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Chapter Text

Patricia and Joy walked up the steps to Anubis House with their arms linked. The girls were looking forward to rooming together again after the summer they spent with their families. “Ready to start another boring school year?” Patricia asked when they reached the front door.

“I’m actually looking forward to the term,” Joy admitted.

“Please, you’re just excited to see Fabian,”

“Shh!” Joy slapped Patricia’s arm playfully. “Fabian could be here already,” As they entered the house Patricia looked around and found herself disappointed that nobody seemed to have arrived yet.

“Joy, Patricia!” Trudy jogged into the entrance hall to greet them, pulling both into a group hug. “I’m so happy to have you back, sweeties,” Trudy pulled away and looked between the two girls. “Oh,” She took their bags. “I’ll just bring your stuff up to your room.”

“Thanks, Trudy,” Joy smiled as the house mom disappeared up the stairs.

“Come on,” Patricia took Joy’s arm and pulled her into the living room. "Hey, so I was thinking-" Patricia stopped when she tripped on someone laying on the sofa with their legs sticking out. She looked down as a boy she didn’t recognize woke up rubbing at his eyes. Patricia was surprised to see a new student in her living space, seeing as Anubis House had the same group of students for a couple of years now. "Stick your feet in will you,"

"You woke me," He said dumbly in an American accent.

“Well the living room is a shared area,” Patricia started. She didn’t do well being caught off guard, and already this boy was getting on her nerves. “And you wouldn’t have been woken up if you weren’t sleeping all sprawled out like that,”

The boy sat up at this. “I was on a plane for eight hours, and then I was on a train for four more and now I’m in Boresville UK and don’t need a lecture, okay Hermione?”

Joy gasped and Patricia raised an eyebrow. Of course, the American’s only reference to the UK was Harry Potter.

“Who are you anyway?”

“Who are you?”

Patricia chose to ignore him. If he didn’t want to tell her his name that was just fine. She’d find out eventually anyway. “Next time you trip somebody up remember it’s considered polite to apologize in this country.”

“Do you ever stop talking? I should call you blabs or yacker,” Patricia grimaced at this, she didn’t like the sound of that. The boy seemed to notice her disdain for the nickname. “Ah, yacker.”

“And maybe I should call you a cab back to the airport.”

“Ah, devastating,” He started to clap patronizingly. Patricia felt herself growing bored of the back and forth- for now. And decided to move on.

“As much as I’d love to stand here trading stereotypes I think I’m gonna go hang somewhere else, come on Joy.” Patricia headed for the staircase with Joy trailing behind.
“He’s pretty cute, huh?” Joy nudged her.

Patricia scoffed. “He likes to think he is.” She glanced back toward the living room. Okay maybe he was a little cute, but Joy didn’t have to know she thought that.

Over the next hour, the other students arrived. Patricia greeted her friends but did her best to stay away from the new boy who had fallen back asleep on the sofa and somehow remained asleep even though some of the other students had taken to the common area, simply giving him a strange look and moving on. She went upstairs to unpack her things and began catching up with Mara. The boy didn’t get up until Trudy woke him up for supper. Patricia watched him trudge sleepily into the dining room where everyone was already sitting.

“Hey everyone,” He said, his accent grating at Patricia’s ears. “I’m Eddie,” He sat down in the empty chair.

“Hey he’s alive!” Mick exclaimed.

“We were wondering about the new guy passed out in the living room,” Amber giggled.

“Yeah, sorry about that, it was a long ride over,” Eddie said casually. The apology rubbed Patricia the wrong way. Here he was apologizing to the whole house for sleeping in the living room but when she confronted him about it earlier he got all defensive? If the rest of the house knew what Eddie had been like before he wouldn’t have gotten this warm welcome. “Only had the pleasure of meeting Yacker here,” He motioned to Patricia. Jerome and Alfie snickered at the nickname. Great, Patricia thought, she’d seriously hoped he would’ve forgotten about that.

“Yeah, Patricia can be a bit abrasive when you first meet her,” Joy smiled sweetly at Eddie.

“Joy!” Patricia kicked her fake friend from under the table.

“So Eddie,” Fabian started. “Trudy mentioned that you’ll be sharing a room with me and Mick,” Patricia zoned out the rest of dinner, caught up in her head. This was literally the worst thing that could’ve possibly happened this term. The last thing she needed was an annoying, rude, cute boy living with her. Patricia wanted to sink into her chair but forced herself to sit up tall, like Eddie’s presence didn’t affect her at all.

Eddie’s first week and a half at the boarding school went fairly smoothly, minus the times he'd had to interact with his father, Mr Sweet in private. Luckily it was agreed they'd keep it a secret that they were related. Eddie didn't want anyone to judge him for who his previously absent father was. The other Anubis kids accepted him into their lives almost immediately and he was extremely grateful for that, even though he pretended not to care, Eddie had been nervous about making new friends in this new country.

And then there was Patricia. At least twice a day the two found themselves trading insults like it was a competition that neither of them wanted to lose. He found it exhilarating, although afterward he just felt confused. He was growing more and more attracted to Patricia as time went on, to him, the bickering had become his way of flirting with the girl, the problem was he didn't know if she felt the same way. What if Patricia just genuinely hated him?

“Hey Fabes, wait up!” Joy jogged through the hallway to catch up to Fabian. Eddie closed his locker and turned to better watch the two. “I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the paper for Mrs Andrew’s class,”

“Umm, sure Joy,” Fabian answered. “What do you need help with?”

“Well, I’m just not sure what topic I should pick and I-” Eddie smirked as Joy listed off a couple of options. He hadn’t got to know the girl very well, she was mainly a tagalong impartial party to his and Patricia’s fights, but he could tell she was just using this as an excuse to talk to Fabian. Eddie threw his bag over his shoulder and quickly exited the school building, making his way toward Anubis House. Eddie was deep in thought as he passed the bushes lining the Anubis property, should he make pancakes or waffles? He wondered to himself when a hand appeared out of nowhere and pulled him into the bushes, Eddie panicked and took a fighting stance until he saw Jerome and Alfie through the foliage.

“S’going on?” Eddie questioned.

“We’ve decided to let you in on an opportunity we thought you might be interested in,” Jerome said.

“That’s pretty vague dude, care to explain?”

“We’ve noticed how you fight with Trixie and we thought you’d like to help us with a prank we’re pulling,” Alfie pat Eddie on the shoulder.

“Trixie?”

“That’s Patricia, keep up!” Alfie frowned as if Eddie hadn’t only known the group for a couple of days. Eddie smirked at this. Trixie was a cute nickname and he thought it suited her, Yacker was much more his style of nickname but he appreciated Trixie nonetheless.

“You’re pranking Patricia?” So far their fighting hadn’t escalated any further than words, and Eddie kind of wanted to test the waters and see how Patricia would respond to being pushed a little further. And she had been particularly annoying that day yacking on and on about how he ought to do things. Not to mention that it was an excellent opportunity to bond with Jerome and Alfie. “I’m in.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Jerome smirked.

“Now may I ask why we’re in a bush?” Eddie peered out of the branches as Mick and Amber walked past hand in hand.

“It’s more fun this way, is it not?” Alfie laughed.

“Ummm, I guess,”

The new trio walked into the house and headed right for Jerome and Alfie's room. "See you've joined the slimeballs then," Patricia called down the hall. Eddie smirked but didn't turn around.

“You have no idea,” Eddie said under his breath.

Alfie heard him and perked up. “That gives me an idea!”

Five minutes later, Eddie followed Jerome and Alfie into the room Patricia and Joy shared. Patricia had been hanging out in the kitchen downstairs and theoretically, they should have time to prank her. Alfie stood by the door to stand guard while Jerome and Eddie each held a tub of slime, Jerome searched the room until he found Patricia’s boots and dumped the whole thing into one shoe. Eddie laughed then picked up a separate pair of shoes and poured the green slime in. “I’m dying to see Patricia’s face when she steps into the slime,” Jerome said, ushering the boys out of the room.

“She’s not gonna be too thrilled with us I’m sure,” Alfie chuckled.

Eddie closed the door. “Let’s get out of here,” The boys rushed downstairs and plopped down on the sofa in the living room.

Eddie chose to make waffles, after all, loading on the whipped cream in the dining room. Joy stood in the kitchen eating some fruit. “So are you going to tell me about you and Patricia or what?” Eddie couldn’t help it and his face broke out in a huge smile. He allowed his face to remain this way while his back was to Joy. Clearly, Patricia had asked Joy to try to figure out if he was interested in her or not. He almost felt bad about putting slime in her shoes. Almost.

“What’d she say?” He took a bite of waffle.

“Nothing,” She said and he could practically hear her shrug.

“Nothing!” He turned around to face Joy, searching her face for answers but she kept it annoyingly expressionless.

“Wow, you really need to play it cooler,” Suddenly it made sense to Eddie why Joy was Patricia’s best friend. She was pure evil. But even though he was annoyed with Joy, he couldn’t help but respect her for it.

“I could say the same with you about Fabian,” Eddie smirked at her. If Joy wanted to tease him about his crush on Patricia he could certainly give her a taste of her own medicine.
“Shut up,” She said but then her face broke out in a smile and the two started laughing. Eddie decided that Joy would be a good friend to have. She was smart and fun, and it wouldn’t hurt his case to get close to Patricia’s friends.

Patricia hurried down the stairs in just her socks, carrying her boots. She and Joy had plans to go into town for a couple of hours before supper. “You ready?” Joy said as she joined Patricia.

“Just let me put my shoes on,” Patricia balanced on one foot as she slid a boot on and quickly tied it, then switched legs to get the other shoe on. Her foot squished into something cold at the bottom of the boot, making her gasp.

"What?" Joy asked. Laughter erupted from the living room. Patricia looked over and found Jerome, Alfie, and Eddie laughing in the doorway. She took off her shoe and started climbing the stairs.

"Real mature," She called. Back in her room Patricia changed her wet sock and took her other shoe off, opting for a different pair of boots, she slid one on and cursed under her breath as the cold slime squished in her shoe. She ripped her socks off and slid on a pair of sandals, taking the two slime-filled shoes downstairs and into the living room. "You're cleaning these out, weasels," she held them up in front of the three boys.

"No," Eddie crossed his arms, making Jerome smirk. Patricia raised her eyebrows at Alfie daring him to say no.

After a moment Alfie took the boots with a sigh. "I'll go get my toothbrush,"

“Thank you, Alfie,” she looked between Jerome and Eddie then turned to go back to Joy who was still waiting in the entrance hall. She’d deal with them later. That night Patricia lay in bed thinking about the incident with the slime. She was used to this kind of behavior from Jerome and Alfie but it pissed her off that Eddie was joining in. She didn’t know if she could keep up with the three of them. She had to put Eddie in his place before he got too confident. She’d have to do some online shopping. That Friday, Patricia received a very special box of chocolates with Eddie’s name written all over it.

“Hey Eddie,” She said as she walked into the classroom. The students had a few minutes to talk amongst themselves in between classes. Patricia moved to stand in front of his desk. “So I was thinking that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot, and I’ve come to apologize.”

"No," Eddie sarcastically said. "But I guess while your at it I should apologize for the slime, although it was Alfie's idea if that gives me points back."

“It’s fine, really. All in good fun, right?” Patricia relaxed when Eddie nodded his head. “Ummm but I did want to give you something as a peace offering,” She handed him the box. “They’re fancy chocolates, so we cool?”

“Yeah, sure.” Eddie took the box. “Thanks, Yacker,” Patricia smiled nervously at this and moved to the front of the class to take her seat. She closed her eyes, maybe she’d gone too far? She didn’t know how to handle him when he displayed this other side of him, the side that made her think he might actually be a nice guy. She couldn't tell which side was genuine and it made her anxious. Patricia opened her eyes, oh well, she thought, what’s done is done. And either way, he wrecked her baddest shoes and deserved this.

Eddie watched the back of Patricia’s head. He hadn’t expected that. Maybe he’d misjudged her a little bit, he thought. Eddie looked down at the box of chocolates and chuckled to himself as he realized what she was really up to. Patricia certainly didn’t disappoint.

Later that day, Patricia sat with Fabian in the student lounge doing school work together. “Have you got anything planned this weekend?” Patricia asked, putting her books down. She’d had enough for now.

“No?” Fabian closed his books as well. “Why?”

“Joy and I were gonna go to the movies,” She said. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind you joining us.”

“Yeah, I’d like that.” Fabian nodded as Joy ran into the room, with a nervous expression.

“Hi Fabian,” She stopped and smiled at him before her face sank in worry once more. “Houston, we have a problem.” She took Patricia’s wrist and pulled her to the doorway where they found Eddie passing out something to students in the hallway.

“Chocolate?” He asked. Patricia stood in shock as she watched him hand the chocolates out.

“Oh no,”

“Mrs Andrews, Mr Sweet chocolate? They’re fancy and French.” Eddie offered once he spotted the pair.

“Oh, no, no, no, no no!” Patricia ran and took the chocolates out of the teacher’s hands. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, I don’t eat milk chocolate. Here.” The teachers took the chocolates back out of the box.

“But they’re a gift for him.” Patricia took them back before they could take a bite. “I gave them to you,” She grumbled to Eddie.

“And a great one. The sentiment is not lost on me, let me tell you.” Patricia lifted her hand to take the box of disgusting chocolates when Eddie placed his hand in front of hers. She knew she should protest but Eddie’s hand lightly grazed her wrist. Mrs Andrews and Mr Sweet each took a chocolate and bit into it, Patricia grimaced but couldn’t look away.

“Oh my!” Mr Sweet covered his mouth with a handkerchief.

“What on Earth?” Mrs Andrews asked her face scrunching up. Patricia could hear the other students begin to gag from behind her.

“You don’t like?” Eddie pretended to pout.

Mrs Andrews took the box from the teenage boy’s hands and quickly read it. “Millworms!” She exclaimed in horror.

“Beetle larvae?” Mr Sweet ran away and began to gag, Mrs Andrews rushed to the bathroom. Patricia looked at Eddie questioningly.

“My mom made me take French class,” He explained. “Always thought it was pointless, but boy was I wrong.” He handed her the box, and Patricia watched him walk away, she couldn’t help but smile.

“He is good,” Alfie said as Jerome cackled at his side.

Suddenly Joy was waving a hand in front of Patricia’s face. She kept staring ahead even though Eddie had already disappeared down the hallway.

“You’ve got it bad,” Joy stated.

“No I do not,” Patricia finally turned to face her friend. Fabian was smirking next to Joy. She felt her face heat up and she knew they could see through her lie.

Chapter Text

“Move back a bit more,” Patricia directed Joy, holding her phone out to take a picture.

“Awwww hurry up!” Joy complained. Patricia had been telling her to back up for several yards now.

“Wait come on, that’s it,” Patricia had her go further back still until Joy screamed, tripping over something.

“Oh, hey careful!” Fabian said as Patricia snapped the photo. Joy and Fabian each struggled to sit back up.

“That’s my new profile photo.” Patricia grinned.

Joy took the book Fabian had been reading. “Theory of computational intelligence, bit of light reading,”

“Joy, just because it doesn’t have Robert Pattinson on the cover doesn’t mean it’s not worth reading,” Fabian teased, making Joy’s face scrunch up playfully and she shook her head. The two stood up, joining Patricia as a cab pulled up on campus. The three friends gathered their things and began making their way toward the school. Patricia heard someone shout, but ignored it, the campus could be quite busy before class started. Then somebody ran right into her, making Patricia gasp in surprise. A girl wearing street clothes stumbled back.

“I’m- I’m so sorry,” She said in an American accent before turning and running away.
“Another American?” Patricia asked her friends.

“At least she apologized for tripping you up,” Joy smirked, with a nudge. Patricia scoffed at this. Joy and Fabian, to a lesser extent, had been teasing her all weekend about Eddie. Inviting Fabian to join them at the movies had been a big mistake.

“Whatever,” She pushed past them and quickly made her way toward the building.

Eddie sat in front of his father in the headmaster's office. "Now Edison," Mr Sweet started.

“Eddie,” He corrected.

“Eddie,” Mr Sweet gave him a pointed look. “We’re two weeks into term and I’m already concerned about how you’re performing, particularly in my class. I do hope you know I won’t be giving you special treatment when it comes to grades just because you’re my son.”

“It’s not that,” Eddie rolled his eyes. “Science just isn’t my strong suit, you’d know that if you were around.” He couldn’t help but take a dig at his father, smirking when he saw the headmaster’s face fall.

“You should be taking your education seriously Edison- Eddie.” He took a sip of tea. “I don’t want you falling behind.”

“Fine,” Eddie sighed then looked down at the floor. “Maybe-” He started with a grimace. “Maybe you could help me with it? Today at lunch?”

“That won’t do, I already have arrangements for today.” Mr Sweet shook his head.
“Forget it,” Eddie stood up.

“We could arrange something for tomorrow?”

“I said forget it!” Eddie moved toward the door. “If you don’t want to help me that’s fine, just say that!”

“It’s not that I don’t want to help you-”

“I’ll ask Fabian or Mara for help or something,” He grumbled under his breath before slamming the door. Standing in the bustling hallway, Eddie took a moment to compose himself.

“You okay mate?” A familiar voice asked from behind.

“Mick,” Eddie turned around. “Umm, yeah I’m fine, just an argument with Mr Sweet, you know how those are…” Eddie trailed off.

“Can’t say I do,” Mick said in confusion. “But hey, don’t worry about it.” Mick slapped Eddie on the back and motioned for him to follow him down the hall into the student lounge. “Try to relax before we’re due at class, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Mick made his way to join Amber. Eddie looked around the lounge before his gaze landed on Patricia sitting alone on one of the couches. He smirked to himself and strode toward her. “Yacker,” He plopped down next to her.

“Weasel.” She turned toward him. “What do you want?”

"Nothing just sitting down," He put an arm on the back of the couch.

"And you couldn't have chosen literally any other seat?" She motioned around at all the other seating options.

Eddie pretended to ponder her question. "No," He turned forward and noticed Joy standing in front of the two, holding her phone up like she was going to take their picture. He raised his hand awkwardly to wave at the girl.

"That's my new profile photo," She said, more to Patricia than Eddie, before stashing her phone in her bag with a smile.

"What?" He looked between the two girls trying to figure out what was going on.
"Joy," Patricia complained, standing up to follow Joy, making a swift exit out of the lounge. Eddie stared after them.

Later that morning, Patricia sat next to Joy in Mrs Andrews's class, she laughed as she watched Alfie run out of the classroom with a fake bloody nose, only to be stopped at the door by Mr Sweet asking him to slow down. “I’m sorry to interrupt Mrs Andews,” Mr Sweet apologized. “Joy, there’s someone to see you in my office,” Joy and Patricia gave each other a quick look before Joy stood up, grabbed her coat, and followed Mr Sweet out of the classroom.

Eddie walked home from school alone. He’d spent the whole day thinking about the altercation with his father that morning. Maybe he’d overreacted when his father told him he was busy at lunch that day. Maybe he had a meeting or something and he really did want to help him tomorrow but Eddie didn’t care. At least he told himself he didn’t care. It was easier to push him away than to continue getting rejected.

He sat in the living room while the other students went to their rooms to get situated for the evening. Staring blankly ahead he sat in silence until the others started filtering back into the living room. Jerome and Alfie sat on either side of Eddie. He thought about asking one of his housemates for advice but he didn’t know of a way to word it without giving away the fact that he was related to someone working at the school, and he wasn’t willing to risk the whole school finding out. Patricia was talking to the others but he wasn’t paying attention. When Eddie finally tuned into the conversation he quickly realized that Patricia was really worried about something. “I can’t believe no one’s got Joy’s home number.” She said.

“That’s because this is her home, just call her phone.” Said Amber.

“Amber keep up, I told you, she left her phone behind.”

“So text her.”

“Stupidity leak.” Eddie looked around. Everyone but Mick was gathered around the living room. Eddie figured that Mick had gone for a run like he’d taken to doing after school.

“So they’ve already got someone else in her bed?” Fabian asked. Eddie made a face, taken aback by this. He must have zoned out a lot of important information.

“Yeah, it’s that girl we saw in the taxi,” Patricia said. “She’s American and she’s like totally obsessed with it. She said it like a hundred times.”

“And Joy’s just gone?” Mara questioned, Eddie watched Patricia nod her head. “That really is weird.”

“Wait Joy’s gone?” Eddie interrupted. Patricia glared at him and Jerome groaned, smacking Eddie in the side.

“Have you even been listening weasel?”

“No?” He certainly wasn’t going to tell her about his problems with his father.

“Victor said her parents removed her from the school, but she left her phone, and she didn’t say goodbye.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “And now they’ve already moved in some new girl.” Eddie shrugged at this, sure that was a little weird but he didn’t know Joy well enough to say if it was out of character.

“Maybe Joy’s been abducted by aliens and this new girl’s one of them,” Alfie suggested jokingly, making Jerome laugh.

“Yeah, maybe the new girl is an alien in a flesh suit,” Jerome added. Alfie reached over Eddie’s lap to point at Jerome.

“We were planning a rom-com box set marathon tonight, you know Joy’s rom-com obsession. How could she have gone just like that?”

“Patricia, you’ve disappeared more than enough times,” Jerome said, Eddie leaned forward, that was certainly interesting information.

“She would’ve called me though,”

“I know she would-” Eddie stopped listening when he heard someone enter the room, he looked over and saw a new girl standing awkwardly, as a hush fell over the house.

“Hi, I’m Nina, I’m from America.” She said, making Eddie chuckle.

“Hey,” Fabian and Nina waved at each other. Alfie stood up and approached the new girl.
“Welcome space girl or blurb bleep blop.” Eddie joined the students as they laughed at Alfie’s antics. “As they say in your language.”

“Supper’s ready,” Trudy called. Eddie jumped up and rushed over to the table he was hungry. He put his head in his hands as Patricia jostled Nina for taking Amber’s seat. Maybe what he had with Patricia wasn’t special and she just didn’t like new people.

The dinner table was quiet as everyone ate. It had been a long day of school and all Eddie wanted to do was drown himself in spaghetti.

“Stop it, Alfie, that’s disgusting!” Mara finally broke the silence, making Jerome chuckle. Eddie looked over to find Alfie shoveling the pasta into his mouth. “And you’re probably going to choke on it.”

“But it’s delicious this way,” Alfie said with his mouth full. Eddie didn’t blame him.

“Alfie, don’t play with your food.” Jerome flung a spoonful of spaghetti at him. Eddie grinned as Jerome and Alfie began to throw food at each other. These really were his people.

“Really guys every meal?” Fabian said after being hit.

“Oops, sorry!” Patricia poured a pitcher of water on Nina’s lap. Eddie finally paused his eating to look at the two girls.

“Classy Patricia,” Fabian said.

“What? It was an accident.”

“Are you okay?” Fabian gave Patricia a look.

“Yeah, except I think my sweater is shrinking to my body as we speak.”

“So Nina, when are you gonna tell us what you know about Joy’s disappearance?” Patricia questioned the new girl. Eddie felt bad for her. This was different than the fights he had had with Patricia, he realized.

Nina shrugged. “I guess when I actually know something,”

“Oh come on!” Patricia stood up. “One minute I’m sitting next to Joy in class and the next, she’s disappeared and you’ve taken her place. Bit of a coincidence, don’t you think?” Eddie noticed Fabian wiping the water off of Nina’s sweater with napkins.

“I guess it is,” She said sadly.

But Patricia was determined to get something out of Nina because she just kept asking her. She must’ve really convinced herself that Nina was in on some weird plot against Joy, or something. Victor entered the room, giving the students a warning look before telling Nina that there was a phone call for her. The students watched him lead Nina away.

Eddie couldn’t help it, he picked up a handful of his spaghetti and threw it at Patricia. She gasped at him before glaring and throwing her own handful at him. Mara and Fabian ran away taking cover in the kitchen as the food fight got more intense.

“I’ll save you, Trixie!” Alfie dramatically jumped in front of the food Eddie had just hurtled at the girl, before throwing the salad in his hands at Eddie. Oh, so Alfie was picking sides? Eddie had to get Jerome on his side or everything would surely be lost.

“Jerry,” Eddie looked at him, pleading. Jerome stood up, patting Eddie once on the back before joining him in his fight.

“What is this?” Victor’s voice boomed through the common area. The teens dropped the food at once. Eddie looked around, they had made quite a mess. He shrugged his shoulders indifferently. Victor pulled four toothbrushes from his coat and handed one to each of them. “I want this cleaned up before you go to bed.” Eddie watched him walk away. That wasn’t too bad of a punishment. They certainly deserved it. But he couldn’t help but wonder how many toothbrushes Victor kept in his jacket at all times.

Eddie spent all of the next school day avoiding his father, which wasn’t always possible since he was in his class but he managed to go the whole day without a private discussion with the headmaster. Which Eddie thought was good enough. He lay awake at night on the top bunk listening to Fabian toss and turn in the bunk below. Mick on the other hand was out like a light, Eddie noticed that he never moved around in his sleep. It was still weird for Eddie to share a room with two other guys he didn’t really know on a completely new continent. He wondered how the new girl was holding up sharing a room with Patricia who clearly hated her. His rooming situation could be worse, at least Fabian and Mick were chill. Eddie thought about Joy for the first time since he’d found out she left the school. It was strange that Joy’s parents would remove her from the school just weeks after the term started. Why had they even sent her, to begin with? However, the idea that the new girl was a part of a conspiracy to cover up Joy’s disappearance was laughable. Patricia was paranoid, but Eddie did have several questions himself. He just had to keep watching and see if he felt like he needed to actually get involved or not.

The next day Eddie sat in his father’s science class, but he wasn’t paying attention to Mr Sweet he was watching Jerome, Alfie, and Patricia talk and laugh under their breath. Eddie had taken to sitting with Jerome and Alfie lately but today they chose to sit with Patricia. Which was fine. They had all known each other much longer, he totally didn’t feel rejected at all. Eddie could tell they were up to something though and he wanted to know what. He’d just have to sit with Mick for now and get to know his roommate better. The bell rang dismissing them from class. “You’re biology assignments please,” Mr Sweet said before the students could leave. “And no excuses this time.” Eddie handed the assignment over without looking at him. He hadn’t bothered to ask Fabian for help yet and he knew his father wouldn’t be happy about how he did on the assignment. Maybe he should ask Fabian before he got another lecture. He found Fabian standing with Nina, Patricia, Alfie, and Jerome.

“Eddie!” Fabian exclaimed. “Just the guy I wanted to see!” Eddie smiled at this. Maybe Fabian would help him after all.

“What’s up?”

“I was just wondering if you’d tell Nina about the initiation ceremony you did after starting at the school?” Fabian asked, Eddie was confused. Initiation ceremony? “They are insisting that it’s time Nina do hers now,” He gestured at Jerome, Alfie, and Patricia.

“Well,” Eddie looked at the three. Jerome and Alfie gave him a look but Patricia kept her face blank and just stared at him. “Well-”

“I know you’re just trying to better prepare Nina, Fabian,” Patricia interrupted Eddie. “But talking about past initiation ceremonies with people who aren’t initiated is strictly prohibited. You know that,”

“Can’t break the rules, Fabian,” Jerome added.

“Sorry, Fabian,” Eddie shrugged, making his mind up. Fabian glared at him. “I can’t break the rules,” He looked at Nina. “But I did do an initiation ceremony. English boarding schools are weird, am I right?” Eddie walked away grinning.

The next day, Mr Sweet handed the graded assignments back as the bell rang signaling the end of class, making sure to give Eddie a look that told him they would be having a chat later. Eddie really needed to ask Fabian for help before then. At least then he could tell his father he had a tutor for next time. Eddie would’ve asked Mara a lot sooner but she had already agreed to help study Mick and he didn’t think she’d love having another person to worry about tutoring. Eddie ran out of the classroom, pushing a student out of the way.

“Hey!” Patricia exclaimed. Oops, Eddie laughed as he rushed to Fabian and Nina who were stopped in the hallway.

“Fabian, please I need you to tutor me in biology.” He blurted out. He hated asking for help, and he sort of wanted to go for the image that he didn’t care about his grades, because usually he didn’t really but this was his father’s class. And even though he wouldn’t admit it to himself he needed his father’s approval, even though he hadn’t been around for him. It was all so stupid. “Just for a little while, until I get the hang of it or Mr Sweet gets off my back about it.”

“Oh, alright,” Fabian sighed.

“Thanks, man.”

Their new drama teacher Mr Winkler had Amber and Alfie read lines from Romeo & Juliet in front of the whole class. Eddie was glad he hadn’t been chosen, acting wasn’t really his thing. Amber had kissed Alfie when it wasn’t even in the script. Eddie had been sitting next to Mick at the time but he couldn’t help it and he laughed, before trying to cover it up. Mick did not look happy.

It was midnight, and the students of Anubis House stood together in two lines leading up to the attic door and holding flashlights up to their faces. Eddie was wishing he’d stayed behind like Mick but he hadn’t wanted to miss whatever weird scheme Patricia, Jerome, and Alfie had been up to. He watched the three alongside Nina approach them.

“Oh spirits of Anubis House,” Patricia started. “Guide the new girl on her initiation quest and keep her from harm in the haunted attic.”

“Come on, this is ridiculous!” Fabian protested making Eddie laugh. Patricia shushed both boys. “Unlock the door.” Nina did as she was told and looked back at Patricia.

“I just have to go up there and bring something back and then I’m done. I mean you guys didn’t boobytrap the place or anything did you?”

“Course not,” Patricia said. “Go.” Eddie watched Nina ascend the stairs up into the attic before Patricia lurched forward and locked the door.

“What are you doing?” Amber asked in shock. Eddie’s jaw dropped.

“What does it look like?”

“Hey, what’s going on?” Nina jiggled the door nob from the other side. “Let me out!”

“You heard her, let her out,” Fabian said.

“Not until you tell us what you know about Joy’s disappearance.” Oh, so Patricia was crazy, Eddie realized. He’d have to deeply consider whether or not he still wanted to date her or not.

“I don’t know anything,”

“Then you’ll have to stay in there till morning,”

“Oh Patricia, you’ve had your fun, now please just unlock the door,” Fabian demanded. Eddie nodded his head, although the girl wasn’t looking in his direction.

“Yeah Patricia this is getting silly,” Mara added.

Patricia tried again to get answers out of Nina before she started banging on the attic door. There was no way Victor hadn’t heard them. Eddie shook his head. He was so done with all this. “Just unlock the door, Patricia.” But everyone was talking at once and he didn’t even know if she could hear or understand him.

“What’s all this noise?” Victor asked from behind them. “What’s going on? Why are you all out of bed hmmm?” He looked at Amber. “Were you trying to break this door down?”

“No, we thought we heard mice,” Patricia said meekly. “That’s all.”

