Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter twenty-eight. house of nerves

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            The next morning, Fabian's not the only one nervous about Eddie's plan. I'm practically sweating bullets myself as KT and I go down to the boys' room. Patricia's at the school, helping to set up for open day. Alfie's somewhere near the gatehouse, waiting for Imposter Denby to leave. I haven't seen him yet this morning.

            "Okay, we're all set," KT informs Fabian and Eddie as I close their door back, away from prying eyes and ears.

            Fabian glances at us. "Shouldn't Patricia be here?"

            I shake my head and answer, "She decided it was safer if one of us made an appearance at this open day. Can't say I disagree with her." Although, I kind of wish I was there, too. Jerome told me he's going to do balloon animals and gave me a taste of his act yesterday afternoon—yeah, he sucks at it. I just wanted to watch him fail. It's a strange relationship he and I have.

            Fabian nods and goes back to his translations. If Fabian is worried about this, Fabian the all-knowing-nerd, then so am I. Pretty much just happens since we've been in this mystery business together longer than anyone else. As the door quietly opens again, I jump around to face whoever it is, prepared to tell Victor to give us privacy. The fact that it's actually Alfie doesn't surprise me. It's that he's dressed in camouflage, has black paint on his cheeks, and is sneaking around like a spy-mouse without a sound is what confuses me.

            "What are you wearing?" Eddie asks bluntly.

            "It's my camouflage," Alfie answers, his voice quieter than normal. I tilt my head curiously. Yeah, sure. This'll happen. "I don't think it's doing such a good job if you can see me." Alfie notices Fabian's now packing fruit into his backpack and grabs a banana from the bed.

            "Has Denby left the gatehouse yet?" KT questions.

            Alfie makes a kind of hushing sound as he speaks into the banana like it's a walkie-talkie (not... like a phone, like you'd expect.) "The birdie has flown the nest. Repeat. The birdie has flown the nest." I raise my eyebrows. I'm gonna take that as a yes. "Yes, she's gone!"

            Eddie nods. "Okay, good, well—all right, guys. Let's go wake up old Frobie."

—

            It's raining lightly outside the gatehouse, but by the time we're inside and in the tank room, I can't hear it anymore. Shame. If it started thundering, it'd be the perfect background music for what we're about to do. No, scratch that, if it started thundering, we'd be in the middle of a film where we all end up dead and the last shot is one of us reaching a mummified hand out of our unmarked grave.

            "We made it," Eddie points out the obvious as we enter the tank room.

            KT stands in front of the tank, looking up at Frobisher-Smythe's face. "Hey, great-grandpa. When you're up and... about, I've got a lot of questions for you."