What Lies Beneath ▸ House of Anubis [1]

chapter fifty-seven. house of spies

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The house continues to shake and the lights continue flicker, and my heartrate continues to speed up. "Guys," I say slowly as the ring in my hand turns hot and I drop it onto the pillow, "I think we should back out of this. Like, now!"

And then the shaking stops. That marks three earthquakes because of us and these pieces. If Victor wasn't suspicious of us before, he's got to be now.

"It's not the right time," Jerome insists.

"It's 8PM," Nina retorts. "What's wrong about that?"

"Okay, listen," he continues. "I will tell you everything that Rufus said. Everything. In return, I just want one thing."

"Before you ask, Jerome," Patricia starts, "we don't have any money, so—"

Jerome interrupts, "Actually...I just want in. To your gang."

That's the one thing he wants? I turn around to look at him, eyebrows raised. "You want to be in Sibuna? Are you serious?"

He nods. He's actually serious. "Yeah. You tell me everything, all your little secrets, and I will give you the info that you need—how to put the Cup together and when."

I glance at the other Sibunas (everyone except Amber, who is still downstairs teaching Mick to dance, I think, either that or speculating about who her King Tut date is). Nina, of course, is reluctant to do this, and Alfie, of course, wants to let him in. Except we need that information, and if he wants in, then...fine. I tilt my head at Nina, nodding my head back toward him to let her know my stance on it.

"Okay, you're in," Nina agrees, sounding frustrated. "Now tell us."

Jerome grins and gets off my bed, instead joining us on the floor and sitting by my side. Alfie says, "Welcome in, dude," and high-fives him across the circle.

"Cheers, mate. Right, okay, so according to Rufus," Jerome explains, "the Cup can only be assembled on a very special date, once every twenty-five years. And this date is coming up very soon."

That...that's it? It's slightly more than we had before, but he doesn't even have an actual date for this specific day the Cup can be put together?

"Soon? You got anything a little more specific?" Nina questions. "Please?"

"Or maybe he gave you a deadline as to when to get the pieces?" I add. Jerome shakes his head, a no to both questions. "Great. This will be fun."

—

It most certainly will not be fun.

So, one day every twenty-five years. That puts the last time the Cup of Ankh was able to be assembled, and clearly was not, in 1986. And prior to that, the years: 1961, 1936, and 1911, the last of which was before the Cup was even stolen from the tomb. 1961 was the year after Sarah, Lily, Victor, and Rufus founded the school together.