a/n - 2/1/13. While I write this, my friend Kristen is FaceTiming me. Kristen, if you're reading this, you need singing lessons.
Goddamnit, I just finished watching the latest episode of season 3. This show makes me want to throw myself off of a cliff. My baby left the show, KT pushed Fabian and Eddie might be hurt and I just CAN'T EVEN -
Ohmygosh I just read through chapter 24 and I think I may have worded the A/N wrong...there's more than 41 chapters planned out. I now have...44 chapters planned out and there will DEFINITELY be more, because this dumb story takes up like half of my day.
I don't own House of Anubis...never have...never will.
Have a sparkling day!~*
~Julianna

Fabian
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 3:30 p.m.

"Three . . ." Jerome began.

"Two . . ." Alfie continued.

"One." I finished.

Joy came bursting through the door at that exact moment. Less than two milliseconds later, Patricia bounced from her seat on the couch and hugged her missing best friend with all of her might.

"Joy, you're back! I missed you so much!"

"I'm so glad to see you, Patricia!"

Everyone watched as the two hugged it out, swaying back and forth and saying things like that over and over again. After they released their death grips on each other, Mara and the rest of Anubis House walked up and hugged Joy as well. I stayed behind, because I didn't like being in that big group of people, so Joy hugged me last.

"Fabes, I'm so glad to see you! You look well!" Joy beamed as she threw her arms around me. I returned the hug. Before Nina's first year here, Joy and I had been so close. I wanted to gain that friendship back with her, even if I never felt any attraction to her at all.

"Glad to have you back, Joy." I laughed as I pulled back to take a good look at her. She looked amazing; happy, confident, and powerful. She definitely seemed like she was ready for the new year at Anubis House. Trudy ran in from the kitchen and hugged Joy as well, laughing and crying at the same time. Joy and Trudy were like mother and daughter back when Joy lived here full time.

"Would you like a snack?" Trudy asked, still smiling, leading Joy into the kitchen. Patricia followed her, as well as Mara and Amber. I figured the girls wanted their time alone, so I grabbed my rucksack from where it was sitting on the floor and reached inside it for my Dream Log. During school hours, I had a free period, so I decided to use that time to write down the information that Nina had told me in my dream last night.

Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 12:25 p.m.
She was okay. She was fine, and that was all I really needed to know. I just needed to know that my girlfriend was okay, and she was still alive.
Luckily, she was more than alive. She was happy. That actually surprised me; I thought Nina would be slightly shaken up. After all, she had attempted suicide only a day ago.
But the knowledge that she was alive was not the only thing I learned from my dream. The first thing she told me was that Shadowland was in the woods.
A small part of me knew it was in the woods. The woods are dark, mysterious, and ominous. No one truly knows what resides in them. Shadowland would be a perfect place to hide the Chosen One. Unfortunately, Nina confirmed that you couldn't just find it by wandering around mindlessly; it was protected by magic. That was another thing she told me; someone knew the secret to Shadowland.
She told me the person who knew the secret was a boy, but that doesn't make it any clearer. There are billions of men in the world. I could see her expression when she told me that info, though; it was like her puppy had just died. She had met the boy who knew the secret, but she wouldn't tell me who it was. I think she doesn't even know herself who it is yet. It might've helped if she had told me his name, but . . .
One more thing: when she had attempted to kill herself in my last dream, she had told me that a boy and a girl were going to come to Anubis House. The boy's come; his name is Eddie Miller, and he's from America. The girl, though, is yet to arrive, but I know who it is. Get this - it's JOY! She would've been the last person I'd have thought of.
Her dad lost his job at the school after Sibuna found and restored the Cup of Ankh, so Joy left to go to another town far away. Because her dad was unemployed, he didn't have the money to send Joy to the boarding school anymore. But obviously he scraped up some money to send Joy away. Now the boy and girl are here and they'll play an important part in the search for the Chosen One.

"Fabian, would you help me unpack?" Joy tapped my shoulder to bring me back to reality from where I was looking at my Log. I glanced up and quickly nodded, saying I'd help her. She led me upstairs to Patricia and Mara's room, where she would be bunking. She'd apparently asked Mara if Mara could room with Amber again, so Mara had asked her; but Amber had gone out on an all-out rampage and completely denied Joy's request.

So, Patricia, Mara and Joy were now sharing a triple.

Joy laid her suitcase out on the bed and we both started to put her clothes into the drawers, placing her picture frames onto the tables and the other random items around the room. Joy gave me a brief summary of what had happened the first time she'd gone missing when she was falsely accused of being the Chosen One, and then the second time, when her dad had pulled her out of the school. Her and I caught up, laughing and talking, just like old times, before this whole mystery had started.

"So," Joy singsonged as she sat down on the edge of her new bed. "Do you have a girlfriend, Fabian?"

