Hello my fellow Anubis lovers!
Sorry for the really long first chapter, but bear with me please. I've had this idea for a really long time, and it's time to put it out there. I hope you guys enjoy this and I will try to update this as much as I can. Reviews would be great :).
And I now present to you the very lengthy first chapter (sorry) of House of Anubis: The Next Generation
(July 25, 2036)
On the fourth anniversary, the coins changed for the first time.
The figures wrapped in golden clothes watched in a still and silent awe as the coins in front of them glowed a bright series of yellow rays. They couldn't see the coins anymore, but they could almost feel it, scorching under their skin. A burning sensation of wonder and patience, waiting…
In the darkness penetrated by beams of young light, one figure stepped forward, breaking the real that had only gathered before. He and his circle watched the lights dim from the small pieces of bronze.
As they returned to coins in the dark, he hunched over closely and saw and smelled fresh engravings scripted in the metal. He unconsciously chokes down as he read the new words. He immediately motioned behind him, knowing who he was calling.
"Come forward."
Another person broke out of their circle and began reading the coins himself.
"Those surnames," he told his leader. "Are all too familiar."
Even in the dark, he saw him grit his teeth. Silent tension roared through the room and everyone fell into the same wave.
He slowly picked up a coin with the newly scratched names, the coins that had been ready and resting on a scale. He rubbed it between his fingers, pondering for a second before he flipped it over.
And as he expected, a fresh print of a new name looked him directly in the eye and shot him through the heart.
"The first seven are no longer with us." he said, and there was a sudden but obvious shift of uncertainty through the room. "Their time has passed."
Standing beside his leader, the second man picked up his coin. "Everyone," he said. "Identify your counterparts."
The circle broke and walked to their respective placement, where in front of them laid a golden scale with a pair of bronze coins. Everyone picked up theirs.
"Fallon." one called out hoarsely.
"Joseph." another one said.
"Eddie." The second man swallowed at the reading of the familiar name.
"Annabeth."
"Faith."
"Jaleel."
"Destiny." their leader concluded in a grim voice with a touch of worry that was speaking to nothing but the coin.
"What should we do, sir?" Eddie's counterpart spoke.
He rubbed the coin between his fingers again. He told the seven around him, "We will foresee this when I notify you all. But no one shall return until further notice by me, understood?"
"Yes."
"Dismissed."
The small crowd dispersed, leaving only echoes of their shuffling footsteps as they left the room in loud silence. He removed his hood and ran a hand through his rough hair as the door closed shut behind him. And then there were two.
Slow footsteps came towards him. "What should I do?" he said.
It was dark, but as he turned around, he could see the look of worry on his partner's face. "My friend," he began. "We can either protect them or let them collapse into their own manifest danger. Get them here. Send out a letter as soon as you can, but do not send anything without my consent."
"Yes sir."
"I should be down to your office by noon."
"I'll have it done by eleven."
He looked wistfully to his partner. "Take your time," he commanded, more out of sympathy rather than a leader.
"Sir, don't you think we are being a bit hasty? Their parents should get suspicious." he reminded.
The leader though before replying, "Leave that to me. I'll have something prepared tomorrow morning."
His partner smiled slightly. "Isn't this rather remarkable?" he said.
"How?" he said, for once going back to his normal scruff voice.
"We were here a quarter century ago, with that group. Now we're here with the new generation."
"Is it supposed to be remarkable, Eric?"
"We will only see for ourselves, Victor."
"Yes…we will see."
~X~
(Manhattan, New York, New York, USA)
creativelyDRastic: Lord and Rings blows you out with a canon.
JWalker: Flames is the canon, my fellow symphony lover. We burn the Lords BAD.
creativelyDRastic: Why are you a nerd?
JWalker: Why aren't you one?
creativelyDRastic:…I remain unresponsive.
JWalker: And I win.
creativelyDRastic: And this conversation ends in 3…
JWalker: 2…
creativelyDRastic: 1
JWalker: 1
creativelyDRastic: Hey, gotta go. Mom's on the air, and I'm heading out now.
