DENOUEMENT
x. house of kidnap
❝YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME.❞

AFTER WHAT SEEMED like an eternity, especially since the four members of Sibuna were all cramped together in a closet that was certainly not designed for people to hide in, the light flickered off and retreating footsteps are heard, slowly getting fainter as Victor left the room, and as soon as he was gone, Amber eagerly pushed the door open and they all piled out, not wanting to stay in such a confined space for any longer.

"Let's go." Amber said – if she wasn't eager to leave the creepy cellar before, then she certainly was eager enough at that moment in time, wanting to leave the cobweb-covered, creepy cellar as soon as possible.

However, Fabian and Nina, being the investigating duo they were, went over to the table that their housekeeper had been at, the former of them picking up one of the vials and shining his light on it, trying to figure out what it was as Sydney approached them, also curious as to what Victor drank, considering that none of them looked safe.

"What is it?" Nina asked, mainly towards the nerd of the group who had more chance of knowing what it was than the rest of them, with him being more interested in science than the rest of them – that's probably why him and Sydney were never best friends.

However, he shook his head, unfortunately not sure as he responded, "I don't know."

"Well, I certainly don't think it's orange juice." Sydney remarked, shining her own flashlight on it as she looked at it closely – whatever it was, the prankster was almost certain that it wasn't a normal beverage, or any chemical that she had seen in chemistry – then again, she never paid attention in chemistry, so that could have been completely wrong.

"Guys, can we please get out of here?!" Amber questioned desperately, the fright that she was feeling evident in the tone of her voice – she hated this place.

However, before anybody could respond to the fashionista, Nina almost slapped the vial out of Fabian's hand upon seeing that he was seconds away from pouring it into his mouth, making him stop drinking it and look at her, confused, as she exclaimed to the nerd, "Don't! You don't know what's in it!"

"I just told you that it's not orange juice, and you decide to go drink it." Sydney murmured, shaking her head in disappointment at the boy as she questioned him, her eyes narrowed, "Do you have a death wish?"

"Hello? Does anyone else realise we are in danger?" Amber asked, clearly irritated by the fact that they weren't out of the cellar yet despite how scary it was, and how she most certainly did not want to stay in there for longer than she had to.

"Let's not get hysterical about it." Fabian advised her, not seeing anything too creepy about the cellar except from that it was old and dusty and had weird chemicals in it.

Although, that did not reassure Amber Millington, who was absolutely petrified of the cellar and wanted to leave it as quickly as possible and never return, so she continued to whine, practically begging them as she cried, "Please can we go!"

And, as if the creepy cellar wasn't enough to petrify the four kids, a loud, wailing moan suddenly sounded out, causing everyone to let out a shriek and get closer to each other, almost huddling together for some sort of sense of safety and protection. At least if one of them died from whatever that weird noise was, then all of them died?

"Let's not get hysterical about it." Amber repeated the words of Fabian Rutter back to him, mocking him and how frightened he now was – Sydney was pretty sure that he had let out the loudest screech out of them all.

"Let's get out of here now." Fabian instructed them, to which they all quickly nodded in agreement as they wanted to leave the place as fast as possible, believing that they had been spooked enough for one night and didn't want to encounter anymore people or hear anymore wails.

However, the fashionista – who had been requesting to leave the cellar for the past several minutes to have nobody listen to her - rolled her eyes at the boy, saying incredulously, "Oh, now you listen."

That night, Sydney hardly slept.

Her nights were bad enough as they were, plagued by the days that continued to haunt her, but now she had the extra addition of wondering what the sound they heard last night was and whether or not it was safe to go back down into the cellar.

However, she soon found the answer to that question once breakfast had finished and only the members of Sibuna were left around the table, where Amber and Nina quickly informed both her and Fabian about a cat that entered their bedroom that morning, and what they believe to be the source of the wail that they heard last night.

"A cat?" Fabian repeated, mildly shocked by the revelation that it was a cat who made that horrific sound, or that a cat had been in Anubis House, considering the strict policy on having no pets inside; it was a surprise that it had gotten past their housekeeper.

"Yeah, a black cat, of course - nothing could ever not be creepy in this place." Nina commented, which seemed to be rather true – Anubis House was ridiculously old, had a potential murderer as a housekeeper, had hidden tunnels and compartments, and now was the home to a black cat, of all the cats it could have possibly been.

"And we're hiding it in our room! Cat-napping, get it?" Amber added, giggling slightly as she did so, evidently being amused with her pun that she had made, whilst Sydney chuckled at her and gently shook her head at the fashionista – they had been hanging around far too much if she was beginning to make jokes.

"And, you think this is what was making the wailing noise last night?" Fabian inquired, not particularly caring for the pun that had just been made and only caring about the logistics and facts – that's the type of guy that Fabian Rutter was; all work and no play.

In order to prove that it was indeed the cat who had made the wailing noise, Amber Millington nodded before she began to meow like a cat, creating the long wailing noise that they heard last night in the process – honestly, it was a rather good impression.

"Stop making that dreadful noise." Victor demanded, causing a few of them to flinch as they didn't even realise that he was behind them - he was about to leave, but then stopped, and glanced over at the girl suspiciously, questioning, "Why were you making that noise exactly?"

Sydney's eyes widened.

"Drama exercises." Amber lied to the man within seconds, making the prankster impressed that she had managed to come up with an excuse so quickly, "Mr Winkler says I need to breathe from my diaphragm."

Fabian turned to the housekeeper, noticing that his eyes kept darting around the room as though he was looking for something, and thus causing the nerd to inquire, "Have you, um, lost anything, Victor?"

"Maybe we can help you find whatever it is you lost." Nina offered, an innocent smile on her lips as she suggested the idea to the housekeeper, not wanting him to think that they were up to no good.

Nodding, the prankster of the group added, "Five sets of eyes are better than one."

