Good to know that you like this story. My pool is still open, so please vote. I'll write whatever pairing/couple that you want. Anyways here's chapter 2 that you probably want t o read much more than you do this.
Jerome opened his eyes to the quiet beeping of his mobile's alarm. He got out of his bed and turned the alarm off before he walked over to Alfie's bed and started to shake his roommates shoulder to wake him up.
"What's the time?" Alfie asked still half asleep.
"Five minutes to eleven now get up," Jerome said as Alfie sat up and pushed the bed covers off of himself, "Now go and wake up the others." Jerome spoke quickly not giving Alfie a chance to say no as he opened the door and motioned for Alfie to walk through it.
Alfie carefully scurried off upstairs to get the others while Jerome just stood in the hall watching. Once Alfie was out of Jerome's sight the blonde walked over and unlocked the door to allowed Rufus to walk in when he arrived.
A moment later Nina came downstairs with her locket in her hand. She quickly walked into the kitchen and unlocked the secret passage for Jerome like she had the previous time before she left the room to hide out of the way.
Jerome watched as Alfie, Patricia and Amber ran down the stairs to Alfie's and Jerome's room where Fabian stood waiting for them.
Patricia stopped to give him the puzzle piece and Alfie stopped to wish Jerome good luck.
It seemed like only a minute or two after they were all out of the way that Rufus walked through the door stopping to look at Jerome who was holding the puzzle piece like it was his only source of
"Open the passage." Rufus said his tone so malicious that Jerome didn't hesitate in moving as he quickly made his way to the kitchen with Rufus following behind him.
Jerome knelt down and used the puzzle piece to push the opening that Nina had opened out of the way. Luckily Rufus still didn't notice that the puzzle piece wasn't opening the passage.
Jerome quickly jumped back trying to get out of Rufus's way. Rufus however was good at watching Jerome and knowing his emotions from the looks he was giving him.
"What's wrong?" Rufus asked wondering if it was anything to do with something that was down in the cellar.
"Nothing," Jerome replied pushing the fear he felt to one side he couldn't let Rufus see his fear, "I'll wait here and let you know if Victor comes back while you go down to the cellar."
Rufus wasn't convinced. "We had this before your coming down with me."
"But what if-" Jerome was cut off by a rather annoyed Rufus.
"Shut up and get down to the cellar now!" Rufus shouted so loud that Jerome was surprised the noise hadn't woken up Trudy, Mara or Mick. Once again this plan had failed as Rufus pushed Jerome down to his knees and through he passage.
~ In the Cellar ~
Jerome was pulled around the cellar by Rufus who was roughly grabbing him by his right wrist. Jerome saw Rufus put a bottle of that elixir stuff in his pocket.
~ In the Kitchen ~
Alfie stood in the kitchen nervously waiting for Jerome. Nina sat on her knees by the passage with her locket waiting to lock Rufus in.
"How did this fail again," Amber said before looking at Nina's face of worry, "Sorry that probably wasn't helpful."
"No Amber it isn't," Alfie replied, "It really isn't." He was just as worried.
"I don't know how this failed again, I rally don't," Nina said, "We'd even improved the plan and it still failed."
The three looked down the passage. There was no sign of Jerome coming back up yet.
Patricia stood outside of the cellar door, while Fabian stood by the front door.
"All right what is going on down there," Patricia said crossing her arms, "Rufus should be trapped by now!"
"Shh," Fabian said, "We don't want to wake up Trudy, Mara and Mick." Patricia scowled and looked back at the cellar door which was still locked shut.
~ In the Cellar ~
Jerome was sure that he was losing the feeling in his hand and arm from Rufus's grip. Jerome was beginning to feel sick and would probably have thrown up if he had eaten dinner earlier.
"Well where are they?" Rufus asked.
"Where's what?"
"Don't play me for a fool you know what I'm talking about where are the puzzle pieces?" Jerome's body was telling him to run, but his brain was telling him to think before he attempted anything.
"Over there." Jerome said quickly pointing with his left hand towards the cupboard that Alfie had hidden in once before. Jerome knew that it was now full of other things Rufus would never find something in there.
Rufus didn't believe Jerome until he'd seen the puzzle pieces for himself. Jerome was dragged over to where he had pointed to. Rufus hen started pulling everything out of the cupboard to try and find the pieces.
Rufus soon got frustrated and used two hands to search, letting go of his death grip on Jerome's wrist. Jerome carefully started to walk backwards, so that he could still keep his eye's on Rufus's every move. His escape was going well until he backed in to one of the tables knocking some bottles off of the table.
