Nina

∞I desperately circled my arms again and again, feeling the water slap against my face as I kicked my feet and struggled to stay above the surface. My teeth were chattering and my vision was blurred and I couldn't feel my toes, but I kept repeating the same motions over and over, knowing that I couldn't let myself fall beneath the water.

I saw a wave rushing towards me and ducked just in time to avoid getting hammered. I blinked underwater, waiting for the wave to pass, walls of blue surrounding me. I raised my hands and grabbed at the water, sucking in breaths when I broke the surface. Air stung my cheeks as I struggled to stay afloat, my head swiveling around as I searched for something, anything to hold onto.

A glint caught my eye and I desperately swam towards it, not even giving myself time to think, too scared it would vanish. I quickly drew nearer and the gleam took shape into a buoy and I almost cried with joy, heaving my tired muscles up onto the base as I reached it. I clutched at the legs of the structure with frozen fingers, leaning my head against the metal as I tried to catch my breath.

"Well now that's just too easy don't you think?" Goosebumps erupted along my back and arms as I clumsily pushed wet curls out of my face, looking up at the source of the voice. Lizard Lady calmly walked towards me across the surface of the water in all her scaly glory, a wicked smile etched upon her face. She gestured at my safe haven and continued, mouth not moving, "Seems almost… anti-climactic doesn't it?"

I wanted to open my mouth to protest, to scream but my lips seemed to have been soldered shut and I could only watch as Lizard Lady drew a battle-ax and gestured at the water's surface. A tentacle, great and slimy and green rose up in response, water and muck dripping off of it. My eyes nearly bugged out of my head and I think I whimpered as more followed until there were a total of twelve just like the first, all bobbing and weaving together in some sort of savage dance.

One snaked across the surface towards me, its little suction beakers clamping onto my legs and my mouth started working again as I screamed, kicking at the creature and trying to stay on the buoy but it was useless. One by one they wrapped around me, binding my limbs together and slowly, steadily dragging me inch by inch, foot by foot into the water. Waves lapped at my upper body and a cry of despair escaped my lips as my hands lost their grip and I was fully tugged under.

I scratched at the tentacles with my fingers, feeling their slimy skin slide right beneath my nails, impervious to any damage I could've done. My face tilted upwards towards the wavering light of the surface but suddenly I couldn't tell which way was up and where was down as the thing holding me began thrashing around. There was a sudden jerk as the tentacles holding me changed direction too quickly and I think I got whiplash but the pain didn't register, I was too busy panicking as my mouth was forced open and precious oxygen escaped in the form of bubbles.

I clamped my mouth shut again but it was too late, I could feel my lungs beginning to tighten, could see blackness creeping into the edge of my vision. I weakly continued to hit my captor but my already pathetic attacks lost even more strength as my head began to spin and water entered my lips.

My entire body spazzed as my lungs tried to draw air from the water and I felt my whole being twitch over and over again as my chest turned to fire and the world faded away.∞

I bolted upright, hands going to my throat as my legs furiously kicked at the air where a creature had held me captive an instant ago.

I felt my breathing begin to relax and my hands drifted down from my neck, clenching the sheets as I reassured myself that I was in fact, not drowning in an ocean at the hands of a horrible monster somewhere. In reality I was laying in my bed, having just woken up from yet another nightmare.

I bit back a sigh, pressing the heel of my hand into my eyes to try and relieve the stinging. School had been back for a little over two weeks, and sleep had rapidly become mine and Eddie's own personal segments of torture. I wasn't entirely sure how he was faring, but I constantly found myself jumping at loud noises and constantly mumbling to myself. I'd bitten my nails down so far they'd started bleeding at least five times already, and getting my homework done was all but impossible.

Fabian had asked me more than a dozen times what was wrong but I was sticking firm with the excuse that over the summer I'd developed a temporary case of incurable insomnia. I could tell he didn't believe me and I honestly didn't blame him, but Eddie and I had agreed the others did not need to go through this.

I gingerly ran a hand through my hair, letting a small groan escape my lips when I realized it was soaking wet and meshed into a dozen different knots. Casting a glance towards a soundly sleeping Amber, I quietly retrieved my hairbrush from the nightstand and began tugging it through my hair.

My fingers began to go numb and my eyelids started to droop as the last of my adrenaline faded away, but every time I thought I might fall back asleep I gave an extra hard pull on my hair, letting the pain jerk me back to consciousness. Lately I was typically running on two to six hours of sleep a day depending on the duration of my nightmares, but I was determined to keep going until I collapsed. Once a night was enough, I felt no desire to nearly die twice in less than twelve hours.

I set the brush down as I smoothed out the last of my hair and raked my eyes over the room, searching for something else to do to keep me up. My gaze blearily slid around my surroundings, past the bookshelf, Amber's bed, Amber's vanity, the closet, the glow coming from underneath the closet, my discarded bathrobe –

A rod of steel slammed into my spine as my eyes ricocheted back to their previous position to take in the soft glow coming from underneath the closet where I'd taken to hiding the book at night. I swung my legs out from under the covers, feeling the now damp fabric brush against my skin as I tiptoed over and gently tugged it out.

