Chapter 18: University

In my early years of university, I was a bright young student and excelled at all of my studies. Mathematics of course became my specialty. Solving equations that my professors thought only a true savant could solve. Eton College was and still is a beautiful university. A sprawling campus that the best and brightest, but usually the wealthiest in all England attended. After propelling myself into my studies, I hated to admit it but there were times where I was bored. The curriculum could be too easy for my tastes, that I would fiddle with equations and the like while on the grounds of the school. It was my final year at Eton when Louis and I were told that we were to be transferred to another room. Eton was a boarding school and at the time Louis and I shared quarters. For some reason, they moved us next door to a group of boys that were of the highest standards (or some we thought). I gathered up my belongings on the hot summer evening and Louis and I began moving into our new rooms. They were a bit bigger than the ones we usually stayed in but that didn't matter to me. I was never one to just lounge in my room. I had to be outdoors - I hated feeling cooped up. Louis felt the same way but he was still a bit more standoffish than I was. Shy, quiet, and reserved.

"Nice rooms," he said to me while making conversation.

"Indeed," I replied. "They are nice," I said, making my bed.

After making up our rooms, Louis went over to a tall window that we now had in our quarters. He noticed a planter box in front.

"We should plant flowers in this box," he said with a smile.

"Brilliant idea," I said, making my way over to the window. "Not sure how they will fare in this weather though. It is blazing hot." I said, wiping the sweat from my brow.

Just then, I froze. I could feel eyes staring at the back of my head. I turned around and saw a few school boys. Some I didn't recognize then, but I do now. In total there were three of them. The leader of the group was a handsome young man, regal in appearance, and he always seemed to wear his tie too tight. Then there were two large young men - one round and plump; the other tall and lean. I had seen them around school before but never really cared to take notice of them; except for their leader. His name was Arthur James. Like me, he excelled in his studies and was on his way to becoming a King's Scholar. He was also an excellent cricket and rugby player.

"You must be the Moriarty brothers I've heard so much about," Arthur spoke first. "We live in the rooms across the hall there," he said pointing. "You two must've really shined to get moved here." He said with a smirk.

"Nice to meet you," I said. "My name is William and this is my brother Louis."

"Pleased to meet you both," he said, shaking my hand. "Since today is an off day, I thought we could play a little game together."

I turned my back to him. For some reason he intrigued me but he also made me quite nervous. My brain needed some stimulation after such a long and boring day so I decided to take him up on his offer. He explained that he had hidden a cricket ball somewhere on the campus grounds. With a smile he handed me a slip of paper for the first riddle. It read: "I stand in stone and tower 6." This riddle was child's play and I told Arthur this before heading out the door. Walking toward Lupton Tower there was a well known statue in bronze of Henry VI. It was tradition at Eton to always walk around the left side of it so that your heart and right hand (sword hand) is closest to King Henry.

"Not too hard of a challenge," I heard Louis say behind me.

"Not difficult at all. Though this statue is in bronze not stone," I said, bending down and picking up the second clue. This one read just three words: "bat, duck, catch." Obviously these were cricket terms so I made my way towards the cricket field. Sure enough there was a third slip of paper on the ground. I wasn't sure what Arthur's end goal was but it seemed the third challenge was supposed to be the hardest. It was two math equations of normal distribution and statistics. I won't go into details about the specifics but I was able to solve both of them in less than 10 minutes. I guess Arthur thought no one would make it pass this challenge. The two numbers revealed were obviously coordinates on campus. Louis and I made our way back to my room; I had some detailed maps of the place. After a couple of seconds I was flabbergasted at the location. The coordinates themselves lead to our very dorm. So the cricket ball is in this room? But where? I looked behind every crevice in our room but still couldn't locate the ball.

"Brother," I heard Louis say softly. I looked over and saw him pointing to the flower box we had been discussing earlier in the day. Lo and behold there was the cricket ball sitting gracefully in the planter's box. We opened the window, reached in and grabbed the cricket ball. Judging by the markings I could tell it was a relatively old ball. One that had been played with many times so much that the prime paint was peeling. A simple monogram that was fading was inscribed on the ball with the initials: A.J.

"I see that you've found my cricket ball," I heard a voice say. I looked over and saw Raffles and Harry standing in our doorway.

"What was the point of this? Just to lead us back to where we started?" I asked curiously.

"The best place to hide something is in plain sight, William," he said with a smile. "You passed the test! No other student could've done it - we've tried it on other schoolmates."

Little did I know the "test" I had just passed would lead me to a false flag of friendship.