House of Anubis: One Last Stand

House of Ciphers/House of Absences

Jerome eventually mustered up the courage to go after Amber who'd gone to Joy and Patricia's room. He followed the sound of her weeping and found Joy guarding the door.

"Joy, I need to get inside."

"Amber told me-"

"-I don't care what Amber told you," Jerome interrupted. "Because I love her."

He could see Joy giving in, and she finally stepped to the side.

Jerome opened the door and went inside, seeing Amber crying on Joy's bed.

"You know I didn't mean that, right?"

"Go away, Clarke!"

Jerome went over to Amber and knelt down on his knees while her head still drooped down.

"I would leave, but I can't afford to lose you, Amber Millington. You're a priceless possession, and there's been no greater thing in the world than to be able call you mine. Would you really want to take that privilege away from me?"

"And what exactly do I get from you?" Amber asked, looking up.

Jerome stood to his feet. "Why you get Jerome Clarke of course! Who'll care for you, and nurture you, and try to make you happy even if he was the reason you were sad. Because he loves you, Amber. And the only thing he wants more than Amber's happiness is for her to love him back."

A slow smile crept on Amber's face.

Jerome smiled at that and continued, "That may seem selfish, but he is...just a tad bit. At least he got this black eye for you."

Amber didn't yet respond.

"It was for you, Amber."

Amber took a deep breath and sighed, "Ok, I really don't want to be mad at you, but tell me why you don't want to be in Sibuna."

"I guess I'm afraid. It seems so dumb after we've been doing this for so long, but I can't shake the nerves. But I feel like I've made a big mistake, and I realize that now, and I want to help."

Amber squealed. "I knew you'd come around sometime anyway, Clarke!" She got up and hugged Jerome around his neck.

Jerome hugged her back, but he resented himself and felt guilt for still having to lie to Amber.

~~~~~
In the morning, still without seeing Trudy ever since the night before, Sibuna met up around the kitchen table. Nina brought the paper and unfolded it.

It read:

"R SZEV GLOW GSVN VEVIBGSRMT BLF DZMGVW NV GL GVOO GSVN. QFHG PMLD VEVIBLMV VOHV XZMMLG PVVK WLRMT BLFI WRIGB DLIP ULI BLF. R SLKV GSRH DZH ZOO ULI Z TLLW XZFHV YVXZFHV KVIHLMZOOB R WL MLG UVVO GSVB WVHVIEV GSRH."

"It's just a bunch of random letters," Nina sighed.

"Here, let me see," Fabian reached our his hand. He took it and his eyes studied the page. "Maybe it's a cipher, and it has to be decoded."

"So, what's the cipher rule?" Patricia asked since every cipher had to follow a certain rule.

"I don't know. Maybe Caesar cipher?"

"Why're you asking us?" Joy asked. "You're the smart one. Decipher it."

"Wait," Nina began. "There's one person who can decipher even better than Fabian."

"Who?" Fabian asked, not catching on.

"Jerome," Nina admitted.

"No, he cannot." Fabian's voice rose up high.