"Yeah, and Nina is super sleuthy." Fabian informed him, which was obviously very true from how the group had been sneaking around a lot and investigating – Nina was a lot sneakier than they once thought, but maybe they should have guessed that from her managing to escape the attic and pick the lock with her hair pins.

"Of course I haven't lost anything!" Victor denied the accusation, scoffing as he turned and exited the room – almost as if it was a ludicrous idea to think that he could have lost something, and that he was impossible of forgetting or leaving something behind.

"Did you see his reaction?" Nina asked with a lowered voice as she leant forward into the table, a smirk on her lips whilst she declared, "It's obviously Victor's cat."

"Victor doesn't have a cat." Amber reminded her.

"Tell that to his cat." Nina replied, obviously adamant on the idea of the cat belonging to their housekeeper and now creating a theory for it, "He must have been hiding it in the cellar - that's why the wailing sounded so loud."

"And now it's escaped and he's looking for it." Fabian added, clearly finding the theory plausible, and it would make sense of how the cat managed to get into the cellar.

However, at the suggestion, Sydney frowned and pointed out, "I feel sorry for the cat; imagine having Victor as your owner and being locked in the cellar."

"Well, I'm going to take kitty some milk – I bet it's hungry." Amber told them, pouring some milk into a bowl before she questioned, "Do you think it was meant to be tied to that ring thing we saw in the cellar?" She stood up, taking the bowl of milk with her and briefly turning back, as she spoke up, "That's so cruel. I'm really starting to think Victor is up to no good."

As Amber left the room, Sydney's eyebrow quirked up as she looked at the remaining members of Sibuna, very confused.

"Did she just say that she was 'starting to think' that Victor was bad?" Sydney asked to clarify, causing them to nod before the girl continued, stating sarcastically, "Okay, so, the murder accusation is fine, but the cat is what causes issues."

At that, the pair let out a chuckle as the prankster stood from her seat, checking the time on her phone and realising that it was almost time for her to walk over with Alfie and Jerome, and thus she had to quickly grab her bags before they wondered where she were. So, the girl hastily left the dining room, rushing to her own bedroom and quickly grabbing her bags.

As fast as she entered, she also left, checking her phone on the way down the stairs as it chimed, having received a message from Amber stating that she was having the day off to look after the cat – of course. With a roll of her eyes, the girl slid her phone back into her pocket as she entered the entrance hall, where the two pranksters were already waiting for her, and she greeted them before they went off to school, having a rather boring day in which the only entertainment Sydney found was Alfie's reaction when she had told him that Amber was sick, in which he rushed over to the fashionista's roommate in order to find out more.

And thus, due to his overprotection and undying love for Amber, Alfie had to go overboard and make sure that she had something to cheer her up.

When Jerome and Sydney made their way into their drama studio, their eyebrows furrowed upon seeing their friend messing with something in his hands – it looked like a card of sorts, and, of course, Jerome hastily snatched it from the boy as he sat down, Sydney sitting down on his lap, like normal.

"What are you doing?" Jerome asked him, making sure that the girl on his lap wouldn't fall off, steadying her, before he glanced at the card that he had in his hands, his eyes widening as he took in everything on it.

"I made Amber a get well soon card. It's awesome." Alfie told them, causing the girl in the group to smile widely – Alfie Lewis was a ridiculously sweet and hilarious boy, and anybody would have been lucky to have him; it was a shame that Amber Millington didn't like him, when he absolutely adored her.

"Amber in a coffin?" Jerome said, causing the girl's eyes to widen and for her to actually look at the card that Alfie had made for the "love of his life".

Of course, the boy had made a card which showed the fashionista within a coffin – the rest of it was fine; it had a pink background and said 'Get well soon, Amber!' on the front of it, but the main image was quite an issue, one that Sydney sighed at as she facepalmed, wondering how the boy didn't understand that the card was absolutely terrible.

That was exactly why Amber Millington did not like Alfie Lewis.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's going to make her feel a whole lot better." Jerome told him sarcastically, although the pair of prankster blondes knew that their friend thought he was genuine, and that his card was outstanding – he really didn't know how they used sarcasm.

"That's just the image, read the poem." Alfie instructed them, eager for his best friend's opinions, and thus causing the two to share a worried look with one another.

Hesitantly, Jerome opened the card, reading it out loud, "I hope you didn't need an ambulance, / 'cause I spent the whole day Amber-less. / Without you, classes were no fun, / so get up, Amber – you lazy bum."

Jerome glanced up at Alfie, before tearing the card in half.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Alfie yelled out, upset that all his hard work on the card had gone to waste, literally being torn up in front of his eyes.

"The biggest favour anyone has ever done for you." Jerome told his friend, and the blonde on his lap pursed her lips together, nodding in agreement, causing their friend to become even more upset, very much deflated after their insults.

"Sorry, Alfie, the idea is nice, and the start of the poem is actually good, but I don't think Amber would appreciate being put in a coffin or being called 'a lazy bum'." Sydney explained to him with a sympathetic smile on her face as she took the ripped card out of Jerome's hands and passed it to the boy, before the pair stood up and left once again, leaving Alfie to come up with a new idea by himself.

Soon enough, the school day was thankfully over, and the Anubis House residents had a chatter-filled supper, with no tension evident as they all gossiped and joked among one another. Though, once it was finished, it was time for Sibuna to have a conversation at the table, with Nina making sure that each member of the secret club stayed behind, and also Patricia Williamson, which was... odd.

However, things became even more off when they found out that Patricia Williamson had hired a private investigator, who went under the alias of Rene but was instead called Rufus, to help her to find Joy, and that he said that the Eye of Horus could help him find her, hence why Patricia wanted Nina's locket, as it was the shape of the Eye of Horus. When Patricia had taken Nina out go and meet Rufus, they had seen Victor dragging his unconscious body into a van and abducting him. Oh, and Rufus also happened to be the same man who they saw talking to Sarah when they went to visit her.

