moon on it?" asked Nina.
"Uh, maybe?" shrugged the girl, moving over to the wall in question. Patricia had to jump to reach the stone, but successfully pushed it into the space leading to a low creaking noise and a portion of the wall pulling away to reveal a new tunnel.
"Are you kidding me!?" protested Alfie. "How many secret tunnels are we going to keep finding?".
The roof of the passage was so low that the group of five had to crawl on their hands and knees to fit into the new space. The Sibuna Club did not have to crawl for long until they reached the end of the latest passage. The dead end was accompanied by a stone grate and a marking for Nina's locket accompanied by a moon sigil and an ankh. Pressing her locket against the stone, Nina watched with bated breath as the stone grate slid aside revealing a terrifying sight.
Evie's Notes 2: Thank you all so much for reading 💕! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know your favorite part of in the comments! I hope to see you all next week 💗!
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story as a whole in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie🌺