I blinked a few times, trying to see through the bright light that stood out in stark contrast against the darkened room, and carried it back to my bed, grateful Amber's night mask would block it out. I slid it out of my hands and onto my comforter and had just turned to get my bathrobe to cover up the glow when the book cover opened onto my bedding with a muffled thud.

My eyebrows tugged themselves up my forehead and my jaw felt itself drop as, without me so much as breathing on it, the book flipped page after page after page after page after page faster than I could keep up with until it finally ceased movement, the glow continuing to pulsate as it lay there. I stood still as a statue, holding my breath as I waited to see what would happen next. Would the book's pages jump out of the cover and form a paper person? Would the text fly off the page and come to life? Would the book spontaneously combust?

I watched cautiously as the glow rose up out of the pages and began swirling around, eventually morphing into the form of the woman who'd given me the book in the first place. "Peace, Chosen One." She smiled at me but I couldn't help but recoil a bit as she did that creepy talk without moving her mouth thing again. "All will be well."

"All will be well?" I whispered harshly, my hands involuntarily clenching into fists as I tried to not wake Amber up. "All will be well? Do you have any idea of what I've been through these past few weeks?"

Lady Person had the grace to look at me with sympathy, but I stubbornly folded my arms as she reached out to place a ghostly hand on my shoulder. "The right path is never the easiest." Her words reverberated through the air, throbbing and pulsing with energy. "I am too weak to give you much assistance Chosen One. But I can give you this." Lady Person left one hand on my shoulder and waved the other at the book, causing the pages to again flip out of control. They finally came to a stop and at an encouraging nod from the Lady Person, I stepped closer to my bed.

I leaned over the book, blinking in confusion when the hieroglyphics wiggled and squirmed around until they'd formed words of English. "I can read it," I whispered in awe. I let my fingers gently trace the stiff, yellow page, and then turned back to the woman. "What is it?"

Her eyes darkened as she folded her arms around herself. "A protection. The Dream Watcher has been pulling you into our realm in her attempts to break you." Lady Person stepped towards me and placed a transparent finger on my locket. "Use the charm on that page to enchant an object, something inconspicuous. It will allow you to control where you go when you enter our realm. Think of me when you fall asleep to find and free me."

I shook my head, trying to understand what she was saying. "I think there's been some sort of mistake. I'm not some kind of enchantress, I can't charm anything, I'm just… me."

Lady Person smiled at me, eyes twinkling. "You are the Chosen One," she whispered, mouth never moving. "You have the magic of Horus, one of the gods of Egypt in you. You can do whatever you desire."

I meant to open my mouth to protest but was suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion. I summoned all the mental energy I possessed to try and fight the sleepiness flooding my system, but the Lady Person gently steered me into my bed. "Rest now, Chosen One. I do not know when I will be able to contact you again."

I blearily turned my head to look at her as she tucked the covers around me, soothing me into a blanket cocoon and managed to ask one more question. "Wasyurname?" I mumbled, fighting to hear the answer.

I closed my eyes as Lady Person stroked my hair away from my face, letting myself think for one wonderful moment that my mother was doing it, not her. "You may call me Nepthys." The words wrapped around me, ringing in my ears and swirling through my mind, carrying me to sleep on a cloud of oblivion.


"Nina I swear if I have told you once I have told you a million times: Stop. Bouncing."

I barely heard Patricia's request, but caught enough of it that I forced my leg to still as I shot another glance across the table at Eddie. I didn't have to look at him to know that the dark circles under his eyes – identical to mine – mirrored bruises. I didn't have to look at him to know that his uniform was rumpled after spending the night on the floor. I didn't have to look at him to know that he'd been spending the past twenty minutes eating breakfast as slowly as he possibly could. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was doing it on purpose.

Apparently I did however, have to stare at him as hard as I could to try and make him see how anxious I was. My leg started bobbing up and down again as I tried to force some kind of Chosen One – Osirian telepathy to get him to hurry up.

"Stop bouncing!" My head jerked sideways to see Patricia glaring at me and I mumbled an apology before running a semi-shaky hand through my hair. Last night had been the longest stretch of undisturbed sleep I'd had since school started, but one night couldn't make up for about two weeks.

Fabian placed his hand on my wrist and I turned in time to see him open his mouth, undoubtedly to ask what was wrong. I steeled myself to lie again, trying to ignore the fireworks that were going off where his skin touched mine and attempted to subtly take a breath.

"Nina – "

Eddie wiping his face off saved me from him being able to finish the question and I promptly shot up to my feet. "You're done! Finally. Come on you have to walk me to school I need to talk to you. That took forever." Words spewed out of my mouth at the speed of sound with a distinct lack of rhyme or reason as I snatched my bag and sped around the table to grab Eddie's arm and tug him to his feet.

He looked at me in confusion. "Um what?"

I gave a very dramatic sigh and repeated myself at a more human pace as I slung my bag into a more comfortable position on my arm. "Now come on."

"I thought I was meant to walk you to school," Fabian cut in and I mentally kicked myself for not having been able to wait until a less obvious time to talk to Eddie. But I couldn't have possibly waited until later, I was much too impatient and this was much too important.

