Chapter 5

"I'm telling you, Harry Potter is so much better!" Eddie said.

"Twilight is better, it's not a bunch of weirdos running around in capes with sticks"

"They are robes and wands!" Eddie said.

"There's not enough romance" Patricia said

"Ok, it's not all romance, but there is some romance" Eddie said. "Harry and Cho, Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione. They're like the most famous love/hate couple out there!"

"I didn't say there was no romance. Just not enough" Patricia said.

"Oh you want romance?" Eddie smirked. He leaned in before he heard a growl.

The two looked to see a very large wolf with brown hair, hazel eyes, and very, very sharp teeth.

They stood up very slowly, and walked backwards up the steps so they could get in the house. But as soon as they moved, the wolf jumped to attack.

Patricia thought fast and put a wall of fire between Eddie, herself and the wolf. Eddie stood there wide eyed.

'It's my magic' she thought. 'I won't let it take control of me'

But she already felt herself slipping away, and felt the mark grow, so she stopped using the magic.

As soon as the fire wall was gone the wolf ran to Eddie and bit his leg.

He screamed in pain, and that was when Mr. Lewis came out and grabbed the wolf. He dragged the wolf into the woods and was gone as quickly as he came.

Patricia helped Eddie into the house. "Trudy!"

"What, what is it?" She said coming out of her room. Others were up and coming to see what the problem was. Except Victor, who never came out of his office anymore. Trudy's eyes grew wide when she saw Eddie's bleeding leg. "What happened?"

"We were outside and a wolf attacked us and bit Eddie" Patricia said

"A wolf? Here?" Trudy asked shocked.

"Hey Fabian" Jerome whispered. "Isn't tonight a full moon?"

Fabian sighed. "Yup"

The next day came and Alfie, Nina, and Joy woke up. The first thing they noticed was their lack of clothing and quickly looked away from each other.

"Here" Mr. Lewis said giving them clothes. He let them out of the chains and they changed. They saw the deep scratch marks on the floor below them, and bites in the chains.

"What time is it?" Alfie asked.

"Nearly five o'clock"

"In the afternoon?" Joy exclaimed.

"You must have made yourselves tired last night" Mr. Lewis said.

"I remember last night" Nina said. "Can you please tell me what's going on?"

"I would think it was obvious to you by now Miss Martin" Mr. Lewis said. "You're werewolves"

"Since when?" Joy asked

"You always had the gene, but it was triggered on your half birthdays. Your guardians called me and asked me to help you on your first full moon" Mr. Lewis said.

"And why didn't you tell me?" Alfie said.

"Are you implying that before last night you would have believed me?" Mr. Lewis asked.

"I bit Eddie last night" Joy said. "Is he going to be ok?"

"I think it's time you go back" Mr. Lewis said.

"Wait dad, didn't you have the werewolf gene?" Alfie asked

"Yes"

"Why did you not turn?" Alfie asked

"When you get my age, you learn to not be a slave to the moon" he said. They returned back to the house and Mr. Lewis said goodbye.

"Where did you go?" Mara asked the three.

"We went to the..." Nina started.

"The POC Meeting" Alfie said. "It was really interesting"

"Why couldn't I go?" Mara asked

"We were told about it a while ago, Mr. Lewis took us there. Next one we hear of, we'll tell you about it" Joy said.

"What's POC?" Mick asked

"People of Color" Nina said.

"Where's Eddie?" Joy asked.

"Trudy had to take him to the ER, he was attacked by a wolf last night" Mara said.

"You're kidding!" Nina said glancing at a distraught looking Joy.

"So tell me about the meeting" Mara said

"Well, we talked about how it is being a minority" Joy said. Even though it was a good lie, Mick saw through it. He got up at once, determined to find out the truth.

Amber walked down the stairs and heard someone knock on the door. She opened it to see Patricia, but Patricia was in Eddie's room...

"Piper?" Amber asked.

"Hi Amber" she said, not hiding her bitterness.

"Why are you here?" Amber asked

"Patricia called me to come" Piper said.

"Oh yeah, I guess she forgot to call you and tell you that was a mistake. She was upset at the moment but now she's fine. In fact, I think she said she'd prefer it if you didn't come" Amber said.

