Amber XXX
Summary: This week on Tears of Gold, Amber covers the fall out from Mara's trial and the official initiation for the new Sibunas. The Anubis residents participate in a fun holiday tradition and Nina gets some horrifying news.
Amber was so happy the Mara vs. Vera trial was finally over. Instead of being expelled, Mara had been suspended for 2 days and banned from writing for the school paper. With the trial over, the Sibuna club was able to turn its full focus back to the quest for the mask. Friday's dinner was still a bit awkward since Mara could barely look at Vera, Eddie and Patricia were giving off a strange energy, and Nina was still jumpy because of their newest members being marked.
The previously planned Sibuna meeting had to be postponed until the next day since Joy had called for a house-wide movie night to try and cheer Mara up. Amber looked around the sitting room as the group watched Mama Mia, Mara's pick, doing a silent headcount to reassure herself that they were all still there. She had been badly rattled that morning seeing Liliana and Jerome's brands. The couple were wrapped up together in one of the armchairs, clearly not willing to let the other go for fear that they would vanish. Amber completely understood that, snuggling further into Alfie beside her, she tried to push away the images of the group suffering a horrendous death at the hands of their resident ghost or the maniacal house builder's traps.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Saturday morning Amber found a text from Nina sent to the Sibuna group chat ordering everyone to meet in Sibuna Clearing for the initiation ceremony before lunch. What had started out as a joke and way for Amber to bond with Nina and Fabian had taken on new meaning by the end of last year. With the discovery of Victor's murder cult and seeing the effects of his experiments, the Sibuna club had unconsciously started to believe in the Egyptian gods. Not in the sense that Amber replaced her own belief of the Christian god, but when you had seen what she had, not believing was no longer an option. Which was all a long-winded way of saying that the sacrifices to the house gods were not just a figure of speech. Hopefully the others would take this task as seriously as the situation required.
"Ready to go Neens?" Amber asked slipping on her coat.
"Yeah, I think some of the others already left for the clearing" agreed her roommate. Putting on her own coat and heading out the door.
When the pair arrived at the clearing, they found Patricia, Alfie and Jerome building the fire.
"Hey guys!" Nina greeted. "You guys ready for this?"
"Yeah, it'll be nice to be an official group member" replied Jerome.
"Yeah, and I'll be glad to have finally made my sacrifice to the house gods" revealed Patricia. "I've been involved with Sibuna this whole time but never had my own initiation".
"Why weren't you initiated last year Trix?" asked Jerome.
"I was just focused on finding Joy. The whole mystery and cult take down was second to my own search for her. And when I finally got her back, the danger was over, and we were focused on finals. I guess it just kinda fell through the cracks" she explained.
"Hello, my lovely Sibunas!" called out Liliana as she dragged Fabian into the clearing behind her. "I'm so excited to do this!".
"Alright now that everyone is here, we can begin" announced Nina as she ushered everyone to take their places around the fire. "Liliana, Jerome and Patricia please take out your sacrifices".
Each of the new members pulled out their items to burn. Seeing that they were ready Amber gestured for Patricia to step forward first. "Patricia Jade Williamson, you are here today to pledge your loyalty to the Sibuna club and to ask for the protection of the Anubis house gods. What do you offer?".
"I bring a photo of myself and Joy to offer the gods. I ask their protection for the club and myself during this quest".
"Very well, thank you for your offering, you can place it in the fire, please raise your hand and repeat after me. I Patricia Jade Williamson, being of sound mind and body".
"I Patricia Jade Williamson, being of sound mind and body".
"Solemnly swear to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members Amber Millington, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Alfie Lewis, Jerome Clarke and Liliana Wells".
"Solemnly swear to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members Amber Millington, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Alfie Lewis, Jerome Clarke and Liliana Wells".
"Congratulations Trixie!" cheered Amber as Fabian pulled the girl into hug. "You are officially a Sibuna!".
"Thanks Ambs!".
"Alright Lili you're next!" the girl quickly moved into position. "Liliana Beth Wells, you are here today to pledge your loyalty to the Sibuna club and to ask for the protection of the Anubis house gods. What do you offer?".
