Touch of Fear ▸ House of Anubis [2]

chapter thirty-one. house of isis

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After spending the rest of our break trying to figure out how to get the amulets back, the bell rings, which means our break is over, so we all get up to leave the lounge together. "What are we going to do?" Nina asks. "Without the amulets, we'll never find the Mask. The mission's over, done, caput. And so are we." She glances at me.

"You never know," Amber comments as we stop in the middle of the hallway to listen to her. "Victor might suddenly become all nice and..." She trails off, noticing our doubtful, frustrated looks. "What? It could happen."

"Sure," says Fabian, "right after Patricia becomes a guidance counselor."

Patricia laughs. "Like that's gonna happen."

"We just...have to keep an eye on Victor," I say. "He's got to slip up eventually."

"Then we're back in business."

—

I toss a small ball back and forth in my hands, listening to Anubis give me a bunch of different ways we could get the amulets back from Victor. I'm unnerved to say that most of them involve bodily harm. Victor's, like, the worst, but we're definitely not going to try and harm him. We just have to figure out a way to get him out of his office so we can search for the amulets. He's got to have put them away in one of those cabinets he's got.

Or you could—maybe stop throwing that ball, because it's bothering me.

That just makes me want to keep throwing it. I look at Eddie as he comes in through the parlor doors. "Hey, Eddie, think fast!"

Eddie turns and jumps back as I throw the ball at him. It hits him in the chest and he stares at me with wide eyes before bending to grab it. "What was that for, Ash?" he questions, throwing it back at me.

I catch it, raising an eyebrow. "Thought you'd have better catching abilities. And 'Ash?'"

"Everyone else calls you that."

"They are my good friends. You are my weird friend."

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes before sitting beside me on the sofa. "Yeah, whatever. Look, since we are friends, could I ask you something?"

I eye him strangely. "Depends on what it is."

"Has Patricia always been so...Patricia?"

He's asking me about Patricia? Might be interesting to hear this out. I turn and shrug. "Yeah, pretty much for as long as I've known her. She can be kind of a witch, especially if she thinks you've crossed her. She was horrible to Nina the first few weeks she was here. Poured water on her her first night."