"Right, but I need to talk with him, about something, school-related." I tripped a bit over my words as I shoved Eddie's bag into his hands and began steering him out of the room. "But I don't mean like classes-related, I mean like something else that's not classes and him being the headmaster's son and all who else would know better than he knows because he definitely knows well." I was able to finally stop rambling as I slammed the door behind us and began marching him down the road to the school building.

"Mind telling me what that was about?" I chose to ignore the faint note of irritation in Eddie's voice as I fiddled with my locket.

I glanced back at the house, checking to make sure no one was following us before I answered. "Are you ready for something beyond major?" As eager as I was to tell him, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy torturing him a little bit. He nodded and I quickly relayed what had happened last night.

"You could read the book?" he interrupted me at one part.

"It looked like perfectly normal English," I agreed. "And please don't ask me how because I have absolutely no idea." I held up my hand to forestall further interruptions and told him what Nepthys had said the charm would do. "And apparently I can use the charm on something of yours as well as mine. We might actually be able to catch up on sleep."

We were nearing the building's entrance at this point and had to lower our voices so the lower years didn't hear us. "And you're sure you can do this?" Eddie whispered, allowing himself to look hopeful.

I nodded. "Absolutely not." He looked at me in confusion and laughed. I felt tension drain out of my shoulders at the sound and didn't hesitate to lean into him as he slung an arm around my shoulders. "But it's the only chance we have. We know these dreams aren't just some wacky coincidence because of the, 'souvenirs'," I made over exaggerated air quotes around the word with a roll of my eyes. "That we keep bringing back with us. Nepthys said we keep being taken to her and Lizard Lady's realm, so if we can control when we go and where we go when we get there, we might actually stand a chance of understanding what's happening to us."

We reached Eddie's locker and he casually spun in the combination, swinging the locker open and fixing his hair in the mirror he'd stuck on the inside. "You're so vain," I teased him as he carefully adjusted the strands. "Afraid Patricia will dump you if you've got a few hairs out of place?"

"Zip it Chosen One," he quipped, shooting me a look.

I rolled my eyes and folded my arms, leaning against the locker next to his. "And what happens if I don't? You'll protect me to death?" I challenged. "Face it: as my Osirian, you're not exactly in the best position to threaten me," I teased. Eddie made a face at me as he pulled a notebook out and shoved it in his bag. I grinned and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you at first period."

I walked over to my locker and dialed in the combination, grabbing my lab book and government notes for later. I opened up my bag and slid my things in, sighing when they got wrinkled and folded as I fit them next to the book. One of the downsides of carrying it with me everywhere I went, it left almost no room for my school stuff. It took me long enough that by the time I'd finished, the halls were crowded with students rushing to finish homework and find teachers. I slipped past everyone else, doing my best to be invisible as I made my way towards the Science classroom for first period as the five-minute-warning bell rang.

I walked in to see Mara already there, doing a complicated looking equation on the board. I held back an exasperated smile and slid into my desk, pulling out the homework. Fabian slid into his usual spot next to me and I smiled at him. My expression morphed into confusion though, when instead of returning it and squeezing my hand like I expected him to, he barely gave me a nod before looking around in his bag for something I had a feeling he'd never find.

"Did I do something to make you mad at me?" The back of his head was still facing me so I fixed my stare firmly on his ear as I waited for an answer.

"No," he said shortly, still not looking at me.

"Then can you tell me what's wrong?" I had a feeling I might be pushing my luck but I could not for the life of me figured out what I had done to make him so frustrated.

Fabian's bag landed on the table with more force than necessary and I raised my eyebrows. "It's nothing."

"Doesn't seem like nothing." When he didn't answer I gently took his hand, twining our fingers together. "Will you please talk to me?"

Fabian stared at our hands for a minute, idly rubbing a soft circle across my knuckles over and over. He opened his mouth and my ears pricked up in anticipation, but before he could get out more than an, "It's just that – ", the bell rang and Mr. Sweet called the class to attention. I felt an urge to kick the table over in frustration of the bad timing, but wrestled with the feeling and eventually managed to subdue my newfound desire to destroy school property.

We didn't get another chance to talk until the lunch was almost over when Fabian came up to me at my locker. "Hey Nina, do you have a minute?"

I nodded, shutting my locker as I turned to face him. "What's up?"

He bit his lip and anxiously looked around, fiddling with the strap of his messenger bag. "Listen, about earlier, I didn't…" he trailed off, visibly searching for the right words before trying again. "I mean, I wasn't…" and again. "It was just that.…" Fabian took a breath and moved a step closer to me so that all appearances of personal space were tossed out the window as he tried again. "It's not that I was angry at you. I was just a bit… upset with you, I guess."

"Care to elaborate?" I prompted, reminding myself that despite the fact that Fabian was so close I could almost feel the body heat radiating off of him, I still needed to breathe if I didn't want to pass out.

"I feel like there's something you're not telling me." I bit the inside of my cheek at this revelation, praying he didn't notice.

"What don't you think I'm telling you?" I tried, fighting to keep my voice steady.

