Nina XXXI

Summary: Curse Time! Amber and Jerome compete for an exclusive prize, and the Sibuna's question why their marks keep flaring.

Nina picked halfheartedly at her breakfast. She had been so stressed and strung out these past few weeks and therefore had steadily lost her appetite. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the room emptying until Vera told her to clear her space. Nina quickly finished her tea and head into the kitchen to drop her plate. Placing it in the sink, she spun around too fast and bumped into Liliana.

"Whoa there!" laughed Lili reaching out to grab Nina's arms trying to steady her.

"Sorry Lili!"

"It's alright, I wasn't looking where I was going either".

"Well let's hope you don't go blind too!" Nina chuckled.

At her words though, Lili turned white as a sheet and dropped Nina's arms grabbing her ankle, hissing like she had been burned.

"OW! What the heck? Why is my mark burning?"

"I don't know! I can't see Senkhara around. The same thing just happened to Alfie… Maybe she's trying to send us a message?"

"Well you can tell her the message is freaking received and she can knock it off with the torture shit". Slipping her foot back into her high heel, Lili retook Nina's hand and led her out of the kitchen back to the Atrium where Fabian was waiting with Nina's bag.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

The Anubis house residents had successfully persuaded Mr. Sweet to let them out of their last period class so that they could help set up for the competition. Nina had been assigned to help Vera and Mara prep the food for the reception. The housemother had sent Nina back to the school to await the beginning of the match. Wanting to wish Amber (and by extension Jerome) good luck, Nina headed for the student Drama lounge. As she got closer though, she could make out two very familiar voices, peeking her head around the corner Nina saw Joy and Fabian setting up seating for the match.

"So Fabes, you chose the movie last time we went out. I get to choose this time". Oh that sneaky witch!

"This time?" asked Fabian.

"Yeah, and I know the rules, salted popcorn, no straw sharing and don't talk over anything old or Egyptian. Come on! You know we had fun..."

"Yeah, we did"

"I'll even get Patricia to chaperone us" joked Joy poking Fabian playfully.

"Sounds like fun. You come up with a date and we'll make an evening out of it, just like old times".

"Great!" replied Joy with a blinding smile, pulling him into a hug. "I'll let you know what I pick!".

Nina slipped out of her hiding spot as Joy walked away fixing Fabian with a deeply unimpressed look. She allowed herself to cheer inwardly at the look of dread that appeared on Fabian's face as he caught sight of her, "Nina".

"Well you are obviously too busy to come down to the tunnels with me right now or hear about my run in with Senkhara last night" she snarked.

"No! Nina… really, me and Joy… I mean we're just-" Fabian frantically stuttered out, but Nina wasn't in the mood to have him lie to her face about Joy again.

"Friends?" she scoffed, cutting him off. "It's funny… You and I never made it to the movies, as friends or otherwise…".

"Really! Really, we are-" he continued.

Looking his upset face, Nina suddenly wanted to be anywhere but that room, "Just forget it ok. Forget everything". Having said her piece, Nina left the room returning to her quest to find Amber.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

It wasn't until the match was set to begin that Nina finally caught up with her roommate. "You ready for this Ambs?" Nina asked as the competing pair started their warmups.

"Of course I am! It might have been a few years, but I am still me" declared the blonde expertly sending the ball back across the table to Jerome.

"Speaking of which, why did you give ping-pong up in the first place?" asked Patricia

"Oh a little of this, and a little of that, plus I was just starting to date Mick at the time" explained Amber noncommittally.

It was obvious to Nina that the blonde's head wasn't in the game, snagging her friend's hand Nina directed her "Well that's in the past. You just need to focus on the here and now. So stop thinking about boys and grow up a little, or well a lot". Shockingly, as soon as she finished speaking Amber pulled away from her to grab her leg hissing in pain. "Ambs! Are you ok?"

"Yeah" she replied shakily "It was just my mark flaring up".

"You're the third person to tell me this. We'll have to have a Sibuna meeting later to try and figure out what Senkhara is doing to us now".

