A/N - Sorry for the wait; I had a MAJOR case of writer's block. But I had to get something out, so this chapter might suck a lot. In fact, the next couple of chapters might suck, because we're getting to the main plot. I don't own HOA, but I hope you enjoy this chapter! :D

Nina
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 2:12 p.m.

"Wow," I whispered.

My eyes scanned the clearing. It was filled with bright, beautiful pink flowers. To the right stood a cherry blossom tree. The wind was blowing the flowers all over the clearing.

I hoisted my dress up and walked barefoot through the flowers. They were wet and dewy, so I guessed that it had rained last night.

I made my way toward the tree and approached the bark. I placed my good hand on it, and my foot at the bottom of the tree.

My right hand was still broken. I could still feel the pain, but I forced myself to think of anything other than. If I didn't think about the pain, it didn't hurt as much.

I hoisted myself up and placed my foot on a safe spot higher off the ground. It took a while to reach the top of the tree, occasionally taking a break. When I hoisted myself up, my chest started to hurt, the bruise worsening. My arm, also filled with bruises, was no picnic either. Eventually, I sat on a branch near the top, overlooking the whole clearing.

The clearing was about a mile long, and a half-mile wide. The whole place was filled with pink flowers.

"Amber would flip out if she was here," I whispered to no one in particular.

The tree that I was in - the ONLY tree - was not that tall, so I couldn't see very far, but I could vaguely make out the house that the man was holding me in. The house was empty.

For now.

For the past nine days, I've been keeping track of when the man came back to the house, and when he left. On Monday morning, he made the mistake of telling me that it was five a.m. He had only been there for one minute, and he stayed for hours. I didn't know how long it was. Then, later, when he left, I went outside. When I looked up, he sun was right above my head. I guessed it was about noon.

Every day, the man had the same pattern. He would come in at five a.m., and then leave at noon.

Right after the man had disappeared through the fog this afternoon, I escaped from the house and starting venturing into the woods. I had been itching to explore it since last Thursday, when I first got out of the house. Now was my best chance, and I wasn't about to waste it.

I had wandered for about two hours, and eventually I found this clearing. I wasn't sure exactly where it was, but I had fifteen hours to myself before the man came back to the house.

I sighed and slumped back against the branch. I didn't bother to try and contact any of my friends.

I still had to think about the fact that they were still my friends. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to be my friend anymore. I was a freak. I could contact my friends through dreams, listen to their conversations, and transport myself to Anubis House. I still wanted to be their friend. They were my best friends in the whole entire world.

It's not like I had any friends back home in the United States. Ever since my parents died thirteen years ago, the kids at my old school had been called me names. They bullied me. They told me that I was the cause of my parents death. No one wanted to be my friend.

When I finally got accepted into the school in England, I thought that I would finally make friends. That thought was crushed on my first day, when Patricia blamed me for Joy's disappearance; a girl I didn't even know. The only thing that made it worse was the fact that everyone believed her.

I'm not exactly surprised that Alfie believed her, though.

But that was why I cried, out in the hallway after speaking with my Gran. She knew about the troubles I faced back in my old school. I didn't want to tell her I hadn't made any friends, that they all thought I was a murderer, so I lied to her.

Eventually, I guess, everyone softened up to me. They became my best friends. I'm not sure if I was one of their best friends, but they certainly were mine.

I just wished that they would still think of me as a friend. That they would spend their time thinking about me, even if they weren't looking. That's all I want. To be remembered as a friend.

My eyes were starting to close. I had barely gotten any sleep for the past week. I knew that I should've stayed awake, but then again, I had fifteen hours to myself. The man wouldn't be coming back now.

I closed my eyes and drifted off.

I was home.

I was back in Anubis House.

The familiar setting of the Common Room settled in, and it began to feel like home again. I smiled. I was finally home, with all of my friends.

I was wearing a colorful tee with boot-cut jeans. My brown tote-bag was slung over my shoulder. I was sitting on the couch closet to the dining table, and everyone was sitting around me.

I felt an arm around my shoulders, and when I turned to my right, I saw Fabian sitting next to me. He was absently scribbling different drawings all over his notebook. He noticed me staring at him, and smiled. He laced his fingers through mine, and brought me closer.