"I bring a patch from my old school uniform to offer the gods. I ask their protection for the club and myself during this quest".
"Very well, thank you for your offering, you can place it in the fire, raise your hand and repeat after me. I Liliana Wells, being of sound mind and body".
"I Liliana Wells, being of sound mind and body".
"Solemnly swear to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members Amber Millington, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Alfie Lewis, Jerome Clarke and Patricia Williamson".
"Solemnly swear to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members Amber Millington, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Alfie Lewis, Jerome Clarke and Patricia Williamson".
"Yay! Welcome to the club Lia" exclaimed Patricia as she high fived the girl.
"Happy to be here Trix. Just Roe left now".
Amber motioned for the blonde boy to take his place before the fire. Locking eyes with him she began the ceremony a final time. "Jerome Anthony Clarke, you are here today to pledge your loyalty to the Sibuna club and to ask for the protection of the Anubis house gods. What do you offer?".
"I bring this picture that Poppy drew for me to offer the gods. I ask their protection for the club and myself during this quest".
"Very well, thank you for your offering, you can place it in the fire, raise your hand and repeat after me. I Jerome Clarke, being of sound mind and body".
"I Jerome Clarke, being of sound mind and body".
"Solemnly swear to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members Amber Millington, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Alfie Lewis, Patricia Williamson and Liliana Wells".
"Solemnly swear to protect the secrets of Anubis House, and stand by my fellow club members Amber Millington, Nina Martin, Fabian Rutter, Alfie Lewis, Patricia Williamson and Liliana Wells".
The group broke into cheers and Alfie patted Jerome on the back in celebration. The joy of the three new members was contagious. The group moved over to the picnic blanket and laid out the lunch Lili had packed for the group while they waited for the fire to go down. Amber reflected that it was nice to just enjoy each other's friendship and company, allowing themselves to forget about the constantly looming danger in favor of good food and conversation for a little while longer.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
The rest of the weekend flew by for Amber full of homework, sewing sessions with Lili and ping pong practice with Jerome. Monday night though led to another big shake up for the Anubis house residents. The long anticipated and dreaded secret Santa assignments were finally here!
Secret Santa is a time-honored tradition in Anubis house and the stakes are incredibly high with each resident trying to out-gift each other. Examples include, Mara building a spaceship in the bike shed for Alfie, Joy sending Mick a different fruit basket each day for a week, and Fabian convincing the school acapella group to follow Amber around and sing her original theme song each time she entered a room.
"Alright everybody, listen up!" called Joy from her place on top of the sitting room table. "It is time to pick names for this year's Secret Santa, but first let's go over the rules. Rule one, do not tell anyone who you got. Rule two, you can't just give a gift card and call it good, people. You need to actually put thought and effort into the gift. Rule three, don't give anything mean. This isn't an opportunity for you to be petty or settle a feud. Gifts will be exchanged on the 18th, which is next Friday at our house holiday party. Any questions?". When no one spoke up the girl passed around the stocking full of names. Instructing each resident to pick one and hide it from the others.
When the stocking reached Amber she reached in and pulled out her slip of paper. Turning her body so that Patricia, who was sitting next to her, couldn't see the name written inside. Jerome Clarke… huh. Well this would take a bit of organizing but Amber began to silently think of gift ideas for their newest Sibuna.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
The rest of the week went smoothly until Thursday afternoon. The Sibuna crew had decided to walk back to Anubis together after classes while they discussed their latest task. The new tunnel had led to a room with four horns mounted on a pole, but nothing else. Alfie suggested that the group should stakeout the doll house, but before the group could get upstairs they were stopped by Vera.
"Nina dear"
"Yes Vera?"
"I'm afraid I have some bad news. The hospital in London has just called" she explained.
"What?" shouted Nina rushing down the stairs with Fabian following.
"Your grandmother has apparently taken ill and they would like you to go right away" Nina stumbled back into Fabian's arms.
"I can go with you if you want company" the housemother offered.
"No thank you Vera. I'll just get my stuff and go alone" refused Nina.
"Alright dear" granted Vera before heading back to the kitchen.
