Yeah… sorry 'bout that. Bit of a cliffhanger, what with Rufus alive and such. Thought we saw the last of him, didn't we? Well, turns out we didn't. Have fun with this chapter, guys.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX HOUSE OF PAINS

The man with a ski mask over his face stood over me. He almost seemed to fade into the shadows perfectly except for his rough outline and glowing blue eyes.

Then I was staring down the barrel of his gun.

"Get in the goddamn closet," the man snarled. He had a tight grip on my arm and no matter how much I struggled, I couldn't break free. My mind reeled with GET AWAY, GET AWAY.

"I said," His voice was smooth all of a sudden. He yanked my arm so our faces were close. The mask fell off to reveal the smiling face of Rufus Zeno. "Get in the closet, Mary."

I landed with a great thump on the floor, body wrapped in my sheets like some sick kind of burrito. I groaned as I peeled away from my cocoon and then looked around. It was still dark out, probably not even past midnight. Amber was fast asleep in her bed on the other side of the room. Sighing, I lied back on the floor and waited for my heartbeat to slow.

With a normal heart rate, I reset my bedspread and checked the time. 1:07 A.M. glared back at me. Not so early as I thought. I got my iPod from my schoolbag before returning under the covers, knowing I wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. Or maybe knowing I was too scared of the nightmares to let myself sleep. Either way, I was done sleeping for the night. After adjusting the brightness to avoid burning my eyes out, I played the first Iron Man movie, one from the endless amount of Marvel movies on my iPod (Okay, so maybe not endless. There were, like, six of them.) And after Iron Man 1 came Iron Man 2. And after Iron Man 2 came Thor. And after that came…

When I finally looked back at the clock, it was 5:58 A.M. A thin bit of light was visible from behind the curtains. My eyes stung and my body was sore from staying in one position for so long. Forcing myself to stretch as I got up, my mind wandered to the plan Sibuna (and Jerome, who was made temporary member for the present moment) made last night, which could've been dubbed as Operation Confront Jasper About Rufus And Find Enough Information To Actually Get Some Shit Done And Make A Plan Because We Don't Have Any Clue About What To Do Next.

I snuck into the bathroom to splash some water on my face, loosen up the muscles that were aching with sleep deprivation. Everyone would be waking within the next hour or so. My eyes wandered to the mirror and lingered. My reflection was scary. My skin had gotten seriously pale and there were some pretty bad bags under my eyes. And, God, my eyes looked dead. The fingers of my hands uncurled from the edge of the sink and I let out a hearty sigh before returning to my bedroom.

Amber didn't wake until 6:30. I managed to hide the fact that I was completely dressed for school by hiding everything lower than my chin under my covers. She wished me a sleepy good morning before leaving for the bathroom.

I knew I shouldn't lie to Amber, but if she found out I was missing sleep, she'd get worried. I didn't want her to worry.

We met up with the rest of Sibuna at the library half an hour before school started.

"I had a terrible dream last night," Alfie announced when he and Jerome walked in. "Vera was a double agent, Rufus was a kidnapper, and Fabian's godfather was a mole."

"A different kind of mole, Ambs," Patricia told her when the girl looked confused.

"If only it was a dream," I muttered. Just then, Jasper descended from the upstairs part of the library.

"Ooh, grim faces," he noted, looking at everyone's expressions. "Well, what can I do for you?"

"Well," Amber shifted. "First you can grovel, then you can help us get Trudy and our dollhouse back."

Jasper shot a look at Jerome. "You shouldn't have told them, Jerome." It's not like we wouldn't have found out anyway.

"He wouldn't have had to if you had been honest with me," Fabian said. He was still pretty upset by the whole ordeal. Him and me both. I slipped my hand into his and forced down a smile when he squeezed it.

"I didn't want to put you in danger," Jasper explained. "Trudy got too involved and look what's happened to her. I was trying to keep you safe."

Alfie gave a short, sarcastic snort. "Safe, schmafe. We're going to bust her out, aren't we?"

