House of Amulets:
Alfie looked wide-eyed at Victor Jr. and Victor Jr. didn't move.
"fireflies! Fireflies, beware of the fireflies. Did I ever tell you I was a firefly?" Asked Alfie.
"No," said Victor jr.
Alfie closed his eyes again and fell back asleep. Victor Jr pulled a fake amulet from his pocket and placed it on his lap. Victor Jr removed Alfie's amulet and held it next to the fake amulet.
"A perfect copy, no one who sees the difference," said Victor jr.
Victor Jr. put the real amulet in his pocket and put the fake amulet on Alfie. Victor Jr. got up and left the room. A few seconds later, Jerome entered the room and saw Alfie sleeping.
"Hey Sleeping Beauty wake up," said Alfie.
"Firefly beware! Run from the fireflies!" Shouted Alfie.
"Alfie, don't be such a weirdo," said Jerome.
Alfie fell asleep again. Jerome got a grin on his face and got an idea. Jerome grabbed his MP-3 player and turned the music up loud, but Alfie didn't respond. Then Jerome grabbed a feather and took off Alfie's sock and started tickling it and again Alfie didn't wake up. The fun was over for Jerome and he grabbed a glass of water and threw it in Alfie's face and this woke Alfie up.
"What happened?" Asked Alfie.
"You were practically in a coma, said Jerome.
"Dude I really had such a weird dream, you'll never guess," said Alfie.
"Was it about fireflies," guessed Jerome.
"Dude that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. No dude, it was about Victor and he kind of tried to kiss me, it was a sick nightmare," said Alfie.
Alfie felt his face and felt that he was wet. Alfie looked at Jerome and gestured for him to come closer.
"I'm wet everywhere, I haven't had an accident, did I?" asked Alfie.
"Unfortunately, but your secret is safe with me," said Jerome.
Alfie sighed out of relief and then he noticed that his sock was missing.
"Where did my sock go?" Asked Alfie.
Jerome shrugged his shoulders and Alfie looked confused at his sockless foot.
In the meantime, Joy and Otis were sitting in Joy's room and chatting. At one point, Otis noticed a garbage bag and picked it up and looked inside. Joy looked guilty at Otis, who took out the stuff from the garbage bag.
"These are all the things and pictures I gave you," said Otis.
"Sorry," said Joy.
"It's okay," said Otis.
"No, that's not it," said Joy.
"You did it in a rage, because you were angry at me," said Otis.
"But I shouldn't have been mad at you," said Joy.
"Joy it's fine. The stuff is still intact and thanks to you I can take pictures again and so I can also take new pictures for us," said Otis.
"So you're really not mad?" Asked Joy.
"No," said Otis.
"You're the greatest," said Joy.
"No, you're," said Otis.
"You're sweet," said Joy.
"And like I said I'll find a job to pay back," said Otis.
"No, that's not necessary," said Joy.
"Are you sure?" Asked Otis.
"One hundred percent, I want to be with you now and do nice things with you," said Joy.
"Well then I'll quickly arrange something nice for us," said Otis.
Joy and Otis gave each other a kiss and then Otis got up and walked to the door.
"What are you going to do?" Asked Joy.
"I'm going to do something with Jerome, Mara and Alfie, they need my help with something," said Otis.
"With what?" Asked Joy.
"I don't know, I'll tell you when I'm done," said Otis.
Otis left the room and went to Jerome and Alfie's room, where Jerome, Mara, and Alfie were waiting. Otis sat down with the rest.
"Glad you're here Otis," said Mara.
"What am I doing here exactly?" Asked Otis.
"Okay, as you know we've created a dating profile for Trudy," said Jerome.
"Yes, we helped you with that," said Otis.
"Well we've some potential candidates for Trudy here and we need your help to choose the best," said Jerome.
"Yes, so go through these profiles and make your top 5 candidates," said Mara.
"And then what?" Asked Otis.
"Then we go through them again together and they go through to the next round," said Mara.
"And what's the next round?" Asked Alfie.
"We invite them to an interview, now be quiet and started reading these profiles," said Mara.
Mara handed a stack of printed profiles to Otis and Alfie.
In the meantime. Victor Jr. proudly walked into the cellar and went to the mirror.
"I did it father, I'm a real Rodenmaar," said Victor jr.
"Don't make me laugh, this was child's play, even a toddler can steal such an amulet, said Victor sr.
"But it wasn't so easy, said Victor jr.
"Not easy? You had 6 chances, said Victor sr.
