DENOUEMENT
xxxvii. house of chance
❝JUST HOLD ME, PLEASE.❞

"TAKE MY HAND!"

"Sydney!" Jerome Clarke's concerned voice pierced through the borders of dream and reality, and him gently but shaking Sydney Anderson's arm snapped her out of it, causing her to instantly shoot up into a sitting position on the bed that she was sharing with her childhood best friend (she had slept in the same room as her two best friends that night), her face extremely panicked whilst the blonde-haired boy quickly questioned worriedly, "What is it? Are you okay?"

"Should I call her aunt?" Alfie attentively asked, having rushed over from his own bed and then ran to the side of his roommate's bed upon being awoken by the female prankster's screeches, the two boys keeping their worried eyes locked on their friend.

"No, no." Sydney denied instantly, shaking her head whilst the two boys continued to look at her concernedly, despite her telling them, "I'm okay."

"Sydney, you're shaking." Jerome pointed out, quickly wrapping an arm around her and pulling her tightly into his side to stop her from trembling, whilst he stated, "I thought the nightmares had stopped."

"It wasn't about my parents." Sydney told them.

"The Grim Reaper?" Alfie suggested, being fully aware that the figure of death had caused numerous nightmares for the female prankster in the past, and thus Sydney just nodded - it wasn't necessarily a lie; the spirit did look like The Grim Reaper.

"I'm just going to get some water." Sydney announced to the pair of them, somewhat subtly grabbing her phone from the bedside table and getting up from the bed whilst brushing her finger through her hair frustratedly - that had not been how she had expected her night to go, afterall - and the two boys watched her leave the room cautiously.

As soon as she was inside the kitchen, she hurriedly opened up her phone and rang the person she hoped had an explanation for her nightmares of a spirit with the Mark of Anubis, Nina Martin, who immediately picked up the call and, before the prankster even had a chance to speak, left the greetings aside as she inquired worriedly, "Did you see her too?"

"Do you mean the spirit lady who just chased me around Anubis House in my sleep and looks weirdly like my biggest fear, aka, the Grim Reaper? Yeah, I saw her." Sydney answered, which caused the American to groan frustratedly - she really hadn't wanted her two friends/roommates to get involved and be threatened by the spirit as well; she found it bad enough that Fabian Rutter was cursed.

"Me too." Amber Millington's voice piped up, meaning that the call was on speakerphone from their end.

"You okay, Ambs?" Sydney asked concerningly, knowing how frightened the fashionista got over small things - the woods at night, a door swinging open, faint sounds - nevermind a spirit chasing her in her sleep and threatening her with the Mark of Anubis.

"She's fine." Nina answered, with a small hum coming from the fashionista for confirmation, and there was a pause that occurred for a milli-second before the American hurriedly questioned, her voice laced with concern and worry for the prankster, "Did you take her hand? Please, tell me you didn't take her hand."

"No, Jerome woke me up before she managed to touch me." Sydney revealed, causing the pair of them on the other end to let out a relieved sigh, whilst the prankster quickly pulled up the sleeves of her pyjama top and took a quick glance at her arms, checking for the Mark of Anubis before she confirmed, "I don't think I have the mark, but both him and Alfie are very concerned after I woke them up with my screeches."

"I'm so sorry for dragging you both into all this." Nina apologised with a heavy and annoyed sigh as she spoke to both girls who had been affected, and the American was clearly frustrated by the situation.

"Hey, you didn't drag, we pushed." Amber protested softly, trying to make their roommate feel a little bit better about everything - it wasn't her fault, afterall.

"Yeah, we're quite stubborn like that." Sydney piped up with a faint chuckle , knowing that there was no way that either of the blondes were going to let Nina and/or Fabian risk their lives by themselves to find the Mask of Anubis - they were a team.

"And I'm glad." Amber added.

"A crazy spirit has targeted Fabian and me, and now she's after you two? And you're glad?" Nina asked doubtfully and incredulously, wondering why/how the fashionista was feeling positive about such a terrible situation - the American hadn't even been the one targeted by the spirit that night and she wasn't glad, so how was the person who had been targeted glad?

"Yeah, I disagree with you there, Amber." Sydney muttered, as she most certainly was not glad about the situation - of course, she still stuck by her risky decision to join the team and continue to help them, but she would have preferred if she didn't have a nightmare about a creepy spirit that looked eerily like her biggest fear - honestly, The Grim Reaper and the frightening spirit could have been siblings due to their scary similarities; they even had the black smoke surrounding them in common!

"Well, glad might be stretching it. But, with you here, life's never dull," Amber told their roommate - that was rather true, considering that as soon as Nina Martin became a resident at Anubis House they had been thrown into a whirlwind of mysteries and drama - and, there was a slight pause before the fashionista continued, "unlike your hair, Nina - you really have to do something about those split ends."

At that, Sydney let out a laugh - of course the fashionista would have made a comment about beauty despite facing a terrifying situation moments before - however, the prankster then recalled how she couldn't continue talking or stay in the kitchen for too long, and that caused her to say, "I'm gonna go, before Jerome and Alfie get even more worried about me. I'll come up to you in the morning, yeah?"

