Chapter 1
Nina Martin scrambled off the train. She was finally in England after and 8 hour flight and a 3 hour train ride. Nina had long dirty blonde hair and emerald green eyes. She lived in America with her Gran. This was her first time away from home and she was practically shaking in her shoes. . Eventually the taxi arrived to take her to her new boarding school. An elderly man climbed out of it. He turned to face her.
"Nina Martin?" He questioned. Nina nodded.
"Yes that's me" She called to him. He walked towards her.
"Oh you're American then" He stated. Once again Nina nodded.
"Yea, how'd you know? Was it the accent?"She asked.
"No, it was the big American flag on your suitcase" He answers chuckling. Nina laughs weakly and rips the flag off the suitcase.
"Not the best way to blend in!"She says sheepishly. The man continues to laugh.
"Jump in then love" He calls to her, putting her suitcase in the boot of the car. Nina shrugs and climbs into the back. The taxi man then climbs into the front. He starts the engine. They start to drive down a country road.
After about 5 minutes down the road Nina's phone beeped.
"Parents checking up on you?" The taxi man asked, looking in the mirror. Nina shakes her head.
"No, it's my Gran. She brought me up," Nina says quietly. She never liked talking about her parents.
"I've never been away from home before" She admits. He looks at her with sympathy.
"Getting cold feet? Want me to turn this cab around?" He asks. Nina shakes her head
"No way! I'm finally here! The last time I felt like this though, I threw up on my kindergarten teacher" She says.
"No, that'll just be my driving" He jokes. Nina laughs a little. Another 20 minutes later the school finally came into view. 'Wow' Nina thought.
"Okay Nina, We're here. Where'd you say you need to be?" He asks. Nina looks through her papers.
"It's says I'm in the ...House of Anubis." Nina answered.
Joy's POV (Point of View)
My best friend, Patricia, and I were hanging out and Patricia decided that she wanted to take a photo of me. I turned around.
"Move back a bit more!" She laughed.
"Hurry up" I moaned. Suddenly I tripped over someone. I shrieked as I fell on top of them. I realized it was Fabian! Patricia just stood there laughing whilst I was trying to sit up.
"That's my new profile picture!"She laughed. I rolled my eyes in a jokey way. Once I had managed to sit up I noticed Fabian clutching a book. I took it off him.
"Theory of Computism" I read out loud. An amused grin flickered over my face.
"A bit of light reading?" I tease. Fabian snatched the book back and starts laughing as well.
"Joy just because it doesn't have Robert Patterson on it, doesn't mean it's not worth reading" He chuckles. Just then we hear the bell ring for third period. Patricia helped us up and we grabbed our stuff. As Fabian was handing me my blazer back we see a cab pull in. I looked at my two friends and they shrugged so we decided to continue walking towards class.
We got to the main entrance and a girl with long dirty blonde hair bumps into Patricia. She was frazzled and clearly in a hurry.
"I am so sorry!" She apologises, she then runs off again.
"Who's the American?" Patricia asks.
"Okay, call me crazy but I think that was my old friend, Nina" I say.
"What, the one you're nearly always going on about?" Fabian asks I nod my head.
"Yeah. I think I have a photo of her on my phone" I say, taking out my phone. I scroll through my photos until I find one of me and Nina and her other friends.
It was taken during a summer Holiday. Basically when I was 8 or 9 my parents moved over to America for their jobs. So I had to go over there in the summer holiday because I had a scholarship at Frobisher Primary (I now go to Frobisher Academy). One day I was in my back garden when someone popped there head over my fence.
"Hey, Are you my new neighbour" It called. I turned around a girl the same age as me was looking at me intently. I nod my head
"Yeah. I'm Joy Mercer. I'm visiting my parents. I actually live in England because my school is there but my parents moved here so now in the summer holidays I come here" I say.
"I'm Nina Martin. I live here with my Gran" She says
"Where are your parents? Do they live with your Gran too?" I ask. She goes really quiet.
"No. My Mom and Dad died in a car crash" She said softly. I gasped.
"I'm so sorry" I say. Nina shakes her head
"It's okay. Anyway do you wanna hang out in the park?" She asks.
"Let me ask my parents" I reply. My parents said yes and so I hung around Nina. She introduced me to her friends: Jade, Sasha, Yasmin, Katie, Carter and Dylan. After that we became a group. Every year during the summer holidays I would hang out with them. We became inseparable. All of us.
