Hello my dear readers! I FINALLY have a chapter for you to enjoy. I would have posted it last night but there were some issues with emails and getting things back from my Beta. Technology hates me sometimes, I swear. I'm sorry it's taken me so long but I had to deal with these demonic things called midterms that take up all of my time! How dare they! But now I'm on Spring Break and inbetween doing homework and going through the stack of books I recently got I will come out with another chapter. I wante to thank you all for beign so patient and a huge thank you to a reviewer named Grace for being my 'number one fan'. I dedicate this chapter to you and I'm sorry that I was never able to respond to any of your awsome reviews. They did make me feel very happy inside, and bad at the same time since I never had time to actually sit down and write. All right, you've all waited long enough-enjoy the chapter! SIBUNA!
Chapter 12: House of Sneaks
As if some miracle had descended down on the house, everyone got through supper without any problems. Alfie and Patricia only teased Jerome about getting in trouble with Leto for about fifteen minutes. Nina was sure that the taunting would have gone on for hours. The best part of the meal was that no food was thrown.
Once everyone was finished eating, the group began to disperse through the house and the grounds, all off to do their own thing. Nina and Fabian exchanged knowing glances and quickly snuck up to Nina's room. "OK. So, we need a plan of action for tonight," Nina stated as she shut the door behind her. Fabian nodded and was just opening his mouth to answer when the door swung open and Amber stepped in.
"Hi guys!" She called cheerfully. "So, what's the plan for tonight?"
"We were just about to talk about that. I think we should all meet up here and then sneak up to the third floor together," Nina suggested.
"Wait all of us are going? I thought it was just going to be the two of you and Patricia," Amber interjected. Fabian glanced over at Nina and rolled his eyes ever so slightly.
"No Amber. All of us are going up. The more people we have the easier it will be to search for the ring," Fabian explained slowly. Nina nodded and looked at Amber, trying to figure out if the blond understood what was going on.
"OK, I'm confused. We're all going up to the attic to look for the ring. But, we have a ring already so why are we going to go look for another one?" Amber looked at Fabian and Nina, hoping for an explanation. Fabian smacked himself in the forehead and Nina slowly began rubbing her temples.
"Amber, keep up. I'm only going to say this once," Nina said slowly and sternly. "We have to go to the third floor to find a ring that looks like the one I found the other day. We have to find it because the one we have is not the right one, it doesn't have an inscription on it. Adriane had a ring just like the one I found, Lazar had one too. It's a symbol of their group and the one your dad has is the one we need. The other one belongs to someone else, but we don't know who yet."
"Ohhhh, I get it now. Why didn't you say so before? I mean really, is it that hard to explain something simply? Not all of us understand your super secret language of sneaking around and solving clues. Some of us have more important things to think about," Amber stated as if it was the most obvious thing to say. This only caused Fabian to clench his fists and grit his teeth to prevent him from yelling. He took a deep breath and forced a smile on his face.
"We'll be sure to make things clearer next time Amber," he said. Amber grinned and proceeded to pick up a magazine from her end table and skim through the pages.
Nina shook her head slightly and turned back to face Fabian and said, "All right so now we have a plan. As long as you, Patricia and Alfie can sneak out of your rooms without any problems tonight should go pretty smoothly."
"Hopefully," Fabian agreed. "I'll go let the others know. See you two later." Fabian crossed the room and just as he reached to open the door it was flown open to reveal Patricia.
"Perfect timing Patricia. I was just about to start looking for you. We have a plan for tonight. We're going to—" Fabian started to say until Patricia held up a hand to silence him.
"Guys I saw something really suspicious just now," Patricia said in a low whisper. Amber scrambled off of the bed and went to stand by Patricia, Nina and Fabian. After glancing out into the hallway Patricia shut the door and turned back to her friends.
Amber stared at Patricia, impatiently tapping her foot. "Well? What did you see?"
"Well, I was coming up from the beach with Mara and-"
"Why were you at the beach with Mara?" Amber interrupted. Patricia glared at the blonde and Amber quickly clapped a hand over her mouth.
"We were bored and went for a walk. Now, as I was saying, we were coming back up from the beach and I saw Philip acting rather strangely. He was walking down from the house really quickly and he kept checking over his shoulder every few steps. And he was carrying some metal bucket with him." Patricia finished her story and looked at her friends. Amber, as expected, was not really paying attention. Instead she was twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. Fabian opened his mouth as if he was about to say something but then shut it again. Nina on the other hand, seemed to be staring into space. Something that was very unlike Nina. Her eyes were slightly glazed over and she was biting down on her lip as if in very deep thought.
"Nina?" Fabian called. "Nina? Nina!" Fabian reached out and touched her shoulder causing her to jump. "What's wrong? Are you ok?" Amber and Patricia took one look at Fabian's worried expression and smirked slightly at each other.
