*Disclaimer, I do not own House of Anubis all of that belongs to Nickelodeon, Hans Bourlon and Gert Verhulst. I, however, own Cammie and her little storyline :P I hope you enjoy it!*
Series 2, Episode 84 ~ House of Trouble
Jerome watched from his bedroom door as Vera led the Sibuna's from the house all of them in some zombie-fied state though he just assumed it was part of their plan to get Camilla back, Joy for some reason creeping out after them a notebook in one hand and her phone in the other – he hadn't been informed of another Sibuna temp but he wasn't going to complain about it. He had a job to do and though it be boring he was more than happy to do it if it meant helping out in some small way.
The moment the front door clicked shut the boy raced into the kitchen only to come face to face with the man who had been haunting his nightmares for the last year.
"Hello Jerome," Rufus spoke quietly taking a little joy from the shocked and scared look that flitted onto Jerome's face. Before Jerome could do anything, Rufus stepped forward and took his phone from his hands seeing the boy try to slip it from his pocket to do something stupid like alert someone, "now I can't risk you raising the alarm so there are two ways we are going to do this. the easy way or the hard way, but either way you, Marsat alhami, are coming with me."
Jerome didn't know what the man had called him but he knew it was Arabic from the number of times the twins whispered the language to one another. "no... no!" Jerome tried to fight back as the man grabbed his wrist backing up into a counter so there was nowhere for him to hide.
Rufus grinned menacingly and pulled the boy towards the back door, ignoring Jerome's struggles overpowering him easily.
Jerome glancing to the fake oven door. He had promised Fabian he'd be the lookout. What if he was needed? What if Alfie needed him? What if Camilla needed him?!
Before the two could make their escape into the night as Rufus had hoped a savour came in the form of one Eddie Miller. "Hey, Jerry," Eddie called wandering into the kitchen before stopping to look over the unusual scene of Jerome being dragged from the room by an older man, he knew wasn't a staff member of Anum Academy.
Eddie couldn't help but notice the necklace the man was wearing being strangely drawn to the odd jewellery piece. It was a long golden chain, probably about the same length as the chain Nina had for her locket, at the end of it was two staffs of some sort, stripped in black and gold. One was curved and one was straight with what he assumed were meant to represent beads falling from the top down it. He took a step forward as he saw it only to remember the strangeness of the situation and look at the man and Jerome.
"ah... hi?" Eddie spoke looking to the man, "Is everything okay here?"
The man's eyes widening in fear and anger as he watched Eddie before a well-practised smile slid onto his face that didn't quite reach his eyes. "How rude," he stated, "I'm, eh, Renee Zeldman," the lie slipped so easily from his lips Jerome couldn't help but look disgusted at the man, "I'm Jerome's Uncle."
Rufus held his hand out for Eddie to shake but Eddie didn't take the man's hand keeping his distance. "pleasure to meet you..." he answered though.
"Eh, Jerome's a little upset," Rufus continued, "a favourite Aunt of his just passed away. We were just leaving."
"no, we weren't!" Jerome pipped up instantly, causing Rufus to look at him and Jerome knew he was in hot water.
"yes, we are." The man replied rather forcefully. "Well, perhaps I should go get Poppy too? What do you think about that, Jerome?"
Jerome looked at the man even more alarmed, he couldn't let him anywhere near Poppy, he just couldn't. "not Poppy..."
"no," Rufus agreed knowing he had Jerome exactly where he needed him, "your right, she's too young to cope with bereavement." Rufus added looking to Eddie. "we'll go by ourselves." With that, Rufus pulled Jerome from the room leaving Eddie feeling icky about the whole situation and not completely understanding why. The man's necklace emblazoned in his mind.
Victor was sat upon the throne as he directed the children around the Senet board. The Sibuna's were scattered around the board as they waited for the man's next instructions.
"Miss Williamson and Miss Millington," the man called after a slight pause, "take one step forwards." The pair did what the man said, glad their backs were to him and Vera as it meant they could show their fear of the game. "Lewis... Lewis..." Victor sighed trying to think of a strategy on how to move Alfie. "ahh, so very clever Robert!" the man groaned loudly as he rubbed at his temple, "this Senet board has enemy pieces which are much harder to beat."