I could see it in her expression that she wasn't asking me to go out with her; she was just curious. I grimaced. "Well . . . sort of. Yes, I do. But, at the same time I don't. She's technically still my girlfriend . . . but she's not actually here . . . ugh, it's complicated."

"Because she died?"

That struck me for a moment. I forgot that the only people who knew Nina wasn't dead was the people who lived at Anubis House - more specifically, the members of Sibuna. Mara still didn't know about Nina being alive. Obviously Joy would think she'd be dead, too.

I was stuck there for the moment, speechless. I wanted to tell Joy about the dreams, Shadowland, everything; she was technically part of the search for the Cup of Ankh last year when she was falsely accused of being the Chosen One. She'd understand if I told her about Shadowland, the dreams, et cetera. But should I?

"Not yet," Nina spoke in my mind from where she was in Shadowland, and I knew I couldn't tell her. Nina was the actual person who was giving us dreams; she'd know better about who to tell and who to give dreams to. If Nina, the highest on the list, the leader of our group, the actual Chosen One, didn't want me to tell Joy yet, I wasn't going to tell Joy.

"No, I don't think she died. The police called one day and they said they found her body, but we never held a funeral or a wake or anything that physically involves her body being there. We knew that the police were on the bad side since the beginning, so we weren't surprised when they didn't mention anything about Nina's disappearance after they "reported" her death."

"Whoa, wait! Back up a second!" Joy demanded. "Disappearance? She went missing?"

"Yep," I told her, and Joy's gaze lowered. "Wow. I didn't know that. When did she go missing?"

"October 17th," I recited from memory. I knew the exact day she disappeared, and I knew how long she'd been gone. She'd been missing for seventeen days now; almost three weeks. It seemed like an eternity ago that Amber and I were scouring out the woods, looking for wherever Nina could be.

"That must be heart-wrenching," Joy reasoned. "I mean, you liked her a lot. I'm not sure about loved, but you definitely liked her, I can tell. She's been gone for almost three weeks now, and you don't have the slightest idea of where she is, do you?

"No," I admitted, though it was a lie. I knew exactly where she was; I even have a down-to-the-last-detail drawing of the place, done by the artist-in-training Amber Millington. I knew where she was, and I knew what it is, I just didn't know how to get there.

"Well, I hope you find her," Joy murmured. "You two deserve it."

Patricia walked into the room then, so I left. As I walked out of the room, I couldn't help agreeing with Joy's statement.

You two deserve it.

xXx

3rd Person
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 5:47 p.m.

Joy narrowed her eyes as she watched Fabian, Amber, Patricia and Alfie run up the stairs. They'd been talking when Fabian had suddenly said something and then they'd all bolted upstairs. She could've sworn that she'd heard the word "Sibuna" before they ran up.

After they'd disappeared up the girls' corridor, Joy scanned the Common Room. The only person left was Jerome; Mara had gone to the library to study for an upcoming test. Joy pushed herself off of the couch and sat down next to Jerome.

Jerome looked up from his handheld gaming system, where he was obliterating aliens. He cocked an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, actually, you can," Joy replied. "Why did Fabian, Patricia, Amber and Alfie just run up the stairs?"

Jerome turned his gaming system off and set it down on the arm of the couch. "Oh, that's their little gang. They solve mysteries or some shit like that. I wouldn't know. But I do know they have some sort of search for Nina going on." He rolled his eyes and moved his gaze so he was staring out the window.

A bell rang in Joy's head. Nina. Where had she heard that name before? She couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Joy had played a major part in their search last year when they were searching for the Cup of Ankh. She had been falsely accused of being the Chosen One, only to find out the true Chosen One was . . . Nina! So that's where she had heard that name.

"That girl who died?" Joy inquired.

"She's not dead," Jerome stated simply. "She's still alive. I would know. I've healed her. I have quite a talent in the medical arts," He remarked sarcastically, but Joy could detect a bit of truth in his tone. She didn't know what he meant; Jerome couldn't heal a paper cut. She'd wished that she could understand, but when she'd tried to fry Fabian for answers earlier today, he hadn't spilled.

"Well, I want answers, and I'm sure you want answers too," Joy said. "How about this: Fabian and the others just went upstairs to discuss something, probably have a meeting or something. How about we go upstairs and hide behind the door so we can hear them? We both play a part in the mystery, and you know that."

Joy watched Jerome's mouth form into a grin. "I like that, Mercer. So, we go upstairs now?"

She smiled and grabbed his wrist. "Follow me."

xXx

Amber
Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 10:00 p.m.

"IT IS TEN O'CLOCK! YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES PRECISELY . . . AND THEN I WANT TO HEAR A PIN . . . DROP."