"Night, Syd."

With that being said, the prankster quickly ended the call and hurriedly poured a glass of water, recalling what she had told the two boys she was going to get, before she soon left the kitchen and went back into the bedroom, coming in just in time to see Jerome Clarke standing up from his bed, only for him to pause whatever he was doing when his childhood best friend entered the room, sipping some water from her glass.

"I was about to come and check on you." Jerome mumbled, revealing why he had stood up from his bed - it had been a rather good thing that the female prankster ended the call when she did, as it would have been rather hard to explain why she was on the phone with her roommates, talking about having the same dream as one of them, and that dream was about a cursed spirit threatening them with death if they didn't find an Egyptian mask.

"Are you sure you don't want us to ring your aunt?" Alfie asked once more, approaching the girl and placing a comforting hand on her shoulder - honestly, he had always felt a little bit of guilt for not noticing how much suffering his best friend had went through the previous term with her being involved in a car crash that caused both of her parents to lose their lives, so he constantly tried to make up for it by making sure that she was definitely okay that term.

"I'm fine, guys." Sydney assured the pair of them, sending them both a look so that they knew she was being honest - after checking her arms and not seeing a mark from the spirit that threatened her life and gave her a curse, she was much better than she had been previously, so she supposed that she was fine, "It was an average nightmare - not a memory, okay?"

"You have got to stop playing The Sims." Alfie murmured, shaking his head whilst he got back into his bed - however, he remained sitting up in his bed as he continued to watch the girl concernedly; it was hard to believe that someone was okay after they had been screeching in their sleep due to a nightmare - they were extremely lucky that the screams had woken the pair of boys up so quickly and they had managed to get the female prankster up within milliseconds to stop the screeches, or else their housekeeper probably would have realised that somebody was not in the room they were meant to be in, and that would not have gone well for the trio.

So, with the situation being somewhat over, Sydney climbed back into her childhood best friend's bed, with him joining in afterwards and putting the covers over the pair of them, before the male prankster took a glance at her cautiously and very worriedly, and he whispered, "Is there anything that I can do?"

"Just... just hold me, please?"

"Always." Jerome muttered, one of his arms instantly wrapping around her waist to hold her like he had been instructed to do, whilst his free hand was used to brush through her hair gently as she slowly closed her eyes and attempted to fall asleep once more - hopefully, without having to endure a nightmare that time - though, in case she did, Jerome Clarke watched over her, a frown etched upon his lips.

Only a few minutes later did she fall asleep.

"Do you truly think she's okay?" Alfie's hushed voice questioned rather worriedly from over where he sat upon his bed, after his roommate had informed him that the female prankster had fallen asleep once more, "Should we contact her aunt anyways?"

"No, not right now." Jerome eventually concluded, brushing a few stray hairs out of the girl's face before he glanced up at his worried roommate and told him, "She was telling the truth when she said it wasn't about her parents - I could tell."

"Are you gonna stay up?" Alfie asked, taking a brief look at the sleeping girl in the blonde-haired boy's arms before he continued, "To watch over her?"

"Is it that obvious?" Jerome faintly chuckled, his soft and fond, yet worried, gaze returning to the girl beside him, who he truly did care for.

"The way you can't keep your eyes off her for more than a single second kind of gave it away, buddy." Alfie stated, before he then realised something and continued, telling the male prankster, "Actually, that's you most of the time, really. Do you even know the amount of times I've caught you staring at her with this lovesick smile on your face?"

Amusedly, Jerome rolled his eyes before he responded, "How about you go to sleep now, yeah?"

"The denial stage still, really?" Alfie muttered - though, it was still faintly audible in the room - whilst he rolled his eyes frustratedly, not knowing how he had managed to cope with the pair of blondes being undoubtedly in love with each other for the past few years, yet neither one of them were willing to admit it, "I can't wait until you realise you love her and I can tell you 'I told you so' - I might even sing it."

"Alfie, sleep."

"Fine, but wake me up if something happens with her, yeah?" Alfie instructed, shooting yet another worried look at his female best friend as he wondered whether or not she'd have another nightmare again.

"Yeah, will do." Jerome told him with a faint nod, before he turned his attention back to his childhood best friend, continuing to stroke her hair whilst he thought about the words that his roommate had said.

Did he love Sydney Anderson?

Was that the unknown yet bubbling emotion he had begun to feel whenever he looked at the girl or even slightly touched her? Was that what had caused him to almost kiss her - something that he had attempted to push to the back of his mind - without a second thought the previous day? Was that why he seemed unable to ignore the almost kiss and why it continued to constantly make the memory known in his mind?

The answer to that was yes.

But, Jerome Clarke denied that.

