AN: Sorry about the long wait for the update. As I mentioned earlier, I have a lot going on right now! Anyways, on we go! I DO NOT OWN HOUSE OF ANUBIS OR ANY DIALOGUE

X

I woke up early the next morning, breathing heavily, to find Amber looking at me with curiosity in her blue eyes.

"Some night last night Sophie. How are you handling the news about Sibuna?

"Can I actually wake up for a second before you interrogate me?" I snap at her. Hurt appears in her blue eyes, and I quickly apologize. But she doesn't understand the nightmare I just had.

'I trust you Fabian' I say as I take a step forward toward a statue that had an Anubis dog head. The dog was holding a grim reaper type sheath, and before I knew it the statue was spinning. It stopped, pointing the sharp tip at me. All of a sudden, I could feel some wind blowing, and the floor beneath me was moving. 'FABIAN, WHAT DO I DO NOW?' I scream as I fall through the floor. The next thing I know I am sliding down a narrow tunnel, before I roll out onto the floor and collapse from the fall.

I hear a large thump, and realize that I have actually fallen out of my bed. I must have woken up Amber, because she began interrogating me immediately, "Sophie, are you alright? You never wake up this early. Was it another nightmare? What did you see this time?"

I mean I just woke up, can't this wait until later? I said pretty much the same thing to her. "Amber, I am going to have to talk about Sibuna and what happened to you guys all day today, so for right now I would much rather not talk about it." We then had a staring war, each of us trying to get the other to cave, but when she saw that I was just as stubborn as she was and was no way in hell backing down, she finally decided to change the subject. But this subject was not one I was interested in talking about either. Man, I just can't win with this girl.

"Fine let's talk about Fabian's super obvious crush on you, and your not so obvious crush on him back."

"W-what are you talking about? I don't like Fabian and he doesn't like me"

"From the way that Fabian was looking at you, I could have sworn that something else was going on" man this girl is far smarter than she seems.

"Yeah right Amber. Fabian wouldn't be jealous of another guy helping me out who is in love with his girlfriend. Remember Mara? And besides, you know as well as I do that he is not over Nina yet. Nina, your original BAF." I scoffed, trying to get the focus off of me.

"Soph, you forget who I am. I am Anubis resident's love guru. Nothing love related gets past me, and believe me, I know when a boy is jealous. I saw that look all the time on Alfie's face when I was with Mick. So, do you like Fabian? Come on Sophie I won't say anything if you do"

Just because I am attracted to Fabian, doesn't mean that I have to say anything to Amber about it. But she is going to figure it out anyways. Should I just tell her it's a budding crush? That I get butterflies at the thought of his being jealous because it could mean he likes me too? But is it actually a crush?

"SOPHIE?" Amber screams in my face, waking me from my own thoughts. "I swear you go into your mind far too much. But do you like Fabian?"

"I-I'm not sure. I mean he is cute I guess, and he is really sweet. I'm not quite sure if what I am feeling is more than just a budding friendship or not, you know?" I say, trying to make sure my voice stays level so she can't detect any part of the lie I just told her. It's not technically a lie. I keep repeating over and over in my head. You don't like Fabian, at least not yet. Thinking someone is cute doesn't mean that you like him.

We stare each other down, and I guess my half- truth worked because Amber just nods her head in understanding, "I get it Soph, too early to tell. But if you ever want to make an impression, you really should let me do your hair and makeup rather than just waltzing around in just that sock bun all day long."

Maybe I felt guilty for telling the closest thing I've ever had to a best girlfriend a lie, but I say okay.

Amber lets out a loud squeal, "OMG yay! Now come over here and sit at my makeup table. Does your hair retain curl?"

"Amber this is just school, please don't go overboard. But yes, as long as you use a wand, my hair holds curl rather well"

"It's a good thing I have all of my beautification tools with me" I just roll my eyes and she gets to work. I sit there as she pulls the scrunchie out of my hair, and it falls to beyond my shoulders. It is already slightly curled, but she turns the wand onto the highest setting, and gets to work. I sit through the all the hair pulling, and a few times I swear she got close to burning my ear, but a half an hour later, I am sitting with long beachy curls. She then grabs her makeup bag, and I quickly try to stop her.

"Amber I don't really feel comfortable wearing a lot of makeup."

"Didn't your mother ever sit you down, and put your makeup on for you when you were a little kid?"

This hit me hard. My mom died when I was 7, and I only have one memory of both of my parents. The rest of them I've repressed or was simply too young to remember. "I don't know Ambs. She died when I was little, remember?" I ask softly.

She gives me a look of sadness before quickly replacing it with one of determination, "Well its never too young to learn. I know you at least know how to put on the basics. Today I am going to listen to you and just do simple makeup. A thin line of eyeliner with a small cat-eye and mascara." She stuck to her word. She explained each step what she was doing, and the best way to get everything done. When she was finished, she put pale pink lip- gloss on me. The difference was amazing. The curls framed my face, and the subtle eyeliner brought out my dark brown eyes even more than normal. I waited until Amber was done with her beauty regime before I headed downstairs where I was greeted by Jerome.