"Look," I said. "We know Rufus, probably better than you. He's a total villain."

"Which is why we need your help," Fabian added. Jasper didn't reply fast enough. "You're going to help us, aren't you Jasper?"

Jasper sighed, but it looked like we got him. "Look, everyone has an Achilles's heel, and the Collector's is antiquities. The one thing he wants more than anything else is the Mask of Anubis."

Goddammit! Why was everybody after the Mask? Last term it was the Cup of Ankh. It seemed like the Mask was the next all-powerful prize to win now that the Cup was no longer an option.

"Yeah, well, you can tell him to get in line," Amber said.

"No," Fabian argued. I looked at him and saw that he had his 'I've got an idea' expression on his face. "But if Jasper tells him he has the Mask of Anubis, then he'll want to go and meet him and while he's gone, we can rescue Trudy."

That was a pretty good plan, but there was a big problem. We don't actually have the Mask. Rufus could destroy Jasper if he didn't bring the Mask. My eyes wandered around the library, but stopped when they landed on the replica of the Mask.

I walked over to its display case as Patricia said, "Great plan, tiny problem. We don't have the Mask."

I smirked, eyes not leaving the replica. "Too bad Rufus doesn't know that."

"We can use the replica," Fabian said excitedly. "Mary Ann, you–!" I glanced back at him to see him cross the room over to me. For a second, I thought he was going to hug me, he looked so excited, but he stopped at my side. "You're brilliant."

"Whoa," Amber suddenly exclaimed, looking at her watch. "Guys, look at the time."

Fabian checked his watch and I looked over his shoulder to see the time. Class was going to start in ten minutes. "We better get to class or people will start to wonder what we're going," I murmured to Fabian. He nodded and, after a brief goodbye to Jasper, Sibuna left for the school building.

When we entered the classroom, I turned to everyone. "I'll make up a plan during class. During break, we'll figure everything out, got it?"

They did and the group disbanded.

Thankfully, Ms. Valentine decided that today the class would be taking notes all period long. This allowed me to scribble various schemes to fool Rufus while appear to be studious. I'd have to copy the notes from Fabian later.

By the end of the period, I had a solid plan. Sibuna met up in the student lounge directly after class.

"Alright," I said. I turned to Alfie. "You're going to paint the replica with, I don't know, spray paint or something, make it look like the real deal."

"Art room, here I come," he replied sarcastically, taking the bag with the mask replica with him as he left.

"What if Rufus knows it's only a replica?" Jerome asked.

"Well, if Alfie does a half-decent job, he won't be able to tell," Fabian said.

"Yeah, nobody's seen the original, not even Rufus." I added. "Anyway, Jerome's going to lead all of us to the barn after Alfie gives Jasper the fake. After that, we'll wait for Jasper to get Rufus away." I faced Patricia. "Do you mind staying back, keeping guard?"

"Yeah," she shrugged. "it'll just attract attention if I come. Sweetie's been taking even more of an interest in me now that I'm dating Junior." She winked before grabbing her bag and everyone left.

~ After break ~

Alfie gave Jasper the fake mask. All that was left was to get to the barn and rescue Trudy and the dollhouse.

Slight problem. Alfie couldn't hear me whisper from across the hall and class was about to start in less than a minute. I bit back a groan as I scurried over to Alfie to get his attention.

"Let's go!" I whispered just as the bell rang. We were almost at the door when Mr. Sweet appear out of nowhere. I skidded to a stop.

"Aren't you two going the wrong way for my Shakespeare test?" he asked. He shooed us into the classroom. "Come on, Alfie. Readiness is all." I snuck my phone out of my bag before sitting down. "I would expect Lewis here to take advantage of a pink eye outbreak, but I expected more from you, Mary Ann."

"I'm sorry, sir," I said quickly, hiding my phone beneath the desk. "I was trying to see if I could get to the restroom before class started. Didn't, um, didn't seem to be so."

"I see," he nodded understandingly. "Is it an emergency?"

