Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter forty. house of saviors

1-9-2-2.

"The code!" I realize as the numbers flash in front of the keypad. I can't believe that worked! "Eddie, you're a genius!"

"The house," Eddie adds to the others. "It told us the code!"

"1922," I tell them as he punches it in. "The same year as the expedition."

"The year Frobisher went to sleep," Fabian exclaims as the door opens. "That's brilliant!"

I run inside first, taking the lead in finding our friends. We're only halfway up the stairs when Eddie tells Fabian to wait by the elevator, which he's confused about, but Eddie tells him to trust him. I nod, slightly picking up on what he's saying. They can't wake Frobisher if they don't have the bracelet in the tank. We're gonna need someone down here and Fabian's the best person for that. Usually, it'd be Alfie, but considering he's one of the descendants, he's out of order right now.

Denby's study is where the ceremony's taking place. The four descendants are forced to stand around the tank, which is zapping with lightning cracking around it, unable to flee because the evil ones have them locking hands. We're cutting this really close here. Please, please let it not be too late!

The chaos covers the sound of KT pushing the elevator open as Eddie runs to the tank, taking the bracelet out. He throws it into the elevator as KT shouts, "Coming your way, Fabian!"

"No!" Victor screams. The ceremony stops, the tank stops flashing. Alfie and Patricia are the first ones over to help the three of us press the full weight of our bodies against the elevator and in front of the button, making sure Victor can't get the elevator and the bracelet.

The eclipse is over and the sunlight comes again. It's a reassuring sign. I try to regain control of my breath as Victor steps toward the tank, accepting that it was over. "Get out. All of you. Get out!"

His booming voice has us escaping the room—the four descendants needed for the ceremony, the two who aren't, and the Osirian. We run out of the building and I throw my arms around Jerome's neck and pull him into a strong embrace. Thank God they're all okay. Fabian's waiting outside for us, and he shows us the bracelet.

"Did—did we do it?" I ask, looking around with my arm still half around Jerome. "Did we stop it?"

"Let's get out of here before they come after us," Eddie suggests.

—

When the eight of us stumble into Anubis House, far away from the gatehouse and the school, Fabian's the first one to speak. "What happened back there?"

"We stopped it!" Alfie shouts. "We stopped it!"

As Alfie and Eddie high-five, Joy remarks plainly, "You two need to get a new hobby," and she goes upstairs like nothing had happened. Jerome kisses the side of my head before going to his room.

Fabian pulls the bracelet out of his bag again. "What do I do with this?"

"Who cares?" Patricia says. "It's not like anybody's going to need it for, like, another hundred years."

I share a relieved smile with Fabian and Alfie before I follow Patricia and Joy upstairs, into their room. Time for something normal, for a change. "Hey, Joy," I say, "what did Atticus accidentally send you? He called me and said he couldn't find you and he needed to make sure you didn't do anything with some file he sent."

"Oh, that," Joy states. "Instead of e-mailing me his part of the project, he sent me a list of pros and cons about Mara and Willow. He's been cheating on them with each other."

"Oh," I say stupidly. Alfie'd brought up the possibility when Jerome mentioned that Atticus seemed awfully interested in Willow. Oh, poor Mara and Willow. "Wow. Do they know?"

Joy shakes her head. "Not now. Would you have wanted someone to tell you Evan was cheating on you before you saw him kissing that girl?"

I shrug. "Yeah, actually, I would've. I would've loved to confront him with it and see the look on his face when he realized I knew. Are you going to tell them?"

"I'm thinking about it. I almost forwarded the document to them, but... this is probably something they'd prefer to hear in person."

"Well... be careful, okay?" I suggest. "They might want to take their anger at him out on you at first, but just let them. They need a punching bag before they confront him."

Joy nods slowly. "Yeah, thanks, Ashley. That's good advice."

I point back to the hallway. "Gonna go visit my boyfriend now, since the four of you were trapped together all night and we didn't hear from any of you. I'm surprised you guys didn't kill each other," I remark, knocking twice on the door before turning around. I go back downstairs, which is vacant now, and I knock on Jerome's door next. "Hey, guess who?"

Jerome opens the door, sighing deeply. "Please tell me you're here to tell me what actually happened because I have no clue."

Well, I guess there's not really any harm in telling him now that we stopped the ceremony? I walk in and sit on his bed, noticing there's no Alfie in here, and answer, "Uh, long story short, Robert Frobisher-Smythe was cursed to sleep for eternity in 1922 after his expedition party stole from a tomb, that same curse decided to make my entire families' lives full of death for, like, a thousand years, and the adults are still evil."

"Yeah, none of that helps."

( welcome to the official halfway point of season three! when i say there's a LOT about to happen, there's a LOT about to happen. things to look forward to in the second half of the story: one reawakened robert frobisher-smythe, four artifacts, five people turned into sinners, and one thing that assures ashley will never be the same... )