JWalker: Mama's girl :P
creativelyDRastic: If I hear that one more time from you, I will reach into the screen and slap you. And you know I can do that.
JWalker: Well, now I gotta go. Sister's begging me to take her out, you know since I'm older and stuff and I have to be the mature older brother and
creativelyDRastic: She's four minutes younger than you. YOU ARE OLDER BY FOUR MINUTES, you jaywalker.
JWalker: Technicalities are politely ignored, thank you. But seriously I'll talk to you later, kay? My sister will not stop complaining about how I'm not fulfilling my duties as her brother…I really gotta go.
creativelyDRastic: :) Have fun mwahahahaha.
DESTINY RUTTER, YOU HAVE SIGNED OFF.
Destiny Rutter shoved her phone in her pocket as she walked out of a rustic worn out warehouse which had recently become a crime scene. She wielded her way around the maze of yellow tapes and officers, fell back into the outer crowd, and took one last glance before she headed off.
It was a quiet building, in the heart of New York City, which people walked past every single day. No one minded that a building was falling apart in front of them. She did. She cared for every single corner and pipe, for a reason that would be forever lodged in the back of her brain and incapable of coming out.
"Today's scene interests you, Ms. Rutter?"
Destiny snapped out of her muse to come face to face with one of the cops, who had been jotting down on a small pad as he came towards her.
"Officer Aaron," she greeted politely. She gestured to him writing down. "Going old school I see." When she looked around, half the cops were typing on tablets or operating on their phones.
"Sometimes old school is the best way." Officer Aaron replied, waving his pen at her with a smile. Aaron Gray was a lean, buff officer that had been one of her mom's friends from college. He was fairly younger than the other cops in the department, but was easily her favorite.
"I agree," she mused and grinned. She looked past him and back to the building. "What was this place?"
Aaron glanced behind him and said, "Old storage unit. I remember this actually, they relocated down in Queens."
"Seems bad that they would just leave it here like that to rot." Destiny said.
He turned back to the young woman standing before him and sprouted a grin. "What about you? I don't see any other pint size teens over here. You like coming here for fun, Destiny?"
"I don't know. Would this qualify for community service?"
They let out a healthy chorus of laughs at the simplest detail, a trait they both seemed to share before Destiny went on. "I guess I'm just here for the story."
"The story, huh?"
"It's always interesting. The murder, the motive, the killer!" she said with a fascinated smile on her face (which seemed to scare other people because she was smiling about a homicide). "By the way, who's the killer?"
Aaron pointed behind him to a man who was currently being pushed forward, bound by handcuffs and strong grips from other cops that she knew as well.
"Grant Edwards," he stated. "A native of England. Arrived here a few weeks ago for some leisure time."
"Hmm, and when you find out your story, you will report back to me?" Destiny asked him, sounding hopeful at the least.
"Yes, ma'am." Aaron jokingly saluted and they both laughed again. His smile radiated off of Destiny's good impression. "You know, not many people your age would be interested in this type of stuff?"
"I guess I'm different."
"Darn right, you are." he confirmed. "You're special, you know that Destiny."
She shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe I'll see it in a year or two."
Aaron sent her a comforting smile and patted her on the back. "Well then, I think your story should end with the red head riding off into the sunset. It's getting late. Your mom will be looking for you."
"Right," Destiny sighed.
"Don't worry. We will have the full report to tell you tomorrow." he assured her as he walked over to the edge of the street, where cars were busy bustling around each other bumper to bumper. Seeing a cab coming towards them, he swiftly whistled for the cab to pull over.
Destiny watched as the cab sped past them and Aaron's face turned disappointed that his normal trick didn't work. She tapped his shoulder, and said "Allow me." Seeing a yellow car, she mimicked his whistle and was quite pleased when the cab pulled over right in front of her.
"I've taught you well." he said impressed as she hopped into the cab. "Hey, Des?"
"Yes, Aaron?" Destiny turned back to him after telling the driver her destination.
"Tell your mom we said hi, okay? We would love to see her back down here to give us a hand…all of you, actually."