"No, sir, I can wait." I replied. There was no way I could use the span of the usual bathroom break to get to the barn, rescue Trudy, and get back without causing suspicion.

Mr. Sweet addressed the rest of the class and declared a pop quiz on Shakespeare. I took the moment to send Fabian a quick text. "We can't get out of this one. Go on without us. We'll meet you there."

I leaned over to Alfie, who happened to be seated next to me, but kept my eyes on the test as I wrote my name at the top. "I texted Fabian. We'll have to meet them there later. We've got instructions, right?"

"Yeah," he whispered back. Suddenly, a piece of paper landed on his desk. We looked over at Patricia, who jerked her head toward the note. I leaned away to divert any suspicion as Alfie unfolded the note. "Patricia writes like a crazy!" he whispered, "What's it even say?"

"Mr. Lewis!" We both froze up as Mr. Sweet made his way toward our desk. "First you stage a walk-out, now you're talking during a test. I do hope you're not cheating." His eyes flickered to me and I shook my head sharply. He then eyed the note in Alfie's hand. "Give me that." Alfie handed it over. "Why aren't you at the barn?" he read. He then adorned a confused look before exclaiming, "Oh, it's a date." I raised an eyebrow. What kind of world did he live in with dates in barns? Maybe it was a thing when he was a teenager. "Well, I'm afraid you're going to be very, very late for that." He walked back to his desk. "Detention after school today, Lewis."

"But sir–"

"No buts, or it will be two," he threatened. I clenched my jaw and glared down at my test.

~ Evening ~

It took forever for Alfie to get out of detention. Patricia and I waited in the living room while Alfie dressed out of his uniform.

Things didn't go well when Victor walked in. "Dinner will be delayed this evening as Vera has had to step out," he announced as he entered, holding his pocket watch out. He trailed off when he noticed it was just me and Patricia, and Alfie as he stumbled in. "We are somewhat limited in number, where are the others?"

"Pink eye," Patricia blurted.

"What?"

"They're just washing up extra carefully," I improvised. "They'll be here eventually." My line of vision was drawn to the pocket watch as Victor said something. On the cover of the golden watch was the engraving of a white falcon. It was a reflector!

My eyes snapped back up to Victor's face, and fortunately he was looked away at the time. If his pocket watch was a reflector, then he definitely knew about it. And if he knew about it, and caught me staring, he'd know that I know.

"We can cope," Patricia said, a reminder that there was a conversation going on. "Right, Mary?"

I nodded, though I had no clue what was going on. "Yeah, totally." Victor left and I looked to the others. "Guys, did you see his watch? It's a reflector!"

"No way," Patricia said. "Let's go get it."

"That's not going to be easy," I pointed out, "and we've got to help the others. Vera's gone MIA, so there's no saying what she's up to."

"Okay, let's go," Alfie said. "The map's in your room, Mary." We rushed upstairs. "Should be in the stack of papers," Alfie added as we entered my room. I hurried over to the stack of papers on the table the dollhouse once stood on and flipped through.

"Okay," I said as I pulled out the map. "Let's do this." A figure materialized in the doorway just as I made a move toward it.

"You may not pass," the spirit declared. I froze up and glanced over to Alfie and Patricia, who were standing by my bed and looking confused.

"Come on, Mary Ann, let's go," Alfie said.

"Aren't you seeing her?" I questioned. Suddenly, my body was on fire, but my Mark felt ice cold. I yelped in pain and my knees buckled.

Alfie cried in pain as well. "Now I see her," I heard him say, but I couldn't see him past the blurry tears in my eyes. I stumbled into the wall and Patricia and Alfie stood on either side of me. Senkhara cornered us, palms raised and Marks glowing.

"Please, please, you have to let us go," I begged.

"You have one purpose only," she reminded me, "and that is to open the Mask Chamber."

I shoved the map into Alfie's hands and pushed him toward the door. "Run, Alfie, run!" I yelled. He hesitated for a split second before racing out. Senkhara's Marks shined brighter and the pain intensified so much I fell back into the shelf and knocked over a bunch of books.

