Episode 2: "House of Locks & House of Lies"
The edited and revised version of this chapter was uploaded on June 20, 2020
Chapter 2: Attic Adventures
Cameron and Nina frantically searched for a place to hide. They heard the attic door open and shut. Someone was coming up the stairs. The girls began the panic. Where could they hide? Why wasn't there anywhere to hide?
Cameron never noticed as Nina pulled out her locket and clutched it for comfort.
"What's that?" Victor's voice filtered into the attic. Nina and Cameron gripped hands tight. "Who's there?"
Nina's fear began to overwhelm her. She stumbled, and fell into a wall, taking Cameron with her.
Only, both girls fell farther than they thought they would as the wall behind them fell away, and then shut, sealing them inside a secret chamber.
When Victor entered the attic, there was nothing to see. No Nina. No Cameron. Nothing out of the ordinary. So, with a grunt of dissatisfaction, Victor turned and left.
Inside the tiny chamber, Nina and Cameron could only poke and prod at the stone wall, unsure of how they got in and even more unsure how to get out.
Cameron felt her heart crawl into her throat, and her sight began to blur. She could hear her heart in her ears, and suddenly, she felt she couldn't breathe.
Tight spaces. Tight spaces. Dark tight spaces.
Cameron needed to stare at something. She needed to jumpstart her brain, or she'd dissolve into a claustrophobic fit.
Cameron traced the seam in the stone with her finger, but when she pushed against it, the wall didn't budge. And she didn't see a hinge, rope, or pulley, or counterweight anywhere.
So how did they activate the wall?
It obviously wasn't their combined weight. Cameron and Nina definitely didn't weigh enough to counter the weight of a huge stone slab. A button on the floor, maybe?
Or…
"Nina," Cameron breathed.
There was a notch on the wall. A notch glowing red and in the exact shape of Nina's locket.
Nina's eyes widened and fell to her locket. It, too, was glowing red.
Nina lifted the locket to the notch. It was a perfect fit. The glowing jewel brightened with a small flash, and the door slid open.
Nina and Cameron sprinted out of the chamber, the stone wall slamming shut behind them. Both of them exhaled sharply with relief. Cameron ducked her head down the staircase. It was dark and empty.
"The coast is clear," Cameron breathed. "Let's go."
"Wait." Nina was staring at the wall near the secret door. There was another notch carved there. "My locket must've hit the lock when I tripped."
"Makes sense," Cameron reasoned. "I'm just glad it happened, or Victor might've skinned us."
Nina laughed. "Yeah, me too."
Nina lifted her locket to the notch, and it began to glow again. The door slid open.
And two glowing red eyes stared right at them.
~)8(~
Amber quietly opened her door and looked into the hallway. She saw Fabian open the door to their hallway and sneak in. They met up in front of the attic with similar thoughts.
Neither of them were going to just leave Nina and Cameron locked up in the spooky attic all night.
"Is he still up there?" Fabian asked.
The attic door rattled, and Amber snagged Fabian's arm and dragged him into the bathroom to hide. They watched carefully as Victor came around the corner and left the hallway, retreating back to his office.
Once they were sure he was gone, Amber and Fabian left the bathroom.
"He hasn't got them," Amber whispered. Indeed, Victor did not have Nina and Cameron with him.
"Right, let's get the key from Patricia," Fabian said. Amber nodded, and they quietly stormed into Patricia, Nina, and Cameron's bedroom.
"Patricia, give me the key!" Fabian demanded. The girl sat up in bed and looked at them sheepishly.
"I haven't got it," she said.
"Liar!" Amber hissed.
"Seriously! I haven't!"
"Well, where is it then?" Fabian asked.
"I… I threw it out the window."
Amber and Fabian stared at her in shock.
"You did what?" Fabian cried. He stormed over to the window and looked outside. "Which window? This one?"
"I think it went in the bushes," Patricia said.
"We won't be able to look for it until morning," Amber sighed.
"What a mess," Fabian muttered.
"I think we should go and tell Victor everything," Amber said. Fabian nodded in agreement.
"No! We can't do that!" Patricia protested.
"Well we can't just leave Nina and Cam in there!" Fabian argued.
With that, he and Amber left the bedroom and made their way across the hall to the attic door.
"Nina!" Fabian whisper yelled. Nothing. "Cam! Nina! Cameron!"
Just then, the attic door sprung open, and Nina and Cameron flew out.
Fabian and Amber stumbled back in fright, and the two Americans stared at them.
"Hey," Cameron merely said.
"What's the matter?" Nina asked, noticing their expressions. "You guys look like you've seen a ghost."
"We probably gave them a scare coming out of the attic like that," Cameron reasoned. Fabian and Amber nodded, confirming that's what happened.
"How… how did you…?" Amber wondered.
Nina smiled and held up a hair pin. Nina and Amber giggled, but Cameron and Fabian shushed them.
"You'll have Victor up again," Fabian warned. Cameron slowly closed the attic door before taking the hair pin from Nina and locking it. "Are you two okay?"
"Yeah," Nina answered while Cameron nodded.
"So, what was it like up there?" Amber asked. "See any ghosts?"
"No," Nina said. "Just mice and some spiders. Possibly a rat."