He sighed and looked around again before taking another small step closer to me and I had to fight to not throw my arms around him and never let go. "I don't know but you and Eddie you're acting all, secretive lately. Like you know something the rest of us don't." I forced myself to relax as Fabian stared at me intently, reminding myself there was no way he could know. "We're Sibuna, Nina. Amber, Patricia, Alfie, Joy. Me. Not just you and Eddie. We're a team. Whatever you guys are dealing with, you don't have to do it alone."

"Yes I do." The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them and I immediately wanted to take the sentence back but the look of triumph in his eyes told me I was too late. The logical part of my brain told me I should take a step back, should get to where the scent of his soap wasn't flooding my nose and making it hard to think straight, should get to where he wasn't so close I all I had to do was lean in a few inches and we'd be kissing.

"No you don't. We'd help you, you know that," he insisted. Fabian lifted a hand so that it was right next to my cheek and I held my breath as he hesitated a half-second, before gently tucking my hair behind my ear. "I'd help you."

I thought about all the sleepless nights and the torturous visions, I thought about the 'souvenirs' Eddie and I had been bringing back with us and I so desperately wanted to open my mouth. To confide in him about everything that had been happening, for him to say what I needed to hear, that it would be all right. But then I remembered Senkhara taking over my body, remembered her as me throwing lightning at Fabian, remembered Joy crumpling to the ground.

"You almost died last year." It took me a few seconds to realize I'd spoken out loud, but I locked my gaze on his and continued, "You almost died because of me."

"That was Senkhara you had nothing to do with it," he insisted and I didn't register that I'd started crying until he pulled me into a hug and I felt something warm and wet running down my face. "You know I'll always be here for you Nina." Fabian pressed his lips to my temple and I tightened my grip on him.

"Thank you," I muttered as the bell rang, pulling back to press my sleeves into my eyes. "Come on we have history."

I fanned my face as we walked to the classroom, focusing on my breathing and by the time we arrived I was reasonably certain my eyes didn't look too red. Fabian and I slid into our seats as we waited for Mr. Luciado. The rest of the class soon followed and I waved at Amber and Patricia as they entered. Eddie was right on their heels and he frowned when he saw me, mouthing, 'you OK?'. I gave him an appreciative smile and nodded.

When the bell rang and Mr. Luciado still hadn't arrived, the students looked around in confusion for a few moments until Alfie cawed in excitement, "Free period!" Everyone laughed and we began chatting with one another and doing homework for our other classes. I was saved from further discussion with Fabian when Amber dragged me over to her desk, insisting she'd found a new technique to get rid of the bags under my eyes.

She was trying to convince me to let her put some sort of egg yolk-avocado-sour cream mixture on my face when the door opened and a call of "Defremo quievet, quiet down everyone!" turned our attention to Mr. Sweet standing in the doorway, looking displeased.

We all shuffled back to our seats, some of us more bashfully than others, and Mr. Sweet walked to the front of the classroom, eyeing us disapprovingly. "I regret to inform you that Mr. Luciado has handed in his resignation."

Whispers flooded the classroom as everyone turned to their friends and immediately began gossiping, but I didn't have enough time to do anything other than look at Fabian before Mr. Sweet called back our attention. "I was just informing his replacement of how respectful, and good-natured you are, and I expect you to will not disappoint me. Now please give a warm welcome, to Ms. Bess Abbott."

Everyone turned towards the door as a young woman in her late twenties to early thirties entered. Her form-fitting black pants would've drawn catcalls from the guys had anyone other than the headmaster been in the room, and she had finished the outfit with a crisp white shirt and navy blazer. Her hair was done up in some sort of complicated bun I couldn't possibly hope to imitate with two pencils piercing through, holding it in place, and gold jewelry decked her wrists and hung from her ears. She looked as though she was ready to give a presentation at the Smithsonian, not teach a high school history class.

"Hello everybody." Ms. Abbott smiled at us, although I thought it looked more like a leer as she set her heavy binder down. Long, slender, darkly painted fingers plucked a piece of chalk up as she almost lazily wrote her name up on the board. "As Eric said, my name is Ms. Abbott and I will be your new history teacher." She turned back and smiled at us, clasping her hands in front of her. She looked around at us and when her eyes landed on me her eyes seemed to darken as she said. "I have a feeling we're all going to be very good friends."

I swallowed, my nails cutting crescents into my palms as I refused to blink until she turned to someone else. We spent the rest of the period introducing ourselves and filling out a worksheet to demonstrate what we already knew. By the time the bell rang the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and it was taking all of my self-control not to grind my teeth together and I literally bolted out the door the second class was dismissed. I briskly walked through the halls, trying to shake the feeling of her eyes on me, not stopping until I slid into my French desk.

Eddie was only a few seconds behind me and he knelt in front of my desk, eyes brimming with concern. "Nina what's wrong?"

"Why does anything have to be wrong?" I asked flippantly, still a bit shaken. "Can't I just be really excited for French class to start?"

He gave me an exasperated look, folding his arms on my desk. "Nina. I could feel your panic from across the room during history. What's got you so spooked?"

