Force of Nature ▸ House of Anubis [3]

chapter seventy-eight. house of calls

            "You need to take this back," Willow says certainly, jumping out of the van to hand the key to KT. "It's yours."

            "Wait," KT says, holding her hands up, "if Team Evil is looking for it, then it should be with someone that they would never expect."

            "She's right," I remark. "Willow, you should hold on to it. I know none of this makes sense to you right now, but you need to keep it safe for us."

            Willow glances at the key. "If you're sure. I won't let them get it."   

            Eddie nods. "Good. Okay, so Harriet, you're saying that if we can get the other key, we still have a chance to stop all this?"

            "At the base of the staff," says Harriet, "there is a locking mechanism. If you use the key to close it, well, according to legend, she can be sent back, taking with her all the evil that she brought."

            "All right, so all we gotta do is get the sun key away from Denby," I state. "And this plan involves going back to the gatehouse."

            "Which is more protected than ever," Eddie adds.

            Harriet smiles. "Oh, in which case, I might be able to help you there."

            Willow asks, "Wait, what about the guys in Anubis? They were fine when I left, and we should warn them."

            "I'm sorry, Willow," Harriet says dreadfully. "It's already too late for that."

—

            It's killing me that we can't warn anyone at Anubis. I've gotten more weird texts from Jerome about Alfie, something about him taking his phone to invite everyone he knows to something called Founder's Day—an obvious ploy to get more people to the school to be turned into sinners. As Harriet goes over her plan to get us inside the gatehouse, I receive a call on my phone. Jerome.

            I step away to answer, glancing at the others. "Hey. You okay?"

            "Uh, no," he responds, his voice hushed. "I'm in the laundry because it's the only place Alfie wouldn't think to look for me. Where are you?"

            "Uh... classified."

            "Something weird is going on here. Alfie's been off all day, he keeps telling me to break up with you. Which I'm not going to do, by the way. And I saw Fabian and Patricia earlier, too, and they're... what's going on?"

            "I... I can't tell you. But we're trying to fix it, we have a plan. You can't trust any of them, all right? I can't explain right now, but... okay, look, do you remember when I told you about Evil Frobisher?"

            "You mean after you punched him?"

            "Oh, you have no idea how much I wish I could do that again. Look... do me a favor and just stay at the house, all right? Don't go to this Founder's Day thing. And, um... Jerome?"

            "Yeah?"         

            "I love you."

            "Why does that feel like the last time you'll ever say it?"

            "I'm hoping it's not."

            "I love you, too."

            I close my eyes at the return, smiling sadly. This is not where I expected the day to go. The day started with KT, Alfie, and I conspiring to break Eddie out of the gatehouse. Then Alfie got captured, then we took the bait about the summerhouse, and then we realized that I was the one who had to put it together. And I was the one who had to put the staff in the ground. I was the one who had to summon Ammit.

            "Ashley?"      

            "I'm still here," I tell him, wiping a tear off my face with my sleeve. "Stay safe."

            Jerome's response is a heavy, "Don't die."

            "We both know I'm too stubborn to die. I'll call when I can."

            And I hang up, letting out a shaky breath. I lean over, my hands on my knees, and struggle to catch my breath. And then I glance down, giving a thumbs-up to the concerned group, and then I gesture for them to give me another moment as I open up the contacts on my phone. My thumb hovers over Nina's photo before I press down, putting the phone to my ear.

            Voicemail.

            "Uh, Nina, it's me," I say into the phone. "Ashley. I, um... look, I really screwed this one up, what we're doing here. So I may have... this thing, it's my fault. Eddie keeps telling me it's not but I can't shake this feeling of guilt and blame and the worst part of it is... there are only a few people on this planet that would be able to actually bring me back down to earth entirely and one of them's you. I miss you here. And Amber. And Fabian's not himself nowadays and, uh... if we fix this, I'll explain everything to you. But I just... don't know where I'm going with this, so I think I should stop talking. I miss you. That's it. Bye."

            I press the red button on the screen, shoving it back into my pocket as I walk back over. "So do we attack at dawn?"

            Eddie looks at me warily. "You okay?"

            I nod, quite unconvincingly. "Yeah. I'm good."        

            "I saw Jerome's picture on the screen," he informs. "What'd you tell him?"

            "He's suspicious of Alfie," I answer, "I just told him to stay safe. That's it. So, how are we getting into the gatehouse?"

—

            When night falls, we put Harriet's plan into motion. She knows of a way to sneak in to the gatehouse, so we follow her lead into the building. "It's just through here," she whispers to us, pulling open a hidden door we have to bend to fit through.

            "When in doubt, look for a secret passageway," I tell KT quietly.

            Eddie looks around the inside of the passageway, remarking, "You know another way in." 

            "Yes, well," Harriet says, "I did learn a few things whilst they kept me prisoner here."

            Eddie finds the door that leads into the study, the one right beside the organ. The room is dark, but I can still see a sleeping Denby on the couch—the key on a chain around her neck. "Are you sure you can get the key without waking her up?"

            Willow glances at me, nodding slightly. Harriet wishes them good luck and Willow steps through the passageway quietly with KT behind her. KT looks back at us for encouragement, which Eddie and I give her. But then one of them, I don't know which, accidentally knocks a teacup and saucer over. I freeze instinctively, as do they. But Denby doesn't wake.

            My heart pounding in my ears, I watch as Willow carefully grabs the key and lifts it up, chain and all, and KT help her to take it away from Denby's neck. But then they both stop and jump back. Denby's eyes are wide open.