As Mr. Sweet carried in the Frobisher shield, Jerome turned an interesting chalky color. "There it is!" He whispered reverently "Oh gods, I don't think I can do this".

Grabbing his shoulder's Nina gave him a little shake, "Man up Clarke! You've got this. With Amber's help you will be able to win the game and steal back the shield like the loveable snake you are".

"You're right Neens" he started to reply, only to be cut off by an agonized groan, grabbing at his chest above his heart. "We really need to find a way to stop these painful jolts" Jerome snapped.

Seeing that Mr. Sweet wanted the event to begin, Nina left for her seat next between Fabian and Patricia after patting Jerome on the back and squeezing Amber's hand, wishing them both 'Good Luck'.

The Frobisher Academy team was allowed to serve first and the couple started off strong. But as soon as the other team served the game drastically changed. Amber and Jerome were now unable to hit a single ball. As they continue to miss Nina could see Jerome getting more and more frustrated, causing him to play carelessly.

Patricia got more and more worked up as Amber and Jerome continued to miss the ball. Her steady stream of complaints and negative commentary was really getting on Nina's nerves, in order to not snap at the girl, Nina decided to try and solve Alfie's weird behavior from that morning. Alfie though, it turned out, was busy live streaming the match so Nina tried to focus on Fabian and Liliana instead. Lili was busy explaining how the game worked to Fabian for the third time that match. Why Fabian couldn't remember the rules to a simple game but could remember a million other obscure facts didn't make a lot of sense to Nina. A cheer went up from Wincott Academy's side causing Nina to write-off Fabian's memory quirk as just a genius thing refocusing on the game in front of her.

"If the Wincott Academy Ping-Pong Ninjas score one more point, it's over for Jerome and Amber" remarked Patricia leaning forward in her seat.

Nina felt her heart break for her fellow Sibunas as the ball flew just out of Jerome's reach resulting in a victory for the blasted Wincott Academy. Jerome dropped to his knees, head in his hands, yelling "No, No, No. I'm so sorry dad", Liliana hurried to comfort him.

"Just when I thought today couldn't get any more disappointing. Losers!" sniped Patricia.

And Nina had finally had enough of the girl's negative attitude. "Patricia!" she rebuked her, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all".

As soon as the words left her mouth, Patricia doubled over in pain holding her arm where the brand was hidden, her mouth was open in a silent scream.

"Patricia! Patricia! What's going on, talk to me" exclaimed Nina worriedly.

Patricia's mouth opened and her lips moved like she was speaking but no sound came out. The girl's hands flew up to her throat as she frantically tried to talk, her eyes getting wider and wider with each passing second that she couldn't speak.

Goosebumps ran down Nina's back as she heard the familiar awful cackle of Senkhara. Turning away from Patricia, Nina found the vengeful spirit standing by the Frobisher shield with a look of malicious joy on her face. "Your punishment will be to punish" she reminded.

What was happening! Nina needed Fabian; he always knew what to do. Turning to the boy beside her she desperately whispered "Fabian! Somethings happening, and I just know it has to do with Senkhara".

"I'm sorry." Fabian began, a look of severe confusion on his face "Who's Senkhara".

No! Oh gods please! Not her Fabian, "Not you too! Please don't let her have gotten to you too!".

The cackling of her torturer grew louder, focusing back on Senkhara Nina watched as a ball of dark magic was blown her way with the spirit's final words, "your punishment will be to punish". The ball hit her, and Nina was pulled into a deep sleep.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

Waking up Nina found herself on her favorite couch in the sitting room. The various textbooks strewn about on the table suggested that she had fallen asleep while studying again. With all of the Sibuna sneaking around, it was important to get valuable sleep whenever and wherever possible. Rising up from the couch, Nina stretched and decided to go looking for her friends.

Walking into the kitchen, Nina looked at Alfie and Patricia playing rock paper scissors with a fond smile. It was nice to see the pair relaxing and having fun, even with the treat of death hanging over their collective heads.

