What Lies Beneath ▸ House of Anubis [1]

chapter thirty-one. house of codes

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            "Joy!"

            I watch from my side of the curtain as the audience begins to look around and as Joy Mercer herself pulls her hood down to hide her face. Joy's here. She's actually here, and she's wearing a disguise. She's not even sat near Victor. What is going on?

            "Joy..." Patricia continues. "Joy... joy and sorrow!" I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. Good, no one in the audience will know that's not the first line of the play. "The joy of Egypt! Its monarch Tutankhamun is dead, and, uh, sorrow sweeps the land! Let no man enter and desecrate his sacred pyramid!"

            The audience applauds as Patricia runs off stage.

            "Let's try and stay in book next time, Patricia," Winkler tells her, "okay?"

            Nina takes her spot as I hit my controls for the music, somewhat intense and spooky for her monologue. Fabian gives her a thumb-up and Nina starts in her fake British accent, "My name is Sally. I am seven years old. My time has come, my story shall be told. I feel only sorrow, like a bird without wings. My parents are leaving for the Valley of the Kings."

            "Go, Nina," Amber remarks from beside me. "She should totally get an agent."

            "Yeah, totally," Patricia agrees, but she's out of it.

            "Mick, Mara, stand by, please," Winker whispers loudly. They've returned from wherever they disappeared to before the opening scene. They look to be in a pretty tense conversation on the other side of backstage. "And for real, this time."

            Patricia looks through the curtain as Nina continues her monologue. "Joy sat out there in the same room as Victor," she whispers to Fabian and me. Joy and Victor are just one row apart. Amber's gone to prepare for her cactus' entrance. "We have to warn her how dangerous it is."

            "If he took her in the first place," Fabian says, "I'm guessing she already knows that."

            I push the curtain aside, not enough that it'll get us unwanted attention, but enough that I can see Victor, and tell them as we sneak forward and past Amber, "We need to watch for Victor's reaction."

            "Good luck," Amber whispers.

            Being the only one without an acting part in the play has come in handy in more ways than one. My next music cue isn't for a few minutes and Fabian's first scene is one of the ones specifically written to bother Victor. But right now, with 'Sally's parents' on stage saying goodbye to her, he just looks completely emotionless. As Mick and Mara exit the stage after their scene, Fabian nearly steps on my toe as he tries to make his cue.

            "This house belongs to us now, my pretty," Fabian announces, with a prop raven in one hand. Alfie follows him onto the stage in a cobra costume. He laughs evilly, dropping a fabric mouse down Alfie's costume. Alfie lets out a burp, and the audience laughs. "It is ten o'clock," Fabian states, now taking out a pocket watch. "That means you have five minutes to get into bed, do you hear me?"