Tears of Gold: House of Anubis

Amber LVIII

Evie's Notes: Hey guys! I have a shorter chapter for you all today. Let me know your favorite part in the comments!

-------------

Amber's recovery was slow going but at least the light and sound sensitivity was mostly a thing of the past. She was now left with an unsightly bump on her head and a pounding headache. Luckily, her headache seemed to be holding off at the moment; so, she felt confident in joining her fellow Sibunas on their nightly adventure.

The Sibuna Crew, minus Jerome, made their way through the booby trapped tunnels to the latest secret door. According to Lili, Jerome had to work at the library reshelving books and wouldn't be able to join the group that night.

"This better work" prayed Nina. Fabian placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she set the Ibis amulet in the lock.

The door screeched open kicking up clouds of dust. Amber coughed as she brushed clouds of debris away from her face. When her vision cleared, she saw... another passageway.

"Great. Another tunnel" sighed Fabian.

"Oh good. 'Cause we haven't got enough of those" scoffed Alfie.

"Yeah! Mix it up a bit Frobisher!" snarked Amber.

"Well, let's see where it goes" remarked Nina as she bravely stepped foot into the new passage. When no stones came crashing down on her head, the other sibunas followed their fearless leader into the dark.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

For Amber, it seemed that they walked forever down the dark winding tunnel. The only light that the group had to guide them came from the torches they had packed. When light slowly began to creep in, Amber assumed that they must be coming to an end.

"Should we leave string or a line of breadcrumbs or something" worried Patricia as the group turned around another bend.

"What for? There haven't been any offshoots so we shouldn't need any signs to get back" argued Lili.

Before the two girls could continue their argument Fabian shushed them both. "I think those are voices, we must be getting to the end of it. Come on".

Amber quickly followed Fabian around the last corner to find the end of the tunnel with a large grate covering the only opening in the wall.

The six sibunas gathered around the grate and listened intently to the muffled conversation. Looking through the barrier, Amber was shocked to see the Frobisher Library with Jasper talking to Jerome.

"The truth is that we don't even know who we are dealing with. So, until we know more, we shut up and play the game" argued the curator. "Please Jerome. You know what's at stake here".

"Okay... If that's what you want" relented Jerome.

The sibunas headed back through the tunnels, each lost in their own thoughts about the incriminating scene they had just witnessed

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

Amber didn't want to assume the worst, but with Jerome it was often hard not to. The boy's mischievous side often made it hard for the other Anubis house residents to trust him. Most of the time Amber was willing to give the boy the benefit of the doubt, but that conversation they had stumbled upon was super incriminating. Her mind unwillingly flashed back to how the group had noticed the doll house shifted the other day. Amber had then found the wardrobe where the Sibunas had stashed the magical item cracked open yesterday... could Jerome be betraying Sibuna again?

"Of course, the secret tunnel leads to the library. The ibis on the amulet is the symbol of Toth, the Egyptian god of knowledge" explained Fabian quietly as the group ate their breakfast. Mara, Eddie and Joy were in the kitchen so the sibunas had to be sure to keep their voices down.

"Well, I'm still calling it a dead end" argued Alfie, helping himself to another serving of eggs.

"Yeah, wake me up when we find an amulet for the god of shopping" agreed Amber.

"So, what do we do now?" asked Patricia.

"Now we focus back on finding the other reflectors" ordered Nina. "We should stake out the dollhouse... maybe Sarah will finally have a lead for us".

"The god of knowledge" scoffed Fabian. "Yet it has only led to more questions. What was Jasper doing talking to Jerome?"

"I'm sure he's not the enemy" comforted Nina.

"We don't know that! He lied to me"

"He didn't lie to you... he just hasn't told you yet" argued the American

"Isn't that the same thing?".

On that depressing note, Amber grabbed her bag and walked with Liliana over to the school.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

Classes passed in a rather unremarkable manner, which Amber was grateful for. The past couple of days, hell months really, had been jampacked with "excitement" and "intrigue". All of that drama made Amber savor her day or normalcy as she curled up in the student lounge with her magazine. Of course, given Amber's luck, her day of normalcy was brought to an abrupt end by the crackling of the intercom.

"I just want you to tell me stuff" blared Patricia's voice through the speaker. "I think I should know if you kissed my twin".

Oh, this wasn't going to end well...

"Or I don't know, Eddie... I hate to bring it up again, but the fact that Mr. Sweet is your freaking dad".

"You're right. I could have told you and I know that now" agreed Eddie's voice.

"So, you can trust me, right? To not say something stupid?" pushed Patricia.

Too late for that, Trix. Sorry!

"Yeah" said Eddie. "I'm really sorry about all this shit".

"I know".

"And from now on we won't keep stuff to ourselves... for real this time" promised Eddie.

Well... Patricia would be as truthful as a Sibuna could be, reflected Amber. The intercom clicked off and Amber heard voices chanting 'Junior' over and over. Clearly the school wouldn't be taking the news about Eddie's parentage well. Amber didn't care either way, family tended to suck but Eddie was chill. Just because his dad was a murderous, gaslighting kidnapper didn't mean that Eddie was suddenly going to suck.

Amber assumed that Eddie wasn't going to take Patricia's mistake well and the two were probably fighting again. Her peace disturbed, Amber decided it was best to just pack up her things and head back to the house to comfort the most likely distraught Patricia.

-----------------

Next Week: We check in with Liliana!

I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie💕