House of Anubis: Sibuna Descending

7. The First Clue

"Don't think so," Adil answered. "I'll let you know if I see it."

"Me too," Dexter added half-attentively, staring intently at his laptop as he sat on his bed. Ian nodded and closed the door and began to walk to the living room shortly before being followed in by Dexter, Erin and Cassie. Why were they so hasty? So late to breakfast? So...closed off to everybody else when they were together?

Dexter, Cassie and Erin sat together on the sofa close to the window, and began whispering to each other and looking at Dexter's laptop screen. Ian tried to ignore this, and walked over to Amaya and Susan, who were sat on the sofa opposite the three others.

"Susan, Amaya," Ian said quietly. "Hey."

"Hi," they both returned in unison.

"Um, have you seen a necklace? Black string. Wooden cross-like thing hanging from it."

The two girls looked at each other, as if confirming firstly that neither of them had seen it before relaying to Ian. They shook their heads, Susan saying, "No. Sorry."

Ian was getting worried. That necklace was important to his family, and he didn't know how he was going to find it. This was a big house, and he was not even sure it was in the house. It definitely was not in the pockets of the jeans he wore yesterday.

"Where could it be?" Ian muttered to himself. Cassie jumped in her seat in joy, giving Erin a high five, making Ian forget about his worrying for a moment. He sat down in one of the armchairs in front of the doorway and watched Cassie and her friends sneakily from behind his hand that he was holding his head on, resting both arms on the arms of the chair. He could just make out what they were saying; they weren't too quiet, and he was able to watch their mouths.

"So 'Behind the wall of the mind's leisure, lie the catacombs to your desired treasure'," Erin read from the screen.

"So," Dexter said, "catacombs? As in...an underground grave?"

"I think so," Erin replied. "What else could it mean?"

"The crypt!" Dexter exclaimed. Both Cassie and Erin hissed, "Sshhh!" This caused Amaya and Susan to look at them, and Ian made it blatant that he was looking at them too by lowering his hand from his face — he was trying to appear normal, and a normal person would be paying attention to two people who just told their friend "sshhh". Erin and Cassie noticed the stares, and smiled back. When Amaya and Susan continued their own conversation, with Susan jokingly calling Cassie a "weirdo", Ian hid his view again.

A vibration snapped Ian out of focus. It was his phone. Someone was calling. He slipped his phone out of his jeans pocket, reading "Mum" on the dark screen. He forgot about calling home. What was he going to say about the necklace? Would anyone even ask?

"Hey, Mum," Ian said once he was in the entrance hall. PJ walked past Ian as Ian walked down the corridor. PJ had a bowl of Doritos and a jar of matching salsa, backing into his room and closing the door.

"Ian," his mother said from the other end. The relief and excitement in her voice was evident. "Hey, son. How are you?"

"I'm fine," Ian replied. "Great, even. This place isn't like how I thought it'd be."

"See?" her voice came. "Nothing to worry about. So, have you made any new friends?"

"Err, kind of. I talk to them, and I played football with two other guys on the first night here."

"That's great, hun," his mother said. "How's the house?"

"Just like the pictures," Ian said. "We got shown around and everything. It's pretty big." Ian could hear his father in the background, asking for the phone.

"Ian," his dad said. "Son. Hello."

"Hey, Dad," Ian returned. "How are things at home? Mason and Liam?"

"They're as troublesome as ever," was the reply. "Son, how was school?"

"Really fun," Ian said. "I never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad I came here." PJ, after walking out of his room with the bowl already almost completely empty, gave Ian a look of doubt. "Completely different to what I thought it would be like."

"That's good. I'm glad you like it there. Are you still keeping a hold of the ankh?" Ian gulped and his stomach twisted sickeningly. He didn't have the ankh necklace. He could not find it. But he was not going to let anyone worry about it.

"Yeah," Ian lied. "Yeah. I-it's in my room. I share my room with another person."

"Ok, that's a relief," Ian's dad commented. "Just make sure it's safe and you know where it is. You know how much it means to my family."

"Yeah, Dad," Ian forced himself to speak. "Sure. It's not going anywhere. Um, say goodnight to Mason and Liam for me, yeah?"

"They're already asleep. I'll tell them you said hi in the morning."

"Ok. Night, Dad. Miss you guys."

"We miss you, too."

"Goodnight, Ian," Ian's mother's voice sounded from the background, and then became louder as Ian's father brought the phone to her. "Sweet dreams."

"Love you," Ian said. "Bye."

After Ian ended the call, he dropped into the seat beside the staircase, laid his arms onto the table and dug his head into them. He whispered, "What am I going to do?"