Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter forty-seven. house of greed

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We had to get over to the gatehouse before Frobisher got a hold of KT. We couldn't just watch KT fall right into the clutches of the gatehouse, we had to do something! We couldn't be just spectators, so when I said we needed to get over there, no one protested and we were out of our Sibuna room and the house before you could say Anubis.

"KT!" Alfie shouts as a shadowy figure comes into view half-way there. "Hey, KT!" As soon as we confirm it is KT, we all launch into our interrogation of why she was there. Alfie asks her, "Why were chilling with the zombies?!"

"We saw you on the video camera," Fabian tells her. "Frobisher nearly had you."

"What?" KT asks. She has no idea

"KT, we don't go anywhere alone!" I exclaim. "You can't go anywhere, especially not to the gatehouse, without one of us with you!" I doubt she actually hears me since we've launched into our interrogation again, all of our words just scrambling together.

"I'm sorry!" KT interrupts. "I thought that maybe if I saw him I would be able to tell whether he was—"

As she cuts herself off, Patricia states, "What? Evil?"

"And then—and then Miss Denby came, and I got really scared, and I had to get out of there. I'm sorry, you guys. I know it was a stupid thing to do."

"KT," Fabian's voice is much calmer than we have been speaking to her, "promise to me, you will not go back there alone again."

KT nods, and with our arms around her and each other, we go back to Anubis House, ready for this day to finally end.

—

Our bedroom door is open as the three of us finish getting ready for school. Mara's sitting at the mirror, brushing her hair; Patricia's sitting on her bed, staring at the wall; and I'm searching high and low for the mechanical pencil that I had attached to my Sibuna notebook. I have the notebook, I just don't have the writing utensil. It must've fallen off somewhere between Eddie and Fabian's room and mine—really hoping it's here in mine.

There's two knocks on the open door frame and I don't look over to see who it is, still searching for the pencil. Jerome's tense voice says, "Ashley, I need to speak with you."

"Uh, in a second," I tell him, lifting up my blanket to see if it got under there.

The next thing I hear is Mara's shocked voice going, "Oh, my God. What happened?"

Then Patricia's amused laughter. "He looks like a troll doll."

What? I turn around to see what they're talking about and my eyebrows go from knitted together to raised so high I'm pretty sure they've disappeared into my hairline. Yeah, Patricia's right. Jerome... looks like one of those troll dolls. His hair's green. Like... electric green. Wicked Witch of the West green. "Oh... my God."