Touch of Fear ▸ House of Anubis [2]

chapter eighty. house of surrender

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            "Okay, so today we're gonna talk about tragedies."

            Ms. Valentine's choice of lesson today, of all days, hits way too close to home. Losing Nina due to a guard in a human-sized game of senet created by the world's greatest Egyptologist is probably the definition of a tragedy. Sarah, when I asked for a sign, this isn't what I meant.

            "...Romeo and Juliet," says Valentine as I glance at Fabian and Amber behind me, "even Homer Simpson. The tragedy is a tale that sees our hero come unstuck because of a flaw in their character or their inability to deal with what life throws at them. So often, our hero or heroine comes to an untimely end."

            Fabian's even worse than he was before. He never interrupts a teacher like he does. He exclaims, extremely loudly, "Not this time, she doesn't!"

            "What? I'm sorry."

            "I'm sorry," Fabian apologizes. "I'm sorry."

            Fabian gets up and runs out of the classroom. I glance at Amber before immediately getting up and following him out. Come on, Fabian. He's walking incredibly quickly and is around the corner by the time I get out of the classroom, so I have to run to keep up with him. "Fabian! Fabian, slow down!" I yell. He's blatantly ignoring me now, heading straight to the hall with our lockers—and Sweet's office. "Wait! Fabian, what are you doing?"

            I finally manage to catch up with him, grabbing his arm to make him stop. He turns to me, stating, "I'm going to talk to Mr. Sweet. Look, we have to find her, dig up the tunnels, whatever it takes!"

            "Fabian, Fabian, you're not thinking straight right now," I tell him as Amber comes around the corner with us.

            "I'm the only one that is! We can't just leave her down there!"

            "No, Fabian, you're not thinking straight, because if you were, you would realize that Nina would not want you to do this! Telling Sweet about the tunnels is just gonna put another person in danger and that's the last thing she wants! You know her!"

            Fabian ignores me again, knocking on Sweet's door, and from inside, Sweet tells him to enter. Amber jogs over to me, shaking her head. "What is he doing?"

            "He wants to tell Sweet about the tunnels to rescue Nina," I tell her, taking her arm and dragging her into the office. "Fabian, think about this—"

            Sweet's on the phone with someone, telling whoever is on the other end, "Well, I'm sorry, that's just not good enough!" He angrily hangs up the phone, which automatically means that this meeting isn't going to end well at all.

            "Mr. Sweet, can I talk—" Fabian starts.

            "I'm sorry, Fabian," Sweet interrupts. "I need five minutes. I have a fish crisis in the school cafeteria."