The House of the Twelve Keys

By Kevin Sylvester

Chapter 9

Part 9. The Fearful Foyer

The wave washed over them and then flew down the hallway. It turned right at a doorway and whooshed in. The door slammed shut.

Pat and Raj stood up. “We’re totally dry again,” Pat said.

“This house is so weird,” Raj said. “Hey, what’s that noise?”

They turned around slowly. A marble pedestal stood where the stairs had been. On the pedestal was a wooden box. Something inside was beeping.

Raj walked over and lifted up the box. Inside was an ancient-looking computer. The screen blipped to life.

“What does it say?” Pat asked.

“Uh. It’s just a bunch of numbers,” Raj said. He read them out. “1, 1, 2, 3, and then there are three spaces. I guess we need to type in something for the spaces.”

“Why is it beeping?” Pat asked.

Raj pointed to a clock on the upper right hand of the screen. “Maybe it’s linked to that?”

The clock said…

2:00

1:59

1:58

“That’s a countdown!” Pat said.

“A countdown to what?”

“Nothing good. We need to figure out this sequence, fast!”

“It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3,” Raj said. He typed in “4, 5, 6” then hit ENTER.

The clock started counting down faster.

“But that has to be the answer!” Raj said panicking.

“It clearly is NOT,” Pat said.

“Well, do something then! You’re the one who likes math.”

“We both like math!” Pat yelled. But she needed to concentrate. What else could fit that pattern?

“1, 1, 2, 3…1, 1, 2, 3….Why two number ones?”

“1 plus 1 equals 2,” Raj said.

“And 1 plus 2 equals 3,” Pat said. “This even sounds familiar….”

“Fibonacci!” Raj yelled suddenly.

“What?”

“That book on math we read. Fibonacci was this mathematician a thousand years ago who described this exact sequence!”

“Yeah, yeah! So what’s next?” Pat said. There were just ten seconds left.

Raj racked his brain. “5!” he said. “3 plus 2!”

“And the next one is 8!” Pat said. “3 plus 5, so 8!”

Raj typed that in. There were only five seconds left.

“I got the next one,” Raj smiled, and began typing. He finished just as the countdown hit 0:00.

Can you help Raj figure out what number comes next in this sequence? 1,1,2,3,5,8, ___ 

Comments

rayaan

13

Jul 25
roblox11

13

Jul 25
mimi16cute

13 comes next.

Jul 25
merpup

The answer will be 13 I guess.

Jul 25
foxy

13, 21, 34.

Jul 24
unicornquinn

1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89…

Jul 24
musiciandancer5

13

Jul 24
rachel9

13

Jul 23
dancelover99

12

Jul 23
lucy11

3+8=11

Jul 23
slykitty24

191

Jul 23
samantharaya23

13

Jul 22
sunshine9

12

Jul 22
pandalover82

13

Jul 22
kaytoh31

I think that it is 13

Jul 22
condotbc

13

Jul 22
hurshy21

its totally 11!

Jul 21
unicorn

1,1,2,3,5,8,13!,21

Jul 21
peach2010

13

Jul 21
poopyjuice2

1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34!

Jul 21
simonsays1

it is 13 i guess

Jul 20
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