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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE HOUSE OF PROBLEMS

My eyes snapped open and a gasp escaped my lips. I was still in the auditorium with everyone. Did I imagine all that? And no one was cursed or anything… Imagine what again? Ugh, I was getting a serious migraine...

"Fabian, what happened?" I asked.

"Oh, we lost the ping pong," he said. Shit, no! It all happened. "Are you alright, you dropped off for something."

I tried to recall why I would doze off (I mean, the tournament was over) and I felt like I dreamed up something important, but it wouldn't come back. "I can't remember," I struggled. A flash of something struck my eyes: a girl in black robes. It lasted a second and was gone.

"I was… I was talking with you two," I thought aloud. I glanced at Patricia. "Then… ugh, I can't think of what happened after that!" I ruffled my hair in frustration. Patricia put a hand on my shoulder. When I looked at her, she mouthed something. "You can't speak." I stated stupidly.

There was a sudden booing. I looked around. People were saying the other school cheated and were using fixed balls. Mr. Sweet called for one final match.

They were about to play when Amber was suddenly talking with Jerome and touching her arm. I came up to them. "Ambs, what's wrong?"

"I don't know, my arm just really hurts," she said. Oh no, that couldn't be safe. I took her away from the table, which ended up with Alfie taking her place. He seemed weird, overly excited.

The crowd went wild when Jerome scored a point. I didn't even see, it happened so quickly. They played one more round.

The boys scored another point when the other team wasn't looking. Cheering rang in my ears. Everyone was screaming and excited. We won! Jerome got back the Frobisher shield.

I was too worried to notice. I got Fabian's attention and talked to him plus Amber and Patricia. "Sibuna meeting in the woods, ten minutes. It's urgent. Something very bad happened." They all nodded.

~ In the woods ~

"Everybody just sit down and shut up!" I shouted, my last nerve vaporating. Fabian kept trying to leave, Alfie wouldn't stop singing, and Patricia kept trying to communicate. They all sat down without protest once I started shouting.

I sighed. "Alright. So I saw Senkhara last night after visiting Gran. She was really mad, and I'm pretty sure I made it worse."

"Mary Ann, what did you say?" Amber asked.

"I may or may not have said she didn't exist," I said, remembering what I yelled at her. "And I tried to quit. And walked right through her." Yeah, not the greatest move. "Anyway, she said my punishment will be to punish, but I don't know how I would do that or–"

Patricia stood with her notepad. She wrote something down. "When you told me to be quiet she hexed my voice," I read aloud. My eyes widened. "That's right. I said not to say anything." I turned to the boys. "And Fabian's got memory loss–"

"Oh, it's got nothing do with you," he interrupted, looking up at me like he was trying to take back an insult. "I'm just tired. We spend a lot of nights creeping around in the tunnels."

"Fabian, you couldn't remember Senkhara," I reminded him.

"Who?" Exactly my point.

"I've got some icky Egyptian plague, haven't I?" Amber freaked. "I've been aching since the tournament, I have weird spots on my hand, and some of my hair has gone gray."

"That's could just be stress," Fabian excused. "For the tournament. One gray– A few gray hairs doesn't mean to prove–"

"Rutter," I interrupted, "Forget it!" That struck a chord. Last thing I said to him before he started acting weird was 'forget I came by, forget everything'. Shit, was the cursing actually what I've been saying? I thought about it. I told Amber to 'age up' and Patricia not to say anything if it wasn't nice.

It's what I've been saying. My words were twisted into curses. "I did this," I said in a stunned daze, sitting down on the log.

"Did you know that rodents can't bark?" Alfie said.

"Oh, I didn't know that," Fabian replied distractedly.

"Alfie seems normal," Amber told me. She paused before adding, "Well, Alfie-normal." I glanced back at Alfie. No, Alfie was cursed as well. I said he was a big kid. Now he was acting like one. I put my head in my hands. Oh dear, I cursed my friends. How could I even do that?

Fabian stood up. "Okay, say it is true. What do we do to stop whatever it is?"

"I don't know, I don't know!" I panicked. How could I get rid of the curse? Think, Mary, think. What does Senkhara want? A million dollars, to punish me, to get the Mask, a giant puppy? I don't know what goes on in that woman's head! "Senkhara wants the Mask, and fast. She'd want to get the tasks over with quickly," I thought out loud, settling for the more logical assumption. "So she'd want me to complete this task fast."