Everyone was sitting in the Common Room, doing their own things. It was like old times, before I had gone missing. Before this all had happened. It was like it never did.

There was nothing better than that feeling.

But then it all suddenly went away. The absent chatter in the room faded, and I was left with silence. And then the worst thing that could ever possibly happen did.

Everyone in the Common Room, my best friends, my family - Fabian, Amber, Patricia, Alfie, Jerome, Mara, and Mick - they all fell down onto the floor. Their eyes rolled back in their heads. Even Fabian lost hold of my grip and fell off of the couch and onto the floor.

"Fabian!" I screeched. I quickly scrambled off of the couch and knelt next to him. His chest wasn't moving. His eyes were rolled back.

I turned around to face the others. They were all lying on the floor, unconscious. None of them were breathing.

"Fabian! Amber! Patricia! Don't go! Please!" I could feel the tears streaming down my face. There was nothing I could do to stop them. Here I was, staring at the dead bodies of my favorite people in the world.

I didn't have to words to say anything. My whole world was just ripped out from under me in less that five seconds.

"Please!" I wiped a tear away. "Please . . . don't leave me . . ." I held on to Fabian's cold, dead hand.

I let the tears fall. I didn't care to stop them. My eyes were a frighting, vicious red when a familiar face walked in.

"I told you, Martin. I told you."

The man who had kidnapped me walked in with a knife in his hands.

That was it. That was the last straw. Nobody hurt my friends like that.

"HOW DARE YOU!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

The man chuckled. "I told you, Martin. I told you that if you didn't obey me, you would pay the price. And it has been paid." he gestured to my dead friends.

"NO! BRING THEM BACK!" I yelled.

The man laughed again. "You're so stupid, girl. You of all people should know that you can't bring people back from the dead."

"DON'T CALL ME STUPID!" I said. Tears were flowing down my face in buckets. The man didn't respond. "YOU'RE A MURDERER! I HATE YOU! BRING THEM BACK!" I repeated.

"Stop it, girl. You disobeyed me. You had to pay."

"YOU'RE A MURDERER!"

"STOP IT!" He paused, staring at my friends. "Now, if you obey me, I won't -"

I cut him off. "I WILL NEVER OBEY YOU! YOU KILLED MY FRIENDS! I HATE YOU! I WILL NEVER OBEY YOU!"

"Very well. Let's see if you change your mind after this."

He flicked his wrist, and then something horrible happened.

Fabian and everyone else started to shake. They started flopping around like fish on land. And then they started screaming.

Terrible. Appalling. Horrid. Revolting.

That's how it felt to be standing right there in front. To have a front row seat of watching my best friends being tortured by the man who I hate more than anything in the world.

"STOP IT! PLEASE!"

The man didn't respond. I didn't know if he was just being rude, or if he couldn't hear me over the blood-curling screams.

Tears were streaming down my face. My head was killing me. I felt like I could just pass out right then and there.

I held myself together. I wasn't going to leave everyone I love like this.

"PLEASE! STOP IT! I WILL OBEY YOU! I PROMISE! JUST STOP HURTING THEM!"

Fabian and everyone else suddenly stopped shaking. Their screams House was silent.

The man walked up to me. I could hear his footsteps echo throughout the house. He was two inches from my tear-stained face. "You will?"

"YES! NOW JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Stop screaming."

I wanted to continue, but I knew that if I wanted to keep my friends safe, I had to obey him. "Okay."

The man smirked and walked up to me. He slapped me across the face. "Don't scream or cry, or your friends will die."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted to curse. I wanted to thrash. I wanted to lot of things. But I didn't. For everyone's sake.

"Fine. Just leave us alone."

The man didn't say anything. I turned to Fabian and buried my face in his shirt. I let the tears fall down my face, not even bothering to wipe them away. I must've stayed like that for five minutes.

When I pulled back, his shirt was soaked with my tears.

The man looked out the window, as if making a hard decision."Tell you what, girl: I'll bring them back for a price."

I took a shaky breath. "Anything. Just bring them back."

"Give me your life, and I will revive them."

"Deal." I said without hesitation.

