Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter twenty-three. house of sisters

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            Fabian paces back and forth in his room as we wait to see if Eddie'll come in. It's been fifteen minutes since KT came out of the oven and told us he was still down there. We haven't heard any of the adults yelling, which means that they probably haven't found Eddie, which is a good thing if we're right. Except there's the fact he's not in the room with us right now.

            He must've found his way into the tunnels, right? But he would've been blinded by the beam since he didn't have an amulet. Either he's going to come out blind or he found a way to hide from Victor and co—who knows which.

            "Fabian," I say finally, fiddling with my charm, "you're going to pace a hole in the floor. Sit down."

            Fabian sighs, doing what I say, but seconds later the door opens. It's Eddie, and he doesn't appear to be blinded as he shuts the door back. He's safe, thank God.

            "Are you okay?" KT asks. "We thought you'd been Victored." Victored—I don't think I've ever heard that one before. Interesting.

            "No," Eddie says, "but hold on to your hats, because according to this," he pulls an envelope from his pocket, "a Miss Harriet Denby has been a long-term resident of the Lake House clinic, okay? And a quick search tells us that it's..." He types on his phone, and shows the screen to us.

            "A hospital for the mentally ill?" KT inquires, reading off the page.

            "And they let her out to teach?" Patricia questions incredulously.

            "She must have escaped," Fabian says.

            "So starts every horror movie ever."

            I cross my arms. "If she escaped, someone would be looking for her. She's a teacher at a well-regarded school, someone would've found her."

            "Unless someone did find her and they mysteriously disappeared moments later," Patricia retorts.

            "Then she can definitely not do the Ceremony of Anubis," KT states. "What are we gonna do?"

            "Only thing we can do," Eddie says. "Tell the clinic to come collect their patient."

            "Works for me," Patricia remarks. "No unleashed evil and no more history lessons."

            "Does anyone else suddenly miss Mrs. Andrews?" I ask. Patricia and Fabian both nod, Eddie just shrugs, and KT looks confused but doesn't get a chance to say anything.

            The door opens again and Alfie pops his head in. "Okay, I just have one question: are Victor, Sweet, and Denby zombies?" He's holding what appears to be a water gun. It's a step up from a foam arrow.