"Like that's going to be easy," Amber said.

~ Night ~

Amber was asleep. I sat on the ground and watched Sarah's dollhouse bask in the moonlight. "Sarah," I whispered. The words spilled out before I could stop them. "I cursed my friends and I need to solve this next task. If you can, I don't know, reach out from beyond and help me, please do." Instead, a tingle ran up my spine. I stood as Senkhara appeared at the foot of my bed.

"Now do you understand how powerful I am?" she asked.

"Yes, yes I was a fool," I cried. "Please let them go."

"Impossible!" she said. "Do as I command, or your friends will suffer more." She glanced at Amber, who was asleep on her bed. Upon closer inspection, I realized she had turned into an old lady.

My eyes snapped open. Clambering out of bed, I made my way to Amber. She was still young. She suddenly sat up straight, asking for a mirror in a scared voice. Did she have the same dream?

I passed her one from her vanity dresser. One look made her relax. "Okay," she said, "Amber, breathe. It felt so real. I was old. Like, old old. It's not going to get like that, is it Mary?"

"I'll figure this out," I promised.

"I can't grow old before I grow up," she said, "Mary Ann, what's going to happen?"

"I don't know," I confessed. "But I'll fix this. Promise."

~ Morning ~

On my way to breakfast, I noticed Victor wasn't in his office. I snuck closer. Hmm, it wasn't like Victor to leave the door wide open. I glanced in and almost gasped.

There was an amulet on his desk! I stared at it with wide eyes.

"What are you staring at?" Victor said. I jumped, having not seen him. He shooed me out of his office and I hurried downstairs. How on Earth did he get an amulet? How was this possible?

I came into the dining room as Amber was talking about a personality transplant to Alfie. I almost stopped to ask what they were talking about, but we had more important matters.

"Guys, Victor has an amulet!" I told them.

"But how? We've got all six," Amber said.

"Maybe not," I said, remembering the incident with Patricia becoming blind. I reminded them of Patricia taking the spare from the dollhouse. "What if Victor did find it, only he managed to switch it with some sort of copy."

"And that's the one Patricia took down the tunnel." Amber concluded.

"I'm guessing this was all a long time ago," Fabian said.

"Yeah, which means Victor knows what's happened down there!" I said. "Fabian, remember solving the chemistry task?"

"I did?"

"Yeah, well, maybe not." I felt confused by that statement. "I think Victor solved it first and then covered his tracks."

"This is bad," Amber stated the obvious.

"No shit, Sherlock," I struggled to keep from snapping.

"Well, what are we going to do?" Fabian asked. "We have to stop him."

"Yeah, or Mary Ann's history," said Amber.

Alfie's bubbling of his milk got my attention. "Alfie, stop that," I said, maybe too harsh.

"I'm going to tell my mum on you!" he exploded. "You're mean and… you smell and… I just don't like you anymore!" He stood up and stormed to the couch of the living room.

"What?" Amber asked. I rubbed my temple. "So," Amber listed. "Patricia can't speak, Fabian's losing his memory, and Alfie's de-aging." I nodded. Jeez, I was only joking when I said stuff to them. "Why do I get the worst hex?" Amber complained. "I could be like thirty by dinner." She paused. "Ew, old."

I took control of the conversation. "Everything will be fine. We need to think of a way to get the amulet back. Any ideas?"

Patricia made a move to speak, but then remembered she couldn't. "Oh, amulet off who?" Fabian asked.

"Is that a worry line?" Amber asked, looking in her mirror. I rubbed my eyes. This was going to a hell of a lot harder than I expected.

~ School ~

"I wish I could remember more about these tasks," Fabian said to me. At least he still remembered they were secret, because he whispered it to me. We sat down in our next class. "Why are we doing them again?"

I said patiently, "To find the Mask of Anubis for Senkhara so she'll stop haunting us."

"And Senkhara is the Egyptian spirit?" he said slowly.

I grinned. "That's right."

He had an adorable smile. "I remembered." Worry crept into my mind.

"Do you remember me?" I had to ask.