I rolled my neck, trying to get my nerves to calm down but I still felt like a kid who'd been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. "It's nothing, really. Ms. Abbott gives me the creeps is all."

Eddie gave me a small smile and I felt a surge of affection for him as he whispered, "Me too. Something's off about her."

I wanted to talk more with him about it, but by that point other people in the class had arrived – including Mr. Duval – and he returned to his seat as Fabian entered. "Nina what's wrong?"

I shook my head, giving him a smile. "It's nothing." He opened his mouth to argue but I didn't give him the chance. "It doesn't matter, really."

Alfie and Jerome entering the classroom wrestling, Alfie's shirt halfway over his head and the sleeves tied together, saved me from having to excuse away my behavior. Everyone laughed as Mr. Duval attempted to restore order and he finally managed to get all of Alfie's limbs back where they belonged as the bell rang.

I had been a bit surprised on the first day of school when I met Mr. Duval, he'd seemed a bit young to be a teacher. And now that we were two weeks in, I could say with complete confidence my opinion had not changed in the slightest. Never mind the fact that he was extremely good-looking, his organization and classroom control skills left more than a bit to be desired. Everyone waited anxiously as he pulled out the tests we'd taken the first week of school, eager to see how they'd done.

Mr. Duval talked about how he was sure we'd tried our hardest but some us definitely needed to step it up, and how if we'd gotten less than 60% to talk to him after class. I raised my eyebrows at that. Some people got less than 60%? Yikes.

He handed me my test and I didn't even bother to glance at it before shoving it in my bag, knowing I'd passed with flying colors. Everyone else spent the rest of their time going over the subjunctive tense, while I spent my time scrawling down prompts in my notebook, making sure to put them in French so it'd look like I was taking notes.

After school that day I went up to Eddie who was verbally sparring with Patricia on the couch. "Hey can I talk to Eddie for a second?" I grabbed his elbow with my hand and summoned up the last of my mental control to not yank him away right that second.

Patricia rolled her eyes and cast me a slightly disparaging look. "Would it matter if said no?" she sniped, somewhat bitterly, and I frowned.

"Well if you need to talk to him I can wait."

But she was already shaking her head and standing up, waving us off. "No it's fine. Go on ahead, have your Chosen One Osirian American conversations all you want, see if I care. I'm going to go find Joy."

I felt a bit guilty as she walked away, but Trudy was out and Victor was MIA again and everyone else was downstairs, meaning now was as good a time as we were likely to get for me to charm our items. Eddie headed to his room to grab his object and I headed upstairs to mine and Amber's room, taking the book with me. All throughout the day I'd been nervous it would suddenly start glowing again, and was beyond relieved when it hadn't.

I shut the door and pulled out a pair of earrings Amber had got me for my birthday last year. Small little studs of yellow diamonds, they were almost completely inconspicuous, no one would question me wearing them and if I didn't want anyone to see them, all I'd have to do was cover my ears with my hair. Eddie came in a few minutes later, shoveling chips into his mouth. I raised my eyebrows and he shrugged. "I got hungry," he defended himself. At least that's what I think he said. His words came out a little muffled so it sounded more like, "Yi 'ot un'ry."

I held out my hand and he dropped a short necklace with a shark's tooth at the end in my outstretched palm, and I turned back to the book. Flipping it open to the page I'd bookmarked while Eddie locked the door, I took a shaky breath, staring down at the page that was suddenly English.

Eddie managed an enormous swallow and brushed his hands off before putting them on my shoulders. "Relax Chosen One. Just take a deep breath." I obeyed, leaning back against him as I forced myself to inhale, and then exhale, and repeat. "You can do this," he assured me, giving my shoulders a light squeeze before shoving another handful of chips in his mouth. I bit back a laugh and put the objects down, shaking out my hands as I took another breath. I placed one hand on my locket, wrapping my fingers around the talisman and held my other hand over the objects we'd chosen, trying to make myself calm down.

I looked down at the page again and said the charm, the words effortlessly flowing off my tongue. I'd been worried I'd trip or stumble over the words, or that halfway through I'd come across a word I had no idea how to pronounce like 'discombobulate'. But I spoke quickly and surely, my voice seeming to wisp around the room and echo in my ears. As I spoke a red nimbus of power started to form around my hands and my locket, and I calmly kept reading as it flowed in a blood red smoke stream around the objects, giving them a beguiling shiver as I finished and dropped my hands to my bed, feeling suddenly drained.

I watched as Eddie's necklace and my earrings seemed to absorb the last of the red wisps into themselves, trying to swallow away the dryness of my mouth and regain my breath. I pressed a shaking hand onto my chest, feeling my heart weakly pound beneath my fingers as though each beat was a struggle and lay my head back on the pillow, hearing a dull buzzing fill my ears.

On some level I registered Eddie was shaking me, asking me to answer him but my tongue felt like cotton and my head felt like it'd been stuffed full of concentrated drowsiness, and I could do no more than blink every so often. I'm not sure how long I lay there before a gentle golden light started to creep around my body, cooling and soothing me, sending energy through my body. I slowly sat up, feeling sluggish and clumsy, my wrist near folding in on itself as I pushed myself up so I was sitting, not lying on my mattress.

