The curtains were drawn by the time Ronan finally reached Anubis House. He got out of his dad's car and stretched. Even though the car was ridiculously spacious for being a car, it made him feel claustrophobic.

The crunch of gravel near the door caught his attention. He could tell it was a girl walking, but the shadows from the house hid her identity. Ignoring the driver asking whether he needed help, Ronan walked towards her.

As he got closer, he saw the trademark flower crown that was almost always worn by Nicci. Smiling at the thought of the ecstatic girl, Ronan sped up.

"Nicci," he called out.

"Ronan?" she shouted back unsure.

"It's great to see you!"

"Same to you!"

They stood in silence for a while, listening to the steady sound of crickets enjoying the night's peace. Ronan felt the last traces of summer's warm air on his face. Nicci, however, suddenly gave a short shiver.

"How were your holidays?" Ronan asked.

"Warm," Nicci answered.

Ronan let out a long laugh. Nicci giggled as well.

"What was that laugh?" she sniggered.

"What? My laugh is perfectly normal, thank you very much!"

"Of course it is," Nicci said matter-of-factly. "If you don't mind, I'm going inside."

Nicci ran towards the welcoming front door. Following her shadow, Ronan walked inside as well. Once he had reached the entrance hall, Nicci had already disappeared. The driver stood next to the stairs surrounded by Ronan's suitcases. He dipped his hat towards his passenger and left without a word.

Ronan was used to this. His family life had been silent gestures and judging looks since his mother had passed away. Ever since her first collapse, Ronan's life had been riddled with the looks. He was now the only thing his father had left. His father had immediately locked his only possession away in a fortress.

Ronan's cellmate was nowhere to be seen. Flynn could be detected wherever he went. His tall figure towered over everyone wherever he went. Even if Ronan stood a step above him, his glaring eyes would make him feel like a mouse.

A clutter and banging came from upstairs. Ronan looked around to spot Kestrel and Jesper.

"Stage one of Project Party," Kestrel shouted from the stairs.

Jesper followed close behind her, telling her to be quieter. Ronan eyed the two walking together huddling together like a group of witches. He stepped in front of them, blocking them from getting off the stairs.

"Need a third witch in your coven?" he asked.

"What?" Kestrel replied blandly.

"Hubble bubble toil and trouble?" Blank face. "The three witches in Macbeth." Raised eyebrow. "Scheming is usually done in threes."

"Oh!" they caught on.

Ronan felt a glimmer of annoyance. He would've thought a straight A student would understand the play they were meant to be studying that year. Ms Andrews wasn't going to be pleased with the amount of work she had ahead of her.

"You want to help us with scheming?" Jesper questioned.

"Of course. What are you trying to do?"

"We're trying to persuade Victor to allow us to have a party on Friday," Jesper said. "When I say 'we' I really mean Wylan as well. It was his idea after all."

"What role do you want me to have?"

"Tell you what," Kestrel smiled, "you can keep a lookout for us. Make sure Victor doesn't overhear what we're doing."

"And what do I do if I see him?"

"You'll come up with something," Jesper said, patting him on the back. "You always do!"

Ronan watched in silence as the two disappeared into the kitchen. Trudy's voice joined their conversation quite quickly. The emptiness of the hall made Ronan long to be in there with them. Even if he was just listening, he wouldn't mind. He could count on his fingers the number of friends he had and that didn't include his thumbs.

At least I'm better than Flynn and Lydia.

Sudden guilt filled Ronan at his thought. If either of them could perform telepathy, he was sure they would be greatly hurt. It was true that Flynn didn't have as many close friends as he did. He didn't try to make any friends though. The same could be said for Lydia. She preferred the company of a piece of homework or book rather than a human being sometimes.

The sound of Victor's door opening snapped Ronan from his thoughts. He looked up to see Victor walking across the landing towards the stairs. To his dismay, Ronan couldn't think of a way to block him.

Luck was on his side when the basement door opened. If it wasn't for his relief, Ronan would've been shocked. No one was allowed into the basement, not even Trudy. It was Victor's little hideaway that no one had ever seen. Before he left, Ronan was determined he would find out what was down there through any way possible.

The man that came out wore a leather jacket and held a glass bottle in his hand. His hair was roughly cut and he looked relatively young. However, Ronan suspected he probably wasn't due to the clear cut of his blue eyes as well as the defined muscular arms he owned.

Taking advantage of him, Ronan jumped into action. He stepped in the man's path and held out a hand.

"Hello," he greeted. "May I introduce myself?"

"One of the little children?" the man pondered.

Ronan was taken aback by this. He had never been called a child by anyone before, let alone little. He was certainly not little and he certainly was more mature than the other 'little children'.

"No, I'm not one of the little children," Ronan replied rigidly. "I'm one of the appreciated students."

"Of course you are," the man smirked.

"Rufus!" Victor called from the stairs. "What are you doing here?"

"I forgot something," the man replied holding up the bottle. "I'll bring it back tomorrow."

Rufus took hold of the bland suitcase and began to walk towards the door. Intercepting him, Victor glared down at the man. He seemed to forget Ronan was there until Rufus flapped towards him.

"Thank you, Ronan," Victor said. "You can go now."