“Go to bed now, before I put you all in detention.” They hurried to their rooms, but Eddie followed Patricia into hers, hoping Victor wouldn’t notice. Patricia was standing by the window, he ran to her side grabbing her hand before she could toss the key outside.

“What do you think you’re doing weasel?”

“We can’t leave Nina in there all night,” Eddie grabbed her shoulders. “I mean you can’t seriously want that Yacker, can you?”

“You’re on her side,” Her eyes froze over. “For all I know, you’re in on it too.”

“Does that make Fabian in on it too?” He let go of her, his hands dropping to his side. “Look I do think it’s possible that something weird happened to Joy,”

“You do?” Patricia smiled brightly. Eddie decided that he did still have a crush on the girl even after what she’d done to Nina.

“Yeah,” He said, mostly to appease her. “But I really don’t think Nina has anything to do with it.” He closed the window and turned back to her. By then Patricia’s face had sunk.

“You don’t really believe me.” She said matter of factually. “You’re just trying to get the key.” Eddie flashed a nervous smile and held his hand out for the key. She sighed. “I’ll give you the key if you promise not to rat me out if Victor catches you with it?”

“I don’t rat people out,”

Eddie crept into the hallway, the attic key in hand. He met up with Fabian and Amber who’d both been peeking out of opposite doorways. “Is he still up there?” Fabian asked. Amber shushed them as they heard the attic door opening. She grabbed Eddie and Fabian’s wrists and pulled them into the open bathroom to hide from Victor as he locked the attic door and strode down the hall toward his office.

“He hasn’t got her,” Amber said.

“Patricia gave me the key,” He handed it to Fabian. “I’m gonna head to bed, I’m tired.” Amber nodded her head.

“I’ll be down in a minute,” Fabian said. Eddie snuck down the hallway past Victor’s office and all the way down to his room. With a big yawn, he climbed the ladder up to his bunk and pulled the covers over himself. A while later Fabian tiptoed into the room and settled into his bed. Eddie smiled before falling asleep.

Chapter Text

Eddie supposed that breakfast went as well as could’ve been expected. Patricia was pissed off at Nina for actually completing her fake initiation into the house. Eddie had to admit Patrica’s behavior from the night before had definitely shocked him, but he supposed he owed it to her to question his father about Joy. Joy was cool so he at least wanted to make sure she was safe. He shoved one more pancake into his mouth and took his bag, heading over to the school early. Eddie carefully scanned the hallway, making sure there weren't any students around before quietly slipping into his dad’s office.

“Hey, I just have a quick question for you,”

“Oh! Edison!” The headmaster put a hand to his chest, startled. “Please, knock before entering.”

“It’s just Eddie,” He flashed a smile.

“Right,” Mr Sweet settled back into his chair. “What is it you wanted to ask then, Eddie? Do you need help with your homework after all?”

“Oh, no I got Fabian to help me,” He patted his bag awkwardly. “It’s actually about Joy.”

“Joy?” He sputtered. “What about Joy?”

“Well, about her leaving all of the sudden. I mean, you have to admit that was weird.”

“Well, I suppose it was a bit surprising,” He paused to take a sip of tea. “But Joy’s family had to relocate, and her parents wanted to have her closer to them, that’s all I was told.” He put the cup down.

“Hmm,” Eddie pondered.

“Listen, Eddie,” His father stood to approach the teen. “It would be best to focus on your studies, no need to get caught up in the wild imaginations of… certain students.”

“Right,” Eddie felt his lip twitch. He quickly turned around and made his way to the student lounge, plopping down on one of the chairs. Eddie felt better after speaking with his father. He just wished he could figure out a way to convince Patricia that Joy was safe without risking losing what little trust she had in him.

Eddie spent the rest of the day trying to avoid his father, but as he passed him speaking with Mara and got a load of the conversation they were having he had to stop in his tracks. “Just because they’re not sweet and furry, hedgehogs demand our respect Mr Sweet, and our sympathy.” Mr Sweet turned away from Mara and began walking back toward the door to his office. Eddie smirked. “Hundreds of them get killed in our roads every year, and we need to do something!” The headmaster reluctantly turned back around to face the girl. Eddie approached, inviting himself into the conversation.

“Teach them road safety.” He laughed, nodding at Eddie before turning to retreat back toward the door. Eddie noticed the panic on Mara’s face and realized she must be trying to stop Mr Sweet from going into this office. Jerome and Alfie had to be pulling an epic prank. Although, he did not picture Mara being the type to cover for someone like that. Especially not Jerome or Alfie.

“We should do a bake sale,” Eddie suggested, making Mr Sweet turn back around.

“A bake sale?” He raised an eyebrow questioning the boy.

“I mean, who doesn’t love pastries?”

“I thought you liked animals,” Mara said with a frown.

“Alright, Mara, Eddie, perhaps you’re right, perhaps I haven’t been entirely fair to the hedgehogs. Please, tell me more.” Behind Mr Sweet, Eddie saw Patricia slip quietly out of the office. He should've known.

“Nah, you’re right, it’s pretty boring.” Mara waved him off as Patricia joined them. “See you later, Mr Sweet.” She turned to her friend. “Hi, Patricia.”

“Hi, Mara!” Patricia said too sweetly. “Eddie,” She scowled at him.

“Better hurry we’ll be late for history.” Mara looped her arm under Patricia’s pausing a moment before promptly looping the other arm under Eddie’s and pulling the trio swiftly down the hall away from Mr Sweet. Eddie felt stupid for how happy being included in their getaway made him. Eddie turned toward his father and gave him a shrug before facing forward once more. He had to know the story behind this one.

“What was that about?” Eddie questioned Patricia when they were far enough away from Mr Sweet.

“They won’t give me Joy’s contact information so I had to take it for myself.” Patricia sighed. Eddie hoped that Patricia would get the information she needed and drop it. This whole conspiracy was getting old, putting Eddie on edge for some reason.

Victor had other plans, initiating a bag search as soon as the students arrived back at Anubis House, Patricia had no choice but to give up her bag, and her hopes of being able to contact Joy. Eddie had to admit, it was crazy how fast Victor had been alerted it was missing, his father had to have known Patricia took it from his office.

The next morning Patricia was already agitated watching Fabian and Nina talk under their breath, as she helped Trudy dry the dishes. When the two stood up to walk over to school Patricia decided she'd had it with them. “Whisper, whisper, whisper, very cozy.” She looked at Fabian. “Since when did you become her friend instead of mine, Fabian?”

“Since you became such a witch Patricia.” He put his bag over his shoulder and left the room, leaving Nina with Patricia.

“He can be both of our friends.” Nina offered.

“Not likely,” Patricia looked away from Nina, who got the message and left too. Patricia grimaced, Fabian’s words hurting. Trudy was back at Patricia’s side in a flash. “Hey, Trudy,”

“Before you ask, Alfie’s had the last of the hashbrowns. I can make you a Trudy pancake surprise if you like.” She said sweetly.

“No I’ve been meaning to ask,” Patricia reminded herself that she didn’t have time to worry about the others if it didn’t affect finding Joy. “Was it Joy’s parents that came and cleared her room out last week?”

“Umm. It was a man.” Trudy thought for a moment. “I’m not sure if it was her father. I've never seen her parents.”

“And when were you told she was leaving?”

“The same morning she left.”

“Didn’t you think that was weird?” Patricia certainly thought it was weird. Even for Joy’s parents.

“Well, Joy always was a walking soap opera,” Trudy admitted. “I thought it was a bit sudden, I’m not sure about weird.”

“And what about Nina coming to replace her the same day?” Patricia knew that Nina had to be involved in Joy’s disappearance somehow. It was too much of a coincidence for her not to have been. And since Nina’s been here she’s started acting all secretive. “Now that was weird right?”

“Not really. Nina was always meant to start at the beginning of term.” Patricia froze. This was new information for her. “She’s on a scholarship and there was a bureaucratic mixup which meant her money was delayed, that’s all.” Patricia hated to admit it but Trudy’s reasoning made sense. Maybe Nina really just had unlucky timing. Possibly Patricia was totally wrong and had done some really awful things to her for no reason. She had to get in contact with Joy and sort this out once and for all.

Patricia spent all of Mr Winkler’s class thinking about what Trudy had said. So maybe Nina wasn’t in on the conspiracy but if Trudy couldn’t tell her for certain that Joy’s father had cleared out her room, then Patricia wasn’t going to let go of it. Joy could be in serious danger. She had to go to the police. After some serious begging the police officer caved and agreed to check into the situation. The next morning, the officer called Patricia back to tell her that he’d spoken to Joy’s parents and that she was safe and at home. Patricia tried to get Joy’s contact information but he couldn’t give it to her. Patricia understood why but she was really getting tired of hearing the same thing from everyone. She just wanted to speak with her best friend, figure out why she had to leave the school and make sure she was okay. The police officer suggested that Joy might be in touch soon, but Patricia wasn’t sure.

Just before super Patricia sat on the sofa doing homework on her laptop when she got the notification for an email she froze. It was from a new address but it was something. “Yes! I have an email from Joy!

"That is great!" Fabian said as he, Jerome, Alfie, Eddie, and Mara gathered around the computer.

"What did she say?" Jerome asked.

"Hi Patricia," Alfie joked in the higher tone he used to impersonate Joy (It wasn't great).

"Hang on, I’ll read it." Patricia tried not to shake as she read the words. “'Hi Patricia,'”

"That settles it, I’m psychic." Alfie laughed.

“'Sorry I haven’t been in touch, it’s been hectic since I left.'" Patricia continued. "'Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I’m fine. I know it probably seemed a bit odd of me disappearing like that, but dad’s business went under and he needed to get me out of there ASAP. I was a bit shocked myself. Hope you’re all okay and not missing me too much. Love Joy.'” Patricia was probably crazy but something was off. The email didn't sound like Joy. “There’s no smiley face at the end. Joy always puts a smiley face and there’s no text speak, it's all written out like properly.”

“Joy’s learned to spell at last! Hurray!” Jerome waved a pillow in the air. Patricia could feel herself spiraling again, sick to her stomach as she went through examining each piece of the email. Jerome, Alfie, and Eddie ditched her to sit at the table. Fabian and Mara, aka the voices of reason, rationalized Patricia's worries until she finally took a few deep breaths and closed her laptop. “Yeah, you’re right, sorry I bet I’ve been driving you crazy.”

“No." Her housemates lied.

"Yes." Said, Alfie.

“Specially you Nina." Patricia looked toward her American roommate. Patricia did not like admitting when she was wrong but the girl certainly deserved it.

"Nothing a few years of counseling won’t fix." Nina joked, at least Patricia hoped she was joking, although she couldn't blame her if she wasn't.

"I guess I might have taken things a little too far." Patricia was aware of her ability to get carried away but was pretty embarrassed about this time.

"It’s really okay Patricia, you were just worried about your friend, I’m just glad she’s safe."

"Can somebody help me take this food to the table please?" Trudy said from the kitchen. Patricia supposed now was her chance to make things up to her housemates.

“Coming,” Patricia stood and hurried into the kitchen.

That night Patricia awoke to the sound of somebody sneaking into her room, she opened her eyes but didn’t move, it was Nina. What was she doing out after curfew? Nina crouched down by her bed and slid something underneath before climbing back into bed. Patricia supposed she could’ve had a perfectly normal reason for this behavior, but she’d been living in a constant state of paranoia lately, and she couldn’t help but think that Nina was up to something.

Patricia noticed the girl smiling the next morning as they got ready for school. "What are you grinning about?"

"Nothing," Nina faltered. "It's just… last night I saw Victor slip on the stairs… seems like he hurt himself pretty badly."

"He did!?" Patricia laughed, caught off guard by the American's answer. "I would've given anything to see it!"

"It was too funny," She agreed. Patricia was impressed with the new girl. Although she still wondered what Nina had put under her bed after coming back. In the hallway, Patricia barely contained her laughter as Victor passed her with a limp. Sure, it wasn't very respectful to laugh at the guy for getting hurt but she was still angry with Victor for how he handled Joy leaving the school, and she hadn't been terribly fond of the man before that either.

As Trudy served eggs for breakfast, Patricia felt she just had to jump at the opportunity to mock the caretaker of the house. “Did you hear about Victor? He fell down the stairs last night and broke his leg!” She couldn’t help but giggle as the others laughed.

“Don't exaggerate, Patricia,” Trudy said heaping more eggs onto Fabian’s plate.

“Eggs-aggerate,” Alfie pointed out the unintended pun. “Nice one Truds,”

“Terrible yoke, Alfie,” Jerome said.

“It’s a sprained ankle, that’s all.” Trudy clarified.

“A very painful sprained ankle,” Victor appeared out of nowhere making Eddie burst out into laughter. The caretaker glared at the boy, while Patricia did her best to hold in her own laughter.

“Victor, how do you do that?” Trudy marveled. “And with a limp too.”

“Someone sabotaged that floorboard on purpose.” He accused. Patricia raised an eyebrow, at least she wasn’t the only paranoid one in the house.

“Oh no,” Trudy said. “That floorboards been like that for ages. I remember telling you about it last year.”

“Yeah, that’s right I’ve tripped over it myself a few times,” Fabian said.

“I haven’t.” Nina awkwardly said.

“Someone is up to something,” Victor said. “And I intend to find out what it is. And who.”
Patricia spent the day with Mara, finally getting her to admit she had feelings for Mick and that she wasn’t happy Mick and Amber were getting back together. And now they were all invited to go to Mick and Amber’s party. It was tough luck for Mara, but Patricia wasn’t sure Mick was a good match for her anyway. After school, Patricia did her eyeliner as Mara sat on Patricia’s bed watching her.

“I noticed you’ve been a bit nicer to Nina recently,” Mara prodded.

“Yeah,” Patricia stopped to face her friend. “Well, I suppose I realize now, it was just a coincidence after all. You know, her turning up the day Joy left.” Mara nodded her head with a big smile. “But I don’t totally trust her though.”

“Why? Because she’s American?”

Had she really been so rude to the two Americans that Mara thought she had a vendetta against all Americans? Yes. She really had been that rude, but Nina was suspicious as hell and Eddie was… annoying. “She’s very secretive. She sneaked out the other night, I don’t know where she went but she brought something back and hid it under her bed. In fact, I’ve been waiting for a chance to have a look.” Patricia stood up and walked over to Nina’s side of the room. “No time like the present, guard the door, Mara.”

“Don’t go through her stuff, Patricia,” Mara said in exasperation.

“Just guard the door will you?” She pulled a box out from under her roommate's bed and sat down.

“Fine but someday you have to give me a job other than guarding.” Mara stood up and went to the door.

“Hmmm, two keys. This one’s the one from the attic the other night. I don’t know what that one is.” There was a baseball and a few journals. Patricia picked one up and opened it to a random page, getting excited about the contents of the journal. “Oooh look, she keeps her diary in here as well.”

“Don’t read it!”

“Just a little peak,” She had to. “Hey listen to this, ‘Fabian is kind of geek chic. He’s really sweet to me.’” She read in an American accent.

“Fabian, sweet!” Mara laughed. “What else did she say?”

Patricia flipped the page and saw her name. “‘Patricia is possibly the meanest person I have ever met.’” She looked up at her friend. “What a cow.” She closed the book and threw it back in the box. She was right to say so, of course, but it still hurt.

“I did warn you not to read it,” Mara winced.

“And after I was nice to her that one time, as well.” The door jiggled, Mara held it back as Patricia put the lid back on the box and slid it back under the bed, standing up. Mara let go of the door and joined Patricia.

“Hi?” Nina entered the room.

“Hi!” Mara said a bit too cheerfully.

“The party started.” She gestured out the door. “Alfie’s teaching Trudy how to pop and lock it.”

“Yeah, we were just going down, weren’t we Patricia?” Patricia said nothing to her roommate but followed Mara out to the party.

Eddie watched Patrica sit as partygoers chatted or danced in the living room. She looked bored out of her mind and Eddie couldn’t resist so he approached her. “You just gonna sit there?”

“Why aren’t you dancing?” She looked up at him. “Waiting for the right girl to ask?”

“Waiting for the right pig to fly. What’s your excuse?” He took a drink from his cup.

“If you knew me, you’d know I don’t dance, ever. On any occasion, under any circumstance. Including if my life depended on it.” But there was something else to it.

“Well, no one’s asked you have they?”

Her look hardened. “Everyone in here knows that if they did they’d be crushed like a tin can under a tank.”

“I’m gonna take that as an I’ll think about it.” Patricia shook her head at him with a glare. He was gonna do it, he decided as he walked away. Lost in thought, Eddie almost ran into Jerome and Alfie.

“Does someone have a little bitty crush?” Jerome asked. Oh no, this wasn’t good. “You have been hanging around with her rather a lot lately.”

Eddie scoffed. “Her hanging around with me, Jerry.” He smacked Jerome’s shoulder. “Her hanging around with me.”

“Ahh, no way,” Alfie shook his head. “She hates you man, I’m willing to bet there is no way you could get malacia Patricia to dance with you.”

“What are we in Kindergarten now?” Jerome and Alfie bumped fists. Eddie would never hear the end of this, and then Jerome and Aflie would start letting word of his crush on Patricia get out to the rest of the house, and then he’d be done for. He had to get the situation back into his hands. “Okay, okay! You’re asking for it. What are the terms?”

“If you win, Jerome will sing she’ll be coming around the mountain on stage in the style of a rap artist.” Alfie grinned like a madman.

“What?” Jerome asked. This made Eddie excited. He now had an opportunity to embarrass Jerome and an excuse to ask Patricia to dance.

“But if you lose, you have to give Jerome the rest of your money for the rest of the month,” Alfie added.

“Yeah that works!” Jerome agreed.

“Deal. Nothing to spend it on around here anyway.” He shook Jerome’s hand. This oughta give him the courage he needed to go through with asking her.

A few songs later, Eddie supposed he’d waited long enough and danced towards her.

“No.” She said before he could even say anything.

“Come on, I saw your head swinging.”

“No.”

He stepped closer to her, wiping the playful expression off his face. “Hey, I’m just a tin can, standing in front of a tank, asking her to dance with me.” Her expression changed a bit, and Eddie saw that as a sign to move forward. “Come on, I don’t dance either, it’ll just look alternative.” He could see her walls slowly fall down. He took her hand gently. “Just gonna peel you off the sofa here,” He helped her stand up.

She turned away for a second but when she turned back she was smiling. “Okay, one dance, no more than a minute, no funny stuff, and this still doesn’t make us friends, okay?”

“Cool,” And they started dancing, Eddie briefly saw Jerome and Alfie gawking at them and made sure to send them a quick look, but he was really just excited to be dancing with her. He knew that Patricia would probably still take a while to convince her to date him but this was a huge step. And this way he could skip right past the tedious prank war he’d been planning on continuing.

Minutes later when the next song ended, Patricia pulled away from him, but she was still smiling. “See that didn’t hurt,” Eddie said.

“Yeah it did, you stepped on my toes like four times,”

“I told you I never dance.”

“No, but sometimes, just sometimes, you know how to be a good guy.” Eddie would probably be doing cartwheels right then if he hadn’t spotted Alfie behind him giving him a thumbs up in congratulations. Suddenly Eddie felt awful. He hadn’t meant for it to happen like this, he wasn't thinking. He had to get out of there before Alfie let Patricia know that there had ever been a bet in the first place.

“Well, I’ve broken enough personal rules for one night, I better leave before I end up writing you a poem or something.” The two laughed and he prayed that he hadn’t screwed everything up before it had even started.

Eddie slipped through the boy's hallway and into his room, climbing onto his bunk. He could hear Jerome call the attention of everyone at the party and could faintly hear the rap, and it was exquisite, but Eddie frowned. He knew Patricia would find out the truth. And he did not want to be there to see her face when she did.

Not too long after he climbed into bed Victor was shouting at everyone and Eddie had one more reason he was glad he went to his room early. “Eddison Miller!” Victor shouted from outside the door. “Come out here at once!” Eddie rolled off of the bunk bed, landing flat on the floor, stood up, and joined the others once again in the living room. “Who has been in the attic!” Victor shouted once again.

“It’s really hot in here!” Alfie complained. Eddie looked at him to find he had a deer head over the top of his own head. “I can’t breath.”

“Well then we shall just have to saw it off, shant we!” Victor grabbed Alfie.

“Saw it?!” Alfie cried in horror. Eddie hadn’t seen Victor this mad before.

“Oh, yes! The rest of you wait there.” He pulled the trapped boy along with him.

“What’s all that about?” Eddie questioned.

“Victor knows the key to the attic is missing,” Nina said, her voice spilling over with panic.

“Well, you can’t let him catch you with it.” Eddie crossed his arms, feeling protective of the girl.

“Hang on, I have an idea,” Nina winced before rushing out of the living room. She was gone just a few minutes before returning.

“Well?” Eddie asked.

“I put it on the floor by the door to his office.”

“You left it on the floor?” Jerome questioned.

“I know it’s not the best idea in the world, but if he has it he can’t search us for it. Trust me guys.”

“And why should we take the rap for you?” Said, Jerome.

“Why?” Fabian said angrily. “Because you guys are the ones who made Nina steal the key in the first place.”

“Oh yes, very clever,” Victor said from outside the room. “Very clever indeed.” He held the key up. “Who put this on the floor outside my office? Hmmm? Who?” He asked each of the students, who all said no until he reached Nina.

“No.” She hesitated, then changed her mind. “Yes.”

“Aha!”

“No!” Fabian said. “She’s covering for me. I did it.”

“You?”

“Yeah, guilty as charged.”

“No, he’s lying it was me.” Nina insisted.

“Me,” Mick looked at Amber and Mara. “I did it.”

“What?” Victor was shocked by that.

“I did it. Total key thief.”

“Actually, he’s lying,” Mara said. “It was me, Victor,” Eddie smirked at the chaos they were causing.

“Oh yeah!” Amber nodded her head. “I mean no, it wasn’t her. It was me. I love to steal keys so much.”

“Actually it was me,” Patricia added.

“No, you guys don’t have to cover for me.” Eddie shook his head and then faced Victor. “I stole the key.”

“Stop playing me for a fool,” Victor growled. “Jerome. I know I can rely on you. Who was it?”

“It was me,” Jerome said through clenched teeth.

“That is it! That is it! You are all grounded for the entire weekend!” He said before stomping off. The students all smiled and Eddie hurried back to bed.

Eddie couldn’t even stop the grin that was plastered on his face all throughout breakfast. He had definitely gotten somewhere with Patricia the night before. They kept sharing looks from opposite sides of the table.

“Oh, you’re good.” Alfie, who was sitting right next to Eddie said, nudging him. Eddie panicked. No! This was not good at all. He silently begged Alfie to stop talking. Then to Eddie’s horror, Jerome made it worse by chuckling.

“Good at what?” Patricia questioned. But then nobody said anything and Eddie could feel it all crumbling before him. “Good at what??”

Jerome leaned toward her. “Eddie bet us he could get you to dance. I really thought you’d hold out longer.” Eddie didn’t miss the flash of regret on her face.

“Good at ruining things.” He said under his breath.

“That’s why you were singing she’ll be coming around the mountain?” Mick asked Jerome.

“Ah, murdering she’ll be coming around the mountain.” Alfie corrected him.

“You cockroach,” Patricia said, making everyone at the table wince. Patricia suddenly stood up and walked around the table toward Eddie. Eddie couldn’t even move, he deserved whatever was coming for him. She picked up the pitcher of milk from the table. Yep, he definitely deserved it. The cold liquid ran down his face, soaking him before she stormed off.

“Better you than me,” Nina said.

Eddie gave Nina a look before turning to Mara. “Mara, would you be a sweetheart and pass me the cereal.” She obliged. “Thanks.” Eddie sighed taking a handful of the cereal and wiping it on his forehead, before shoving it into his mouth.

Patricia had to go back to Anubis House to grab her French textbook before class started for the day. The voices coming from the dining room piqued her interest and she crept closer. “Oh yes, yes we haven’t heard a peep out of any of them for days.” She could hear Victor say. “Your phone call did the trick.” Patricia peeked into the room and was surprised to see Victor sitting with the cop that she’d reported Joy’s disappearance to.

“Are you seriously still worried the betrayer might return?”

“We can take no risks.” Patricia thought she should probably move to hide better, she was now standing right in the doorway where either could see her, but she was too frozen in shock to do anything. “Anyway, it’s over now. Finished. Joy is buried. End of story. So let us get onto the business at hand brother. The organization of the next gathering.”

Patricia went up to her new room she'd just finished moving into with Mara and called her mom, begging her to remove her from the school. The teachers had killed Joy and the cops were in on it. She knew she wasn't safe there. Her mother, however, thought it was just a cry for attention and hung up on her. Patricia cried most of the walk back to school, composed herself, and then entered the classroom like she hadn't discovered her best friend was dead.

It totally wasn't bothering Eddie that Patricia had been giving him the cold shoulder ever since she dumped milk over his head the day before. But he sat in the living room willing her to look at him even for a second. She didn't. Eddie gave up and watched Jerome and Alfie wrestle on the floor. He was still kind of pissed at both of them for exposing the bet, but mostly he was mad at himself. Jerome beat Alfie, or at least Eddie thought Jerome did, the rules of their version of wrestling weren't clear. Anyway, Jerome ditched Alfie and plopped down right next to Patricia. Eddie glanced away, nope, that definitely didn't bother him. Jerome totally wasn't Patricia’s type, and if he was, it would be Eddie’s fault if she went for it. He never should've made that stupid bet. He looked back up, Jerome was leaning in rather close. Maybe Jerome and Alfie set Eddie up so Jerome could swoop in and take Patricia’s attention for himself. Patricia nodded her head to whatever he said, and Jerome left. Eddie clenched his fists.

"Tough luck, buddy." Alfie winced beside him. "Looks like Trixie’s moved on to the next weasel."

"Yeah, whatever," Eddie said under his breath before turning and walking away.
Eddie was trying to fall asleep but between the drama with his father, Patricia, and all this talk of conspiracy, he couldn’t shut his mind off. A screeching sound in the night made Eddie jump out of his skin. He sat up wildly looking around the room, Mick was dead asleep somehow and Fabian was gone. What was going on? Eddie wondered. He ran out the door to their room, bumping right into someone, he grabbed their forearms to balance himself.

“Ahh, watch it slimeball!” Patricia hissed. He looked up at her in confusion. What was Patricia doing in the boy's hallway at this time of the night? His gaze was drawn to Jerome and Alfie’s door. That had to be where she’d come from. Jealousy flared in Eddie once again, but then he noticed how shaken Patricia was.

“Patricia?” He asked. “What’s going on?”

“I have no idea.” She said angrily and stomped off. Eddie stood frozen in confusion before deciding it was too late to worry about any of that and climbed back into his bed. Forgetting about the screech that drew him out of the room in the first place. He could worry about it all in the morning.

Eddie figured that drama class the next morning was as good of an opportunity as any to apologize to Patricia but she was talking with Jerome and Alfie, taking up all the free time before Mr Winkler inevitably decided to start teaching. And Eddie certainly couldn’t apologize in front of Jerome and Alfie, they would make everything worse somehow. Or at least remind Patricia about the betrayal.

“Alright everyone, pair up please.” Mr Winkler started. Eddie slapped his forehead against the palm of his hand. So much for apologizing. Or maybe… He looked back toward the girl, she was pulling Alfie to the side already, but what if he just?– He ran for Alfie and shoved him aside.
“Umm, I already picked my partner,” Patricia whined.

“Umm, well I already picked mine.” Eddie countered, giving her a smug look.

“Mr Winkler,” She started.

“I’d like to start this exercise now if you don’t mind, Patricia.” The teacher said and Alfie slunk off to partner up with the redhead from Isis House. Eddie smirked at Patricia once again. “Three little words, I love you. See It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.” If looks could kill, Eddie would be a goner from the glare Patricia was sending his way. “In your pairs I want you to tell a story but you can only do it having a conversation using those three words. I love you.”

“Listen, Patricia,” Eddie said under his breath so Mr Winkler wouldn’t hear him. “I’m sorry about the bet. I really am. And if you’re still mad at me, I get it…” Patricia turned her head away from him to look out the window. “But you know I would’ve asked you anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, great whatever.” Patricia waved him off, taking a step closer to the window. He had really ruined things, hadn’t he?

Eddie put his forcefield down before saying. “I love you.” For the exercise, of course.

“Did, did anyone see that?” Patricia questioned.

“What?” Mr Winkler said.

“Did you even hear anything I said Yacker?”

“That man! He was staring at me!” Eddie moved to stand at her side and scanned the foliage outside but couldn’t see anyone. “I saw him.” Patricia turned to face the Anubis students who had all gathered around, giving Eddie a look he didn’t understand, before turning back toward the window. “I did.”

In between classes, Mr Winkler pulled Patricia aside to speak to her in the classroom. Patricia told the teacher all about Joy’s disappearance, and why she thought Joy might even be dead, and the other teachers were behind it. "I swear Mr Winkler, I swear to you I’m telling the truth."

"I believe you." Mr Winkler earnestly told her. It felt like a small weight was lifted. Somebody actually believed her. Mr Winkler wasn't just listening to her talk like Mara or even Eddie, he actually believed her. But it wouldn't last…

Commotion erupted throughout the house and startled Eddie awake. Fabian rushed to their door. "What's going on?" Eddie questioned, feeling quite groggy, and rubbed his eyes.

"I don't know," Fabian breathed out. "But it doesn’t sound good."

"Stop talking!" Mick whined half asleep. Eddie jumped off the top bunk and joined Fabian. Victor's voice echoed from the floor above. They peered down the hallway, Jerome and Alfie were doing the same.

"What's all that about?" Jerome asked.

A knock at the door rang through the house and Victor appeared at the other side of the hallway, finally noticing the boys. "Some of the girls think there is an intruder in the house," Victor stated before going to let a police officer inside the house. The four boys rushed upstairs, Mick slowly trailing behind peeling a banana he must've grabbed from the kitchen.

More voices floated from Mara and Patricia’s shared room as the boys rushed down the hallway until they cautiously stood in the doorway. Patricia sat on her bed in between Mara and Trudy, trying to comfort her, and Nina and Amber were watching close by. “What’s going on?” Fabian approached them.

"Patricia thinks she saw someone in the house," Trudy rubbed the girl's arm. "The police should be here to search,"

"Yeah, one just showed up." Eddie felt awkward. He wanted to help comfort her but Patricia still hadn't forgiven him for the bet and he didn't want to accidentally make her feel worse.

"Well, what did they look like?" Alfie questioned.

"It was the man from earlier, he was right outside my door," Patricia said. "You guys believe me right?" The others gave a noncommittal yes, not sure if they believed her or not. But the whole thing made Eddie anxious. Sure, Patricia could have just had a nightmare but a lot more harm could come out of not believing her if someone had actually been in the house. And she seemed like she didn't scare easily, even if Joy’s disappearance had put her on high alert.