To put it bluntly, it seemed like the guy had a lot of connections.

"So, you saw Rufus visiting this old lady, Sarah?" Patricia asked, glancing around at the members of the secret club as she made sure that she had the story clear and that everything was correct, which Sydney understood – it was a lot to take in all of a sudden, and the story had only just become a lot more confusing with the addition of Rufus, who seemed to know everybody – Victor, Joy, Patricia, Sarah.

"Yeah." Nina nodded, confirming the very confusing story before she elaborated once more, informing the purple-haired girl of more information, "She's the one who gave me the locket."

"The locket that Rufus is so interested in." Fabian added, clearly finding the private investigator shifty and rather suspicious and evidently not liking the fact that he was so interested in the locket that his crush owned.

"Maybe Rufus was a jewellery trader," Amber suggested, causing the prankster to release a sigh whilst a few people rolled their eyes, but the fashionista continued to give her theory anyways, "And Victor also collects diamonds."

"Do you really think that either of them cares about jewellery?" Sydney asked the girl, her eyebrow quirked up, but before she could get a response, the nerd of the group spoke up.

"What if the second voice on those recordings is really Victor?" Fabian asked, though it did seem to be the case – how could there be someone who sounded exactly like him and said the exact same phrases as him?

However, Nina shook her head, clearly not fond of that theory and finding it impossible as she reminded them, "That would make Victor about one hundred and twenty."

At that, Sydney chuckled as she mumbled, "Damn, he sure does look good for his age."

Upon hearing her comment, the group fell into laughter, considering that nobody really complimented their housekeeper, especially on his appearance, ever – but they did also agree with the prankster, if he was that old then he had to take good care of himself, because he looked fifty at most.

Mildly amused, Fabian let a small chuckle pass his lips whilst he rolled his eyes at the prankster, before he decided to speak up, cutting everyone's laughter off as he said, "Remember Sarah on the recordings - she talked about the experiments down in the cellar? And what was Victor making a toast to when he drank that funny coloured stuff down there?"

"Life." Nina breathed out, her eyes widening in realisation before she turned to face the nerd, trying to clarify where he was going with this point, "Okay, so you're saying that Victor has some kind of an... elixir that keeps him from growing old?"

"Oh, yeah, and a jewellery heist is such a crazy idea." Amber commented sarcastically, clearly finding her idea more plausible than their housekeeper over double the age that they expected him to be, although the group chuckled and/or rolled their eyes at her.

"This is mad. What has any of this got to do with Joy, or Rufus?" Patricia questioned, wanting it all to be figured out and wanting to know where both of them had been taken to – first it was her best friend, and now it was the private investigator who was helping her to find her best friend.

"I don't know." Fabian responded with a sigh.

"And the cat?" Amber asked, clearly caring more about that than anything else – apparently, the black cat that they had found this morning had escaped from their room whilst the girl had been sleeping, and now there was no sign of it anywhere.

"I hate to break up this cosy little chat..." Victor's voice startled them all, all of them flinching and snapping their heads to face the man who had entered the room, "...but ten o'clock is fast approaching. I shall, of course, wish to hear a pin drop, so I suggest you start getting ready for bed immediately."

Instantly, everyone shot up from their seats around the table and made their way out of the dining room, it being cleared out within seconds as everyone brushed past their housekeeper silently and rushed to their own bedrooms, getting ready to go to sleep. Once Sydney had changed into her pyjamas, she had a conversation with Jerome as she told him that she'd come down soon, once she knew that their housekeeper was asleep.

And, when that time came, the girl quietly snuck out of her own bedroom, not wanting to wake either of her roommates (it would be so much easier if she only had one roommate and if they were a deep sleeper, but no – she was unlucky), and went down the stairs as silently as she could, gently knocking on the bedroom door that she constantly found herself going into, for it to open seconds later, revealing Alfie wearing his favourite jester's hat, with a wide grin on his face.

At the sight, the girl instantly smiled as she entered the room, being silent until she closed the door behind them and laughed at the boy's hat, "You know, if you ever slept in that hat, it honestly wouldn't surprise me."

"I'm pretty sure he has slept in that hat." Jerome commented, with him being sat up in his bed, watching the pair whilst he leant against the headboard, a smirk on his lips.

"It's my favourite hat!" He exclaimed to defend himself and how much he wore the hat, whilst the amused female shook her head at him, before snatching it from atop the boy's head, "Hey!"

With a huge smile on her lips, Sydney placed the jester's hat on her own head before she did a spin, showing off her new look as she asked the two boys, "How do I look?"

"Fabulous, darling." Jerome muttered sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the girl – a mistake.

With a huge smirk on her lips, Sydney took the jester's hat from atop her head, holding it in one of her hand as she reached over, ruffling the prankster's hair (which he absolutely hated, even when he was just about to go to sleep and it didn't affect the styling of his hair whatsoever) before placing the jester's hat on top, making the boy look like a complete idiot, especially as he had a frown on his lips. Pulling back from him, Sydney let out a chuckle with Alfie soon joining in beside her, especially as the girl took out her phone and snapped a picture, instantly sending it to Poppy.

"Fabulous, darling." Sydney imitated him, before she stuck her tongue out at the boy and slid her phone back into her pocket, whilst he shook his head at her and took the hat off him, passing it over to Alfie and sorting out his hair.

"Hilarious." He commented.

Sending him a smile, the girl agreed, "I am, aren't I?"

"Flirting." Alfie said, hiding it with a cough as he began to set up the film that they had decided to watch that night – an alien one, to start with, of course; it had been Alfie's choice, so they knew that a film based around aliens were inevitable.

Although, once they had finished that film, the alien-loving boy had decided to go to sleep, considering that it was already past midnight and they all had school in the morning. Jerome and Sydney, however, continued to watch several films, moving into a more comfortable position after their third film so that they were tucked in Jerome's bed, the laptop resting on their legs as their arms were around one another, and soon enough, the two of them fell asleep with the film still running.

