Trudy insisted that Patricia stay home from school after staying up with her all night. Trudy was right, Patricia hadn't slept a wink after having seen that man in her room. But she didn't want to be alone at Anubis House. That man could come back, and Victor was dangerous too if he killed Joy. Patricia no longer felt safe at Anubis House. And nobody but her drama teacher believed her. And he would probably brush off the past night's events as fiction too.

Patricia spent the next couple of hours trying to sleep on the sofa. She felt like she was being watched. Eventually, she fell into a light sleep that was abruptly interrupted when she heard voices approach her. Patricia sat up rubbing her eyes as Mr Winkler entered the living room.

"Hey Patricia," He sat down on the chair next to the sofa.

"Hi, Mr Winkler."

"How are you feeling, I heard about-"

"Fine, I mean scared. But at least this proves one thing, doesn't it? The man, he's not in my head." She really needed someone to believe that something was wrong because Patricia was starting to wonder if she was actually losing her mind. She'd started to wonder if this man was a ghost haunting the school grounds. How could nobody but her see him? She was starting to lose sight of what was real and what wasn't, and that was just as scary.

Mr Winkler didn't look convinced. "Thing is, Patricia no one else saw him. You do know that? The police couldn't find anything either."

"The police are in on it!" Patricia interrupted before he could say any more. "I told you. You said yesterday you believed me."

"Oh, I do," He tried to reassure her.

"Liar."

"No, I do! It's just… I'm worried about you."

"Yeah, well join the club I'm worried about me too."

Mr Winkler stopped to think for a moment. "Describe him to me, yeah? Describe to me the man you saw and I promise you I will try to get some answers." So Patricia described the man in as much detail as she could remember.

Patricia helped Trudy set the table for supper when she felt someone was behind her. She turned around to find Victor standing in front of her.

"It's alright, Patricia," He told her, although nothing he could say could comfort her unless, of course, he helped Patricia get in contact with Joy and everything was just a huge misunderstanding. "I just need to speak to you about last night."

"I don't want to talk about it,"

"Can you describe to me exactly what this man looks like?" Victor pushed. "It's very important." He moved to walk closer to her, making Patricia panic.

"Get away from me!" She ran out of the kitchen to get far away from him and bumped right into Nina.

"Wow, Patricia!" Her former roommate caught her. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, let me guess, like everyone else in this place, you're worried about me. Well, I don't care what you all think of me, I know there's something going on!" She brushed past Nina and made her way up the stairs. She paced around her room for a couple of minutes before deciding to go for a walk. She snuck around the house now bustling with the other students as they prepared for supper. She'd been cooped up in the creepy house all day, she needed to get out, and she didn't want to have to talk to anyone else.

Not long into her impromptu walk, a branch snapped, making her turn toward the sound. Of course, she didn't take into account that the forest that surrounded the school was even creepier than the house itself. Nobody was there, facing forward once again she gasped as the same man stood in front of her. "Patricia," He said.

"No!" The man held a hand up and took a step toward her. "Get away from me!" She turned back around and sprinted back toward the house, yelling behind her. "Leave me alone." How could he have known her name? Patricia was seriously scared now. This guy had to be stalking her or something.

The next day at school Mr Winkler pulled Patricia aside in the hallway and handed her a beat-up phone, she turned it over and found 'Joy' spelled out with foam stickers. Patricia closely examined the phone, trying to remember exactly what Joy's phone had looked like. "This is definitely Joy's," Another wave of sadness washed over her. This wasn't looking good for Joy. "But that means Victor never sent it back to her."

"It certainly looks that way," He took the phone back from her.

"No wonder she never answered any of my calls." Patricia met Mr Winkler's eyes. "But this is proof though? Proof of the conspiracy."

"It's not definitive we need something more." Mr Winkler interrupted her before she could get too excited.

Patricia wildly looked around until she spotted the photograph that had to have been altered after Joy's disappearance. "What about the photo?"