"But... but aren't you a little proud? Asked Victor jr.
"To be a real Rodenmaar or even to stand in the shadow of your father, you've to do more, said Victor sr.
"But I do everything, said Victor jr.
"What do you think you should do now that you've the amulet, said Victor sr.
"The tunnels? Already? But I've only just started training, said Victor jr.
"Be a man Victor! We've no time to lose, said Victor sr.
"But I..., said Victor jr.
"Don't disappoint me! You want to be a real Rodenmaar, so prove it, said Victor sr.
Victor Sr. disappeared again.
"I will not disappoint you father, said Victor jr.
A few hours later. Nina and Amber were in their room, lying in their beds and both girls felt exhausted.
"I'm so tired," said Amber.
"Me too and everything hurts," said Nina.
"Nina, do we've to train again tomorrow, too?" Asked Amber.
"Yes, Amber you know we have to be fit enough to survive the task," said Nina.
"Can't we just skip one day?" Asked Amber.
"No Amber you know if we don't past the task, we'll never get to the Mask and we'll never get rid of Senkhara," said Nina.
"I'm afraid of that woman," said Amber.
"Me too and that's why we have to do this," said Nina.
"I get that, but I just scared of the idea that if we do one thing wrong, we'll be crushed by that giant boulder," said Amber.
"So am I Amber and that's why we practice so much. If we work together we'll be fine, I promise you and this is a Sibuna promise, so Sibuna," said Nina, while she did the Sibuna gesture.
Nina waited for a response from Amber, but it never came. Nina looked at Amber's bed and saw Amber had fallen asleep. Nina turned off the light and went to sleep too.
The days flew by and that club was training every day. And today was the last training day, the club walked to the abandoned building and Fabian grabbed the mat.
"Oh no do we really no to start right way with the mat?" Asked Amber.
"It's the best option," said Fabian.
"But we've always started it for the past few days and when we're done with it, I'm too tired to train," complained Amber.
"Amber now is not the time for complains," said Fabian.
"I kind of agree with Amber. It's by far the best way to practice, but maybe we should start differently today," said Nina.
"'We don't have time for changes, we're going to do the task tonight, said Fabian.
"I know, but if we're going to do this and some other practice, we'll be way to tired to do the task, said Nina.
"Why don't we start some stretching exercise in the woods, then our muscles will loosen up, said Aaron.
"I think it's a great idea, said Nina.
"All right, but we'll go jogging to the spot in the woods, said Fabian.
The club started jogging towards the woods. But what the club did not know was that they had been followed by Victor Jr. and that he had heard and seen everything. Victor Jr. walked into the property and grabbed the mat and went back to the house. A few minutes later and club came back and they saw the mat was gone.
"Where's the mat?" Asked Nina.
"It's gone," said Aaron.
"But how is this possible?" Asked Patricia.
"Aliens, of course they think we're on a secret experiment to detonate the universe," said Alfie.
"Alfie we don't have time for this now," said Aaron.
"But of course, you took it, this isn't funny give it back Alfie," said Amber.
"What do I mean? I was with you all the time to train, so how am I supposed to be able to take it with me," said Alfie.
"Yeah, I get it already. And it's not even possible, because you can never lift that thing on your own with those toothpick arms of yours," said Amber.
"Tooth picks? These are not toothpicks, these are logs. With these logs, I can easily lift 3 of those sizes, said Alfie as he showed his arms.
"You can't even lift half a mat," said Amber.
"That's still more than you," said Alfie.
"Guys stop this useless discussion," said Aaron.
"What are we going to do now?" Asked Patricia.
"We're going to continue our training," said Fabian.
"Training, but we don't have the mat," said Patricia.
"I know, but we're going to train according to the schedule now. We trained a lot with the mat and we are almost ready and I will coach everyone through it as best I can, said Fabian.
In the meantime. Victor Jr. came home and walked into the cellar with the mat.
"Father I did it, I stole the mat from those children," said Victor jr.
"You look like you're going pass out at any moment," said Victor sr.
"This thing is awfully heavy, especially the battery. But I made it and they didn't notice," said Victor jr.
Victor Jr put the mat on the floor and looked at his father.
"Are you satisfied now?" Asked Victor jr.
"I must first see, then I believe it," said Victor sr.
Victor Jr. took a deep breath and began to stand on the mat, Victor Jr. leaned over and placed his hands and feet on the circles and he tried to do the exercises.
"Ouch! Yelled Victor jr.
