Two is Company (House of Anubis)

Chapter 91: A Drama Club or a Club with Drama?

There were several seconds of silence in which Eddie thought that maybe he hadn't spoken loud enough and they hadn't heard him. He opened his mouth to repeat himself, but after the initial shock wore off, the silence was effectively shattered by outraged and panicked shouts. Fabian and Kira were shouting over each other for everyone to remain calm; KT's eyes darted nervously around at her clubmates' faces, while Alfie sat down heavily on Eddie's bed, hyperventilating. Patricia stepped toward him hesitantly, and Eddie thought she might be asking him if he was certain of what he was accusing, but he could hardly hear her over the pandemonium and his own blood rushing in his ears.

"Be quiet," he said, but no one was listening to him anymore. "Quiet! Qui— SHUT UP!" Everyone froze, staring at him like deer caught in headlights. "Just... Just stop it for a second."

"This is madness," Fabian whispered, more to himself than anyone else, before addressing Eddie. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yeah, Eddie," Patricia added, gnawing at her lip. "That's a pretty big accusation."

"W-Was it a vision? How do you even know?" stammered Kira.

KT, who was closest to the door, tensed and lifted a finger to her lips. "We can't talk here," she whispered, jerking a thumb toward the door. "Not with Victor hanging around. Lunch is almost over anyway, so... so let's just go back to school and we can figure this out there. Does that sound reasonable, Eddie?"

That was pragmatic of her, deferring to him, and Eddie wasn't the only one to pick up on it. They all looked at him expectantly, and after a few seconds, he nodded. It was as good an idea as any. "Fine," he gritted out, still scared to move away from the safety of the wall. Which of them was, as his vision of Frobisher had warned, a viper in their nest? And why now, after all this time, would any of them choose to betray the group? Blackmail? Coercion? Willingly? There were too many variables to consider, and his head was pounding as it desperately tried to sort through it all. "It's fine. Let's go."

Patricia and Fabian helped Alfie up and the latter patted his back gently, while the poor boy tried his best to compose himself. Then, they filed first out of the room, then the house, in wary single-file, with Eddie bringing up the rear. No one spoke the whole way back to school, and truthfully, it felt a lot like a death march. A few times, someone would turn around to look at Eddie, each searching his face for some sort of answer; they wouldn't be able to find anything, though— Eddie didn't have an answer.

They ducked into an empty classroom, and Eddie shut the door firmly behind them. If it had been under any other circumstances, the sight would be kind of funny: every single Sibuna member had taken a defensive stance in a circle, all facing inward like they were gunslingers about to have a six-way shoot out. It wasn't funny, though. Not at all.

"It can't be one of us," said Patricia. "We're, like, quite literally the good guys. Eddie, are you absolutely—"

"Sure?" he cut her off sharply. "Yeah. My visions, they've... they've never been wrong before."

"But they haven't always come true!" Kira protested. "They're warnings, Eddie, not etched in stone."

"Well, someone smashed the phonograph, didn't they?" he snapped at her. "That's not a warning; that happened! And one of you apparently did it!"

"No," Fabian said firmly. "I don't believe that. I trust all of you with my life— I have trusted all of you with my life a hundred times before. It makes no sense."

KT pursed her lips. "Right, but... if one of you has gone rogue, it could sabotage everything that we do," she remarked gravely.

Alfie curled his lip mistrustfully. "'You?' It could be you! I mean, you've only been here five minutes!"