"What about it?" They both turned toward the picture to study it closer.

"I told you! They removed her from it." Mr Winkler just stared blankly at it. "Look she was standing right here next to me." She pointed to the empty spot.

"Wait, what's that?"

"What?"

"That there!"

"Donno, it looks like a hand." She paused. "Joy's hand!"

"Curiouser and curiouser."

"Finally someone believes me!" Patricia excitedly said. "Come on, let's go, we need to confront them.

"No not yet, I need to dig a little further. Be patient okay? I will get to the bottom of this, I promise." Patricia walked away satisfied for now. She had a teacher fully convinced that she was right, maybe she could finally get to the bottom of what really happened to Joy, and why the other teachers were working so hard to cover it up. She passed Eddie in the hallway who was staring intently at her. Patricia could tell that he was going to try to talk to her and she really couldn't afford to be distracted by the drama, not when she was so close to exposing the truth, she looked down at the tiles and sped past him.

It wasn't long at all before Patricia saw the strange man again. She'd been all alone, how she'd come to like it, walking to school than out of the trees the man appeared wearing the same sketchy black turtleneck and leather jacket combo. Patricia startled back but didn't run away this time, she needed to find out what this guy's deal was. "Patricia," He said. How did this guy know her name? She needed to stop walking alone.

"Don't come any closer or I'll scream!" She warned.

"Okay, okay," He put his hands up. "You're friend has disappeared, hasn't she? Joy Mercer?"

"How do you know that?" Of all the stories Patricia made up about this man she didn't expect him to ask about Joy.

"Because I'm a private investigator. My name is Rene Zeldman. If you get me a photograph of her, then I can help you."

"How?" Patricia wearily questioned, still not believing him.

"I think that she is in great danger, but I know that we can find her."

"We?" Patricia asked. It was presumptuous of the guy to think she'd automatically trust him after he'd been stalking her for days. He reached into his front pocket, pulled out a card, and took a step toward her, Patricia backed up. She didn't want the guy any closer. He put his hand up once more, before placing the card in front of her on the dirt.

He stood back up and pinned her with those ice-cold blue eyes. "Now if you want to help Joy, then you will call me." Saying no more he turned and made his way back into the cover of the trees. What a weirdo, Patricia thought, but took the card anyway. If he was telling the truth and she did decide to trust him, and that was a big if, she supposed it would be better to have a way to contact him, rather than wandering around the forest alone, hoping to run into the guy. Or, if she didn't choose to trust him, she would have a real, tangible way to prove he existed.

Eddie was starting to feel like a stalker but the combination of his fascination and worry for Patricia made one incredibly strong magnetic field around the girl, as his eyes were drawn to her more and more often. She was at Mara's side on the other end of the student lounge, ranting about something, probably related to Joy. She was so-

"Hey, Eddie!" Fabian's voice finally broke through the haze Eddie's mind had been enveloped in. Eddie's attention snapped back to his roommate. "There you are. Been trying to get your focus back for a minute there." That's right! Eddie remembered Fabian had been tutoring him.

"Sorry," He inwardly winced, hoping Fabian didn't realize who he'd been paying attention to instead of their biology homework.

"No biggy," Fabian looked back down at the science textbook, making Eddie sigh in relief. But then he looked up. "So is Patricia still mad at you about the bet?" Eddie made a quick study of Fabian. He knew that Fabian had been good friends with Patricia before Joy left, however since Nina got here, Eddie sensed a drift between the two- but anyway, Fabian had more experience in dealing with Patricia's moods.

"I honestly don't know." Eddie relented. "I tried apologizing to her but that was when she saw that guy watching her from the window so she wasn't paying attention. And since then she's been ignoring me."

"So apologize again." Fabian shrugged.

"I'll think about it," And Eddie would. Throughout the rest of the tutoring session, he was hopeless.