I bit back a whining groan. "You can't get through to the chamber without the reflectors," I persuaded. "And I can't get the reflectors without my friends or if I'm dead. Please, please, just stop this!"

"We just need to help our friends first," Patricia pleaded.

"No," Senkhara said sharply. "The Mask's chamber is within our reach! Finish the constellation!"

"I can't," I cried. "I can't, I can't, I'm sorry! Victor has half of the reflectors and I can't make the constellation without them."

"That man has interfered too many times," Senkhara growled. I felt a cold feeling grow across my chest. "He shall do so no longer."

That said, she vanished and the pain dissipated. My knees trembled as I took a deep breath.

"What was that about?" Patricia asked.

"Something tells me I don't want to be Victor right about now," I said. "But never mind that, we have to help the others."

When we got downstairs, we got sidetracked by Victor in the living room. He was searching one of the cabinets for something and patting around aimlessly at the top of it.

"Well, he's still in one piece," Patricia mused. "What's he doing?"

"Looking for something, that's for sure," I muttered. "Clue for the mosaic? Goblet?"

"And you really think Senkhara wants to rough him up? Because, to be honest, I'm down with that."

"Yeah, I'd like Victor out of the way too, but I don't think anyone should go through the horror known as Senkhara." I shuddered at the idea of what it must've been like to live with her ruling Egypt. Focus here. "Let's just go."

Turns out, we didn't need to. Just as we entered the main hall, Sibuna walked in through the front door, carrying a half-conscious Trudy in tow. "Oh my god, Trudy!" I nearly shouted as I went into the living room with them. Fabian and Jerome laid Trudy out on the couch and everyone crowded around her.

She breathed heavily as her eyes flickered to each of our faces. "Where am I?" I looked over to Fabian. When we made eye contact, I mouthed 'what happened?' but he didn't get much of a chance to reply when Trudy sat up. "Why am I on the sofa? Why are you all staring at me?"

"Don't you remember?" Fabian asked.

"Remember what?" she asked.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Victor asked, suddenly making his presence known. "Trudy, what happened?"

"You were going for a walk," Fabian suddenly said. "In the woods." The rest of Sibuna nodded like it really happened. "And there was– there was a-a big branch. The big branch fell on you. Don't you remember?"

"Maybe?" Trudy replied meekly. "Oh, I don't know. Is that what happened?" Sibuna confirmed it, but Victor didn't seem convinced.

He knelt beside the sofa and spoke slowly. "What exactly happened?"

"Don't bother her with questions now, Victor," Vera suddenly bustled into the room, shooing Victor away as she sat in front of Trudy.

"The last thing I remember," Trudy trailed off. She suddenly pointed at Vera. "Who won the bake-off?"

Vera gave a short chuckle. "Oh, you did, dear. It was a triumph." That was a lie. Vera won the bake-off. But if Trudy couldn't remember that, then she was missing a good chunk of time.

What happened at the barn?

"Why don't we get Trudy to bed?" I suggested. All eyes were suddenly on me. "It, uh, it looks like she's been through a lot. She needs rest."

"Yes, yes, excellent idea, Mary Ann," Vera agreed. "Boys, if you could?" Jerome and Fabian helped Trudy to her feet and to the room she stayed in when she was housemother.

Victor left the room, looking at me suspiciously before disappearing upstairs. I turned to Amber and Alfie. "Okay, what the hell just happened?"

Amber gave me a rundown of what happened. They got to the barn just as Rufus was leaving ("He was definitely alive") but there were four padlocks on the door. Fabian used Amber's bobby pin to pick the locks, and then they found Trudy tied up in a corner. After they untied Trudy, Rufus somehow returned and locked them inside the barn. They thought they were going to be trapped forever when Alfie burst through the door with a tractor, knocking the door unto an unsuspecting Trudy and making her hit her head on the concrete floor. Trudy then got some sort of amnesia and passed out on the way back to the house.