Twenty minutes or so went by, trying to calm Patricia down before the cop confirmed that there wasn't an intruder in the house, and Victor sent the students back to bed. Even if Patricia only had a nightmare Eddie was starting to get very concerned for Patricia’s mental health. Back in his bunk, Eddie didn't get any sleep, instead, he stared up at the ceiling and listened to the house.

Chapter Text

Trudy insisted that Patricia stay home from school after staying up with her all night. Trudy was right, Patricia hadn’t slept a wink after having seen that man in her room. But she didn’t want to be alone at Anubis House. That man could come back, and Victor was dangerous too if he killed Joy. Patricia no longer felt safe at Anubis House. And nobody but her drama teacher believed her. And he would probably brush off the past night’s events as fiction too.

Patricia spent the next couple of hours trying to sleep on the sofa. She felt like she was being watched. Eventually, she fell into a light sleep that was abruptly interrupted when she heard voices approach her. Patricia sat up rubbing her eyes as Mr Winkler entered the living room.

"Hey Patricia," He sat down on the chair next to the sofa.

"Hi, Mr Winkler."

"How are you feeling, I heard about-"

"Fine, I mean scared. But at least this proves one thing, doesn't it? The man, he's not in my head." She really needed someone to believe that something was wrong because Patricia was starting to wonder if she was actually losing her mind. She’d started to wonder if this man was a ghost haunting the school grounds. How could nobody but her see him? She was starting to lose sight of what was real and what wasn't, and that was just as scary.

Mr Winkler didn't look convinced. "Thing is, Patricia no one else saw him. You do know that? The police couldn't find anything either."

"The police are in on it!" Patricia interrupted before he could say any more. "I told you. You said yesterday you believed me."

"Oh, I do," He tried to reassure her.

"Liar."

"No, I do! It's just… I'm worried about you."

"Yeah, well join the club I'm worried about me too."

Mr Winkler stopped to think for a moment. "Describe him to me, yeah? Describe to me the man you saw and I promise you I will try to get some answers." So Patricia described the man in as much detail as she could remember.

Patricia helped Trudy set the table for supper when she felt someone was behind her. She turned around to find Victor standing in front of her.

“It’s alright, Patricia,” He told her, although nothing he could say could comfort her unless, of course, he helped Patricia get in contact with Joy and everything was just a huge misunderstanding. “I just need to speak to you about last night.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,”

“Can you describe to me exactly what this man looks like?” Victor pushed. “It’s very important.” He moved to walk closer to her, making Patricia panic.

“Get away from me!” She ran out of the kitchen to get far away from him and bumped right into Nina.

“Wow, Patricia!” Her former roommate caught her. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, let me guess, like everyone else in this place, you’re worried about me. Well, I don’t care what you all think of me, I know there’s something going on!” She brushed past Nina and made her way up the stairs. She paced around her room for a couple of minutes before deciding to go for a walk. She snuck around the house now bustling with the other students as they prepared for supper. She’d been cooped up in the creepy house all day, she needed to get out, and she didn’t want to have to talk to anyone else.

Not long into her impromptu walk, a branch snapped, making her turn toward the sound. Of course, she didn’t take into account that the forest that surrounded the school was even creepier than the house itself. Nobody was there, facing forward once again she gasped as the same man stood in front of her. “Patricia,” He said.

“No!” The man held a hand up and took a step toward her. “Get away from me!” She turned back around and sprinted back toward the house, yelling behind her. “Leave me alone.” How could he have known her name? Patricia was seriously scared now. This guy had to be stalking her or something.

The next day at school Mr Winkler pulled Patricia aside in the hallway and handed her a beat-up phone, she turned it over and found ‘Joy’ spelled out with foam stickers. Patricia closely examined the phone, trying to remember exactly what Joy’s phone had looked like. “This is definitely Joy’s,” Another wave of sadness washed over her. This wasn’t looking good for Joy. “But that means Victor never sent it back to her.”

“It certainly looks that way,” He took the phone back from her.

“No wonder she never answered any of my calls.” Patricia met Mr Winkler’s eyes. “But this is proof though? Proof of the conspiracy.”

“It’s not definitive we need something more.” Mr Winkler interrupted her before she could get too excited.

Patricia wildly looked around until she spotted the photograph that had to have been altered after Joy’s disappearance. “What about the photo?”

“What about it?” They both turned toward the picture to study it closer.

“I told you! They removed her from it.” Mr Winkler just stared blankly at it. “Look she was standing right here next to me.” She pointed to the empty spot.

“Wait, what’s that?”

“What?”

“That there!”

“Donno, it looks like a hand.” She paused. “Joy’s hand!”

“Curiouser and curiouser.”

“Finally someone believes me!” Patricia excitedly said. “Come on, let’s go, we need to confront them.

“No not yet, I need to dig a little further. Be patient okay? I will get to the bottom of this, I promise.” Patricia walked away satisfied for now. She had a teacher fully convinced that she was right, maybe she could finally get to the bottom of what really happened to Joy, and why the other teachers were working so hard to cover it up. She passed Eddie in the hallway who was staring intently at her. Patricia could tell that he was going to try to talk to her and she really couldn’t afford to be distracted by the drama, not when she was so close to exposing the truth, she looked down at the tiles and sped past him.

It wasn’t long at all before Patricia saw the strange man again. She'd been all alone, how she'd come to like it, walking to school than out of the trees the man appeared wearing the same sketchy black turtleneck and leather jacket combo. Patricia startled back but didn't run away this time, she needed to find out what this guy's deal was. “Patricia,” He said. How did this guy know her name? She needed to stop walking alone.

“Don’t come any closer or I’ll scream!” She warned.

“Okay, okay,” He put his hands up. “You’re friend has disappeared, hasn’t she? Joy Mercer?”

“How do you know that?” Of all the stories Patricia made up about this man she didn’t expect him to ask about Joy.

“Because I’m a private investigator. My name is Rene Zeldman. If you get me a photograph of her, then I can help you.”

“How?” Patricia wearily questioned, still not believing him.

“I think that she is in great danger, but I know that we can find her.”

“We?” Patricia asked. It was presumptuous of the guy to think she’d automatically trust him after he’d been stalking her for days. He reached into his front pocket, pulled out a card, and took a step toward her, Patricia backed up. She didn’t want the guy any closer. He put his hand up once more, before placing the card in front of her on the dirt.

He stood back up and pinned her with those ice-cold blue eyes. “Now if you want to help Joy, then you will call me.” Saying no more he turned and made his way back into the cover of the trees. What a weirdo, Patricia thought, but took the card anyway. If he was telling the truth and she did decide to trust him, and that was a big if, she supposed it would be better to have a way to contact him, rather than wandering around the forest alone, hoping to run into the guy. Or, if she didn't choose to trust him, she would have a real, tangible way to prove he existed.

Eddie was starting to feel like a stalker but the combination of his fascination and worry for Patricia made one incredibly strong magnetic field around the girl, as his eyes were drawn to her more and more often. She was at Mara’s side on the other end of the student lounge, ranting about something, probably related to Joy. She was so-

"Hey, Eddie!" Fabian’s voice finally broke through the haze Eddie’s mind had been enveloped in. Eddie's attention snapped back to his roommate. "There you are. Been trying to get your focus back for a minute there." That's right! Eddie remembered Fabian had been tutoring him.

"Sorry," He inwardly winced, hoping Fabian didn't realize who he’d been paying attention to instead of their biology homework.

"No biggy," Fabian looked back down at the science textbook, making Eddie sigh in relief. But then he looked up. “So is Patricia still mad at you about the bet?” Eddie made a quick study of Fabian. He knew that Fabian had been good friends with Patricia before Joy left, however since Nina got here, Eddie sensed a drift between the two- but anyway, Fabian had more experience in dealing with Patricia’s moods.

“I honestly don’t know.” Eddie relented. “I tried apologizing to her but that was when she saw that guy watching her from the window so she wasn’t paying attention. And since then she’s been ignoring me.”

“So apologize again.” Fabian shrugged.

“I’ll think about it,” And Eddie would. Throughout the rest of the tutoring session, he was hopeless.

Jason showed up at Anubis House that night. Patricia remembered their conversation earlier at school, how he'd found the original photo with Joy still in it. Proof that she had been edited out. He said he was going to meet with Mr Sweet, had he come to tell her what happened?

“How did it go with Mr Sweet? What did he say? Did you get any answers?” She bombarded him with questions as he entered the house.

“Mr Winkler,” Victor appeared at the top of the staircase. “I’ve been expecting you.” He waved the teacher up the stairs.

“No,” Jason said into her ear. “But I’m gonna get some now.” Patricia watched the two disappear into the office and then stood there for a long moment staring at the closed door. If only the walls had ears. Alfie crashed into Patricia, knocking her out of her thoughts.

“Sorry, Trixie!” Alfie said, but Patricia said nothing and walked halfway up the stairs before stopping and sitting to wait the meeting out. This had to be it right? With Victor trapped in a corner, this had to be the moment Patricia would finally get her answers. Maybe even as soon as tonight Patricia would be back in contact with Joy and this whole conspiracy would be put to bed.

The door finally opened and Mr Winkler rushed out. Patricia stood to meet him. “Well?” He walked right past without even looking at her. “Mr Winkler, Jason! What did he say?” He was now running away from her as she chased him. Not a good sign.

“Quite the little troublemaker, aren’t you Patricia,” Victor said, making her freeze to look up at him. What had Victor said to him? And why had it frightened Jason away?

Patricia arrived earlier for class first thing the next morning, waiting for Jason to show up, hoping now that he was away from Victor and the house, he’d talk to her. She decided to recap everything she knew so far to Mara to pass the time as they waited. “Morning, everyone,” Mr Winkler entered the room. Patricia jumped out of her seat and was at the teacher’s side in a heartbeat.

“Well? What did Victor say?”

“Uh, there’s no big mystery, I’m afraid Patricia. Joy’s gone home like I’ve said.” Patricia’s heart sank, and she slunk back into her seat. She glared at the teacher. She had got her hopes up that somebody was on her side this time. Mr Winkler had found clear evidence that the school was trying to pretend like Joy never existed and now he was saying there was no conspiracy. With no explanation for the photo being edited. Victor had convinced Mr Winkler to take his side instead of hers. Feeling betrayed, she wanted to leave the classroom and ditch for the day but truly the last thing she wanted was the teachers in her business. So she’d play their little game and be a good student, for now.

Patricia might have been going crazy after all, but it seemed like the teachers were watching her. So much for being a good student and keeping the teachers out of her business. Both Mrs Andrews and Mr Winkler stared her down as they passed her in the hallway. Mr Winkler stopped next to Victor, the two men exchanged a look Patricia couldn’t decipher before Victor turned to smirk at her. Patricia slammed the door to her locker and ran down the hallway. Victor was scaring her. He was the one the other teachers orbited around.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, Patricia figured as she followed Mara into the girl's bathroom, pulled herself to sit on the sink, and took out the card the man gave her the other day as Mara entered the bathroom stall. Patricia decided to run her thoughts past Mara when she exited the stall and joined her at the sink to wash her hands. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number.

“You know that ghost I keep seeing?” She asked. “He exists, he’s a private investigator.”
Mara turned around to face her. “You need to stop this now,” She begged, but Patricia didn’t want to hear it, so she hit the button to call the number. “Come to class.”

“Hello,” He answered.

“Dr Zeldman, it’s Patricia Willaimson.” Mara left the bathroom. “We need to talk.”
Eddie’s eyes darted to Patricia as she passed him in the hallway. The hallway was bustling with students as they prepared the school for Prospective Parents Day. He was tired of watching her from a distance to make sure she was okay. He cared about her a lot and he decided the only way to get the full scope of how she was doing was to ask her. This man that Patricia said she kept seeing freaked Eddie out. There were simply too many red flags and he didn’t feel like she was safe. At all. “Hey, Patricia wait!” Eddie called out to her. She begrudgingly stopped and turned to face him.

“What do you want weasel?” She snapped at him, making him smirk. Although now Eddie realized he had to actually speak to her and the grin fell from his face.

“Umm, I’ve just been wondering how you’ve been?” He started, feeling dumb. “I mean, you’ve had a rough couple of weeks, I know, and-” She raised an eyebrow at him, and his mind went blank. She was way too cute, and he was an idiot. He tried to compose himself, remembering what he had been trying to ask her about. “Have you seen that guy again?”

“Oh,” She squinted at him as if she was trying to make up her mind about something. “No, I haven’t seen him since that night in my room.” She awkwardly said. “And I’ve been great, totally fine. Thanks,” She winced and turned back around to rush away from him. Eddie just stood there and watched her run down the hallway. That was weird, right? She was definitely lying to him.

He sighed and joined Jerome and Alfie, he quickly became aware of the scheme they were planning. Start a fire in the hallway so Alfie can save Amber and win her over once and for all. It wasn’t a good plan but Eddie was fascinated by how it would play out. He just figured he’d watch from a distance so his father wouldn’t think he was involved when it all went horribly wrong.

Patricia had just had an interesting interaction with Nina in the girl's bathroom as they were getting ready for bed that night. Nina had a necklace of the Eye of Horus. Patricia wasn’t sure what Rene needed it for but she was willing to go along with it if he thought it could lead them to Joy somehow. She rushed to her room and dialed the number.

“Hello? It’s Patricia.” She said once he answered the phone.

“Did you get Joy’s photo?”

“Yes. Was that all you’re calling for?”

“Good, no I was actually calling about something else. I think I’ve found the eye of Horus.”

“Okay, I need you to get it and bring it to me.”

“Yeah, thanks Rene, I’ll try my best.” He hung up the phone. Suddenly Patricia was aware that someone was in her room with her and looked up. It was just Mara, she sighed in relief.

“How do you know you can trust this man?” Mara questioned looking worried.

“He’s helping me find Joy, okay?” Patricia tried to assure her roommate but she didn’t look too convinced. “And anyways who else can I trust?” There was a knock at the door.

“Enough of the noise in there.” Victor scolded. “Lights out! Now!”

Mara hurried over to her side of the room and the girls turned the lights out. Patricia lay awake for several hours hoping that she really could trust Rene.

The next morning when Amber and Nina left their room to get ready for the day, Patricia snuck into their room to search Nina’s side of the room for the Eye of Horus necklace. She found it easily enough but was caught by Amber. Patricia dropped it on the floor and tried to explain to Amber that she wasn’t stealing the necklace she was just borrowing it but Amber wouldn’t take any of it. Nina came in and Patricia had to call off the whole mission. She’d have to try again later, but she didn’t know if she’d have another chance. Still, she left the room and got ready for school.

Eddie and Mick sat next to each other during Mr Winkler's drama class that day. They'd been assigned a few acting exercises to go over but all Eddie could think about was how he messed everything up with Patricia over a stupid bet. He was planning on asking her to dance already, why didn't he consider the possibility that Jerome and Alfie would spill the beans and obliterate the trust he had with Patricia? And now he needed her to trust him if some creepy man was stalking her.

"I never should've agreed to that stupid bet," Eddie told Mick out of nowhere.

"Oh?" Mick turned toward him, his interest piqued.

"I completely ruined everything! And I was going to ask her anyway before Jerome and Alfie said anything!" He ranted on, glad to have an ear to listen to him.

"Did you tell Patricia that?"

"Yes!" He threw his hands up in frustration. "But she's so unreachable now."

"I knew you liked Patricia!" He threw his arm around Eddie, shaking him teasingly.

"I seriously don't know what to do," Eddie carried on complaining. "I mean, I've tried just about everything."

"I get it." Mick's face turned serious, which was an odd look from him. "I'm having some girl problems myself." Eddie nodded at that. Mick certainly was. On and off again with Amber and then Eddie sensed something was going on between Mick and Mara. Eddie sighed and put his head in his hands.

The next morning the students that were ready for school sat in the dining room or the living room and talked over breakfast. Eddie quietly ate his pancakes as Amber went on and on about her holiday plans to go to the Caribbean.

Patricia stomped into the room, not even hesitating before she picked up the pitcher of water from the table, and poured the entire thing over Amber’s head before anyone even knew what was happening.

“I asked you to keep a secret!” Patricia shouted. Eddie raised his eyebrows as the others ran over the table to her defense. What was this about? “She’s known me since we were eleven, but now she’s siding with someone who’s only been here two minutes!” Amber ran her hands through her hair trying to save it. But it was pointless. She’d have to have to start all over with her hair. Eddie felt bad for the girl, knowing all too well what a pitcher of liquid over the head was like.

“Patricia!” Mara exclaimed. “What’s going on?”

“Betrayal that’s what.”

“Don’t go through people’s private things here, it’s like an unwritten rule.” Amber glared.

“I think it’s actually a written one.” Nina piped in. Of course, this was about the American girl. Eddie thought that Patricia had been starting to get along with Nina.

Patricia splashed the rest of the water on Amber. “Some friend you are!” And stormed off.

Eddie didn't know what was going on with Patricia but despite the mean act toward Amber of all people, he still felt like he needed to figure out what Patricia’s problem was. She left early for school that morning, Eddie assumed so that she wouldn’t be in a house full of people pissed off at her, but then wasn’t at school when the bell rang. Coming into Mrs Andrews' class late. Eddie decided he had enough, he had to regain Patricia’s trust quickly because he had a horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen, and he just couldn’t shake it. He’d never forgive himself if something actually happened and he ignored this feeling. He knew what he needed to do but he wasn’t going to enjoy it.

After Mrs Andrews’ class, Eddie waited for Patricia in the hallway the second she appeared in the doorway he ran to her and pulled her aside. “What are you-” Patricia started.

“We need to talk.” Eddie led the girl out of the building and to the benches.

"What?" She crossed her arms.

"So I have this secret I've been keeping that I want you to know," He sounded so stupid. He had no idea how to approach this.

"Okay?"

"Okay," He took a deep breath. This was to build trust with Patricia. "Mr Sweet is my father." Eddie watched her jaw drop. She stood there speechless for a moment.

"He's your- Mr Sweet is, but you're-" She sputtered, making Eddie even more nervous.

"He left when I was young," It was time to ramble. "So it's just been my mom and me. She sent me here to try to reconcile but at this point, I'm just so done with him! I mean I think he's trying, he's just not a very good dad." He finally made himself shut up. Patricia took a few moments to compose herself.

"Thank you for telling me,"

"I know things have been weird between us but I like you, and so I wanted you to know." He felt like his face was on fire. "Umm so are we cool?"

"Cool as popsicles." She hesitated before touching him on the arm. "Really Eddie, thanks."

Eddie grinned at her. "Oh, but I'd like to keep this between us."

"I don't rat people out," Patricia grinned at him. Eddie wasn't sure who went in first but the two were wrapped up in a tight hug for a few seconds before she let go and pulled away. They walked in silence to their next class.

Patricia was flabbergasted that Eddie was Mr Sweet's son. Her initial reaction to the secret had been to push him far, away from her. Farther than she ever had before. Mr Sweet had done nothing but lie to her about Joy. He was working for Victor and constantly buried evidence of what happened. So Eddie could've been working with Sweetie. But the way he talked about how his dad had abandoned him in America made Patricia pause. It was how she felt about her parents. It felt genuine. Like Eddie could be an ally… or maybe even more, after all. She'd have to think about it. But she was really happy Eddie decided to trust her. If only she could get Nina to trust her. She'd have to do something major damage control if she was to pull this off.

After constantly prodding Nina about it, Patricia finally convinced her to meet with Rufus. She led Nina through the forest, feeling uncomfortable although she wasn't sure why. It could be boiled down to the very strained relationship she had with her former roommate.

“So what’s the name of your friend?” Nina asked as the girls ducked under tree branches.

“Rene,”

“Okay, Rene. And why do we have to meet him all the way out here?”

“Because we do!” Patricia was getting tired of Nina’s questioning already. “Now stop complaining and keep up!”

After an uncomfortable hike, the girls reached the spot they were supposed to meet Rufus. Patricia looked through the trees and quickly spotted Victor dragging a body across the pavement toward a van. “Get back!” Patricia held up an arm in front of Nina instinctively to pull her behind her. As Victor pulled the body along, the man was turned to where Patricia could see their face. “It’s Rufus. Rene,” Patricia corrected. “Whatever,”

“That’s the man I saw visiting Sarah yesterday,” Nina said. Patricia had no idea who Sarah was and she didn’t care at the moment. Victor opened the door to the van and pulled Rufus’ body up into it. It made Patricia sick to her stomach imagining that Joy could’ve been in the same position as Rufus. The girls watched in horror as Victor got back in the vehicle and drove off. Taking her hope of finding her friend with him. “Okay, what’s going on? And what’s Victor got to do with it?” Nina panicked.

“He’s taken, Rufus! Now how am I gonna find Joy?” Patricia felt a little bit bad that she was more worried about losing her hope in finding Joy again but she didn’t know Rufus that well, and Joy took priority over literally everything else at the moment.

“We’ve got to tell Fabian and Amber!” Nina put one arm around Patricia’s waist and guided her back to the house. Patricia would’ve normally minded having the new girl's arms around her but all her hopes of finding Joy had been crushed once again, and as much as she hated to admit it, Nina seemed to have a calming effect on her. Patricia wasn’t sure how much of the back and forth she could take. It was always one step forward and three steps back. She just wanted to make real progress. She didn’t understand why it was that hard to find any evidence that Joy was even still alive.

Back at Anubis House, Nina made quick work of gathering Fabian and Amber to meet with them in the dining room. Patricia sat and took in the whole story as it started to unravel. Nina told her experiences with Sarah the lady she met from the nursing home nearby. In turn, Patricia decided to tell the three that Rufus was actually investigating Joy’s disappearance. And they recounted Rufus’ abduction as well. Patricia was still lost on how everything was supposed to fit together.

“So you saw Rufus visiting this old lady Sarah?” Patricia asked Nina.

“Yeah, she’s the one who gave me the locket.”

“The locket that Rufus is so interested in,” Added Fabian.

“Maybe Rufus was a jewelry trader and Victor also collects diamonds.” Amber figured.

“What if the second voice on those recordings is really Victor?” Fabian asked. Wait what? They hadn’t told her anything about recordings.

“Then that would make Victor about a hundred and twenty,” Nina said.

“Rember Sarah, on the recordings she talked about experiments down in the cellar. And what was Victor making a toast to when he drank that funny colored stuff down there?” Fabian asked. Patricia just watched the two theorize. Fabian and Nina were starting to sound just as crazy, if not crazier than her.

“Life,” Nina said in thought. “Okay, so you’re saying that Victor has some kind of an elixir that keeps him from growing old?”

“Oh yeah, and a jewelry heist is such a crazy idea,” Amber complained.

“This is mad,” Patricia finally spoke up. “What’s any of this got to do with Joy or Rufus?”

“I don’t know.” Said Fabian.

“And the cat?” Amber asked.

“I hate to break up this cozy little chat,” Victor appeared in the doorway making Patricia jump. He always had a way of sneaking around the house, but it made her jump out of her skin every time. “But ten o clock is fast approaching. I shall of course wish to hear a pin drop so I suggest you start getting ready for bed immediately.” The four housemates stood up and without another word to each other went to bed. Patricia certainly had a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

Eddie was shocked when the news broke that Trudy was fired from Anubis House. He had no idea what such a sweet lady could've done to be fired out of the blue. She must've gotten on Victor’s bad side, which wasn't hard to do, Eddie admitted, since Victor was ninety-nine percent bad. The funniest part was Victor attempted to make breakfast. The other students complained as they pushed the bland gray paste around their dishes, but Eddie found that with enough salt it was edible, not good by any means but who was Eddie to turn down a meal? Like the others, he snacked from the vending machines at school to cleanse his palette.

The thing that really ruined Eddie’s morning was as they left for school, Victor revealed that he was posting security cameras all around the house. Now that pissed Eddie off. How was he supposed to get away with anything under conditions like that? He'd have to get more crafty.

Eddie wasn’t sure how it came up, but the Anubis students decided to pit Mick against Mara in a sporting challenge. Jerome and Alfie were the hosts, naturally. Hilarity insured. Eddie found a seat next to Patricia.

Yacker," He said in greeting.

"What do you want now?"

"A guy can't sit next to his friend?"

Patricia made a face at that and shrugged. "I guess,"

Mick got another sports trivia question wrong. Usually, Eddie would be totally invested in Jerome and Alfie’s shenanigans but this was too important. “Anyway, I had to ask. Have you seen that man again? The one who you say you keep seeing?”

“Have you seen him?”

“No.” Eddie shook his head. He wished he had. Then he would know what he was dealing with. “It’s just the guy’s freaky right? I don’t like him following you around.”

“I don’t think he’s a threat.” Patricia sighed. “I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“Well tell me if you see him again,” He practically begged. He didn’t know if she was telling anyone else about her stalker but he did not want her dealing with this alone.

“Why?”

“Because I care about you, Patricia!” He said, hopefully not too loud given the audience around them, but the spectacle on stage was more entertaining and nobody paid any mind.

A science fell between them as they stared at each other. Neither one of them dared to speak. Without thinking Eddie leaned forward. It was only when he saw the panic in her eyes that he stopped. She wasn't ready to kiss him, especially not in front of the other students.

Eddie pulled away and pretended to turn his attention to the sporting challenge. Mick grew more and more frustrated each time Mara beat him at a question, eventually losing the challenge to the book smart girl, throwing a tantrum, accusing Mara of cheating, and storming off. Patricia sighed, grumbling at Eddie’s side as Mara climbed down from the stage to approach the two with a sad look on her face.

“Don’t worry about him, Mara,” Patricia stood to loop an arm around her roommate. “He’ll get over it.”

“That was awesome!” Eddie gave Mara a high-five and walked off to join Jerome and Alfie who were still laughing on the stage. He threw his arm around Alfie- or Fifi, he was still dressed as his game show assistant character.

Patricia told Mick off as soon as she could get home and go through Mara’s stuff to find pictures of the girl's parents to show him that Mara’s parents were sports junkies and he was a jerk to accuse Mara of cheating. With Joy gone, Mara was her closest friend at the school and she was not going to let Mick Campbell of all people hurt her. After leaving Mick feeling like an awful person, Patricia could once again focus on Rufus, calling him ten times before giving up and storming into Nina’s room. The American was sat on the bed ranting about the cameras to Fabian and Amber. She needed to rant too.

“I don’t know why I’m still trying!” She threw her phone before sitting down next to Nina on the bed. “Rufus is never gonna pick up. This is like Joy all over again.”

“Except we know who took Rufus, we don’t know who took Joy,” Fabian stated.

“Are you kidding?” Patricia deadpanned. “Of course Victor took her.”

“But where does he take them to? And why?” Amber asked.

“Okay, we need to stick together more than ever now. Sibuna.” Nina said covering her eye with one hand. Fabian and Amber did the same, repeating the word ‘Sibuna’.

“Sa-what?” Patricia looked between the three.

“Welcome to the club.” Nina smiled.

“Together we are invincible,” Fabian said, making Patricia smile. She was still trying to catch up with what they had going on but she knew that their mystery was somehow connected to Joy’s disappearance and if she helped them they would lead her to Joy someday.

“Okay, I have had an idea about these cameras,” Patricia explained her plan.

The students stood on chairs in front of Victor's cameras for hours that night. And although Victor was extremely annoyed, he would not budge on the issue. The students went to bed feeling defeated.

The following day Eddie sat at the dining room table and watched the chaos erupting from the kitchen as he leisurely ate his waffles. The night before Eddie had predicted this would happen when the students said they would make their own breakfast, rather than let Victor cook for them. He woke up in time to make himself waffles before the others destroyed the kitchen. He almost felt bad he didn't just make enough for everyone, almost, mostly he just felt amusement as they shouted at each other.

"Stop!" Fabian had finally had enough. "We can't go on like this, we're gonna starve."

"We need Trudy back," Patricia said.

"And those cameras taken down," Nina agreed.

"We need to show them we mean business." Patricia decided. "And I know exactly how to do it."

Eddie sat at the table with everyone. They would refuse to go to class until they got their way. Eddie knew that his father would not be happy with him after their sit-in, but this was important.

"What is going on here?" Victor appeared in the dining room. "Get to your lessons immediately."

"Not until you've taken down the security cameras," Patricia said defiantly.

"And brought Trudy back," Nina added.

"And gotten softer toilet paper," Said Amber. Eddie looked at the blonde and chuckled. "What? As long as we're making demands,"

"You dare deliver ultimatums to me?" Victor asked. "I'll soon bring you all to your senses when I speak to Mr Sweet about having you all thrown out of school."

"You don't have the power." Patricia hesitated. "Do you?"

"Oh Miss Williamson, I have more power than you could ever imagine. Now get to school, all of you unless you are prepared to suffer the consequences." He threatened.

"Thing is," Mick was the first to relent. "It's this sports scholarship. I need a good reference from the school."

"There's a class on sea cows I really want to hear." Mara sent Patricia an apologetic look. Eddie made a face that excuse was less understandable than Mick's. "Sorry Patricia,"

"My parental unit will kill me if I get expelled from yet another school." Alfie hurriedly packed his stuff up. Eddie could relate to Alfie there, but unlike Alfie, he had no plans of leaving.

"Yeah, bad idea anyway." Jerome stood up. "I'm out."

"Oh well so much for solidarity," Patricia frowned.

Amber stood quietly.

"Amber," Nina said.

"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry. I'm just scared of the consequences." She whispered.

"Very wise, Miss Millington, very wise indeed. As for you Mr Miller," The man leaned down to stare directly at Eddie. "Shall I have your father come down here and drag you to school himself?"

Eddie looked between the three students left. He had already told Patricia his secret but if he stayed he risked Fabian or Nina leaking that information to the rest of the school. They didn't seem like the gossip type but he couldn't risk it. His fresh start in the UK would be over if word got out. He stood up. "Sorry," He mouthed to Patricia.

"It's okay," She mouthed back looking defeated. Eddie turned and ran to school. He felt so lame for ditching her.

Luckily Mick’s dad showed up at the school out of the blue and Amber talked him into forcing Mr Sweet to get rid of the cameras and bring Trudy back by the end of the day. Eddie was glad his father was a pushover sometimes. The cameras were taken down as they left for school the next morning. Eddie was thrilled that Trudy was back at Anubis House that evening, he was quite fond of her cooking and it was nice to have an adult around that actually cared about him. He made sure to give Trudy a big hug to silently show her how much he missed her as the others gave her flowers and a cake.

Patricia watched as Mara smiled at Mick from across the living room. “So what’s with the secret smile?” She asked.

“I’m just a little bit on cloud nine.” Mara was practically grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh yeah?”