He denied that, even whilst he stayed awake for the remaining few hours of the night and only had his eyes locked on his childhood best friend, watching her concernedly so that he wouldn't miss the first sign of her having a nightmare and would be able to halt the petrifying situation she was enduring in her mind before it managed to get worse - though, there was no sign, and the girl had a normal sleep that time. However, that didn't particularly ease the worry that Jerome Clarke had felt that morning, especially when the female prankster had attempted to leave to go to her own bedroom in order to get ready for the school day ahead for them - she had to practically wrestle out of the boy's strong arms as he didn't want to let her go, though the blondes giggled relentlessly during it whilst Alfie Lewis watched them amusedly, taking a few pictures on his phone that he was bound to show to the rest of the Anubis House residents to further prove how much the blonde pairing loved one another (though, they didn't particularly need anymore proof and were able to tell easily).

By the way, Sydney Anderson totally won that wrestling competition, perhaps due to her tickling him midway through and being able to slip out.

Once she had slipped out, she rushed to her bedroom before the blonde-haired boy was able to drag her back and continue to tightly hold her in his arms, and as soon as the female prankster swung the door open to her bedroom, she had been engulfed in a tight hug from both of her roommates as the pair of them made sure she was okay after the nightmare that she had, before they hastily rolled up her sleeves and checked her for the Mark of Anubis, just to make sure.

She was clear - no mark.

And, whilst the worry that the members of the secret group felt eased slightly at that revelation, some people were still worried about Sydney Anderson, and that included Jerome Clarke. On top of worrying about his childhood best friend after the nightmare that she had, he also had to worry about what was occurring that day - Donkey Day - and paying the private investigator, as he had originally intended to use all the money from the fundraiser to pay off the terrible private investigator but, once Mara Jaffray found that out, she had forced the prankster to donate all the money to sick donkeys, threatening to 'let the donkey out of the bag' if he didn't.

Furthermore, she had even decided to work out exactly the prankster was meant to earn from the fundraiser, in order to make sure that every single penny was donated to the poor donkeys, which led to the two blonde pranksters walking alongside the nerd as she held a calculator in her hand, doing a few sums before she spoke, "So, by the end of today, you should have approximately two hundred pounds, and what are you expecting from games and stalls?"

"I don't know, Mara, because this is not a math-off!" Jerome answered, evidently frustrated by the constant questions - the blonde pair had to deal with the nerd being smart as they walked together for the past few minutes, and they weren't particularly fond of it, "The donkeys will get them all, okay?"

Sending him a stern and mildly threatening glare (though, Mara Jaffray wasn't exactly the most threatening person alive), the nerd spoke sharply as she stated, "Make sure they do."

With that being said, she turned and walked away from the blonde couple-not-a-couple, leaving the male prankster to mock what the nerd had said as her back was turned, whilst Sydney noticed him mocking her and let out a faint chuckle, amusedly shaking her head at his behaviour - it was cute; somewhat annoying, of course, but cute nonetheless.

"You can still have my fifty for the PI, you know?" Sydney told him once the chuckles had dissipated away, her tone rather soft as she went to pull the money out of her blazer pocket again to offer it to him once more, in hopes he'd take it so that he didn't get chased down by the annoying and clearly incapable private investigator.

"No, and that's final." Jerome sternly stated, giving her a small glance whilst he gripped her wrist softly in order to stop her taking the money out of her blazer pocket.

Having a very brief stare-off for a moment or two, it eventually resulted in the male prankster releasing her wrist and she let her arm fall down, releasing a small frustrated huff at the fact she didn't take the money - however, that didn't mean she had given up, and she stubbornly responded, "I'm sneaking it into your blazer at some point then."

"And I'll sneak it back into yours." Jerome retorted, causing the girl to roll her eyes at him - yeah... they were both very stubborn, and neither of them were going to win the argument of whether or not he should take the money so easily.

"I don't know who is going to lose Wonky Donkey first." Sydney spoke, changing the topic quickly as she realised that neither were going to win as she came to the conclusion that she'd just sneak it into the boy's possession at some point, and the blonde pairing began  walking down the corridor once more, bodies glued to one another, whilst the female prankster continued, telling her friend, "On one hand, Amber drinks one litre of water every morning for hydration purposes. But, on the other hand, I'm almost certain that Patricia would happily stomp on Eddie and kill him if he annoys her too much."

"Well, I suppose we'll soon find out." Jerome muttered as they entered to the drama studio, where the two couples that were contestants in the challenge were, causing for the prankster to motion to them, before he then turned his attention solely to Alfie Lewis, leaning down beside him and sniffing him, "Dude smells like a lady this morning."

At that, Sydney chuckled as she presumed that the boy had been sprayed by some sort of perfume, or perhaps even hairspray, as the girl he was tied to and sitting beside happened to be the resident fashionista, Amber Millington, who soon turned to the pair of pranksters and told them (more specifically the male of them), "Jerome, Alfie is not coming into the bathroom with me. I'm going to be untying this knot when I need to go."

"Fine, but you will be out of the game." Jerome informed them, both him and Sydney taking a seat among the group within the drama studio whilst he recited the rules to them once more, reminding them, "Legs have to stay tied at all times."

"I drink a litre of water every morning for hydration purposes." Amber pointed out the exact same thing that her roommate had told the boy earlier, causing the female prankster to let out a small snicker - she knew that was going to be an issue for the girl.

"Told you."