It was safe to say, Alfie silently squealed (though, he was very much used to this scene) as he woke up and took a few photos of the pair, whispering to himself that he'd use it for proof and evidence one day.

However, due to the pair's late-night film marathon, things weren't exactly great for Sydney whilst she was at school the next day, almost falling asleep in every single class she had and not paying attention to a single word any teacher said. Even Mr Sweet noticed how tired she was, and for once, didn't stop her from sitting on the table as Jerome and Alfie as they came in for science.

Though, that didn't particularly go well either.

"I'm sleepy." Sydney whispered to Jerome, who was sat in the seat beside her, neither of them paying attention to what their science teacher/head teacher was saying.

Upon hearing her voice, Jerome glanced over to the girl, seeing that her eyes kept opening and closing and her head kept drooping down, and an amused smile was on his lips as he watched her – he wasn't as tired, mainly because he had fallen asleep a little bit before her, and he'd made sure to have a lot of food and sugar to give him something to stay awake.

"Do I look sleepy to you?" Sydney asked the boy, who chuckled before he nodded his head, though the girl didn't see that due to her eyes being closed from her lack of sleep.

"...This charge is often carried by electrons moving through a wire." Mr Sweet taught the class, those being the only words that Sydney had actually paid attention to within the entire lesson, and she regretted it deeply, as the science language only made her more tired.

"Gosh, he's like a sleep machine." Sydney mumbled tiredly, whining almost as she yawned once again, covering her mouth with her hand as she did so – it seemed like the millionth time that she had done that, simply just within one lesson.

"So, can anyone tell me, what is the relationship between electrical current and charge flow?" Mr Sweet questioned the class, and that's when the blonde-haired girl simply couldn't deal with anymore science, or just school in general.

"Goodnight!"

With that, she dropped her head down, going to hit it on the desk and allow herself to fall asleep there, until Jerome's hand reached out and caught her head before it hit the hard desk – though, that didn't make the girl lift her head, she simply just let herself fall asleep there whilst the boy tried to restrain his chuckle, undoubtably amused at the girl.

"I thought we were going to be dissecting a rat this week, Mr Sweet?" Sydney heard Alfie question from the seat beside Jerome, a curious tone to his voice – he had been eager for a practical lesson, as he hated sitting down and learning and wanted to actually do things.

"Urgh, gross!" Amber called out loudly, her boisterous voice startling the female prankster and causing everyone, including Sydney, to turn to face the fashionista as she continued, "I think experimenting on animals is cruel and unnecessary, especially experimenting on cats."

At that, Sydney's eyes widened in shock, wondering what the fashionista was thinking and why she had brought up experimenting on cats – the other members of Sibuna also had the same things running through their minds, their eyes equally as wide as Sydney's as they all glared at the girl.

Well, Sydney was most certainly awake now.

"Oh, I don't think anyone experiments on cats nowadays, Amber." Mr Sweet told the blonde female, about to continue on with her lesson until she spoke up once again,

"How do you know?" Amber asked, and everyone in Sibuna wished that she would drop the subject before the matter got worse – they didn't want anymore teachers suspicious of them, especially considering that their housekeeper probably already was, "I mean, what if someone was trying to make something, like, I don't know, just off the top of my head: an elixir of life or something?"

If Sydney wasn't awake before, then she most certainly was now.

"Strange idea. What a strange, ridiculous idea." Mr Sweet commented, with nervous laughter seeping through his speech – he was acting rather odd, and Sydney's eyebrows narrowed at that observation.

"It was just something I read in a book, that's all." Amber lied, a small smile on her lips.

"Well, some alchemists in the middle ages did devote their life to searching for an elixir of life, and I'm sure they experimented on animals as part of their quest, and now-." The man clapped to regain the attention of the class as he walked back to the whiteboard, "Can we please get back to electrical charge flow."

Once the lesson finally ended, Sydney told the boys that she had to speak to her purple-haired roommate, not giving them any chance to ask why as she raced out of the room, just to watch Patricia grab Amber's shoulder and turn her around, asking, "What were you doing in there?"

"Yeah, you woke me up." Sydney murmured, rubbing her eyes before she released yet another yawn, "Nevermind – I take that back, I'm still sleepy."

"It's called research. Didn't you hear what he said about experiments? That's why Victor had a cat - he was using it to experiment on." Amber explained to them, making them all realise what she was doing and how she had actually been trying to get information from the head teacher, instead of blowing their cover, "See? I'm a genius."

"She's got a point." Nina spoke up, before adding, "I mean about the cat."

"Okay, we need to tell someone." Fabian decided, annoyed and irritated and worried for his friends – they were only students, yet they were having to deal with this huge search and a potentially murderous mad scientist as their housekeeper, "We can't keep doing this by ourselves. I mean, who can we trust? What about Jason?"

"No!" Patricia called out almost instantly, knowing that their drama/history teacher had now sided with the teacher after having spoken to Victor about Joy's disappearance, despite him having proof that something suspicious was happening.

"Trudy?" Nina suggested, knowing that their housemother was the loveliest adult they knew – a complete contrast to their housekeeper; if they couldn't trust Trudy, then they couldn't trust anybody.

"Possibly." Patricia responded, still not being completely certain of the idea – though, if she was right about Jason Winkler, then Sydney didn't exactly blame her.

However, Fabian released a sigh as he told them, "What we really need is some proof."

"What we really need is to go and rescue the cat from the cellar before it becomes part of Victor's evil pointy-faced scheme." Amber suggested, before turning to the American, "Nina, you have to let us in."

And that's exactly how Sydney, Amber, and Patricia found themselves going into the cellar during lunch, with them going through the secret passageway that the purple-haired girl gasped at upon seeing – it was so peculiar and strange that all of these secrets had been uncovered by the students for years.

