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Realistically, I got maybe two hours of sleep. Two hours that was constantly interrupted by Mara shaking me awake to make sure I haven't slipped into a coma, which was a nice sentiment but also I'm exhausted. On the plus side, staying awake almost the entire night helped me brainstorm ideas. Unfortunately, all those ideas involve me as bait.
Let me explain. So we're pretty certain the Evil Ones don't need me as a sinner, because if so why wouldn't Frobisher have taken me hostage until midnight when I went to the gatehouse? So since they don't need me as a sinner and they've got four out of five, realistically it makes the most sense to send me in as bait. I think that they don't truly need me until they've got all five sinners in their grasp, so as long as there's only four, I won't be forced to aid in bringing the soul devourer to the mortal realm.
I mean, there's still the tiny detail of getting everyone back to who they were, but we just need to stop them from taking a fifth.
"Where's Eddie this morning?" Trudy's voice shakes me out of my zoning out.
"Oh, he, uh, left early," answers Fabian, who's met with a glare every time he looks at me. "Mr. Sweet wanted to talk to him."
"Oh," says Trudy. "Ashley, how's your head?"
"Mara kept me awake, so I'm decidedly not comatose," I answer. "Right, Fabian?"
It's worth it to mention that KT and Alfie are not with us at the table. It's me, Patricia, Fabian, Jerome, and Mara's in the kitchen. But Joy joins us shortly after, speaking quietly to Mara. Not interested. I just want breakfast before I tell my non-sinner Sibunas the plan.
Oh, speaking of breakfast, just as I reach for the milk, Fabian throws part of his muffin over at Jerome. My eyebrows furrow out of confusion because of it. I expected Fabian to act more like Patricia, not like Alfie and Jerome when they start food fights. Jerome looks over at me with a look that's like, 'What just happened?' I shrug in response, watching Fabian as he pours a spoonful of jam into the milk.
This is strange, even for a sinner.
"Trudy!" Joy shouts all of a sudden. I jump because of it. "Trudy, please tell me the trash hasn't gone out yet."
"Oh, sweetie, that was collected this morning," Trudy answers.
"Joy, what's wrong?" I inquire, noticing her and Mara's look of dread. Fabian putting jam in the milk is creeping me out and I need to get away from it, so I leave the rest of my breakfast at the table as I go over to her and Mara. "What, throw your phone in the trash?"
"Willow's hedgehog," Mara answers reluctantly.
"Willow has a hedgehog?"
"Victor," Joy confirms. Willow has a hedgehog called Victor? "We found him last night and she wanted to keep him."
"But I finally threw out the stuff Atticus gave me," Mara says, "and I accidentally... threw out Victor, too."
"Oh," I state. "This is something I can't help with. Although, I bet we all wish you'd have thrown out the real Victor instead. I know I wish that." Mara and Joy stare at me blankly. "That was dark, wasn't it?"
"Kind of," Joy agrees.
"Okay, well, good luck with finding the hedgehog," I tell them, saluting them. "See you at school, then." I grab my bag as I leave, running into KT and Alfie in the main entrance hall. "Apparently we've got a hedgehog infestation."
Alfie's eyebrows furrow. "Is—is that your plan to save Eddie? Using hedgehogs?"
"Well, it is now."
KT interrupts quietly, "Can you believe Fabian?"
"Oh, I know," I agree incredulously. "I just watched him throw food at Jerome and put jam in the milk. I didn't realize he'd become Alfie when he got turned into a sinner."
"First of all," Alfie states, "not funny. Second, you've got to remember that's not the real him."
"There's not many of us left," KT points out.
I sigh deeply, my mood coming down with the change of topic. "Well, uh, I was thinking we go over after first class. We use me as bait to distract Frobisher while the two of you save Eddie. Sound good?"
"Actually," KT comments, "I was thinking you and Alfie distract Frobisher together. I hear you're good at causing distractions."
I nod. Better plan, admittedly. "Yeah, we can totally distract Frobisher. You in, Alfie?"
Alfie laughs nervously. "Distract Frobisher—sounds easy when you say it."
—
Our first class of the day goes by incredibly slowly. Alfie and I sat together during it and passed notes during the lecture, brainstorming how to distract Frobisher. Fortunately no one but KT saw us argue over paper over whether we should play the organ again or not. I voted yes, he voted no. But when the class ends and we leave the school to go to the gatehouse, my legs are shaking and I feel like they're about to give way and I'll collapse.