Letting out a faint chuckle at the girl beside him and how she had been correct, he sent her a faint grin before he turned back to the fashionista and addressed her issue, though he didn't particularly help much, simply stating, "Well, that should raise the stakes a bit."

Meanwhile, Eddie Miller put his arm on the back of his seat, turning back to look at the stage that was being prepared for Donkey Diner - the challenge that Jerome Clarke was participating on and most definitely not looking forward to - before he turned back to the contestant with a smug look on his face as he inquired, "Ready to get served, Jerry?"

"Absolutely." Jerome answered, though he most certainly did not look ready - actually, he looked rather disgusted by the thought of having to participate in the challenge, though nobody could exactly blame him as nobody wanted to eat numerous buckets of creamed carrot, and his disgust became even more apparent when the male prankster added, "Last thing this afternoon, when we have sauced every bit of carrot in the neighbourhood."

Approaching the group once more after having done a few checks on the stalls for Donkey Day to make sure that everything was perfect, Mara Jaffray turned to the fashionista of the group and asked, "Amber, have you got those extra gifts for the Lucky Dip?"

"Oh, I left them on my bed. I'll go and get them - come on." Amber replied, causing her and the person that she was tied to - Alfie Lewis - to get up to their feet in order to leave the room and retrieve the gifts, though as the pair started to walk, they headed in different directions and that caused the rope tied around their ankles to make a snapping sound as it harshly pulled them back together, forcing a screech to sound out from the fashionista's lips whilst the rest of the room broke out into laughter, her partner profusely apologising to her, whilst she cried out frustratedly, "Ugh! Alfie, what's wrong with you? Inside, outside, inside, outside - wrong!"

"Oh, they're not going to last longer than a few hours, I bet." Sydney muttered, faint giggles still leaving her lips as she continued to watch her two closest friends leave the room, shaking her head at them in the process - however, her attention was soon turned to the other contestants in the competition as a conversation between them began.

Patricia Williamson snarkily turned to face her partner for the challenge, Eddie Miller (who was still softly chuckling about the incident between their rivals) as she pointed out to him, "I don't know why you're so amused. We haven't even tried walking yet."

"Eh. Lady don't lie." He admitted, sliding his phone into his pocket whilst he stood up to his feet, briefly turning to the girl beside him as he asked, "Shall we?"

Of course, that caused his purple-haired partner to shoot him a very harsh glare (their first meeting was clearly not very good, due to the amount of hatred their was between them despite them hardly knowing each other, and the boy hardly being there for a day), though Patricia soon followed him and went to stand up to her feet, only for the boy to kick his tied ankle out, and force the girl to fall back onto the couch again and caused the people in the room, Jerome and Sydney included, to giggle slightly. Suddenly, it made sense why Eddie Miller and Patricia Williamson didn't get along, and them killing each other during the competition seemed extremely probable at that moment.

"Hey! Cut it out!"

"Okay, okay." He murmured, holding his hand out for her in order to help her stand out - reluctantly, she took it and used it to pull herself up, before she crossed her arms as the pair began to walk out of the room, doing seemingly a little bit better than the other duo.

Speaking of the other duo, Alfie Lewis and Amber Millington, it was only a few hours later  when Sydney Anderson set her sights upon the former of the pairing as he entered the drama studio once more when it neared the end of the day and Donkey Diner was due to start within the next half an hour, him now being untied from the fashionista that he had been partnered with - they had evidently given up and lost the challenge of Wonky Donkey, presumably due to the latter needing to use the bathroom.

"I think you lost a person." Sydney spoke with a faint chuckle as she approached the boy, motioning towards his untied ankle whilst the boy playfully rolled his eyes at her comment, though the female prankster continued, "How long did you last - an hour?"

"Three, actually." Alfie corrected, rather proud of how long he had lasted tied up to the bubbly girl, though he soon dropped his proud expression and became honest as he muttered, "It felt like a lifetime, though. How do you room with her?"

Instantly, Sydney turned to him - the boyfriend of the girl who had chased after her for numerous years - with raised eyebrows, retorting, "How do you date her?"

"Good point."

With Alfie Lewis and Amber Millington out of the race, that meant that the only couple doing the Wonky Donkey from Anubis House left was Eddie Miller and Patricia Williamson. Honestly, Sydney Anderson didn't have much hope in the pair winning at first and presumed that the only thing that would be won for them was going to be a prison sentence for murder, though they had actually won and managed to stay tied to one another for six hours and thirty minutes, which was rather shocking, to say in the least. And, with that being announced, that meant that there was only one challenge left.

Donkey Diner.

Everything was fully set up only a few minutes later, and the group were on the stage - Sydney and Alfie were trying to encourage and hype up the contestant, Jerome Clarke, who was sat down whilst the latter of the pairing rubbed his shoulders to prepare him, though the blonde-haired boy seemed extremely concerned as the challenge grew closer, asking, "You did check whether eating all this creamed carrot could kill me, right?"

"Yeah, it can't kill you." Sydney confirmed with a nod - her and Alfie had been forced to do many searches on Google by her childhood best friend to make sure that the challenge was safe, and she had learnt a lot of information, "It says it's... somewhat... harmless."