By the time she was done doing the play-by-play, Fabian came back and the rest of the house came downstairs to fix something up for dinner.

After dinner, the house disbanded. I called Gran, something I feel like I haven't done in forever, but one of the nurses picked up instead.

"Evelyn is asleep at the moment," he told me. Understandable. She needed to rest or she wouldn't be able to get better from whatever was ailing her. "Would you like me to relay a message when she wakes?"

"Yes please," I said, "Can you tell her that, um, Mary Ann loves her and will be visiting as soon as she can?"

"That's not a problem."

"Thank you so much. Please take care of her."

"Will do." We both hung up and I let out a sigh. Last I heard from Gran, she was having an allergic reaction to something. Last time I saw her, man, that had to have been when I was first looking for reflectors…

"I haven't seen Gran in, like, so long," I said, taking a seat next to Fabian on the couch. "God, I feel terrible."

"No, Mary Ann, you can't be in two places at once," Fabian heartened. "You visit when you can and she knows that."

I propped an arm on the back of the couch and leaned against my hand. "I know, but I feel like it's not enough," I mumbled. Fabian had this really sad, guilty expression on his face when I looked at him, like he stole a baby's pacifier or something. "What?"

"There's other news," he admitted. Exhaling, he continued, "When Alfie broke down the barn door, the dollhouse…" He lifted up a hand, in which held a plastic little chimney. From the dollhouse.

It was broken.

The dollhouse was broken.

A wave of nausea struck as I took the piece from his hand. "It was beyond repair," Fabian added. "I saved you that part."

"Oh my god," I choked. "Sarah." Sarah was gone now. Totally, completely, utterly gone. "Oh my god." I leaped from the couch and tore out of the room. I barely made it to the downstairs toilet before I started to vomit.

"Fuck!" I swore when I could breathe again. "God fucking damn it!" It was like losing Sarah all over again, only worse. Much, much worse. I gripped the chimney piece tightly in my fist as bile burned at my throat.

"Dear, are you alright?" Vera was suddenly in the doorway with a concerned Mara and Fabian behind her. I hacked up a bit more of bile and blinked away the tears forming in my eyes before standing up.

"Yeah," I croaked. My stomach seemed to settle. "Yeah, I-I, um, I think something went down the wrong way."

"Would you like some water, then?" she asked.

I nodded. "Ye–" I cleared my throat. "Yes, please." She left.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Mara asked.

I flushed the toilet before I answered. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." She stared at me for a second longer before retreating.

Only Fabian stayed behind. Vera came and went with the glass of water and another "are you okay" before I convinced her I was fine. Fabian followed me to the kitchen where I put away the glass when I was done with it.

"Are you alright?" Fabian whispered to me.

Another 'yes' formed at my lips, but I couldn't get it out. Fabian would see right through it anyway. My eyes ached as they filled with tears and I turned around to look at him.

"No," I admitted shakily. "No, I'm not alright. My grandmother is in the hospital and I don't know what's wrong. I'm fighting my caretaker for a mystical mask. Senkhara's getting impatient. Rufus is alive and I can't sleep anymore without having nightmares about him. And– And now Sarah's gone too and I'm so sc-scared." I started bawling.

Fabian pulled me into a hug. I clung onto the back of his shirt. "Shh," Fabian whispered, stroking my hair. "Shh, it's going to be okay, Mary Ann. It's going to be okay. You've got me. It's going to be okay… Shh…"

It took me awhile to calm down. After a few minutes, I was reduced to a pile of sniffling. "I'm sorry," I muttered. "You're constantly on Comfort-Mary Duty. I'm sorry."

"I don't mind," he said. I tightened my arms around him before letting him go.

I wiped my nose before smiled at him sheepishly. "Thanks."

He brushed away a lock of my hair. "I don't mind," he repeated. "You should get some rest. It's certainly been a long day."

I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up. "Yeah, yeah, it's been, uh, it's been a long day."

"Goodnight, Mary Ann."

"Goodnight, Fabian."