House of Jara CHAPTER 23

"Hey Mara, have you seen Jerome anywhere? I can't find him – Poppy"

"Poppy just texted me, she can't find Jerome. I'm getting really, really worried now," Mara said exasperatedly, she was pacing the floor of Amber and Nina's room as Amber and Alfie sat on her bed just watching Mara rant and pace. It was now five in the evening and no one had seen or heard from Jerome since lunch, they decided to tell Trudy and everyone else that he'd gone to see his dad as it was an emergency. Alfie received a text message but Mara was too distracted to notice, which was lucky because it was a photo from Rufus of Jerome tied to a chair, gagged and unconscious with the attached message – 'I have Jerome and I wanted to let you know that this will get worse if I don't the information I'm after – RZ'

"Oh my God," Alfie whispered as he showed Amber the photo, she gasped silently but they quickly hid it when Mara turned towards them.

"Mara calm down, we'll find him and then everything will be fine," Alfie explained; he stood up, took Mara by the arms and sat her on the bed in his place.

"Why can't we just call the police?" the worried girl questioned, she was utterly convinced that Rufus had kidnapped her boyfriend; little did she know that her suspicions were correct.

"Oh and tell them what? A crazy man with an obsession for eternal life has kidnapped Jerome and is torturing him for the legendary Mask of Anubis?" Amber questioned sarcastically.

"Who said anything about torture?" Mara questioned, Amfie quickly looked around for a lie but Mara was too smart and caught on. "You know something! Tell me what it is!"

"Nothing! We know nothing!" Alfie exclaimed in a high pitch voice.

"You do! Just tell me!" Mara pleaded.

"Rufus sent Alfie a photo, it was of Jerome," Amber gave in; Mara kind of scared her sometimes. Alfie sighed and showed her the photo of the unconscious Jerome.

"Oh my God! What does he want with him?"

"Rufus and Jerome have a special relationship, I don't think he'll hurt him too badly," Alfie explained to try and make Mara feel a little better.

"Alfie, how is that supposed to make me feel any better? We need to tell Fabian!"

"Tell Fabian what?" Fabian asked as he walked in right on cue, nothing was said Mara just shoved Alfie's phone in his face. "We need to find him! We should call the police, Trudy, anyone!" Fabian ranted – loudly – and another cue was met, Trudy came into the room.

"I heard my name being called, what is it dearies?"

"Nothing!" all four teenagers snapped at the same time as Fabian hid the phone behind his back.

"What are you all hiding?" Trudy questioned suspiciously, being the house mother of the kids in Anubis has made her very good at catching them lying, seeing as they do it a lot.

"What nothing, nothing at all Trudy. Why would you think we're hiding anything?" Fabian asked as Alfie took the phone from him and deleted the message.

"Hmm ok then, keep out of trouble and supper will be ready in forty minutes," Trudy said as she left after giving them all a sceptical look. They sighed in relief but Mara didn't feel any better.

Meanwhile, Jerome had woken up to the sight of Rufus staring at him.

"What am I doing here?" Jerome asked, attempted to rub his face but found he was tied to a chair.

"You're how I'm going to get answers," Rufus answered, sounding very sinister.

"They won't tell you anything you know," Jerome told him. "We don't even have the bloody answers!" he added.

"Then they will have to find the answers won't they or they won't be getting you back – alive anyway," Rufus explained, slamming his fist on the table he was sitting at, he was growing impatient with the boy already and he'd only said two sentences.

"What do you want with an old mask anyway? It's not even real, it's only a le-"

"It is real! You don't even know what you're talking about," Rufus cut him off with a loud, booming shout, Jerome flinched away from his worst nightmare as the man inched closer to him.

"We've looked it up, it's a legend. Rufus, you need to get a grip on reality or you'll be delusional for the rest of your life, your very human life," Rufus grabbed a hold of Jerome's collar with his face about an inch from Jerome's.

"I am not delusional! I am on a mission to find the very real Mask of Anubis! You should just shut your mouth!" with his last word he picked up a cloth and shoved it to Jerome's mouth and nose for him to inhale the chloroform and Jerome was unconscious once more.

Jerome had now been gone for a week, Sibuna had been telling people that he was seeing his dad but they had to tell Poppy that he was completing a personal project outside of school. Poppy was beginning to get very suspicious though as Mara had been completely erratic since Jerome had left, she was jumpy, snappy and never listened to anyone anymore; not even her teachers. The whole Sibuna gang was so focused on the Mask of Anubis and Senkhara's curse that they were beginning to forget about Jerome and even started to believe their own lies. They were having a meeting in Nina and Amber's room as Nina had found the Robert Frobisher-Smythe's secret study in the cellar.

"What are we even supposed to be looking for in the antechamber?" Fabian questioned.

"Ante-what?" Amber asked, confused as she had never heard that word before.

"The study," Fabian disclosed simply.

"I don't know, maybe Sarah will fill me in or the house will help? I mean Sarah must know something she did li-" Nina stated before Mara interrupted her.

"Has everyone forgotten about Jerome? You know; tall, blond, always pulling pranks? No one has even tried to figure out how to find him! Me and Alfie are the only one's even attempting a plan! It's tonight if anyone's interested in saving him," Mara shouted at her friends, which was very out of character for her but she hadn't really been herself since he went missing.

"Whoa Mara, of course we haven't forgotten about Jerome," Patricia explained, placing a hand on her arm as she was sat next to her.

"But we were gonna have another look in Frobisher's study tonight!" Nina whined.

"I don't care about the mask! I care about Jerome!" Mara yelled again and to Sibuna's dismay Mick came in having heard all of the shouting.

"What's going on here? Why are you shouting about a mask and Jerome?" he asked but no one bothered to answer him. "Will someone tell me what is going on here? Jerome isn't with his father is he? Mars you're worried about him!"

"What is going on up here?" Victor boomed as he entered the girls' corridor.

"I don't know Victor, why don't you ask them."

"Get downstairs now, boy!" Victor yelled at Mick who quickly lost his triumphant look and ran downstairs away from Victor who seemed to be in a foul mood. "What was Campbell talking about?" Victor asked as he stepped into the room.

"N-n-nothing Victor," Fabian stuttered, Victor towered over the group who were all still sat on the floor and they all looked up at him, fear evident in their eyes.