"Somewhat?!" Jerome repeated incredulously, instantly snapping his head to face the blonde girl with widened eyes as he wondered what the uncertainty meant.

Quickly, before the boy continued to think about the worst-possible situation, Alfie filled him in about the information they had found and informed him, "It could poison you."

"I'm sorry, what?!"

"It's called 'Carotenemia' - you don't die, you just turn orange." Alfie told him, with the female beside him nodding for confirmation - it had been quite an interesting fact to learn, actually, and it made her giggle slightly, "That's good, right?"

"How is that, in any way, good, Alfie?!" Jerome spat out, evidently annoyed as he wondered where his best friend's logic had disappeared to - if he had any in the first place... they were still contemplating and rather unsure of that part.

"Well, if scientists have bothered to give it a proper medical name, they probably developed a cure too." Alfie assured him, though that caused the female prankster to turn to him with furrowed eyebrows and a very doubtful expression plastered on her face.

"I... I don't think that's how it works."

"I said probably."

Upon hearing his two best friends talk about how he could potentially be poisoned and how a cure for it only 'probably' existed, Jerome Clarke decided to not participate in the challenge before it had began, going to stand up from his chair until Mara Jaffray came from behind him and shoved him back into the chair, "Do it for those poor little donkeys."

Clearly worried, he motioned to himself and quizzed, "What about poor little me?"

"Don't worry. I'll look after you, you big baby." Sydney assured him teasingly, a soft and amused grin on her lips whilst she ruffled his hair, messing it up slightly and causing the boy to roll his eyes at her, before swatting her hands away just as the first bucket of creamed carrot was placed in front of him on the table.

It looked disgusting.

"Just... imagine it's milkshake." Alfie advised him, seeming quite hesitant about the challenge himself despite him not being the one doing it - now that they had seen the substance that their friend had to drink, they weren't so sure the challenge was a good idea, considering how disgusting it looked, "Carrot-flavoured milkshake."

"That's not helping, Alfie." Jerome muttered, glaring at the bucket that seemed to hold his doom as he concluded that creamed carrot was going to be his cause of death and that his gravestone was going to have the words 'killed by carrot' on it; that was a way to go.

However, before he had another chance to back out, the bell had rung and Amber Millington walked past the stage with a carrot-shaped sign that had the words 'Round One' written on them, and suddenly it was too late to back out, and that caused for the blonde-haired prankster to hesitantly pick up his spoon and put it into the bucket, taking his first spoonful of the creamed carrot whilst the audience cheered and encouraged him, taking numerous pictures and videos of the hilarious, yet disgusting, event.

During the event and whilst many more buckets came out for the boy to have his creamed carrot out of, Sydney Anderson had joined the audience a few times with her camera, snapping a few photos of the incident in order to remember the event and probably use them to embarrass him later on in life. Though, she found herself spending more of her time encouraging Jerome Clarke, whilst also trying to not throw up herself.

And, soon enough, the contestant had carrot coating most of his face and seemed like he was seconds away from throwing up - it truly was vile, and perhaps that was what caused the nerd who encouraged him to state, "Jerome, you have my permission to give up."

"He hasn't given up on anything that he started in his life, especially when it involves money." Sydney pointed out to the nerd with a small huff, knowing that once the boy began something - especially a challenge - then he typically saw it through until the end, "Although, I'm with her - I really do not want to deal with you throwing up."

Agreeing with the two females who clearly wanted the boy to pack in the challenge so that he didn't throw up everywhere, Alfie made his way around the table whilst he said in a desperate voice, "Let me throw in the towel and end this now."

"Don't... you... dare." Jerome responded through gritted teeth and with a rather strained voice - however, Alfie still took the towel off his shoulder and went to throw it behind him, only stopping due to the carrot-coated boy grasping his arm tightly, muttering out, "No! Don't... don't."

Despite everyone on the stage seeming concerned for the contestant and his health, the person who had challenged him to it - Eddie Miller - was still grinning rather widely at the event, finding it rather humorous, "Ain't no gong, 'til it's all gone."

"You know, I can't tell if I like you or if I loathe you." Sydney muttered, crossing her arms over her chest as she glared at the boy - in fairness, she found him quite funny and it was quite courageous of him to make such a big impression on the first day, having stood up to their strict housekeeper (and got away with it) and also challenging the prankster to a horrendous challenge, but the prankster also happened to be her best friend.

Though, Eddie Miller didn't seem phased by the girl's comment and simply mock-saluted her, still wearing a large grin on his lips as he sarcastically responded, "It's a pleasure."

Meanwhile, Jerome Clarke, still very much coated in creamed carrot, reached into the bucket with his spoon and pulled out yet another disgusting spoonful of the terrible substance, putting it in his mouth and eating it - and then, he went to throw up and everyone, including Sydney, instantly turned away from the presumably horrendous and treacherous sight, until they heard laughter coming from the boy, and that caused them to turn back to see that the last bucket was empty..

He did it.

