Touch of Fear ▸ House of Anubis [2]

chapter four. house of blackmail

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In hindsight, it was definitely stupid of me and Amber to not think about the fact that Nina and Fabian could've been on a date. Instead we both jumped straight to Sibuna stuff; given that riddle we heard the other day, it seemed like a reasonable conclusion. I still have no idea what it means, but I know for sure 'water of life' means elixir, but the elixir's all gone. Fabian threw the rest of it out. I did ask Nina this morning how she got into the panel without my charm, and she said it just opened up for her.

Strange, I think. Something weird is going on.

Though I admit, whatever it is probably pales in comparison to encountering Alfie carrying around a hopefully fake skeleton taller than him as I go down for breakfast. "Uh," I say slowly, eyeing him as we stand in front of each other, "has your granddad come for a visit? Maybe we should set him up with Nina's gran."

"It's for Amber," Alfie replies like it's obvious as he heads for the stairs. "I'm apologizing for yesterday."

"With a skeleton?" I question. "Strike three, you're out."

"This is going to work!" he insists, waving the skeleton's bony hand at me.

"I don't see how."

"It will!"

With that, Alfie and the skeleton go upstairs, the bones clattering against the walls. I roll my eyes, heading in for breakfast, where Jerome's sitting down. "Hey, what's up with Alfie?" I question, pulling out my chair.

"Don't ask," Jerome warns me.

I shrug, reaching for the orange juice. "So, what's on Poppy's list of demands to keep her existence a secret?"

"How do you know about that?"

"I overheard her. So what's she making you do?"

"How do you keep finding out this stuff?"

"Uh, by talking? It's sort of what I do best."

—

Jerome did not tell me what was on Poppy Clarke's list of demands, which was disappointing. I was actually willing to help him out with some of them, but since he didn't tell me, guess that won't be happening. No matter, it's another school day and I'm sure we'll be seeing him act weird again.

"Hey," a familiar voice says, taking hold of my waist as they turn me around. I laugh, knowing that it's Evan, and look at him. "Morning."

"Morning," I reply with a smile. "You know I don't like surprises, Evan. How was your movie night with your roommate?"

Evan nervously clears his throat and answers, "You know how it goes. Disagreed on genres, wanted to watch a, uh, ro—z—zombie movie and I wanted a comedy. We settled on a zombie comedy. Had to throw out some popcorn because we hadn't realized Willow convinced our housemother to buy a healthier brand without so much butter."