Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter twenty-nine. house of anticipation

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            "What is under here?"

            Oh, boy. Oh, she's really not letting this go. We have just seconds until the evil ones are out of the building and if they catch us, we're literally dead. Fortunately, Eddie's not letting her see what we're hiding. "I don't want you to see," he says to her.

            "Oh, why ever not?" Trudy questions.

            As she goes to move it again, Fabian exclaims, "It'll spoil the trick!" I send him a strange look, holding my end of the green drape.

            "Trick?" Trudy repeats.

            "For Alfie's magic act," he lies. "For the open day." Okay, that works.

            Trudy looks at us, still slightly suspicious, but she seems to buy our story. "Hmm, okay." She takes her hands out and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Well, far be it from me to ruin the magic." KT thanks her and we start to go on our way, but Trudy says, "That looks heavy. I'll give you a hand." She's all smiles as she unwittingly helps us roll along Robert Frobisher-Smythe—toward the school. "You'll want this in the common room. Up on the stage for everyone to see."

            "Sure," KT says nervously, giving me a wide-eyed look.

            "That sounds great, Trudy," Eddie adds.

            "Oh, hold on," Trudy stops suddenly, and I'm praying to whatever gods exist that she's suddenly decided to leave us be. "We'll need someone to meet us there. I'll give Victor a call. He'll lend us a hand."

            Okay, that's definitely not what we need. As she takes her phone out of her pocket, we all look at each other and mouth various things in an attempt to come up with a plan that stops her from calling Victor; mine is to just dropkick the phone out of her hand and throw it far into the bushes, and when she's retrieving it, we get out of dodge. Fabian immediately shoots it down, mouthing 'are you insane?' while at it, but suddenly, he lets go of the wheelbarrow and he's letting out cries of pain, clutching his hand.

            "Fabian, are you all right?" Trudy asks.

            "I think he caught his hand," Eddie says, but as Fabian moves his hand and Trudy walks around to look at it, the drape comes down. Eddie and Alfie fix it so that it's covering the head in the tank before Trudy notices.

            Trudy examines Fabian's fake-injured hand. "Try not to move it."

            "I think it's broken," he says, still moaning in pain.

            "Okay, okay, just wait here," Trudy says. "I'll go get some help."

            As Trudy runs off into the school, KT says quickly, "The kind of help we don't need."