Destiny smiled. "I won't forget it. Thanks, Officer Gray." she thanked formally. With a last glance, Aaron signaled for the taxi driver to take off and Destiny was cruising through the busy streets of Manhattan.
You're special, you know that Destiny…
She looked back at the crime scene that had interested her so much. Maybe volunteer cops or children of detectives her age would show up at a crime scene. She literally had shown up for fun. And most girls that she knew always had something to occupy their time, either it was sports or shopping or nights out. She came to murder cases and solved them like an FBI agent. And it was thrilling.
Maybe she was different.
~X~
(City of London, London, England)
"Jaleel Jacob Lewis!"
JALEEL LEWIS, YOU HAVE SIGNED OFF.
Jaleel Lewis closed his laptop and groaned as he heard his sister's heels clacking on the wooden stairways outside, marching towards his room. He spun in his wheeled chair towards the door and raised his legs onto a cushion footrest, as he did commonly. A minor show was about to begin, he was bound to get comfortable.
And in came his sister, who had kicked his door open with her pastel colored heels and hands on her hips. A pink dress was draped fittingly on her body, but it did nothing to match her near scowl.
"Hello, dear sister Annabeth." he nonchalantly greeted, with a British accent that had been said to charm the ladies.
But Annabeth Lewis, who happened to be his younger sister by merely four minutes, never bought it. The only thing she bought were clothes, shoes, accessories, half the things she made Jaleel carry most of the time.
"You do know there is a parade of young girls down in our common room, right?" Annabeth began.
"I do." Jaleel replied as he rested an arm on top of his laptop, which caught Annabeth's glance.
"Oh, I see. You were talking to that girl, that…her, again." Annabeth said, wrinkling her nose as if in disgust.
"Yeah, I was talking to her, if that bothers you so much."
"It doesn't," she said crossing her arms. "What was the debate on this time?"
Jaleel looked back at his now closed laptop. "Symphonies," he sighed happily.
"Mmm-hmm," she said, rolling her eyes. "Just let her know that Lord and Rings blows everyone else with a canon."
Jaleel looked first at his laptop, then at his sister and smiled smugly. "Well, isn't that funny?" he muttered before speaking up. "And I thought you liked All Things Hot."
"And the Charts!" she reminded. "But it doesn't mean I can't be a Lord."
"Okay, so if that's all then-"
"No way, J." She stopped. "Mom says you have to supervise us while we go to the mall. Even if it's only four seconds, she thinks I'm too young and stuff." Another eye roll, but this one had a hint of gray in them. She covered it up with her signature smile, a sly but deceiving smirk. "So you're coming with us."
"Cause I agreed to that," he said sarcastically.
Her hand returned to her hip. "Jaleel…" she started.
"I was kidding! Yeah, I'll come." he said as he turned to grab his phone and wallet.
"I don't want you to go alone, either, so…" Jaleel said to his sister as he turned around, but she had disappeared back downstairs to her comfort zone. He pursed his lips.
"Oh, Annabeth…"
~X~
The Lewis' had a limo, but Jaleel and Annabeth's parents said it was just a really long car to keep the normality of it.
Jaleel was just relieved that Annabeth's entourage was smaller than last time's. They only filled up one cabinet of seats.
Annabeth secretly had one relief of being in the limo filled with her best girl friends that always had the latest gossip magazine handy: she chose to sit next to her brother.
There were two seats that were leaned back against a row, so they were facing the front. This was where her parents sat, and where Jaleel always sat, and where Annabeth always ended up wanting to sit. She insisted that she didn't want anyone else to feel awkward sitting next to her brother that only quietly listened to his music. But Jaleel assured her that he was fine, and that her friend Erin could sit with him if Erin wanted because they both would listen to music and other than the occasional playful banter, she was good company too.
Annabeth glanced back at the group of girls behind her and laid her eyes on Erin, who unlike the entire group wore a pair of distressed jeans that were from her mom's company and a pair of black combat boots. It was the type that made Jaleel prefer Erin over the other girls. It was the type that made Jaleel prefer Erin over her.
So Annabeth began sitting with Jaleel, out of a secretive but thriving jealousy.