Probably not a side-effect of the concussion. Probably more of the 'gonna distract Frobisher who's literally trying to kill us' persuasion. KT hides when we get there as Alfie, in full view of the cameras we know are there (or at least assume), dances like a ballerina. I wait by the elevator, prepared to pull the lever to make him think we're in it. When we hear the door to the tank room close, Alfie hides underneath the desk and I pull the lever, hiding out in the hallway of the opposite direction he would go when he realized the elevator was moving.
And I turned out to be right, because Frobisher runs right past without noticing me to go after the elevator. KT comes out of her hiding spot and runs through to the tank room. I go back into the study now, ready to hide in case Frobisher comes back, but I watch the door carefully. Then, two figures. KT and Eddie. I fist-pump the air, grinning at them as I throw them a thumbs-up.
"Oh, am I glad to see you," Eddie tells us.
I hug him briefly. "I'm so glad I'm not getting a weird feeling about you."
"Yeah, me, too."
The door downstairs closes, which means Frobisher's coming back up. Alfie grabs the red curtain that hangs in front of the desk, the one he was hiding behind, and we all struggle to fit there together, but we somehow do. We just need to stay here until we're sure he's gone back up to the tank room, and then we're home free.
Then we hear Frobisher's running footsteps, and the door slam. We're safe right now. "I know their whole plan now," Eddie informs us. "We have to get away and stay away from this place."
"Their whole plan?" I repeat. "Including me?"
"Uh... they didn't say what specifically," Eddie answers, "but they did say some stuff about you. You were right, they're trying to wear you down and make you defenseless. So I really need you not to be caught alone with any of them because they can't finish this without you. It's our only chance of surviving. Let's get out of here."
"We have to stay," Alfie says bluntly. The three of us look over, questioning him in unison. "Hot heights. This place used to be called gate lodge." He hands Eddie a photo and KT and I look over at it. It's old, definitely of this gatehouse, and it says gate lodge at the bottom. "This is my rhyme, guys. The lodge's heights are hot indeed?" Alfie lifts the curtain, looking across at a chimney in the room. "I think the artifact's in that chimney. I need to go up there and get it."
"We're not gonna have another chance," I point out. "We have to do this now. My only question is, are we sure it's safe?"
"It should be," says Eddie, the first one out from underneath the desk. "I disabled the cameras. KT, keep an eye on the doors. Alfie... are you sure you want to do this?"
"No," Alfie answers. "But I'm gonna. Ashley's right, we won't have another chance."
"Aren't you afraid of small spaces?" KT inquires.
"I'm afraid of everything."
"Conquering our fears, remember?" I remind Alfie quietly, trying to get him to recall our experiences in the tunnels last year. Amber had to conquer her fear of bugs, me of weeping angels (kind of a stupid fear in hindsight, to be honest), and him of small spaces. "You can do this. I know you can."
"My ancestors put their faith in me," Alfie states, "and I'm not gonna let them down."
—
Alfie psyched himself up to go up the chimney before he actually did it. And he's climbing really well, I must say. "You're doing amazing, Alfie," I tell him, my and Eddie's head sticking into the fireplace to watch while KT keeps an eye out.
"Just don't look down," Eddie advises him, and of course, Alfie's foot slips. The two of us narrowly miss getting hit with debris. "What happened?"
"You made me look down," Alfie responds sharply. I hit Eddie's arm as Alfie climbs up further. "I think I see something!"
But before he can tell us what it is, a door slams. KT whisper-shouts, "Hide!" and Eddie and I scramble to leave the fireplace to find a place to hide. KT chooses behind a chair, Eddie behind a door, and I'm almost not quick enough to find a place before Eddie pulls me over to hide with him. I can see through the hinge that it's Denby that's come home—which isn't good at all, considering Alfie's in her fireplace!
"He's gone?" she asks.
Frobisher's come out from the tank room. "That blasted child! Now we have lost another twelve hours."
"Relax, Robert. We will have our day."
"Don't tell me to relax!"
"I'll make you something to eat."
Oh, like that's gonna relax him.
"I'll be in my study," Frobisher says, strained, but as he heads back, something falls in the fireplace. I freeze as Frobisher whirls around. But Frobisher doesn't go that way. He goes back to his study, and we escape our hiding places to go check on Alfie again.
"Are you okay?" I ask worriedly, looking up at him through the fireplace.
"Terrified, but okay," Alfie answers.
"Alfie, get out, now!" Eddie tells him.
Alfie shakes his head. "No. No, I came here to get my artifact. I'm getting my artifact."
The tank room door slams again. KT ushers us back to our hiding places just before Denby comes back in with a tray of light snacks. But more debris falls in the fireplace, too loud to have been just the old house crumbling. Helplessly, we watch as Frobisher goes over and slowly kneels to look inside the chimney.