"it's the same as the miniature version, isn't it?" Vera asked, "if you land on a Jackal square, they can take you."
"Yes," Victor agreed, "but they all spin according to a set pattern. This one here," he pointed to the one on the front right, "always turns two squares in a clockwise direction, and the back one went from random spins to a pattern for some reason during the game... I need more time to predict the patterns of the others."
"Just do it!" Vera hissed at him, her eyes on the mask.
"Dude, he doesn't know what he's doing!" Alfie hissed quietly to Fabian next to him, trying not to panic.
Victor took a calming breath before he spoke his last instruction of his round, "Lewis, step... left."
All of them held their breath as to the left of Alfie was a Jackal square.
"Fabian..." Alfie mumbled close to tears the fear of being caught rooting him to the spot.
"Lewis!" Victor instructed again, "take one step left."
"Fabian I can't..."
"Do it..." Fabian replied apologetically.
"What is going on?" Victor asked looking down at Vera. "why isn't he moving?"
Alfie knew he had to move, for the sakes of his friends and the illusion with Victor. Mustering all the courage he had the boy shut his eyes and took a step to the left.
The moment he had indicated the end of the human's turn and the gods started spinning. Alfie watching the Jackal in front of him as it turned to face him before he was plunged into the dark below.
Nina glanced up from where she knelt next to Camilla who was sat on the floor crouched in pain, the girl trying not to show it but it was clear she was, Alfie came tumbling into the room from the trapdoor. "Alfie..." she whispered before rushing over to him. The boy was out cold.
Victor let out a sorrowful wail as he watched Alfie Lewis tumble into the darkness, his only light being wherever the boy was he would be with The Protector.
"What was that?" Vera questioned looking around the chamber sure she had heard a gasp from someone, not at all affected by the fact they had just lost a student causing Victor to look at her.
"you heard the sound of a boy falling to an uncertain fate!" Victor screamed at her as he clambered down from the throne looking around at the remaining children. He needed to get them out from under Vera's control and out of harm's way. "Harming the students was never part of the plan!" he informed Vera in a deadly tone.
"Well, you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs..." Vera shrugged.
Victor turned to her with venom in his eyes, this woman was exactly who Camilla had told him she was. Only now he had a duty of care to fulfil while trying to prevent her from causing any more harm to his students. "Release them." He ordered the woman.
"no," Vera responded.
"Fabian, Williamson, Millington," Victor turned to the children, "turn around."
The Sibuna's all turned to face him and Vera, turning to see Victor pointing at Vera with a venomous look they had only seen on his face once, and that was when Rufus had threatened them the year before.
"Say those words..." Victor ordered Vera. His tone cold, calculating and not at all one anyone would want to argue with.
"Victor the mask..." Vera tried to argue.
"SAY THEM!" The man bellowed. His words echoing around the chamber.
Vera let out a sigh before taking a piece of paper out from her pocket. She turned to the children with a shaky hand and read off it, "Atum, Seveacu, Nemacu..." the moment she whispered the last word the woman fled from the chamber, Victor pausing only to look over the students once more in sorrow before he too left the chamber.
The moment the adults were gone the Sibuna's reacted.
"ALFIE!" Amber screamed turning to the spot where the boy had been taken. "we lost him..."
"he's with Cam, he'll be okay," Fabian tried to reassure the girl from across the board.
All of them turning as Joy slipped out from her hiding spot behind the throne. "Victor's a brilliant Senet player, is he?" she bitterly threw in Fabian's direction causing the boy to look at her in exasperation.
"Alright, so I got it wrong!" Fabian shouted back at her.
"Big-time!" Joy hissed, "for a minute back there I thought they had actually had taken control of you."
"They couldn't have," Fabian countered.
"What?" Patricia asked.
"the only way that was possible is if Trudy did the Memory Box ritual, the moment Vera took over we were safe no matter what," Fabian explained.
"Magic always has a loophole," Amber mumbled the words Camilla had said so often, wiping her eyes though the tears kept falling from them.