I turned to see Eddie gripping my forearm and concentrating intently, brow furrowing and hands glowing. I dragged my hand, which seemed to weigh about ten pounds extra, and tapped him clumsily on the arm. His eyes popped open and when he saw me sitting up and looking at him he released his vice-like grip and threw his arms around me. I leaned into him tiredly as the flow of energy cut off, letting him support me. "Don't scare me like that!" Eddie commanded as he pulled away to look me in the eyes. "Don't ever scare me like that again!"

I nodded robotically, as though there were a string attached to the top of my head that was jerking me up and down. My head started ringing again and I carefully lay back down, willing my head to be silent. Amber eventually came up and announced that it was dinnertime and I somehow managed to make my way down to the table.

I don't know when I'd enjoyed on of Trudy's meals less in my life than I had that night. My tongue felt thick and my head felt heavy and my fingers felt much too clumsy to have anything to do with the ridiculously tiny utensils. I just wanted to go to bed, but at the same time the last thing I wanted to do was go to sleep because I didn't want the nightmares that were sure to come with it. I'm pretty sure Fabian kept saying my name to try and ask if I was OK but I just felt so twisted around and pulled about that I could barely keep myself conscious, let alone responsive.

At some point someone – I wasn't even sure who at this point – carried me upstairs. I wasn't wholly aware of what was happening but I felt an arm under my shoulders and another under my knees and my body was swaying with movement that wasn't mine, as though I'd been taken on a boat. I knew when we were going upstairs and I knew when we were almost to my room and I knew when my stomach suddenly swirled and clenched and I clapped a hand on my mouth and shoved on the chest of whoever was carrying me. I blindly stumbled into the bathroom, my throat stinging from the acid and barely managed to make it to the toilet in time to empty the contents of my stomach.

I gagged and shivered and threw up again, heaving, eyes screwed shut as I tried to get some semblance of self-control over my body. I felt a hand stroking my hair, keeping it away from my face as I kept throwing up until there wasn't anything left in my stomach. I dry heaved a few more times and my body wouldn't stop shivering as fingers of cold searched their way down my back, but when I finally stopped the person picked me up again and carried me to bed, tucking the covers around me and then I knew it was Eddie because he put my earrings in before switching off the lights as he left.

I lay there under the blankets, hot and feverish and shivering, teeth chattering for I don't know how long before I was finally swept off to the land of sleep.


I drifted in and out of consciousness all night, never fully awake but never truly asleep, skating the border between dreaming and not.

Eventually I blinked open my eyes and felt awake – actually awake, not whatever it was I'd been since yesterday. I leisurely stretched, running my hands through my hair as I sat up and arched my back. I glanced at the clock and nearly did a double-take when I saw the digital face blinking 1:37 up at me.

Trudy chose that time to walk in and smiled when she saw me. "Oh dearie you're awake!" She quickly bustled over and pressed her hand to my forehead and cheeks. "Thank goodness your fever has gone down, Victor and I were starting to worry we'd have to call the hospital!" I opened my mouth in confusion but Trudy quickly scooped me up and moved me along to the bathroom. "Fabian promised to let you copy his class notes and get your homework and I called ahead to tell your teachers you'd be taking the day off so don't you worry about a thing dearie. Just have yourself a nice wash-off and then if you're feeling up to it maybe a bite to eat."

Trudy left me in the bathroom and I stripped off my uniform from yesterday that I was still wearing, and hopped underneath the showerhead. I turned the water on as hard as it would go and relaxed, letting the heated liquid hit my shoulders and run down my body.

When I got out and wrapped myself in a towel I felt better than I had in a few days, and by the time I'd pulled on a fresh pair of jeans and a clean T-shirt I felt almost new.

I was downstairs perusing through the book, looking for other pages in English when I heard voices coming up the walkway. I quickly slid the book into my bag and pulled out my Environmental Science textbook, so that when they entered I was doing nothing out of the ordinary.

There was a gasp and I looked up just in time to get hit with a wave of blonde hair as Amber cried, "Nina!" She pulled back before I even had the chance to hug back and beamed at me. "You're feeling better?"

I managed a smile as I tucked my hair behind my ears. "Yeah, Amber, I'm feeling a lot better thanks for asking."

"At least you're out of bed," Patricia called as she dropped her bag on the table with a thump. "Trudy said if anyone woke you up we'd have to feed ourselves for the rest of the week."

I was about to answer but Amber waved everyone off. "I'm sure you all missed her very much but Nina and I need to have a girl talk so you guys are just going to have to wait!" She grabbed my hand – somewhat gentler than normal – and pulled me up, barely giving me time to grab my bag as my ES book fell from my lap.

I tripped up the stairs, burning with curiosity. What did she want to talk about? Amber lead me to our room and shut the door behind us. And even though I was feeling better I was by no means one hundred percent, and by this point my legs were ready to collapse out from under me. I plopped on the bed, practically sighing as I hit the mattress. I looked over to see Amber glaring at her reflection, hands on her hips and rolled my eyes. "Amber I already told you. Jerome drew the crack on there as a joke, you didn't really break your mirror."