"Hey Jennings so I was thinking..." he trailed off when he looked up to see me. His mouth opened slightly but he closed it before I could ask and continued on as if nothing had happened, "we need to get our costumes in order for the haunted house." I follow him nodding until we reach the kitchen.

I sat down in my usual seat beside Fabian, not sure about his reaction toward my makeup. "H-holy crap. Sophie, y-y-you look gorgeous" Fabian says as Jerome takes the seat on my other side.

"Are you saying I don't normally look gorgeous?" I respond, trying to cover up my blush with a cheeky response.

"Uhm, no, I mean, maybe, I mean I don't know" he stumbles.

"Fabian relax I'm only joking. Amber happened. I finally caved. I don't think this is my every day look for me as this eyeliner is really making my eyes itch"

"Whoa Amberfied are we?" Patricia asks as she and Joy sit at the table.

"Yep, I thought maybe if I let her do this to me once, she would stop insisting on it"

"Sophie, believe me she will never stop now that you've given in once" Joy says while giggling, "but you look absolutely stunning"

"Thanks Joy, that's so sweet" I say. Mara never joins us for breakfast because she had an article for the Jackal to write. I guess she and Joy are co- editors. I could feel Fabian staring at me, and I tried to focus on my food as much as possible. What I didn't realize was Jerome stealing glances at me; at least I didn't notice until Amber sat across from me, and kept looking back and forth from me to Fabian and me to Jerome with a knowing look in her eyes. I quickly start blushing, and kick her from under the table.

"OW! What was that for?" she complains.

Lucky for me, Eddie finally gets to the table, "So when do I get to learn the rest about Sibuna's conquests? And when are we going to try to find this diadem?" I ask him, happy not to have to answer Amber.

"Sibuna clearing in the woods after school, 4:30. We have to induct you, Joy, and Jerome as official members. Bring something important that you wouldn't mind losing" Eddie says.

"What are you all still doing here? Need I remind you that school starts in 15 minutes, you better head over" Victor interrupts us.

"Yes Victor" we all say, quickly gathering our belongings before heading to school.

X

"How are those world history projects coming along?" Mr. Winkler asks as Fabian sits down to share the desk with me.

"Mara and Jerome, how is your project coming along with Ancient Roman?"

"Fine, sir. I even have Jerome here interested in our project"

"Well yeah when you research people getting thrown to the lions its really interesting. Did you know sir that a lot of the people that were placed in the coliseums were actually Christian martyrs because they weren't pagans, the preferred religion at that time? And the reason why they were fed to the lions was because it was seen as treason to go against anything in the Roman empire, and Christians were blamed for pretty much all of the plague and failures in battle?" he asks, and I could tell from the sound of his voice that he was actually genuinely interested.

Mr. Winkler looked surprised that Jerome had actually done research and replied, "seems like I gave you the right place to research." He then turned he head to Amber and Alfie. "What about you two? Any luck with Ancient Greece?"

Amber and Alfie both looked at each other before they responded. And to be quite frank, I believed neither of them had even begun their project because they were not the most studious people like me, Fabian and Mara are.

"Well sir, we are focusing on Grecian myths," Alfie responds.

"Yes sir, we thought we would maybe focus on either the Illiad and Odesssey, and then think about how the stories could have impacted the beliefs of the people as a whole" Amber finishes for him.

"That sounds awesome guys" Mr. Winkler says with a growing grin. He asks the rest of the class what their plans are, and then we continue our lesson on medieval times.

X

It felt like the rest of the day just droned on. Finally, 4:30 came, and I grabbed one of my favorite pictures of my gran and I, taken when I was 10, 3 years after my parents had died. It was my birthday and she had surprised me with a signed copy of Into the Wild, part of the Warriors series, which was my favorite when I was little. I walked down the staircase to find Joy and Jerome waiting for me. Joy had a chess piece in her hand, while Jerome also had a photo. We walked silently out of the House, and into the woods to find the rest of Sibuna gathered around a fire.

"Okay. Now before we tell you everything, we need to know are you in?" Amber asks.

Joy, Jerome and I look at each other before nodding.

"Okay good. Now take your possessions, and throw it in the fire" me, expecting something like this, looked sadly at my photo before throwing it the fire. Joy and Jerome copied my actions.

"Okay now repeat after me. 'I, say you name, being of sound mind, promise to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand behind my fellow club members'"

"I, Jerome Clarke being of sound mind, promise to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members"

"I, Joy Mercer, being of sound mind, promise to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members"

"I, Sophie Jennings, being of sound mind, promise to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members"

"These are our solemn vows, may no man or woman tear them asunder" Amber says. She then raises her right hand over her eye and says, "Sibuna."