Nina's POV
Ahh! Where did that taxi man go? This is so embarrassing. Lost on my first day. Well, actually I think that's pretty normal. After searching for five minutes I finally found him outside my boarding house. I hand him some money and he waves me off. I turn and faced the house. It looked really old because there was vine and ivy leaves hanging from the house. At the front of the house there was a sign that said 'Anubis'. I pull my suitcase up to the big wooden doors. Before I even touch the door, it opens... Weird. I walk in and stare around the hallway. Suddenly the door slams shut. I whip my head around. When I turn back, a creepy man is standing there. He had black greasy hair and a very pointy nose.
"Isn't the bell working?" He asks.
"I-I don't know, the just opened so" I started but got cut off.
"So you thought you would walk right in" He says. I nod slightly.
"That's kinda how we do with doors in America. I'm Nina Martin."I introduce holding out my hand. He didn't take it.
"You're late. Two weeks late." He said. I sigh.
"Yea, we didn't find out about the scholarship until..." he held up his hand for silence.
"I'm not interested in the reason why you're late" He said smirking. I frown at him confused. A middle aged woman then came bundling down the stairs. She was short, had black glossy hair and spoke with an Irish accent.
"Victor Rodenmaar! I hope you're giving our new girl your warmest of welcomes, well as warm as he gets anyway" She says chucking at the last part. Victor rolled his eyes.
"Hi sweetie, I'm Trudy Rheman, your housemother. Welcome to Anubis house" She says motioning around the hall. The hall was really pretty. It had stained glass barriers and wonderful decorations. When I looked up the stairs the banister was really well shaped and on the wall was some animal heads...
"It's only slightly spookier than the brochure..." She says in my ear. I grin at her. She could say that again.
"The Anubis estate was originally built in 1890 although it wasn't named Anubis until 1922" Victor starts to say. I exchanged an amused grin with Trudy
"Ohhh! She doesn't care about all that boringness Victor. She's a teenager, it's all about hormones and vampires "She says giggling. Victor once again rolled his eyes. I guess he doesn't like being told off. Trudy then guided me through two oak doors.
"Now this is the living room through here sweetie." She says. I looked around me in awe. There were two long Sofas and a couple of armchairs. They were made out of dark red leather. There was a TV in the corner near a fire place. In the middle of the room was a table with a...stuffed crocodile on it? Eww and weird.
"Everything's so old and beautiful," I say running my hand over one of the arm chairs. "I bet this house has a ton of stories" I say grinning as I walked past the fireplace. Trudy smiled back and walked into the dining room.
"Now this is where I serve breakfast and evening meals. Delicious." She adds on the end. The dining room had a long oak table with 10 oak chairs sitting around it. A white tablecloth draped over it and a bowl of fruit stood in the middle of the table. Behind the table was an island that connected to the kitchen through a window.
I caught sight of a painting on the wall that really interested me. I walked over to it to take a closer look. It was a man and a woman. I couldn't help but feel like these people were familiar. Suddenly Victor appeared out of nowhere.
"Mr and Mrs Frobisher-Smythe, the original inhabitants." He said before I could ask.
"They died, in a very tragic accident" He says. Wow he really has a way of welcoming people... Trudy chuckled weakly.
"Always upbeat" She says trying to lighten the mood. She then turned to me
"Right, shall I show you where you'll be sleeping?" she asks me.
"Is it ready?" Victor asked. Trudy nodded.
"Oh yes, they cleared it" Trudy said. Who were 'they'? I was going to ask but then I decided not to be nosy.
"Very well, follow me please Miss Martin" He heading toward the door. I go to follow him but get stopped when I see a photo.
"Oh and who are these?" I ask. Trudy comes and stands beside me.
"Oh, well this one on the far left..." Trudy begins but gets cut off by Victor taking the photo down.
"When you are quite ready..." He says walking out the room.
"You are lucky to be in this house you know. It's the nicest one- despite Mr Loveable" Trudy says to me quietly. I smile at her. We quickly walk to catch up with Victor.
"Boy's rooms downstairs. We don't want anyone wandering about after 9 o'clock and all lights must be out by ten." He says as we walk up the stairs.