"Oh really?" Piper asked not buying it. "I'd like to hear it from her"

"Fine, she's... In her room upstairs" Amber said. Piper went up the stairs and Amber dashed to Eddie's room.

"Patricia can I talk to you for a moment?" Amber asked. Patricia nodded and went out in the hall.

"What's wrong?" Patricia asked.

"Piper's here" Amber said. Patricia smiled.

"She is? Where?" Patricia asked.

"You need to tell her to leave" Amber said.

"Why?" Patricia asked

"She's going to try to take Alfie away from me" Amber whined.

"No she's not" Patricia said.

"Well she was all over him last time she was here" Amber said.

"I need my sister, Amber" Patricia said seriously.

"Patricia, if you don't tell her to leave, I'm not helping you" Amber threatened.

"Fine" Patricia said. Amber looked angry, and stomped away from Patricia.

Patricia went to find Piper, and found her coming out of her room.

"Piper!" Patricia said hugging her tightly.

"Hey, are you ok?" Piper said.

"I went to visit Mel" Patricia said. "I have some kind of virus. I can't use magic anymore, because I can't complete my mark."

"Why? What happens if you do?" Piper asked.

"Bad things" Patricia said.

Trudy helped Eddie through the door, he had his leg wrapped up and was on crutches. When Joy saw him, she burst into tears. Luckily no one saw her. She ran out the door before anyone could stop her.

Piper had gone to the bathroom, so Patricia took the time to think. She used magic last night, and she knew she shouldn't have. She took off her shirt and looked in the mirror. The mark was almost at her wrist now. She had to stop doing magic. Someone knocked on the door.

"Piper?" Patricia asked

"Nina" Nina informed.

"Go away" Patricia said putting on her shit

"Have you seen Joy?" Nina asked opening the door.

"No" Patricia said closing it. Nina sighed and went to find Alfie.

"Alfie I have a bad feeling. Where is Joy?" Nina asked

"I don't know, she was kind of freaking out earlier" Alfie said.

"Yeah I know. Isn't there some kind of werewolf telepathy that we should have?" Nina asked. Alfie looked at her.

"What?"

"I don't know" Nina admitted. "Shouldn't she have some kind of scent? Can't we smell her out?"

"Could we?" Alfie asked.

"Well we are part dog" Nina wiggled her eyebrows.

"Which is odd because I'm allergic to dogs" Alfie said.

"I guess werewolves are hypoallergenic" Nina shrugged. They walked down the steps and were on their way out the door when Victor stepped in their way.

"And where do you think you're going?" Victor said. "Supper is in five minutes"

"We're going to the library" Alfie said.

"Enough of the lies!" Victor said. "I have no reason to stop you unless you are up to no good"

"We're going to look for Joy" Nina said. "She was upset before and now she's disappeared"

"Very well" Victor said. Nina and Alfie looked at each other oddly.

"You're not going to stop us?" Alfie asked

"Though I may seem strict I do my best to protect you, and if one of you is not safe then who am I to stop you from making sure they are ok" Victor said. "I'm worn out and tired of secrets and mysteries. My only purpose as of this moment is to make sure you are ok. Tell me when you find her"

And with that he left.

"Wow" Alfie said.

"You know he's always been annoying, but I think he's being genuine. He never truly tried to hurt us. Just threaten us" Nina said.

"I can't help but look at him in a different light" Alfie said.

"You know we never do anything nice for him, we ought to" Nina said and they left.

"Do you know where my phone is?" Jerome asked Fabian

"No, and I can't find mine either" Fabian said.

"Help me!" Amber yelled at Mara. "I need to find my phone, I can't go throughout the rest of the day without it!"

"Weird" Fabian mumbled.

Nina and Alfie were looking around, when they began to feel a presence of someone familiar. Like someone was on their radar. They went in the direction of the woods.

"JOY!" Nina yelled running to the girl crying in the clearing.

"How did you find me?" Joy asked

"We had a feeling you would be here" Alfie said. "Not sure how though..."