There was one person she told, and that was Heather, the daughter of her mother's work partner and who she only saw when she stopped by her mother's workplace. Because Heather didn't really come around her friends. And she trusted Heather, really, and had to tell someone. But Heather always admired her affection for Jaleel. Annabeth wanted to admire her own affection for Jaleel.
But she had a facade to face, and she continued being herself as she argued her brother's music choice. "It should hurt your ears," she said bluntly, mainly because she could hear it from his earphones.
He could hear her too, and shook his head. "It should. But it's like alcohol. It's hurts so good."
"There are earsplitting solos everywhere."
"It's music Annabeth. You should try it."
"The Charts and All Things Hot are music!" she countered, crossing her arms against her chest.
"They aren't authentic symphonies. A synthesizer makes half the sounds for them."
"Then fifty percent is music!"
Jaleel shook his head again. "I can't even look at you," he joked. "But at least you listen to Lord and Rings, which is completely out of character." he added, glancing up and down at what some people called her Barbie form.
"They have a lovely orchestra." Annabeth defended.
"Flames has an orchestra," he muttered.
The limo came to a halt, and their driver let them know they were here, and Annabeth did the same to all her friends who all leaped out of the car. The Lewis siblings thanked their driver and Jaleel got out first, holding the door for Annabeth as well.
"Aw, I always knew you were a closet gentlemen." she commented. Jaleel smiled, knowing that this was her way of saying thanks.
"It's not so much a closet. It's more like a glass shower, and I'm washing myself with goodness." he said dramatically, which had Annabeth trying to refrain from smiling. She only smirked.
"Hey, Jaleel!" It was Erin, who was ready to run and signaling Jaleel over. "Come on!"
Annabeth's smile dropped as Jaleel's widened. He lightly slapped her shoulder and said, "I'll see you later, Anna." And he was off.
He was off, and she was alone.
~X~
(San Diego, California)
She stepped out of her red Model S and fled into the parade of students who, like her, had turned up to school in the middle of the summer. In the front of the school hung a giant banner in big bold letters, "ALL DAY SOPHOMORE MIDSUMMER PARTY".
A bunch of kids from her school had rented out the gym for a sophomore party, and she had reluctantly chosen to attend. It was reluctant because it was against her mother's orders, and she was lying to get here. There was no less uneasiness when her name was called either.
"Faith Sweet, get over here!"
Faith Sweet smirked and rolled her eyes as she saw a tall guy in loose leather whistling and calling her over. As she walked over, he met her halfway and stopped in the middle of the street.
"Get over yourself, Donny. It's not gonna happen." Faith said with another eye roll.
"Don't worry, babe," Donny said with a smirk that he tried to pass off as an assuring smile. "No need to play hard to get. We're still friends." His hands snaked around her waist as he pulled her close to him, not seeing the car that was charging towards them.
A horn honked as loud as it could beside them, making Faith and Donny jump and turn to see a car stopping before them. While Donny waited to see who stepped out of the car, Faith rolled her eyes and sighed, for she already knew. The driver, leaving the car at the sidewalk got out and slightly stormed towards them.
"Don't touch my sister." he growled, taking note of how low his hands were at this point.
"Eddie…" Faith started, but couldn't say anything.
Eddie Sweet shook his head, and Donny finally released his arms, only to get them ready.
"Dude, what's your problem?" he complained, releasing Faith.
"I don't know," Eddie replied, looking him up and down and glancing between him and his sister. "Help me think of one."
"Well you almost ran us over." Donny said.
"False. If I ran you over, then I would run my sister over. I would never run my sister over, so unfortunately I didn't run over you."
Donny gave him a glare and an eye roll as Faith hid a grin. "My brother is loveable," she said to him.
"Yeah," Donny said with ignorance. "Well, keep him over there, will you Faith?" He turned to Eddie and stood over him. "Don't even think about bringing your little fifteen year old selfish self over here, because me and your sister need some privacy, hear me? Stay in your place. You don't belong here, Junior."
Faith tugged on his jacket and made him face her. "Don't talk to my brother like that." she commanded.