The man released a sickening smile, and he lunged at me with the knife. One second before the knife plunged into my body, I heard somebody scream.

I didn't even have time to realize it was me before I hit my head.

Am I dead?

I actually had to ask myself that.

Am I dead?

I heard a low thud, and then I saw the starry night sky. The moon was shining brightly overhead.

I didn't speak for a while. I didn't know who I was, where I was, or what I was doing here. My cheeks were soaking wet. My head was pounding.

Eventually, it all came back to me. I was sitting in Anubis House when it happened. The man killed my friends. My best friends. He tortured them. So I gave them my life.

I lifted up my dress to reveal nothing. No knife gash. Just a fading purple bruise. I sighed with relief. It hurt my chest.

I leaned my head against the base of the tree. I must've fallen out of it while I was having a nightmare.

That's all it was. A horrible nightmare. Nothing more than a nightmare. It hadn't happened. Fabian and the others hadn't been tortured.

I closed my eyes. I had made such a big mess. And now I had to fix it.

I could tell that it was night time, but I didn't think that it was five a.m. Sadly, that prediction was wrong.

I heard leaves being crushed under the weight of a boot. It was far, about two hours away, but I could hear it. Like always, I had no idea how I could do that, but I could. It seems like this place gives me powers that I can't control.

But I knew that crunch of the boot. It felt too familiar, but in a bad way.

Suddenly, I felt it. The snap of my hand as the bones shattered under the weight of a boot. His boot. The man's boot.

It was the man. He was coming back.

I was so screwed. I was two hours away from the house in some kind of flower field. There was no way in hell I was going to make it back in time.

I figured I better start running. When the man saw that I wasn't in the house, he would find me. And he would kill me. I didn't stay alive this long for nothing. I wanted to go home; Emmy House. Where I belonged. Where all of my friends were. Where my family was.

The crunch of fallen leaves from the trees was getting louder. The man was advancing toward the House. I had to run. Now.

Run.

I slowly hoisted myself up using my good hand. I winced, flattened out my dress, and brushed myself off.

I sprinted into the trees.

Run!

I could feel the scratch of branches scraping against my feet, cutting my skin and letting the blood flow out. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to think of getting back to the house. I had to make it there before the man, or I'd be dead.

RUN!

And then I felt it. The wind whistling though my hair, the cold slamming against my face like a ton of bricks. It didn't feel like a burst of wind coming in suddenly. It felt like something else, an ultra-powerful source, something that doesn't come naturally.

Something only someone Chosen could do.

The trees zipped past me as if I was speeding at 200 miles per hour. The freezing wind was hurting my face and my body. My dress was flailing wildly in the wind.

I couldn't feel the scrape of the broken branches on my feet anymore. All I could see was a blur of green, the trees coming and going every second.

Only when I saw the opening of the trees did I realize that something was wrong.

I had been running for about 5 seconds, but when I came into the woods this morning and found that clearing, I had traveled for about two hours. Now, I entered the woods, and it only took 5 seconds to reach the house.

I heard the stomp of a boot, and I knew that the man was close.

"Crap!" I cursed, and started to run towards the House. This time, it didn't take 5 seconds. Running up the stairs took almost all of my willpower. I wanted to collapse right then and there.

I gasped in air when I got to the top of the staircase, and started running toward the house again. My lungs were tight. My breath was jagged, but I couldn't give up. Not with the man one minute behind me.

I finally opened the front door of the house and sprinted inside to my room. As soon as I reached it, I reached into my hair and pulled out the bobby-pin. My hands were shaking, but I eventually pushed the pin into the lock and turned it sideways. The door clicked opened.

I smiled, and as soon as I stepped into the room, I collapsed. I was on my hands and knees, scrambling over to the corner of the room. I could hear the front door open and close, and I knew that the man had come in. I made my way over to the corner and brought my knees to my chest, placing my head on top.

Ten seconds later, I heard my door open. I looked up from behind my knees and I saw the man's ugly face staring at me. He narrowed his eyes and threw bread into the middle of the room.

I wasn't hungry. I needed to catch my breath before I ate anything.

I sighed, closed my eyes, laced my hands together, and started to repeat the chant.