"Told you we had werewolf telepathy" Nina said to Alfie. "What's wrong"

"I don't want this. I just want to be a normal girl. Now I'm putting people in hospitals? It's too much" Joy said. "Everything's changing"

"I know what you mean. I can't believe my gran didn't tell me. We tell eachother everything. And they just threw this on us while we're sitting here oblivious and confused" Nina said. "It's not fair"

"Do you think if there's werewolves, there are other creatures too?" Alfie asked. The other two looked at him and thought about his question. After a moment he stood up. "C'mon, we've been sitting here for long enough"

"I can't go back, I can't face Eddie" Joy said

"He's ok. His leg will heal and he'll be up in no time" Alfie said.

"And besides, we'll be there with you the whole time" Nina said. They helped her up.

"Well in that case, I hope we have a steak for dinner. I'm in a meat mood" Joy said.

"Me too!" Nina said. Alfie pulled out beef jerky.

"I think it's a wolf thing, because I've been snacking on these since I got back to the house" They ate the jerky and brought Joy back to the house.

"Finally!" Eddie said as they sat in their seats. "Victor said we couldn't eat until you came and no one knew where you were. I texted you, didn't you get it?"

"No" Nina said looking for her phone. "Actually I don't know where it is"

"We can't find ours either!" Amber said.

"Yeah" Piper said sitting at the end. "I've been trying to help Patricia find it all day" At that moment Mick came in with eight phones and three diaries.

"That's my diary!" Mara, Nina, and Amber said grabbing theirs.

"That's my phone!" Fabian, Alfie and Joy said as they everyone grabbed their things.

"Why did you steal our stuff?" Jerome asked.

"I want the truth" Mick said, red in the face. "So c'mon. Out with it. I already know, now. But how about you say it for Mara who's clueless? Or Jerome who only knows half of the story? Tell us all about the adventures you had right under our noses putting all of us in danger, but didn't have the courtesy of even letting us know. I know what you're thinking. The truth, what a foreign concept"

Everyone stayed silent.

"Come on" Mick said. "I'm waiting"

"Mick I don-" Nina started.

"OUT WITH IT!" He bellowed. Nina looked at the former Sibuna, and the others who knew a little bit. "Ok, you don't want to share?"

He walked around the table, and snatched Amber's phone out of her hands.

"Hey!"

"Let's look at the texts between Amber and Alfie shall we?" Mick said.

"Dude that's private!" Alfie yelled

"Don't worry, I don't care about the lovey dovey texts" Mick said. "Ah, here we go. 'Vera is bad news' says Alfie. 'We have to stay clear of her'"

Alfie looked a bit sick and panicked.

"'I know, beau. If we don't, she could hurt us all' says Amber" Mick read. "So you knew this woman, who was hovering around while everyone was asleep and feeding everyone, was dangerous and could easily hurt anyone, and you didn't think it was important to tell anyone?"

"Well, I kind of knew that too" Mara said quietly. "That's why I published that article"

"So at least Mara tried to warn everyone. While you kept it to yourself" Mick said. "So? Anyone gonna speak?"

"Alright, we'll tell you guys everything" Nina said.

"Everything?" Patricia whispered to her. Nina nodded.

"Three years ago when I came here, I met a woman named Sarah and she gave me this" Nina said pulling out her necklace. "She told me it was my turn to keep the secret. When Patricia locked me in the attic, I learned that it opened different passageways throughout the house. Like this one"

She led everyone in the kitchen and put her necklace in the old oven. It opened and very few people were shocked.

"I decided I needed to know more about the house, and it led me on this huge adventure" Nina said. "Anyone want to jump in?"

"Well, when she said she saw someone in the attic, I decided I should help her. We learned about all of these different puzzle pieces that led to finding more about the house and this thing called the Cup of Ankh" Fabian said

"She also told me and I helped out, and we became a group called Sibuna, which is Anubis backwards" Amber said.

"While this was happening, I was doing everything I could to find Joy and I met this man named Renee Zelman who told me he would help me find her. Our mysteries combined and I became a Sibuna member" Patricia said.

"I found one of the egyptian artifacts and they told me what was going on, and introduced me to Sibuna and I became a member" Alfie said.

