Jerome rolled his eyes after Eddie, Fabian, and Alfie slammed his door closed. He threw the comic from his hands and got out the papers he took from Joy. There was a full page of hieroglyphics, and on the other paper, the translation to the hieroglyphics.
"Poor Joy. Too bad she could never get this to Fabian or the others in time," Jerome laughed as he began tearing up the papers. "It's a shame indeed."
Hearing a ring of the doorbell made his ears perk up, as well as his head.
"Who could that be?" he asked himself.
~~~~~
"What's the worst it can be?" Eddie suggested. "I'll open it."
Eddie gave a look to the others. He took a deep breath, and made his way to the door.
His hand grasped the doorknob. He unlocked the door with his other hand and then opened it up. The others were ready to jump back until they saw a familiar face, except for KT.
"Hi, guys," Mick greeted.
"Mick? What're you doing here?" Fabian asked.
"I made it on the first flight I could get. I'm able to spend the rest of the summer here. Hope you haven't done too much without me."
"Of course not," Eddie commented.
"Where's Jerome and Joy?"
"Jerome's in his room, and Joy is-" Nina tried to respond.
"-had to go to the hospital," KT saved. "Her mother is really ill."
"Oh, well sorry to hear. And you are?"
"KT."
"And you are?" Mick looked at Willow.
"Oh, I'm not surprised you don't remember me. We knew eachother in freshman year. I'm Willow."
"Oh, of course."
Everyone was staying silent.
"Does someone mind showing me to my room?" Mick asked.
"Right," Alfie responded. He guided Mick to an empty room quickly.
"Are we telling him? Can we trust him?" KT asked as soon as he was gone.
"Let's just say, the only reason we might tell him is because we may have no other choice," Fabian replied.
"He's not the Sibuna kind of person?"
Fabian shook his head.
"Are we forgetting to discuss Joy?" Patricia questioned. "She could be dead for all we know!"
"Shh..." Mara hushed. "She's not dead."
"Oh, have you not heard Mara? An evil god has possessed someone in this very house."
"Maybe we should go looking for her," Willow suggested. "Under the house maybe."
"How brilliant Willow. Like any of us are in the mood for that," Amber said harshly.
"No. We might have to," Nina retaliated. "Right now."
"Maybe tomorrow," Fabian suggested. "When we can start a bit earlier."
Everyone agreed and went back to their rooms. Alfie left Mick alone and went to his room as well.
~~~~~
The Sibuna gang, including Willow, all huddled in the kitchen in the morning.
"There are three tunnels, so, three in each?" Fabian asked.
"Wouldn't it be a bit weird if all of us were just gone," Nina pointed out. "Some of us should-"
She stopped talking as soon as the door swung open to the kitchen. It was Jerome.
"A little meeting going on here?" He went to the fridge to get some milk and cereal. "Well, don't let me stop you."
The door swung open again, with Mick coming inside.
"Am I interrupting something?" he asked.
"I was just leaving," KT left.
"Me too," Alfie left.
"Me three," Amber followed.
Fabian, Patricia, Mara, and Willow just followed out as well. Nina and Eddie stayed though.
"This is uncomfortable, so-" Mick grabbed several bananas and left.
Nina and Eddie stared at Jerome who was eating his cereal.
"Can I help you?" Jerome asked.
"Have you seen Joy?" Eddie interrogated, as subtle as possible.
"No. I'm assuming she's still asleep?"
"Actually, she's not," Nina answered. "What've you done to her?"
Jerome rose from his seat at the island. "Do you suspect I've done something, Martin?"
Eddie put his arm in front of Nina as a guard.
"I don't know what's gotten into you two, but I swear, I've done nothing to Joy. Do you still believe otherwise? And if you do, just let me know, what has sparked this crazy idea in your head, hmm?"
"Fine. We believe you. Sorry we suspected you," Eddie told him. He escorted Nina out with him.
When they were by the stairs, Nina whispered, "He's definitely lying."
"Totally. We need to get down into those tunnels. Let's find where the others went."
They discovered the rest of the gang in KT's room.
"Look," Fabian held up a sheet of paper. "Willow had a map."
Nina and Eddie sat down to view it as Fabian explained it.
"The shortest corridor is the right tunnel which KT and Patricia took before. There's one square room, and then after that you run into a circular room. Did you find that?"
"I did," KT replied. "It has a bunch of creepy things in there, but I didn't get to see everything. Maybe it's important to go back."
Fabian nodded. "The left corridor, the one Alfie and I took, is the second longest, first with that circular room full of mirrors, and then a stretch of tunnel that seems to lead to some triangular room. And then the middle corridor, first with that room full of sand-"
"-sand should be gone now," Mara butted-in.
"Ok. And after that, a long stretch of corridor leads to a giant rectangular room, which I'd say is probably the most important."
"It could be where he's holding Joy," Alfie suggested.
"At least two to a corridor is what we need," Fabian stated.
"And three can stay up here," Patricia declared. "Keeping an eye on Jerome and watching over Mick."
"I for one do not want to go back into those creepy tunnels," Alfie moaned.
"And you want to stay up here with an evil god of chaos?" Fabian asked.
"Who wants to be my partner?" Alfie immediately questioned.
Willow raised her hand.
"Ooh, Willow," Eddie began, "this is dangerous stuff, like, Sibuna stuff. And no one can be a better distraction than you. So, maybe it's best for you to stay up here to distract Jerome."
Willow pouted.
"I'll go with Alfie then," Amber spoke.
"Ok, Amber and Alfie then," Nina stated.
"I'm not risking anything else happening to me again," Patricia stated. "I'm staying up here."
"I don't mind who I go with," KT chimed-in. "I just need to check out more of that room."
"And I'll go with Eddie," Nina declared.
"What? But what about me?" Fabian asked. "I-I-I should be able to go down there. Can just one more person be added to a group?"
"Maybe we should just stick to two," Alfie suggested.
Fabian slumped back. Nina and Eddie would take the middle corridor, Mara and KT would take the right, and Alfie and Amber on the left. That way, at least one person from each pair had ventured down some part of that tunnel. When they made it to the intersection, they farewelled eachother and went their separate ways.