"Once a failure, always a failure. You stole that thing for nothing, you can't physically handle it and moreover you will never be able to do this test on your own," said Victor sr.
"Help me father, I'm stuck," said Victor jr.
"You ain't got no further, don't make it more embarrassing," said Victor sr. as he vanished.
"Father!" Yelled Victor jr.
A few hours later. Nina was in her room and in her bed trying to read, only Nina was way too tense to concentrate on the book. Fabian entered the room and sat on the bed with Nina.
"Hey," said Fabian.
"Hi," said Nina.
"How are you feeling"? Asked Fabian.
"I'm feeling scared for tonight, what if it doesn't go well," said Nina.
"Nina, it's going to be okay. Do you have faith in me?" Asked Fabian.
"I will always have faith in you Fabian, said Nina, as she put her hand on Fabian shoulder.
"I've something for you, that might cheer you up a bit," said Fabian.
"What is it? Asked Nina.
"So I was in town to get some stuff for the tsk when I saw this, said Fabian.
Fabian took a small wrapped present from his pocket and handed it to Nina. Nina opened the little gift and the golden broken heart necklace fell on her bed. Nina picked up the necklace and looked at it with a smile.
"How sweet. What did I do to deserve this? Asked Nina.
"We've been together for almost a year and I wanted to buy something that shows we are a match, said Fabian, as he showed his broken heart necklace to Nina.
"Wow almost a whole year, said Nina.
"Yes and I hope much longer," said Fabian.
"Forever," said Nina.
"Forever," said Fabian.
Fabian and Nina gave each other a kiss, but it was a short kiss, because the two were interrupted by the rest of the club, who entered the room.
"Oh are we disturbing?" Asked Patricia.
"No, we were supposed to have a club meeting right now anyway," said Nina.
"Okay, I'm going to weigh everyone now and fill the vests with bags of lead," said Fabian.
"And then we're the right weight?" Asked Patricia.
"Yes," said Fabian.
The club stepped on the scales one by one and Fabian wrote down the weights. Fabian supplemented six vests with lead and gave each club member a vest.
"Okay, is everyone ready?" Asked Fabian.
"I think so," said Amber nervously.
"Great, let's go to the cellar now, said Fabian.
The club crept cautiously down the hall and into the kitchen. Nina opened the secret passage and she and the club entered the cellar. When the club entered the cellar they saw Victor sleeping in his chair. The club thought it was strange on the one hand, but decided not to pay too much attention to it.
"You're supposed to wear this thing," said Alfie, as he noticed that Amber wasn't wearing her vest.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," said Amber.
Amber put on the vest, but as she did so she bumped her hand against the closet and unrolled the tube and landed on Victor Jr's head.
"Watch it," said Nina.
"Sorry," said Amber.
"Is he still asleep?" Asked Patricia.
"Yes, but that's strange, I mean this is Victor and he hears everything," said Alfie.
"Let's just hurry up," said Fabian.
Nina and Fabian entered the secret tunnels, followed by Amber, Aaron and Patricia. Alfie checked that Victor Jr. was still really asleep. After the check, Alfie entered the secret room. Victor Sr. appeared.
"If all goes well, they are all gone now. They will do the test we take the reward, quick go after them, commanded Victor sr.
Victor Jr. didn't response and continued to sleep.
In the meantime, most of the club members were already in the tunnel, only Alfie was not yet. Alfie walked to the entrance and blinded light appeared. Alfie started screaming because of the pain
"What was that?" Asked Patricia.
"That sounded like Alfie," said Nina.
"I find this scary, I don't want this anymore, said Amber.
"Alfie come on it's no time for jokes now! Yelled Fabian to Alfie.
Despite the pain Alfie was in, he jumped through the hole and landed on the tunnel's ground. The club hurried back to the entrance to check up on Alfie.
"Alfie!" Shouted Amber.
"Alfie now no jokes now," said Fabian.
"Otherwise Victor will hear you", said Nina.
"Alfie calm down," said Aaron, as he had to hold Alfie still, because he was freaking out.
Alfie stood still covering his face with his hands. Alfie removed his hands from his face and looked frightened.
"Alfie what is it?" Asked Amber, with a concerned voice
"This is not a joke. I don't see anything anymore!" Said a scared Alfie.
The club looked at Alfie with concerned faces and wondered how this could've happened.
Is Alfie going to be okay? Will the club be able to complete the test? And what about Victor Jr.? Will he wake up and catch the club?