"That's not what I'm thinking about," Amber frowned, not moving.

I tilted my head, trying to puzzle out what had her so troubled. "So what's the problem?"

Amber waited a few seconds before she sighed. "Nina would you say I'm smart enough?"

Warning signs went off in my brain as I was plunged into the deep-end of one of Amber's crises' of confidence. "Depends on what you're trying to do," I answered carefully. "For example if you decided instead of going to school tomorrow you were going to join NASA, I'd say give it a few more years."

"What's NASA?" Amber asked, not moving.

I mentally kicked myself and shook my head. "American thing. Never mind. So where's this coming from anyway?"

Amber stared at her reflection for a few more minutes before heaving a massive sigh and plunking herself down next to me. Her head found my shoulder, long blonde hair spilling over our backs and I comfortingly rubbed her arm. "Alfie's parents want him to break up with me," she revealed.

My jaw dropped in disbelief. "That's ridiculous! What parents wouldn't love you?"

"Apparently his," she moped, swinging her head off my shoulder to stare at me. "They told him I'm too blonde, Nina, and said that if he wants to get into a good college he has to be with someone serious."

I rolled my eyes. "Amber that's crazy. You're brilliant."

Amber gave me a patronizing look. "Don't sugarcoat it Nina. I couldn't pass a science test if the teacher handed me the answers."

"You're very street-smart," I defended her earnestly, clasping her hand in mine. "Amber, you're a genius. You've said it, Alfie's said it, I'm saying it. You're brilliant. And Alfie is not going to break up with you just because his parents are a little flighty. He's crazy about you."

By the time Trudy called us down for dinner, Amber was feeling slightly more cheerful and I was confident I could actually keep food down. After Fabian caught me up on the classwork I'd missed I finished my homework and went to the downstairs bathroom to wait for Eddie. He entered a few minutes later, locking the door behind him.

"What was that all about?" he demanded, looking cheated. I didn't even try to explain, figuring I'd let him vent first. "You said the charm would stop the Crazy Lady from taking us, not that it'd nearly kill you! Do you have any idea how scared I got? How pale you were?" I still didn't say anything as his fists clenched and unclenched, while he struggled for words. "I could feel you dying Nina," he finally managed, his voice sounding strangled. Eddie sighed and rubbed his hands over his face, seeming exhausted.

I decided he was done for now and spoke up. "Eddie, if I'd known what would've happened I would have told you." I wrapped my arms around myself and stared at him, willing him to look at me as he sat on the edge of the tub and didn't move. "I am OK you know. I didn't die."

Eddie finally raised his head but only to glower at me. "Barely," he bit out.

I crossed my arms. "Look if all you're going to do is snap at me I'm changing the topic." I waited for him to contradict me, and when nothing was forthcoming I forged ahead. "Fabian knows something's up."

Eddie snapped his head up, mouth already forming a question I didn't give him the chance to ask. "I didn't tell him anything, I swear. He just seems to… have a sixth sense for these things I guess. He knows there's something I'm not telling him, and he's pretty sure it's Sibuna related, but he has no idea what it is."

"Well what did you tell him?" Eddie asked anxiously, his eyes staring at me so intently it was as though he believed he could extract an answer from me purely by sheer force of will.

"Technically nothing," I replied evasively, shifting my eyes to the ground. "I didn't tell him what was going on I just… reminded him how I kinda almost killed him last year to try and make him back off."

"So basically you confirmed that whatever we're up to is Sibuna related," Eddie summed up and I nodded, feeling guilty. "Pretty much."

"Fantastic," Eddie sighed. "What happened to keeping them out of this?"

"Well it's not like I walked into school with a neon Sibuna sign attached to my forehead," I protested. "Fabian figured out something was up all by himself."

Eddie nodded absently, staring at the bathroom wall. "So what are we going to do about it?"

I bit my lip. "About what?" I dodged, hoping I was wrong.

"About him knowing. Do we tell him?" Eddie clarified.

I felt my fists clench and I swallowed. "I don't know," I admitted. "Honestly I'm still against any of them being involved even a little bit. But if we absolutely have to drag them into it I'd at least like to know what we're up against."

"He won't wait for an answer forever," Eddie pointed out. We sat in silence for awhile, trying to puzzle a way out of our situation before my Osirian spoke up again. "OK, how about this. Regardless of how totally zapped you got by making them, we know the charms work right?"

I nodded. "Seeing as last night was the first time in weeks I haven't died in my sleep I'd say it's a pretty safe assumption."

Eddie playfully shook his finger at me. "Less sass Chosen One," he admonished with a slight grin and I bit back a laugh. "So since we know the charms work, how about we do what Nessie told you – "

"Her name's Nepthys not Nessie," I interrupted.

Eddie waved his hand in nonchalance. "Same difference. Now let me finish. How about we do what Nessie told you and picture her, and after we free her she explains what we're supposed to do next and then we decide whether or not we bring in and who. Sound good?"

