KT swung open the door to the crypt, to see Alfie and Amber lying on the floor. She rushed over to them, with Joy at her tail and they both knelt down next to their friends, trying to shake them awake.

"Alfie? Amber? Is that you? Guys, wake up!" KT cried worriedly, shaking the two bodies viscously.

"Talk to me Amber, say anything at all! Even the brand of your favourite perfume! What was it again? Flower Petals?" Joy breathed heavily, her hands curling into fists.

"KT? Joy?" a voice asked from behind them.

KT jumped, and snapped her head upwards to see Eddie's head poking out from behind one of the hidden walls. She and Joy scowled at him and the other Sibuna members as Alfie and Amber began to sit up meekly.

"Eddie?" Joy asked with a frown, "What are you all doing?" she asked standing up and brushing herself off.

"We thought you were Vera, so we hid," Fabian explained.

"And Alfie and Amber played dead." Patricia said bluntly while Nina stifled a smile. "Well, they attempted to."

"It was pretty believable, Patricia!" Joy cried indignantly, scowling at Alfie and Amber in anger. "We actually thought that they were dead!"

"Or unconscious at least. You guys had us really worried, for real," KT agreed. "You're pretty good actors."

"I know right!" Amber smiled happily, ignoring her broken ankle. Turning to Joy, she added, "Do you think I should hire an agent?"

"No," Patricia scoffed, "You'd have to be pretty thick to believe that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Joy asked Patricia, crossing her arms. "And why didn't you two get up when we were shaking you?"

"Where's Jerome?" Fabian asked, ignoring Joy's rampage of questions, and excusing Amber and Alfie from having to answer them.

Everyone went quiet all of a sudden, and turned to face KT and Joy, who had been the ones that were supposed to be accompanying the boy in question. Joy bit her lip nervously, and KT took a slight step back, aware of the attention in her direction. When it became completely awkward, she began whistling, and rocking on her heels.

It was fair to say, that it didn't help the tension.

"Joy, KT, where is he?" Nina asked starting to panic, her face showing worry.

"He's...um..." KT hesitated, "He's...distracting Vera."

"What do you mean, 'distracting Vera'?" Alfie demanded, using large, flustered arm gestures.

"It means he's doing the chicken dance," Joy said sarcastically. "What do you think, Alfie?" she yelled, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know, that's why I asked. KT, what exactly is Jerome doing?" Alfie turned to KT, starting to raise his voice as well.

"He's kind of being chased by her," KT admitted quietly.

"What?" Nina shot up. "Well, we have to go and help him!" she insisted immediately.

"We will, but tell us what you found first," KT demanded.

"But we have to help him!" Nina protested. "KT, be reasonable, his life could be in danger. Who knows what that woman is capable of."

"Jerome's a grown man, he can take care of himself. We'll go and help him after you show us," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"But-" Nina began.

"-Nina, if you just answer the question, maybe we can go and help Jerome," Eddie reasoned.

"Fine," Nina sighed, defeated. "Come over here then."

~~~

Willow was pacing back and forth in the living room, wondering if she should've persisted in helping Mara. From the sounds of it, there was a very high chance that she hand broken or sprained her wrist. But Willow had to keep reminding herself that Mara was the one who pushed her away.

"Are you okay?" A voice asked uncertainty from behind her.

Willow snapped her head around and realised that the figure standing in the kitchen was Mick. He was in the middle of opening a bottle of water, and he was all sweaty from his run. He began to make his was over to Willow, as he took the first refreshing sip.

"Oh, Mick!" Willow said, relieved. "You scared me!"

"Sorry. I thought you'd hear me, seeing as it's pretty quiet in the house," Mick frowned. "Where is everyone?

"That's what I'd like to know," Willow agreed. "They all just seem to disappear for hours and then show up later without any recognition for their disappearance! I mean, what could possibly be going on?"

"Tell me about it," Mick rolled his eyes.

"Ah, sweeties, there you are!" Trudy interrupted, running frantically into the kitchen. I think Mara has sprained her wrist, could you go and see if she needs anything? I'll get the ice."

Willow stood there guiltily and without another word, Mick bounded up the stairs in search of Mara.

~~~

Everyone gathered to see the engraving under the initials R.F.S.

