Eh, I was bored. So here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Do I even have to say?

Love is a Mystery

"No! Jerome!" Mara shouted watching as Jerome was pulled away from Anubis House by the man in black. She ran towards the door, however it wasn't Mick of Patricia who stopped her, it was Nina.

"Nina, let me go! Jerome!" she continued to shout.

Nina shook her head and said, "Mara. Please don't-" she was cut off and gasped as Mara broke free and ran out the house where the man sped off into the silent night. Mara felt a pang, a loud pang. Her heart felt heavy. Her friend, her house mate, her classmate, gone into the silence of the night.

"Mara," a desperate voice called. "Mara." The voice turned out to be Nina, who for some reason had a gleam in her eye. Mara couldn't place her finger on it. Determination, courage, bravery? Maybe. Nina simply put her hand on Mara's shoulder and lead inside, where the quiet comfort of Anubis House, didn't seem so comforting or loving at all.

Inside, Patricia, Fabian, Alfie, Nina, and to Mara's surprise Amber were talking amongst themselves. Joy looked awkward standing there alone without Patricia. Mara sighed as Anubis felt unfamiliar, uncomfortable, unsafe to her. All she knew that a man broke into the house, kidnapped Jerome, and was angry at somebody or at least that was Victor's explanation for things. Nina shook her head, knowing that what Victor was saying wasn't at all the truth. In the past Mara would've probably accepted that "truth." Now she wasn't sure to believe.

Mick spoke up and asked, "Who was that man anyway?"

The faces of Victor, Joy, Nina, Fabian, Amber, Alfie, and Patricia paled. Victor recovered and said, "Rene Zeldman, is his name, Mr. Campbell, and I would advise all you to stay out of these affairs. Oh, and Anubis House is grounded. You are to go straight to school, come back, and no leaving on the weekends." Victor directly stared at Amber who blushed a bright red. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Victor," the Anubis residents replied. And with that Victor returned to his office, clearly puzzled.

"Rene Zeldman, my foot," Patricia sneered.

"You know him?" Mara asked, shocked. The Sibuna gang and Joy paled and sort of nodded weirdly.

"You know Mara, I think," Nina started. "it would be best if we talked about this later." she more or less looked to the others. Mick was confused. Why talk to Mara about this Rene and not tell him.

Nina leaned more toward Mara and said, "Meet Patricia outside the attic later tonight at midnight. Okay?" Mara nodded. Maybe she will finally get answers. "Joy, you too." Joy nodded as well and followed Patricia up to their room. Mara currently slept in the guest room of Anubis House until she got her own. Nina and Amber soon followed in suit and Fabian and Alfie left to their respective rooms leaving Mara alone with Mick. Mara walked slowly out of the room and dashed up the stairs and out of Mick's sight. Mick sighed and went into his room. Closing the door and fell asleep.

Knock-knock. Mara awoke realizing she had to meet Patricia. Quietly shifting out of bed and walking toward the door she heard a couple of voices. Fabian and Nina? Maybe.

"Are you sure, Nina? I mean she could be in more danger if she knows." That was Fabian.

"Fabian..."OK, for sure that Nina.

"No, Nina, Fabian's right. If Mara knows, he'll come after her. He already knows that Mara is close with Jerome. How close she is with the slimeball and how he let her is beyond me." Was that Patricia? "Mara's my best friend besides Joy. If she went missing..." her voice faltered. "Never mind. Are sure you knocked her door Fabian?"

Mara was confused. Her knowing who that man was, Rene, if that was even his real name, was dangerous? She turned the knob and there was Fabian in mid-action ready to knock on her door. Sure enough there was Nina, Fabian, and Patricia. Mara tried her acting skills pretending as if she was coming to the door and just didn't hear the conversation.

"Oh, hello," she said. "I was just about to meet you guys."

"Good, you're up. Patricia I'll see you upstairs with Alfie, Amber, and Joy, right?" Nina spoke, her voice filled with leadership. Patricia nodded. "C'mon, Fabian. We have work to do." The two turned the corner and out of sight.

"C'mon, Mara, let's get the others."

Mara was the odd one out. Nina was next to Fabian. Amber next to Alfie, who was enjoying her company, and Patricia next to Joy. She was... alone.

"Everyone's here?" Nina asked. "Good." She took a bobby pin and stuck it in the key hole of the door to the attic. Mara knew that no one was allowed in the attic, yet, Nina didn't seem to mind or care for that matter. The door unlocked and Nina tried to make sure the door made no sound.

"Alright this way," she said and lead the way.

The attic was just the way Mara imagined. Junk with boxes and boxes filled with junk. The attic was dark and quiet. Mara didn't like quiet when she wanted answers. The gang sat on the left or right of Nina. On the right was Fabian and the left was Amber. Patricia sat next to Fabian and Joy sat next to her. Alfie sat on the other side of Amber and Mara sat next to Alfie, awkwardly. The silence was killing her. So she did what what seemed to be getting her in trouble today.

"Why am I here? Who was that man? Who's Rene? Where's Jerome? Where's Mick? Should he be here? I want answers and I'm not about-"

"Mara!" Mara stopped. Nina had basically told her to shut up. "I mean Mara. Please keep quiet. We don't Victor knowing we're up here. And secondly Mick, well..."