“We kind of kissed,”

“Uh oh,” Patricia frowned.

“Are you not happy for me?”

“I don’t think you’re his type,” She stated. “He’s not going to date you. You’ve got nothing in common. What’d you even talk about? His training program? Riveting. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mick, but he’s not exactly an intellectual challenge.”

“He’s very sweet, and kind, and he’s got a big heart, and-”

“I’m your friend.” Patricia interrupted. “I don’t want this to end in tears,”

“Since when did you become such an expert on relationships?”

Patricia shrugged. “I think it’s important that friends are honest with each other,”

“Do you know what I think?” Mara said. “You’re just jealous.”

"Jealous?" Patricia said in outrage.

"Because you're too scared to even admit that you like Eddie,"

"Umm, I do not like Eddie!” She winced. If Mara could see through her she was worried who else could. The American boy in question for example. That would be bad. “And even if I did, it has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t think you and Mick are a good idea.”

"I'm not stupid, Patricia!"

“Then stop acting like it!” Patricia scowled at her and stomped off. She was just trying to protect Mara from the inevitable heartbreak, but maybe she’d just stop caring. If Mara wanted to make a huge mistake then fine. And Patricia wasn't scared that she liked Eddie; she had way bigger things to worry about.

Patricia reached the top of the staircase before slamming straight into Nina. She had to stop running into her like this.

“Wow!” Nina grabbed her shoulders to steady both of them before one of the girls fell down the stairs. “Patricia, are you okay?”

“Sorry, I was distracted.” She huffed. “Mara said she thinks I like Eddie!”

“Well, don’t you?”

“Yes.” She admitted under her breath. That was just great. Nina could see it too. “But I can’t say that to him.”

“I think you should go for it,”

“I mean I want to say Eddie I like you, but by the time it comes to here,” She pointed at her mouth. “It comes out as get out of my face Eddie, you freak!”

“You do say that a lot.”

“I know.” She said sadly. “I like him. I really do but I can’t handle it when he’s nice to me. It just makes me feel like such a horrible person.”

“You’re not a horrible person,” Nina sighed.

Eddie stood at the bottom of the staircase; he couldn't help the grin as he listened to the girls talk from where he was hiding.

Later Eddie plopped down beside Patricia on the sofa that evening. Everyone else was in their rooms, or somewhere else, Eddie couldn't care less where. "Look, about us,” Eddie said. “The whole thing we’ve got.”

“What thing?” She wrinkled her nose. “We don’t have a thing,” But she was smiling.

“Well, we both know that’s not true. Exhibit A, we almost kissed.”

“Uhh-” Patricia started.

“Ah nah!” He cut her off. “Exhibit B I heard you tell Nina you like me,”

“What? No, you didn’t.”

“Yeah, you said you liked me but that you could never tell me.”

“But I didn’t say that. Cause I don’t think it.”

Eddie hung his head for a second. He knew the truth though, she was just pretending she didn’t like him. “You know you can drop the ‘tude, we both know it's just an act.”

“Look I can’t do this right now.” Patricia’s mood shifted once again. “I just want to find Joy.”

“I thought you got that email from her.” He frowned. “The one that said she was safe.”

“Whatever.” She stood up.

"Wait!" Eddie stood up and gently grabbed her wrist. "Did you find anything that suggests otherwise? If Joy's-"

"Better you stay out of it," She easily shook her wrist free and marched out of the room.

The next day Eddie sat behind Patricia, waiting for Mrs Andrew's class to begin. He was frustrated with Patricia but was trying to understand. If she thought something was off about Joy’s disappearance again of course she wouldn’t be interested in starting something with him. Or maybe she didn’t think anything was wrong with Joy anymore but was using it as an excuse to push him away. Mara walked into the classroom wearing fishnet stockings, and dark eye makeup, with her hair straightened. It suited her, Eddie thought even though she looked so different from how she normally looked. It was kind of awesome. The whole classroom went silent as they stared at her in shock.

“Didn’t you used to be Mara?” Jerome was the first to question her.

“I did not see that coming,” Nina said. Eddie didn't think anyone had.

Mara made her way across the room and slid into the seat beside Patricia. "You didn’t have to put all your makeup on at once,” Patricia said, making Eddie grin.

“I was in a rut, time for a change.” Mara simply said.

Mrs Andrews entered and her gaze was immediately drawn toward Mara. “Mara, are you chewing gum?” Eddie smirked as Mick sat down next to him. “Well, you of all people should know that chewing gum is not allowed in class. Get rid of it, please… Right collecting homework assignments please,” The teacher went around the room, collecting papers.

“Mara," Mick said, trying to get the girl's attention. "Mara, why didn’t you show this morning?” Mick leaned over his desk toward the girl. “I waited and waited.”

“Mara?” Mrs Andrews reached her.

“Haven’t done it.” The class gasped.

“What is going on here?”

“Don’t know what you mean, I just like don’t have it or whatever.” She said sassily. That was a far cry from the girl who left their camera protest to learn about sea cows.

“Mara, are you alright? You don’t seem quite yourself.”

“Good, success.”

“Okay, see me at lunchtime please.” Mrs Andrews walked away from the girl.

“What-?” Fabian leaned over toward Mara.

“Don’t ask.” Patricia stopped him and then turned to look at Mara in disbelief.

A knock woke Eddie in the dead of the night. “Fabian,” A voice said from outside the room. Eddie groggily opened his eyes as the door creaked open. “Fabian,” Jerome whispered as he entered. “Fabian, Fabian!” Jerome was now at Fabian’s feet, the boy startled awake. “Alfie’s trapped in the cellar, dude. You’ve got to help me.” Fabian turned the lights on.

“Ha ha, Jerome.” Mick woke up. “Go away!”

“He’s been down there for hours!” Eddie made a face at this.

“What? You’re reenacting Nina’s initiation?” Eddie rolled his eyes. “You Brits are weird!”

“I’m not lying, I swear I’m not. Dude, come on, I’m really worried.”

“Give me a sec,”

“Hurry,” Fabian crawled out of bed and put his slippers on.

“I’m coming too,” Eddie moved to the edge of his bunk.

“No, stay here.” Fabian shook his head. “The less of us out, the less likely Victor will catch us,”

“Suit yourself,” Eddie shrugged, pulling the covers back over himself. He wanted to stay awake until Fabian got back to ask how Alfie was or find out if Jerome actually was pranking him but he drifted off within five minutes.

Fabian was absent from the room when Eddie awoke that morning. Eddie put his uniform on and then started his search for Fabian. Just as Eddie spotted him at the dining room table, Mick shouted from somewhere in the house coming into the room holding a pair of pink shorts. “Trudy, you’ve ruined my sports gear, they’ve shrunk. It was turned to max.” Everyone around the table laughed at the predicament Mick found himself in. “It’s ruined!”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think you’d look quite fetching in those shorts,” Patricia commented, making everyone laugh once more.

“Shut it, Williamson!” Mick looked to Trudy. “What am I gonna do now?”
Eddie turned his attention back to Fabian. “Fabian,” He crouched down by his chair. “Hey, what happened last night, you know with Al-”

“Fabian,” Jerome entered the dining room, looking pale. “I could do with some help.”

Fabian, Patricia, and Nina looked at each other. “Alfie,” They said in unison before standing up and rushing to the boy’s corridor, along with Amber. Eddie followed them until Patricia stopped him in the hallway. “You should wait out here,”

“No,” Eddie said.

“Someone needs to stand guard, let us know if Victor’s coming,”

Eddie shook his head. “Alfie’s my friend too,” Patricia sighed and let him into the room.

Alfie shivered in his bed covered in sweat. He did not look well at all. What on Earth happened to him last night? They stood staring at their friend.

“Is he alright?” Patricia asked.

“He still hasn’t said anything,” Jerome said.

“He’s catatonic,” Nina said. “What do you think he saw down there?”

“Victor stuffing cats,” Amber said.

“Not helping Amber,” Fabian said and approached Alfie, crouching closer to his face, Alfie abruptly moved to face him but didn’t say anything. “You really need to snap out of this. It’s time to go to school.”

“He won’t wake up if you try it that way,” Patricia said.

“Alfie, there are pancakes in the kitchen.” Fabian tried again.

Nina sat down on Alfie’s bed. “Alfie,” She grabbed his shoulder, making him jump. “What scared you? What did you see down there?”

“I saw… I saw…” Alfie began to hyperventalate.

“Go on, you’re doing really well,” Nina encouraged.

Alfie gasped for air, making everyone panic. Someone asked to get water and a paper bag, and Patricia and Eddie ran out of the room. “I’ll get the water, you get the bag” She called to him. Eddie rummaged through the kitchen until he found the paper bags. He started back toward Alfie’s room and was stopped by Nina.

“Trudy quick, Alfie’s collapsed.” Nina, Eddie, and Trudy ran to Alfie’s room.

In no time, the ambulance arrived to bring Alfie to the hospital. The students stood by as Alfie was rolled away.

“I’m going to go in the ambulance with him,” Trudy told Victor.

“I’ll call his parents.” He said.

“Is he going to be okay?” Amber asked.

“They think so, sweety. But they did ask if he’d taken anything,”

“Like what?” Victor stared at the students.

“I don’t know they just said something,”

“He…” Nina hesitated. “He took a sip of this just before he collapsed.” She handed an orange bottle over to Trudy.

“Oh,” Trudy sniffed it. “That doesn’t smell too good. I’ll take that with me.” Victor closed the door behind Trudy and locked it, turning back toward the students. “No one is to leave this house until I find out exactly what happened.”

One by one, Victor called the students to his office for interrogation. When it was Eddie’s turn he didn’t mention how Alfie had been trapped in the cellar the night before, Victor knowing that information wouldn’t help Alfie, and would only get Jerome and Alfie in trouble, so Eddie decided to just tell him about that morning. How anxious Alfie was, him hyperventilating and Eddie going to get a paper bag before Alfie passed out. Victor looked at him like he knew he was leaving information out but let him go.

Patricia arrived with Jerome at the hospital to visit Alfie the next day during school. Alfie was playing video games on his phone but hid the phone under his blanket when he noticed his visitors. “Yo dude, what’s up?” Jerome asked as the two entered the hospital room.
“You know, been better.” Alfie winced.

“Quit play acting you goof!” Patricia called him out. “We saw you obliterating aliens. We bought you some grapes.” Patricia handed him a paper bag. Alfie happily took the bag to look inside. All that was left was the branch plucked of all its fruits. “Jerome ate them all.”

“You did, you mean,” Jerome said. The truth was that both of them ate the grapes before they arrived at the hospital, but hopefully, the sentiment still counted for something.

“Here,” Patricia handed Jerome some money. “Go and buy him some chocolate.”

“Chocolate, yum yum!” Alfie said with a big smile.

“So come on,” Patricia said as soon as Jerome walked away. “Tell me what you saw in the cellar.”

“I can’t remember.”

“Don’t give me that,”

“It’s true. It’s like a total blank.”

“Hang on,” Jerome walked back in. “Why am I buying the chocolates? You go.” He tried to hand the money back to her.

“Eh, 'cause I’m paying for it.”

“So?” Patricia took the money back as a nurse came up to Alfie’s bedside. “And no matter what I’ll take care of it forever and ever, ‘cause I am your best friend,” Jerome said after noticing the nurse.

“Looking good Alfie,” The nurse said.

“Always do, nurse Delia.” He returned as she gave him a thermometer.

“I think it’s safe to say we’ll soon be saying goodbye to you.” Alfie immediately feigned sickness.

“So what was the official diagnosis? We never heard at school.” Patricia questioned the nurse.

“Doctors still aren’t sure. Some sort of allergic reaction to something he drank.”

“I thought he drank cleaning fluid.”

“Tests are still with toxicology.” The nurse turned to Alfie. “Leave the thermometer in, I’ll be back in a sec.” Patricia watched Jerome as he made sure the nurse was out of earshot.

“You know, nurse Delia makes getting sick kind of appealing,” Jerome said.

“Keep your eyes off my nurse.”

“You’re nurse, Alfie you are way too unversed in the laws of flirtation, unlike mwah. Don’t worry, I’ll show you how it’s done.”

“I’m going to the coffee shop. Losers.” Patricia turned to get far away from her idiot friends before they made even bigger fools of themselves.

Eddie made his way through the school hallways in between classes. He had to get to Mr Winkler’s for theater rehearsals. He could not believe he actually agreed to be in the play.

“Edison!” A voice called from behind, stopping Eddie in his place. Eddie winced before turning to face his father, hoping that the students around him weren’t paying well enough attention. Mr Sweet came closer to the boy, so they could talk under their breath. “Edison, I was hoping to find you.”

“What's up?”

“I was thinking it’s about time we had dinner together again.” He said. “Are you free for tonight?” Eddie supposed that if his dad was going to make an effort for once he should take him up on dinner, but he wasn’t ready for that.

“No can do, Mr Sweet, I have plans…” Eddie looked around for a way out and spotted Mara walking past. Eddie stopped her. “With Mara.” Eddie stared at the girl, silently begging her to go along with it. Usually, he felt he could count on Mara. But this new Mara that was pissed off at Mick was not so predictable. Mara didn’t say anything but nodded along.

“Oh,” Mr Sweet frowned. “Maybe another time then.”

“Yeah maybe.” Eddie turned and the two walked away from the principal. “Thanks, Mara, you’re a lifesaver.”

“You owe me.” She said. “What was that about anyway?”

Eddie racked his brain for an excuse. “Mr Sweet wants me to get more tutoring. He offered to help me after school.”

“Teachers,” She scoffed.

“Right,” Eddie smirked. He could tell this cool girl act did not come so naturally to her. “You know you shouldn’t care so much what Mick thinks.”

“What?” She sent him a glare that could match Patricia’s in iciness.

“I mean clearly acting like somebody else is getting you nowhere.” He put an arm around her shoulder. “Even though you do look awesome in that getup. The real Mara is awesome too.” Mara’s frozen glare melted just a bit at that.

“I’ll think about it.” Then she went on without him into the auditorium.

Patricia was on her way out of the hospital when she noticed nurse Delia wheeling along a familiar-looking patient. “Rufus.” She hid behind a corner and peeked out to see nurse Delia step away from Rufus. Now was her chance. She ran to the man and crouched in front of him. “Rufus.”

“What?” He lifted his head.

“Rufus, shh. It’s me, Patricia.” She whispered but his head dropped back down. “Rufus. What have they done to you?” He was unconscious. Patricia looked around, nobody was watching and nurse Delia was nowhere to be seen. Having made her mind up, Patricia pushed the wheelchair toward the hospital exit and dialed Nina’s number.

Chapter Text

The morning of the play, Eric Sweet pulled Eddie to the side. “Now Edis-” Mr Sweet stopped himself before he could say the full word, Eddie shrugged, at least his father was trying. “I wanted to wish you good luck tonight,” He grinned. “Or as they say break a leg,” Eddie grinned. He still couldn’t believe he was going to participate in the play. He never would’ve done this sort of thing at his old schools in America, but all his friends were heavily involved in the show, and he supposed the theater could be the perfect stage for some hijinks if the opportunity arose.

“Thanks,”

“Now I know I’ve been rather busy while you’ve been here but I hope that we can both find the time to start spending some time together,” He gave Eddie a look. “As father and son,”

“I’m not sure if I’m ready for everyone to know yet,”

“No one has to know, just privately.”

“Okay,” Eddie smiled briefly at him. “We can.”

“Great!” Mr Sweet went in to hug the boy but Eddie stopped him, holding his hand out instead. Mr Sweet shook it, and then giving his son a pat on the shoulder off he went. Eddie felt hopeful as well, things had been too weird between them ever since Eddie arrived at the school. The truth was, Eddie hardly knew his father, he’d never been around. As far as he knew, Patricia really could’ve been right in her conspiracy theories, but Eddie still didn’t want to believe them. Eddie just wanted to finally get to know his father, maybe even come to a healthier relationship with him.

Eddie sat by his snake costume and watched the students rush around the stage nervously before the play started, he only had a small role so he could just sit back and watch. Mr Winkler finally corralled everyone into their opening places with Patricia, Mick, and Mara set to open the show. Five seconds before the curtains opened, Mick stomped off the stage, with Mara running after him. What’s gotten into them? Eddie wondered. Patricia pulled her mask down in front of her face, shouting at Mr Winkler that she couldn’t do the opening on her own, but the curtains opened anyway. Eddie winced, he was very glad he only had a small role in the show. “Joy!” Patricia exclaimed. “Joy… joy… Joy and sorrow!” Patricia finally stated. Eddie didn’t have the script memorized but this wasn’t it. “The joy of Egypt, its monarch Tutankumun is dead. And… and sorrow sweeps the land. Let no man enter and desecrate his sacred pyramid.” She exited the stage.

“Let’s try to stay on book, next time Patricia,” Mr Winkler told her. Patricia rolled her eyes and stomped off to the empty side of the stage by the curtain. Nina entered the scene and began her lines. Eddie joined Patricia.

“You did good,” Eddie said. “Well, for Mick and Mara rushing off like that at least,”

“That’s not all,” She leaned in closer to him and Eddie tried not to blush. “Joy’s in the audience.”

“What?” Eddie peeked out from the curtains, searching the crowd.

“There,” Patricia pointed out the girl wearing a hood. “She left me a note.” Eddie squinted, it was Joy. Fabian was at their side when they turned away from the audience. Patricia looked at Fabian. “We have to warn Joy about Victor.”

“If Victor took her in the first place, she knows he’s dangerous,” Fabian said as if Eddie wasn’t even there.

“What?” Eddie whispered to his friends. “Seriously guys, what’s going on?” He studied Fabian carefully. He didn’t think Fabian would entertain Patricia’s paranoia unless he thought she was right. Suddenly Eddie felt like a bad friend.

Eddie sulked in the wings until Fabian came to get him for his big scene. Fabian pushed the snake costume over Eddie’s head and led him on stage. “This house belongs to us now my pretty!” Fabian told Nina’s character Sally, as Eddie fumbled blindly behind, not being able to see his feet. Fabian laughed evilly then tossed a fake rat into the snake costume’s mouth. Eddie pretended to chew the rat, and then burped loudly, making the audience laugh. “It is ten o’clock, you know what that means, you have precisely five minutes to get into bed, do you hear?”

“Yes Vincent,” Nina meekly said, and grabbing her skirt she rushed off stage, Eddie slithered away behind the girl. Once they were backstage, Nina helped him out of the snake costume.

“How was that?” Eddie couldn’t help but ask the American girl with a grin.

“Inspired,” Nina nodded her head.

From the stage, Fabian continued with his lines. “Because I want to be able to hear a pin drop.” Eddie was sure Victor would be pissed off about that line in particular.

The play went on until it was time for Nina’s scene which had been moved up in the last minute. Eddie watched everyone scramble to find her but she was nowhere to be found. Eddie was impressed by the unprofessionalism behind the play. Mr Winkler panicked and called Jerome, Alfie, and Amber on stage to stall. And stalling meant dancing around the stage like fools. Minutes into the stalling, Nina finally rushed back into the theater wearing a jacket, she took her jacket off, and quickly took the stage onstage, ushering Jerome and Alfie off. She went on with her scene as if she hadn’t ditched the play to do who knows what.

Patricia’s character killed everyone but Nina and Nina closed the play with her final lines. The curtains closed, and the audience applauded. Back in the snake costume, Eddie followed the students on stage for the curtain call. Joy was the first in the audience to stand, the rest of the crowd followed to give them a standing ovation.

“Joy run! Quick!” Patricia shouted out of nowhere. Eddie searched the audience to see none other than Victor behind her. Joy sprinted onto the stage, Patricia and Eddie separated to let her through, as she ran behind the curtains and out into the school. Victor followed along behind her shoving students out of his way. Eddie was convinced. Victor had to be behind Joy’s disappearance because that was not normal and did not match the story the adults had been telling everyone. Mr Sweet ran up on stage to address the now nervous crowd.

“So it’s true,” Eddie turned to Patricia. “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you before,” Mr Sweet was just calling Mrs Andrews up when a random guy stepped up onto the stage and grabbed Patricia, saying something to her in a harsh whisper before going off in the direction Joy and Victor went.

“What’s going on? Who was that creep?” Jerome asked.

Eddie watched the door close behind the man. He knew he couldn’t let the man get away. Eddie ran toward the door before somebody grabbed him. He turned to find Patricia holding his waist, as both arms were tucked into the snake costume. “Don’t.”

“But that guy’s getting away,” Eddie whispered. “And what about Joy?”

“You don’t need to worry about it,” Patricia sighed. “I do,” And she ran off after them. Mr Sweet grabbed ahold of Eddie’s costume before he could follow.

“What’s going on?” Eddie hissed at his father.

“I have no idea,” He shook his head, sounding very tired. Eddie looked around. The audience was almost cleared out and some students were still on stage. Eddie sat around at the after-party, wanting to go off and find Patricia or even Joy, do something helpful, but Mr Sweet wouldn’t let him out of his sight. He just had to choose this moment to be a present father. The night went on with Eddie feeling more and more useless, Mr Sweet escorted him home and that was that. He tossed and turned in his bed for hours that night unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong before finally passing out.

Breakfast the next morning was filled with tension. Mick was very quiet, and Mara was upstairs hiding in her room. Which probably explained Patricia’s absence as well. But Eddie could practically taste the anxiety coming off of Fabian and Nina. “You’re quiet Mick,” Amber finally said, having enough of his silence.

“Am I?”

“Trouble in Maradise?” She asked and Alfie chuckled. “Wow, that was so clever! Get it? Mara… dise.”

“Ingenious,” Mick smiled mockingly. “None of your business!” Then he stormed off.

“Ohh, touchy,” Jerome laughed. Then Alfie begged the students to pretend like he was head of the house when his parents stayed for dinner later. Before the students could leave for school, Victor gathered them all together at the dining room table. Patricia wasn’t there.

“Is this about the play?” Fabian asked with a cheeky smile.

“Do you think I’m here to give you a review?” Victor said with a frown. “Your juvenile fantasies are of no concern to me whatsoever.” He stomped to the head of the table. “I am here because a serious theft has taken place. Items of great value were removed from my safe last night.” He got down in Fabian’s face. “Are you responsible?”

“No.”

He turned to Nina. “You?”

“Why do you think it was any of us?” Fabian snapped. “The school was full of people last night. When were they taken?” Eddie raised his eyebrow. Way to deflect, Fabian.

“Well,” Victor straightened up. “They were there during the intermission. The only other time I was away from my room was during the second half of your irritating little play.”

“There you go,” Fabian said. “We were all on stage.”

“Yeah,” Amber nodded. “Couldn’t have been any of us, we were performing. The show must go on and all of that.” That wasn’t right though, Nina was gone for a long time. Eddie grinned. They were the ones who stole from Victor. He wasn’t going to tell on them, but it was certainly interesting information. What were they up to?

“Of course.” Victor rubbed his hands together. “Of course, how very, very remiss of me. Very well, off to school all of you, go,” He waved them off.

“So is that in then?” Fabian questioned as everyone stood.

“For now, yes.” Victor smiled. “But I shall discover who took those items you mark my words, and when I do-”

“What do you mean?” Nina interrupted him.

“When the security cameras were taken down, I asked for one camera to be left in my room, I had totally forgotten.” Eddie frowned at this. “So whoever has stolen those items will have been caught.”

“Victor,” Trudy walked in. “I’ve just taken a phone call for Mr Sweet in your office, he said can you get over to the school.”

“What now?”

“Yes, right away,” Trudy said. “He said it was an emergency,” And Victor rushed out the door.

Eddie practically ran to catch up to Mara as she exited the house. “Mara,” He walked toward the school alongside her. “Have you seen Patricia? She wasn’t at breakfast this morning,”

“Her aunt and uncle got her after the show last night,” Mara said sadly. “I haven’t seen her since.” Eddie felt a weight lift off his chest.

“Oh good,” He said, and Mara gave him a sad smile. “Are you okay?”

“No, I did something really bad,”

“Can’t be that bad,”

“I sent Mr Sweet photos of Mick and Mrs Robbinson and implied that there was something going on between them.” Mara confided in him. “And now Mick’s dumped me, and I deserve it of course, but…” She trailed off.

Eddie didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t tell her what she did was okay. So he just wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they walked the rest of the way to school in silence.

Almost as soon as the two arrived at school, Victor exited Mr Sweet’s office. “Boarders from Anubis House,” He addressed the students. “I want you back there, immediately.” Eddie banged his head against the wall in frustration, then followed the man back to the house. He waved them into the living room with a DVD in his hand. “Come along, come along, it’s showtime, boys and girls. Time to expose the thief!” He put the disk in the DVD player and Victor appeared on the screen shaving his nose hairs. The room erupted in laughter. Eddie took his phone out and began to record. “Which of you miscreants has dared to interfere with my equipment?” He turned the video off.

“Don’t know Victor,” Alfie laughed. “But can we see more of your home movies? You’ve obviously got a nose for comedy,” More laughter, as Victor stomped out of the room. The students went back to class.

After school, Patricia was still nowhere to be found. Eddie sat on the living room sofa listening to his music with his earbuds in as Jerome and Aflie played while setting the table. Nina paced around the room trying to make a call, before sitting down next to Amber.

“Trudy,” Nina nervously called for the house mother. “Patricia’s been gone for a while now and we-”

“And we haven’t heard from her,” Amber interrupted her. Eddie turned his music off to listen better.

“You mean she hasn’t come back yet?” Trudy gasped. “I just thought she’d gone straight into school this morning,” Eddie froze. That wasn’t good. “Victor!” She called.

“No! Don’t tell him,” Nina grabbed Trudy’s arm. “We don’t want to worry him.”

“Don’t be silly,” Trudy ran off after him. “Victor!”

Victor walked into the room. “I heard you the first time.”

“Oh Victor, it’s about Patricia, she went out with her aunt and uncle after the show last night, and well, she hasn’t returned.” Trudy was fully panicked now.

“Calm down,” Victor said. “Her aunt phoned me this morning, the uncle was taken ill during the night and they are currently at the hospital with him.” Victor turned and went back to his business.

“Oh well, that’s a relief,” Trudy sighed and turned her attention back to setting the dinner table.

“Okay,” Nina scooted toward Amber and Fabian. “Now we know something’s wrong.” They must’ve thought that Eddie still had his music on and couldn’t hear.

“Why?” Amber asked.

“Because the aunt and uncle who called Victor, they don’t exist.”

“Oh yeah!” Amber nodded her head. “Good point.”

“What?” Eddie ripped his earbuds out and the three froze, staring at him with wide eyes. “What do you mean they don’t exist?” They just looked back at him, saying nothing. “Look if Patricia is in danger, you have to tell me!”

Nina squeezed her eyes shut before opening them and looking at him. “Patricia met up with that man who ran up on stage last night. He told her he was a private investigator and had information on Joy’s disappearance but… I don’t trust him.”

“Maybe he actually took Joy,” Eddie mumbled.

“Possibly,” Nina said. “But Victor’s definitely involved, you heard how he lied just now,” Nina frowned. “Where were they supposed to meet? We need to find that good luck card.”

“I need to head back to the school for something,” Fabian said.

“I’ll go look for the card in Patricia’s room,” Amber and Fabian went their separate ways. Eddie just sat there staring at Nina.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Eddie.”

“This guy that Patricia was supposed to meet up with,” Eddie finally said. “Is he the guy that Patricia kept seeing around?”

Nina nodded her head. “I’ve been trying to get her to stop talking to him, but for a while, he was the only one who believed her about Joy.” She stood up and took Eddie’s hand. “Come on, I’ll never forgive myself if something happened to her.” Eddie followed Nina to her room. That makes two of them.

Amber met back with Nina and Eddie inside their room just a few minutes later. “Look what I found in the pocket of Patricia’s costume.” She held the card out.

“Yes!” Nina took it and opened the card, holding it up to the mirror. “‘Meet me tonight, nine, clearing in the woods, Joy.’” She read the mirrored writing. Eddie was impressed by Joy’s backward handwriting. “I think I know where that is! I’ve been there before with Patricia, let’s go.”

“But wait, it’s going to be dark soon, and we haven’t had supper, and-”

“Amber,” Nina said sternly.

“Okay, I’m scared I’ll admit it. But I don’t like going into the woods at the best of times and this is like the opposite of that,”

“Come on Amber,” Eddie grabbed the girl's shoulders. “Patricia could be in danger,”

“If we stick together, we’ll be fine, come on, we owe this to Patricia,” Nina walked out the door, and Amber sighed grabbing her coat. Eddie and Amber followed the American girl down the stairs and out the door.

The three ran through the forest surrounding the school until they saw a man crouched staring at the ground in the clearing. Eddie pulled Nina and Amber down to crouch behind a bush.

“Ow,” Amber said.

“It’s Rufus,” Nina told them. “What’s he looking for?” He picked something up and stood.

“Don’t know but I think he found it,” Amber said. Rufus got in his red car and drove off. They ran over to where Rufus had been once his car disappeared.

“Look oil,” Eddie pointed it out.

“Oh no! Do I have it on my shoe?” Amber lifted her foot to examine her shoe.

“Rufus’ van is leaking,” Nina and Eddie said in unison.

“Tell me about it,” Amber said in annoyance. “One pair of limited edition shoes later,”

“We can follow the trail,” Eddie said.

“Maybe it will lead us to Patricia,” Nina said, Amber raised an unconvinced eyebrow at them. “Right now, it’s the only lead we’ve got.” They ran following the oil for about a mile until they reached an old abandoned building.

“This is freaky,” Amber clutched Eddie and Nina’s arms. He could feel her shake with fear.

“Freaky, nah!” Nina said although Eddie could tell she was scared too. Heck, Eddie was scared. “What’s freaky about an old abandoned warehouse in the woods?”

“Do you think Patricia’s in there?”

“There’s no sign of Rufus’ van,” Nina said.

“No he’s been here,” Eddie stopped, pointing to some more oil on the ground. “Let’s go inside.”

“I just remembered I have a really important facial scheduled and chemistry homework that won’t write itself, so-”

“Amber,” Nina cut off the anxious blonde. “There’s nothing to be scared about okay? I’m sure it’s just some old abandoned factory, we can handle it.”

“Or we could just not go in,”

Eddie rolled his eyes while the two kept going back and forth and opened the door. Eddie ran into the building searching. Nina and Amber followed behind him and found a sandwich sitting on a small table. “It’s still warm, they’ve only just left.” Nina picked up a ring. “This is Patricia’s too, she’s been here,”

“Where is she now and where’s Rufus?”

“Guys! Behind you!” A familiar voice screamed. Eddie turned toward the door just in time to see Patricia on the outside as Rufus closed the door. Eddie ran and bodyslammed himself into the door, over and over again even as he heard the door lock behind him. They were alone.