Victor's voice boomed from the hallway and I rolled my eyes; I could hear him from where I sat on my bed in my room. "Yeah, yeah, calm down, Captain Curfew," I muttered to myself as I pulled the blankets over my body and placed my head on my pillow. I was just about to close my eyes and try to go to sleep when the door opened and the lights turned on.

"Ugh, Fabian, the light burns." I complained as I pulled the blankets over my head to block the light from entering and I groaned when Fabian pulled them off. I hissed at the light and turned around, burying my face into my pillow.

"It's not Fabian," a different voice spoke. I lifted my head off of my pillow, only to see Mara standing over me.

"What do you waaaaaant?" I grunted, lying down on my back again so I could see Mara's face.

"My room's too crowded now. I'm sick of having three people in there, and it's only been seven hours. Can I sleep in here for tonight? Or the week? Or the rest of the year?"

"Do whatever you want, but it is Nina's side of the room, so when she comes back you'll have to move back in your room," I stated simply, turning back on my stomach.

I barely heard Mara say, "You do know that she's dead, right?" before I closed my eyes and fell into a not-so-dreamless sleep.

Shadowland / Timeless / Amber's Dream

"It's good to see you, Amber."

The feeling is not mutual. "Yeah, that's why you haven't given me a dream except for that lame excuse where you showed me your eye color?"

"I said I was sorry about that," Nina snapped. "I couldn't do anything about it. You try being possessed by an evil spirit and having no control over your own body. I didn't even know I was giving you a dream."

"Oh, that just makes it worse!" I exclaimed. "You wouldn't have given me a dream if you hadn't been possessed? So technically the Man in Red gave me a dream? I think I like him more than you now."

Nina fumed, but she didn't say anything after that. I was just about to laugh and yell that I won the argument, but after a moment, she cooled down and the fire in her eyes extinguished. "Look, Amber, you're being a baby right now. You know you're my best friend. You know I'd do anything for you. The fact that you're actually getting upset over the fact that the man who kidnapped me gave you a dream and not me, than I don't know what to say. You're just going to have to get over that fact and realize that I'm sending you the dreams now."

I snorted in annoyance. "Some friend you are. You curse me and Patricia with an ability we didn't even want, then you TAKE AWAY an ability that we need! You're so inconsiderate! And you're so selfish; you're sending us dreams because you want us to find you. It's all about you. No one else. But we're nice, so we try to save you, but you don't care about us. You don't care about any of us! You never did, did you? Because you've always been too consumed with yourself."

"Shut up. YOU DON'T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT WHY I'M GIVING YOU THESE DREAMS, SO SHUT UP!" she screamed.

I should've been shocked, or even upset, that she yelled at me. But I wasn't; I just grew even angrier than I was before. How dare she yell at me!

"I WILL NOT SHUT UP! HOW DARE YOU TELL ME TO SHUT UP!" I returned. "You're selfish, uncaring, annoying, and I don't know why I even decided to be your friend!"

"Take a look at yourself, Amber," Nina hissed. The fire in her eyes had returned, but there was something else in them that I couldn't place. "You're the most selfish person I have ever met. You're conceded and spoiled and a little brat but somehow people find you appealing as a good friend."

"Well, obviously you thought I was a good friend, considering we were best friends last year when we looked for the Cup of Ankh last year." I laughed, glad I was making Nina angry. She didn't deserve to have friends. I had never met anyone so selfish, so obsessed with their own health and their own safety. I was so angry that I didn't even notice the thick red cut trailing from her wrist to her elbow. If I had noticed it that night . . . would anything have changed between us?

"Amber, I hate you. I really do. I HATE YOU!" She yelled and began to run away, towards the house. I scowled at her as she sprinted away but couldn't help but notice that the major points of the dream had been ruined.

"So, you're not even going to tell me any clues to how to find you? You're not going to be selfish and just give me a clue as to where you are?" I thundered, expanding my voice so she could hear me from where she was.

She turned around, her eyes flaring so much I was surprised she didn't burst into flames. She took a step towards me so I could hear her more clearly. "Yes, Amber, I do, actually," her voice was so steady, it actually surprised me. "I just learned that the Man in Red kidnapped me so he can get to you. He has no use for me other than getting to you guys, the ones at Anubis. So you better watch out; he might get to you before he gets to me."

And with that, she ran inside the house, and I could've sworn I heard a boy's voice. Not the Man in Red.

Someone I knew.

a/n - Let's try this. 4-5 reviews for the next chapter. I probably won't get it, but hey, why not try it? I just want approval that people actually read this story because I have a couple of favorites but not many of those favorites review. So, if I get 4-5 reviews before the next week, that'd be awesome. Reviews make the world go round, so give the button a hug. (: Oh, yeah, and have a sparkling day~
~Julianna