"We found a similar pattern on the opposite side. My locket also glows when I'm near them. We don't know what they mean yet but hopefully we'll find some more clues soon," Nina explained, moving backwards and forwards to demonstrate the glow in her locket.

"If only we still had the dollhouse," Amber sighed, leaning against the wall in pain.

"Or any way to communicate with Sarah," Fabian added, grabbing his phone out of his pocket. "I'll take a picture of it and see what I can find online."

"It looks to be some sort of weird Egyptian symbols," KT stated, crouching down and gently trailing her hands over it. "Like hieroglyphics or something?"

"Not again! I thought we had already been past that stage," Amber huffed. "I'm being completely honest when I say that Frobisher-Smythe needs to come up with something more original. I mean hieroglyphics? Again?"

"Actually, Amber, I think it's Arabic," Fabian said, examining the picture on his phone. "But I'm not entirely sure what it says."

"Shame on you, nerd," Amber grumbled.

"Guys, aren't we forgetting something?" Patricia asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Jerome!" Joy exclaimed, "Let's hurry before he breaks off into the Nutbush."

"Boy would I like to see that," Patricia sniggered, heading for the door.

"Guys, what about me?" Amber asked. "I think I sprained my ankle really badly."

"Don't worry, I'll go with Amber back to the house and you guys go find Jerome," Alfie decided, standing up tall and brushing himself off. "Finally I'll get to be the Food Fighter Phenomenon!"

"You sure you don't need the wheelbarrow now?" Eddie joked, which earned him a confused, yet nonetheless angry glance from Amber.

"Alright, just don't go anywhere else without telling us," Nina reminded them, like they were her children. "And don't do anything stupid, we don't want you getting hurt."

"Rude?" Amber rolled her eyes. "I'm already on my death bed here."

"Well, anymore hurt than you already are, Amber," Fabian rephrased.

They were all smiling at Amber's comment, when Nina began to lead the way out. Alfie rolled his eyes, as the rest of the Sibuna gang left the crypt, and he and Amber became the only one's in there.

~~~

"Mara, Mara! Are you okay? I heard about your wrist, here let me," Mick rushed over to Mara who was trying to get out her emergency first aid kit from under her bed.

She stood back and sat down on her bed as she watched Mick dive under her bed and pull out a box with a red cross on it. He opened the box and rummaged around until he found a bandage wrap.

"Mick, what are you doing here?" Mara managed to get out finally, after watching Mick in shock.

"What do you mean? I-I'm helping you," he nervously laughed and sat down on the bed next to Mara.

"Yes but, I'm not completely sure if that's a good idea," she swallowed. "I mean, me being around you..." she trailed off and diverted her eyes to the floor.

"What? What's wrong with us being together? I mean, in the friend sort of way."

"It's just, I still have feelings for you Mick."

~~~

The rest of the Sibuna Club left the crypt and looked around the area from which they had emerged.

"Now what?" Patricia asked sitting down on a tree stump.

"Well, last time we saw Jerome, he was just outside Anubis House," KT said, already walking determinedly to find her friend. Everyone else caught up with her and they all broke into a run. But by the time they arrived at Anubis House Jerome was nowhere to be seen.

"Should we spilt up?" Eddie asked and everyone agreed, nodding their heads in unison.

"KT and Patricia, you guys come with me, we'll look around the forest. Nina, Fabian and Joy, you go and look around the school grounds." he ordered.

They split off into their groups to search for Jerome and quite possibly, Vera too.

KT ran off with both Patricia and Eddie deep into the forest. After a long silenced three minutes, she heard a shout.

"Did you guys hear that? Somebody shouted," KT turned to Eddie and Patricia.

"I didn't hear anything-"

"-probably because you're deaf as a sea slug," Patricia muttered.

Eddie rolled his eyes ignoring Patricia's spiteful comment, "Are you sure KT?"

She nodded, "Positive."

KT heard the shout again and started running towards the mysterious voice, the other two right on her heels. As the voice got nearer she started to slow down, trying to camouflage herself with the bushes and trees. She crouched down and beckoned for Patricia and Eddie to come closer.

