How it Ends ▸ House of Anubis [4]

chapter three. house of exhibits

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            I've never been to the Cornelian Museum before today. I mean, why would I go visit their ancient Egypt exhibition when it costs money and I've been up close and personal with various artifacts that have tried to kill me? However, I jumped at the chance to visit for free.

            Fabian's the only other person who's actually excited for this field trip, so for my sanity, I decided to stick by him instead of hanging with anyone who wouldn't properly appreciate these exhibits. So he and I have been walking around the exhibition, excitedly pointing at each and every artifact and taking pictures of each other in front of them. I've been sending every photo to Amber and Nina in our group chat—Nina keeps saying how jealous she is of us and Amber's pretty much only responded enthusiastically to the pictures I've sent in front of the jewelry, though she has responded to more than just that. Mostly that, though.

            Expected, but I was hoping for something along the lines of Don't get cursed!

            "Oh, Ash, Ash!" Fabian exclaims, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from a particularly gorgeous clay Ankh before I get a chance to make him take a picture of me and my own Ankh charm in front of it. "Look at this."

            He drags me over to a large stone that's not encased in glass. Not the most exciting thing that's in here, but the plaque says it's from the Valley of the Kings, which has me gasping and opening up the camera on my phone. "Fabian, say King Tut!"

            Fabian smiles at the camera as it flashes on the screen. I open up the photo and show it to him, and he nods. "I'm making that one my new profile photo."

            "You two are such nerds," a voice says—Jerome. He's standing near us with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised. "It's a rock. Not that exciting."

            "But it's from the Valley of the Kings," Fabian responds.

            "And?"

            Fabian turns to me. "How are you dating him?!"

            Jerome rolls his eyes. "It's just a rock," he repeats, walking closer. And then, he has the audacity to try and lay his hand on the stone—but he fails, because Fabian immediately smacks his hand away. Behind us, I hear Cassie and Erin talking to each other. From what I can make out, Cassie has a crush on Jerome and Erin's pointing out that even they've heard about the bet. "That was unnecessary."

            "Jerome, you were about to touch a probably priceless artifact," I reply. "It's justified. Nice reflexes, Fabian."

            As I high-five Fabian, Jerome glowers at us. "Right," he says, taking my hand, "so I probably shouldn't be left alone to my own devices, so I'm taking you." Again, I'm pulled away from the exhibit I was looking at, but he unwittingly drags me back to the clay Ankh, which has my face lighting up. "I'd ask how you're not extremely bored—"