House of Anubis: House of Mistakes

Part XXII

The common room that evening was tense to say the least; Alfie and Fabian were at quite a loss on what to do, really. Eddie had locked himself up in his and Fabian's shared room after taking a long shower to wash the rather unsavory ejecta off himself. Then, KT guided a weary Patricia into the kitchen for a glass of water and half a package of biscuits before the two retreated upstairs, not before shooting Alfie and Fabian tired, pleading looks.

Jerome filled them in on the grizzly details of what had apparently looked like the aftermath of a full-on brawl where Patricia had come out the victor.

"I know they're keen on their weird, little banter," he'd said, eyes glinting with uncharacteristic worry, "but I've never seen them like this..."

Fabian had grimaced helplessly, and Alfie'd awkwardly attempted to alleviate his concern. "It's sort of a..."— Alfie had covered his eye quickly— "thing".

"Ah," Jerome had replied, though he didn't sound reassured, "Don't tell me; I don't want to know."

It had been a long few days— had it really been only days?— and things were well past the brink of disaster. "Well," Alfie said quietly in an attempt to be cheerful, drawing Fabian's attention away from his hands twitching in his lap, "at least we have a piece of the staff."

Fabian nodded miserably. "Yes, but only one other nursery rhyme that we have no leads on. Do you really think Patricia doesn't remember?" The question 'Or is she lying to us?' went unspoken, but Alfie answered it anyway.

"Well, as long as I've known Trix— Patricia," and it didn't feel right to call her any silly nicknames right then, even as he sought to defend her, "she'd never talked about her childhood, and I've never asked. I mean, we didn't even know about Piper, and between you and me we've known her over twenty combined years. It doesn't seem that unlikely that she doesn't remember, or if she's holding back because it's connected to something she doesn't want to remember."

Fabian wrinkled his nose, trying to do that math in his head. "I don't think time works like that, mate... but I know what you mean." He heaved a sigh, dragging a hand down his face. "It doesn't matter right now, we have to work with what we have. How did the nursery rhyme start again? Upstairs, downstairs..."

Alfie continued the melody, and the two barely noticed Willow as she skipped into the room, humming along.

"There is just one thing you'll need, the lodge's—"

It was then the boys tuned into Willow's warbling, and Fabian nearly broke his neck when he whipped around on the couch, catching the tail end of her "—place you will succeed."

Alfie shot to his feet. "Willow, what were you just singing?"

She blinked, surprised that the two boys were staring her down with wide eyes. "Oh, was I singing? I do that sometimes," Willow said.

"Y-Yes," Fabian stuttered out, "Willow, sing that again? A nursery rhyme."

"I know, Wills, and it's adorable," Alfie said, and her heart fluttered. "Can you sing it again for us?"

Willow nodded with a wide grin. "Anything for you, Alfie," she cooed, then cleared her throat, determined to put on a good performance. "Upstairs, downstairs—"

"Just the end, please?" Fabian interrupted, eyes half-wild, and Willow's jaw clicked shut. "Sorry, that was rude of me. But the end..."

"Was just so lovely, baby," Alfie said through gritted teeth, shooting Fabian a dirty look. "We'd love to hear it."

"Oh," she said, glancing between them nervously. "Okay. Let me see...there is just one thing you'll need," she paused and she swore the two boys actually leaned toward her, "in the resting place you will succeed! Isn't it just so mysterious?" Her watch beeped and she gasped, flashing an apologetic smile in their direction. "Oh, I've got to go meditate. You two have fun!" And with that, she breezed out of the room.