Jason showed up at Anubis House that night. Patricia remembered their conversation earlier at school, how he'd found the original photo with Joy still in it. Proof that she had been edited out. He said he was going to meet with Mr Sweet, had he come to tell her what happened?

"How did it go with Mr Sweet? What did he say? Did you get any answers?" She bombarded him with questions as he entered the house.

"Mr Winkler," Victor appeared at the top of the staircase. "I've been expecting you." He waved the teacher up the stairs.

"No," Jason said into her ear. "But I'm gonna get some now." Patricia watched the two disappear into the office and then stood there for a long moment staring at the closed door. If only the walls had ears. Alfie crashed into Patricia, knocking her out of her thoughts.

"Sorry, Trixie!" Alfie said, but Patricia said nothing and walked halfway up the stairs before stopping and sitting to wait the meeting out. This had to be it right? With Victor trapped in a corner, this had to be the moment Patricia would finally get her answers. Maybe even as soon as tonight Patricia would be back in contact with Joy and this whole conspiracy would be put to bed.

The door finally opened and Mr Winkler rushed out. Patricia stood to meet him. "Well?" He walked right past without even looking at her. "Mr Winkler, Jason! What did he say?" He was now running away from her as she chased him. Not a good sign.

"Quite the little troublemaker, aren't you Patricia," Victor said, making her freeze to look up at him. What had Victor said to him? And why had it frightened Jason away?

Patricia arrived earlier for class first thing the next morning, waiting for Jason to show up, hoping now that he was away from Victor and the house, he'd talk to her. She decided to recap everything she knew so far to Mara to pass the time as they waited. "Morning, everyone," Mr Winkler entered the room. Patricia jumped out of her seat and was at the teacher's side in a heartbeat.

"Well? What did Victor say?"

"Uh, there's no big mystery, I'm afraid Patricia. Joy's gone home like I've said." Patricia's heart sank, and she slunk back into her seat. She glared at the teacher. She had got her hopes up that somebody was on her side this time. Mr Winkler had found clear evidence that the school was trying to pretend like Joy never existed and now he was saying there was no conspiracy. With no explanation for the photo being edited. Victor had convinced Mr Winkler to take his side instead of hers. Feeling betrayed, she wanted to leave the classroom and ditch for the day but truly the last thing she wanted was the teachers in her business. So she'd play their little game and be a good student, for now.

Patricia might have been going crazy after all, but it seemed like the teachers were watching her. So much for being a good student and keeping the teachers out of her business. Both Mrs Andrews and Mr Winkler stared her down as they passed her in the hallway. Mr Winkler stopped next to Victor, the two men exchanged a look Patricia couldn't decipher before Victor turned to smirk at her. Patricia slammed the door to her locker and ran down the hallway. Victor was scaring her. He was the one the other teachers orbited around.

Desperate times called for desperate measures, Patricia figured as she followed Mara into the girl's bathroom, pulled herself to sit on the sink, and took out the card the man gave her the other day as Mara entered the bathroom stall. Patricia decided to run her thoughts past Mara when she exited the stall and joined her at the sink to wash her hands. She pulled out her phone and dialed the number.

"You know that ghost I keep seeing?" She asked. "He exists, he's a private investigator."

Mara turned around to face her. "You need to stop this now," She begged, but Patricia didn't want to hear it, so she hit the button to call the number. "Come to class."

"Hello," He answered.

"Dr Zeldman, it's Patricia Willaimson." Mara left the bathroom. "We need to talk."

Eddie's eyes darted to Patricia as she passed him in the hallway. The hallway was bustling with students as they prepared the school for Prospective Parents Day. He was tired of watching her from a distance to make sure she was okay. He cared about her a lot and he decided the only way to get the full scope of how she was doing was to ask her. This man that Patricia said she kept seeing freaked Eddie out. There were simply too many red flags and he didn't feel like she was safe. At all. "Hey, Patricia wait!" Eddie called out to her. She begrudgingly stopped and turned to face him.