“Can we smash a window?” Amber stared at Nina, who was looking around.

“They’re all bared up, Amber. Did you bring your phone?”

“Of course, this is me we’re talking about.” The blonde retrieved her flip phone from her pink jacket pocket and turned it on, a look of alarm crossing her face. “Oh no, I I forgot. I used up all minutes voting on Celebrity Pop Idol last month.”

“Amber,” Nina scolded her.

“Nice,” Eddie rolled his eyes.

“I hope your contestant won,”

“No! Can you believe it?! After all, I did for her!” She closed the phone and shoved it back into her pocket. “Well, what about your phone?”

Nina reached for her pockets and winced. “I left it back at Anubis,”

Eddie pulled his phone out of his jacket and dialed Fabian’s number. “It’s ringing,” He exclaimed.

“Hello?” Fabian answered.

“Fabian!” Eddie said as Nina grabbed his arm, a hopeful smile on her face. “We need your help-”

“Where are you? Are you with Nina and Amb-” The phone cut off and Eddie’s face fell.

“What?” Amber said.

Eddie looked at the phone screen. “It’s dead.”

“Eddie!” Nina chastised him. “Why didn’t you charge it?”

“You didn’t even bring yours, okay?”

After a while of trying and failing to find an escape, Eddie sat down in the chair and began eating the sandwich left behind.

“What are you doing?” Nina winced.

“We’re missing dinner!” Eddie said around a mouthful. “And when we get out we’re gonna need our energy and-” Nina snatched the sandwich out of his hands. “Hey!”

“We don’t know what Rufus did to that,” She threw it across the room and Eddie watched as it landed on the floor.

The three sat trapped inside the abandoned building for at least an hour before they heard sounds coming from the other side of the door. The three lept up, and the girls grabbed the closet objects to use as weapons as Eddie positioned himself protectively in front of them. The door started to open and Eddie charged, tackling someone to the ground, it wasn’t until he heard Fabian’s voice that he froze. “Hey roomie,” Eddie smiled sheepishly down at the boy before standing and helping him up. “Sorry ‘bout that.”

“Fabian!” The girls wrapped Fabian and Eddie up into a tight group hug.

“Some welcome guys,” He breathed out. “I followed the oil leak from the van, I didn’t know if I was on the right track or not,”

“Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see anyone in my entire life!” Nina exclaimed.

“Okay, we need to go,” The four ran out of the building and toward the school. They got inside just in time to find Mrs Andrews leaving Mr Sweet’s office. “Mrs Andrews,” Nina said.

“What on Earth?” The teacher looked at them in bewilderment.

“We know Patricia’s been kidnapped, Mrs Andrews.”

“We know Rufus has got Patricia, and we also know that you know he’s got her,” Fabian said.

“Where did you get all this information?” Mrs Andrews asked.

“We know so much more than you think,” Amber told her. “We’re totally up to speed.”

“We just want to get Patricia back safely,” Nina said.

“As do I,”

“Okay, so what is the plan of action?” Fabian asked.

“The plan is that you go back to your house and get ready for bed, and I promise you by the morning all of this will be resolved.” She gently pushed Nina and Amber aside to walk past.

“Mrs Andrews, you can’t possibly think that he’ll honor whatever deal you’ve made!” Eddie grabbed her upper arm. “I’m new to this, but I do know that Rufus is dangerous and cannot be trusted.”

“And that is why you four need to go home,” She shook her arm free. “Don’t make me involve your father, Edison.” Eddie let her walk away. If she told Mr Sweet they would be escorted home, and it would be impossible to help Patrica.

“What now?” Amber asked.

“Now we get on our bikes and follow her,” Fabian said and they ran to fetch their bikes.
Eddie peddled his bicycle down the dark, lush forest road, as the group did their best to keep their distance from Mrs Andrew's vehicle. He couldn’t even imagine how scared Patricia was. He should’ve intervened more when he realized something was wrong. He should have stopped Patricia from following Rufus after the play. Now he could only hope that there was a way to save her.

Mrs Andrews stopped in the middle of the dirt road, the students got off their bikes to creep closer and hear the teacher as she spoke to Rufus on the phone. “Now let me talk to Patricia,” She said, a moment later the car began to move again.

Eddie ran to his bike and hopped on, the others following suit.

“Ah no!” Amber squealed suddenly.

“Oh come on, Amber there’s more to life than new shoes, we have to help Patricia,” Nina pulled her along. They got off their bikes before they reached the clearing where Mrs Andrews was already parked, and approached through the cover of the trees.

“I can’t see Patricia,” Amber said when they got closer.

“She must be in the back of Rufus’ van.”

“Now throw me your keys,” Rufus told Mrs Andrews. She did as she was told.

“Let’s go,” Eddie said, creeping out of the trees and behind the red van as the adults made their tradeoff. Nina pulled on the van's backdoor handle.

“It’s locked. Fabian said.

Patricia appeared in the window. “Patricia, are you okay?” Nina asked.

“Yes, get me out of here.” She quietly pleaded.

“Hold on Patricia,” Fabian pulled a crowbar out of his bag, Eddie grabbed it and began to pry the door open.

“Hurry up,” Patricia said. “Please,”

Eddie put his whole body strength into opening the door as Rufus hopped into the van, Mrs Andrews shouting at him. “How dare you cheat us!” She cried. Eddie scoffed, he warned Mrs Andrews this would happen. Finally, the door opened and Patrica jumped out, Fabian slammed the door as Rufus sped off down the dirt road. “No!” Mrs Andrews screamed after him. Nina, Amber, Fabian, and Eddie wrapped Patricia up in a hug, laughing in relief. The teacher looked up in astoundment when she noticed Patricia and the others approach her. “How on Earth? Oh, Patricia, I’ve been so worried about you,” She reached her arms over to hug the girl.

“Yeah right,” Patricia pushed her away

“Patricia,”

“Come on!” She said. “What’s the big mystery? Why is Rufus after Joy and where is she? Tell me or I’m going global.”

“Don’t threaten me, Patricia,” The teacher shook her head. “You have no idea what you’re getting into.”

“Don’t threaten me, Daphne, I’m already in it,” Patricia said with conviction.

After seeing Mick off and wishing him luck the next morning, Eddie walked to school with Patricia, Nina, Amber, and Fabian. It felt kind of good to finally be involved in what they had going on. Although he could tell there was more to it than what he knew and was hoping to get more information if he stuck around them.

“Do you think I overstepped the mark, demanding answers?” Patricia asked when they settled into Mrs Andrew’s classroom.

“No you were amazing,” Nina assured her.

“Who’s ready to bring these suckers down?” Patricia asked.

“Sibuna,” Amber said with a big smile and then covered one eye with her hand.

“Sibuna,” Nina, Patrica, and Fabian answered back.

“Huh?” Eddie whispered looking between each of them in confusion.

“Welcome to the club,” Nina said.

“Okay, settle down, quickly please,” Mrs Andrews entered the classroom. A hush fell over the room. “Thank you,” She sat down at her desk. “Now, it has come to our attention that some of you are not as occupied as you might like outside of class,”

“You can say that again,” Jerome said. “Bring on the new girls, miss,”

“So we’ve decided to run elections for a school representative,” Mrs Andrews ignored the boy’s comment. “The school representative would be an ambassador for the school, and would also act as a conduit…” Eddie looked over as Patricia raised her hand. “For relations between staff and students. Yes, Patricia?”

“I don’t like the school rep idea Mrs Andrews, but I might be interested in starting a school paper.” She said. “The gossip, the news, the scandal… the truth. What’d you reckon?” Patricia was onto something there.

“I think you’ll find Patricia, that that little matter is already in hand.” She said. “Now about the school representative,” She continued and Eddie zoned it out.

After class, Sibuna stopped in the hallway. “If Mrs Andews thinks school representative elections are going to distract us from what’s going on, she’s got another thing coming,” Fabian said.

“She can’t really think that’ll stop us,” Eddie rolled his eyes.

“But what do you think she meant by the matter being at hand?” Patricia asked.

“You are to come with me,” Victor said suddenly from behind Eddie making him jump. “If you want to know the truth.” He turned and walked out of the school. They followed after him.

“Where are you guys going?” Amber asked, staying put. “What if they stuff us in a hole with no food or drink or mascara for sixty-two days?”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Eddie grabbed her arm and pulled her along.

“Fine, but I’m using your coat for warmth if they do,”

Victor ushered Sibuna back to Anubis House. “You lot look terrible!” Trudy exclaimed looking up from her clearing when they entered the older house and began climbing the stairs. “What are you doing dragging them here in the middle of the day?”

“Don’t let us keep you from your duties, Trudy.” Victor looked over the staircase at her. “Supermarket yes? Come, come, my office. Up up up up up. Off you go Trudy, don’t want to fire you again. Once a term is quite enough.” Eddie sent Trudy a sorry glance and then stepped onto the landing, they walked single file into the groundskeeper’s office where Patricia began to hyperventilate.

“Patricia, are you alright?” Nina touched her arm. “We need a paper bag! We need a paper bag!”

“I can’t- I can’t breathe, I need to get out of here,”

“Patricia you’re okay,” Eddie told her Victor locked the door.

“Let me out!” She said.

“Victor you heard her, let her out!” Fabian said. Victor sat down at his desk.

“Me too, I’m too young and too pretty to die,” Amber said.

“Let me out!” Patricia yelled.

“I’ll break this glass,” Eddie warned him.

“You will do no such thing,” Victor began typing on his computer. “You wanted answers? Well, here they are.” He turned the screen around to face them.

“Patricia,” A familiar voice came from the screen. “Patricia, are you there?”

“Joy,”

Chapter Text

Patricia almost couldn't believe what she’d been told. Joy wasn’t coming back. Mr Mercer was working for the government, Rufus was after top-secret information, and Victor and the teachers were protecting Joy. But she knew that Joy would never lie to her. So as crazy as it all sounded, Patricia was deciding to believe her. It would be nice not to be paranoid twenty-four-seven for the first time in months.

As soon as they were out of Victor’s office, Nina started. “I can’t believe Victor’s put us under house arrest.”

“I can’t believe he’s one of the good guys,” Amber said. “He has such evil hair,” Patricia smirked because Victor could definitely still hear them.

“But is he good though?” Nina asked. “Really?”

“Yes!” Patricia said confidently. “You heard Joy.”

“At least we know Joy is safe,” Fabian said. Yes, and that was all Patricia cared about. She wanted to put all this behind her.

“It’s pretty scary though,” Patricia said. “Having to reinvent yourself to get Rufus off your back,”

“She’s miles away Patricia, he can’t get to her now,” Nina said.

“It’s not her I was thinking of,” Patricia said. Eddie gave her a sympathetic look that would’ve pissed her off under any other circumstance. But it was actually kind of sweet this time.

“Guys, wait,” Fabian moved past the others to get to the bottom of the stairs. “Give me a minute.” He ran off down the hallway. Fabian returned a minute later holding the two puzzle pieces Nina recovered from Victor’s safe during the play. “I’m taking these to school with me.” Patricia looked uncertainly at him. She still wasn’t sure how the puzzle pieces fit into the situation with Joy’s disappearance, maybe this was an entirely different mystery. “I know Joy said Victor was one of the good guys but I still don’t trust him.” Trudy came back into the house and Fabian tucked the pieces into his bag.

“Oh Fabian, be a love,” Trudy handed him some mail. “Give these letters to Victor. I’m off to the supermarket, if I don’t go now, I’ll miss my bus and then lunch with your Uncle Ade.” And she was off again.

“You go girl,” Eddie called after her.

“Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” Nina asked Fabian.

“This one’s from the hospital.” Fabian held up an envelope.

“It must be Alfie’s toxicology report!”

“Right,”

“The hall is not an area for loitering!” Victor called to them from above.

“Just letters, Victor,” Fabian ran up the stairs to give them to the caretaker of the house.

Fabian returned from Victor’s office once again. “Just great!” Fabian muttered.

Eddie listened as Fabian lamented about losing Alfie’s toxicology report the entire way back to school. “You need to relax Fabian,” Patricia said when they reached the building. “We basically have to trust Victor. Remember what Joy said.”

“Did you just say you spoke to Joy?” Mara asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. “Is she alright?”

“Joy is fine. She just said she doesn’t want to come back to this school and…” Patricia faltered. “And she doesn’t want to talk to any of us anymore.”

“When did she say all of this?” Amber asked, earning a stomp on the foot from Nina. “Oww,”

“I’m sorry was that your foot?” Nina asked.

“Yes. More importantly, that was a very special shoe.” Amber stopped for a moment. “Oh, oh yeah, Joy hates us all.” Nina laughed awkwardly and the group began walking once more. Eddie shrugged as he passed Mara.

Eddie sat on the sofa in the drama room zoning off.

“Eddie,” His father’s voice came from behind him, making him jump. “Sorry to startle you.” Eddie turned to face Mr Sweet. “Are you available to get dinner with me this Friday, like we talked about,”

“Shhh!” Eddie scanned the entire room making sure nobody was listening in. “Yeah, sure,”

“Alright, excellent,” He grinned. “It’s a date,” Eddie rolled his eyes and watched his father head back toward his office, and Nina rush over to his side.

“We’ve got news,” Nina looped her arm through Eddie’s arm and pulled him off the sofa leading him through the hallway to where Fabian, Amber, and Patricia were gathered. “Okay,” Nina released Eddie and clapped her hands together. “Victor stepped away from Anubis so we-” She gestured to Fabian. “Snuck into his office and found an old photo from 1922 of Victor as a child and his dad… who looks exactly like him,”

“Bad gene pool,” Eddie said.

“Which means that the voice on the recordings and the photos isn’t Victor but his father.” Nina ignored him.

“And,” Fabian said. “The toxicology report says that Alfie had an herbal concoction, it was just water and some herbs, not an elixir of life,”

“So Victor isn’t a hundred and twenty and there is no elixir, and the voice on Sarah’s recordings is Victor’s dad?” Amber asked. Nina nodded her head. “That’s insane.”

“Wow,” Fabian said. “You really were listening.”

“I know!” Amber exclaimed. “I find it helps to imagine I’m Mara, but only for like a second, cause then it’s weird.” Eddie considered this. Maybe he should try it during his father’s class.

“So there is no mystery?” Patricia said.

“But none of it adds up,” Nina insisted but Patricia and Amber didn’t look convinced. “You guys aren’t giving up on me, are you?” Patricia pulled Amber away.

Eddie put an arm around Nina and Fabian’s shoulders and watched the girls run away. “I have no idea what’s going on,” He said. “But I’ll stick around to find out,”

“Thanks,” Nina frowned. “But maybe I was wrong.” She began walking away. “I have been this far,”

“No no, no, Nina wait,” Fabian started before Alfie ran over to them.

“Okay guys,” Alfie said. “All our year has to meet in the drama studio Mrs Andrews has some big important announcement to make apparently.” He paused. “Hey, maybe they found the thief that stole the stuff from Victor’s safe or something.”

Nina looked back at them. “Not good,” Nina followed Alfie to the drama room. While Fabian stopped to put his bag and jacket on top of the lockers.

“Okay quiet down now everybody’s here.” Mrs Andrews said once Fabian and Eddie stepped in. “I just want to let everyone know that we are officially moving ahead with our idea of a school representative. And that person will be chosen from this year group.”

“Is that it?” Alfie asked making everyone laugh. “Boring, I thought it would be some exciting mystery.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Patricia said off to the side.

“So do we have any nominations?” Mrs Andrews said.

“I nominate Mara Jeffray.” Jerome raised his hand.

“Very good,” Mrs Andrews said with a smile. “Any other nominations?”

“I nominate Am-” Alfie started.

“Don’t you dare!” Amber hissed at him.

“Um… Amelia Pinchers.” Alfie said.

“Amelia?” Mrs Andrews said. “Excellent. Any other nominations?” Nobody stepped up. “No, so nominations will close in five days’ time. Thank you very much.”

Patricia had had an awful night. That had become the new norm ever since she’d been kidnapped by Rufus. She couldn’t believe she had ever trusted him. She couldn’t sleep, and when she finally did sleep, she had nightmares about him. She felt so pathetic. Patricia stayed in her bed while Mara moved around the room getting ready for school that morning. She didn’t want to get up and face the day. Even though it was all over now, she worried that Rufus could still come back and try to use her to get to Joy and her father again. But it was getting late, she would miss breakfast completely if she didn’t get up, so begrudgingly she trudged down to the kitchen in her pajamas.

“Hi,” Mara said as she walked in. “You okay?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Patricia asked. Could Mara just leave it? Not everyone needed to know that she was having nightmares.

“You had a bad night.”

“I’m fine,” Patricia insisted and then sat down next to Alfie.

“I didn’t sleep too good either,” Alfie said. “I was up all night looking for UFOs.”

“UFOs?” Jerome chuckled.

“What?” Mara laughed.

“They’re coming, trust me,” Alfie said making Patricia laugh. “And then everybody will come running to Alfie for his alien expertise.”

“Alfie Lewis, champion of the Earth,” Patricia said. “We’re doomed.”

Patricia was exhausted and felt herself drifting off in Mr Winkler’s class. She tried to pay attention. But Mr Winkler was going on about numerology and it was boring her. Each time she felt her eyelids drop she hurried to open them once more. But her head felt heavy and cloudy. Mr Winkler turned around from writing on the whiteboard but he had transformed into Rufus. “Patricia, are you listening to me?” He asked. Startled Patricia turned to the side, and instead of Amber, she found Rufus also sitting beside her. “I said it’s time to come home.” She shouted and ran out of the classroom. She was aware of her housemates following right behind her, calling after her but she didn’t want to see them.

Patricia reached Anubis House before the others, but she knew they were close behind her. She sprinted to the laundry room plopped down on the floor beside the washing machine and tucked her knees into her chest.

“Yo Trixie,” Alfie called stepping into the laundry room not long after. “I know those biker boots anywhere.” He grabbed one of her shoes.

“Alfie, what are you doing?” She complained. “Get off my foot.”

“So what’s up?” Alfie sat down across from her. “What’s with the freak out in class, and the hiding the laundry room business?”

“Fell asleep in class. I had a bad dream. End of story.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Oh shut up, Alfie,” She loved him, she really did but now was not the time for his jokes.
“No, I mean tell me about it,” Alfie said again. “Since my cellar trip, you know, look behind you creepy dog face. Something horrible! Wlahhh!” He screeched.

“So what do you do to stop the nightmares?”

“I don’t know.” He said. “I’ve got kind of an evil dream survival kit, you know torch under the sheets, play music to get me to sleep. And also I try to hang around other people as much as possible, so I’m never alone.”

“That’s pathetic,” Patricia said. “But sweet.”

“Except Jerome’s kind of abandoned me for Mara recently.” He said sadly.

“Okay, here’s the deal.” Patricia perked up. “I’ll hang out with you if you hang out with me, and then hopefully whatever’s giving us bad dreams can fight it out between them.”

“You’re on!” Alfie grinned. “Hey Patricia, can I show you something? You never know, it might be connected with our dreams. It’s about aliens.”

“Aliens. You’re not still going on about aliens.”

“I just finished reading this book, right.” Alfie pulled out the puzzle piece Nina had stolen from Victor’s safe. Patricia’s eyes widened. How did Alfie get that? “About aliens and how they came to our planet in like 3,000 years B.C. and then I found this.” Fabian must have lost it. She didn’t know if there was still a mystery to solve but she had to get it back for Fabian. Nina must be freaking out right now. “How weird is that?”

Eddie sat in the living room where Amber was offering to do everyone’s numerology to find their love match. “Eddie,” Amber called his attention. “Come here, let me do your numbers,”
“No thanks, Amber,” Eddie said.

“No come here!” Amber insisted. “And then I’ll do Patricias.” Eddie wanted to run and hide. He knew that everyone knew he had feelings for Patricia, but everything was so complicated and he preferred to pretend like it wasn’t happening. “I have this theory that Peddie is a perfect match.”

“I’m good, really.” He put his hands up.

“He’s just afraid that he won’t match with Patricia,” Alfie grinned and sat down next to Amber. “Do mine.” Eddie pulled out his laptop and started looking for some music to listen to while he tried to do his homework. “Mr Sweet!” Alfie cried. “My perfect love match is old Sweetie?” Eddie scoffed at this. Alfie was a good friend, but he would make a horrible stepdad.

“Sorry Alfie,” Amber said as Alfie shuddered and left the table. “Like I said the numbers never lie. It’s science.” Amber called Nina over to the table next and Patricia entered the living room and took Nina’s place next to Fabian.

“Lost something?” Patricia asked Fabian.

“Sorry?” Fabian asked as Patricia rummaged through her bag and then handed him something.

Fabian gasped. “Where did you find this?” He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him. “Patricia I could kiss you!”

“Don’t.” She put her hand up.

Eddie hated that he felt a hint of jealousy. Maybe he should take Amber up and let her do his numerology after all. He pressed play on his music and put his headphones in. A couple minutes later Fabian was shaking his shoulder. “What?” He hissed, a little too pissed off.

“We’re meeting in Nina and Amber’s room.” He said. “I want to show you guys something.”

“Okay,” Eddie closed his laptop and stood up.

“You head on up, gotta get something.” Fabian took off toward his room.
Patricia and Nina waited for him at the bottom of the stairs and the three began their walk to the girl’s room. “No Amber?” Eddie asked.

“She’s still busy with the numerology,” Nina said.

“Okay,” Fabian said after entering Nina’s room and closing the door behind him. “So here’s the map of the house.” He sat down on the floor with Eddie and Patricia. “If Sarah’s numbers are coordinates, we’ll be able to use this to pinpoint a location, which, in turn, may lead us to another clue.”

“They’re not coordinates Fabian,” Nina said from her bed.

“They’re not?” Fabian asked. Eddie was just happy to be involved but he really had to ask them to explain the whole mystery to him soon.

“Sarah’s an 11, the same as me,” Nina said.

“Huh?” Patricia asked.

“It’s Sarah’s numerology number and her date of birth,” Nina explained. She picked up some sort of ancient artifact and began turning the numbers on its side. “Eleven, zero-one,” A creaking sound came from the house.

“What was that?” Fabian asked.

“I don’t know but it’s freaking me out,” Patricia said.

“Zero-one, nineteen” Nina continued. From downstairs, Victor began his pin-drop speech. “Fifteen.” The house began rumbling and shaking. Was it an earthquake? Eddie wondered. “Guys, I don’t want to alarm anyone, but I think the house may be… coming to life.”

“Okay, I’m gonna need a full explanation now,” Eddie said as the ground rumbled beneath him. Patricia sighed and put her head in her hands.

“Okay so it all started the night Patricia locked me in the attic,” Nina started. Eddie listened as the three recounted everything that they knew so far. An hour later, Eddie and Fabian snuck downstairs to their rooms and went to bed.

Right after school the next day, Nina and Fabian called another Sibuna meeting in her room. “Okay, so what’s so urgent?” Patricia asked as they followed Nina into the bedroom.

“We need to talk. About the house, the relics, the earthquake.” She started.

“I thought as much,” Alfie stepped into the room from the hallway. “What do you know about the relics and the quakes?” He waved a toothbrush around wildly. “Where have they come from? Or should I just ask Victor what’s going on?” Eddie wondered how long it would take before everyone in the house knew about Sibuna.

“Look, Alfie, look,” Fabian said. “The thing is…you were right. You’ve been right all along. The thing you found is a real alien artifact, and we’re scared aliens may have infiltrated the school,” Fabian deserved a Grammy for this performance because Alfie was eating it up. “And we don’t know who they are, what they want, or if they want to harm us, right guys?”

“Yeah,” Nina said.

“Totally,” Amber agreed.

“Exactly,”

“Awesome right?” Eddie chimed in.

“It’s really, really important that we keep this to ourselves,” Fabian said.

“Well, how about I do some research on the Internet, see what we need to do to protect ourselves?” Alfie offered.

“Yeah! That is a great idea!” Fabian grabbed Alfie’s shoulders. “And take all the time you need. I know we can count on you, Alfie,” Fabian led him to the door and shut it, turning back to face Sibuna as he leaned on the door.

“Aww, I feel really mean,” Patricia said. “He’s been so nice to me the last few days.”

“You are mean,” Amber told her. “But I was mean, and that’s unusual.”

“It’s probably the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to Alfie,” Eddie said trying to comfort the girls. “And he’ll rock that tinfoil hat.”

“We’re protecting him,” Fabian said. “It’s better that he spills some ludicrous story about aliens than about the you know what.”

“Okay guys, can we get back to the reason we called this meeting in the first place, please?” Nina cut in. “The puzzle piece we found in Victor’s safe, I think maybe that was the one that was hidden in the clock originally, Fabian,”

“Which explains why it wasn’t there just now.” Said Fabian.

“Yeah, but I don’t think Victor managed to open and find what was inside it, because he wouldn’t have known the numbers,” Nina said.

“Sarah’s numbers?” Fabian asked. “He might have.”

“Sarah’s numbers don’t open that piece.” Nina pulled a notebook out of her bag. “I think these do.” She handed it to him.

“Whose are these?” Fabian studied the numbers.

“Now, I’m not crazy about this, but…” Nina paused. “Mine,” The house began to rumble as soon as Nina spoke.

“Okay, Sibuna Club’s back on,” Amber said.

Later that night right before ten o clock they met up once again in Nina’s room. Eddie sat down on the floor with his four friends in a circle in between Nina and Amber, and they all held hands nervously. “Okay guys,” Nina said. “I don’t know what’s gonna happen when I open this, and who am I kidding? It’s probably going to be pretty horrifying. So I just want to make sure, are we all still on board?” They all looked around unsure.

“Sibuna,” Fabian covered his eye.

Eddie and the others signaled back. “Sibuna,”

“Eleven,” Nina dropped their hands and started to turn the numbers on the puzzle piece. “Zero-seven, zero-seven,” The house shook a little harder. “Nineteen, ninety-five.” The walls creaked. “Wow, that was much less scary than I thought,”

“Is that it?” Patricia said. “Do you think Victor did open it and seal it back up again?”

“Guys,” Fabian’s eyes widened and he pointed behind to something behind Eddie. Eddie turned quickly and watched in surprise as writing appeared on the wall.

“‘Awaken the voice’?” Patricia read.

“What does it mean?” Fabian asked anxiously. “Nina?”

“I have no idea,” She said.

The next day Alfie reported back to Sibuna as Mrs Andrews handed out a book about snakes. “There was this TV show in the ‘80s about these lizard aliens who had human skin and ate people. I was up all last night watching reruns.”

“Now, this poem is a personal favorite of mine.” Mrs Andrews called their attention back to her. “Listen to the language, the scaliness of the words. ‘A snake came to my water trough on a hot, hot day,’” She began reciting.

“See?” Alfie leaned toward them. “Random reptile mention. I always knew there was something not right about Andrews.

“‘And trailed his yellow-brown slackness soft-bellied down over the edge.’”

“She’s talking about aliens, isn’t she? Lizard lady.” He stuck his tongue out making Patricia laugh. Suddenly Alfie stood up and took a step toward the teacher.

“Alfie wait, what’s gotten into you?” Jerome tried to grab Alfie’s arm.

“Show yourself, lizard lady!” Alfie charged and tackled Mrs Andrews to the floor. Eddie felt his eyes bulge and his mouth drop open. Okay, so that wasn’t good, but maybe Eddie should start a football team at the school and enlist Alfie.

“Alfie Lewis, get off!” Mrs Andrews demanded. The paranoid boy stood up, and walked back to his seat, glaring at her as he went. Patricia sent Eddie a look and he knew what she was thinking. They couldn’t go on like this, it wasn’t fair to Alfie.

Fabian ran off right when class was dismissed. Patricia stood from her desk and walked around it to Eddie’s desk. “We’ve got to tell Alfie the truth,” She said.

“I agree,” Eddie stood up and pulled his bag over his shoulder.

“Let’s find Fabian,” The two went searching the school for Fabian, Amber tried to stop them to tell them about how Mick was back and wanted to get back together with her, so Amber was clearly too distracted to help.

“Fabian,” Patricia called when she saw him eating his lunch in the drama studio, the boy smiled and walked over to her and Eddie. “I know we were doing this to protect Alfie, but it’s gone too far,”

“I know,” He sighed. “But Nina’s not going to like it one bit.”

“Well we can’t have Alfie attacking the teachers,” Eddie said. “He’ll get expelled.”

“Alright,” They went back to Mrs Andrew's classroom to find it empty.

“He’s gone!” Patricia said standing in the doorway and looking out into the hallway. “No wait, there he is,” As Alfie passed by the room Patricia grabbed him by his coat and pulled him into the classroom, Fabian shut the door behind them.

“Trixie, a bit tight on the collar!” Alfie said straightening his jacket.

“Alfie, we haven’t been entirely honest with you.” Fabian got straight to the point.

“Oh no,” Aflie said. “Oh, I should have seen this coming.” He sat down on a desk and began crawling backward away from them. “It’s always like this in the films, and I didn’t see it. You’re the aliens! Ah, how could I have been so blind?”

“We’re not aliens Alfie, there aren’t any aliens,” Fabian said.

Alfie stood back up. “That’s exactly what an alien would say.” Eddie nodded his head, he had a point.

“We just made it up to get you off our backs,” Fabian said.

“But what about the alien artifacts?” Alfie asked.

“They’re puzzle pieces. They lead to some kind of relic or treasure.”

“Treasure?” Alfie perked up. “Is it alien related? And how much is it worth?”

After school, Nina texted Fabian and told him that she was going up into the attic to check something out. Patricia, Eddie, and Fabian wanted to check in with her as soon as she was down to see what she had learned from visiting Sarah, Eddie and Patricia tagged along. Fabian slowly opened Nina’s door and peeked his head in. “Hey, you’re back,” He said, then entered.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Patricia asked.

“Not exactly,” Nina said.

“What’s this?” Eddie noticed the newspaper the girl was looking at and sat down beside Nina on the bed.

“I found this in the attic,” She handed it to Eddie. It was an old newspaper with Victor and Rufus both pictured next to another woman on the paper. “Freaky,”

Patricia and Fabian gathered around on the bed to look.

“Whoa,” Fabian said.

Patricia grabbed the paper from him. “This photo was actually taken in 1960?”

“Yep,” Nina said.

“Rufus and Victor have hardly changed,” Patricia said.

“Yeah, and Sarah’s aged normally, I know,” Nina said.

“So does this mean the elixir-” Fabian started.

“Really does exist after all?” Nina interrupted him. “Well, yeah it looks like it does.”

“And Victor isn’t the only one taking it,” Fabian said.

“You know when Rufus held me in that warehouse?” Patricia asked. “He said, him, Victor, and Sarah went back a long way.” Fabian took the paper from Patricia. “Well, looking at this, it seems they were once friends, even.”