"I wish, I wish, to see my friend, even if which my life shall end . . ."

Fabian
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 6:02 a.m.

It's quite hideous to see a pillow coming at your face the second you open your eyes.

The pillow smacked into my face, and I closed my eyes. My first thought was that the pillow should've been soft and delicate, but it was nothing like that. The collision with my face was hard. Rock hard.

"Ugh," I groaned. "Mick, what did you put in that thing? Bricks?"

Mick snorted. "Funny. Anyway, Trudy has been calling us for two minutes. We should really get to breakfast before she explodes."

I sighed with exasperation and threw the covers off of my body. I grabbed my uniform out of my closet and headed to the bathroom to get dressed.

It only took a minute to get everything on. I sat down in my seat at the table.

"Fabian, "Trudy said, "how wonderful to grace us with your presence."

I cringed. "Sorry." I apologized.

"Mm hmm." Trudy smiled at me as she put down my breakfast plate.

There were two slices of toast on my plate, and a full glass of orange juice to my side. I can usually only eat two slices, three at the most. But today I wasn't too hungry. After Nina sprinted off into the woods, I still had her locket in her hands. I don't know how it got out of my room in the first place, or if it had stopped glowing. I was going to have to find a better solution to hiding the locket, because Mick had complained on more than one occasion that there was a light coming from our room.

I wondered if the glow coming from the locket meant anything. It could possibly mean nothing at all. I didn't think that was true, though.

When Nina was here last term, when we were searching for the Cup of Ankh, the only time I saw her locket glowing was when there was a clue near. Nina had told me that she thought Sarah was telling her something whenever the locket glowed.

Now it wouldn't stop glowing. It had to mean something. Maybe it means that Nina is close. I highly doubted that, sadly.

Alfie had tried to convince me that the dreams meant nothing. That it was only my subconscious mind trying to make up for her absence. First of all, I had no idea where Alfie had come up with that. Second of all, I was convinced that they meant something after I saw Nina yesterday.

It was like she was actually there . . .

I wasn't dreaming. I tried to convince myself that I was, but it was nothing like my previous dreams. I didn't feel like my body was being pulled apart when I saw Nina.

Last year, whenever I had a normal dream, like being chased by a monster, I never had that pull-apart feeling. Now, whenever I have a dream with Nina, that feeling always comes. It's a feeling I can't control.

When I'm in that . . . place, that Nina's . . . trapped in, all the energy is sucked out of me. I feel like I can pass out right then and there, but I can't move. And that's another problem.

I can't move at all. I want to, I want to inspect that place, but I can't. It's like I'm paralyzed, but standing up. I can think the words I want to say, but my tongue won't obey me. My arms won't follow my movements. And I can't lift my legs off the pavement.

First things first: if I ever want to rescue Nina, then we have to find that place, learn about it, and then burn it down. It doesn't deserve to stay. It's the place where Nina was tortured. It should be destroyed.

Because I swear, out there, it's not where Nina should be.

She should be here, in Anubis House. It's where she belongs. Whether she likes it or not, we love her. And she loves us too. I want her to be here, right next to me, snuggling on the couch next to fire on a cold winter night. We'd be covered with the same blanket, sipping a cup of steaming hot cocoa. I sighed, thinking about how likely that us to happen. I missed her bad.

Amber, who was sitting beside me, was delicately holding a thin slice of toast that she tore off with her fingers. She put the slice in her mouth and licked her finger. "Fabian, have you found anything on Nina?" she whispered.

I shook my head, chewing on a slice of toast. I took a sip from my orange juice and looked down.

"Do you think she's okay?" she asked me. I shrugged. "Do you think the dreams mean anything? You've had two of them with Nina in it."

"I know," I said. "They're not like normal dreams."

"What do you think they are?"

I frowned. "I have no idea. But we'll figure it out."

"How? We don't even know where Nina is."

Step one, I thought.

Breakfast proceeded normally. Amber and I continued our conversation about Nina's disappearance. Neither one of us liked to admit that she was in trouble, but she was, and we needed to save her. She didn't deserve to be trapped there, to get abused. None of us deserved that. Sibuna and I, we needed to find her.

I was going to find Nina Martin. No matter what it took.