Within seconds, the room exploded into cheers and applause, rather surprised that the boy had managed to actually complete the challenge, and they all quickly celebrated his win as Alfie lifted his arm victoriously, whilst Sydney clapped him on the shoulder and smiled widely at him, telling him, "I would give you a hug, but you're all... carrot-ey."

"Well, that was... really dumb." Eddie concluded as he stepped onto the stage, hands slid into his trouser pockets, and that caused him to excuse the 'cool' and 'bad boy' persona that he had held onto since he had arrived at the school.

"Yeah, you'll come to learn that we do a lot of dumb things here - especially him." Sydney responded, pointing to the carrot-coated boy in the chair; honestly, taking part in the challenge to eat numerous gallons of creamed carrot may have been probably one of the most dumbest things he had done among the long list of dumb things.

"You did it. Good job, Carrot Boy." Eddie congratulated him, holding out his hand for a handshake, and the male prankster barely managed to reach over to him to shake it, as he was feeling sick and like he was about to throw up after eating so much creamed carrot, "This is for you." Eddie told him, offering him the promised extreme amount of money that the boy went out to take, though the new boy jerked his hand (and the money) back, "Double or nothing?"

Within seconds, Jerome had reached across the table to snatch the money from his hands, almost knocking over the chair and table in the process.

And, whilst actually getting the large sum of money in reward for completing the challenge made him feel a little bit better mentally, it certainly did not help him physically as the sickness he felt only seemed to get worse with time, and it led to Sydney Anderson practically carrying the boy back to Anubis House as he had put all of his weight on her, with her having her arm wrapped around his waist as she led him into his bedroom and safely placed him on his bed, where he continued to groan and whine about how sick he felt. He looked sick too, with him actually having gone orange.

Observing him from where she sat at the end of his bed (she really did not want to stay near him for too long, in case he threw up and she had no time to move, thus resulting in her having carrot vomit all over her), her eyes narrowed as she glanced at his face, before she said, "I can't tell if you have carrots on your face, or if you have become a carrot."

"That..." His stomach gurgled, "...is not helpful."'

"Well, I don't think me calling you a carrot is how you've ended up in this position." Sydney mumbled in response, before she got up from his bed and grabbed some tissue from the box that he had on his desk, sitting down beside the prankster (very dangerous territory, really, but she'd risk it for him), and dabbed the tissue around his mouth, wiping away the carrot and getting rid of it all before she mumbled, "There you go - you're carrot-free... somewhat... you still look orange."

He groaned once more.

"If it's any consolation, you still look very handsome even when you're turning orange." Sydney assured him, a small giggle leaving her lips in the process whilst her fingers brushed his cheek soothingly and she pressed a very small kiss to his forehead to comfort him, before leaving his side once more to go to the end of the bed, still rather petrified of the chance of her getting carrot vomit all over her.

"I am never eating a single carrot again." Jerome groaned, his hand resting on his stomach in an attempt to try to soothe it whilst it continued to whine at him - his poor stomach was literally screeching at him, wondering why there were so many carrots in his system.

A knock at the door caught both of their attention (mainly Sydney's, as Jerome was still focusing on not throwing up), and soon enough the door opened to reveal Mara Jaffray, who smiled widely at the blonde pairing, "Hey, Champ. How is he, Sydney?"

"Carrot-ey."

At that, the nerd let out a faint laugh before she glanced over at the bedside table, where all of the money from the day of fundraising resided in an envelope, "Is that all of it? I'll make sure the donkey sanctuary gets all it. I hope you've learnt your lesson."

"Yep," Jerome responded, "Charity... hurts."

"Jerome, what you've done is a good thing." Mara tried to comfort him, and the female prankster nodded in agreement as the pair of them tried to make the boy feel a little bit better about what he did, though he was probably more focused on his stomach constantly making odd noises due to the extreme amount of carrots he had eaten.

"What can I say? I feel all warm... and gooey... inside, literally." He responded, all whilst his stomach was making squelching noises and appeared to get worse, and that seemed to be true when the boy looked like he was seconds away from throwing up, asking the pair, "Can you two get Vera to bring me a bucket, please?"

Instantly, Mara nodded and grabbed Sydney's hand to tug her out of the bedroom before the boy threw up, knowing that it wasn't going to be a pleasant sight, and they managed to shut the bedroom door behind them just as they heard him throw up everywhere.

Yeah... perhaps she'd steer clear of his room for a while.

After she had asked their new housemother to bring the boy a bucket (also warning her of the potential of walking into a carrot-induced-vomit-coated room), she had decided to go into her own room, swinging the door open to see the dollhouse glowing and the three other members of the secret group stood in front of it. She most certainly hadn't expected that, but she probably should have - when did anything normal happen in Anubis House anymore?

"Woah, what's it doing?" Sydney questioned, announcing her presence to the three people whilst she quickly closed the door behind her, making sure that nobody else would be able to see the children's toy glowing, before she approached them and stood among them.

"It just cracked out of the blue." Nina Martin informed the girl, causing her eyebrows to furrow confusedly as she glanced at the large crack on the side of the creepy dollhouse.