Ronan raised an eyebrow, but obeyed. He scurried into the kitchen just in time to see Jesper high five Kestrel. Trudy stood smiling warmly next to them. Jesper went to hug her and Trudy gasped.

"And that is not the last one you are getting," Jesper grinned.

"What's going on?" Ronan asked.

"We're getting a suggestion box," Kestrel said.

"Is that worth a celebration?"

"You'll see," Jesper whispered in his ear.

"It's ten o'clock!" Victor called from the entrance hall. "You have five minutes precisely and then I want to hear a pin… drop."

Quickly the three students ran out of the kitchen. Trudy called goodnight after them. Before Ronan reached his door, he remembered his suitcases. Turning back to get them, he noticed Rufus was still standing there. Victor had presumably gone to his office.

Rufus took his time walking towards Ronan. Each footstep echoed around him until he had eradicated the distance. He leaned in to reach Ronan's ear. The air that breathed into his ear was much more hostile than Jesper's had been.

"Don't follow their orders. Make some of your own sometimes."

With that, Rufus fled out into the night. Ronan stared after him. When he woke up the next morning he could still feel the parasite crawling around his right ear.


Iris was not a morning person… Nicci was a morning person… Once the maths is completed, one can understand the ridicule of early mornings and late nights for them. Luckily for Nicci (and unluckily for Iris), it was morning.

Nicci flounced around her room in her turquoise nightdress. She hummed to the radio blaring out a random pop song as she brushed through her hair. Occasionally she entertained herself by tapping the lump in Iris' bed with her hairbrush. It moaned back at every hit.

Eventually Iris emerged from the mountain of bedcovers. Her burgundy wasn't agreeing with her, but she was more occupied on getting her eyes to function. Nicci laughed at the way they each winked at her.

Padding barefoot down the hall, Iris and Nicci finally made it to the bathroom. Nicci dived in first, leaving Iris to fix her eyes.

"What was the point of waking me if you're going to get in first?" Iris called grumpily through the door.

"Watch as the queue starts to get longer," Nicci replied.

Five minutes later and Iris hadn't heard a single floorboard creak. Boredom began to seep through her and the singing in the bathroom hadn't faltered once. She worked out that she wasn't going to get in there any time soon so she went back to her bedroom.

One side of the room was decorated with makeshift drawings and handmade canvas. The one above Nicci's bed was by far the messiest, but Iris only didn't pull it down because she knew how much that one meant to her roommate. She had heard it was the first one Nicci had painted on a canvas.

Iris' side of much less bright. The dark colours contrasted surprisingly well with the bright ones Nicci sported. The brightness was also starting to manipulate Iris into a little bit of colour after years of being in that room. Her guitar, which sat next to the door, had a flower sticker on the neck and elaborate green swirls on the body.

Iris picked up the guitar and strummed a few chords. The strings were unwinding after not being played for a while. Setting work on tuning the instrument, Iris heard a squeal down the hall.

"Water!" shouted a muffled Nicci.

Iris tried to stifle a laugh and failed. After a minute, Nicci slammed open the door.

"You look like you've been in a storm," Iris commented innocently.

"Don't!" Nicci fumed. "Now go get in the shower."

Rolling her eyes, Iris grabbed her washbag. As she walked into the hall, she saw the bathroom door close and heard the tell-tale sounds of the shower starting up.

"Great," Iris muttered.

Not wanting to be the raincloud, Iris wandered to Kestrel's room at the end of the hall. She poked her head around the door to see Kestrel already in her school uniform. Examining herself in the mirror, Iris noticed a jewellery box open on her desk.

"Since when did you have a jewellery box?"

Kestrel jumped at Iris' voice. She quickly shut the lid and turned around. A silver compass shone from around her neck. Guilt was reflected in the metal.

"To keep this in," Kestrel said holding up her necklace.

"Surely you have something else in there," Iris teased.

"Quit it," Kestrel protested.

"Once I've had a look."

"Hey!"

Iris had walked over to the desk and placed a hand on the box. Kestrel stared at Iris with an anger she had never seen before. She slowly moved her hand away.

"You are to never go in there!" Kestrel growled. "Will you ever go in there?"

A strange feeling took over Iris. She didn't think about what she was doing, but allowed herself to float around as if she was in a dream. Her head shook of its own accord and she accepted it. She would never dare to open that box or mess around with it. It ended as suddenly as it began.

Iris blinked and looked around her. Kestrel was smiling at her in a weird way. It looked like she hadn't turned her frown upside down completely.

"Thanks Iris!" Kestrel grinned. "Sorry about that. Did I hear the shower stopping?"

Iris listened hard and couldn't hear anything. She waved goodbye to Kestrel before leaving. As she left, she heard a sniffle. Turning back, she saw Kestrel staring into her mirror. None of it made sense to her, but Kestrel's hand on her jewellery box sent a little twinge through the depths of her mind.


And there's the first two hints towards the two main arcs of the story! Did you spot them? Also every character (from Anubis) has been introduced! Yay! I'm hoping to be able to update every Friday between 7 and 9pm (UK time). If I'm unable to, the chapter should be up the next day or I'll mention in the chapter before.

Thank you everyone for reviewing! It makes my day to read all of your thoughts about this story and sometimes I get a laugh out of them. It helps me to stay inspired.