"Then when they had all the artifacts, the teachers stole the artifacts or puzzle pieces and told me to make it into a cup. I tried to put it together so they could drink from it and gain immortality, only it didn't work for me, because as it turns out, I wasn't supposed to do it because I wasn't the Chosen One" Joy said. "Nina was. Is."

"And Renee's real name is Rufus, and is a psychopath that gets pleasure out of kidnapping children" Jerome said. "So when we put the cup together he stole it and drank a fake elixir of life that was supposed to kill someone, but Fabian switched the elixirs and Alfie faked dead to make Rufus believe he was immortal and we won!"

"This all happened two years ago?" Mara asked

"Yeah" Patricia said.

"I didn't know all of that" Eddie said.

"That's not everything" Mick said.

"Well when we came back, last year, I tried to hide the cup in this place in the attic, but it ended up releasing an evil spirit. She told me I have to find the Mask of Anubis, or I would die"

"Naturally, I didn't hesitate to help her. But we ended up both getting cursed. We found this secret room in the cellar that had an underground tunnel system, and that would lead us to the mask" Fabian said.

"So wait, there's an underground tunnel?" Eddie asked.

"We'll show you if you want..." Nina said pointing to the oven.

"I can't go through there with my leg like this" Eddie said.

"Then I guess you'll have to go through here" Victor said unlocking the cellar door.

"Seriously? You're going to let us?" Jerome asked

"Sure"

They stepped through the door down the stairs where Nina punched in the code to the bookshelf and led them in, except Victor who stayed outside.

"Good to see you're alright" Victor said to Joy. Nina pulled out the amulets and Sibuna plus Jerome went through first, then left the amulets for the other four.

"You needed that because that beacon will blind you" Amber said. "It's horrible"

"Going through this tunnel we had to go through tons of booby traps and many times we nearly got killed" Patricia said. "All while being cursed by Senkhara"

"Senkhara? The ghost Eddie and I researched?" Mara asked

"Why do you think we didn't want you to post the article?" Alfie asked.

"So, when we finally got through all of the booby traps, we get to the Mask of Anubis, which turned out to be a fake" Amber said. "The real mask was in the library, but it needed a gem"

"My dad's gem, the one that went in the Frobisher Shield" Jerome said. "Nina put the mask on and was going to be taken to the afterlife with Senkhara"

"But it turns out, I was the Osirion, which is the protector of the Chosen One" "Someone told me what to do to get rid of Sankhara, and I did"

"Who?" Mara asked

"Dunno" Eddie shrugged.

"Then Rufus came and stole the mask from Nina, but he wasn't pure of heart, so he went to hell with Senkhara" Alfie said. "Oh yeah, and Vera was working for Rufus"

"When Senkhara was controlling Nina, she threw a lightning bolt at me, and I almost died, but Victor saved me with an ingredient the would be needed for the elixir" Joy said. "Tears of Gold from the mask"

"And everything was ok" Nina said. Mara held her head in her hands.

"This is so... I can't believe this" Mara said. "I can't believe I didn't notice. Sibuna? That's your group? That's what you whisper about? I had theories but I would have never guessed this"

"I can't believe you've been in a life or death situation more than once!" Piper said to her sister.

"That's not it" Mick said.

"There's no more" Fabian said.

"Yeah, we told you everything" Nina said.

"Not everything" Mick said. "I think you're forgetting some things"

"What are we forgetting?" Patricia said.

"Fine I'll tell them" Mick said. "Did you know that Nina, Alfie, and Joy are all werewolves?"

"What?" Amber, Patricia, Piper, Eddie, and Mara yelled.

"And that Patricia is a witch? Show them you're mark!" Mick yelled running to her and showing it to everyone. "Amber is an element"

"Mick stop this" Amber yelled.

"And Fabian and Jerome? Vampires" Mick said.

"That's insane!" Mara said.

"I've been right so far" Mick said. Jerome was pissed, he couldn't think straight. He saw red, fire. He was enraged, and before he knew it, he sped behind Mick and snapped his neck so fast if one blinked it would have been missed.

Mick's lifeless body fell to the floor.