House of Anubis: House of Mistakes

Part XVIII

KT wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to do. Willow was outside, asking her why she was late to rehearsal, and KT had absolutely no idea how to respond to that.

Patricia had told her to stay safe until she managed to convince Fabian and Alfie of her innocence, but was "staying safe" remaining locked up in her room with nowhere to go should Eddie, Victor, Denby, or— god forbid— her great grandfather himself show up? Besides, if she stuck close to Willow and the others at school and during rehearsal, that would be pretty secure, right? And she didn't really want to miss more class...

KT took a deep breath in. "Check under the mat for a key, Willow!" she called. "I think Patricia accidentally locked it behind her this morning."

"Okay!" Willow said, her voice drifting through the door. There was a brief shuffling and an excited "Oh!" before KT heard the key turn over in the lock and the door opened. "You know, it seems kind of dangerous that these doors only lock from the outside," Willow mused, twirling the iron key between her thumb and forefinger.

KT exhaled, lips trilling in agreement. "Took the words right out of my mouth," she said. She grabbed her friend by the wrist and started off down the stairs. "Let's go! Don't wanna be late!"

Willow frowned. "We already are late," she said, allowing herself to be tugged along.

"Well, we'd better hurry up then!" she replied.

—

"I could only find KT," Willow sighed when they rounded the corner into the lounge-turned-theater.

Jerome, who'd sprawled himself out in a dramatic tableau on the couch, sat up abruptly. "Oh," he drew out sarcastically. "A guest appearance from our leading lady!" He scooped up his copy of the script and gestured for KT to sit beside him. "Well, let's get started, shall we? Who knows how many seconds of her we'll get today."

"Sorry about that guys..." KT smiled apologetically at Mara as she passed her by to sit down beside Jerome. Mara, for her part, just stared back at her, unimpressed, and clicked her pen.

That seemed to snap Joy out of whatever lovestruck trance she was in—and KT had to wince a little at that, because before she'd ever even looked at Patricia, she'd thought maybe Joy was the one—and she stepped right into business mode.

"Okay, KT, we are on the scene where Jo has fallen asleep on Jordan's shoulder, and he's about to sing to her."

Mara huffed. "Jerome, you'll be filling in for Eddie again," she said disdainfully, but KT was most certainly thrilled that she didn't have to share the stage with Eddie right then.

Jerome shrugged, flashing a private smile in Joy's direction. "Well, at least this is one scene that doesn't make me out to be a complete idiot."

Mara pursed her lips, giving KT the distinct impression that she'd tasted something sour. "It does," she replied bluntly. "Jordan can't sing. This is also the part we haven't written yet."

KT heard footsteps in the hall and immediately tensed, only half-hearing Jerome's panic-tinged voice complain about not knowing any lullabies.

"By the way," KT interrupted, and Joy cocked her head in acknowledgment, "if Eddie comes in and wants to take me off somewhere, will you guys please tell him I have to stay here?"

Mara snorted incredulously. "Are you kidding? If our lead male actually shows up, I'm gluing him to the stage. You're not going anywhere."

Knowing she had Mara's and Patricia's protection on two different fronts put KT a little more at ease. Now though, she had to deal with another disturbing event: resting her head on Jerome's shoulder.