"Hey Alfie, Patricia how long was I out. It feels like I slept forever". The duo's heads shot up when she addressed them, and they launched themselves out of their chairs as she approached. "Patricia? What's going on?". The goth girl's mouth moved quickly but no sound came out as she pushed Alfie behind her. Alfie simply held up a stuffed crocodile and acted like he would hit her with it if she came any closer "Come on guys, this isn't funny. What's up with you two?". The pair took off into the laundry room and Nina decided to go check on Jerome and Liliana, maybe they would know why Alfie and Patricia had decided to play this prank on her.

Making her way down the boy's hallway she stopped in shock as she saw Liliana staring unfocused at the sarcophagus in the hallway. "Lia! Do you know why Alfie and Patricia are acting weird?". The girl flinched back and screamed bloody murder upon hearing Nina's voice.

Liliana's head spun back and forth as if looking for Nina, her hands coming up to protect her from an attack "Stay away from me! Jerome! Jerome help me!".

Jerome, at least she thought it was Jerome - the yellow slitted eyes made her question it, came bursting out of his room, pushing the girl to "safety" behind him shouting at Nina to "sssstay back demon! I won't let you hurt her anymore. Thissss is all your fault" before slamming his door.

Ok… That was weird and getting weirder! All Nina had to do was find Fabian and Amber, her best friends would know what to do. Hopefully this was all an elaborate joke, done in poor taste, but still a joke. Nina could not handle another crisis at the moment, she was at capacity for them!

Hurrying back to the atrium a big smile spread across her face as Fabian came through the front door. It dropped instantly as his face froze and he shouted, "Who are you?"

"Fabian? Fabian it's me?!"

"What do you want? Stay away from me! Stay away from me!" he yelled rushing up the stairs.

Nina gave chase, rushing up the stairs after her best friend.

"Stop running in the hallway!" came Victor's voice. The caretaker froze when he saw Nina though, backing into his office with his hands held in a strange symbol while muttering under his breath in another language.

Ok, now she was worried! Victor wouldn't play along with any of the Anubis kids' pranks. Rushing into the girls hallway Nina found Fabian banging frantically on her door calling "Amber, Amber let me in! Let me in now!".

Nina's blonde bestie threw the door open, but it wasn't exactly Amber. The beautiful girl's face was lined with age and her hair was streaked with white "Get in now Fabes!". Nina ducked into the room behind the pair before they could close the door on her.

"Why did you come here? Just leave us alone!" cried Amber as the pair tried to sneak around her to safety.

Suddenly her body was no longer her own, her hand flew towards the door and it slammed closed trapping the trio inside.

As Amber and Fabian screamed in fear, Nina's body turned to the mirror on Amber's wardrobe. The reflection staring back at her was one she didn't recognize. The horrifying image showed Nina dressed like Senkhara. The girl in the mirror's arms rose and the marks of Anubis, branded on her palms, glowed as she spoke: "They will all suffer because of you" before descending into demonic laughter. 'Wake up… Wake up… Wake up!" thought Nina trying to shake herself out of this nightmare.

*Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold – Tears of Gold*

Nina shot awake with a gasp. Where was she? Seeing Fabian beside her, she grabbed his hand, "Fabian what happened?".

"Oh, we lost at Ping-Pong" he informed her. Squeezing her hand he asked "Are you ok? I think you dropped off for a minute there".

What had happened? Nina could not recall for the life of her what the dream had been about, "I don't know. I can't remember".

Suddenly a flash of memory hit and she saw herself dressed as Senkhara saying 'They will all suffer because of you'. "I was talking to the two of you and then… Oh why can't I remember!".

Patricia shook her arm trying to get her attention. Looking over at the goth girl Nina saw her struggling to talk. "You still can't speak? Something really weird is going on here guys!".

"It seems that the Frobisher Shield is destined to remain at Wincott Academy after all" sighed Mr. Sweet as he passed the shield to the other headmaster.

"Ugh! Boring!" shouted Alfie, apparently tired of having to sit still, leapt to his feet and raced around the room bumping into the male Wincott athlete knocking him to the floor. Alfie picked up the ball he had dropped when he fell. "Huh, what a weird ball… I like it" remarked the boy.