"It just cracked for no reason?" Amber Millington repeated, her eyes wide as they stared at the dollhouse that appeared to do weird things by itself, "That's off the chart crazy."

"For some reason, it's one of the less crazier things that has happened to us." Sydney mumbled, remembering that they had been held hostage by a man threatening to kill them with buzzing and deadly sandflies and that they had discovered that their housekeeper, plus some of their teachers, had been taking an elixir of life and wanted immortality - that definitely was one of the weirder things that had happened.

"Well, it must be a clue." Nina suggested, gesturing over to the dollhouse and its large crack whilst she continued, "Maybe hinting at something we have to do or... I don't know-." However, the female cut herself off when she glanced over to Fabian Rutter, becoming frustrated when she noticed that he was messing with the cube that they had found in the tunnels, and she placed her hand on her hip, "You're not listening, Fabian."

"No," Fabian protested, though he continued to pay more attention to the cube rather than what she was saying as he resumed messing with it in an attempt to crack it and get it to open, "I-I-I am. If I just go like this, and..."

Realising that he was only going to pay attention to the cube, the American rolled her eyes frustratedly and gave up, turning back to the dollhouse and trying to figure out what the crack meant, "Okay, it cracked - the dollhouse cracked, and then it made a triangle. So..." As she spoke, she held her hands up in the form of a triangle, mimicking the crack, "...what if-. Here, give it to me." She instructed the boy with the cube, turning to him and trying to take the cube from him, despite his protests - the pair seemed to be in a little bit of a tug of war for a while, and that left Amber and Sydney to share a confused glance whilst the fighting continued, "Fabian, give it to me. Fabian!"

Eventually, Nina managed to take the cube from the boy, and within seconds she had thrown it to the ground, causing it to smash into numerous pieces and forcing a large gasp to emit from the female prankster's throat, whilst her ex-boyfriend exclaimed her name and wondered what she had done and why she had done it - if the cube was broken, they couldn't complete the next text, as they were certain that was the key to get through.

However, before they were able to worry about that, they were faced with yet another worry as a sharp knock sounded at the door and the sound of their housekeeper came through from the other side of the door, "What is going on in there?"

Before he entered, the four members of the secret group stepped in front of the numerous broken pieces of the cube that were scattered over the floor, making it so that he was unable to see them, and only a few seconds later did the door swing open, revealing the housekeeper as he glared at them all, his eyes narrowed and accusing.

"Home for five minutes and already an almighty commotion! Well?"

"Uh, we, um..." Nina stammered, unable to quickly think of an excuse.

"A lover's tiff, Victor. Nina and Fabian are going out." Amber hurriedly took over, then realised her bad phrasing and turned to them apologetically, correcting, "Sorry, were."

"They broke up." Sydney added, her voice a whisper and directed to the older man - however, her voice was still audible by the rest of the group.

"Well, if you must... tiff, kindly do it quietly." He instructed, seeming rather awkward about the couple arguing, thus he quickly left the room and shut the door behind him.

Instantly, the group broke out into chuckles at his reaction, before they glanced back down to the ground and to the broken pieces of the cube, kneeling down to examine the many shattered pieces, and Fabian soon spoke up, "The rattling must be a key." However, his opinion soon changed as he picked up a tiny golden pyramid from the pile of cube pieces, causing him to add, "Or not."

That small sentence caused his ex-girlfriend to glance up, noticing the small pyramid in his hands, and within seconds she turned back to the numerous pieces on the floor and began to pick them up, beginning to build something whilst offering no explanation to them, and that led for the three remaining members to watch her with perplexed expressions on their faces, wondering what she was doing, "What is she doing?"

"No clue." Sydney murmured, briefly glancing back at the fashionista who had asked the question, before she turned back to their roommate worriedly, but then she had her own question to ask the group, "Do you think she's gone insane?"

"The dollhouse cracked and made a triangle," Nina muttered to herself, continuing to pick up pieces and refusing to answer any of their questions, "so I cracked the cube and..."

"That's not all that's cracked." Amber whispered.

"Should we call for help?" Sydney wondered, glancing over at the nerd of the group for confirmation, though he seemed weirded out, though intrigued, by what his ex-girlfriend was doing - and, it soon became apparent to them what she had been doing.

She lifted up the nearly finished pyramid that she had formed from the broken cube pieces, with it simply missing the tip on the top - the piece that was in Fabian's hands - and so, he quickly slotted it on top and finished the pyramid, causing it to glow, whilst the nerd concluded, "So, the dollhouse crack was a clue after all."

For confirmation, Nina nodded whilst she continued to examine the cube-turned-triangle, before she told them all, "We should go and check out the tunnels tonight."

"Yay." Amber plainly responded, before she suddenly gasped and seemed to brighten up, and the reason why soon became clear as a very important question left her lip gloss-coated lips, "Do I have time to change outfits?"

At the question, the remaining three members of the secret group let out faint chuckles, which only grew louder as Sydney Anderson exclaimed the girl's name exasperatedly and lightly nudged her fellow blonde-haired girl, though it resulted in the fashionista being pushed over onto the ground as she retorted about it being 'a very valid question'.