"right now, we need to find out if Alfie is with Nina and Camilla," Patricia piped up bringing the conversation back to the point.
"Okay, come back the way you came," Joy instructed them nodding her head at Patricia's words trying to understand the whole loophole logic Amber was talking about.
Alfie groggily woke up looking around the room as he put his hand to his head. The first thing he saw was Nina knelt down next to Camilla who was curled up on two of the boxes like it was a makeshift bed. Sweat glistening on the girl's forehead as she shivered slightly. Nina having taken her jacket off and made a makeshift pillow for The Protector out of it.
"W-what's going on?" he mumbled.
Nina turned at his voice and smiled at him sadly, "oh Alfie thank the gods you're awake."
"What's happened to Cam?" he asked shuffling over to the girls.
"she-she," Nina mumbled wiping at her eyes and trying to steady her breath before talking, "she agreed to get her magic sapped from her, in order for the Senet game to be easier..."
"the last Jackal..." Alfie whispered in realisation.
"What?" Nina asked.
"Victor, he said the last Jackal started to go from random movements to a Pattern," Alfie explained quietly.
"So it's working, good." The croak came from Camilla causing the pair to look her way in an instant. "Hey, Alfie." She whispered to him looking at her friend.
Alfie moved forward so he was sat next to her face, taking her hand in both of his clutching it to him as he smiled sadly at the girl in her weakened state.
"How are you feeling?" he asked gruffly, running a hand over her forehead trying to wipe the sweat away but knowing it wouldn't help.
Her lips twitched in a sad little half-smile. "Better," she answered softly.
He nodded slightly, clenching his jaw, both of them hearing the lie slip from her mouth. "Well, that's... good. That's good, yeah."
She laughed gently, flinching at the movement but trying to hide it. "Yeah, I guess it is."
Many floors above them three Sibuna's and their Temp easily broke into the school, rushing through the dark corridors with one goal. Mr Sweet's office. Fabian instantly crouched by Sweetie's office with one of Amber's bobby pins in his hands trying to unlock the door as two of the three girls behind him caught up.
"If we get caught breaking into the school we're going to be in big trouble!" Joy cried once again causing Patricia to roll her eyes at her friend. Joy had a lot to learn about Sibuna. First things first were a lot of the rules were bendable mainly due to the fact they had the four students whose family's donated rather a lot to the school.
"Honestly Joy, that is the least of our worries," Patricia informed the girl as Amber came rushing up to them holding chocolate bars and juice cartons aloft for them to see.
"I brought supplies from the Vending Machines," she explained to them, "if you don't feed Alfie every half an hour, he gets tense..."
The girls looked at Amber unsure where she found that information out but thankfully before they could ask a click was heard from Sweeties door.
"And we're in," Fabian whispered, pushing on the door handle and rushing into Sweeties office and over to the vent, lifting it up so he could shout to the trio below. "Nina, Cam! Can you hear me?!"
From their little prison, Nina jumped up from her place by Camilla's side at the sound of Fabian's voice. Rushing to the pile of box's left and climbing onto them to shout back up the vent. "Yes! Yes, I can hear you!"
"is Alfie with you?!"
Nina glanced to where Alfie was sat on the floor by Camilla using the box's she had made into a makeshift bed as a lean, concern in his eyes as he looked over his friend's pale face. "Yeah, he's here." She called back to Fabian, "a little shaken, but he's good." Nina looked to Camilla as she opened her mouth seeing the girl shake her head. Camilla didn't want Fabian to know about her sapping magic, she knew he had enough to deal with as it was and she didn't want to add the fact that the more they lost the closer she would get to death.
Thankfully the Sibuna's from above filled the pause, Amber moving closer to the vent in Sweetie's office and calling down to her friends, "Nina, I'm sending down his favourite snacks!" Amber called, "you and Cam look after him for me, won't you?"
Alfie let out a soft chuckle as he looked at Camilla, it wasn't him who needed to be looked after it was their other friend.
There was a loud clanging sound and Nina reached up to grab a few bars of chocolate and three apple juices.
