Touch of Fear ▸ House of Anubis [2]

chapter twenty-two. house of déjà vu

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            "Fabian!"

            His name echoes off the walls of the tunnels as we yell it, worried for him as he's trapped right there as the ceiling continues lowering. Nina shouts to him that he has to go across, so Fabian slithers out back to the other side, beginning to skip again. But the ceiling is coming down too quickly. So he goes under it, like we had the other night, and just barely makes it to us.

            "Yes!" Amber exclaims as Nina helps Fabian up. The ceiling rises. He did it. He made it across—in an unorthodox sort of way, but he still made it! "You lose, Mr. Ceiling."

            "I thought we were gonna lose you," Nina admits to him.

            Fabian shakes his head, a breathless grin on his face. "Not a chance."

            "I'm impressed," Amber remarks.

            "I messed up."

            "No, I mean, I had no idea you could do push-ups."

            I laugh with them, shaking my head. "That was some nice improvising, Fabian," I add. "Come on. Let's go see if there's anything with the chasm, yeah?"

            As we walk around the corner to the chasm, Nina starts looking around worriedly. Fabian glances at her and asks concernedly what's wrong, same with Amber, and she answers, "Uh, nothing. Nothing, thankfully. I'm just...I'm terrified that dream is going to come true."

            "No, look, it won't while we're with you," Fabian assures. "You were alone in the dream, right?"

            "I mean, if you don't count me who no one could see," I comment with a raised shoe, "but assuming you guys can see me now..." All three nod. "Good. This dream's not coming true, Nina. I promise you."

            Don't make promises you can't keep, Ashley Adams.

            Anubis' words have me swallowing nervously, but Nina nods gratefully and glances back to the wide and deep chasm, sighing. "How are we ever gonna cross that?"

            "Okay," Amber says, "I may hop, but can I just say right now, I do jump."

            "No way, no jumping," Fabian shuts it down before it can even be considered. "There must be some way to get across." He sighs, glancing down into the chasm. He points at something below, which I see looks like a little step about a foot or two down on both sides of the chasm. "What's that?"

            "It looks like something goes over there," Nina adds as she starts to look at the walls. There's nothing here that could fit.

            "It must be in the house somewhere."