"What do you want weasel?" She snapped at him, making him smirk. Although now Eddie realized he had to actually speak to her and the grin fell from his face.

"Umm, I've just been wondering how you've been?" He started, feeling dumb. "I mean, you've had a rough couple of weeks, I know, and-" She raised an eyebrow at him, and his mind went blank. She was way too cute, and he was an idiot. He tried to compose himself, remembering what he had been trying to ask her about. "Have you seen that guy again?"

"Oh," She squinted at him as if she was trying to make up her mind about something. "No, I haven't seen him since that night in my room." She awkwardly said. "And I've been great, totally fine. Thanks," She winced and turned back around to rush away from him. Eddie just stood there and watched her run down the hallway. That was weird, right? She was definitely lying to him.

He sighed and joined Jerome and Alfie, he quickly became aware of the scheme they were planning. Start a fire in the hallway so Alfie can save Amber and win her over once and for all. It wasn't a good plan but Eddie was fascinated by how it would play out. He just figured he'd watch from a distance so his father wouldn't think he was involved when it all went horribly wrong.

Patricia had just had an interesting interaction with Nina in the girl's bathroom as they were getting ready for bed that night. Nina had a necklace of the Eye of Horus. Patricia wasn't sure what Rene needed it for but she was willing to go along with it if he thought it could lead them to Joy somehow. She rushed to her room and dialed the number.

"Hello? It's Patricia." She said once he answered the phone.

"Did you get Joy's photo?"

"Yes. Was that all you're calling for?"

"Good, no I was actually calling about something else. I think I've found the eye of Horus."

"Okay, I need you to get it and bring it to me."

"Yeah, thanks Rene, I'll try my best." He hung up the phone. Suddenly Patricia was aware that someone was in her room with her and looked up. It was just Mara, she sighed in relief.

"How do you know you can trust this man?" Mara questioned looking worried.

"He's helping me find Joy, okay?" Patricia tried to assure her roommate but she didn't look too convinced. "And anyways who else can I trust?" There was a knock at the door.

"Enough of the noise in there." Victor scolded. "Lights out! Now!"

Mara hurried over to her side of the room and the girls turned the lights out. Patricia lay awake for several hours hoping that she really could trust Rene.

The next morning when Amber and Nina left their room to get ready for the day, Patricia snuck into their room to search Nina's side of the room for the Eye of Horus necklace. She found it easily enough but was caught by Amber. Patricia dropped it on the floor and tried to explain to Amber that she wasn't stealing the necklace she was just borrowing it but Amber wouldn't take any of it. Nina came in and Patricia had to call off the whole mission. She'd have to try again later, but she didn't know if she'd have another chance. Still, she left the room and got ready for school.

Eddie and Mick sat next to each other during Mr Winkler's drama class that day. They'd been assigned a few acting exercises to go over but all Eddie could think about was how he messed everything up with Patricia over a stupid bet. He was planning on asking her to dance already, why didn't he consider the possibility that Jerome and Alfie would spill the beans and obliterate the trust he had with Patricia? And now he needed her to trust him if some creepy man was stalking her.

"I never should've agreed to that stupid bet," Eddie told Mick out of nowhere.

"Oh?" Mick turned toward him, his interest piqued.

"I completely ruined everything! And I was going to ask her anyway before Jerome and Alfie said anything!" He ranted on, glad to have an ear to listen to him.

"Did you tell Patricia that?"

"Yes!" He threw his hands up in frustration. "But she's so unreachable now."

"I knew you liked Patricia!" He threw his arm around Eddie, shaking him teasingly.

"I seriously don't know what to do," Eddie carried on complaining. "I mean, I've tried just about everything."

"I get it." Mick's face turned serious, which was an odd look from him. "I'm having some girl problems myself." Eddie nodded at that. Mick certainly was. On and off again with Amber and then Eddie sensed something was going on between Mick and Mara. Eddie sighed and put his head in his hands.

