That night all of my floormates were finally in at the same time. There was Oliver, the super attractive (though I tried not to admit it) swimmer from Australia. He roomed with Jayant who preferred to be called Jay. He came from India and played tennis and baseball. Then there was Mick and his roommate Dom. He was from South Africa and he played soccer and ran track, just like Mick. For the girls, there was Erin, the girl I had already met, who was from Ireland. She played softball and cricket, a sport I never had even heard of until she told me about it. Jaqueline roomed with Erin and came from Canada. Like me, she was offered a scholarship to play field hockey and this was her first and last year at the Victoria Academy of Sport. We got along right away and I could tell we were going to be really close this year. Lastly there was Vanessa. It turns out that her and Oliver were twins, which explained why she looked like the girl version of him. She played football and swam. Everyone offered good first impressions and I could tell I would be happy living here.

The tour I went on was fine. I finally felt like I could find my way around campus on my own if I had to. It was mostly freshman, but the entire field hockey team was on the tour too. All of us were new students, which was comforting. It was nice to know that there were people who would understand the hardships of going to a new school.

After the tour, we all headed over to our first field hockey team meeting. It turns out that each sport had its own club house for meetings and what not. Ours was located right next to our field and everything was brand new. We actually had to use our room keys to gain access in. Only field hockey members were allowed. It was basically a larger common room with locker rooms in the back, but it was really nice. Our coach, Mrs. Peterson, told us that we were allowed in here whenever we wanted. We could do homework, workout in our private gym that was apparently up stairs, shower, whatever we wanted. It was like having a second dorm.

The team meeting lasted for about an hour. We all introduced ourselves and told everyone how much experience we had. The younger students seemed to have played more than the older ones, probably because it was hard to find older students to leave their old schools to come here. There were actually only three of us in year 12. It was only me, Jacqueline, and this girl Maria who was actually living in the floor below us. We all were recruited to team captains by default.

Just as the meeting was ending, and everyone was leaving, Mrs. Peterson stopped me.

"Oh, Nina. Would you be able to do me a favor?"

"Sure," I replied, "What is is?"

"Our practice uniforms still haven't arrived," she explained, "But there are some old basketball jerseys in storage that I though we could use. Would you be able to find them for me? Their in the cellar under the Alexander Towers, and I figured since that was your dorm it wouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah, I can do that! Can I bring Jacqueline to help me?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I would, but I'm really not supposed to let students down there. I'd go down myself, but I also coach the golf team and their meeting is now. I just don't have time. It will be better if you go alone."

"It's fine. So are they just in a box, or...?"

"Yes, just a cardboard box. It says "basketball 1977" on the flap. I already checked them out so I know they are usable. Here's the key." She dropped it into my hand. It was a real key though, not a key card like everything else in the school seemed to run on. "You can just bring the box back here when you get the chance. Thank you Nina!" She quickly walked away, clearly in a hurry.

"No problem!" I called, but she was already gone.

I shrugged and started making my way back to the dorms.

I didn't even bother going to my room. I just headed straight for the cellar. The door to it was located in the stairwell. I remembered noticing it yesterday. I wasn't completely sure if it led to the cellar, but the door was locked, it had a key hole, and it read "Authorized Personnel Only."

I stuck the key I had in the lock and turned it. It turned out I was right. The door opened to a staircase that descended into darkness. I found a light switch on the wall and flipped it before closing the door behind me.

I was walking down the steps when suddenly I heard something making noise. I got to the bottom step and froze, unsure if it was just an animal or a person. Either way, it was making me nervous.

"Hello?" I reluctantly called out.

Suddenly a figure popped out from behind an old washing machine. It was Mick.

"On, Nina. It's just you. I thought it was a teacher or something. He stepped out from behind the machine and into the open.

"Nope," I reassured, "Just me. What are you doing down here anyway?"

"I do my laundry down here." He shrugged. "Dad gives me a weekly allowance for food and laundry and such and I get to keep whatever I don't use. Laundry is two dollars a load and I'm trying to save up for some new football cleats. The machines down here are old, but there free, so I sneak down to use them."

"Smart thinking," I complimented, "But how do you even get down here?"

"I pick the lock," he admitted, "It's not that hard and I haven't been caught yet. What about you? What are you doing down here?"

"My coach asked me to pick up some old uniforms to use as practice wear," I explained, "She gave me the key. I may have to start picking the lock and doing laundry down here though." I smirked at him.

"Well, I'm still waiting for my load to finish... need help finding what you're looking for?" he asked.

"That would be great actually. It's just a cardboard box that says "basketball 1977."

Finding the box turned out to be quite the challenge. The place was a mess. Years and years worth of storage just scattered all over the place and stacked on top of each other. No wonder Mrs. Peterson asked me to come down here instead of doing it herself. Finding anything was impossible.

"I thought this building was new," I said aloud, "Why is there so much... old stuff down here?"

"Well, the building's new," Mick answered, "But the basement's not. It used to be a part of an old equipment warehouse. Like really old, older than Anubis maybe. At least that's what I've been told. I was never here to see it. But apparently students would sneak in a lot to do who knows what, and the building was getting so old it was dangerous. So they knocked it down and built the Tower. They kept the cellar though, I'm not sure why."

"Interesting."

After a good ten minutes of searching, Mick finally found what we were looking for.

"Hey, I think it's this box over here," he yelled to me. He was near the wall opposite the stairs. I walked over to him to check it out.

"Yeah, that's definitely it," I said after reading the flap. It said "basketball 1977" just as I had been promised. I started to lift it up when Mick stopped me.

"Hey, don't do that. Let me pick it up, it's probably heavy."

"Oh," I said, a bit startled, "Thanks." I felt pretty capable enough to carry it myself, but Mick was stronger than me. There was no reason for me to decline his offer.

Mick picked up the box, but when he did, he knocked over an old broom with his elbow that knocked over a large painting hanging on the wall.

"Whoops," he said, but at that point I was barely paying attention to him. I was staring at the wall, right where the picture came down. There was art drawn directly on the wall, but it wasn't just any art. It was Egyptian art.

It was a drawing of a man standing in a boat that resembled a canoe. He was decked out in jewelry, leading me to believe that he was wealthy and probably high class. What really caught my attention though was the symbol floating above his head. It was the Eye of Horus, the full symbol, not just the eye part that I was used to seeing on Sibuna missions. It suddenly started glowing blue.

"Nina," Mick said to me, "Your necklace."

"What?" I looked down. I was wearing my Eye of Horus necklace. I had gotten into the habit of wearing it everyday despite not being in England anymore. It just didn't feel right, plus I felt like it helped me and protected me. It was glowing blue, just like the symbol on the wall.

"Oh my god," I said out loud, but in a whispered tone because I was in shock. The necklace didn't have any connection to this place. Why was it glowing? Why was there Egyptian art in Australia? All of these questions were swirling in my head, and I started to fear what the future might hold for me. That didn't stop me from putting my necklace up against the wall though. I've always been too curious for my own good.

When the two eyes met, the part of the wall with the painting suddenly moved back and then slid down revealing a tunnel.

Mick's jaw dropped. "What the...?"

I shook my head in disbelief. No, I thought, not here. I thought I left this curse in Liverpool.