Rufus spun his head around and shot his evil eyes towards Jerome in a glare.
"What are you doing?" Rufus asked.
"I thought that I heard Victor, so I'll just go and see and that way you can continue searching." Jerome said his voice wavering slightly.
"I heard nothing, but that noise of you backing in to the table." Rufus said as he stood and began walking slowly towards Jerome who was frozen on the spot.
Jerome began to panic he was most defiantly done for now that Rufus knew that he was trying to get away.
That was when Jerome noticed the bottle cap on the table. He remembered the puzzle piece that Nina had shown him that looked like a bottle cap except for the fact that it had 'End' written on it. Carefully Jerome knocked the bottle cap off of the table hoping to fool Rufus yet again.
Rufus stopped walking and looked at Jerome who pointed to the floor still with his left hand as his right was currently dropping off of his arm and couldn't be used in fear that it would actually drop off.
Rufus smiled and bent down to pick the bottle cap up thinking that it was one of his precious Ankh pieces. Jerome moved away from the table before continuing his earlier plan of walking away.
"This is not one of the Ankh pieces it's just a bottle cap," Rufus said, but when he looked up his anger taking control. Jerome froze where he was stood, "Your playing me for a fool aren't you?" Rufus asked, however it wasn't really a question it was more of statement the way he'd said the words.
"Well you've followed the path of a fool." Jerome spoke before he realised what he was saying. After all these years he'd become so rotten that his brain was like this naturally . No matter how much he tried something like this happened in the end.
Rufus was at his throat in seconds. Jerome tried to hit Rufus to remove the hand from his throat, but all that got him was a punch in the face. Nose to be more exact. Jerome tried a different approach and used his feet to try and kick Rufus, but that got him pushed to the floor, his back slamming down on to the hard concrete.
He had to remember that you could do anything to someone while you had hold of their throat. Anything at all. Now Jerome was in a very bad position.
On the other hand he could breathe again, so that was good, although it wasn't good if you were going to get mummified.
~ In the Kitchen ~
"What is going on down there?" Patricia said as she walked into the kitchen followed by Fabian who was trying to get her to come back to her place outside the cellar.
"We don't know any more than you do Patricia." Amber said.
"All I know is that my best friend is down there with Rufus of all people and is probably in danger and we can't help him, because it's not part of the plan!" Alfie shouted.
"Shhh." The group said together allowing Alfie to realise that he had shouted. Alfie sat down and looked at the passage for any sign of Jerome returning to them.
Nothing.
Fabian finally managed to get Patricia to leave the room this time Amber decided to leave with them, so that she could keep Patricia company and provide what little help that she could.
Nina could see Alfie's worry written over his face. She hated to think of what must be running through Alfie's head a the moment let alone Jerome's.
She looked down the passage and saw nothing and was beginning to worry more herself.
Because if Jerome didn't come out of this alive, then it was all down to her.
~ In the Cellar ~
Now Jerome was afraid. No he was more than afraid he was absolutely terrified. One because he was trapped in the cellar with Rufus, two because the cellar was really creepy and three because he knew that Victor would be very angry when he got home.
Rufus was pulling everything out of every cupboard and pushing everything that he didn't want off of every single table.
Add that to the fact that Jerome was now being dragged around with him again and this time his wrist was defiantly going to drop off.
"There not down here are they." Rufus said as he stopped to look at the contents of a few bottles on the table to make a decision as to which ones he wanted to keep.
Jerome wanted to lie he really did, but maybe if he told the truth Rufus would let him die nicely. Although Jerome highly doubted that.
"Yes they are." Jerome when the day comes that you don't lie to anyone you'd better let the news reporters know as it will never last long enough for anyone to get a decent conversation out of you. He said to himself mentally cursing that he hadn't told Rufus the truth.
"I'm not a fool Jerome. Where are they?" Wouldn't it help if Rufus could be a little more civilised? Although they had been down in the cellar for about fifteen minutes which was longer than they were supposed to have been.
"I.. I.. They."
"Come on Jerome I can give you everything you want. If you help me and we're successful I can pay you money in the thousands."
Jerome mustered up all the courage that he could. He had to be brave, "Why would I sell my friends out for your stupid money."
He shouldn't have said that. Why did he say that? It was true though he wasn't going to destroy everything for money he just couldn't think that way at the moment the important thing was that they all lived and managed to keep this cup of Ankh thing safe.
"You have one last chance to tell me where the pieces are Jerome."
