Disclaimer: We won the Harry Potter look-alike contest. Patricia was Hermione, Jerome was Malfoy, and I was Ginny. We were ready to go back to the court house, but Fabian wanted us to go to another Harry Potter contest. After sneaking away from him, we managed to ditch the robes and sneak into a school trip that was going to the courthouse where they kept the House of Anubis papers. We were so close! I still don't own House of Anubis, but until I do, enjoy Chapter ten: Do You Hear That.

Chapter ten: Do You Hear That

The next day, I was sitting in the attic, thinking about what Fabian had said the day before. Why did he want me to willingly talk to everyone in Anubis House? I knew they weren't terrible people, and I knew that to most everyone else they were great friends, but what if I accidentally let my problem slip out? What if they found out the truth?

I thought about how the residents might react. It was odd, actually. I believed that Amber might not care all that much –the girl was nearly psychotic herself sometimes –but the others were a tossup. Mara might not think anything of it, just feel pity for me. Alfie would probably make jokes about my condition, either to hurt me or to lift my spirits, and Jerome would probably do the same. Mick would probably be the same as Mara.

Patricia and Joy were another matter. For some reason, they didn't seem to like me. I didn't know what I did to offend them, but it seemed that they almost hated me. If they found out, it would probably result in what happened at my last school: teasing, insults, and shoving. I really didn't want them to find out.

Then there was Fabian. I honestly had no idea how he would react if he found out about Aria. Maybe he would act like I thought Mara might, with pity. Or maybe he would act like I thought Amber would, not really caring that I had a problem. But maybe he would react like I knew Joy and Patricia would act, with abhorrence and spite. Fabian was the unknown wild-card in the equation of Anubis House. Since he kept to himself nearly as much as I did, it was impossible to tell just how he would react.

I sighed, letting my head hit the wall behind me. I had to redirect my thoughts away from the puzzling enigma of the Anubis residents. My thoughts drifted through several topics, not staying on one for more than a minute.

I hadn't realized I had fallen asleep until a really loud noise woke me up. It sounded like a car alarm, but there were no cars near Anubis House. Victor and Trudy didn't drive; they took cabs to where they needed to go. Maybe someone had broken down outside of the house? I got up, going to investigate.

When I opened the creaky attic door, the car alarm stopped. Confusion swept through me, followed closely by realization. Whoever it was must have fixed their car. Still, I went downstairs, wanting to see if anyone saw who had broken down in front of the house.

Fabian, Jerome, and Joy were in the common room. Fabian and Joy were sitting beside each other, working on homework. Well, Fabian was working on homework. Joy was obviously trying to flirt with him, but Fabian was so engrossed with his homework that he wasn't taking any notice. Eventually Jerome noticed Joy's attempts at flirting with Fabian and groaned loudly.

"Would you cut it out, Joy?!" Jerome demanded. "Fabian doesn't like you! Just work on your damn homework!"

Joy blushed a really deep shade of red at Jerome's words. Fabian, who had been completely oblivious to Joy before this, looked from his homework to Joy and Jerome, confusion playing across his face.

"Um," he said, scooting away from Joy.

She glared at Jerome for acknowledging it. I took that as my cue to take a seat. Thankfully, none of them had seen me standing by the doorway. As I sat down, Fabian saw me and sent a small smile my way. Without pause, I asked my question.

"Did any of you guys see whose car was outside?" I asked.

Everyone in the room narrowed their eyes in confusion. What had I said? Jerome turned to look out the window, still confused by my words. Seriously, what had I said?

"There's no one out there," he told me.

"Not now," I said. "They were outside a little while ago. The car alarm woke me up."

"There wasn't a car alarm," Fabian said.

"It might have been Alfie messing with his noise makers again," Jerome suggested.

Before I could say anything, the car alarm sounded again, louder than the previous one. I whipped my head to look outside, trying to see the car. Strangely, there wasn't one. The alarm kept sounding, but now it sounded like it was coming from upstairs. I stood up, going to investigate.

Fabian stood up and followed me out of the common room. We walked up the stairs, and I heard the alarm getting louder and louder. Where was it coming from? It sounded like it might have been coming from my room, so I opened the door, scaring the crap out of Amber.

"Oh my gosh!" she yelled, throwing a hairbrush at me. I squeaked in surprise and ducked, leaving Fabian wide open for the hit. The pink plastic hairbrush hit him right in the face.

"OW!" he said, clasping a hand to his face. "What was that for?"

"Sorry!" Amber apologized. "You scared me. Why are you guys in here, anyway?"

"I'm following her," Fabian said, pointing to me. I was looking around, trying to figure out where that stupid alarm was coming from. Ugh, it was getting louder! It almost hurt my ears.

"Nina, what are you looking for?"

I turned my head to look at the two others in the room. "Are you two deaf?" I asked. "Do you not hear that?"

"Hear what?" Amber asked, reaching down to pick up her brush off the floor.

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, now you're just messing with me. You seriously cannot tell me that you don't hear that alarm."

"What alarm?" Fabian asked. "Nina, what's going on?"

Just as I was about to accuse them of messing with me again, Aria walked into the room and smirked at me before she opened her mouth, a loud car alarm sound coming out. Oh, crap.

"Um, nothing?" I tried hopefully. "It's nothing. I was, uh, just kidding?"

Both Amber and Fabian looked at me like I was crazy, adding to my sudden urge to flee. Crap, crap, crap. Aria had tricked me. They were going to find out. Oh god, they were going to find out and then they'd get mad and–

"Not the best prank," Fabian said, interrupting my thoughts. "Maybe you should ask Alfie or Jerome for help next time."