Nina held a bar out to Alfie who looked at it before taking it from her, all of them listening to Fabian as he let out a sigh. "we tried the game again." He told the three who were stuck, "Alfie got caught by one of the guards on a danger square. Please tell him I'm sorry. It was a stupid idea," they could all hear the regret that filled Fabian's voice.
Alfie looked up at the vent and shouted back at it, his voice shaky Nina knowing it was for concern about Camilla the Sibuna's, however, thought it was the fear of being stuck now and unable to help. "it could have worked, you had to try."
"Don't beat yourself up over it." Patricia agreed with Alfie in a quiet voice.
"We're going to get you guys out of there very soon!" Fabian told them sounding determined, "I promise." Fabian turned back to the Sibuna's with him who all nodded their heads. They were going to get their friends back.
Nina let out a sigh as they heard the cover go back over the vent, their fellow Sibuna's were going.
Alfie glanced back at Camilla with sorrow in his eyes as he helped sit her up and offered her the apple juice, sitting on the box behind her so she could use him as a lean.
"Hey," Camilla whispered to her best friend as she caught the look in his eye as he watched her weakly drink the juice, "don't look at me like that."
"like what?" Alfie asked quietly.
"Like this is our goodbye," Camilla's voice cracked as she closed the juice. Her eyes closing as Alfie moved from the box back onto the floor so Camilla could be in a more comfortable position. The girl took his hand once again and the movement caused him to look at her, a weak smile creeping onto her face but her tone was confident, "Alfie, we have so many years of adventures to go on. I'm gonna see you and Amber get married and be the cool Aunty Cam to your kids,"
Alfie couldn't help but smile at the girl's words, she spoke of their future as if it was a certainty and for once he was more than happy to grasp onto that as if it was a lifeline.
Amber's school bag had never looked fuller and that was due to the fact the girl was stuffing it to the brim so she could feed her three friends who were stuck in some tunnel under their feet.
"Amber..." Eddie pipped up after watching the girl add more and more food to her bag all breakfast, "what are you...?"
"I get low blood sugar," Amber told him simply, "and it's rude to stare!"
"Has anyone seen Jerome this morning?" Mara asked as she wandered into the dining room, Patricia on her heels the girl sitting next to Fabian who shook his head at Mara's words.
"Did you get my note?!" She hissed at Fabian.
The boy looked at her in exasperation, unfolding the note that said Joy had made a breakthrough due to some video and showing it to her, "yeah, of course, I got it. You taped it to my forehead while I was sleeping!"
"or Alfie?" Mara asked looking at the empty breakfast table.
"Eh, Alfie's sick!" Patricia told the girl turning to look at her.
"Yeah!" Amber agreed quickly with the gothic girl. "he's got...coco pocks!"
Fabian and Patricia turned to look at Amber stunned into silence at her words, Joy walking in just then and looking at the blonde questioningly as she slid into the seat next to Patricia.
"Eh, he's off to see the nurse... you've got to get something like that checked out really quickly." Fabian lied, causing Patricia and Joy to murmurer their agreement with him.
"And Jerome?" Mara asked them all.
Amber squinting her eyes, she didn't like this sudden obsession Mara was having with Jerome.
"Sorry, no idea where Jerome is." Joy told the girl as Eddie came out from the kitchen holding two bowls of cereal and sitting himself down next to Mara putting both bowls in front of him.
"oh, I saw him last night," he told them all causing all heads to look his way, "he left with his uncle."
"what uncle?" Mara asked.
"I don't know," Eddie shrugged, "it was weird..."
Amber had snuck her way into Sweeties office and was using the time to talk to Alfie, For the first time, Camilla couldn't help but smile slightly as she heard Amber talk. She was feeling a lot better and was sat up against the wall eating some of the chocolate the girl had thrown down. Her magic sapping and weak moments only seemed to happen when the Sibuna's were playing Senet but the unasked question the three who knew of the girls sacrifice were all scared to ask was how much could she take before she burned herself up?
"and then you bought me a cactus as a present, and Camilla even got the twin thanks to Jerome." Amber told them from the office, "I have been looking after them both don't worry."
"what was I thinking?" Alfie asked back causing Nina and Camilla to share an amused look as Amber let out a laugh at Alfie's words.
