Touch of Fear ▸ House of Anubis [2]

chapter fifty-nine. house of zodiacs

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Now that we've found what we think is the first reflector, Sibuna made a unanimous decision to sneak down to the tunnels to make sure, and to see what the beam does when we set the mirror on one of the staffs with the hands.

Nina stands in front of the staff with the beam on it, looking at us carefully. "Okay, ready?" she asks us, and we nod. She places the mirror on the hand, and the beam does a half-circle to the next one. It reflects. "Whoa. Okay, one down, six to go."

"Wait," Fabian speaks up, "so once we have all the reflectors on all the staffs, it'll bounce the light, make the constellation shape, and open the door?"

"Cinch," Patricia—surprise twin, I'm suddenly reminded—says with a shrug.

"Uh, not so much," Nina reminds everybody. "We have no idea what the reflectors are. It's like finding needles in a haystack."

"There must be a clue somewhere," Amber states, "about where the reflectors are."

"Fan out, guys. Fine-toothcomb time."

I nod, turning around and walking toward one of the walls. I shine my torch over it, looking closely for something out of the ordinary. Hieroglyphics, riddles like for the alchemy task, even something that implies that it's a false wall with something behind it. Unfortunately, I find none of those things. It's just a plain wall. A boring wall.

Falcon. The constellation shape will create a falcon. The first reflector was in a music box that plays a lullaby about stars. I've seen something with a falcon on it to do with stars, but what? I've seen so many things.

"Guys, look at this," Alfie speaks up. He's got his torch shining on the wall opposite me. This wall's far from plain. There's a circle with a bunch of symbols on it, like a...strange clock or something.

"Good job, Alfie," Nina compliments as the rest of us, excluding Fabian, go over to check it out. There are some symbols missing, I think. "Fabian, do you know what this is?"

"Huh?" Fabian says, still over by his wall. He joins us at the one with the circle and symbols, looking over it. "Uh, it's a zodiac chart, but it's not one I've seen before."

"Okay, well, we need to find out what it is. This might be the lead we're looking for."

Fabian raises his phone to take a picture. Now to find out what it means.

—

It was really nice seeing my sister in person for once. We spent two hours talking about Manchester and weddings and school and it was really fun. I even helped her narrow down flat listings and she and her fiancé are gonna go back and look at those before deciding. I'm cool with any of them, I'm just extremely happy to be so close to my friends here. Actually, I consider them more my family.

After I get back to the house, passing by Patricia and Eddie outside, I start to go upstairs, but I stop at the very first step, glancing down the hall to Jerome and Alfie's room. I haven't yet told either of them about the whole thing, wanted to wait until I actually spoke to Olivia and saw the places she's considering. Well, that's done now.

I go down the hall and knock on their door. It opens a few seconds later, and it's Jerome on the other side. "Where've you been?"

"In town," I answer. "Can I come in?" He shrugs and opens the door wider and I enter the room, turning around to face him with a wide smile. "I have the most exciting news. My sister's getting married and I'm gonna be the maid of honor."

"Congratulations?"

"And she's going to be moving to Manchester. Which means I'm going to be moving to Manchester when term ends."

"That's an hour away."

"I know. No more time difference."

Jerome grins before reaching down to hug me. Out of surprise I laugh, somehow even happier about the move than I was before.

After a few seconds, we part, and I clear my throat a little awkwardly. After briefly arguing with myself about whether or not to bring it up, I ask hesitantly, "Hey, so, um, that thing you wanted to tell me. Still want to tell me?"

He stares at me for a few seconds before answering, "Uh, I can't. I have to be somewhere. Now, actually."

"Oh. Okay, well, have fun with whatever it is," I reply, stepping out into the hallway. He does the same, closing his door before leaving Anubis House. Okay, now I think he may just be avoiding it. I sigh heavily, starting to head toward the stairs again before I run into Amber. "Hey, Amber. Is Jerome acting weird?"

"He's always acting weird," replies Amber. "I just saw the strangest thing. Alfie just flirted with Patricia, and she flirted back."

Oh, yeah. I was going to talk to Patricia about that yesterday, but got so distracted by her complete double that I forgot. Oh, so it must actually be Piper who's flirting with Alfie, which is...still so weird. And Amber sounds a little... "Are you jealous?" I ask.

"I'm not jealous," she claims as we go up the stairs together. "I'm just confused."

"Code for jealous."

"I'm not jealous," Amber insists ridiculously as I open the doors to the corridor, throwing her a doubtful look. Amber ignores me and goes on through, opening the door to our room, where inside, Fabian and Nina are holding hands. "So is today National Fall in Love Day? 'Cause I, for one, didn't get the memo."

Unfortunately considering how cute it was, Fabina let go of each other's hands. I sense a relationship rekindling sometime soon. Nina tells Fabian, "You inspired me. I left my notes downstairs. I'm gonna go get them."

Fabian smiles as she leaves.

"Maybe it's National Falling Back in Love Day," I correct Amber, watching him. He's like a lovesick puppy! "Don't worry, I didn't get the memo either."