However, she still had time to change outfits.

And, once she had changed outfits, the group had soon found themselves sneaking to the tunnels and ready to find out what their next task was, whilst Nina Martin held the pyramid in her hands, taking the lead as they walked closer towards the wall with the geometric-like shape on it. As they approached the wall, they realised that the missing triangle on the design was glowing the exact same colour as the tip of the pyramid that was being held in the hands of Nina Martin, practically screeching that they were meant to meet - and they were, as the pyramid fit perfectly into the slot when the American pushed it into it, and the rest of the triangles on the wall began to glow. Only a few seconds later did the sound of rumbling and creaking fill their ears, being followed by the wall sliding open and revealing a new set of tunnels on the other side.

A grin on her lips, Nina asked, "Shall we see what's inside tunnel number two?"

"You know, I bet it'll have some cobwebs, some dust, more cobwebs - oh, and don't let me forget another stupid task for us to do." Sydney assumed, basing her guess on everything that the four members of the secret group had seen thus far, before she glanced around the tunnels as she bitterly added, "Thanks again, Frobisher!"

"Sarah's dad sure had a thing for catacombs." Fabian noted as he looked at their new surroundings warily - they couldn't be too careful when in a tunnel that was laced with booby traps, one of which they had already experienced and had caused one of their members to go blind for twenty-four hours.

"Yeah, but no eye for decor." Amber added, a disgusted look plastered on her face as she glanced around the place that was clearly not up to her beauty standards.

However, as the fashionista spoke, the sound of rumbling and creaking became apparent to the ground, loudly echoing off the walls and causing Nina's eyes to narrow curiously, whilst she soon inquired the group, "What's that sound?"

"Which one?" Amber responded as the group of four continued to walk through the tunnels, despite the odd sounds that continued to occur from around them, - however, apparently the fashionista heard a multitude of sounds, which she soon listed to them, "Creaky beams? The windy tunnel? Or my heart beating out of my chest?"

It was safe to say that walking into an unknown place, not knowing what was to come next, was rather frightening for a group of teenagers. However, the unknown place seemed to not deliver much, as they soon found themselves at a dead end.

"Well, colour me very slightly disappointed." Amber muttered upon arrival - however, only a few seconds later did she nearly slip and fall into what appeared to be an extremely deep and dark chasm that blocked the way to the other side of the tunnels, and the group quickly grasped her arms and pulled her back from the edge, with the fashionista adding, "Spoke too soon."

"Just a little." Sydney confirmed, sending an extremely wary glance down into the deep, dark hole only centimeters away from them - one wrong move, a simple step further, and they would have fallen into the unknown, like Amber had nearly done moments ago,

Trying to gather some intel, Fabian kicked a nearby rock into the chasm in order to deduce how far down it was, and it didn't particularly ease their worries when the rock echoed numerous times on the way down, allowing them to confirm, "That's a long way down."

"Do you think it'll be like Alice in Wonderland?" Sydney nervously asked, masking her worry about the abyss with humour whilst the group looked at her confusedly - though, the prankster only continued, "Though, instead of a rabbit hole, it's a... rather scary chasm."

"Believe it or not, I don't think it's Wonderland waiting down there for us." Fabian muttered, clearly also worried about the chasm in front of them - which, also, didn't appear to have a bridge to the other side, meaning they were stuck.

"I was hoping to meet the Mad Hatter." Sydney informed them, before she then remembered how insane the tunnels were and how they were made by a man, who could have been considered to be quite mad to have built such death contraptions, so she called out, "Oh, wait, we're already going through his tunnels - once again, thanks, Frobisher!"

"Okay." Nina began slowly, the sound of worry evident in her voice and causing them to glance back at her wonderingly, whilst she motioned to the tunnels behind them and pointed out, "I definitely hear something back there."

And, it didn't take another second to realise that she was right - the rumbling noise from beforehand had somehow, for a reason unknown to them, become much louder, still echoing off the walls and sounding out all through the tunnels, and they hastily rushed back to see what was causing the loud noise, only for their eyes to widen at the sight.

The ceiling was coming down.

Unfortunately for them, it hadn't only just started either, with the ceiling being extremely close to the ground and almost succeeding in completely trapping them in the tunnels forever. It was evident that the ceiling had been lowering ever since the rumbling noise had first started, hence the loud noise. Though, there also appeared to be another loud noise - the sound of Sydney Anderson's heart hammering furiously against her chest as the group watched their chances of getting out of the tunnels vanish in front of their eyes. Not knowing what to do, the group shared petrified looks with one another, before they dropped down to the ground and eyed the small gap, only getting smaller, that was their only way out of the tunnels.

"We're gonna be trapped!"

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[26.06.2020]

NOTE: this is the shortest chapter of season three but i love it a lot because of donkey day, and there's a lot of sydrome content here.

originally, i wrote the scene with sydney waking up from the nightmare as she was in the same room as nina and amber, but couldn't figure out how nina would wake the pair of them up at the same time. if she waited any longer to wake them up, then one of them would have been marked, so the solution was jerome and alfie and i really love how it turned out.