"I-" Be brave Jerome, "I stand by what I said and Rufus just so that you know you are a fool the puzzle pieces are not in here they never were, so thanks for messing up the cellar I'm sure that Victor will love you for it."
Jerome was proud of himself for concurring his fear and finally saying that to Rufus it made him feel good. Well for a little while anyway.
Jerome's right forearm was now twisted behind his back while Rufus continued his fit of rage.
"Can I give you a tip and say let go of my arm."
"No let me give you a tip Jerome shut up and do as I say."
Rufus was such a nice guy wasn't he. Why did Jerome get involved in this plan anyway? Why didn't he back out earlier? He knew just how dangerous Rufus was and yet he continuously puts himself in the way of danger.
"What if I choose not to shut up." Jerome said as strongly as he could possibly manage.
"Then there will be terrible consequences."
"Well then I refuse to shut up you idiot." Why did Jerome always say the wrong thing at the wrong time. As that comment earned him yet another punch to the face making his already bleeding face look even worse than before. The blood from his nose running down and joining the blood coming from his lip.
"What was that for?" Jerome asked anger rising in his body.
"You better shut up and tell me where they really are." Rufus said.
"No!" Rufus began pulling Jerome's forearm further back making Jerome wish that he hadn't answered no to Rufus, but he just ended up doing the same thing again causing Rufus to pull his arm further back again.
~ In the Kitchen ~
"Okay I'm waking up Trudy/" Alfie said, but was quickly stopped by the now present Fabian and Patricia.
"Alfie don't it will ruin everything." Patricia said desperately not knowing what else she could say.
"But we can't just leave Jerome down there with Rufus we have to help him."
"No Alfie's right," Nina said quietly, standing up and fiddling with the locket, "We got Jerome into this mess, so we have to get him out of it."
"But Nina-"
"No buts Fabian. We have to-"
Nina was cut off suddenly by loud crashing noises coming from the cellar. Amber jumped back a few steps and Nina sat back on her knees with her locket.
"What's going on." Patricia spoke with some form of haste to her tone.
"I don't know, but I think that gives us more of a reason to wake up Trudy" Amber said as she ran to stand behind one of the counters in the kitchen.
"I don't think we'll need to in a minute. This noise might just do it for us." Fabian said before a loud shout was heard.
They couldn't make out what was said, but they could make out that it wasn't Jerome's voice. The voice belonged to Rufus. Patricia and Fabian quickly ran back into the hall to continue with the plan.
~ In the Cellar ~
Rufus had a very loud voice when he got angry and as soon as that voice appeared Jerome was as fearful of Rufus as he was of his dad.
Jerome didn't hesitate in running this time as walking wasn't the best of idea's and besides he had more time to get away now, he didn't have to watch Rufus's every move.
It had taken all of Jerome's remaining strength to break free from Rufus's grip and manage to push a table on the to man, so he wasn't going to lose his last chance of escape. Not this time. They say third times the charm and in Jerome's case at the moment that better prove to be true.
Jerome could not stop the way his feet took him. He was never sure about coming down to the cellar through the passage, but out was always a good option.
Rufus's pushed the table off of him and stood up quickly heading for the cellar door. There was no point in following Jerome. After all Jerome could be dealt with later all Rufus had to do was escape before Victor saw him.
"Nina I really think you should close the passage." Amber said panicking that Rufus would come up through it.
That said Nina didn't have much of a choice until she heard the cellar door open.
Rufus ran out and made his way easily past Fabian and Patricia, the door couldn't really stop him either. Amber ran out of the kitchen to Patricia and Fabian and was about to be followed by Alfie until he spotted Jerome.
"Jerome." He shouted in a quieter tone as the said boy appeared through the passage. Nina locked it behind him, Patricia, Amber and Fabian running in to see him with smiles on their faces. However take one look at him and the smile vanishes.
Sorry to leave you with a bit of a cliff-hanger but I will update as soon as possible. Monday?
Anyway the current results of the poll are
2 votes for Nina and Fabian (Fabina)
2 votes for an Alfie and Jerome friendship pairing
2 votes for Nina and Jerome (Jina)
1 vote for Jerome and Mara (Jara)
1 vote for Amber and Mick (Mamber)
The poll will be open until I post the next chapter and then we will have the results in Chapter 4 of what couples we will have.
Also I will be writing a song fic soon, but I would like to know if you prefer it to be Jara or Jina (PM me with a choice please, but I will have a poll up for it as soon as the poll for this story is decided.)
Thanks for reading. Review please. Vote on the poll.
Thanks