“Or business partners at least,” Fabian said.

“Sarah said something today about being betrayed,” Nina said.

“Guys,” Alfie called, opening the door with a big smile. “Super’s ready.” Nina snatched the newspaper out of Fabian’s hand and hid it behind her. “What’s this? A little secret meeting? Wicked!”

“Alfie, will you tell Trudy we’ll be down in a minute?” Nina asked. “We just need to finish some homework.”

“Oh, yeah, all right then,” Alfie said, his smile dropping. “But keep me in the loop yeah? You know, we’re like family now.” Alfie left closing the door behind him. Oh no, they were in big trouble now.

“Okay did I miss something?” Nina asked.

“Ummm,” Eddie stood up and faced her. “We told Alfie there weren’t aliens and we were looking for treasure.”

“What?”

“You didn’t see Alfie today!” Patricia said. “He tackled Mrs Andrews because he thought she was a lizard person.”

Nina scoffed and stood up. “We should have had a meeting to discuss this first, guys. Alfie could jeopardize the whole thing.”

“We just told him a few things, that’s all, enough to keep him at bay,” Patricia said.

“Still this is exciting,” Fabian tried to change the subject. “It proves we were right all along about Victor, the elixir.”

“We still haven’t got any proof though,” Patricia said. “That stuff we’ve got is just water and herbs according to the toxicology report.”

“We picked up the wrong stuff, that’s all,” Fabian said. “There were loads of bottles in the cellar.”

Patricia sighed. “Well in that case, don’t we need to…” She trailed off.

“Go back down there,” Nina nodded grimly.

“Sounds fun,” Eddie said.

“You’ll be screaming like a little girl down there.” Patricia laughed.

“I bet you know that from experience, yacker.” She sent him a glare that told him that he was right.

“Okay, we’ve got to get Amber on board,” Nina said. The group went downstairs and found Amber sitting on the sofa with Alfie.

“Amber, can we have a word please?” Fabian said. Amber and Alfie stood up at the same time. “Uh, just Amber, sorry Alfie.”

“Thanks a bunch,” Alfie said and walked away.

“Sorry, Alfie it’s just-” Nina started.

“Ah, have you been dumped?” Jerome mocked.

“You and me both, pal.” Alfie stormed off, and Amber approached the group.

“So we need to decide who’s going to go down to the cellar and get the real elixir.” Patricia filled her in.

“Why aren’t we including Alfie?” Amber said angrily. “He said he was one of us now.”

“I knew this would happen,” Nina said.

“We should go apologize to him shouldn’t we?” Fabian winced.

“You think?” Amber put a hand on her hip.

Sibuna went down the hallway and found Alfie in his room.

“Alfie, I’m sorry,” Nina said. “It’s just this is a big deal, okay?” Alfie sat down on his bed hunched over. “Like life, death, the whole shebang. People have been hurt.”

“Yeah, and Alfie was one of them.” Amber pointed out. “Remember we hospitalized him.”

“Amber! Shut up!” Patricia hissed.

“What?” Alfie stood up.

“Well, that stuff you drank…” Amber started.

“We found it in the cellar,” Fabian said.

“You could’ve killed me!”

“Yeah! I guess so, sorry.” Nina said brightly. “But hey, good news is we didn’t right?” Eddie couldn’t help himself and laughed at Nina.

“So what was it?”

“It wasn’t the stuff we were looking for, unfortunately, so we need to get some more-” Fabian said as Nina hit his arm, trying to get him to stop talking.

“I’ll do it,” Alfie said boldly. “I’m sick of being left out. This way I get to prove myself, please.”

“Alfie, do you see-” Fabian tried to reason with him.

“You have to let me,” Alfie cut him off. “I deserve to do this mission after what you almost did to me.”

“He’s right!” Patricia said. “I vote Alfie goes.”

“Okay fine,” Nina sighed. “But somebody has to go with him,” Eddie looked around, but nobody seemed willing to do it. Eddie didn’t understand what the big deal was, sure cellars were creepy but it was just a cellar.

“I’ll go,” Eddie shrugged.

Alfie was bouncing with excitement as they headed into the kitchen. “It’s gonna be great!” He grinned. “Us lot all together, intrepid explorers, mystery detectives, adrenaline-seeking adventurers!”

“Alfie you have to take this seriously,” Patricia said.

“So have we got torches and stuff?” He nodded.

“No, and you’ll be blindfolded,” Patricia said.

“Blindfolded?”

“Patricia,” Nina scolded. “No Alfie, of course you won’t be blindfolded, don’t panic.”

“I’m not panicking,” He insisted.

“Aw, Alfie it’s okay, I’m scared too and I’m not even going,” Amber said.

“I’m not scared,” Alfie stammered. “I mean, who’s scared?”

“All clear?” Fabian asked.

Patricia and Amber checked the entryways into the kitchen and nodded to him. Nina kneeled on the floor by the oven and pulled her necklace out from where it had been tucked into her shirt. It was shaped like an eye, Eddie had been told about it, but he hadn’t seen it yet. He stepped closer to get a better look at the necklace. She held the eye up to the matching eye on the oven and a secret door opened.

“Cool,” Alfie said.

Eddie felt a level of focus he hadn’t experienced before. He didn’t know why Sibuna had accepted Eddie right into the group when they’d been giving Alfie such a hard time. But he wanted to prove that they made the right call, that he was cut out for this. And he wanted the mission to go well for Alfie as well so they would accept him in. Eddie saw potential in Alfie and thought he could bring a lot to the table.

“Okay, so we’ll keep watch,” Nina stood up and brushed her hands off. “And if it’s unsafe to come out, I’ll knock three times.”

“Are you ready?” Fabian asked.

“We’ve got this right?” Eddie pat Alfie on the back.

“Course,”

“Sibuna,” Nina signed.

“Sibuna,” Everyone signed back.

The two crawled through the secret door and descended into the dark cellar. A rat shrieked making Alfie whine. “Alfie,” Eddie grabbed his shoulders. “Hey, it’s okay buddy, I think it’s just a rat.” Eddie shined his flashlight at the rat in question. “See,”

“Okay, okay,” Alfie tried to compose himself. “It’s just a rat, it’s just a rat!”

There was a table covered in bottles of various liquids. “There’s so many bottles!” Eddie complained. “How are we supposed to know which is which?”

“Beats me,” Alfie said, he went off the center of the room where some cloaks were displayed.

“I know, I’ll just pick whichever bottle looks the fanciest!” Eddie examined each of the bottles until he found a nice globe-shaped bottle. “There!” He sniffed the contents of the bottle and then poured a sample of it into a spare vile sitting around on the table. “Alright Alfie, let’s get out of here.” Alfie stood frozen in place in front of the creepy cloaks. “Alfie?” The boy screamed, making Eddie drop the vile. Eddie cringed as the glass shattered on the floor. Eddie wanted to get another sample, but Alfie began hyperventilating. “Alfie,” Eddie ran over to him. “Come on, let’s get you out of here.” Alfie didn’t say anything but took Eddie’s hand. Eddie gave him a small smile and led him back up the way they came. Alfie crawled back up to the kitchen first, Eddie following closely behind.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Nina said once the boys were back safely in the kitchen.

“Alfie, speak to me. Are you okay?” Amber asked.

“What happened?” Patricia asked.

“Did you get any elixir?” Fabian asked.

“I dropped the sample,” Eddie said.

“We’ll have to go another night, it’s too risky now,” Nina said.

The next day at school Alfie was still not over whatever he had seen in the cellar. Patricia, Eddie, Fabian, and Nina found him alone in a classroom looking forlorn.

“Alfie, are you okay?” Nina said. Patricia pulled a chair out to sit beside her friend as the rest of Sibuna gathered around.

“Last night in the cellar. I remembered.” Alfie told them. “I remembered everything.”

“What did you see?” Patricia asked. She knew it must’ve been bad to have traumatized him so badly.

“Mr Sweet,” Alfie said. Patricia couldn’t help it and looked to try to catch Eddie’s reaction but his face was unreadable. “Mrs Andrews, Mr Winkler, and some other people. They were chanting and they mentioned the chosen one. And Victor drank from a skull and it was horrible. And one of them was in a mask, a dog mask. It’s what I dream about, that face just staring at me, coming for me.”

“Alfie, it’s okay,” She put a hand on his shoulder.

“I bet I know what he was drinking out of that skull,” Nina said.

“The elixir,” Fabian said.

“What elixir?” Alfie asked.

“It’s a potion they make that keeps you young,” Fabian explained.

“Ankh?” Alfie added. “That was another word.”

“The Cup of Ankh,” Nina said. “That’s the cup that gives you immortality, right?”

“Hello very important stuff to discuss here,” Amber walked into the room. “So I’ve only got twenty-four hours to make sure I win election factor. Hands up who’s going to help me blow Mara out of the race?” Patrica sighed. She hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but she was supporting Mara, who she believed was the better candidate At least she wasn’t alone because nobody else volunteered to help Amber either. “Some club, you people are so unsupportive, running around after the cup of mank when it could be my one chance to shine. Thanks. Oh and by the way Alfie, you’re fired.” Amber stormed off. The group began walking out of the room when Patricia realized that something was off with Eddie and she thought she knew what was wrong.

“Wait, Eddie,” Patricia pulled him back into the classroom. “You okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” He didn’t sound convinced. Patricia raised an eyebrow. “It’s just Alfie couldn’t have been right. My father’s a lot of things but he wouldn’t be in that… group.”

Patricia could easily picture the headmaster in Victor’s weird club. He went along with everything Victor said, and they were always meeting for secretive discussions. He’d done nothing but lie about Joy’s disappearance. It was always just a given for her that they’d be working together. But this was Eddie’s dad so she couldn’t tell him that. “Maybe Alfie didn’t see right, it was probably dark,” Patricia suggested. “Or maybe he didn’t remember correctly.”

“Maybe,” Eddie looked down.

“I’m here for you Eddie,” She touched his arm. “You can talk to me,”

“Thanks, you can talk to me too,” Eddie studied her. “We’re on each other’s team, okay.”

“Okay,” The two wrapped each other up in their arms. Patricia buried her face in his neck and smiled.

After school, everyone got changed out of their uniforms and headed to the attic. Nina and Fabian wanted to listen to all the voice recordings again to see if they missed anything.

“I don’t understand what we’re doing, we’ve listened to these all already,” Patricia said.

“This is the cylinder that was blank right?” Nina ignored her and held a cylinder up. “But why was it blank?”

“Because it was damaged?” Fabian said.

“Or because it’s fake,” Nina said.

“Nice!” Eddie grinned.

“Fake?” Patricia questioned.

“This casing doesn’t look right to me, look it’s different from the others. I think it might…” She twisted it and the top opened. “Come off.”

“You’re a genius!” Fabian exclaimed and sat down next to her.

“What does it say?” Patricia asked.

“‘To find the secret of the past look beyond this world through glass.’” She read.

“That’s even more confusing than the last clue,” Eddie said.

“Welcome to our world,” Fabian chuckled.

It was the day of the election and Mara didn’t come to play. She pulled her hair back into a sensible bun making sure she looked as neat as possible. “It’s war,” She had told Patricia. You could practically cut the tension at the breakfast table with a knife.

“So election day, the big vote off.” Jerome who had switched sides and agreed to be Amber’s campaign manager at the last minute said. “Now Alfie of course, is a definite for Amber, so is Nina, and so am I, Mara, you’ve got Mick, Patricia, and Eddie. A tie just in our house. Are you getting nervous?” Patricia rolled her eyes at the slimeball.

“Oh back off, Clarke,” Mick said.

“Nina sweetie,” Trudy went to the American’s side. “Could you come with me, please?” Nina stood and followed Trudy without a word.

“What’s all that about?” Fabian asked.

“I don’t know but it doesn’t sound good,” Eddie said.

Patricia attended the speeches for the electrons, even though it was a given that she would be voting for her roommate. Mara’s speech went really well, and while Amber’s dance routine was flashy, Patricia thought that Mara still had a very good chance of winning the election. After the speeches, Patricia realized that Nina never returned after Trudy pulled her aside at breakfast. She questioned the members of Sibuna about if they knew what was going on with her but they knew nothing. So during break, the group left Amber who was wrapped up with the election, and went back to the house to see if Nina was there. Patricia knocked on Nina’s door. “Come in,” Nina said. The girl was facing away from the door kneeling by a box. Patricia walked around to face the girl and noticed she was crying.

“Hey, just checking you’re okay,” Fabian said.

“Sarah died last night,” Nina said. “These are her things. She wanted me to have them.”

“Nina, I’m so sorry,” Fabian wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and Nina accepted the hug.

“She came to me last night,” Nina said. “She spoke to me. She sat on my bed.”

“Like a ghost or an alien?” Alfie asked confused.

“Alfie.” Patricia scolded.

“Seriously, it freaks me out,”

“Okay Alfie, if you want to be freaked out about something,” Nina raised her voice. “Be freaked out about the fact that the only person who had any answers or could help us anyway is now gone.”

“Sorry,” Alfie said.

Patricia got to work scanning through Sarah’s belongings not liking the awkwardness, and found something strange. Rufus’ last name was on some sort of document. “Umm…” She handed a paper to Fabian.

“Gustav and Isabella Zeno,” Fabian read. “Rufus’ parents.”

“What is it?” Nina asked.

“This says that Rufus’ parents became the legal guardians of Sarah two years after her parents died.” Patricia felt sorry for Sarah having to deal with Rufus and Victor all the time. She hoped that Sarah had spent several decades living in peace away from them. “And there’s a copy of Rufus’ birth certificate right here, he’s definitely the same age as Sarah.”

“I swear if I ever see that old man again…” Eddie mumbled under his breath.

“Let’s hope we never do,” Nina said lightly and took Patricia’s hand. The group sat in Nina’s room for about ten minutes and carefully went through Sarah’s things until they were due back in class for the vote.

Once the voting was done Mr Sweet got on stage to address the class. “Well this- this is amazing,” Mr Sweet said. “Only two votes in it, and the winner is…Am, Mara.”

“Congratulations, Mara come up on stage.” Mrs Andrews said. Mr Sweet put a sash over Mara’s head as the group clapped for their new school rep. Mara thanked everyone who voted for her and got to explain her plan moving forward as school rep.

Chapter Text

Eddie and Fabian sat in Nina and Amber’s room to keep Nina company as she prepared for Sarah’s funeral.

“Okay,” Amber started. “So I got beat by a mathlete in the election. I can’t hide away in here forever, can I? I mean it’s not like my life’s over or anything.”

“Nice one Amber,” Eddie winced.

“I’m so sorry Nina,” Amber said.

“It’s okay,” Nina said.

“You’ve always got us remember,” Fabian stood up.

“Why don’t you buy some flowers,” Amber offered some money.

“I can’t take that.”

“They can be from all of us,” Amber insisted. “Please, I’d like you to.”

“Thank you, Amber.”

The door opened and Patricia and Alfie burst into the room complaining already. “Alfie she is not!”

“I didn’t say-”

“Whoa, what’s got you yacking so early in the morning?” Eddie asked.

“Shut it slimeball,” Patricia hissed, making Eddie smirk. “Tell him, Fabian, Alfie reckons Joy is one of them.”

“I didn’t say she is, but her dad definitely is.” Alfie clarified.

“Whoa, whoa, wait. Rewind. What?” Fabian asked.

“Trixie was showing me some photos on her phone,” Alfie said.

“And one of them is of me and Joy and her mom and dad.”

“And it was him,” Alfie said. “The man from the cellar. Joy’s dad.”

“I knew it,” Nina said with a smile.

“Well, even if Joy’s dad is involved, there is no way Joy would ever be,” Patricia said.

“She did back up his story.” Fabian pointed out.

“Fabian, this is Joy we’re talking about. Joy, you and here were really close. Remember?” That’s right, Eddie remembered. Joy and Fabian were always together before she disappeared.

Fabian looked at Nina. “Well, no we weren’t that close.”

“You people are unbelievable!” Patricia walked away slamming the door behind her. Eddie finally got up from Nina’s bed and followed after the girl.

“Patricia, wait, wait!” Eddie went down the stairs two at a time.

“What?” She whipped around to face him at the bottom of the staircase.

“I mean, I didn’t get to know Joy that well before she left, but you do know her.” He started. “And if you don’t think Joy’s involved, I believe you.”

“Really?” She put a hand on her hip.

“Yeah I mean she was your best friend right, if anyone knew her here it’s you.”

Patricia sighed but continued walking with Eddie to the school in comfortable silence before heading into the student lounge to wait for classes.

“Did you even ask Patricia?” They heard Robbie, a younger student who had been helping with the election, say when they entered the room.

“Yeah, yeah of course,” Mick nodded.

“Ask me what?” Patricia asked, crossing her arms.

“Yeah Mick, ask her what?” Jerome grinned. Eddie looked between Mick and Robbie.

“Umm,” Mick laughed uncomfortably. “We were just wondering if, by any chance, you had a thing for corrupt slimy chees geeks in the year below.” Eddie tried to hold back a laugh but to no avail.

“No?” Robbie asked. “Okay bye then,” The boy ran off sobbing (Never to be seen again).

Patricia glared at Mick and stomped off. Eddie cringed. “Ouch,”

“I’m sorry,” Jerome told Mick as he walked away, then turned toward Amber. “If I was you Amber I’d keep quiet and start planning the party.” Jerome cackled as he left Eddie with Amber.

“What was he talking about?” Eddie asked.

“I think I have to do the right thing,” Amber frowned. “Mara really did win the election but she thinks Mick cheated and she’s off to tell Mrs Andrews.” Amber stopped Mara from telling Mrs Andrews about the cheating, proclaiming that Mara did win school rep.

Nina gathered Sibuna in the dining room after school while the others were spread out throughout the house. “Okay so,” Nina clapped her hands together. “I overheard Rufus and Victor talking after the funeral. They definitely knew each other, and Rufus was definitely one of them,” Nina said. “Oh, and listen to this, they said Joy was the chosen one.”

“I told you she was part of it!” Alfie pointed at Patricia from across the table.

“Alfie she is not part of it,” Patricia said stubbornly. “Maybe she’s not choosing to be chosen.”

“I wouldn’t want to be chosen by their weird cult either,” Eddie shrugged.

“Exactly!” Patricia sighed. “I need to get ahold of her.”

“So Rufus was one of them?” Amber asked.

“Was one of them,” Nina clarified. “They kicked him out or he left or something. Oh, and Victor thinks Rufus has the puzzle pieces, only he called them ankh pieces. I think they’re more than just clues.”

“Okay guys,” Fabian said once Nina was done recounting Sarah’s funeral. “Listen up, I have some news as well. I overheard the teachers talking and tonight they’re going initiate Jason fully into the society.”

“So we’re going back down to the cellar?” Alfie said sadly.

“Miss Martin,” Victor appeared out of nowhere. Eddie swore they were going to get caught one day if they kept talking about secret stuff out in the open like this. Victor could have heard them planning their cellar trip. “A word in my office.” Nina stood and followed the caretaker of the house.

Only a moment later the bell at the front door rang. They could hear Trudy go to open it. “Victor,” Trudy called. “Delivery!” The group stood and went into the hall to watch Nina descend the staircase followed shortly after by Victor. A delivery man stood by the door holding a big box.

“Saved by the bell it seems,” Fabian said quietly.

“That’s good!” Amber gasped.

Victor signed for his package and promptly took the box upstairs. “Thank you,” Trudy
said. “I’m sure he’s thrilled with… whatever it is.” The man left the house. The group moved on back into the dining room.

“You all right?” Fabian asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Nina sat down. “I’m just trying to shake the Victor off me.”

“So what’s he got in the box?” Amber asked.

“Something for the ceremony maybe,” Fabina said.

“What box? What ceremony?” Jerome said standing in the doorway. Eddie shook his head.

“None of your business.” Patricia hissed.

“Alfie.” Jerome said.

“Umm, Victor’s got a box…” Alfie started. “And… and… and I said that maybe he’s trying to build himself a robot girlfriend, and then- and then get married.” The group feigned laughter.

“Right, fine. Keep your secrets. I could not care less.” Jerome stormed away.

After curfew, Eddie and Fabian left Mick who had already crashed for the night in their room, scanned the ground floor for Victor who was already missing, and met with the club in the kitchen. “Amber, what’s with the huge bag?” Fabian scolded.

“Supplies for our stakeout in case of an emergency,” Amber told him.

“Where’s Victor?” Nina asked.

“We don’t know,” Eddie said.

“What if he’s already down there?” Alfie asked in a panic.

“I don’t know if I want to do this guys,” Amber admitted. A red light flashed and the oven door opened in response. “Okay, I’m certain I don’t want to do this.”

Nina shushed the blonde. “It’s the house, it’s the house guys, it’s okay.” She tried to soothe them. “It’s telling us it’s safe to go down there.”

“I hate it when the house talks,” Amber said.

“Yeah, it’s not very comforting,” Eddie agreed.

“Okay, let’s do it,” Fabian urged.

“I’m gonna stay here,” Patricia said. “There’s something I have to do.”

“Joy?” Nina asked and the girl nodded her head in response. Eddie frowned. He’d wanted Patricia to be there if Alfie ended up being right about his father being in Victor’s club. She was the only one who knew the principal was his dad, but Eddie knew how important getting into contact with Joy was to her, and to the mission. If worse came to worse, he would just confide in Patricia later.

“Sibuna,” They all said in unison before Patricia went off to do her own thing and the rest crawled into the oven door. They found a wall to hide behind and sat down.

“It’s cold,” Alfie said.

“Yeah,” Nina whispered. Amber pulled out a fuzzy jacket and offered it to Alfie.

“Thank you,” He took it.

“Anyone else?” Amber asked. Eddie nodded his head and was given a light pink robe he promptly put on. Fabian took one too. “See the bag wasn’t such a bad idea, after all. Nina?” She pulled out a red blanket.

“Oh no thanks,” She waved her off. “Red’s too bright. They’ll see us. I’m fine.”

“You can use this if you want to,” Fabian offered his blanket. Eddie rolled his eyes at the sweet display.

Patricia crawled out from under the dining room table after all the adults entered the cellar. It was him. Joy’s dad was involved. That meant for sure they were lying to her about why Joy was taken out of school, and why Rufus was after them. She had to get a hold of Joy, she was sure if she could just talk to her without her dad or Victor around Joy would be able to tell her the truth. Patricia ran upstairs and straight into Victor’s office.

Back in the cellar, Sibuna peaked their heads out from behind the wall and watched the society’s secret meeting. Eddie moved his head out just a bit more to get a better angle and finally spotted his father. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand and went back behind the corner to hide. His dad was in the society. He kept listening on, Victor was ninety-five years old, their elixir of life was almost out, and Victor didn’t know how to replicate it. Their goal was to unite the ankh with the chosen one, which would allow them to tip the scales of life and become immortal. Victor began chanting and Eddie could see why Alfie got nightmares the last time he witnessed a meeting. Something they did must’ve grossed Amber out because out of nowhere the girl exclaimed, “Yuck,” The group hid back behind the wall glaring at Amber.

“What was that?” An adult asked. A rat scurried out from nowhere suddenly appearing by the teenager’s feet. Eddie reached over Alfie’s body to cover Amber’s mouth. They heard someone approach them.

“It’s only a rat,” Victor said, and that was that and they continued chanting.

Patricia sat in Victor’s chair and began looking for Joy’s contact information. “Where is it?” She asked in frustration, then turned to Corbiere, who was staring at her judgmentally. “What are you looking at?” She turned the taxidermy bird away from her and noticed a slip of paper under his perch. She snatched it and found something that looked promising. “Yes!” She typed it into Victor’s computer and hit call. A moment later Joy appeared on the screen.

“Hello?” She asked tiredly. “Patricia is that you?” Joy sat down in front of her computer.
“Joy I don’t have much time, but I have to ask you something.”

“Why are you calling me so late?” Joy asked as if she hadn’t disappeared mysteriously months ago. “And why is Victor letting you?”

“What do you know about the chosen one?” Patricia asked. Joy looked down. “Joy? You do know something, don’t you? I defended you!”

“It’s my dad,” Joy explained. “He’s been conned into this weird organization by Victor and the teachers. They told my dad because I was born at seven o’clock on the seventh month that I am the chosen one.”

“That’s what we’ve heard!”

“What does that mean?” Joy asked. “I don’t want to be the chosen one. I want to watch TV and hang out with you and take physics tests. I want to be normal.”

“It’s okay, we’ll figure it out,” Patricia promised. “But we must keep in touch. Can you get hold of a new phone, do you think?”

“I don’t know,” Joy said.

“You have to try,” Patricia urged her. “Text me your new number, yeah?”

“Okay, I’ll try.” Patricia hung up the call. They would figure this out. They had to. She snuck back into her room and went to bed.

Sibuna had seen enough and was eager to make their way out of the cellar, not breathing easily until they reached the kitchen, through the secret door. Eddie crawled through first followed closely by Fabian.

“That was so close,” Fabian said.

“Victor must really want to stay young. He drank snake poison.” Amber said when she was back in the kitchen. “I mean that’s what plastic surgery’s for.”

“So are we still looking for this treasure or what?” Alfie stood up. “Or have the teachers got it? Or this Rufus Zeno dude?”

“Shh!” Nina hushed them all. “Right now let’s just get out of here, and get to bed, okay? We’re not home safe yet.” She closed the door with her locket.

“Eddie, are you okay?” Amber asked suddenly. “You look sick.” The others stared at him in concern.

“My dad is in the society,” He admitted quietly.

“What?” Alfie asked. “Which one is your dad?”

“Mr Sweet.” He swallowed bile in his throat. “Mr Sweet is my dad. I didn’t want to believe he was in Victor’s group, although I guess he was the most obvious member.”

“Him and Mrs Andrews,” Fabian added.

“Your dad is Sweetie?” Alfie asked. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I didn’t want everyone to treat me differently if they knew my dad was the principal,” Eddie said. “And anyway we’re not close,”

“We wouldn’t have judged you for that,” Amber put an arm around him comfortingly. “You could have told us.”

“I told Patricia,” Eddie shrugged. “I wasn’t ready to tell you guys before,”

“We understand,” Nina said. “Thank you for telling us Eddie, we promise to keep your secret, but we’ve really got to go to bed before they come back up.”

The next day the six met in the Sibuna clearing in the woods some of the others had picked out a while ago. The six sat together in a circle and they told Patricia what they saw and heard in the attic, and she summarized her conversation with Joy. They agreed that they needed to find all the pieces before Victor, and then realizing they were late back to school they rushed off, Nina went back to the house to drop off the pieces in the attic, but she was caught locking the attic back up by Victor. Victor didn’t get the puzzle pieces but he planned to put a padlock on the door which would make it much harder to get them back.

By the next morning, Nina and Fabian had found the next clue. The previous clue had been telling them to look through a specific telescope where they found another message. “The riddle definitely said ‘Light your way find the demisphere hidden below.’” Nina said grinning.

“But what’s a demisphere?” Alfie asked.

“I don’t know. Half a hemisphere?” Nina offered.

“I’m sure we have a globe around here somewhere,” Eddie offered.

“Hidden below,” Patricia said. “Does that mean hidden in the cellar?”

“We still need to collect a sample of the elixir as well, remember?” Fabian said. “And we know where he keeps it now.”

“We need to go back down there,” Nina nodded.

“Why does she keep saying that?” Amber complained. “Please don’t make me go!”

“To keep risks at a minimum, maybe we should just let one person go down there this time,” Fabian said.

“Great plan Fabs!” Amber exclaimed. “I’ll stay here and hold the fort.”

“We’ll draw straws for it, yeah?” Said Fabian.

“Or we could just do it that way,” Amber said. Eddie wasn’t sure he liked the drawing straws idea because he hadn’t even been watching the society’s meeting. He was too busy hiding and trying not to stand up and start a shouting match with his dad and hadn’t been able to see where Victor kept the elixir. But Eddie supposed that if he ended up with the short straw he would do his best, and hopefully the others would give him a better idea of what he was looking for this time.

In between classes that day, Eddie met the group in the lounge, they sat on the stage to talk. “So Patricia’s got us some walkie-talkies.”

Patricia pulled them out of her bag. “This will be better than the loud whispering we’ve been doing so far.”

“Okay, here’s Amber,” Fabian held at the straws as Amber joined them. “Guys everyone take a straw.”

“This matchmaking business actually becoming kind of fun,” Amber exclaimed as they grabbed straws. Amber had told Eddie all about her plan to get Mara to take Mick back. Eddie didn’t understand why Amber was trying to set them up now when she had been so against them dating earlier but he was just glad his friend was having fun. “You should let me put your love life in order, Patricia.”

“I’d rather chew on glass,” She quipped back.

They all held their straws out revealing that Alfie had the short straw and would be going on the solo trip into the cellar.

“Oh, poor Alfie,” Amber frowned.

“Okay then,” Nina said. “Alfie it is. Perfect.”

After school, Eddie crawled into his bunk to nap, knowing he’d be staying up late while they snuck Alfie into the cellar. Fabian shook Eddie awake, he had slept through dinner and it was now way past curfew and they had to meet in the kitchen to help Alfie. Eddie climbed out of bed and followed Fabian down the hall. While they waited for the others to join them Eddie quietly made a quick sandwich since he missed dinner. It wasn’t long before the girls joined them.

“What are you doing?” Patricia hissed at Eddie.

“What?” Eddie shrugged, some lettuce falling out of his sandwich. “I missed dinner,”

“And who’s fault is that?” She crossed her arms. “Victor could have heard you,”

“Chill out Yacker,” Eddie said. “I was perfectly quiet.”

“You were a little loud,” Fabian admitted.

“Well, then you should’ve told me,” He continued eating his dinner as they waited for Alfie. Patricia sighed and sat on the counter Eddie had been leaning against. “Want any?” He finally offered the girl.

“No thanks,” She held her hand up.

Alfie finally joined them ten minutes after they had agreed to meet in the kitchen wearing camo and paint on his face.

“Alfie what time do you call this?” Fabian exclaimed.

“And what have you come as?” Patricia asked.

“Take no notice,” Amber said. “I think you look very nice, Alfie.”

“You know what you’re doing right?” Nina crossed her arms.

Alfie nodded. “Getting a sample of the elixir and looking for a demisphere. Whatever a demisphere might be.”

“We’ll stay here and keep watch for Victor coming back,” Fabian said. “And we’ll contact you via the walkie-talkie if you need to get out of there. Yeah?”

“Where is your walkie-talkie?” Patricia asked.

“In here,” He motioned to his backpack.

“Okay, good luck,” Nina said.

“Thanks,” Alife paused. “Amber?”

“Yeah?”

“Could I have a good luck kiss?” Alfie asked. Eddie smirked. Oh, that was too sweet.

“Aw, of course, you can.” Amber kissed his cheek.

