Sanaa Madbouli's husband, Farad, came to the door. I'm pretty sure he saw a skinny little girl, not a hardened adventurer, standing in front of him.
After greeting him, I went straight to work. The Madbouli house wasn't a house at all, but a bona fide Egyptian mansion. I wondered if they were descendants of the pharaohs and sultans.
I saw a floor switch rising from beneath the gravel and decided to check it out. When I heard a clicking noise, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
To my left, I saw a staircase leading down to a hidden basement.
As I walked inside, I stepped into another world. The smell of musty tomes filled the air as I entered the ancient halls. Somewhere in here there was a book that contained the information Layla (and just about everyone in town) was looking for. Somewhere in here was the Book of the Three Relics.
Somewhere I knew Aunt Margaret was smiling. This was a quest she would have loved.
In room after room after room my eyes were agape as they fell upon elaborate rooms filled with ancient artwork and hieroglyphics that had been undisturbed for many thousands of years, in addition to more books than I'd ever seen in my entire life. I mean, I realize the ancients didn't have television and computers or anything, but seriously, who had time to READ all of this??? Besides, I don't even think the printing press had been invented before the fifteenth century so how could they have gotten these hardcover volumes?
Finally I came to the end of a staircase. This has to be where the book is, I thought, there isn't anywhere else.
After finding the well-preserved volume in the bottom of a chest, I stuck it in my backpack and headed out.
But there were more questions in my mind. Are the Madboulis aware that this library even exists beneath their house? And if they are, why haven't they told anyone about it?
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