"Okay, this is all seriously weird." Patricia remarked, her jaw agape as she saw all of the creepy things in the cellar and how much was truly hidden in there – it was like another world that they had only just discovered, despite living above it for years.

From beside her, the prankster among the three nodded in agreement, commenting, "Yeah, that's what I thought when I joined, and somehow it just keeps getting weirder."

"I know, and I've seen a lot of really weird things the last few days." Amber added, agreeing with both of the girls as she glanced around the cellar, shining her flashlight around the room until she exclaimed, "There you are, Kitty Spice!"

"Kitty what?" Sydney inquired, peering around the fashionista to see the silhouette of a cat on a chair, remaining creepily still – it's lack of movement is what made the female prankster's eyes widen, wondering if her theory was correct, and she slowly murmured, "Amber, uh, you may not want to touch that."

"Why not?" Amber asked, not having noticed anything wrong, and before the prankster could speak up and explain why, the girl had already gone to stroke the cat.

Immediately, a screech fell out of her lips.

The cat was dead and stuffed.

"Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"What is it?!" Patricia yelled out curiously, her eyes wide in alarm as she hadn't noticed that the cat had been stuffed and was rather scared as to why her friend had released a very boisterous and ear-piercing scream, that people upstairs had probably heard as well.

"It's stuffed!" Amber cried out, tightly gripping her two friend's hands as she pulled them out of the cellar hurriedly, not wanting to stay there for a second longer – she hated it last night, but now she despised it and the man who stuffed the cat: Victor Rodenmaar.

Within seconds, they had made their way back up to the kitchen, exiting the secret passageway and hastily closing it behind them, whilst Amber Millington leant against the counter, tears streaming down her cheeks whilst Sydney Anderson attempted to calm her down, placing her hands on her shoulders as she tried to get her to breathe properly.

However, it seemed as though she was in shock about the entire situation, her eyes remaining wide as she simply let the tears trickle down her face, questioning – mainly to herself, "How could he? How could he?"

"Amber, breathe." Sydney instructed, keeping her worried eyes on the girl and hoping that she'd snap out of it soon – they couldn't stay at the house for long, afterall, and Nina and Fabian were probably getting worried.

"I thought I heard something." Trudy stated upon having entered the kitchen, but then her cheerful tone fell as she noticed how distraught everyone in the room was – especially Amber Millington, who was still crying, and the sight of tears falling down her cheeks made the housemother's eyes widen as she asked, "What's going on?"

Feeling that Trudy was the only adult who they could trust, the fashionista, still distraught and her mind racing, ran over to the housemother as she began to ramble, explaining to her, "Oh, Trudy, there was a cat in the cellar but then it escaped, and I was looking after it, but then Victor took it back, and he used it for his experiments, and now it's dead and I'm really, really, really scared, and please can you help."

After explaining it, the girl's tears resumed once more, causing the housemother to quickly wrap her arms around her and rub her back soothingly as the girl wept onto her, trying to calm her down, "Hey, slow down, it's alright. Patricia, Sydney, what's going on?"

"I think you need to ask Victor that." Patricia simply stated, not knowing how much they should tell the woman or whether or not their housekeeper had managed to brainwash her too, just like they did with Jason Winkler.

"Oh, what is all this about Victor? And please don't start again with the "Victor's a vampire" thing!" Trudy huffed, not wanting all the tears to be over a ridiculous rumour, and simply wanting to find out what was going on and why the students were crying.

"As fun as that week was," Sydney began, trying to hide her smile as she thought of that week, but then she remembered the severity of the situation she was in and the frown remained on her lip as she continued, telling the woman, "I think that this is a little bit more serious than that, Trudy."

"Is this another one of your pranks, Sydney?" The housekeeper asked, sending her a stern gaze as she did so – she had to rule out all options of it being a practical joke, before she went for the more serious options.

Due to the accusation, the prankster raised her hands in the air, mock surrendering as she shook her head, telling the woman, "For once, not guilty."

"You're either very good, Trudy, or they haven't gotten to you yet." Patricia said to the woman, still not entirely convinced that she was trustworthy and that she wasn't on their side, but the housemother simply looked concerned and worried at this point, especially since she was now aware that it wasn't a joke.

"Who hasn't got to me yet?" Trudy questioned, before she released a sigh and became even more frustrated, "Oh, Patricia, what on earth are you talking about?"

"Trudy, will you help us?" Patricia asked the woman, finally deeming her as safe enough to tell upon seeing how confused and worried she was – Victor hadn't gotten to her yet.

"Yeah, please, Trudy, will you?" Amber inquired, pulling away from the hug she was in with the woman to look at her as she did so, despite the tears that were still falling down her cheeks, "We need you; you're the only one we can trust."

"She's right – we don't know who else to go to anymore." Sydney agreed, a frown on her lips as she did so – every single teacher seemed like they were in on whatever it was, and they hated it – they just hoped that their housemother was okay and trustworthy.

"Oh, darlings, of course I will." Trudy answered them, clearly hating seeing them all so devastated and worried, and quickly wiping away the tears on Amber's cheeks, before they began to tell her everything that they saw in the cellar – they didn't know for certain if the person who killed and stuffed the cat was Victor, but it seemed rather likely considering that he had a stuffed raven as well.

However, one thing that they were certain of was that they had to tell Fabian and Nina about this – they were probably getting worried, as well, considering it was almost the end of lunch and the group hadn't returned.

And thus, after telling their housemother everything, and her agreeing to get Victor to show them the cellar and whatever was down there, the three girls hastily made their way to the school, and as they saw the other two members of Sibuna in the drama studio, Amber exclaimed happily, "Guess what, guys? Trudy's going to help us!"

"Help you with what?" Jerome questioned, spinning around on his spot to face the group with his eyes narrowed, which seemed to narrow even more upon seeing Sydney there – he'd been wondering where she'd ran off to, and he supposed he now knew and he wasn't particularly happy about it, "And the plot thickens, as they say."

