3. House of Flesh

"An ankh, on the gate?" Victor questioned Fabian, Nina, Amber, Patricia and Noah.

"Yeah," Fabian said with a nod, "It's mounted out there right now. Did you not put it up?"
"Why would I put it up?" Victor questioned, rising from the seat at his desk, "Move aside, move aside," he told them, heading through the door, "I'm going to have a look myself."

They followed after Victor as he headed outside. He stepped out through the gate and looked up at it, "An ankh…," he muttered. It was still there.

Amber looked at Nina, who just shook her head a little. Amber ignored her, "Victor, do you know anything about ghosts carrying an ankh?"

"Ghosts?" he questioned, "What sort of question are you asking?"

Before this could go anywhere uncomfortable, Noah spoke up, "I was in the basement the other day, and I saw two…well, I'd have to call them ghosts," she said, leaving out that they were all there, "They weren't old spirits, they were more modern looking. One was a teenage boy, and he was carrying an ankh."

"I don't know anything about that," Victor told her. "When was this?"

"I went down yesterday to check on one of my mixtures," she said.

His eyes didn't show belief, nor disbelief. He wasn't entirely sure if she was being honest, but just nodded, "I don't know."

He reached up and plucked the ankh off of the gate before walking back towards Anubis House.

"Now what?" Patricia asked.

"I think he might know something," Nina said, "He took the ankh, after all."

"That doesn't prove a lot," Fabian told her.

"Well, he might know something he's not telling us," Nina said.

"If anyone's finding that out, I think it'll be Noah," Amber said, looking at the other girl.

Noah nodded, "Yeah…I'm on that."

"What are you doing?" Joy asked Mick, looking over his shoulder at his laptop as he sat at the dining table.

He quickly closed it and looked at her, "You scared me," he said.

"You know, that looks and sounds very suspicious," Joy told him, "Let me see."

He realized quickly enough that just denying her access to what he was doing would look too suspicious and lead to a fight and possibly an end to their relationship if it went far enough. He opened his computer again.

"I've been looking into university options," he told her.

"That's wonderful," she said, "Now's a good time to be doing that. Why so secretive about it, though?"

"I'm looking into sports scholarships and related options," he said, "I might be away from you, and, well, I didn't want you to know until it was all over and I had decided on what option. I figured that if you saw me doing this that you'd get mad and try to sway me away from it."

She smiled, "No, I wouldn't. You're proud of your sportsmanship, and if you can get to university that way, then that's wonderful. I wouldn't be mad about it, even if we don't end up at the same university."

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," she told him.

"Do you feel good about staying up and hunting for ghosts?" Jerome asked Mara while they sat on his bed.

"Not entirely," she said, "That history project was a bit hard."

"You're probably the last person I would have expected to believe in this stuff," Jerome said, "I mean, well, you saw it firsthand, but you're the last I'd expect to just jump at the chance to do something about it."

"My whole life I've prided myself on how smart I am. I've prided myself on being realistic. Last term though…everything I had was shaken. The magic, the danger…it's all real."

"It doesn't mean you have to change," Jerome told her, "It didn't change me. I'm not jumping at every chance to go hunting this stuff or getting involved."

"But everything I thought has been shaken! I have to see more about it, and learn," she told him.

"Look…," he said, "You can keep doing this stuff, and I'm going to still be your boyfriend, but please, don't drag me along to everything. I've had more than enough magic and danger for my lifetime."

She looked at him with pleading eyes, and then sighed, "Ok, fine. I can deal with that."

"Trust me Mara; you'll get tired of it soon enough too."

Alfie was walking around the school yard, instead of going back to Anubis House. He had seen the ankh on the gate, and it had freaked him out a bit. He had fled from the House and towards the school, and was now just killing time however he could.

"Why did it have to be ghosts?" he muttered, sitting under a tree and looking around at the few stragglers. He recognized students from Isis House, Thoth House, Hathor House, and then one from Seth House caught his eye.

It was the boy from the basement; the ghost.

"No…no…no…," Alfie muttered, running the other way. "Not ghosts!" he screamed out, taking weird looks from others as he ran.

"You saw the ghost boy?" Patricia questioned him judgmentally.

Alfie nodded, "Y-yeah, at school," he said, clearly shaken. "He was with Seth House students…"

"What would a ghost be doing with those guys?" Amber questioned.

Nina ignored it, "Well, maybe we should go to Seth House and try to shed some light on this."

"You want to go and look for the ghost?" Alfie questioned, "No! No!"

"You don't have to come," Nina told him.

"Right," Fabian said, "We know what he looks like, we don't need you. If you're scared, you can stay away."

"You know, I don't think you were this afraid with Rufus around," Patricia told Alfie.

"There's a different between a psychopath and a ghost," Alfie told her.

"One can hurt you, and one can't," Patricia muttered.

"It doesn't matter," Alfie told her, "People are afraid of spiders, and spiders can't hurt them…"

"Ok, fine, we get it," Amber told him, patting him on the shoulder, "If it would make you feel better I can stay with you…"

"Would you?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said, "I don't like Seth House anyway."

"Ok then," Fabian said, "So, Nina, Noah, Patricia, and me?"

"You're going somewhere?" Mara asked, coming down the hall, "Count me in!"

There was a brief moment of silence before Nina spoke up, "Ok then. You can come with us too to Seth House. Alfie saw the ghost boy, or someone who looks like him with them."

"Fantastic," Mara said, "Though I still don't know about ghosts and Egyptian mythology or magic…"

"Nevermind that," Fabian told her.

"Well, let's go," Nina said, "Off to Seth House."

As they headed to the door, it swung open, and someone they didn't know was standing before them.