He gave me a knowing look. "Of course I do," he said, like I was being ridiculous. "You're Mary Ann Norton, my best friend." He glanced at the door. "And that's Mr. Sweet and… I don't know who the other is." I glanced back.

Mr. Sweet was showing the room to a petite woman in a bright red dress. "I don't know who that is either," I told Fabian. New teacher, maybe? Administrator?

"I'd like to introduce you to," Mr. Sweet announced, "Miss Valentine. She'll be taking over from Mrs. Andrews." We all said welcome in unison. I noticed some of the boys in the room eyeing her.

Mr. Sweet left. "Hey," Miss Valentine said. She put her bag down on a chair. "I feel like I know most of you already, thanks to Mick."

All of Anubis House stood up straighter. "Mick?" Joy repeated.

"My last job was in Australia," she explained. "I taught Mick there. He told me so much about this place. When they advertised for a job, I had to apply." I was starting to like this woman. "How about we start with a little ice breaker?"

She led us the classroom and told us to sit in a circle. We had to pass a ball to someone but say the name of whom they were supposed to pass it to. I told Miss Valentine that Patricia was having trouble speaking, and she said that Patricia could point to whoever it was next.

There was immediately chaos once Alfie passed it to Patricia, telling her to pass to Fabian. Patricia pointed in Joy's general direction, but Fabian looked like he was blanking on names. No one was really sure if she meant Joy. Fabian, in a blip of panic, called, "Pam!" and passed it at Joy.

Joy got upset at being called Pam and ran out of the room. Patricia raced after her. "Did, Did I get it wrong?" Fabian asked me.

"Yeah," I said quietly. "Her name's Joy. You two are kind of close."

He looked really sad. "Really? Oh, I can't remember. Maybe I should go an apologize…"

"No," I said. "Let Patricia calm her down."

~ Hospital ~

I visited Gran afterschool with Amber. When I first walked in, I saw her sitting up on her bed and reading. "Gran!" I cried and ran up to her. She put the book down and gave me a hug. "Well, someone's looking better."

"Hello, Mary Ann," she greeted. "Oh, and Amber came, hello darling. How are you?"

"I think I'm growing a bunion," she replied.

"Well, with those heels…" Gran trailed off with a wink at me. I stifled my laugh. "You should get some flats like mine." She pointed to her shoes by the bed. Amber picked them up and admired them.

I turned my attention back to Gran. "Did the test results come back?"

"Inconclusive," she stated, like she memorized it. I raised an eyebrow. "They want to keep me for observation, but I personally think they just really like me." I tried hard not to smile.

"Is this designer?" Amber asked, putting on my grandmother's jacket. She had also put on the shoes. "What do you think?"

"Practical," I replied. It must've been the curse.

"Sometimes, practical's good," she told me. She paused. "Did I really just say that?"

"It's not fun, growing old," Gran told us as Amber stripped off the jacket. "Especially when the teenagers are always making fun of you." Gran directed that at me. I rolled my eyes and grinned at her.

"Love you too," I said.

~ Night ~

We escaped down to the tunnel. Alfie was running around with a toy car. Amber's hair was graying. Fabian forgot Alfie's name.

Alfie was seriously getting on my nerves, and that made me feel bad because I knew it wasn't his fault. "Alfie, please stop that," I told him as patiently as possible.

"Hey, look at this," Fabian said, pointing to the hieroglyphics on the walls.

"Yeah," I said, "You told me that was Hathor last time we came done here."

"I did?" He started thinking hard. I walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He gave me a sad smile.

A stone by the staircase fell. I looked over there. "What was that? Everyone, quiet." Patricia covered Alfie's mouth with her hand.

"Must be a rat," Fabian guessed.

"We hope it's a rat," Amber said. She paused again. "I'll just add that to the list of things I'm never going to say again after this mission is over."

I sighed. "Let's just keep focus."

"Oh, what are these? Can I have a go?" Alfie rushed to the horns. Before anyone could say anything, he blew into the horn.

The sound was loud and caused a terrified panic to course through me. Immediately after it stopped, another sound rebounded, a million times louder with alarm bells and everything. We all covered our ears to the noise, but it was no use. It was too loud.

Even the ceiling shook under the sound. I looked up and saw cracks forming from the where the pole met the ceiling. It was going to collapse!