The next morning the students that were ready for school sat in the dining room or the living room and talked over breakfast. Eddie quietly ate his pancakes as Amber went on and on about her holiday plans to go to the Caribbean.

Patricia stomped into the room, not even hesitating before she picked up the pitcher of water from the table, and poured the entire thing over Amber's head before anyone even knew what was happening.

"I asked you to keep a secret!" Patricia shouted. Eddie raised his eyebrows as the others ran over the table to her defense. What was this about? "She's known me since we were eleven, but now she's siding with someone who's only been here two minutes!" Amber ran her hands through her hair trying to save it. But it was pointless. She'd have to have to start all over with her hair. Eddie felt bad for the girl, knowing all too well what a pitcher of liquid over the head was like.

"Patricia!" Mara exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"Betrayal that's what."

"Don't go through people's private things here, it's like an unwritten rule." Amber glared.

"I think it's actually a written one." Nina piped in. Of course, this was about the American girl. Eddie thought that Patricia had been starting to get along with Nina.

Patricia splashed the rest of the water on Amber. "Some friend you are!" And stormed off.

Eddie didn't know what was going on with Patricia but despite the mean act toward Amber of all people, he still felt like he needed to figure out what Patricia's problem was. She left early for school that morning, Eddie assumed so that she wouldn't be in a house full of people pissed off at her, but then wasn't at school when the bell rang. Coming into Mrs Andrews' class late. Eddie decided he had enough, he had to regain Patricia's trust quickly because he had a horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen, and he just couldn't shake it. He'd never forgive himself if something actually happened and he ignored this feeling. He knew what he needed to do but he wasn't going to enjoy it.

After Mrs Andrews' class, Eddie waited for Patricia in the hallway the second she appeared in the doorway he ran to her and pulled her aside. "What are you-" Patricia started.

"We need to talk." Eddie led the girl out of the building and to the benches.

"What?" She crossed her arms.

"So I have this secret I've been keeping that I want you to know," He sounded so stupid. He had no idea how to approach this.

"Okay?"

"Okay," He took a deep breath. This was to build trust with Patricia. "Mr Sweet is my father." Eddie watched her jaw drop. She stood there speechless for a moment.

"He's your- Mr Sweet is, but you're-" She sputtered, making Eddie even more nervous.

"He left when I was young," It was time to ramble. "So it's just been my mom and me. She sent me here to try to reconcile but at this point, I'm just so done with him! I mean I think he's trying, he's just not a very good dad." He finally made himself shut up. Patricia took a few moments to compose herself.

"Thank you for telling me,"

"I know things have been weird between us but I like you, and so I wanted you to know." He felt like his face was on fire. "Umm so are we cool?"

"Cool as popsicles." She hesitated before touching him on the arm. "Really Eddie, thanks."

Eddie grinned at her. "Oh, but I'd like to keep this between us."

"I don't rat people out," Patricia grinned at him. Eddie wasn't sure who went in first but the two were wrapped up in a tight hug for a few seconds before she let go and pulled away. They walked in silence to their next class.

Patricia was flabbergasted that Eddie was Mr Sweet's son. Her initial reaction to the secret had been to push him far, away from her. Farther than she ever had before. Mr Sweet had done nothing but lie to her about Joy. He was working for Victor and constantly buried evidence of what happened. So Eddie could've been working with Sweetie. But the way he talked about how his dad had abandoned him in America made Patricia pause. It was how she felt about her parents. It felt genuine. Like Eddie could be an ally… or maybe even more, after all. She'd have to think about it. But she was really happy Eddie decided to trust her. If only she could get Nina to trust her. She'd have to do something major damage control if she was to pull this off.

After constantly prodding Nina about it, Patricia finally convinced her to meet with Rufus. She led Nina through the forest, feeling uncomfortable although she wasn't sure why. It could be boiled down to the very strained relationship she had with her former roommate.