KT frowned, as she heard not only one voice, but two, and one of them sounded strangely familiar. She parted the bushes slightly to find Jerome dancing the Macarena and laughing at someone.

"Guys, you have to see this!" she whispered to Patricia and Eddie, not being able to suppress her grin.

~~~

"Okay Ambs, just dispose all of your weight into the air as I lift you up on the count of three, okay? One..." Alfie said, getting into position.

"Alfie that's not even possible!" Amber protested, flailing her arms everywhere in panic. "It doesn't even make sense!"

"Since when does anything in our lives ever make sense? Two..." he continued without taking any notice of Amber's obvious panic.

"Alfie stop! You're going to hurt yourself!"

"Three!"

On the third count, he hoisted Amber up into a standing position and put his arm around her so she could lean on him for support. She stood on one foot, and turned to face Alfie in shock.

"Okay, since when did you get that strong?"

"Since always," he grinned, lifting his arm up and showing off his muscles.

Stupidly, being the clumsy person that he was, Alfie chose to show off the arm which Amber had been using for support. She almost lost her balance and fell over again, but Alfie realised his mistake and caught her just in the nick of time. Almost.

Amber rolled her eyes, "Thanks a lot. And by the way, from what I remember, you couldn't even lift a measly plate up."

"Mmmm yeah, I've never been very good at doing the dishes." He nodded in agreement. "Anyway let's go, we don't want the rest of Sibuna worrying about us if we're late to get back."

They slowly made their way back to Anubis House with Amber limping and leaning on Alfie for support.

~~~

As Eddie and Patricia neared the gap in the bushes, the latter doubled over in uncontrollable laughter.

"Jerome!" KT leapt out of the bushes causing him to jump and freeze.

"Oh, hey KT, Patricia, Eddie," he nodded relieved.

"That was absolutely priceless, I wish I had my phone on me. Say, would you like to do it again for maybe 20 bucks?" Patricia offered cheekily.

"20 bucks only? I'll go for 50 if you want," he held his hand out.

"Deal," she agreed shaking Jerome's hand. "Any chance you could throw the nutbush in the package?"

"Anything for you, Patty Cakes," Jerome said jokingly, taking a bow and causing Patricia to burst into fits of laughter again.

"Where's Vera?" Eddie asked urgently, though it may have very well just been his instinct reaction to jealousy.

"Well, she kind of got away," Jerome admitted. "I think Alfie's right- about the ninja thing, that is. Don't you dare tell him that I said that, by the way. But you should've seen how fast and agile she was. She was like, over there, then here and then gone."

~~~

"What do you mean?" Mick asked, confused.

"I still like you, Mick. I mean, I really do," Mara admitted, but didn't let him get a word in. "I didn't think I did, but you being here has made me realise how much I miss you. And I don't know if you know or not, but Fabian and I are over now."

"I know nothing that goes on in this house," Mick grumbled.

Mara continued like she hadn't heard him. "And I know that you and Amber are back together now, but Willow told me that even though you are, it doesn't make it illegal for me to talk to you about this. Though, I think Amber may have a different opinion on that matter."

"Willow seems like a good friend," Mick observed.

"Yeah, I guess she is," Mara said, a sudden guilt washing over her and consuming her insides. "Actually, Mick, I need to go talk to her."

"No," Mick said, standing his ground.

"What?"

"No," he repeated. "You're not leaving now. I came up here to help you, then you tell me you still like me, then you try and stage a walkout? What is wrong with you Mara? And if I recall correctly, it was you who dumped me, it was you who broke my heart. Not the other way around! You can't expect everything to go according to plan at exactly the times when you want it to because not everything in this world revolves around you."

Mara sat there in silence, overwhelmed by Mick's sudden outburst. Had she really been that bad? Was she a bad person?
And then it suddenly dawned on her. She had been a bad person. But she wanted to change that, so she ran out of the room and down the stairs.

~~~

Willow was in the lounge room, sitting on the couch. She had a frown etched upon her face, which was something that was quite uncommon for Willow. She decided that sitting around and sulking would do no good, so she took her iPod out of her pocket and started dancing to some music.

It was wacky music; not the kind that most people would probably listen to let alone dance to. But Willow liked it, so she continued her dance (which resembled a chimpanzee climbing a rope) until Mara came in and interrupted her, turning her music off.