“Thanks,” Alfie grinned. “I can face anything now.”

“Okay come on,” Nina said pulling Alfie along and opening the secret door. Alfie climbed into the tunnel. “Come on, we’ll keep watch from upstairs.” They sat on the stairs and waited until a few minutes later they heard something.

“What was that?” Patricia asked.

“It sounds like a car,” Fabian said.

“Victor’s car!” Nina realized. She pulled out the walkie-talkie. “Nina to Alfie, can you hear me? Victor’s back. I repeat Victor’s back.” Alfie said nothing back. “Alfie come in, please. A-dog please come in.”

“Okay got that,” Alfie finally said from the walkie-talkie.

“He got the message,” Nina said. “That was close,” Victor opened the front door and went right to the cellar door to unlock it. “Alfie,” Nina whispered. “Get out of there quick. Victor’s coming down, over.” Victor went down into the cellar and Alfie still hadn’t said anything. “Alfie, come in, please. A-dog? Please come in.”

“Okay thanks,” He said. “N-dog,”

“Fabian, Eddie,” Nina said. “You should get back to bed while Victor’s down in the cellar.”

They stood up and hurried down the stairs and into their rooms. With that Eddie went right back to sleep. Nina would make sure Alfie got out of there safe, and there was nothing more the boys could do.

Eddie awoke to the sound of Mick getting ready for his run that morning. Eddie sat up and glared at his roommate. “Oh good you’re up!” Mick grinned.

“Huh?” Eddie rubbed the sleep away from his eyes.

“You went to bed so early last night, Trudy was worried you were coming down with something,”

“Just needed a nap and slept in,” Eddie yawned.

“Gotta go,” Mick slapped Eddie's leg. “Cheers,”

“Cheers,” Eddie fell back into his bed but couldn’t fall asleep. After thirty minutes or so Fabian got up and started getting ready for the day and Eddie figured he might as well face the day too. When Eddie and Fabian made it into the dining room for breakfast they found Patricia, Nina, and Amber alone at the table. Eddie started piling food onto his plate.

“Morning,” Nina greeted them.

“Do my eyes still look like an albino rabbit’s?” Amber asked out of nowhere. “These late nights are really playing havoc with my beauty regime.”

“Has anyone seen Alfie this morning?” Nina ignored her roommate. “I hope he’s okay.”

“Here he is,” Fabian grinned as Alfie entered the room.

“Alfie, how are you?” Amber asked.

“How did you do last night?” Patricia asked.

“You okay dude?” Eddie questioned.

“Did you find anything?” Said Fabian, Alfie looked around and then pulled the elixir out of his jacket pocket.

“Oh, well done,” Patricia said.

“Yeah, good job Alfie!” Nina said.

“What about the other thing?” Fabian asked.

“The demisphere?” Alfie shrugged. “I looked everywhere but I couldn’t find anything that looked right.”

“Maybe it’s not down in the cellar after all,” Patricia concluded.

“‘Unleash the power and light your way to the demisphere hidden below.’” Nina repeated the clue.

“You okay boo?” Amber asked.

“Why did you all disappear on me last night?” Alfie asked clearly upset.

“What?” Amber asked.

“We didn’t.”

“Yeah we waited until you told Nina you got her warning on the talkies,” Eddie said.

“Yes, we only went back to our rooms when you said you were safely back in your room,” Nina said.

“No, I didn’t say anything on my walkie-talkie,” Alfie said. “Or hear any of you speak to me through it.” Alfie paused in thought. “Wait a minute.” His face became enraged and he ran out of the room.

After school, Amber asked everyone to meet once again at the Sibuna clearing, telling Eddie and Alfie to bring something important to them along with them. Eddie changed out of his uniform and into his regular clothes then grabbed his drumsticks and met them at the clearing where they had started a small fire in a trashcan.

“What we doing?” Eddie asked when everyone arrived. “Sibuna show and tell?”

Amber shared a look with Fabian, Nina, and Patricia. “We’ve decided to fully initiate you and Alfie into Sibuna.”

“Oh no,” Alfie took a step back. “I remember Trixie hosting Nina’s initiation ceremony, I want nothing to do with that,”

“That was initiating Nina into the house,” Patrica said. “This is a different initiation ceremony.”

“And Patricia had nothing to do with planning it,” Fabian added.

“The attic isn’t so bad now anyway,” Nina shrugged.

“Fine,” Alfie said.

“Now what have you brought?” Amber asked.

“I brought my drumsticks,” Eddie pulled them out of his bag. “My dad said I couldn’t bring my whole drum kit but I couldn’t leave these behind,” He tossed one into the air and then caught it.

“Thank god,” Fabian muttered.

“And I brought my jester hat,” Alfie presented it. “Jerome and I picked it out.”

“Perfect,” Amber clapped her hands. “Now throw the drumsticks and hat into the fire.”

“Do I have to?” Alfie asked. “This is my favorite jester’s hat!” Eddie quirked an eyebrow up. How many jester’s hats did the guy have? “Without it I am nothing.”

“It has to be something special.” Amber insisted. Eddie sighed and tossed the sticks into the fire, Alfie frowned and the hat followed closely behind. “Now Eddie, repeat after me.” Eddie nodded his head. “I Eddie Miller…”

“I Eddie Miller…”

“Promise to protect the treasure of Anubis House and all its secrets…”

“Promise to protect the treasure of Anubis House and all its secrets…” Eddie repeated. Eddie felt kind of corny but it meant a lot to him that they trusted him enough to initiate him. He looked away from Amber and his gaze collided with Patricia’s. She grinned at him, and Eddie felt his face heat up. He had tried to push his feelings for her aside to focus on the treasure but he still had it bad for her.

“Now Alfie repeat after me!” Amber had Alfie repeat the same vows Eddie had done. “You’re both now officially members of the club. Sibuna.”

“Sibuna,” They all echoed back.

“What did you say?” Nina asked after a moment.

“Nothing,” Amber said.

Nina stared off into the fire. “Light the way,” She mumbled.

“What are you talking about?” Amber said.

“Are you okay?” Fabian asked.

“I think so,” Nina said. “Uh, I don’t know.”

Back at the house, Eddie crashed on the living room sofa trying to zone out and relax for a while until Nina’s voice snapped him out of it. “Victor quick! Amber has fainted!” Eddie stood and ran into the entryway and found Victor climbing down a ladder, and Nina holding Amber at the top of the stairs.

“My heart’s racing and I have a fever!” Amber cried. “But I’m really cold and faint, and oh my ankle hurts a lot.”

“You go and get Trudy now,” Victor ordered Nina. “Come on,” He lifted Amber. “On your feet, up, up, up, up. Through here,” He led Amber down into the girl's hall. Eddie looked back and found Nina staring at the chandelier above.

“What are you doing?” Eddie questioned.

“Demisphere,” Nina said. “Demisphere.” She began climbing the ladder and started twisting on the bottom of the chandelier. Nina pulled a lid off and a folded piece of paper fell out of a compartment. “The riddle!” She said, then looked back up and pulled another object out of the chandelier, stashing it in her bag.

“Nice!” Eddie said as Nina screwed the lid back on.

“Nina Martin!” Victor called. Eddie rushed to pick up the piece of paper and crammed it into his pocket as she climbed back down the stairs. “What are you doing? Where’s Trudy?”

“I was just looking for her,” Nina said. “Now where is that kitchen again?” Eddie chuckled then grabbed Nina’s arm and pulled her to the kitchen.

“Come on,” He winked at her.

“Trudy, quick!” Nina said when they got there. “Amber’s fainted!”

“My goodness,” Trudy threw her wash rag down. “Poor Amber,” She ran up the stairs. Eddie pulled the paper out and waved it at Nina.

“Oh yes!” Nina hugged Eddie. “Good job Eddie! I thought I lost it!” She pulled away from him. “Read it!”

Eddie unfolded the paper. “‘Inside the core of my enemy’s pride is where the final relic hides,’ What?”

“What are you two doing?” Victor called from behind them. Eddie and Nina whipped around and found Fabian instead who was laughing at their reaction.

“Fabian,” She gently pushed him.

“What gives?” Fabian asked and Eddie held the paper up. “Whoa. Where did you find this?”

“The demisphere, which was basically the bottom of the chandelier,” Nina said.

“I would never have figured that out,” Eddie grinned at her then handed Fabian the clue and he read it to himself.

“Final relic,” Fabian said.

“Yeah!” Nina said. “But who’s enemy?”

“Hi!” Alfie joined them. “Sup guys?”

“Nina found another puzzle piece!” Fabian said.

“Great,” Alfie said. “Um, just out of curiosity, you know the elixir I brought back from the cellar, what did we do with it exactly?”

“It’s under my mattress.” Fabian gave Nina and Eddie a look. “Why?”

“No,” Alfie shook his head. “No, that’s all. I just wanted to know it was somewhere safe.” Alfie ran off.

“Strange, even for Alfie,” Nina said.

“Talking of strange, how did you know where the demisphere was?” Fabian asked.

“Well,” Nina said. “You know my weird intuition moments? They’ve been getting stronger since Sarah died.”

“What do you mean?” Eddie asked.

“This is gonna sound crazy but… I’ve been hearing voices. You’re wondering if I’m insane.”

“No,” Fabian said. “I’m wondering if they’ve gotten it wrong about Joy being the chosen one.”

“Fabian, don’t say that okay? It freaks me out a lot!” Nina ran out of the room.

“Nina,” Fabian meekly called after her.

After dinner, Sibuna minus Alfie who had run off to do something else with Jerome, went to Nina and Amber’s room to show the girls the clue Nina had found. They all sat down and Nina gave the paper to Patricia to read.

“‘Inside the core of my enemy’s pride is where the final relic hides,’”

“The final relic,” Nina said excitedly. They only had to find one more piece before Victor and the society could get to it. “I can’t believe we’re so close.”

“Core,” Amber said. “Core.”

“You sound just like Corbiere, Amber.” Patricia laughed. “Core! Core!”

“That’s it!” Nina said suddenly. “Patricia, Amber. Genius.”

“I know!” Amber looked at Nina. “Why?”

“Corbiere is the pride and joy,” Fabian explained.

“We’re roasting some bird tonight,” Eddie grinned.

“Nice deduction,” Amber said impressed, then looked at Nina and Fabian. “You guys are so good together, like Scooby and Shaggy.”

“Thanks for that Amber,” Nina said.

“So the final clue is inside Corbiere?” Patricia looked at Nina.

“I think so,” She said.

Eddie and Fabian went out to see what Victor was doing just as he happened to leave his office. The groundskeeper gave the boys a look before descending the staircase and walking right out of the house. “Let's go!” Eddie pushed Fabian toward the office. The two ran in, and Fabian checked under Corbiere.

“I don’t see anything,” Fabian whispered.

“It said inside the core,” Eddie took two steps toward the desk and wrapped his hands around the black bird’s neck. “It’s got to just twist off,” He twisted the bird's head around and it popped right off.

“Gross!” Fabian exclaimed. But sure enough, there was a small object inside the neck cavity. Fabian carefully extracted it. “Ugh!” It was a small circle with the word END written on it.

“What does that mean?” Eddie asked.

“Maybe it means we’ve come to the end of the search?” Fabian sounded unsure.

“But wasn’t the cup supposed to be at the end?” Fabian didn’t have time to answer Eddie’s question as they heard the front door open and shut downstairs. Eddie quickly twisted Corbiere’s head back into place and the two made a run for it back into the girl’s hallway before Victor could see them.

“Well?” Nina stood up when the boys made it back into the room.

“Victor stepped out of the house for a minute so I Marie Antoinetted Corbiere’s head.”

“And what did you find?” Patricia asked.

“That Corbiere would look sick in a beret,” Eddie said.

“That doesn’t even make sense, weasel.”

“And we found this,” Fabian pulled the object out of his pocket and showed the girls.

“Nice!” Nina took it to look closer at it. “Good job guys!”

The next morning the house was suddenly infested with mice, and everyone kept screaming when they found a mouse as they got ready for class. Victor quickly shooed them all out of the house and off to school.

“Before we start,” Mrs Andrews said once they arrived in her room for the first class of the day. “As you know we have a problem with mice in Anubis House so we’ll be providing temporary accommodation for Anubis residents here in the main school building.” Fabian raised his hand. “Yes?”

“Mrs Andrews do you not think it’s a little bit strange that all the mice are white?” Fabian questioned. “How did we get a sudden infestation of pet mice?”

“Right?” Eddie said. “I thought they were kind of cute.”

“Well, I’ll be asking pest control about that,” Mrs Andrews said.

“And can we go back after class, you know to get our stuff?” Nina asked.

“No, I’m sorry I want you all to remain here.” Mrs Andrews said. “Trudy will bring your overnight things, and as a special treat, she’s going to provide a takeaway meal for you all here this evening.”

“Hey!” Mick put his hands in the air excitedly.

“Yes! That’s right,” Mrs Andrews said. “Treat it all as a big adventure. Now you all know the rules about food in dormitories, so we’ll be searching your room for snacks and confiscating any unauthorized items.” Eddie shook his head realizing what the teachers were doing. He was surprised his father would allow Victor to let mice loose in the house just to look for the pieces. Luckily they were still hidden away in the attic, but with the house empty he worried that Victor may be able to get them.

Trudy arrived after school and helped everyone get settled in. Nina and Fabian went around taking all the student's orders. Eddie sat down on the stage and pulled his headphones out. A minute later somebody tapped his shoulder. Eddie whipped his head around and saw Patricia staring at him, he took a headphone out. “Is that Sick Puppies?” She asked.

“Guess I have it pretty loud huh?” He grinned.

“Only if you want to damage your eardrums,”

Eddie held one headphone out to her and pat the stage beside him. “Wanna join me?” Patricia made a face, that had Eddie’s heart sinking, but then looked around and sat next to him on the stage.

“Just one song,” She told him. He gave her the headphones and they sat listening to the band together. When the song was almost done Nina and Fabian ran over to them.

“We just figured out a way to sneak into the house,” Nina whispered.

“What’s the plan?” Patricia took the headphones out of her ear, Eddie paused the song and put his music away.

“We’re gonna lock Trudy and Mr Sweet in his office so Victor has to come down and let them out since he has copies of all the keys,” Nina said.

“We need both of you to make sure they don’t notice we left if they get out and we’re not back yet,” Fabian said.

“Got it,” Eddie nodded his head. They stood and found Trudy making beds.
“Trudy,” Nina started. “We were just saying, we haven’t ordered any food for poor Mr Sweet, and he’s here working late, and…”

“Oh, aren’t you thoughtful,” Trudy interrupted Nina. “Well, why don’t you pop down to his office and see if he wants anything?”

“Um… well, you see, Mr Sweet, he was kind of upset when he found out we’d left base and- wasn’t he Fabian?” Nina said.

“Yeah,” Fabian nodded his head in agreement. “Oh, he was so angry.”

“Mr Sweet? Angry? I can’t picture that.” Trudy said. “He’d have to change his name.”

“You’d be surprised,” Eddie said, mostly to himself.

“Well you are supposed to be here, I suppose,” Trudy said. “Do you know what? I’ll go.” Trudy picked up a piece of paper and headed to the office.

“Let’s go,” They followed Trudy, and once the two adults were focused on looking at the menu Nina closed the door and locked it. “I just hope we’re not too late,” She said. Nina and Fabian sprinted out of the school and Patricia and Eddie went back to base and stood by the doorway to keep an eye out for Victor. It took twenty minutes for Victor to finally show up. Patricia and Eddie stood outside of the curtain and watched Victor let Trudy and Mr Sweet out, in no time, Victor was marching down toward them.

“Sorry, you can’t go in there just yet,” Patricia said.

“Why not?” Victor asked.

“The girls are getting changed for bed,” Patricia said.

“Oh of course, well in that case we’ll just-” Mr Sweet said.

“Where are the boys?” Asked Victor.

“They went to the bathroom,” Eddie said.

“Yeah!” Patricia said. “You know how boys are, always going to the bathroom in groups.”

“Yep,” Eddie nodded.

“Trudy,” Victor snapped. “Go in there and find out what’s happening, I’ll check in the toilets.” Victor stormed off to the bathroom, and Trudy went behind the curtain.

“So,” Mr Sweet cleared his throat. “You two have been hanging out a lot recently,”

“Dad,” Eddie hissed.

“Oh,” Mr Sweet said, startled. “Did you tell her I’m your father?”

“Yes, she knows,” Eddie hit his head against the wall in embarrassment.

“You’ve been hanging out with Victor a lot recently as well,” Patricia said.

“Yeah, what have you two been up to?” Eddie glared at him.

Before Mr Sweet could say anything Victor returned. “What’s taking her so long, for heaven’s sake?”

“Oh!” Trudy popped her head out of the curtain, wearing a beauty mask, and laughed.

“What’s that?” Mr Sweet asked, horrified.

“It’s turning into a right pajama party in there,” Trudy said. “Amber’s giving everyone facials. This is a lime souffle.”

“Out of my way!” Victor pushed past them and into the room, where Mara and Amber were sat in between Mick, and tried to put the mask on his face.

“You’re not putting that green gunk on my face,” Mick told them. “I’ll look like the Incredible Hulk,”

“See, I was gonna say Shrek,” Alfie said, his face covered as well.

“What is going on?” Victor asked. “Where are the others?” They looked around, trying to figure out who was missing. “You two!” He pointed at Patricia and Eddie. “Where are Nina and Fabian?” Patricia shrugged.

“Maybe they snuck off to make out?” Eddie shrugged. Patricia elbowed him in the ribs.

“They have gone back to the house, haven’t they? We’ve been tricked.” Victor walked out of the room, bumping shoulders with Patricia rudely. They followed Victor out into the hallway and found Nina and Fabian walking back in. Eddie sighed in relief when he noticed they were holding the food.

“Where have you two been?” Mr Sweet asked. “You’re under strict orders to stay in the temporary base.”

“We got a call from the delivery guy,” Nina held a box up. “Hence the delivery,”

“Yeah, we heard he was by the main door so we went to collect,” Fabian said.

“I’m going back to the house,” Victor said.

“I don’t suppose either of you two has the key to my office.” Mr Sweet said.

“No,” They both said. Nina and Fabian walked over to Patricia and Eddie.

“How lucky was that we bumped into the delivery guy?” Fabian said and they brought the food in. They all ate and then hung out for a few hours before Trudy told everyone to settle in for the night.

Before school the next day the students were finally allowed to return to Anubis House and found the place trashed. Eddie’s mattress had been thrown off his bunk, clothes were pulled out all over the floor. Eddie laughed imagining Victor tearing the house apart blindly looking for the pieces.

“Dude, our room just got trashed and you’re laughing,” Mick said.

“I’m sorry,” Eddie tried to compose himself. “But it’s not that bad, my room back in the States is way worse.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Fabian shook his head and began to look through his stuff.

Nina called a Sibuna meeting in the woods during their lunch. “Okay,” She said and they all sat around the puzzle pieces laid out on a jacket. “So there are seven pieces here. I think we should divide them up between us for safety.”

“Good idea,” Patricia said.

“Fabian, you take those two,” Nina pointed to the pieces. Fabian took the pieces.

“Can I have this one, it’s the prettiest,” Amber said.

“If you want, Patricia?” Nina asked and Patricia picked one up.

“I’ll take this one if you like,” Alfie took the long pieces. “Bit of an awkward shape. Like me.”

“Eddie?” Nina asked. Eddie looked between the two remaining pieces, they were the pieces Nina had stolen from Victor’s safe during the play so they both looked the same. He picked one up. “Okay, great, I guess that leaves me with this one then,” She picked hers up. “So, let’s swear to carry these with us wherever we go and guard them with our lives. Sibuna swear.” Nina covered her eye, and the others followed.

“Sibuna.”

Chapter Text

“Amber Millington, you shall go to the ball!” Mara ran into the living room where Eddie sat on the sofas with Amber and Mick.

“Sorry?” Amber asked.

“Sweeties agreed to let us have an end-of-term prom,” Mara said, making Amber squeal excitedly. “So long as all of us do the organizing.” She sat down next to Mick.

“Oh, I’m not really sure that’s my thing, babes,” Mick nudged his girlfriend.

“It’s a brilliant idea, mainly because it was my idea in the first place,” Amber said. “I think we should definitely only invite boys with gorgeous hair or boys who can dance, or both of the above.” She thought about it. “Or maybe all of them…” Eddie chuckled at this. He usually wasn’t the type to get excited about the prospects of going to prom, but he hoped this could be a good opportunity to make up the whole bet thing for Patricia. She seemed to have let go of her resentment but he still remembered that hurt expression on her face before it warped into anger.

“Amber,” Fabian was suddenly in front of the girl, waving silverware around. It must be their day to set the table for supper.

“So Fabian,” Mick said noticing him. “Who are you going to invite to the prom, then?” Fabian cleared his throat and began walking toward the dining table.

“A certain playwriting scholarship student with a thing for antiques and apple pie?” Amber said. Eddie had noticed that too. When he first got to the school, he was sure Fabian would end up with Joy at some point, but now so much had changed, and Eddie thought that Fabian was too into Nina for that to happen. Just thinking about Joy reacting to ‘Fabina’, as Amber called them, made him cringe.

“Of course, he’ll be taking Nina,” Mara stood up. “If he ever gets around to asking her.”

“Look, Nina,” Fabian said and began nervously placing the silverware around the table. “I don’t know why you keep going on about Nina. I mean, me and her we’re totally not an item.”

“Come on,” Mick said. “You know that you two are secretly crazy about each other.” Mick was right, and he didn’t even see how they got on Sibuna meetings. Eddie often felt like he was tagging along on one of their dates. “Well, not so secretly.”

“Yeah,” Mara agreed. “So when are you going to put Nina and the rest of us out of our misery?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Fabian said.

“It’ll be so romantic,” Amber said wistfully. “You, Nina, Mara and Mick, me and my new exciting boyfriend-to-be…” She turned to Eddie. “You and Patricia,” Eddie hung his head, he should’ve seen this turn in the conversation coming.
“Oh yes! We can’t forget about them!” Mara said. “You’ve been so into her since day one.”
“I don’t know,” Eddie waved them off. “It just depends if-” He stopped when he heard someone approaching the dining room.

“Victor’s losing it,” Patricia said, entering the room with Nina.

“Yeah, he had this manic look in his eyes and he was-” Nina looked around and stopped talking. “Oh! Hi you guys! You, Mick, Mara.” Eddie rolled his eyes at his friend.

“So,” Mick joined Fabian at the table. “Haven’t you got something to ask a certain someone?”

“Uh, nope,” Fabian said.

“About the dance?” Mick nudged him.

“What dance?” Nina asked.

“Mara and I are organizing an end-of-term prom,” Amber told her.

“What fun!” Nina exclaimed. “See? I’ve Americanized you all. Next thing you know you’ll be saying the Pledge of Allegiance.” Eddie shuddered at the thought.

“Huh?” Amber asked.

“Gross,” Patricia scoffed.

“Anyway,” Amber changed the conversation back to the dance. “Fabian was wondering…”

“Who you’ll be going with Patricia,” Fabian said, interrupting Amber.

“Why?” She asked.

“Just curious,”

“I don’t know, no one probably,” Patricia said. “Anyway, I didn’t even know about the prom until five seconds ago,” Patricia said.

“Oh, well that’s too bad,” Fabian said.

“It’s too bad?”

“Yeah, because… because I was gonna ask you?”

“No, Eddie is supposed to ask-” Amber started.

“Don’t let me stand in your way, Fabian.” Eddie cut her off. He knew Fabian was just being stupid and wanted to see how far of a hole he’d dig for himself.

“Well, maybe I will ask Patricia then,” Fabian said. “Later… much, much later.” He ran out of the room.

“Looks like you’ve got a secret admirer, Patricia,” Nina said sadly.

“No way!” Patricia said. “He was just being stupid,”

“No, he likes you, he was so nervous. I feel like such an idiot.” Nina said. “And this whole time, I thought he actually liked me.” Amber pursed her lips, things had not gone her way. The others looked around the room awkwardly.

Sibuna met in the clearing once again, the next morning. All Patricia knew was that Fabian and Nina had come up with an exciting theory and they needed to bring the puzzle pieces to test it. “So what’s this about?” She sat down on a log with the others.

“Fabian and I have this theory we want to try out,” Nina said.

“We think all the pieces fit together and form the cup.” Fabian excitedly told them.

“Oh! Awesome theory!” Patricia said. She’d been wondering how they would find the cup of ankh if they’d already found all the puzzle pieces and there were no more clues.

“Does everyone have their individual pieces?” Nina put hers in the center, and the others added theirs to the pile. Patricia looked up and noticed Alife hunched over nervously. “Alfie?” Nina asked.

“Alfie?” Fabian asked him again. “Where’s yours?” Patricia could tell that Alfie was scared. Something was very wrong.

“Alfie, what is it? What’s wrong?” Said, Amber.

“Hey, it’s okay, buddy, what happened?” Eddie rubbed his arm.

“Alfie, what did you do?” Nina asked.

“I haven’t got my ankh pieces anymore,” Alfie said in despair.

“Where is it?” Nina asked, her voice laced with panic.

“I was showing it to Jerome?”

“Jerome?” Patricia stood up. This was not good. Why on earth would Alfie show the pieces to Jerome? They both knew all too well what a greedy pig he was.

“I knew we couldn’t trust him!” Nina shouted, standing up. “I said it.”

“Alfie, how could you?” Amber said.

“No, it’s worse,” Alfie said. “It’s much, much worse.”

“In what way worse?” Fabian asked, exasperated.

“Jerome took it and gave it to Rufus Zeno,” Alfie said.

“No!” Patricia cried. She never wanted to see Rufus again. Had nightmares about it. But they would have to get the piece back. She felt like she was going to throw up.

“Did you tell Jerome about Rufus?” Eddie asked.

“No, I swear!” Alfie said. “And Jerome knows loads of stuff already. I don’t know how.”

“Why Alfie? Why did you show it to Jerome?” Nina cried.

“He just took it,” Alfie said. They got their stuff together, marched to the school, and found Jerome alone in their first class while Amber went off to plan the prom with Mara.

“Okay, slimeball,” Patricia confronted him right away. “We need to know exactly what you’ve told Rufus and how much he knows.”

“Oh, thanks very much Alfie,” Jerome hissed.

“Forget Alfie, just spill,” Fabian said.

“And why should I?” Jerome took his bag off and sat down at his desk.

“You want to live? Don’t you?” Patricia said in his face.

“I am not scared of you guys,” He said.

“We were thinking more about Rufus,” She added and noticed Jerome’s face blanch at this. Good, at least Jerome was well aware of how dangerous Rufus was.

“Him I’m scared of.” He admitted.

“How did he get ahold of you?” Patricia questioned. “Don’t tell me he was stalking you too?”

“Oh Rufus was stalking you the whole time,” Jerome nodded his head. “I thought you’d finally lost your last marble.” She glared at him. “No, I actually reached out first. You left your phone behind one day so I copied over his number and called him. You all had been acting so secretive. He was interested in information on those pieces and when I learned I could make a profit selling information to Rufus, I couldn’t resist.”

“So basically, you sold your friends out for money,” Patricia concluded.

“Friends?” Jerome asked. “You are not my friends. You’ve made that quite clear.” She supposed it wasn’t easy to be ignored by them all the time. Especially when Alfie joined their club.

“Listen,” Nina tried to reason with him. “If Rufus gets his hands on those pieces, who knows what he’s capable of.”

“World domination,” Patricia said. “The man’s a control freak.”

“You have to work with us here, Jerome,” Fabian insisted.

“What is so special about these things?” Jerome asked getting annoyed. “Rufus told me he was looking for treasure, an Egyptian cup or something.” They turned away from Jerome and sat in their seats as the class began to fill with other students. “What?” Patricia and the others ignored him and Mrs Andrews started her class. They couldn’t talk now.

Jerome however ran out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, and Mrs Andrews dismissed them. That wouldn’t do, they had to convince Jerome to help them get the piece back. They couldn’t allow any of the adults to get the upper hand.

“Jerome, wait up!” Alfie called as he and Patricia ran after their old friend, who stopped at his locker and opened it in a hurry.

“Look, are you going to help us or not?” Fabian caught up to them.

“Who’s to say I wouldn’t be better off sticking to my original plan?” Jerome spat in their faces.

“What is that then?” Patricia asked.

“Giving Rufus what he wants,” He said. “That way, I get him off my back, I stay alive, and I get rich,”

“You do that, and we’ll tell the teachers,” Patricia threatened.

“The teachers?” Jerome was taken aback by this. “What have they got to do with it?” So he didn’t know as much about the situation as he claimed to.

“Everything,” Patricia said smugly. “I’m sure they’ll be very happy to learn that you’ve been feeding their archenemy vital information.”

“We’ve got to stick together, dude,” Alfie added. “It’s safer. Trust me.”

“Alright,” Jerome shut his locker. “So what do I have to do?”

“Yeah, right,” Patricia didn’t think they’d get this far. “What you have to do is… uhh Alfie?”

“Uhh… Eddie?” Alfie said.

“No clue,” Eddie shook his head. “Fabian?”

“Nope.” He said.

“I have a plan,” Nina said.

“I’m glad one of you does,” Jerome breathed a sigh of relief.

After going over the plan in detail, Jerome called Rufus up and told him he had found the other puzzle pieces but they both needed to be there to get them, and they would need the puzzle piece to get to the other ones. Nina would unlock the secret door in the kitchen and then close the door so that Jerome could push it open using the puzzle piece Rufus would bring back, and once Rufus crawled into the door, Nina would close it behind him. They would call Victor down and alert him of the noises they’d heard in the cellar. Only Rufus insisted that Jerome crawled into the tunnel first. Fabian, Patricia, Nina, and Eddie stood at the door unsure of how to proceed.

“Jerome wasn’t supposed to go down there with him,” Fabian whispered.

“I can’t lock them both in there,” Nina said.

“What’s happening?” Amber asked as she and Alfie joined them. “Do we have to go get Victor yet?”

“Where’s Jerome?” Alfie asked. “No, no this is bad. This is very bad!”

“It was such a simple plan!” Nina said, agitated. “Get the puzzle piece off Rufus, lock him in the cellar, get Victor!”

“When Rufus realizes there are no puzzle pieces down there, he’s gonna mummify Jerome.” They bent over the door and stared down the tunnel hoping Jerome would find an excuse to crawl back up to them. Patricia fell back against the cabinets, feeling unwell.

“Yacker, you okay?” Eddie whispered.

“I don’t like him being here,” She said between breaths.

“Hey, I’ve got you, alright?” Eddie told her.

“Yeah, we all do,” Alfie grinned. “We’re in this together.” Patricia, feeling comforted by their words nodded her head.