"So what's the name of your friend?" Nina asked as the girls ducked under tree branches.

"Rene,"

"Okay, Rene. And why do we have to meet him all the way out here?"

"Because we do!" Patricia was getting tired of Nina's questioning already. "Now stop complaining and keep up!"

After an uncomfortable hike, the girls reached the spot they were supposed to meet Rufus. Patricia looked through the trees and quickly spotted Victor dragging a body across the pavement toward a van. "Get back!" Patricia held up an arm in front of Nina instinctively to pull her behind her. As Victor pulled the body along, the man was turned to where Patricia could see their face. "It's Rufus. Rene," Patricia corrected. "Whatever,"

"That's the man I saw visiting Sarah yesterday," Nina said. Patricia had no idea who Sarah was and she didn't care at the moment. Victor opened the door to the van and pulled Rufus' body up into it. It made Patricia sick to her stomach imagining that Joy could've been in the same position as Rufus. The girls watched in horror as Victor got back in the vehicle and drove off. Taking her hope of finding her friend with him. "Okay, what's going on? And what's Victor got to do with it?" Nina panicked.

"He's taken, Rufus! Now how am I gonna find Joy?" Patricia felt a little bit bad that she was more worried about losing her hope in finding Joy again but she didn't know Rufus that well, and Joy took priority over literally everything else at the moment.

"We've got to tell Fabian and Amber!" Nina put one arm around Patricia's waist and guided her back to the house. Patricia would've normally minded having the new girl's arms around her but all her hopes of finding Joy had been crushed once again, and as much as she hated to admit it, Nina seemed to have a calming effect on her. Patricia wasn't sure how much of the back and forth she could take. It was always one step forward and three steps back. She just wanted to make real progress. She didn't understand why it was that hard to find any evidence that Joy was even still alive.

Back at Anubis House, Nina made quick work of gathering Fabian and Amber to meet with them in the dining room. Patricia sat and took in the whole story as it started to unravel. Nina told her experiences with Sarah the lady she met from the nursing home nearby. In turn, Patricia decided to tell the three that Rufus was actually investigating Joy's disappearance. And they recounted Rufus' abduction as well. Patricia was still lost on how everything was supposed to fit together.

"So you saw Rufus visiting this old lady Sarah?" Patricia asked Nina.

"Yeah, she's the one who gave me the locket."

"The locket that Rufus is so interested in," Added Fabian.

"Maybe Rufus was a jewelry trader and Victor also collects diamonds." Amber figured.

"What if the second voice on those recordings is really Victor?" Fabian asked. Wait what? They hadn't told her anything about recordings.

"Then that would make Victor about a hundred and twenty," Nina said.

"Rember Sarah, on the recordings she talked about experiments down in the cellar. And what was Victor making a toast to when he drank that funny colored stuff down there?" Fabian asked. Patricia just watched the two theorize. Fabian and Nina were starting to sound just as crazy, if not crazier than her.

"Life," Nina said in thought. "Okay, so you're saying that Victor has some kind of an elixir that keeps him from growing old?"

"Oh yeah, and a jewelry heist is such a crazy idea," Amber complained.

"This is mad," Patricia finally spoke up. "What's any of this got to do with Joy or Rufus?"

"I don't know." Said Fabian.

"And the cat?" Amber asked.

"I hate to break up this cozy little chat," Victor appeared in the doorway making Patricia jump. He always had a way of sneaking around the house, but it made her jump out of her skin every time. "But ten o clock is fast approaching. I shall of course wish to hear a pin drop so I suggest you start getting ready for bed immediately." The four housemates stood up and without another word to each other went to bed. Patricia certainly had a lot to think about.

Yay! I was wanting to get another chapter up soon to make up for the huge wait in between 2 and 3. This week at work seems like it's going to be really overwhelming so I might have to take the week off from writing, but I'll start the next chapter as soon as possible. Thank you so much for reading, I appreciate you.