Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter fifty-four. house of brick

Joy turns around and comes back to us. I laugh lightly, clapping for her. "Amazing," I compliment, and Patricia claps with me. Joy, with a big, proud smile on her face, curtsies after her performance. "That was absolutely brilliant."

Patricia nods, agreeing, "Remind us to come to you if we ever have any boy troubles."

Joy smiles and shakes her head, patting Patricia on the shoulder before going down to her own locker. Atticus has left his posse behind, who are laughing at him behind his back. I chuckle again, and then both my and Patricia's phone beeps.

"Uh-oh," Patricia remarks, taking her phone out of her pocket. It's an urgent Sibuna text from Fabian to meet in the lounge. "At least it's not anonymous this time."

"Maybe they figured something out about the secret room," I suggest, beginning to walk that way. Patricia follows me. Getting back to our conversation before Joy came over, I ask, "You really think Eddie's got his eye on other girls?"

"I don't know. But he is that kind of boy, isn't he?"

"The only time I've seen him flirt with someone other than you was when he got us both arrested over holiday and he tried to get the female police officer who came to give him his phone call to let us go before his dad found out."

"Eddie got you both arrested?"

"Yeah, remind me to tell you the story."

Patricia and I enter the lounge, where Eddie and Fabian are waiting for us. When KT and Alfie join us just a few minutes later, Fabian jumps right into explaining what they've found on the blueprints and the rhyme. "We—" He begins, but he's interrupted by Eddie who corrects that it was him. "Eddie figured out that the rhyme is the secret room."

"You've lost me," I comment, shaking my head.

Eddie elbows me and turns over the paper with the rhyme, explaining, "Okay, the rhyme has a drawing on it similar to the one on the blueprint," he demonstrates by matching them up side-by-side, like a mirror image, "and together, they form the Eye of Horus. The secret room's not under the cellar."

KT points at the blueprints. "It's beside it."

"So," Fabian says, "we should go check it out tonight."

"No, now," KT suggests. I look back at her, my head tilted. We'd have a better chance tonight, wouldn't we? "Guys, the answer to my gramps' whole riddle might be in this room. We can't waste any time."

Fabian doesn't seem fond on it, like me. Obviously we need to get into the secret room, like, immediately, but I'm not sure we'd have enough time to do it right now. Eddie, however, appear to be semi-okay with it as he remarks, "We do have a bit of time between classes. Ashley?"

"Do we have enough time?" I respond.

"I think so. If we're quick."

I sigh. "Okay. Now, let's do it."

KT grins and puts her hand over her eye. "Sibuna."

—

Fortunately for us, Victor's not in his office, which gives us time to sneak into the cellar without anyone noticing us. Once we're down there, Fabian unrolls the blueprints and holds them in front of him as we try to figure out where the secret room would be here. I've got Nina's locket and my charm ready if we need to open anything. The good thing if that's true is, if Victor figures it out, he can't get into the secret room without either of them, and there's no way I'm letting either of these get away from me unless I'm cold and dead.