Donny looked from her to her brother and sighed in defeat. "Fine, but keep him in his-"
"Go back over there. I'll find you later." Faith cut him off and gestured to his group of friends who had been "discreetly" watching them from the school entrance.
"Yeah, go back to where you came from." Eddie said mocking Donny's tone. With a last glare at Faith's brother, he stalked off.
Faith watched him leave, and annoyed with her brother's appearance turned around and opened her mouth to speak. But Eddie cut her off.
"We need to talk." Eddie said, and yanked her sleeve and took her over to his car.
"What else do you need, Eddie?" Faith groaned.
"You know what I'm gonna say, Faith." Eddie said. Faith looked at her younger brother, noticing that his tone had become more gentle and humble, but resisting the urge to get cold.
"I'm only staying here for a few hours. I told mom I'd be out for two."
"Yeah, and that's why I'm here. Mom said you couldn't go." Eddie reminded her.
"I won't do anything, I promise!" Faith said defensively. Eddie's shoulders dropped, but Faith scoffed. "Either way, she shouldn't have control over my personal life."
Eddie's face softened, because Faith always said stuff like this about their mom and it led to a future argument.
Seeing her brother's face, Faith sighed. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm sorry."
Eddie nodded, and said, "I want to take you home."
"No! I mean, come on Eddie. I know there's a party before the year begins and stuff, but please let me go to this! I'll…I'll only stay an hour, and I'll tell Donny I have to go to the bathroom and ditch and come home."
Eddie sighed, and looked back at the school. He glanced at his sister, her hopeful face and eyes that he always had the ability to read. "Whatever," he said and opened the door of his car.
Faith smiled in relief when she saw she had her brother's consent, but as her brother started his car, she faded knowing that Eddie was letting her stay for her sake and was going to leave. She frowned a bit as she knocked on his window.
"Yeah?" Eddie said as he rolled down the window.
"Thanks for being my brother." She tried to reassure him that she was okay.
Eddie could only manage half of a smile as he replied, "Thanks for knowing."
In a blink, his car weaved around her and drove off in the opposite direction. Faith spun around just to watch her baby brother drive off, out of the school campus.
"I'm sorry," she called weakly, knowing that he wouldn't hear her. Now she wanted to go home.
But inside his car, Eddie looked at his rearview mirror, at his sister standing and watching him go. He smiled a bit because he did hear.
~X~
(Manchester, North West, England)
A young man, with lush blonde hair gelled against his lean figure, swiped up a stash of Euros from a smaller man who was taking back his paper.
"You're a good man, John." the blonde man said, counting his stack.
"You always say that…" John mumbled as he walked past him.
Mockingly offended, he called after him, "You're welcome!" in a thick British accent. He laughed almost menacingly as stuffed his bank into the pocket of his cardigan and walked off in the opposite direction. It was while he was walking past the small cottages in the outskirts of Manchester when he was stopped.
"Joseph Clarke," a woman said behind him, as he shut his eyes and prayed that he could keep walking. But he turned around to greet her.
"Ms. Durant," Joseph Clarke greeted a bit nervously. Of course Ms. Durant would catch him. She was probably sitting by the window with her cat waiting for me to come…he thought.
"Stealing from your clients again, Mr. Clarke?" she asked him with an eyebrow arched at his pocket, which was currently full of Euros.
"Stealing, no. Dealing." Joseph clarified. "Little John and I had a deal. I offered to do some work for him, and I asked for payment. It's merely a win-win situation. I wasn't going to work without pay."
"Of course not," Ms. Durant replied with a fake smile. "That's reserved for the amiable."
Joseph felt he should've been offended at the indirect insult, but he quickly shut it out to presume to more important manners. "Hey, this money isn't just for me. I was thinking maybe I'd give it to my mom today, to fund her magazine, or maybe my dear cousin. You remember her, don't you? She lost her parents about a year ago, yes, that's where the money should go. She does deserve it."
"Yes," Ms. Durant said, sneaking a glance inside her house. "How charitable of you."
Joseph sent her one of his charming smiles. "Well, it was nice of you to catch me, as always Ms. Durant." He heard her send a skeptical hum of disagreement. "But I have to go. The amiable side of me has to go find his cousin." He turned around to begin walking off before her voice stopped him again.