“Okay guys, I say we carry on with the plan as if it’s just Rufus down there,” Fabian said. “Alfie, you go and slam the door, Amber, Patricia, you upstairs and alert Victor. Nina, Eddie, you two hide in the laundry room and if Jerome comes out and you get a chance to lock Rufus in there, do it. Sibuna?”

“Sibuna,” They split up and ran to their stations. Patricia spotted Victor sleeping in his office at his desk. The door slammed below, waking him up.

“Um, we think someone might have broken in,” Patricia said when he exited the office, rubbing his eyes.

“The noise came from the cellar,” Amber told him. “We’re so very scared.”
“I’ll go and see,” Victor mumbled and made his way downstairs. A minute later they could hear Nina screaming downstairs. Rufus ran out of the kitchen and into the entryway, Victor grabbed him but let him go when Rufus threw the elixir of life into the air. He then took his chance and ran out of the house. Patricia just hoped that Jerome had managed to keep the piece away from Rufus. Victor came back inside and locked the doors. “Why aren’t you in bed?”

“We wondered what the noise was,” Alfie said.

“There was an intruder,” He checked the lock on the door. “But he’s gone now, you’re all quite safe, so go to bed.” He waved them off.

“You’re letting him get away!” Fabian said.

“Go to bed. All of you!” He shouted. Patricia and Amber didn’t need to be told twice and made their way back to their rooms. Patricia tossed and turned all through the night scared that Rufus would come back.

Nina was upset the next morning because last night, after Rufus got away, Jerome threatened to tell the teachers everything if she didn’t protect him from Rufus, who would kill him now that Jerome had taken the piece back. Patricia listened to her former American roommate as she made her breakfast.

“Don’t worry, Nina,” Patricia said, sitting down between Alfie and Eddie at the table. “Jerome’s just bluffing because he’s scared of what Rufus might do. I can’t say I blame him.”

“And here he is,” Fabian said when they noticed Jerome come in with a sour look on his face. “Good work, last night, Jerome.”

“Nice one, mate,” Alfie said.

“Was nervous for you for a minute there, Jerry,” Eddie said.

“There’s still this whole matter of Rufus getting away,” Jerome said taking a seat next to Eddie. “And the fact that he still thinks I’ve got the puzzle piece.”

“Yeah, there is that but you could always say…” Fabian trailed off.

“That Victor confiscated it,” Nina finished.

“Right, and that’s when he mummifies me,” Jerome said. “Why don’t we just give the piece back to Rufus, and get him off our backs once and for all?” Patricia understood where Jerome was coming from. She truly thought that Rufus would kill Jerome if he got the chance. But that wasn’t an option for them. And Rufus would still need Jerome to get the other pieces.

“Do you really think if we gave Rufus the pieces we’re in a stronger position than if we hold onto them ourselves?” She pointed out. “Because I don’t. You need to speak to Rufus again. Play him along, we hold the cards here, not him.”

“Maybe we need to try putting these pieces back together again,” Jerome said.

“We’re going to, tonight,” Nina said. Amber came down the stairs and into the dining room screaming.

“I got a message on my profile.” She told them. “Someone blatantly wants to be my date.” She squealed happily and ran away.

“It’s a good thing Amber’s so focused,” Eddie said.

And so they gathered in Nina’s room that night after dinner. Nina thought it would’ve been safer to meet anywhere outside of the house, worried that Victor would catch them, but Patricia insisted that it was better than Rufus prowling around outside.

“What about Jerome, shouldn’t we involve him in this too?” Alfie asked.

“Well, he was trying to blackmail us,”

“The more involved Jerome feels, the better it is for us,” Fabian said.

“He’s right, leaving Jerome out is what got us into this mess to start with,” Eddie said.

“I know we’re gonna regret this later,” Nina said before nodding at Alfie. “Go get him.” Jerome and Alfie returned moments later, Alfie even pushed Nina’s nightstand in front of the door to try to prevent Victor from opening it and they pulled the puzzle pieces out.

“It won’t work,” Jerome said grumpily.

“Will you just shut up or leave the room?” Patricia snapped. Jerome was lucky to even be invited.

“We have to try Jerome,” Nina said.

“Nina, I’m telling you, you’ll never do it.” Jerome insisted.

“Jerome, watch us,” Fabian said. They started trying to put the pieces together when the lights turned off and on, the house shaking violently like before.

“Freaky,” Aflie said.

“Is this supposed to be happening?” Fabian asked.

“I don’t know,” Nina said. Suddenly the pieces felt hot, burning their hands, they dropped them back onto one of Nina’s pillows.

“It’s not the right time,” Jerome said.

“It’s 8 P.M. What’s wrong about that?” Nina asked.

“Okay, listen,” Jerome tried to compose himself. “I will tell you everything that Rufus said. Everything. In return, I just want one thing.”

“Before you ask Jerome, we don’t have any money so-” Patricia started to say.

“Actually,” He cut her off. “I just want in. To your gang.”

“You want to be a Sibuna?” Said Nina.

“Yeah, you tell me everything, all your little secrets, and I will give you the info that you need, how to put the cup together and when.”

“Okay, you’re in!” Nina reluctantly agreed. “Now tell us.”

With a grin, Jerome stood from Amber’s bed and joined them on the floor, high-fiving Alfie. “Welcome aboard, mate,” Alfie said.

“Cheers mate,” Jerome stared at the pieces for a second. “Right okay, so according to Rufus, the cup can only be assembled on a very special date, once every twenty-five years, and this date is coming up very soon.”

“Soon?” Nina asked.

“Yeah,”

“You got anything a little more specific? Please.” Nina put her head in her hands when Jerome said nothing.

Not even twenty-four hours later Jerome was already betraying them and searching through Nina’s room for the pieces. Sibuna- minus Amber quickly gathered in Jerome and Alfie’s room to question him.

“I thought you wanted to be a Sibuna,” Fabian said.

“I did! I do!” Jerome exclaimed. “I- you don’t understand. Rufus threatened me. And this time he meant it,”

“What happens now?” Alfie asked.

“We find out when this special date is, and we take it from there,” Fabian said. “Nina, can I have Sarah’s box?” She gave it to him. “Thank you,”

“Okay look,” Nina said. “If we can keep protecting these pieces until after this special date, maybe we’ll be in the clear.”

“For another twenty-five years at least,” Patricia added.

“But we don’t know when this special date is,” Jerome said. “It could be weeks away yet.”

“I think I found something,” Fabian pulled a piece of paper out of the box. Jerome stood up to look but sat back down when the others glared at him. “Look!” Fabian showed Jerome the paper regardless. “It’s a star map!”

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,” Nina said, then noticed their confused faces. “Just something Sarah said in the dream.”

“I don’t recognize any of these constellations,” Fabian said. “I’m going online, I’m gonna check this out,”

“I’m coming too!” Nina said, took the box from Alfie, and followed him.

“What I don’t understand-” Jerome said once it was just him, Patricia, Alfie, and Eddie. “Is how Rufus was planning to put the cup back together.”

“What do you mean?” Patricia asked. It seemed pretty simple to her, wait for the special day and then put them together.

“Well, it can’t just be done by anybody,” Jerome explained. “It has to be done by someone special,”

“Someone special?” Patricia asked. Then it dawned on her. “Someone chosen?”

“Well yeah, someone from a specific bloodline or born on a specific day, it’s all very very specific,” Patricia looked between Alfie and Eddie while Jerome spoke. “What?”

“Joy is the chosen one,” Patricia told him. “It’s why the teachers took her out of school. And that must be why Rufus was interested in helping me find her.”

“Joy’s the chosen one?” Jerome asked. “Are we talking about the same Joy?”

Patricia ignored the boy and ran down the hall to tell Nina and Fabian. “Guys, get this!” Patricia opened the door, closing it behind her.

“Every time,” Nina said.

“The cup can only be put together by the chosen one. By Joy.” She said, ignoring Nina.

“What?” Nina asked in shock.

“Jerome just told me. I have to call her and warn her.” Patricia paused. “Do we know the date yet?”

“Not yet, but…” He typed something into the computer. “Yes, they were coordinates. And now we have a date and time. Nice work.”

“When is the date and time?” Nina asked with a huge smile.

“Friday. Midnight.” Fabian said.

“The day of the prom.” That must be why the teachers agreed to let them do the prom. Keep everyone distracted and far away from Anubis House.

“This is it. We have the ankh pieces.” Fabian exclaimed. “We know the date and time, we know who the chosen one is. We can finally put the cup together and finish the search.”

“Okay, then that’s what we’ll do. If you’re sure.” Nina turned to Patricia. “Like super sure.”

“We have to call Joy,” Patricia nodded.

Eddie sat on the living room sofa with his roommates. “I’m going to ask Nina to the prom,” Fabian said out of nowhere.

“Good for you, mate!” Mick slapped him on the back. “Finally.”

“Oh, but I thought you were asking Patricia,” Eddie couldn’t help but tease him. “She’ll be upset when she hears you changed your mind.”

“Stop,” Fabian elbowed him. “You need to hurry up and ask Patricia, though. She’ll say yes.”

“I don’t know, man,” Eddie wasn’t so sure. He wanted to go with Patricia, but he knew she had been through so much that term, and what she needed was friends. She had become one of his best friends, and as much as he really really liked her, he wasn’t willing to risk ruining their friendship over it.

“I am worried about my dancing skills though,” Fabian seemed to understand Eddie’s conflict and changed the subject.

“Yeah, Amber’s been helping teach me, but I still don’t know.” Mick agreed.

“You two could practice,” Eddie suggested, fighting back a smirk.

“Yes, smart!” Mick stood up, Fabian reluctantly did the same and the boys began dancing with invisible partners, awkwardly spinning and bumping into each other. Fabian chuckled.

“Will you-”

“Dude!” Mick said. “Look, you’re doing it all wrong. Okay, look, let me show you.”

“What?” Fabian motioned between himself and Mick. Eddie chuckled at the two. They were hopeless. He was a horrible dancer too, to be sure, but when the dance floor calls, you’ve got to answer. Mick held onto the small of Fabian’s back, and held his other hand, Fabian placing his hand on Mick’s shoulder.

“Okay,” Mick said. “So… one, two, three,” They counted the dance steps as they spun around the living room. Behind them, Eddie noticed the others run to hide in the kitchen and watch them. Mick dipped Fabian, and Eddie had to admit he was impressed. Everyone came out of hiding and clapped for them, Mick dropped Fabian to the floor.

“By Jove, I think he’s got it!” Alfie said.

Patricia got ready for school the next morning and headed down for breakfast. “Morning guys!” She said cheerfully when she found Nina and Fabian in the dining room.

“See?” Nina told Fabian.

“Wait, but now I don’t know if you said yes to the thing I was going to ask,” Fabian said as Patricia took a seat. “And you don’t know if I was going to ask you what you thought I was going to ask you.”

“What?” Nina asked confused.

“Do you ever make any sense?” Patricia poured herself a glass of orange juice.

“Patricia,” Fabian turned to her. “Could you go out of the room for a second, please? There’s something I have to ask Nina.”

“Oh,” Patricia said, embarrassed that she hadn’t caught on that he was trying to ask Nina to the prom as soon as she got in the room. She stood up, leaving her juice behind. “Sure,” She ran out of the room, and shut the door behind her, pressing her ear against the door to eavesdrop.

“Okay, now I need you to hurry before there’s an earthquake or a swarm of locusts or something happens that stops you from asking,” Nina said.

“Nina, would you like to go to the prom with me?” Fabian asked.

“Yes!”

“Yes,” Fabian said. “Yes?”

“Yes!”

“Yes!” Okay, that was enough. Patricia opened the door and stuck her head in.

“Adorable,” She sat back down. “Now, I am starving.”

“Fabian just asked me to be his date to the prom!” Nina told her as if she hadn’t been right outside the door.

“No way! I thought I was supposed to be going with Fabian!” She said, and the two stared at her in panic. She laughed in their faces. “Good for you guys, though, really.”

Eddie was the next to enter the dining room. “Hey guys, Yacker,” He nodded at her.

“Weasel,” She said when he sat down next to her and started piling food onto his plate. Patricia quietly ate her breakfast as the others came downstairs. Hearing Nina and Fabian had her thinking. Ever since Joy disappeared she’d been pushing so much aside. Her whole focus became finding the puzzle pieces and beating the adults at their own game. Now they had everything they needed to win. And the truth was she was still into Eddie. She was even more into him than before.

On the way to school, Patricia pulled out her phone and called Joy up. Joy always helped her sort out her feelings and made her feel better. “Hello?” She answered.

“Joy! I’m panicking,” She said. “You know how we have the prom?”

“Yes?” Joy said. “Did something change about the plan?”

“No, the plan is still on, it’s just I’m thinking about asking Eddie.”

“Ohhh, I knew it!” Patricia could imagine the face Joy was making. “So what’s the problem?”

“Well, Eddie told me he liked me months ago, but I don’t know if he’s still interested. Like what if he’s moved on?”

“Just talk to him,” Joy urged her. “Be honest about your feelings.”

Patricia sighed. “I just got to school. I’ve got to go.”

“Okay, good luck,” Patricia hung up the call.

Patricia found Eddie in the student lounge later that day and sat beside him. The room was pretty quiet at the moment, with not many students around. “Eddie,” She cleared her throat, and he looked over at her.

“Hey Yacker, what’s up?”

“Um, so I was wondering…” She hesitated, but she had to just get the words out. Either way, at least she’d have her answer. “Would you go to the prom with me?”

“Oh,”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, of course, I’ll go with you,” He said after a moment. “Sorry, I just never thought you’d ask.”

“Okay, great then,” Patricia stood and hurried out of the room.

“It’s a date,” Eddie called after her, making her smile.

Eddie stood with his roommates and watched the girls come down the stairs. His gaze immediately darted to Patricia, who was wearing a black dress with fishnet sleeves. He was speechless so he just smiled at her.

“Whoa,” Fabian said. “What, where’s prom queen Millington?” The girls made a face at this.

“She couldn’t find anything to replace her doll's dress, said she’s not going,” Patricia sighed.

“That’s not right,” Mick shook his head as Alfie ran down the staircase and joined them. Nina nodded at them to follow her into the living room to have a quick Sibuna discussion.

“I hope we can get away in time to meet Joy,” She said. “The teachers are going to be watching us like hawks.”

“I hope Joy can get away from her dad,” Patricia added.

Someone gasped from behind them, they turned around and found Trudy. “Oh, my word!” She exclaimed. “Don’t you all look so grown up and beautiful? Oh, Patricia, this was pushed under the door.” She handed her an envelope and then looked around. “Where’s Amber? Amber? Amber?”

“Here,” Amber said and walked down the stairs in the dress she had ordered. Somehow she must’ve gotten ahold of it after all. They clapped for her as she went down the stairs, stopping when she saw Jerome. “I have nothing to say to you, dress thief,” Of course, it had been a prank. Jerome should’ve known better than to take Amber’s dress on an occasion like this.

“Somebody better pinch me.” Alfie placed a corsage on Amber’s wrist. “Ow,”

Patricia showed Eddie, Fabian, and Nina the note she’d just got as the others headed to the prom. “It’s mirror writing again, must be from Joy.” She reasoned. “Change of plan,” She held the writing up to the mirror and they read the note. “Yeah, she wants to meet me earlier? In the history classroom? Wonder why.” They hurried over to the prom to grab Amber Alfie and Jerome. Amber had just gotten into the dance and was very grumpy that her time was already being cut short.

“Why did the chosen hour have to be the same day as our prom?” She complained. “The universe is so selfish sometimes.”

“Amber, we need to meet up with Joy,” Nina scolded her. “It’s important,” She opened the door to the history room and found Mr Winker standing by his desk adjusting the cuffs of his sleeves.

“Hey guys,” The teacher turned toward them. “Why are you not at the dance?”

“Why aren’t you?” Patricia asked back.

“I am waiting for my date with Miss Robinson,” He told them. “Patricia, what’s in the bag? Hope you’re not trying to smuggle contraband into the prom.”

“No, it’s just girly stuff, that girls use.” She said. “I can be really girly at times,”

“Okay?” He said. “You wouldn’t mind if I take a look.” He took the bag from her and began to open it up. The classroom door shut behind them and they all turned to find Rufus, holding up some hourglass.

“Red sutekh sand flies,” He said. “Very rare, quite vicious, and certainly deadly. Now everyone do as I say or I break this glass. You get the blinds, the rest of you, get over there. Leave that there,” Eddie and the others stood in the back of the classroom and stared as Mr Winkler placed Patricia’s bag on the desk. Rufus looked at the teacher. “Now you get me the elixir, and the chosen one. I want them within the hour or I break this glass.”

“You’re insane.”

“Very observant. Now go.” Mr Winkler left the students with Rufus in the room, Rufus locking the door behind him. He sighed. “Oh, apologize, Patricia, this time the note was not from Joy. Sorry to disappoint. But at least I get what I came for.” He placed the flies on the desk and started going through the bag. “The ankh pieces, all seven of them,” He pulled a water bottle out of the bag. “What’s this?” He pulled several more bottles out, throwing them on the floor.

“Water is girly things?” Eddie chuckled.

“Girls drink water,”

“Where are my ankh pieces?” He looked at them. “You will all pay for this.”

“Perfect Patricia,” Nina whispered. “They’re safe.”

“Yeah, but are we?”

“Where are the ankh pieces?” He asked again.

“Did you really think we’d be stupid enough to carry them around with us, today of all days?” Nina asked. “Knowing everyone is after them?”

“You gave them to Joy didn’t you?” He shook his head. “You do realize that she is part of all of this, don’t you?”

“Yeah, she’s the chosen one,” Patricia said. “We’re not stupid.”

“Who wants the cup just as much as anyone else,” Rufus said. “You have played straight into their hands.”

“No, no, no, no!” Jerome said. “Trixie don’t believe him. He’s a liar, he’s playing you.”

“Oh really?” He said. “Thanks for telling me about the proposed rendezvous with Joy, Jerome, you’ve been a very useful spy.”

“I did not tell, you creep!” Jerome shouted lunging for Rufus only to be held back by Fabian. “I did not double-cross you guys. I swear I didn’t! Not this time.”

“It’s okay Jerome, we believe you,” Nina said.

“Joy’s on our side, and you know it,” Eddie snapped at Rufus. “That’s why you knew we’d be meeting up with her, and why you’ll get your pieces when Jason brings you Joy and the elixir.” He had to de-escalate the situation. Rufus was a madman and was only growing more and more agitated with them.

Someone knocked on the door. “Jason?” Miss Robbinson asked. “Are you in there? I’m sorry I’m late, I got a flat.” The room went silent. “Jason?”

Joy stood in the woods, having grabbed the bag Patricia left with the ankh pieces. Nobody was there to meet her though. She waited and waited but they still hadn’t shown up. She wondered if something had gone wrong. Had the teachers caught on and apprehended her friends? She pulled out her phone and called her, it went to voicemail. “Patricia, it’s Joy, where are you? I’ve been waiting for ages, and it’s almost time. Call me.” A moment later Patricia called back. Joy smiled and went to answer the phone.

“Don’t answer that darling,” Her father said, running over to her, followed by Mr Sweet and Mrs Andrews.

“Dad?”

“Don’t look so scared, baby.” He said. “You’re not in trouble, you just need to come with us now.”

Joy began backing up. She didn’t want to be the chosen one. She hadn’t asked for any of this. She resented the adults for making her stay away from her friends the whole term. She knew she had missed out on so much, and now she was missing prom. If she was going to put the cup of ankh together she wanted to do it on her own terms, with her friends. Someone grabbed her shoulder from behind, she looked up, at Victor.

“You thought you had given your father the slip, didn’t you?” He asked reaching into Patricia’s bag. “But instead,” He pulled out one of the ankh pieces. “You were leading us to these.” She looked as the adults stared at the piece of metal in awe.

Joy didn’t answer the phone. Patricia looked up at Rufus. “It rang and rang and now it’s switched over to her voicemail.” Rufus snatched the phone away holding it to his ear before turning and throwing it against the wall. “You’re paying for that!” Patricia said as it broke into pieces. She knew that Rufus would probably not be paying for her broken phone but may as well put it out there.

“Sit down, and shut up!” He ordered. “All of you.” They took a seat and Rufus stood back behind the desk. “Time is running out for you people.”

“And I’m sorry for spending all my dad’s money,” Amber began praying. “And for giving Mara a hard time during the elections, and for all the thoughts I had about David Beckham even though I know he’s Victoria’s.”

“Amber!” Fabian interrupted. “Not helping, really not helping.”

“You don’t know that,” Amber said.

Eddie sat glaring at Rufus until someone knocked at the door again. “Jason, I don’t know if you’re in there or not!” Miss Robbinson said. “But if you are, hear this. I don’t respond well to getting stood up. You’re dumped.”

“Fiesty!” Alfie said.

“Well,” Rufus looked at the flies on the desk. “Looks like we’ve all been dumped.” He hung his head. “Your teachers have clearly abandoned you to your fate.” He held the hourglass up.

“It’s over,” Fabian said. “Why don’t you just let us go?”

“It’s not over until the hour itself is over,” Rufus told them. “They’re probably putting the cup together as we speak.

“Maybe they’ve already done it! Beaten you to it!” Fabian said. “It’s time to give up.”

“No, you’re all still alive, so clearly they haven’t drank from the cup.” Eddie felt his eyebrows go up into his hairline at this. They had to get out of there and stop the teachers. Immediately.

“Run that by me again?” Nina said.

“Oh yes,” He said, as if this wasn’t vital information. “Oh, Victor and the others think it’s all symbolic, the tipping of the scales. The symbolic flow of life force from the young to the old. Only immortality comes with a price.”

“And by price you mean…” Nina trailed off.

“It’s a life for a life, my dear.” He nodded. “I think I saw your name down there in the cellar.” Eddie shook his head. Had the teachers created the school just to use teenagers to get immortality? Did his father always know about this? Was this the big reason he spent his childhood fatherless?

“What’s he talking about?” Jerome questioned.

“Fabian, those coins with our names on, the scales,” Nina said.

“Nina, don’t worry, it’s gonna be okay,” Fabian told her. Eddie wasn’t so sure.

“I still have time to relieve Victor of the cup,” Rufus realized.

“You,” Rufus pointed at Nina. “You are coming with me,” He grabbed onto her arm and pulled her out of her seat.

“Leave her!” Fabian stood up, screaming and running to fight Rufus, Eddie was quick to join in, Fabian got Nina free of Rufus’ grasp, and Eddie pushed the old man to the ground. Someone managed to get the door open and the club began running for their lives out of the room. Eddie paused in the doorframe with Jerome and Nina who held the hourglass of flies.

“Throw it!” Jerome said.

“No!”

“We have to,” Eddie took the glass out of Nina’s hands and threw it in Rufus’ direction, it shattered on the floor, they closed the door and ran into the hall, meeting up with the others.

Joy stood in a white robe in front of Victor, the adults chanting and circling her, listening to Victor read from a scroll. The words meant nothing to her until his closing words. “Life shall flow into them from seven young acolytes, and thus death is conquered.” She looked at the scales in front of her which had her friend's names across them. “Step forward, chosen one.” He waved her over.

She did as she was told but looked at Victor with questioning eyes. “What was that about the seven young acolytes?”

“They are merely represented by these coins.” She didn’t like this.

“Just do it, darling,” Her father who blindly followed Victor now, said. “It’ll be okay.” She didn’t have a choice, she was outnumbered. She picked up an ankh piece and got to work.

“With the circle of light, I seal the circle of life,” She said the phrase as she tried to fit the pieces together. She began taking pieces apart and trying to put them together in whatever way made sense, but nothing was happening. The adults were getting more and more anxious, as she worked on the cup to no avail. “It’s not working, I can’t do it,” Joy finally said.

“What is wrong with you, girl?” Victor asked.

“Do it! Do it for goodness sake!” Another man said.

“I can’t.”

“No, enough,” Mrs Andrews said. “She’s clearly not the one.”

“Or perhaps she is the one.” Mr Sweet said. “These aren’t the ankh pieces.”

“It’s over,” Victor removed the hood from his head.

“Another twenty-five years, at least,” Mr Sweet said.

“The elixir is almost finished,” Victor held up the bottle. “Most of us will be old or gone by then. I tell you, it’s over.”

“The children,” A younger man said.

“What about the children?” Mrs Andres asked.

“They’re in danger, Rufus!” He hurried out of the cellar.

“What?” Mrs Andrews said.

“You stay there darling,” Joy’s dad told her.

“What now?” Someone asked.

“Leave me,” Victor said hunched over. Joy took her hood off and made her way to the ground floor, she didn’t need to be told twice. She sat on the stairs and wondered what to do next. She heard plenty about Rufus and was very worried for her friends. The door opened and Patricia and the others stepped inside in their prom clothes. “Oh, Patrica, you’re safe.”

“Joy, what happened?” She asked. Joy stood and hugged her best friend.

“Nothing happened.” Joy smiled brightly. “I’m not the chosen one. There is no cup.”

“They told you that being the chosen one was something to do with your birthday, right?” The new American girl, Nina asked.

“Yeah, seventh of July,”

“Mine’s the seventh of July too,” She admitted.

“What?” Fabian asked. “Joy, you were born at 7 A.M., right? The seventh hour, on the seventh, of the seventh?”

“No, seven P.M.” She shook her head.

“Nina?” Fabian asked.

“I don’t know, sometime early in the morning, though,” Nina replied.

“I bet it was seven A.M.” He grinned. “The true seventh hour!”

“It would be the American, wouldn’t it?” Jerome shook his head.

“Guys, it’s quarter to one,” Fabian looked at his watch. “We’ve only got fifteen minutes of the chosen hour left, where are the pieces?”

“Still down there, I think,” Joy looked toward the cellar.

“Nina?” Fabian asked.

“Let’s do this,” Nina nodded.

Patricia stood with her club in the cellar. Nina stared at the ankh pieces that had been laid out on the table.

“You have to say the incantation,” Joy told her. “With this circle of light, I seal the circle of life,”

“With this circle of light, I seal the circle of life,” Nina started putting the pieces together to form the cup. “With this circle of light, I seal the circle of life,” She placed the final pieces together. She placed the final puzzle pieces into place. “Nothing’s happening. Why is nothing happening?”

“Nina, look your locket,” Amber said suddenly. Amber was right, the red circle on the eye of Horus began glowing and then a burst of light spiraled around the cup, locking everything into place. “That’s the most beautiful accessory, I’ve ever seen.”

“You did it,” Fabian grinned.

“I did,” Nina looked down at the cup. “And now I have to hide it, for good.”

Amber screamed, and everyone looked over. “Not unless I have something to do with it,” Rufus, who was covered in painful-looking bug bites, grabbed Amber and held something over her head.

“Rufus!” Jerome exclaimed in surprise.

“I knew it,” Alfie said. “The bad guy always comes back!”

“Did you really think that I would expose myself to the deadly sutekh sand fly without first equipping myself with an antidote?”

“I mean, we kind of hoped,” Eddie shrugged.

“And now, I have the queen,” Rufus said. “Which I will put in this pretty girl’s ear unless you do exactly what I say,” Rufus said. “You, give me the cup. You get the elixir. Quickly! We only have a few minutes.” Amber screamed bloody murder at this. They handed over the cup and poured the elixir of life into the cup, and he finally let Amber go. They stood back and watched him drink from the cup. Thunder crackled. “Finally eternity is mine!”

“No!” Victor said on the cellar steps.

“Oh Victor, how lovely to see you,” He taunted. “Oh, I’m so sorry, there’s none left. That’s a shame,” He put the cup in the furnace everyone screaming to stop.

“Why Rufus? Why?” Victor asked. “We could’ve shared all this. That was our plan.” Patricia almost felt like she shouldn’t be present for this conversation.

“No, that was your plan, Victor,” Rufus told him. “I always had other ideas, big ideas that your pathetic little society would never even dream of. And then when I found the true meaning behind the tipping of the scales, well I decided to go it alone.” He looked at the students. “Is anyone feeling poorly?”

“Actually, I feel a bit dizzy,” Alfie said. Patricia turned to her friend, concerned.

“Alfie!” Jerome called as the boy fell to the floor.

“Alfie!” Nina screamed. The students all crouched down around him to try to help.

“What’s happening?” Victor asked.

“The symbolic life force it isn’t symbolic Victor, it really happens,” Rufus told him. “That boy is gonna die. And I- I am gonna live forever!” Rufus made his way out of the cellar.

“Alfie!” Nina called.

“Alfie, buddy,”

“Guys, listen up-” Fabian started.

“Please let him live, I’ll do anything,” Amber said.

“Anything?” Alfie asked. “Like be my girlfriend?”

“Yes, Alfie, anything,” Amber confirmed.

“Alfie, you can stop playacting now,” Fabian said.

“Fabian, you know what happens when someone drinks the elixir from the Cup of Ankh.” Nina scolded.

“Except Rufus didn’t drink the elixir did he?” Fabian said.

“What?” Patricia turned to him. She had no idea what was going on, but she hoped this meant that Alfie really would be okay.

“He’s not immortal,” Fabian said.

“He’s not?” Victor asked.

“No,” He turned to look at Patricia. “You know your little insurance policy? Having two identical bags, letting Joy look after the pieces?”

“Yeah?”

“I had an insurance policy of my own,” Fabian revealed. “I remembered our fake elixir. I borrowed the spare cellar key from Victor’s office, threw away the real elixir, and replaced it with the fake one.” Eddie grinned and pat Fabian on the back.

“You threw it away?” Victor asked.

“You’re a genius, Fabian, I love you!” Nina hugged him.

“So does that mean Alfie isn’t really dying?” Amber asked.

“Don’t sound so disappointed,” Alfie stood up. “I actually did feel a bit ill for a second.”

“Alfie, I was really worried, and worrying causes wrinkles,” She said. Patricia looked around the cellar, Victor had left. They walked out of the cellar and realized they still had a little while left of their prom if they headed over.

They finally got to the prom. Patricia wasn’t a school dance person but it felt nice to not be in danger anymore. That was worth celebrating. Joy insisted that she could’ve planned a better prom if she had been given the time. Amber decided that the prom queen and king would be Nina and Fabian since they didn’t have time to vote, and called them up to the stage to receive their crowns and the slow dance began.

Joy sighed next to Patricia before looking around and spotting Jerome who stood alone on the dance floor. She marched over to him. “Care for a dance?”

“Oh?” Jerome was taken aback by this. “Why not,” They began to sway to the music.
“Hey, is there any way a tin can could convince you to dance with me?” Eddie asked. Patricia was taken back to the first time they danced at Mick and Amber’s party. So much had changed since then it was crazy.

“Fine, but this doesn’t make us friends,” She joked taking his hand in hers glad to finally put this whole mystery to bed.