"Yeah, massive fail," Amber added.

I let out a sigh of relief. They hadn't figured it out. They just thought that I was trying to prank them. I said something about going to the two pranksters next time I wanted to prank someone and quickly made my retreat. That had been close. When I was safely tucked away in my hiding spot in the attic, I pulled one of the blankets I had snitched around me, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Obviously Aria was getting creative. Really, a car alarm? That was beyond confusing, even for me. And why would she even do that? Why would she sound like a car alarm? It made no sense.

I sighed, looking around at my little space. It was almost like a bird's nest. I had a few blankets wrapped up in a circle, a few pillows dotting the three-foot-by-three-foot space. It wasn't much, but over the last month and a half, this had become my space. I had even spent the night up here once or twice before. No one would think anything of it if I spent another night in the attic.

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the wall. At least the next day was Saturday and I could stay up here as long as I liked. As my breathing slowed, I sank into the warm embrace of sleep.

Something large and warm was beside me, sitting comfortably next to me. My head was resting on something hard and cold, though, probably a box or something. I really needed to clean up the attic sometime soon. I heard a soft sigh come from somewhere, but I assumed it was in my dream.

When I realized I couldn't fall back asleep, I opened my eyes slowly. The dim light from the attic window shone right in my face, blinding me for a second. I raised my head, taking in the scene around me.

Oh crap.

I was in the attic, obviously, tucked under some blankets. In front of me was none other than Fabian Rutter, who was staring at me with curiosity. I scrambled away, almost hitting my head on the wall.

"Are you okay?" Fabian asked with slight confusion and hint of worry on his face.

I nodded, not sure why he was up here.

"Sorry if I scared you," he apologized. "I just, well, I'm not sure."

"Why did you come up here?" I asked, finally finding my voice. "When did you come up here?"

"Um, I came up here because Amber mentioned that you weren't in the room you two share last night and I got a little worried," Fabian said, a red flush spreading across his face. "You were asleep, so I, um, tried to figure out if you were okay and I just wanted to see if you were okay. Sorry."

"It's okay," I said after I considered it for a second. "No harm done, right?" Fabian smiled slightly at that. After a minute or so, Fabian made some sort of comment about how the others would be wondering where we were.

We stood up and walked out of the attic together, the door closing silently behind us. Fabian grasped my hand as we walked down the hall and squeezed my palm once before letting go and walking away, leaving me standing in front of the door, stunned.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. What had that been for? Confusion in the front of my mind, I opened my bedroom door and walked in to see none other than Amber Millington standing in front of me, a sly smile on her face.

"Good morning," she chirped, tossing me a bundle of cloth. I caught it instinctually, turning it over in my hands to realize that it was some of my clothes. What?

"So," Amber continued, "what happened last night? Did you sleep in the attic?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. Why?"

Amber smiled her cunning smile again before she answered. "Fabian went to go see if you were okay."

"Yeah, I noticed that when I woke up," I said, thinking nothing of it. "I was completely passed out, so I didn't notice him until I woke up. Nothing happened, really." I turned to leave the room and head to the bathroom when Amber's next words froze me in my tracks.

"I know nothing happened. You and Fabian are too shy to do anything. But has he told you he likes you yet?"

I slowly turned around to face Amber. "What?"

Amber grinned. "Oh come on, Nina! It's so obvious he likes you. He looks at you like you're the only one in the room and he smiles whenever you talk to him. Heck, I'm one of his best friends and Fabian wouldn't go up to the attic, risking the wrath of Victor, just so he could make sure I was okay, even though he knew I'd be fine."

I shook my head. "No, Fabian's just a friend. Trust me, he doesn't like me that way. I think I'd know."

But would I? Would I really know if anyone liked me that way? I ignored Amber's rambling and dashed out of the room, heading to the bathroom. I really didn't want to talk to anyone for a while, not after everything that Amber said.

After I showered, changed my clothes, and did all the other things people normally do in the morning, I left the bathroom. I'd been a little ticked off when I saw the outfit Amber had thrown at me this morning –a pair of jeans and a tight-ish shirt –but I had to wear it. I wasn't going to run back to my room in nothing but a towel; that would've been too embarrassing.

I made my way downstairs, where everyone else was hanging out. No one noticed me claim a seat at the dinner table, seeing as they were all playing Truth-or-Dare in the common room. Thank God Amber didn't notice me; otherwise I would've had to play. I had come to really dislike Truth-or-Dare. I started watching them play, wondering absentmindedly who would get embarrassed this time.

"Okay," Jerome said, aiming a glance at Joy. "Joy, truth or dare?"

Joy considered it. "Truth."

Jerome smirked. "Is it true that you like Fabian?"

Fabian immediately inched away from Joy, who was glaring at Jerome. "Yms," she mumbled, though we could all figure out what she meant. Yes, Joy liked Fabian. I tried to ignore the strange feeling it gave me, like a tiny shard of ice in my heart.

After several more rounds of the game, people admitting things that they never should have and others being made to do things that no one should ever have to do, the group quickly dissolved into chatter. I struck up a conversation with Mara, who was more than glad to ignore what Joy had said during the game. It seemed that nothing could put a damper on my high spirits that morning, not even other people's embarrassment.

Naturally, I couldn't have been more wrong.

I know, I know; you hate me, right? Maybe you can forgive me enough to review? You can yell at me if you want. Just don't be too mean, okay? You'll also notice that I lied about the Jabian moment (well, she did flirt with him, but that was more a one-sided Jabian moment). Next chapter there'll be the reveal of what caused the cliffhanger and a lot of blood (try to figure that one out, heehee). Thanks for reading!

~C