With worried eyes and parted lips, Sydney Anderson watched with longing eyes as her best friend turned, walking to some other separate corner – she hated lying to him and not telling him everything, and she knew that he'd ask what they were up to if she approached him. Thus, despite how much she wanted to go after him, she stayed behind with Sibuna whilst Amber and Patricia told Fabian and Nina everything that had happened, whilst Sydney simply stayed silent, her mind focused on Jerome.

"And, you told Trudy everything?" Fabian asked, repeating what Amber had just stated – she could have really phrased that better, because they didn't tell her absolutely everything and just told her enough to get her to speak to their housekeeper about it.

"Well, not everything, obviously, but enough – the cats, the experiment, Victor." Patricia explained to him, making him seem a bit more relieved whilst the purple-haired girl continued, stating, "We're going to make him open up that cellar and show us exactly what's down there."

"Afternoon, everyone." Mr Winkler greeted as he entered the room, causing everyone to mutter the same response back whilst Sydney lifted her head for the first time, noticing that she had two sets of eyes on her and causing her to instantly lower her head, a frown on her lips as she did so.

Alfie and Jerome.

The former of the two was probably confused (he certainly looked that way as he glanced between the pair) and had asked Jerome why their best friend wasn't sat with them like she always did. Either way, Jerome certainly didn't look very happy.

"Hey," Nina spoke up softly, nudging the girl slightly as she briefly glanced over to the prankster boy with her eyes, "He'll come around."

That obviously brought more attention to the situation from the rest of Sibuna, with Fabian nodding in agreement with the American girl – they could all tell that the pair of blonde pranksters had a deep bond, and they didn't think an argument or situation this small would be able to break something so humongous.

"Yeah, you're Sydney and Jerome." Patricia agreed, sending a reassuring smile to the girl as she did so, knowing that the boy meant a lot to her and it was probably upsetting her to not speak to him.

"You'll fix things; you love each other." Amber stated, a smile on her lips as she did so whilst the prankster rolled her eyes, though was grateful that she had such a supportive group of friends around her.

However, before the prankster could protest against the fashionista's statement, Mr Winkler spoke up, beginning his lesson, "Time marches on and we need to decide on a subject matter for our school play. I was thinking we should write our own." He stated, before looking at the students for suggestions, "Ideas, anyone?"

Silence.

"No? Okay." Mr Winkler began thinking himself, due to the lack of ideas in the room, "Erm, how about something on Egypt?"

Upon hearing that topic, Fabian's and Nina's eyes brightened, evidently in love with that idea as they looked at one another, the former repeating the word, "Egypt?"

"I know!" Amber suddenly exclaimed, causing everyone to turn to her and nobody being able to stop her as she began, "How about we do a story about a young girl who loses her parents in mysterious circumstances when they steal some treasure from an Egyptian pyramid?" Amber suggested, using a story that sounded very familiar, causing everyone from Sibuna to look at her in shock and annoyance, wondering what she was thinking, "And then the girl is brought up by a weird guardian in a big, old house, but the guardian tries to steal the treasure and the girl has to try and stop him, but then she gets help from some friends from the future and they find the treasure and the girl's really happy and the friends are very rich and they all live happily ever after. The end."

All the members of Sibuna had their head in their hands by the time she was done.

"Well done, Amber." Mr Winkler said, shocked that she had managed to come up with such an elaborate plotline so quickly – it seemed like the rest of the room were also shocked by this as well, and extremely confused, from the expressions on all of their faces, "Yeah, that sounds promising. Do you want to have a go at writing up an outline in time for the next session?"

"Um, I think I might need some help with that." Amber said, before she turned her head to face her roommate with a small grin on her lips, "Nina?"

At that, the girl in question simply smiled.

Several hours later, supper had finished and, surprisingly, the female prankster had been mainly silent for those few hours, her eyes typically downcast and a frown on her lips – it was very different to how people normally saw her, and they were beginning to get concerned about it, but had soon realised why it was when they noticed the awkward and unbearable tension between her and Jerome at supper.

That unbearable tension was exactly why Sydney found herself at his bedroom door after supper, gently knocking on it and hearing a faint 'come in' from the other side, causing her to push open the door and lay her sights on Jerome Clarke, laying atop his bed. Upon the door opening, he glanced over to see who it was, a frown on his lips which made Sydney release a small sigh, hating that they were both upset.

"I'm just gonna..." Alfie mumbled, trailing off as he slowly left the room, leaving the two blonde pranksters alone in their room to talk, though Sydney was very much aware that he was probably listening from behind the door.

"I know that you're worried." Sydney slowly started, causing the boy's eyebrow to quirk up at her, wondering what she meant, "Come on, Clarke, I know you better than anyone."

"I'm not worried." He denied through a murmur, though it was obvious that he was lying, causing the blonde-haired girl to roll her eyes at him, motioning for him to move up on his bed so she could be beside him – which, he obviously did, shuffling so that the pair of them could sit close to one another, their backs leaning against his headboard.

"I know you're worried." Sydney repeated, giving him a look, which told him not to lie to her – it was pointless, but she continued, informing him, "I'm not leaving you, Jerome."

"I know, but you're... you're acting weird." He revealed, finally turning to her and telling her the truth, "We hardly keep secrets from one another and we never lie to one another, and now you're hanging out with this new group and running off places – I'm just confused at when you became so close to them all."

"I'm already close to Amber, you know that." Sydney stated, trying to make it seem like it was natural and that she'd just grown even closer to them, and with her came the rest of them, "She needed cheering up, and then I got closer to the rest of them through her – they're actually kind of cool people when you get to know them, even Fabian."

At that, Jerome came to the conclusion that he'd been worrying over nothing and weakly nodded, deciding to make a joke to the girl so that they could return to their normal conversations – he hated when they weren't normal, "You better not go ahead and replace me now, Anderson."