"no one's ever bought me a cactus before, though there is a good reason for that but... it was sweet." Amber honestly told the boy. "you know, you being down there has made me realise something..."
Camilla sat up a little straighter... Amber wasn't going to do what she thought she was.
"I think we should give Amfie another go!"
Camilla raised her fist into the air in celebration causing Nina to smile brightly as Alfie looked amazed Amber would even consider dating him again. He looked to the two girls who both shook their heads at him.
"Oh no... we are staying out of this," Nina informed him.
"Alfie? Did you hear what I just said?!"
"Can I think about it?" Alfie asked nervously
Camilla rolled her eyes at Alfie's nervous stutter slumping back down into a more comfortable position, that was not going to go down well with the girl above.
"think about it?!" Came the girl's biting remark, "think about what? What is there to think about?!"
Alfie looked at the girls helplessly knowing he'd said the wrong words once again.
Fabian was sat with the other Sibuna's Amber having joined them after feeding their friends trapped below. They sat in the student lounge looking at one another, they didn't have much time left if they wanted to win the game before Senkhara struck again.
"so, by sunset tomorrow our time is up," Fabian nervously told them all. "are we all for going down this evening and finishing this thing?"
Amber and Patricia nodded their heads before looking at Joy.
"Joy? You said you had news..." Patricia prompted the girl who looked up from her notebook.
"Well, I filmed everything on my phone last night," she told them with a small smile, "there is a definite pattern the guards' movements, I'm just trying to plot a safe path for us."
"And..." Amber prompted her again.
"I'll get it," Joy told them all with a weak smile, "don't worry... but tonight's a little too soon."
Fabian's expression fell as he heard the girls' word.
"I'm sorry, but after what happened last night, I'd rather be safe."
"we're cutting it close..." Fabian whispered in worry.
Joy looked at the boy dishearten before looking back at her phone, even more, determined to figure out how to cross the game.
From behind Amber and Patricia on the couch, a clap came and they all looked up to see the smiling face of Eddie looking around at them all. "all this whispering, a guy could develop a complex around here." He teased.
"Oh!" Fabian looked at his watch Camilla had managed to fix after Alfie broke it.
"We-" Joy pointed to the backstage area of the stage she and Fabian were sat on trying to think of a reason they needed to leave.
Amber got to her feet and waved her fingers at Eddie before leading the pair out of the room. Not bothering with lies because Eddie didn't need to know.
Eddie glanced down at Patricia who looked at him apologetically as he walked around and sat on the stage opposite her.
"We're not whispering about you," she told him instantly. "don't worry."
"what were you whispering about then?" He asked her. "where do you guys all disappear off to all the time?"
Patricia smiled at him, "if I told you, I'd have to wipe your memory and get you deported." She teased causing Eddie to let out a laugh, though he couldn't help but glance to where the three had left. There was something odd about their behaviour.
Alfie and Nina were huddled together, eyes shut as they tried to get some sleep that night, Camilla was awake due to fear. She knew she was weaker than before and what the sapping of her magic would do to her. If she let herself fall asleep who knew if she would ever wake up again.
"another seeker of the mask?!"
The familiar voice of Victor Senior announced his arrival as the spirit appeared at the end of her makeshift bed causing the girl to groan as she sat up to look at him.
"he is a friend, a best friend." She told him with a glance to Alfie.
The man looked over the girl with concern in his gaze. "you found the loophole Robert had to install in order to let the last Jackal be chaotic."
"now he will be a pattern like the others," Camilla told him with a nod, "anything I can do to help my friends." Camilla paused and looked at the man, "you said the mask had powers of its own. What does it do? Why where you on the hunt for it?"
Victor Senior sighed, "I wanted the tears of gold, my dear. I longed for immortality in the life I knew, not a life of wealth in Aaru."
"the Egyptian Afterlife?" Camilla questioned trying to figure out what the mask had to do with the Field's of Reed's the 'heaven' of Egyptian lore.