"Oh nonsense, Joseph, let me do that for you." Ms. Durant paused him as she called back inside her home. "Fallon! Joseph is here!"
Joseph closed his eyes again, and prayed hard to be able to keep walking. But he groaned in irritation when he heard the familiar perky female voice come into the vicinity.
"Thank you so much, Ms. Durant." Fallon said as she stepped out of her home.
"Always a pleasure, Ms. Mercer." Ms. Durant thanked her formally. "It seems like you'll be getting rich today, Fallon." She spoke loud so Joseph could hear her loud and clear.
"Come on, Fallon." Joseph said, turning back around to face his cousin. "We still have to go pick up groceries for my mom and dad."
"Of course, dear cousin." Fallon replied in homage to his conversation with Ms. Durant, which earned a laugh from her as well.
"Come again, Fallon." Ms. Durant said. She shot Joseph a look. "Joseph."
"Ms. Durant." he said with a single nod before she shut the door.
He began walking as Fallon caught up to him, close enough for her sleek black hair to lay some strands on his shoulder. "Hello, Joseph." she properly greeted in her high accent.
"I have a feeling," Joseph began as they began entering more of the city, "That if I hadn't brought you along, I'd have been off the hook. What were you doing in there, anyway? I was gone for ten minutes."
"Ms. Durant was showing me some beadwork. She said I should come by so she can teach me." Fallon replied. She watched as her cousin's expression turned from annoyed to disgusted. "Beadwork is classic!"
"Classic is old."
Fallon rolled her eyes, and then directed them to his pocket. "She said you were charitable, Joe." She hit the pocket full of money. "Pay up to your orphaned cousin." She heard him mutter "half of it" under his breath as he took out the wad of cash and split it into two.
"Hmm, charitable indeed." Fallon said with a smirk as she was handed a thin wad of Euros. Watching the bigger stack get shoved into his back pocket, she rolled her eyes. "Charitable enough," she mumbled.
"Take what you need, Fallon. Let's just get the groceries." Joseph said, switching gears to his other pocket and grabbing a thin pack of Euros that had come from his parents.
"Sure," Fallon fell a few steps behind him and took out her phone, as a distraction. She easily slipped a Euro out from his back pocket and put it with her own, which Joseph almost saw as his hand went to his back pocket protectively.
"You said half."
~X~
(Newport, Wales, Great Britain)
She used her time to listen to soft piano songs on the bus as her small group of friends chattered around her. The bus pulled around to a small community with people living outside in the cool summer weather. It stopped at the entrance of a neighborhood of young cottage-like homes as it always did, and she stood up as the bus doors opened.
"Bye Maria." one of her friends from behind said. A chorus of goodbyes fled to her ears as she turned around to wave and say goodbye.
"Have a good day, Ms. Jaffray." the bus driver said with a smile.
"Thank you," Maria Jaffray said as she hopped off the bus holding a piano folder of music and walked into the neighborhood, the echoes of the bus fading behind her.
The Jaffray's was the third house on the right, and she let herself fall into the serenity of her neighborhood as she tugged out a ring of keys and let herself into her house.
"Mom?" she called. It was only an echo as the house revealed itself to be empty. She looked around for her mom nevertheless and saw a freshly printed note on the kitchen counter. She slipped her bag on the nearest chair and picked up the note.
Off to finish my last case, sweetheart. Have you finished packing? –Mom
Maria nodded, thankful for her mother reminding her to return to work. She prayed her mom was doing alright and headed straight for her room.
"Moving season," she mumbled as she peered inside her room, which was painted with cardboard.
Boxes were strewn across her room, which was coming very close to bare except for her pale aqua walls. All her clothes, books, and necessities were packed neatly in a majority of them. Her last day was coming, so she knew she had to finish up around here. She began with books that had been sprawled all on her desk and started stacking them in a partially filled box.