Knowing he was joking, Sydney let a small chuckle fall from her lips, shaking her head at the boy as she told him, "Never, I don't think I could if I tried."

"Yeah, where else could you find someone as handsome as me?" He asked, a smirk present on his lips as he looked at the girl, seeing her roll her eyes at his comment (both of them were also pretty sure they heard a small squeal come behind the bedroom door, one that sounded a lot like Alfie Lewis, but they ignored it).

"I was going to say annoying, but sure – whatever floats your boat."

At that, the pair of them began to chuckle whilst the boy nudged her slightly, resulting in her nudging him back – of course, this then turned into the pair of them wrestling whilst boisterously laughing, eventually rolling off the bed and onto the floor as Jerome began to tickle the girl – it was a surprise nothing had been broken yet, especially with all the flailing around they had begun to do.

"Jerome!" Sydney cried out, tears stinging the corners of her eyes and she couldn't stop laughing and the boy continued to tickle her, laughing hysterically as he held her tightly in place so that she couldn't move, "I give up! I'm sorry!"

"Say that I'm not annoying, and I'll consider your apology." He stated, still holding tightly onto her wrists and noticing that how, at his request, she had rolled her eyes at him, despite the amused grin on her lips.

"Okay, but it'd be a lie." Sydney chuckled, but her laughter soon turned into shrieks as the boy went to tickle her again, causing her to hastily yell out, "You're not annoying!"

"Thank you." Jerome breathed out, laughing at how quickly she had caved whilst he let his tight grip of her wrists go, getting up from the floor before helping her up to, the pair of them moving back onto his bed.

They found themselves in a comfortable silence with one another, Sydney's head laying just above the boy's chest, whilst his arms were wrapped tightly around her – it was nice.

"You know, you mean the world to me." Sydney murmured, her voice almost a whisper as she glanced up at the boy, a faint smile on her lips.

"You mean the world to me too." Jerome responded, smiling at her before pressing a small kiss to the top of her head, "Just, do me a favour and don't get corrupted by that group? We have enough geeks in Anubis as it is, with Mara, Fabian, and now Nina."

At that, Sydney laughed, "Idiot, I'm not going to get corrupted by them. If anything, I'm going to make their lives hell with jokes and pranks."

"I don't think you could make anyone's life hell, Sydney." Jerome stated, shaking his head at the girl – he thought that she was honestly a miracle in his life, and probably one of the only good things in it, which caused him to reveal, "You made mine pretty good."

"That's because you were five when we met, idiot." Sydney pointed out, a grin on her lips as she did so with a faint giggle coming through, "You can't remember life without me."

"I wouldn't want it any other way."

Eventually, Sydney had to leave her best friend, despite how much she didn't want to, and she joined the rest of the secret club in the living room, sitting beside Nina on the arm of the sofa as they anxiously waited for one of the adults to come in. Trudy had told them to stay there and wait as she went to get Victor, but they had all began to worry about everything as they wondered if it was the best thing to do, and the prankster of the group had already began drumming her fingers on her legs – her anxious quirk.

After what seemed like an eternity of worrying, their housemother finally entered the room once again, telling them, "Okay, Victor's on his way. I've been thinking about what you said. It all sounds totally far-fetched to me."

"It did to us at first as well." Sydney told her, glancing around to the other members of Sibuna and seeing them shaking their heads in agreement.

"We know it sounds odd," Nina began, nodding her head in agreement – all of them knew how crazy it sounded, and they didn't blame the housemother for being hesitant, but once you saw it then you had to believe it, and that's what the messy-haired girl tells her, continuing with, "but as soon as you see all the weird stuff in that cellar-,"

"And the dead cat!" Amber interrupted, still very distressed about having stroked the dead animal earlier, and the prankster of the group sent her a sympathetic smile as she put her hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

"You'll realise we're telling the truth." Nina continued, finishing what she had been saying beforehand to the woman – which was true, there was no way that she couldn't believe them after seeing everything that was in the cellar; it was just too creepy.

"You lot wouldn't know the truth if it jumped up and hit you in the eye." Victor stated upon walking into the room, sitting on one of the sofas in the living room casually and nonchalantly – he didn't seem worried at all, "Now then, Trudy, what's all this about? What did you want to see me for?"

"It's not so much me, as the students." Trudy informed him, clearly afraid of his reaction and not wanting him to think badly of her or go down with them if they had been lying, "They were worried about this cat that Amber found."

"A cat?"

"Well, they all seem to think... that... you've killed it." Trudy eventually revealed, though it seemed as though she was very reluctant and hesitant to tell him – their housemother had the upmost faith in Victor and regarded him highly, so the story seemed ludicrous and ridiculous to her, but the kids seemed so distraught that she couldn't have ignored it.

"Killed it?" Victor repeated, shuffling around in his seat as he did so, which Sydney wondered was a sign of nervousness and being panicked, though his facial expression seemed calm, glancing back at their housemother, "You think I've killed a cat, Trudy?"

"No, no, I don't." Trudy quickly defended herself, worried that he would think badly of her and not wanting a bad relationship with her boss, before she glanced over at the students as she continued, "It's just, well, they all do."

"Why on earth would I kill a cat?" Victor asked, now turning his gaze over to the students which had accused him, wanting to know what they had discovered.

For a few seconds, Sydney pursed her lips together as she tried to think about how to word her sentence, before she hesitantly spoke up, saying the words rather slowly as she was still reluctant to say it, "It wouldn't be the first... odd thing about you."

"It's for your experiments in the cellar!" Patricia answered, in a voice much bolder than the prankster's as she accused him and thankfully turned his gaze away from Sydney, as she was almost certain that his glare was one of death.

"Yeah, ask him about the scratches on his arm, Trudy." Amber instructed her, and Sydney watched as the housekeeper pulled down on his trench coat sleeve, attempting to cover the scratch – he was nervous.