"Oh. Hi Mara," Willow said meekly.

"Willow, I'm really sorry," Mara apologised.

"It's okay," Willow shrugged.

"No, it's not," Mara said stubbornly. "I've been horrible to you, Willow. And I need you to know that I'm so, so, sorry. You always listen to my problems and put up with my pointless whining, and all I do in return is TELL at you and blame you for everything. I'm really, really sorry."

"Oh, Mara, come here!" Willow said, crying and enveloping Mara in a giant bear hug.

Instead of trying to shake her off, Mara allowed Willow to hug her, and after a few seconds, she hugged her back. They stood there together, until Mick came bounding down the stairs grumpily, and stormed into his room, slamming his door behind him.

"Is he okay?" Willow asked worriedly. "Should I go get my Cyprus oil?"

"No, it's okay," Mara replied, leaving the room. "I'll go and talk to him."

Just as Mara left the room, Amber and Alfie entered through the front door, with Amber hopping on one leg. Willow rushed over to them and began fussing.

"Amber! What happened? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Willow. I just sprained my ankle."

Willow ran over to the couch as Amber entered the living room and made a comfortable position for her on the couch with the pillows that were provided. She ran back into the foyer and looked up to the top of the railings, calling for help.

"Trudy! Amber's sprained her ankle!"

Willow went back in to the living room with Amber as Trudy came tuning down the stairs with Evelyn, two ice packs in hand.

"My, my, you're all in the walls today, aren't you?" She tutted, handing Amber the ice pack. "You'll need to elevate your leg, sweetie. Lie down on the couch."

"I'm fine, Trudy, really-"

"Nonsense, that ankle is swollen up like a balloon!" Trudy protested. "I think you'll need to go to the emergency room with Mara."

"Mara, why Mara?"

"She's sprained her wrist," Evelyn explained, as Trudy fussed over elevating Amber's leg.

"You'd think that after all these years, you lot would be able to take care of yourself," Trudy mused. "Even when you've all graduated, you still need your house mother."

"It wouldn't be the same without you, Trudes," Alfie commented, to which Amber and Willow both nodded enthusiastically.

"Do you lot know where the others have disappeared to?" Trudy questioned. "I'd ask one of them to drive you to the emergency room, but none of them are here."

"Oh, Mick and Mara are in Mick's room," Willow told her.

"And the rest of them?"

"They went to...the park," Amber invented.

"The park? Why on earth would they go there when they have all this space outside?" Trudy frowned in confusion.

"They wanted to play...soccer," Amber kept up the lie with whatever came to her head.

"Soccer? Couldn't they use the school field?" Trudy fired yet another question at her.

"The gates were locked," Alfie helped Amber out with the lie. "It's alright, they said they'll be back soon."

"Right, well, Evelyn and I are going into town to do some shopping, so make sure that you call us if they don't come home," Trudy said.

"I'll just go and grab my coat," Evelyn told Trudy.

"I'll come with you," Trudy agreed as the two women headed up the stairs.

Amber rested on the couch, and Willow went to make her some tea. Alfie wandered over to the window and peaked out of it to see if the others were back yet. But his eyes widened when he saw a hooded figure; the same figure he'd seen the day that he'd arrived.

~~~
A/N

SQUEE! I FINISHED THE CHAPTER WHILE LEAH AND I WERE FACETIMING! FINALLY, AM I RIGHT?

I'm really sorry that this took so long, and that my promises were somewhat delayed, but it's finished now. I'll admit, it's not a great chapter but it's substantial enough, and it's about to get good. Sorry for no, Peddie in this chapter, by the way.

Okay, time for the discussion questions:

What could the engravings mean?

Was Mick right in what he said? Is Mara a horrible person?

WHO IS THIS MYSTERIOUS MAN?

And just as a bonus: Do you prefer the new set up?

Please comment what you think! I don't know if you noticed, but apart from the new set up, we're also focusing a bit more on dialogue as this is a fanfiction of a TV show, which is obviously about the script.

I'm not going to make any promises on when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully it will be soon (but we've all heard that before, haven't we?).

✋🏻Sibuna✋🏻
💜Leah💜
✖️and✖️
💓Alannah💓