Rushing down the stairs Amber pulled her best friend into a hug, "I'm so sorry love. Do you want us to come with you?".
"I don't know, I…"
"I already texted Trudy and she's on her way over Neens" cut in Patricia.
"Thanks Trix". The group waited with Nina until Trudy came to pick her up. Giving the girl one last hug, Amber stood with the rest of their friends waving until the cab disappeared.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
Friday morning marked the day of the ping pong tournament. Amber allowed herself a moment to admire her handiwork as she packed up their uniforms. She had finished the last adjustments for Jerome's uniform the night before. For the design, she had decided to go with red and blue, the school colors of Frobisher Academy, paired with the school crest. Amber and Jerome had been excused from their final class of the day in order to warm up, since the competition was scheduled to begin directly after classes.
With her task finished, a frowning Amber surveyed the best friend sized lump currently buried under blankets on the American girl's bed. Nina had come back from visiting her gran last night and had gone straight to bed, too upset to talk to any of them. It was an understandable reaction, given her grandmother's hospitalization, but the girl had already missed far too many classes, plus Mr. Sweet would be covering their Literature class until they found a replacement for Mrs. Andrews, so Nina really had to get up.
Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Amber reached out to softly shake the other girl awake. "Neens you have to wake up or you'll be late".
A loud groan and pillow chucked at her head were the only response. Alright, Amber had tried this the nice way, but they were running out of time. If Nina didn't get up now, she wouldn't have enough time to get ready and have breakfast before they had to leave for first period. Amber had noticed the other girl starting to skip meals and there was no way she would allow that to continue!
Snagging the girl's comforter Amber ripped it off her quickly leaving Nina to jolt upwards at the sudden cold. "Hey! No fair. Give me back my blanket Ambs".
"Nope! We've got class and you still need to eat and dress. So… UP! UP! UP!". Grumbling Nina slowly rose from the bed and made her way over to the wardrobe. Amber counted it as a win though, and after making the bed, ran downstairs to start her own breakfast.
*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*
15 minutes later Nina finally stumbled into the dining room, taking her customary seat at the head of the table between Fabian and Amber.
"Hey, how are you holding up?" asked Fabian squeezing her hand.
Passing her the tea pot Amber listened intently to Nina's response, "Yeah, I'm just thinking about my gran. I hate leaving her in the hospital like that".
"Your gran is tough Nina. I'm sure she'll be back on her feet in no time" encouraged Fabian.
"I hope so, but it's not just that. Something weird happened to me last night…"
The rest of Nina's explanation was cut off by Alfie's loud arrival. "It's the morning of the ping pong tournament. And the entire school is holding its breath!" narrated Alfie into his I-phone, clearly having gone Live on Instagram again.
"Whoa Amber! Waffles before your big match. Is that a good idea?"
"A, they are low-carb waffles, and B, there's mush on your lens" she responded smashing a piece of her waffle into the camera.
"Well it's getting tense in here, Waffly Tense!" joked Alfie as he signed off laughing. "Waffly Tense! Ha! Get it Nina?"
"Oh Alfie, you're just a big kid" sighed Nina fondly patting his arm. Inexplicably Alfie tripped, his hand flying down to his leg.
"Alfie! Are you ok?" asked Amber trying to steady him.
"yeah, yeah it just burned for a minute" he replied rubbing his calf where his Anubis mark was hidden.
"What burned?" asked a confused Joy. Shit! With so many people in Sibuna now it was easy to forget who wasn't in the know.
"Hmmm?" he said trying to play it off.
"You said your leg burned?" Joy pressed.
"Oh yeah! I pulled a muscle the other day and just moved wrong and aggravated it" Alfie covered.
"Anyway I'm going to grab my bag and the head over. You want to walk with me Ambs?"
"Sure Alfie" draining her teacup, Amber gave Nina's hand an encouraging squeeze, pointed at the food still on the girl's plate and left to get her bag only after Nina had picked her fork back up and eaten a few more bites.
Next Week: Amber and Jerome compete for an exclusive prize and the Sibuna's question why their marks keep causing them pain.
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Xo Evie