I was back at the house, our old property, left empty and deserted for a decade or more. My name is Thea. This my inherited treasure which I was planning to sell to gather enough money to start my own hotel/restaurant. It had always been my dream to start my own business but I didn't have enough money.

In fact, I had once decided to convert the house itself into a restaurant but it wasn't in such a good condition. So its renovation would cost a hell lot of money. Oh how badly I wanted to keep it. This house had been in our family for generations. I wanted it to be my place. But I couldn't. If only I had a ginnie. But then I had another idea. I would sell the house.

So I came here today, to take a look at it. My lawyer had already found me a buyer. I wanted to see it myself and decide the cost. Well, obviously it was too precious to set a cost but we had to decide one.

I opened the door, which sounded just like the doors sound in horror movies, creaking its way through. I went in and was met with dust and spider webs. Somehow I made my way to the living room. Though there was no furniture, I could easily recall all the things that had been here.

I had lived in this house till the age of ten. It had my childhood memories contained in each and every corner. The person that I missed the most was my grandpa. He was a detective back then. I loved him so much. He gave me all sorts of puzzles and situations which I had to solve. So many games and so many tricks. When we left this house, he said one thing to me, "Child, this house will be yours one day as it was mine. You would probably want to sell it, but before you do so, I will have a puzzle ready for you. Promise me, you will solve it."

But that was years ago. Grandpa wasn't even alive now. Just thinking of him made me sad. I went to Grandpa's study. It was a small cabin. Though all the house was empty, this study had an old desk in the centre.

I looked at the desk and saw three drawers. One of them was locked. I opened the first two drawers. They were empty. I went for the third one, the one that was locked. I looked around, but there was no key.

Then I removed a hair pin from my hair and tried to open the lock. Yes, grandpa had taught me this too. The lock opened.
I looked inside. But this was empty too. I was disappointed.

Did I want something to be there? When my grandpa and I used to solve riddles, he used to hide stuff in a secret chamber in the drawers. Maybe that is the reason why I put my hand in the drawer and looked for the chamber.

My fingers felt a small button at the end. A smile crept on my face. Well, let's see what it has. I pressed the button and heard a small click. The back of the drawer fell, giving way to the chamber. I pushed my hand further and found a small envelope.

I read the envelope. It said, 'If you are reading this, Thea, then I think you have kept your promise as I have kept mine. Solve this, and I will give you a small surprise.

Nag a ram
'Here comes dots'

- Love, Grandpa '

Was grandpa being serious? He had actually planned this? Okay. I was filled with excitement again, after a long long time. I realised I missed this so much. I missed him so much.

Okay, so, here comes dots. What could it possibly mean? Some place? None that I can think of. Then I looked at what was written above it. Nag a ram. I have heard this before. From grandpa maybe.
But what was it?

Oh yeah. Nag a ram is jumbled form of anagram. So maybe he is trying to say that the next phrase is an anagram too. I read it again. Here comes dots. Host e-coms deer? Nope. Some steer doch? Naah. What is it then? The morse code? Oh yes. The morse code.

I ran to the living room again. I reached the wall where a painting made out of morse code used to be placed. Now the wall was empty though. I stared at the wall for a while. I could see some holes which might resemble dots but I could see no dashes. And most probably these holes might just be the ones holding the painting.

I tried to find some pattern. None. They were random. Then at the top right corner I saw a dash. Single dash, means the letter T. I looked at the other corner and saw another dash. So that means whatever the word was had two Ts in it. At the bottom left corner I saw a dot and a dash, meaning A. On the right, two dots, that's an I. Four corners, four letters. That's it?

Then I realized, in the centre, there were two small scratches. I thought they were made while taking down the painting. But I was wrong. Counting the scratches and the holes in the centre, it formed a dash dot dash dot, meaning C.

T T A I C
Attic.

I went to the attic. I saw an old box kept in the shelf. I looked at it. It had a lock too. But it was three boxes and some patterns to be filled in it. At one glance, I knew they were Greek letters.
The password wasn't grandpa's name as his name was Richard. Only three blanks here. Not mine too. But wait. Th in Greek can be written as one letter Ꮎ. Maybe it was my name.

Ꮎ ꏂ α

I put the symbols in order and pressed the button. It clicked open. Inside I saw a card and a letter.

The letter read,
"I have a locker in the City bank. It has my possessions which I want you to keep, Thea. The password is,
Moon Starer

Also, this house is a legasy you should preserve. Make it yours.

-Love, Grandpa. "

A tear fell from my eyes. I whispered, "Thank you, grandpa. I love you. "

The next day, I went to the bank to look at what grandpa had left for me. I showed the card and I was let in. I went to the locker and saw a keypad. I get only three tries, if I get this wrong, it gets locked forever.

I typed in, Moon starer. A red light beeped. Password incorrect.
What? Incorrect? Ugh. Classic grandpa. I typed in Astronomer, anagram of Moon starer. Password Incorrect. Again? How?
Shit. Last try. What is it then? Grandpa loved stars, that was true. That explains the password. But what exactly is the password. He had told me about so many stars and galaxies. What am I supposed to write?

Yes. He had told me about many stars. But he used to talk about a constellation the most. Which one was it? Leo? Orion? Draco? Nope.

Hydra. It was hydra. Largest and longest constellation. He was totally into it. That must be it.

I said a few prayers and typed in Hydra.

Nothing happenedhappened at first. Then the locker opened. Inside were some papers. I took them out. They were his bank accounts and information about all the money that they contained. He had already made all these accounts mine. It was all given to me. I can't believe all this time I had a fortune which I didn't know about.

* * *

It was opening of my very own restaurant, Thea's Place, the place I was planning to sell last year.

All thanks to my Grandpa, I managed to make it mine..

© Rishita