What Lies Beneath ▸ House of Anubis [1]

chapter twenty-three. house of numbers

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            Amber was just as surprised as I was when I told her what Nina had found—not only about my family and their connection to Anubis House, but about the fact that Nina thinks the treasure Sarah's sent us after was stolen from the tomb of the most well-known Egyptian pharaoh. So yeah, that was a fun conversation. But my roommates let me sleep in a little longer because of it, so I'm later to breakfast than I should be if I wanted to make my own breakfast.

            But the second I do walk into the kitchen—bad idea.

            It's complete and utter chaos in here as everyone tries to make their own breakfast rather than eating more of whatever Victor was going to make us that morning. I stop in my tracks, staring at them, before pushing through to the cupboards to at least get some orange juice.

            Brushing past Clarke, he looks down at me and quips, "Get enough beauty sleep there, Adams?"

            "You should catch up on yours," I reply flatly, having to jump to get a glass. I hear him groan as he grabs the cup for me, but as soon as he hands it to me, someone pushes me and the glass shatters on the ground. And I smell smoke. "Is the house on fire?!"

            Patricia, with extremely burned bacon, asks, "Would anyone like a bacon well done?" She tosses it onto the island and we all mutter our disgust. Oh, my God, what has this house become without Trudy?

            "Stop!" Fabian shouts. The kitchen becomes quiet as everyone looks over at him. He's never one to shout. "We can't go on like this. We're gonna starve."

            "We need Trudy back," Patricia says decisively.

            "And those cameras taken down," Nina adds.

            "We need to show them we mean business. And I know exactly how to do it."

—

            School has started, but Anubis House isn't attending.

            Instead, we're all sitting at the dining table in silence, still in our uniforms, and working on schoolwork peacefully. Actually, I'm continuing on my vase of lilies drawing since I have an idea of why those flowers were in Sarah's room. I still don't know what Lily Henry looks like. I wonder if she was the woman in my dream...

            Victor comes in. "What is going on here? Get to your lessons immediately."

            Defiantly, I reply, "Not until you take down the security cameras."

            "And brought Trudy back," Nina finishes our lists of demands.

            But Amber has a random addition. "And gotten softer toilet paper." I close my eyes, shaking my head. "What? As long as we're making demands..."