Touch of Fear ▸ House of Anubis [2]

chapter eighty-seven. house of missions

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            "Do you know who this man is?"

            Rufus has kidnapped Jerome. It had to have been the same night we pretended Vera hypnotized us, that's when Eddie said he saw him with the faux uncle. I knew he wouldn't have stood me up on purpose! But Jerome's in trouble. And we can't actually tell Mara and Eddie who this man is.

            Then obviously, the answer is to lie, and then get out of there. Your time is running out.

            Patricia sighs and answers Mara's question, lying through her teeth, "Okay. Okay, he's not Jerome's uncle. He's...he's...he's a private investigator."

            Okay, P.I lie. That could work. And it does. Mara sighs and rolls her eyes. "Ugh, again?"

            "What is this," Eddie adds, "like, a regular thing for him?"

            "So why's he hiring a P.I this time?" she asks, eyes on me.

            "Hold on, Mara. I want to know about last time."

            They're not letting this go until they get some more details. Despite how much I just want to leave them hanging and take Patricia so we can tell the others, I add onto the lie, "It's got to do with his dad. That's—that's all he told me."

            "Oh," Eddie says. "Maybe he wants to clear his name."

            "Well, I understand why he told Ashley," Mara remarks as she gestures toward me, "but why would he tell you this, Patricia? Or did you mention something to her, Ashley?"

            Patricia answers before I can, "Yeah, well, me and Jerome are really close these days." She really should have just let me say I mentioned something.

            "Since when?" Eddie questions.

            "Well, I mean, not like close-close. Anyway, Ash and I," she starts to pull me out of my chair and I grab Lily's diary and my phone quickly, "have got to go help Joy with her macramé."

            I follow her into the corridor, now able to actually freak out because of what we just found out. "No wonder he hasn't been answering my calls," I tell her, voice lowered as much as I can quiet it with the way I'm freaking out. "He's been kidnapped by a homicidal psychopath!"

            Patricia quickly shushes me, pulling me to the stairs. She hisses, "Keep your voice down! We need to tell the others. They're probably in your room." We go upstairs together in a hurry, where we find that the other Sibunas are actually in there. And they're talking about something serious, judging by their faces. "Bad, bad, bad news."

            "Trust me," Amber replies plainly, "nothing you could say could make this day any worse."

            "Rufus has taken Jerome," I tell them, effectively bursting her bubble.