"Give it back" snapped the boy.

Well anyone could have told him that telling Alfie to do something was the best way to ensure he wouldn't do it. Smirking, the Anubis house prankster tossed the ball to Jerome across the room.

Seeing Alfie's look, Jerome picked up the ball and was clearly shocked at what he found. "This ball is weighted" declared the resident conman.

"I knew it! Did you see it Joy?" called out Eddie.

"Am I in denial… or is this a total fix?" continued Jerome.

"Oh cool! Is it magic?" cheered Alfie, "I'm awesome at magic. Watch!". He grabbed the hat off of the Wincott boy's head causing a ton of balls to fall out.

"He's a cheat!" yelled Jerome's little sister, something flowery...Rose? Marigold? Poppy… Poppy! jumping up on her chair. "The balls were obviously there the whole game".

"Giles is this true?" snapped the Wincott headmaster, Mr. Saunders.

"No! I didn't use. I swear, I mean why would I? They're terrible at ping-pong" protested Giles the Wincott boy.

"You're lying! You must have used one of these every time you served" protested Jerome holding up the weighted ball. Throwing the ball back at the boy, Jerome marched over to him angrily "You little magot!".

Liliana, who had grabbed onto Jerome's arm, was dragged along after him trying to dig her heels into the floor, as she tried to hold him back from attacking the boy. "Roe! Roe, love you need to chill out!".

"Calm down Jerome" ordered Mr. Sweet, "Mr. Saunders let us discuss a solution to this madness".

"Can someone make a decision, like soon! My feet are killing me" whined Amber.

"Quiet everyone please! Mr. Saunders and I have decided that the teams will play one more game and the first team to score one more point will win the shield. And we will use a new ball from a package I am opening now" declared Mr. Sweet.

Well hopefully this time Jerome and Amber would be able to win fair and square, the Sibuna club definitely needed a win and just maybe this could be it.

Nina joined in cheering for her friends with the rest of the student body as the pair squared up for the serve. As Amber swung her arm a cracking noise sounded throughout the room. Amber let out a little scream grabbing her arm, "Guys I think I have table tennis elbow! I feel really stiff and achy".

"Come on Amber, suck it up and power through!" ordered Jerome.

"Amber what's going on?" asked Nina as she hurried over to check her arm.

"I don't know. My arm really hurts Neens. It's really weird. I'm so sorry Jerome, but I don't think I can do this".

"Oh that's so sad" mocked Giles sarcastically. Nina did not feel bad at all about flipping a very rude hand gesture in his direction. "It looks like we win by default then!".

"No!" shouted Jerome frantically looking around for a possible new teammate.

"Yay! My turn! make way for The Viper Lewis" announced Alfie rushing over to Jerome's side bouncing with boundless energy.

"Alfie, Alfie, Alfie please calm down" ordered Jerome grabbing the shorter boy's shoulders. "I need you to a grip okay? But first, I need you to get a grip on this" as he passed Alfie a paddle.

"Yaayyy! Let's do this!" cheered Alfie bouncing in place as he waited for Giles and his partner, Tasha, to serve the ball. The teams volleyed back and forth for a minute or so before Tasha hit the ball so that it flew past Jerome's reach. The entire school held their breath as Alfie dove for the ball.

A cheer broke out as his returned hit flew past Giles and his smug face, meaning the Frobisher-Smythe team had won! Jumping up and down Nina screamed happily along with everyone else as Mr. Sweet passed the shield to an ecstatic Jerome. Alfie picked Amber up and spun her around happily as the couple celebrated their win. Despite the joy filling the room, Nina could still feel the icy shiver of Senkhara's invisible angry presence. Shooting a text in the Sibuna club group chat she ordered everyone to meet in her and Amber's room after lights out. Hopefully they would be able to figure out the cause of these curses and cure them before it was too late!

Next Week: The Sibunas try and figure out their curses and the latest task.

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