"Clearly visible cat scratches!" Nina added to support the girl, their voices getting louder and louder until they were effectively yelling, fed up of all the creepy things that were happening in Anubis House.

"Quiet!"

Glancing down at the man's arm, Trudy noticed the very visible, deep cat scratches covering him, and hesitantly asked, "Well, how did you get those scratches, Victor?"

"There was a cat." He admitted, but quickly added and further explained, "A stray, which I put it in the cellar for safe keeping, as it was my intention to call the animal sanctuary, however, in the meantime it escaped, and I have absolutely no idea where it is now."

However, none of them believed that, especially Amber Millington, who had been the most distraught over the deceased and stuffed cat they found in the cellar.

"Liar! He killed it!"

At the accusation, the housekeeper let out a very mocking laugh, laced with irritation – he was becoming frustrated with the students in front of him - they were meddling in what he thought they had no business in, "Children, they have such vivid imaginations."

Sending a very harsh glare to their housekeeper, Sydney squeezed Amber's shoulder reassuringly, trying to calm her down and make sure she was okay whilst Trudy, being the sweet gem that she was, suggested with a smile on her lips, "Perhaps we could just put all this behind us by popping down to the cellar and taking a peek?"

However, the smile on her lips fell as she noticed the frown on the housekeeper's lips – he was far from impressed, and that became evident as he said, in a very stern and low tone, "Are you questioning my version of events, Trudy?"

"No, no. It's just-."

"I am shocked, Trudy. I am shocked and hurt by your obvious lack of trust." Victor stated, and the prankster's eyes narrowed at him as she sent him a glare harsher than the one she had managed before; she didn't think that she hated their housekeeper as much as she did in that moment, but he was upsetting and manipulating the sweetest person ever – Sydney didn't particularly like that.

"Well, if it puts the students' minds at rest, then?" Trudy continued, surprisingly not backing down under the man's harsh gaze and the prankster really admired her for that – she truly cared about the students of Anubis House and wanted them to all feel safe.

"You want to see down in the cellar?" Victor asked, practically shooting up out of his seat with rage plastered across his face – he hated not having control and not being able to manipulate people to believe what he wanted, "Very well, fine. I'll show you what's down in the cellar! Come with me. Come all!"

At that, Sydney's eyebrows furrowed, very suspicious that he was going to show them what was down in the cellar, as everyone knew that it would harm him. If Trudy saw everything down there – the cat, the weird chemicals, and just the overall creepiness of the place, then she'd believe the students.

With that being said, why was he letting them down there?

There was something else happening; something wasn't right.

However, Victor still continued to lead them into the cellar as he whistled casually, as though he was mildly happy about it despite the outburst that he had seconds ago – it was so peculiar, and Sydney was not a fan of it and she knew that something was wrong. Although, she still followed the rest of the group, her and Amber linking arms as they went down the stairs into the cellar, Sydney's jaw dropping.

Where was everything?

Compared to earlier, the cellar was practically empty – there was no weird chemicals or weird sheets hanging around, and certainly no stuffed animals anywhere. Everything seemed to have just vanished, and there was no way that Trudy was going to believe them now. As much as Sydney didn't want to admit it, Victor was way too smart.

Suddenly, a familiar meowing sound was heard echoing throughout the cellar – the cat. Just as that sound was heard, so was a small yelp falling out of their housemother's mouth, causing everyone to snap their head back to see a black cat brush past the woman.

Victor was incredibly smart.

"The cat, I presume." Their housekeeper stated upon seeing it, a smirk present on his lips as all of the members of the secret club realised that he had set them up and that he was ridiculously intelligent – he had been onto them and hidden everything as soon as he'd been informed of the meeting, "Looks very much alive to me."

"Victor, I am so sorry." Trudy apologised to the man, before she snapped her head over to face the students, betrayal and anger present on her face as she spat out at them, questioning, "How could you set me up like that?!"

"We didn't set you up, Trudy, honest." Patricia exclaimed, with all of them nodded in agreement as they attempted to make their housemother believe them once again, knowing she was their only chance at having a trustworthy adult help them.

However, it seemed like Victor was way too smart and had already gained control of all the adults, and if he hadn't – well, he knew how to play them like a violin.

"But, I-I saw it, it was dead." Amber stuttered out, her eyes wide as she was almost on the verge of tears yet again – she had already began to grip Sydney's arm tightly, and the prankster was certain that her nails were piercing her skin, but hadn't said anything about it – Amber was sad, so she let it slide despite the nail marks that might be imprinted on her skin later.

"There were lots of things down here - really, really creepy things." Nina added, supporting the girl as they continued to try to make the woman believed them, although it already seemed like a lost cause – there was no evidence, and the housemother already didn't believe them much beforehand when she thought that there could have been something in the cellar.

"We couldn't make up things that creepy or stuffed." Amber continued, defending herself and their group, and from beside her, the prankster nodded in agreement.

"Amber almost cries when she sees a couple not matching outfits at a party. Do you really think she'd willingly imagine a dead cat being stuffed?" Sydney questioned the housemother, who knew them all probably better than they knew themselves – she'd watched them grow up for the past several years and was rather close to them; she was their mother away from home and knew them very well.

"Silence!" Victor called out, causing silence to fall upon the room as he turned, facing their housemother with a smug look on his face as he began to speak once again, "Trudy, it has been very nice working with you over the years, but after this fiasco, I'm afraid I can no longer continue to do so."

"What?"

Before he'd even said the two words, Sydney already knew what was coming and she felt her heart breaking into smithereens and felt so much sympathy for the poor woman, especially since everything was their fault and they began to wonder if they should have included her at all. Despite knowing what was coming, her eyes still widened, and a gasp still left her throat (and everyone else's) as the next words left Victor's mouth,

"You're fired."