"This is my room, which needless to say is strictly out of bounds" He says pointing to an office like room. On the door it said 'Victor Rodenmaar, Caretaker' He put the photo inside his room. We then walk through another set of doors which leads to a corridor. This must be the girl's rooms. As we are walking I see an isolated door. I grab Trudy's arm.
"What's up there?" I ask, pointing to the door.
"That's the Attic" Trudy replies.
"Going up into the Attic or down into the Cellar is strictly forbidden. Is that understood?" He says to me. I nod my head
"Crystal clear" I answer. Victor nods his head. He then directs us to another door.
"This is your room here. You share with two other girls." He says opening the door. The room has three beds in it. The first one having lots of different posters around it. The second bed looked very familiar. It almost looked like Joy's stuff. The third bed was empty. I see a photo on the door. It was of a blonde girl and a girl with dark frizzy hair.
"Who are they?" I ask. Trudy turns and looks at the photo.
"Oh that's KT and Chloe" Trudy says.
"KT has left." Victor says taking the picture down and throwing it in the bin.
"Rather suddenly and unexpectedly if I may say so" Trudy says.
"You may not," Victor says glaring at her."You trunks have arrived I shall leave you to unpack" He then walks out the room. Trudy rolls her eyes at him and walks out the door leaving me all alone. I start to unpack my clothes into my wardrobe. I looked over at the second bed. On the beside unit, there was a photo. I went over to it and picked it up. I gasped when I realised who it was. It was me, Joy, Sasha, Yasmin, Jade, Carter, Katie and Dylan! That must mean that Joy was here. And I was sharing a room with her! I couldn't wait to see her expression when she sees me. I was nearly finished when a girl with blonde hair came bursting into the room.
"KT I've been..." She started but stopped when she saw me.
"Who are you?" She demands. I get up off my bed and smile
"I'm Nina. Good to meet you. I'm new. American, Obviously" I say politely.
"Who cares? Where are KT's things? What's going on?" She demands. Wow, but I thought KT left. She then looks in the bin and sees the crumpled up photo. She bends down and picks it up.
"Did you do this?" She asks, holding it up. I shake my head.
"N-No. I just got here" I protest. She then grabs my sheets and dumps them outside the room
"Please stop! Victor told me KT had left" I told her. She turned and growled at me. She then went down the side of my bed.
"Without this?" This is her phone. Did you steal it?" She accuses. I shake my head again.
"Not a great strategy for making friends. Show up and steal stuff." I say, which was very true. She then held up a stuffed rabbit.
"And this is KT's as well!" She says. She then grabs the only photo I had of my mom. This set me off
"Hey! Put that down. I mean it, you can't take that!" I say desperately. She ran out of the room and I followed her. I then snatched the photo off her.
"I don't know who you are or where you came from, but you're not my roommate. KT and Joy are. Now where is KT" She demands. I was frozen in shock. This girl thinks I have kidnapped her friend when I don't even know who she is.
"Did you hear what I said? Where's KT?" She shouts.
"Ok, can we start over? I'm Nina, from America and unless KT's hiding underneath the bed, I don't know where she is. The room was empty when I got here" I protest.
"I don't believe you" She snaps. Suddenly Victor appeared out of nowhere.
"Chloe Hemmings, What is going on here?" He asks, looking at both of us.
"That's what I'd like to know. Where's KT?" She snaps.
"KT has left" Victor answers. Chloe looks taken aback.
"What do you mean, she's left" She asks, clearly confused.
"Her parents came this afternoon and removed her" Victor says.
"But...that's impossible. Why would they do that?" She asks.
"I have absolutely no idea" He says smirking.
"KT would never leave without saying goodbye, or without her phone or bunzy bun." She said.
"Give them to me; I'll forward them on to her..." He says holding out his hand. At first Chloe refused but then Victor looked at her sternly so she handed them over reluctantly.
"Now clear this stuff back into the room" Victor orders.
"No way! I'm going to phone KT and find out what's going on" Chloe says stomping off.
"Chloe. Come back here" He calls. He turns to me. He picks up my sheets and dumps them in my hands.
"Supper will be ready in ten minutes" He informs me. He then walks off leaving me with my thoughts. So in my first couple hours in England I've been blamed for kidnapping someone and made someone hate me. Great job Nina.
Hiya,first chapter up. I will try and upload frequently but cant make any promises. Dont shoot me for spelling mistakes either...
Plz review it makes me write faster