They all wanted to join. During Lunchtime, Patricia came up to Amber and I. She demanded that she wanted in on our 'search'. Her being in Sibuna, I let her in. And then, when we got home from school, Alfie came up and stood by Amber's side. He didn't say anything, but by the look of confidence on his face, I knew he was ready to step in.

It made me happy, seeing everyone step in. It made me feel like we really were a team, even though Nina was gone.

We all sat together, around the couch in the Common Room. Alfie and Patricia were on the floor facing the couch where Amber and I were sitting. Alfie was attempting to help Amber with homework, because she didn't understand the lecture. Patricia was sitting Indian-Style, breezing through her homework, but I saw her absently doodling something on the edge of her paper. I couldn't make out what it was.

I was sitting on the edge of the couch, leaning against the arm. I had my Dream Log in my right hand, and my MP3 player in my left. The left earphone was placed in my ear.

Everyone in the Common Room as quiet, doing homework as Trudy insisted. I was halfway through with my French homework when my shirt started to get wet.

It wasn't like I was standing out in the rain, and my shirt was getting slightly soaked. It was like someone was lightly spraying me with a hose, but my shirt was still getting wet.

"Why is my shirt wet?" I said, voicing my thoughts.

Patricia looked at me from where she was sitting on the floor. "I don't know. My shirt's not wet. Alfie?" she looked at him.

"No."

"Yeah, mine's fine." Amber commented.

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't exactly surprised at this kind of thing; weird things have been happening ever since Nina went missing 9 days ago.

For the next couple of minutes, everything was quiet. My shirt didn't continue to soak. Mick and Mara left to go somewhere, but I didn't care where they were going. Only Amber, Patricia, Alfie, Jerome and I were left in the Common Room. I didn't think anything else would happen.

But then I heard the most terrifying, blood curling scream, and I knew that something was wrong.

Jerome's eyes widened. "What was that?" He turned and glared at Sibuna and I. He started to get off the couch across from me and Amber and began to walk over.

Alfie was looking down, and I saw the fear in his eyes. Amber looked scared, and I could tell she knew what I was thinking. Patricia didn't really display any emotion. She continued doing her homework as if nothing had happened.

Jerome finally reached us. "Fabian," he growled. "What was that?"

Patricia looked up from her homework. "What was what? You're distracting me from my homework, Slimeball."

Jerome rolled his eyes. "Please, Patricia. Don't tell me you didn't hear that."

"Hear what?" Her eyes were searching for something. I could tell that she was telling the truth. She really didn't hear that scream.

It surprised me. The girl that heard Mick's walking from a mile away didn't hear Nina's blood curling scream.

Don't ask me how I knew it was Nina. I just knew. After 9 days of hearing 4 screams, I kind of assumed it was Nina. It didn't surprise me one bit. Natalie was special; gifted.

Gifted. Yesterday, Nina told me that I was gifted. That every one of us was gifted. What had she meant? That we can hear her screams from wherever she's trapped?

That's not it, I could almost hear Nina saying. It wasn't her, like when I could hear her voice in my mind, but I could imagine it.

Alfie had told me that my dreams might just be making up for her absence. The voices could be that too, he told me. But I knew, as well as the dreams, that it was really Nina, really speaking to me. But it was only this time that I was imagining it.

Jerome rolled his eyes again and turned to me. "What was that?" he repeated.

I had to keep this a secret. It was the best way for Amber, Patricia and I to find Nina. We'd find her the quickest if we didn't get too many people involved.

"What was what?" I repeated, trying my best to sound oblivious.

Jerome stared at me. "Fabian," he said. "I know you heard it. Don't play dumb. This whole time, you've been rejecting me. Last year, I was part of Sibuna, remember? Nina told me I was in. So let me in. Who did that scream belong to, huh? Nina? I guess she really isn't missing after all, huh?"

I glared at Jerome. "Actually, she is. And she's in danger." I turned to look at all my friends, staring at me expectantly.

"Nina's in danger. A lot of danger." I began. "And if we don't find her in time, she could get killed."

A/N - Don't kill me! I know it sucks! I had to get something out, because the main plot is finally starting! Whoop whoop! Anyhow, please leave a review!