"Yeah. It's just, earlier today I saw Philip down by the tide pools. He was carrying a bucket. And he seemed really nervous about something. I have a bad feeling about this."
"No. We can trust Philip. He's worked with my father for a long time. He's like, the coolest person in the world," Amber argued. "He wouldn't be doing anything bad or evil. He's not Victor. Daddy trusts Philip and so do I." Amber crossed her arms and glared at Patricia and Nina, almost as if she was daring them to suspect Philip again.
"Look guys, arguing about this isn't going to get us anywhere. Right now we need to focus on the task at hand. Getting up to the third floor," Fabian reminded. Amber lowered her arms but continued to look back and forth between Nina and Patricia.
Ignoring Amber's stares, Nina looked at each of her friends. "Well we have a plan. Let's just hope it works. Someone needs to fill Alfie in on everything. We just need to keep under the radar until tonight. Sibuna?"
"Sibuna." Patricia and Fabian both headed out of the room, leaving Amber and Nina standing there.
"Amber?" Nina asked, turning to her friend. "I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to accuse Philip. He's been so nice to us and I don't think he's bad at all." Amber beamed at Nina and wrapped her arms around her.
"Oh Nina, you know I can never stay mad at you, or at anyone else for that matter. Well except for those crazy people who threatened to kidnap Victoria Beckham. I simply cannot forgive them." Nina gave Amber a puzzled look and shook her head.
For the rest of the evening, the Sibuna members spent their time like they normally would. Patricia and Amber watched a movie with Mara. Alfie snuck off with Jerome somewhere; everyone suspected that they were off plotting for a prank. Nina and Fabian were, as usual, sitting around reading. "Hey Fabian check this out," Nina called. She placed her book down on the table and Fabian got up from where he was sitting and looked over her shoulder. Nina pointed to a picture of an island.
"Is that?"
"Yep. It's the acropolis. According to this book a group of people called the Dorians came here and built the temple for Athena. For a long time the people were left in peace until the Romans showed up. They took over the island and used it for their own needs. Part of the acropolis was turned into a fortress against the Ottomans, which we saw when we were up there." Nina paused for a moment and turned the page. "But here's the most amazing part. When the Romans came they brought some sort of treasure with them and they hid it here on the island. A group of Dorians were able to find it, and then they took it and hid it themselves."
"What was it?" Fabian asked in awe as he stared at the page.
"No one knows. The Romans never tried to get it back, and the Dorians never spoke of it again. Whatever it was, it must have been important or else they wouldn't have stolen it." Fabina looked at Nina and she knew he was thinking the same thing that she was. The treasure that the Dorians hid on the island could be the one that Aspída was protecting. The one that Sibuna was now trying to find.
Somewhere in the house the chime of a grandfather clock went off. Nina glanced down at her watch to check the time. "It's going on ten. We better get up to our rooms." She shut the book and placed it back on the shelf she found it on. Quietly, Fabian and Nina left the library and walked up the stairs.
"See you later," Fabian called as Nina opened the door to her room. He smiled softly and vanished around the corner. When Nina stepped into her room she was that Amber was already in bed. As silently as she could Nina got ready for bed and slipped under the covers. Right before she fell asleep, Nina made sure her phone alarm was set for five minutes to midnight.
The combination of Nina's phone and a light tapping on the door woke both Nina and Amber instantly. "It's time," Nina whispered. Amber quickly slipped some shoes on and Nina grabbed her shoulder bag from under her bed.
Patricia, Fabian and Alfie were all waiting out in the hallway when Nina and Amber finally came out. "Took you two long enough," Patricia whispered harshly.
"Whatever. Come on, the stairs are this way," Amber said softly. She motioned for everyone to follow her down the hallway and turned down the hall where the boys were staying. As quietly as they could, the five of them tip-toed past the rooms where Mick and Jerome were still sleeping.
After a few turns Amber finally stopped in front of a very plain looking door. It was probably the plainest looking thing in the house. Amber reached out and turned the knob but it stayed firmly in its place. "You're got to be kidding me," Patricia groaned. "Why didn't you say it was locked?"
"It's not supposed to be. It was never locked before. I didn't even know it could lock," Amber replied back. While Patricia and Amber bickered about the lock Nina pulled a bobby pin out of her hair, stuck it in the lock and with an echoing click the lock released its hold on the door.
"Good thinking," Fabian whispered. Slowly Nina turned the knob and flinched when the door opened with a loud creak. In a single file line the Sibuna members passed through the door and began walking up the stairs. Amber, who was the last one in, shut the door firmly behind her. Unfortunately, she didn't notice that someone was standing at the end of the hallway, watching them go up the stairs.