I looked at the others. I rose my right hand to cover my eye and said, "Sibuna." When I did, I felt this rush of adrenaline running through my body, and knew I was in the right place.

"Okay," Eddie starts, "Now that you are all members, it's time to fill you all in. I think I will leave that to Fabian"

"Right. Well Jerome and Joy, you already know most of what happened, but I need to recap it all for Sophie. Soph, are you ready for this? This isn't like a mystery novel or a video game. This is real life, and I promise you whatever Frobisher Smythe has is in store for us this term will not just be easy, but life threatening."

"I said I was in, didn't I?" Jerome smirked at my response, and Fabian just nodded.

"Alright then" As Fabian was explaining everything to me, I was matching his stories to the dreams I had. From Rufus threatening Amber with the sand fly, to Senkhara wanting Nina to put on the mask of Anubis so that she would be able to enter the afterlife and become a God. I learned about all of their struggles to solve all of the riddles and keep Victor in check, and also learned that it had been Nina who had fallen through the floor in my dream last night. In fact, from what I have gathered I am mostly seeing through Nina's eyes when I am reliving everything Sibuna has gone through over the past 2 years. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, I am all caught up on what the others had gone through. I honestly don't know what to say, so I don't say anything.

"Sophie, are you alright?" I hear Amber asking me. "I know this is a lot to take in"

I nod my head, still not wanting to speak. We hear a crash of thunder in the sky, and a steady rain begins to fall.

"Come mates, let's get inside"

Everyone follows Eddie, except myself and Fabian, who has surprisingly stayed behind.

"Don't escape into your mind. You do it far too often, and you need to be able to talk to us about this stuff. Look Sophie, it takes Patricia and Joy a while to warm up to people, and being a part of this club is not safe. I hate the fact that you are part of this so soon, but we do not really have a choice."

I turn to face him, "Fabian, I understand how important and scary this all is. But you forget rather than just hearing about it, I have seen most of it, and all of it has been through Nina's eyes. So yeah, I'm scared. But mainly I'm confused. Why me? Why am I able to use the locket too?" he reaches a hand out to comfort me, but I immediately back away from it. "Fabian, I don't need to be comforted, I just need to be alone"

Hurt gleams in his eyes, but he is unable to stop me as I run away, back to the tree I went to the other night.

X

The rain stops falling as soon as I got to my tree. I sat there for I don't even know how long. It could have been a half hour, it could have been five minutes. But still, I sat here stuck in my thoughts which is always dangerous. I look for my hair tie on my left wrist, but it is not there. I go to pinch the skin around my wrist when suddenly I see Jerome around.

"What are you doing?"

"Uh nothing. Just brushing something off of my wrist. Wait, how did you even find me here?"

"This is exactly where you ran off to the last time you were upset, so I figured you would come here again."

"Lucky guess" I advert my gaze to the leaves on the ground around me. "Well you found me, and you know I'm okay. Can you leave me alone now?"

"You really hurt his feelings, Fabian's I mean. He is worried that he upset you. You know, I haven't seen him smile as much as he does with you since back when he was dating Nina. You need to be careful Jennings, or else he will think you are toying with his heart"

"Yeah right Clarke. Fabian and I are just friends, and Nina will be back next term. I don't have feelings for him, but if I did, I am too smart to get involved with a guy who is clearly still in love with his ex." Again, my eyes wandered back to the leaves, back to my wrists.

"Sophie, how long have you been clean?" As soon as those words left his lips, my brown eyes immediately meet his.

"W-what are you talking about?" I ask him even though I know exactly what he is saying. Rather than asking again, he gently grabs my left wrist, and pulls up my long sleeves to reveal one of the ghosts of my past. A long finger gently runs down one of my white scars, causing me to shiver. I meet his blue eyes to find them full of concern and understanding. He slowly lifts up the sleeve of his shirt covering his left wrist, and I see they are identical to mine.

"You know exactly what I am talking about" he responds.

"3 years. It started when I was getting bullied back in middle school, but I quit in 8th grade or year 9"

"I am the same. What made you stop?"

"I think this is enough bonding for one day" I say, not wanting to talk about this anymore.

"Okay Sophie. But if you ever need to talk, I am the one person who will actually be able to understand. Rather than fighting these demons, it might help to channel your energy into something else"

I just nod, as he offers me a hand up. Again, I felt the same bolt of electricity as I felt the other day. It must have just felt good to finally have a friend who could relate to me on another level.

AN: So yeah, this chapter was a bit darker. In case you couldn't tell, this story is going to kind of be a Fabian x Jerome x Sophie love triangle. Next chapter will get back to the mystery. I just like to provide some back story, as HOA focused on things other than the mystery. Until next time my pretties.

XOXO, PrettyinPinkgirl42