What Lies Beneath ▸ House of Anubis [1]

chapter fifty-one. house of allegiance

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            "I said move."

            I glance warily at Nina, who's just as frozen in place as I am. She can move safely, I can't. But if I just stay here staring at Victor with my foot on top of our next riddle, that's a little suspicious as well. So what do we do? Another distraction. We need another distraction.

            "Victor," Amber says from upstairs, a godsend. When Victor turns, I quickly move my foot and snatch up the riddle, shoving it into my jacket pocket. "The room started spinning and I think my ankles are swelling up."

            "Trudy will be with you presently," Victor responds before motioning for Nina and I to go.

            "Oh, Trudy, yes, we'll go get her," Nina says, taking hold of my arm. Now that the riddle is safe, the two of us take off into the kitchen, where Trudy is washing dishes. "Trudy, quick! Amber's fainted."

            "Oh, my goodness. Poor Amber!" murmurs our housemother, setting down the dish she was washing and going to check on Amber, who is actually completely fine but will probably be playing ill for the next couple minutes. I glance out the door to make sure she's gone before pulling the riddle out of my pocket, holding it out where Nina and I can both read it.

            Inside the core of my enemy's pride is where the final relic hides.

            "What are you doing, Miss Martin and Miss Adams?" says a gruff voice from behind us.

            Instinctively, I ball up the riddle and whirl around to give some kind of excuse, but it's only Fabian. Rolling my eyes, I flatten the riddle back out and say, "I hate you."

            Nina playfully pushes him, chiding, "Fabian."

            Fabian chuckles, asking, "What gives?" I casually hold up our new riddle and he takes it, reading over it. "Whoa. Where did you two find this?"

            "The demisphere," she explains, "which was basically the bottom of the chandelier."

            "So, inside the core of my enemy's pride is where the final relic hides," I recite. "Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?"

            "Final relic," Fabian repeats with a smile.

            "Yeah!" Nina exclaims happily. "But whose enemy?"

            Alfie enters the kitchen, making our party of three a party of four. "What's up, guys?" he inquires before eying Nina and Fabian, how close they're standing. He glances at me and nods toward them. "Sleuthing or flirting?"

            I laugh loudly as Fabian sarcastically replies, though I'm not missing the pink in his cheeks, "Oh, ha, ha, ha. Nina and Ashley have found another puzzle piece."