We confirmed that Eddie did indeed know what Nepthys looked like, and went back to the living room a few minutes apart to allay suspicion. I managed to stay busy with Amber, not giving Fabian a chance to finish our conversation from earlier, until it was only 30 minutes to ten, at which point Trudy sent us all to get ready for bed.

I was almost halfway up the stairs when I turned to check if Patricia was coming and saw Joy. At the bottom of the stairway. Flirting with Fabian. I felt my hands clench as Joy bashfully tucked her hair behind her ear and playfully swatted him on the arm and I felt my head split in two again. One side of me was insisting I let it go, that I remember Fabian wasn't interested and move on. The other demanded I didn't let last year repeat itself, and told me to march back downstairs and remind Joy that he was my boyfriend, not hers. Big surprise which one I listened to.

I felt the banister glide beneath my fingers as I quickly darted back down to the bottom as Joy shyly looked up at him from beneath her lashes, a small pout on her lips. "Not interrupting anything am I?" I kept a smile on my lips, carefully gauging Joy's reaction out of my peripheral vision and felt a vicious stab of triumph as her face fell.

"Joy was just saying good night," Fabian intervened, quickly sensing danger. Fabian seemed aware that every time Joy and I got within ten feet of each other, sparks were bound to start flying and being the peacemaker that he was, he almost always tried to defuse the situation.

I decided to take pity on him and kept my gaze off of Joy. "Of course," I laughed, tossing my hair over my shoulder and leaning against the railing. "Anyway, good night Fabian." I put my hand on the back of his neck and took a half-step forward so that our bodies were dangerously close together as I met his lips with mine. Fireworks pin wheeled throughout my body and colors exploded behind my eyelids, my other hand went to his shoulder and the feeling of his hands on my hips nearly made me explode. But as enjoyable as it was, the last thing I wanted was for Victor to catch us and so I gently pulled back and didn't bother hiding the smile that was pulling at my mouth. "Sweet dreams," I teased, not giving him the chance to respond before I turned and headed back up the stairs.

Joy had left while I was kissing Fabian and the triumph in my chest was slightly spoiled by an inkling of guilt that I did my best to brush away. So what if I'd stooped to Joy's level? She'd put me through plenty last year, I was simply returning the favor.

I refused to feel guilty for kissing my own boyfriend – regardless of my reasons for that particular kiss at that particular time – and by the time I was ready for bed I'd almost completely succeeded. Amber pulled on her eye mask as Victor recited his favorite speech, and I flipped off the lights before crawling under the covers.

I waited until the hallway light had switched off before I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed one of the sleeping pills Eddie and I had begged from Trudy, claiming insomnia. With our dark circles and my recent mystery illness, it hadn't exactly taken a whole lot of persuasion. I put the pill under my tongue, recoiling at the lemony taste, and let my mind fill with the image of Nepthys. Her dark, smooth skin. Her black eyes that seemed to beckon you into them. Her blue, blue hair with its many, many black and gold braids; her golden jewelry…∞


∞"No Eddie," I deadpanned, voice dripping with sarcasm. "It's probably completely normal to think of a person and be taken to a dungeon."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?" Eddie rolled his eyes and continued to poke around the room we were in. It wasn't the smallest space I'd ever been in, but it was close. No bigger than ten feet on each side and about as tall, the room contained a door with a thick, old-fashioned silver padlock welded onto it, a row of glittering keys across one wall and words across another: 'Choose wisely. Your first choice will be your last.'

"Hmm, let me see. Tiny room. No windows. Locked door. Seems to fit my dungeon expectations to a T," I snapped, examining the wall that had no keys, words or doors but did have three lanterns emitting a soft golden glow. I was experimentally pulling on different parts of them, hoping to trigger a secret exit.

"Well the thing about dungeons, Chosen One, is that the keys are normally on the outside of the cell. Not the inside," Eddie retorted as he examined the padlock.

"Right, well I guess you would know that. You know, what with your vast dungeon experience and all," I quipped, pressing my back against the wall and sliding down onto the cold damp floor. "There's got to be at least a dozen keys here. How can we possibly choose the right one?"

Eddie walked over and sat down next to me and I dropped my head on his shoulder, shivering as the damp air wrapped around my shoulders. "We could always just try random keys until we get it right," he suggested. I dully pointed at the warning as he repeated the same suggestion he'd given four times now. "They could be bluffing," he grinned, pulling me closer and trying to rub some warmth back into my arms.

"Not likely," I muttered, absently scratching my knee. I held up my hand to summarize as the true bleakness of our situation hit me and started ticking off fingers. "We've got a locked door. A few dozen keys to choose from to open said door. We only get one chance at choosing the right key. If we choose the wrong key I don't know what will happen but given my previous experience with stuff like this, it'll probably be something terrible."

He was quiet for a moment and I waited for him to whip up some sort of magical solution that would poof the problem away. "Nina?"

Eddie's voice was cautious and my fingers curled into fists. "Don't say it," I half-warned half-begged, knowing what was going to come out of his mouth.

But Eddie was nothing if not persistent, and so true to his stubborn, pigheaded nature he bravely forged ahead, saying the three words I was dreading. "We need Sibuna."

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