What Lies Beneath ▸ House of Anubis [1]

chapter thirty-five. house of charades

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"Sorry I'm not available right now—"

I let out a heavy sigh, hanging up the phone after the third time I've tried Trixie since we got home from school. Walking back into the living room, I fall beside Nina, who's got Patricia's contact up on her own phone. "Still getting voicemail. Usually she gets back to us by now."

"Something's wrong," Nina remarks certainly. "Really wrong."

From the table, Trudy asks Jerome and Alfie, "Are you setting this table or wrecking it?" I roll my eyes at the two boys (who aren't so much as setting the table for supper as they are using a knife as a pretend sword and the cloche as a pretend shield). It's only been an hour since the-incident-that-shall-not-be-named. I've spent that entire time with Sibuna trying to get a hold of Patricia, haven't thought much on it. I don't even hear Nina say Trudy's name until our housemother replies, "Yes, sweetie?"

"Patricia's been gone for a while now," Nina tells her.

"—and we haven't heard from her," Amber finishes.

"You mean she hasn't come back yet?" Trudy inquires, eyebrows furrowed. "I just thought she'd gone straight into school this morning. Victor!"

My eyes widen as she calls for him. For all we know, Victor's the one who has her! "No, Trudy," I say quickly as Nina throws me an alarmed look, "we don't want to worry him—"

"Don't be silly," Trudy says (and from her point of view, not wanting to worry Victor about a missing student is silly) before going off to find him. "Victor!"

"I heard you the first time," Victor himself states, coming in through the door opposite the one Trudy went out.

"Oh, Victor, it's about Patricia," she says, coming back in and standing behind the sofa. This can't end well. "She went out with her aunt and uncle after the show last night, and well, she hasn't returned."

"Calm down," he implores. "Her aunt phoned me this morning. The uncle was taken ill during the night, and they are currently at the hospital."

With nothing more to say, Victor leaves again. He's definitely lying. There was no aunt and uncle who took Patricia out, and certainly no uncle who fell ill and aunt who phoned him. He must know where Patricia is.

"Oh, well, that's a relief," Trudy remarks, looking and sounding pleased with the lie. She leaves us as well, letting the Sibunas here talk about the new lies we've just been given.

Nina lowers her voice. "Okay, now we know something's wrong."

Amber's actually quite smart, if a little slow to jump on things. "Why?"