"yes. Whoever wears the Mask of Anubis will become as a god," Camilla's eyes widened at the man's words, suddenly Rufus's want for the mask becoming very very clear. "but the tears of gold the mask weeps are the key ingredient to the Elixir of life" Camilla watched as the man bowed his head in sorrow, "but I failed." With that, he got to his feet and looked at the young girl. She was the closest thing to a grandchild he would ever get to know, and by the gods, he was grateful his unfinished business that caused him to wait around in the forgotten space had brought him a little happiness in meeting her. "My dear, I shall shortly be having to take my leave from this plain."
Camilla glanced at him in panic, she still had so many questions she didn't want him to go.
"for many years I have waited for someone like you to come, so that I may finally pass on my message."
"Message? What message?" Camilla asked instantly. at
"To my little Victor. Tell him –" the spirit hesitated. Camilla couldn't help that for a second he looked very old and very sad, as if the weight of what he wanted to tell him had been weighing on him for a while. "tell him I am sorry. And that it was I who was the worthless one after all."
Camilla looked at him with a small sad smile.
"I am glad I got to meet you, my dear," he told her as he pulled a ring off his finger and held it out to her, Camilla holding her hand out and letting him drop it into her hand. "give this to my son, it might give the pair of you the time I never got with him." with that the spirit went to turn and fade away but one small quiet phrase stopped him.
"Grandpa Rodenmaar,"
The spirit turned tears brimming in his eyes as he watched the young protector use the wall to steady herself as she got to her feet, "it was nice to meet you," she whispered, "I'll look after him, I promise."
"Beware of Senkhara; she means to harm the Chosen One. Farewell, my dear." And with that final warning, the spirit faded causing Camilla to clutch to the golden ring in her hand.
"you are becoming troublesome Protector!"
Camilla rolled her eyes as she turned to see Senkhara herself glaring at her.
"the disrespect you show to me!" the spirit hissed.
"Bitch if you wanted my respect then you need to earn it!" Camilla was more than happy to hiss back at the woman.
"I am growing weary of waiting for your little chosen one," The Spirit taunted Camilla moving closer to the girl who didn't do much but look at her with a sour expression on her face. "your friends do not have long left, and then I will replace her."
"no!" Camilla screamed grabbing onto the spirits arm as she went to disappear. Blinking she found herself in Eddie and Fabian's room, Camilla going straight to her brother to find her hand going through his bed... great she was bloody astral projecting again.
The sinister laugh of Senkhara caused Camilla to turn around the spirit bitch had brought her upstairs without realising, it must have happened when she grabbed onto her. The woman's eyes flitted between the two boys before landing on Fabian, the protective stance Camilla had next to him causing her to smile. "is he he?" she asked the protector. "tell me, girl, is he who I am looking for!"
"I have no bloody clue!" Camilla spat back at the woman. Knowing she was referring to the Osirian.
"The Chosen One is failing I must wake the Next Osirian," Senkhara told the girl causing Camilla to scoff but before she could say anything Eddie groaned awake behind the spirit causing Camilla's eyes to widen and the spirit to turn around to look at him.
"God Cam, you and Smokey need to leave me to sleep." He sleepily grumbled.
"you see me too?" Senkhara asked in an amused voice missing Camilla as she moved closer to the centre of the room and nearer the spirit. "perhaps the Osirian sleeps in you?"
"Eddie?" Camilla whispered to herself watching Eddie's reaction to the woman's words and seeing him look back at her confused.
"the what?"
Senkhara didn't bother to ask for a response, instead, she held her hand out to Eddie the Mark of Anubis clear.
"Eddie get away from her!" Camilla's shout caused Eddie to look away from the spirit and Fabian sat up at the shout too.
"No!" he added taking in the scene quickly and knowing he needed to back up Camilla.
"The Bond of Old," the spirit hissed seeing the sister and brother pair shouting. Eddie blinking slightly trying to compute what was going on.
"Eddie you need to wake up," Camilla told him not taking her eyes off the spirit.
"NOW!" Fabian ordered as he watched Camilla gather her hands behind her and push them out at the spirit.
Fav, share and comment!
I am loving all your reviews! keep them coming! I love hearing what you have to say!
Love ya
Sarah xx
*This story is on Wattpad too*
