Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter fifteen. house of mistrust

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            When we made it back to Anubis House, we split up again. This time, however, we know that there's no chance one of us can get lost. We know the nooks and crannies in this house. We know pretty much every place Amber could be, which means that if she's here, one of us has got to be able to find her. That's if she is actually here, and I hope she is because the alternative is...

            I take the kitchen, but before I get a chance to ask anyone who's in there (Mara and Jerome) if they've seen her, I notice that the place is a mess. Flour, sauce, cookbooks—all strewn about. Is there even a kitchen in here? "What happened in here?"

            "It's the sauce for Jerome's hot dogs," Mara answers me, pointing at him. He's got flour and sauce all over his face and clothes. "I think he might've messed up."

            "Think?" Trudy repeats, bringing a mop out from the laundry room. "I think you're being generous, Mara."

            "I followed the instructions to a T!" Jerome exclaims.

            "I think you followed them to an F," I retort. I don't have time for this right now. "Just—never mind. Have any of you seen Amber? I, uh, need her input on something."

            Jerome looks up, a foolish grin on his face. "On your snack ideas? Please say yes, I beg of you, my angel."

            "'Angel?'" I repeat with a raised eyebrow. "That one's new. Is the sauce spiked with something?"

            Mara chuckles. "Amber hasn't come by, but if I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her. Try texting her. She's got her phone back, hasn't she?"

            "Yeah. Yeah," I mumble, walking back out of the kitchen and into the corridor. Texting her probably should have been the first thing we did. I grab my phone from my pocket, pulling up Amber's contact and opening up a new text chat. I type: WHERE ARE YOU??? and hit send, but it comes back with an error message. Error message?!

            I check the living room quickly, seeing only KT and Eddie, but neither of them is my priority at the moment. Fabian, Alfie, and Patricia come back from where they were looking, all Amber-less, the latter saying, "Okay, guys, I've checked everywhere upstairs. Amber is absolutely not here."

            "So, that's it, then," Alfie decides. "She's still at the gatehouse."

            "If she's still there and Denby finds her poking around, that's not good," I point out the obvious.

            "Thanks, Captain Obvious," Patricia snarks, earning an elbow to the ribs from me.

            Fabian shakes his head insistently. "No, no, we don't know that for sure. We can't assume anything!"