What Lies Beneath ▸ House of Anubis [1]

chapter fifty-five. house of heavy

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            "Alfie? Where's your piece?"

            Alfie's leg continues jumping at our questioning. He doesn't have his piece, does he? He must have lost it. Why hasn't he told us yet? If he's lost it, we need to go and find it immediately before Victor or one of the teachers does.

            "What is it?" Amber asks carefully. "What's wrong?"

            "Alfie," Nina says slowly, "what did you do?"

            "I haven't got my Ankh piece anymore," Alfie admits shakily. Okay. Okay, he lost it, but we can find it. It's not a lost cause yet. Is it?

            "Where is it?" Nina questions.

            "I was showing it to Jerome—"

            "Jerome?!" I repeat incredulously, jumping up from the ground. Jerome Clarke?! Jerome knows about the puzzle pieces?! Jerome took Alfie's puzzle piece?! You have got to be kidding me! "Alfie!"

            "I knew we couldn't trust him!" Nina exclaims. "I said it!"

            Following Alfie's confession, everyone else had stood up as well, leaving him the only one still sitting. He looks even guiltier than he did before, and you know what, he should be. How could he let Jerome take the piece? He knows how important this is! And why did Jerome even want it in the first place?

            "Alfie, how could you?" Amber says.

            "No, it's worse," Alfie reluctantly adds, seeming on the verge of crying. Oh, of course it is! Because nothing can't ever just be good for us! "It's much, much worse."

            "In what way worse?" Fabian warily asks.

            "Jerome took it...and gave it to Rufus Zeno."

            "Rufus?!" I repeat again. No, this is even worse than before! At least if Jerome had still had it we could get it back, but he went and gave it to Rufus?! How does he even know about Rufus?! "He gave it to Rufus?! Did you tell Jerome about him?"

            "No, I swear!" Alfie claims. "Jerome knows loads of stuff already. I don't know how!"

            "This is what you and him have been hiding from me, isn't it? How long has he been in contact with Rufus? How long have you known, Alfie?"

            "I tried to get him to stop, okay, but he just took it!"

            I scoff. He sounds desperate and guilty enough, so I believe that he tried to get him to stop. However, this doesn't excuse Alfie not coming to me to tell me what Jerome was doing. I can't believe them! Alfie knows how bad Rufus is and he should have come to us the second he found out Jerome was in contact with him. I have never been angrier in my life!