"No one wants him," Patricia sneered.

"Patricia," Fabian said.

"What?" Amber said looking up from her manicured hands.

"Amber..." Nina sighed.

"Aliens!"

"Alfie!" Joy snapped quietly.

"What I wanted to say something, too."

"Alfie..." Fabian started.

"Shut up," Patricia said.

"Patricia, that was not necessary."

"Uh, it kinda was."

"Yeah, but there was no need for-"

"Fabian, Patricia, that's enough," Nina said, taking charge again. "And Mara, thank you for coming. Thing must be discussed. And will get some of your questions answered. But right now we have to tell you something. Uh, this group, everyone here is apart of a group called..." Nina faltered.

"Sibuna! We're called Sibuna. We solve mysteries and junk. We are like the Scooby Gang, well sort of," Amber said.

"Sibuna?" Mara asked.

"Yeah, Sibuna. Or Anubis backwards."

Nina looked at Fabian asking a question with her eyes. Mara still was trying to comprehend this Sibuna. She didn't care about this Sibuna, she wanted answers. And answers is what she'll get.

"OK, Mara. That man you saw," Nina started. Finally, she was going to get answers. "his name is not Rene Zeldman, it's Rufus, Rufus Zeno. He wants Jerome, well because he was spy for him and Patricia thought that he wold help her find Joy. He betrayed them both. Now I guess he wants revenge. We don't exactly know what he wants with Jerome or what he plans to do with Jerome. But we need your help."

"My help? Why my help?"

"You know Jerome better than ay of us. So I think you cloud help us."

It was true. Jerome told her everything about his parents to him being alone. Why things were the way it was. But she didn't know everything and he told her not to tell anyone. Mara shook her head "no."

"I'm sorry. But I don't know anything about Jerome."

"She's lying," Amber said. Mara was in shook. Amber knew she was lying through her teeth.

She shook her head again. "No, I don't know anything."

"She lies!" Alfie shout.

"Alfie, could you be any louder?" Joy snapped.

"Guys?" Fabian said.

"Um..." Nina tried. "Guys? We have- Oh, there you guys go again."

"Shut up!" Patricia shouted. She quieted down. "Do you want Victor to know we're up here?" Then silence.

Nina spoke up again. "Thank you, Patricia. Mara, are you sure you don't know anything? Even the slightest of information on Jerome could help us."

"Well," Mara started. Jerome trusted her, and he didn't trust many people. "he told some stuff, but I think he would rather have it stay private. Nina nodded in understanding.

"Anything else?" Nina pressed. Clearly she still wanted more than that.

Mara shook her head. Gosh, she was doing a lot of that today. "Sorry, that's all I know."

Nina sighed. "Well, that was a bummer."

"Can you tell me about Sibuna?" Mara asked.

"What?"

"Sibuna. Tell me about it."

Joy nodded. She wanted to know about the adventures of the Secret Club of Anubis House. The Sibunas looked at each other, then at Nina.

"Well, it's a long story are sure you want to here it?" Mara and Joy nodded their head in a fast manner.

"It started when an old lady name Sarah gave me a locket..." Mara could help while listening to the story wonder about Jerome. What was going on? She silently prayed he was fine. Still something bugged her. Why did she care so much about him? Something felt amiss. Something was eating at her. And it was bad.

"Umph!" Jerome shouted as he was pushed to the ground.

"Tsk-tsk, Jerome. Help me and you go home. Don't the girl get's it," Rufus threatened.

"Don't you dare hurt, Mara, you freak!" Jerome shouted. He was weak. Rufus drugged him. No good, bloody git.

"Don't make this difficult, Jerome. Cooperate and you get to see the girl again. All I need you to do is break the Mara girls heart. You know she likes you. Turn you back on everyone and find me the Cup of Ankh. Or the consequences, will be deadly. You already know what I am capable of, Jerome. Do you need a demonstration?"

Jerome spat in his face. "You are a freak! I'm not helping you!"

"You insolent, little brat!" Rufus roared. He raised his fist and cocked it back. SLAM! CRACK! Rufus punched Jerome square in the jaw. Jerome felt the world go fuzzy.

"Hmph. That will show you," he said satisfied. He walked towards the door, unlocked it and said, "See you tomorrow, Jerome, maybe." Rufus laughed manically and closed the warehouse door shut and padlocked it. CLICK!

Jerome felt woozy. The pain was unbearable. Eyes began to go roll up to the back of his head. His vision danced with black spots. He felt a warm oozy liquid run down his face. Blood, he thought. The pain shot through his face.

As he sat there waiting for sleep, he thought about Mara. Mara was the only one he was concerned about. He was crazy. Crazy in love that is. Yes, Jerome Clarke loved Mara Jaffray and he was willing to do anything for her. Love is a powerful thing. It can even bring the most powerful people to their knees. And the things people will do for love is insane. Yep, defiantly love is a mystery. And like him, love should be the one thing, the one mystery that should never be solved. And the world turned to black.

Wow, my longest chapter. Five pages on Open office. So now I ask you: did you like this chapter? Was it lame or fantastic? Epic awesome-ness or epic fail? You tell me. Review!