Two is Company (House of Anubis)

Chapter 25: The Amazing Alfredo & The Bag of (Broken) Illusions

Kira didn't get much sleep that night, tossing and turning over the hidden message in the letter. Surely it was a coincidence or maybe even a practical joke. After all, Jerome had been the one to show her and Mara the letter in the first place. Perhaps he'd only been fooling and at breakfast, he'd point at them and laugh at how they fell for such an obvious prank.

Somehow, though, she didn't think he was kidding. There was no faking the fear in his eyes when they'd discovered the cry for help, and even Jerome wasn't mean enough to pull such an awful joke on anyone, least of all a joke about a woman as sweet as Trudy being in trouble.

"It's got to be a coincidence, right?" Mara said as she, Jerome, and Kira walked into the dining area that morning, though her tone sounded more like she was begging the universe.

Jerome eyed the letter in his hands grimly. "A coincidence that spells 'Help me'?" he asked incredulously, and Mara groaned in agitation. "No, Trudy is in trouble. I know it."

"If she really is in trouble, we have to tell Mr. Sweet," Mara said.

Kira sat down beside her best friend and grabbed an apple, biting into it despite not being particularly hungry. "She's right," she agreed upon seeing the way Jerome's eyes widened in protest. "We need to let adults handle this."

"No way!" Jerome hissed. "Involving the teachers has never helped before; I'm not going to start now."

Kira was startled by such a vehement declaration, but more concerned by the insinuation this sort of thing had happened before. "Why the hell wouldn't Mr. Sweet help Trudy?" She asked, slightly offended on her dad's behalf. "Adults aren't always the brightest, but they're not monsters. Of course they'd look into it if there was a real threat to Trudy's safety!"

Jerome had the audacity to look angry at her, and he was about to reply when Patricia walked into the dining room, followed timidly by Piper. All of his annoyance directed at Kira melted into complete shock upon seeing Patricia's carbon copy standing next to her. Apparently, Patricia hadn't been exaggerating when she'd said no one but Joy had known about Piper, despite having lived with her housemates for several years.

"I bet you're all wondering who this is," Patricia announced awkwardly, gesturing to her twin sister. Those who didn't know gaped like dead fish, and those who did gave her a warm wave. "Meet Piper."

"Oh," Alfie drawled, unable to take his eyes off Piper and vice-versa. "Now it makes sense."

Eddie twisted the apple in his hand and pursed his lips. "Tell me about it," he said, and Kira knew he'd already realized his earlier mistake with Piper and the dreaded 'smackeroo'.

Kira shook her head pityingly before looking down at the dreaded letter still held tight in Jerome's hand. There was way too much drama happening all the time. Maybe her students were right about Anubis House after all.

—

"So you're going to tell her, right?" Kira asked when Eddie passed by her locker after talking with Piper by their dad's office. "About the kiss?"

Eddie stiffened and he whirled around to face her. "You knew about all of it?" he asked, voice pitched up in almost immediate outrage. "The whole time?"

Kira winced and shut her locker carefully, as though if she closed it too hard she might make him really angry. Maybe she should have broached the topic more carefully. "Yeah... sorry about that," she confessed. "I was sort of sworn to secrecy. I swear I told everyone I thought we should tell you right away, though!"

Eddie ran a hand through his already messed-up hair. "So when I was telling you about when I kissed 'Patricia', you—"

"Knew it was actually her identical twin?" Kira finished for him with a sheepish grimace. "Yeah, I kinda put it together..."