Her mother's last case was today, and then they would be heading off to start in a new city. It was only a few months ago her mom, who was a highly admired lawyer, was offered a higher position in Kensington. Without hesitation, she said yes and her and Maria would be moving. She obliged herself, extremely happy for her mom and not grudging the fact that they would almost be starting over.
Or she was being prepared for the fact that she was leaving one thing behind for another to come.
~X~
In retrospect, they all should be preparing for what was to come.
~X~
(Liverpool, England)
Victor Rodenmaar sat hunched over his desk writing furiously, but neatly on crumpled brown paper. He had written four notes total, one to each household, to go with the offer that Mr. Sweet was going to be sending out for the future residents of Anubis House. The letters were all spread out on his desk, along with the seven new coins that had transformed just recently.
At last signing off at the end of his letter, he scrambled to pick all of them up and put them in a presentable stack. As he stood up prepared to head out to the academy, he caught sight of the coins one last time. He picked up his and stared at the new name.
"Destiny Rutter," he said. "What have we done, here?" He threw the coin back on his desk and left.
~X~
Eric Sweet had never left. He had been the same as always. And as Victor stepped foot in his office, he was just as he always had been, sitting at his desk and whisking away into his work.
"Ah, Victor," Mr. Sweet greeted. "You've come. Please sit. I was just finishing up the offerings."
Victor took a seat and set the letters down in between him and Mr. Sweet. "Please add those for the Rutters, Lewis', Sweets, Clarkes, and Ms. Mercer." he said. "Seven of our newest Anubis House residents."
"Seven out of eight, actually." Mr. Sweet corrected with a smile tugging at his lips.
Victor looked him in the eye and grew concerned of his smile. "What are you playing at, Eric?"
"It seems as though I have located one more that I've decided to invite another child of our, well, alumni. Maria Jaffray, Victor. Mara's daughter. I know she doesn't have anything particularly to do with the house, but we are getting a new generation either way. It would be oddly familiar, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, yes, very well Eric. I'm just concerned about those letters getting to their respective pairs." Victor gestured to the letters which Mr. Sweet was now picking up. He watched as Eric scanned over each of them, but he stopped at the third one.
"Oh, Edison…" he said sadly. Victor knew exactly why. Now, Eric's grandchildren would be wrapped up in this dangerous mission.
"Edison's children," Victor said, trying his best to keep the sadness from dripping down the walls. "Took your surname."
Mr. Sweet smiled at this and nodded. "Our surname, Victor." he said. He held a picture frame on his desk and turned it to Victor. Victor stared wistfully at it. It was of Eric and his wife, at a wedding he remembered was sixteen years ago. "After Madeline and I remarried, Eddie and Patricia were Sweets. So were Eddie and Faith."
"Yes, of course." Victor said, not taking his eyes of the photo before Eric ripped it out of his eyes.
"Oh, you do remember that. I can tell." Eric said with a smile, and grabbed another picture frame to show. "You were my best man, after all."
And Victor grimaced at the sight of him wearing a tux and smiling too, right next to Eric, his wife Madeline, and Eddie as well.
"Yes, yes I remember. Well, I had just come to drop those off, so I must be off. The new housemother arrives today." Victor said as he got up.
"Of course, Victor. I must get myself prepared for the late admissions rush."
Victor blinked. "The what?"
"Oh, there are always late parents who want to send their kids here. It's coming." Eric said with a playful smile.
"Very well." he said as he opened to door.
"And," Mr. Sweet said, stopping him. "I suppose you should get prepared for your own rush."
"What?" Victor said, furrowing his brows in confusion.
"Oh, you might as well prepare yourself, if they're anything like their kids."
I hope you guys liked it :)!
And here is how you can imagine the core characters: with face claims!
Destiny Rutter (American) FC: Molly Quinn
Jaleel Lewis (British) FC: Jacob Artist
Annabeth Lewis (British) FC: Teresa Palmer
Faith Sweet (American) FC: Phoebe Tonkin
Eddie Sweet, Jr. (British) FC: Gregg Sulkin
Joseph Clarke (British) FC: Drew Van Acker
Fallon Mercer (British) FC: Janel Parrish
Maria Jaffray (British) FC: Vanessa Hudgens