"Oh, you guys are so brave," Amber complimented. The four teens froze when they heard Victor cough in his office. It was time to return to their rooms. "Night, you three. See you in the morning."
"Night," Nina, Fabian, and Cameron replied.
Amber quietly crept back to her bedroom and closed the door.
"You did well," Fabian complimented them. God, they really had guts to go up there. Not only was it "supposed" to be haunted, but if Victor had caught them…
"Thanks," Nina replied. "Don't tell Patricia, but my hands were shaking so hard it took me three tries to get the clip into the lock."
"Yeah, and I thought I was going to have a panic attack up there," Cameron quietly admitted.
"Hey, your secrets are safe with me," Fabian assured them. The boy said goodnight to the two girls before creeping out the hallway and back downstairs. Once he was gone, Nina held up her locket. She and Cameron stared at it, unsure what to think.
What was this locket? Where had it come from? And why was there such mystery surrounding it?
Could Sarah have been telling the truth?
~)8(~
The next morning, Nina and Cameron walked down to breakfast together, dressed in the school uniforms with their bags over their shoulders. When they entered the dining room, Jerome and Alfie immediately began to applaud. Nina beamed, but Cameron merely shook her head at them and sat down.
But there was no disguising the ghost of a smile on her face.
"We were certain Victor was going to you two," Jerome said.
"Yeah, either Victor or the flesh-eating zombies," Alfie added. Alfie got in Cameron's face, acting like a zombie, and she laughed.
"No zombies," Nina promised. "Just rat bones."
"And cobwebs," Cameron added. Nina nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that was about it." The girls smiled at each other before beginning to eat their breakfast. Both girls didn't fail to notice the intense glare Patricia sent their way.
"Was it really scary up there?" Mara asked. Both girls shook their heads.
"I thought it would be worse," Nina admitted.
"It was kind of cool," Cameron said.
"We might move up there," Nina joked. There were a few laughs.
"Don't you think they were brave?" Amber asked everyone.
"Even you have to admit, Patricia," Fabian said, "Nina and Cameron passed their initiation test with flying colors."
"No," Patricia spat. "They didn't bring anything back, did they?"
Nina and Cameron exchanged mischievous smiles.
"Well, actually…"
Both girls reached into their bags and pulled out their souvenirs. A large, old dictionary and an old teddy bear.
"Yes!" Alfie cried. Everyone laughed and began to clap again. But Patricia stormed out. Everyone's smiles dimmed slightly, but no one could find it in themselves to feel sorry for her. She had been rightly humiliated after the way she had been treating Nina and Cameron. Only Mara went after her, but mostly because she knew no one else would.
~)8(~
Nina and Cameron were walking over to the school later than morning, both of them speaking quietly. They needed to find the attic key. They wanted to go back up there and do some investigating.
"Hey, Nina, Cam!" they heard. Both girls stopped talking and turned to see Fabian running towards them.
"Do you fancy walking over with me?" Fabian asked. Cameron got the feeling he would've stuttered if it was only Nina there.
"Yeah, okay, sure, we'd 'fancy' that," Nina accepted. Nina and Cameron giggled at the British word. "Sorry, this all takes some getting used to."
But Fabian wasn't there anymore. Instead, he was near the side of the house, on all fours, digging around in the dirt. Both girls paused and stared.
"But this is weird even for England."
"No, no, wait. I'm just looking for something," Fabian told them.
"Yeah, we figured," Cameron said. "What are you looking for?"
"Wait, hang on, hang on."
"We're hanging."
"Hey!"
Cameron cried out as someone rammed right into her. Alfie. He barely paid attention to Cameron as he scrambled to his feet and darted away.
"Sorry!" It was called over his shoulder, but he never looked back.
Jerome came around the corner, pursuing his best friend.
"You okay?" Jerome helped heave Cameron to her feet.
"Uh, yeah. Thanks." The girl brushed herself off, and Jerome picked up her bag. Cameron winced, glancing down at her knee. It was pretty scraped up.
"Alfie," Jerome muttered.
Then, he was running after him.
Cameron shook her head in bewilderment.
"Are you okay?" Nina asked. She had watched the whole thing with Alfie and Jerome play out. Fabian had as well. However, they were thinking two different things.
Nina was thinking about how nice Jerome had been for helping Cameron up and with her bag. She hadn't expected that from him of all people.
Fabian was thinking that had Alfie knocked anyone else over, save maybe Nina, Jerome would've laughed. Maybe it was because Cameron was new, but Jerome helping her up and then handing her her bag was… unexpected.
Could Jerome have a little crush on Cameron?
"Yeah, I'm fine," Cameron reassured them. "Let's just get to school so I can clean my knee." Nina and Fabian nodded.
"Let's go."
~)8(~
After cleaning out her knee in the bathroom (where Nina told Cameron that Fabian had managed to recover the attic key), they decided to fill Fabian in about what happened in the attic.
The panel, the glowing eyes, the hidden chamber.
"So, this panel just opened when you fell against it?" he asked.
"Sort of," the girls answered together. The three of them sat down at the long desk up front.
"Sort of. What kind of an answer is that?"
"Well, there are some other things," Nina admitted.
"You're real girls of mystery, aren't you?" Fabian asked his new friends. "Look, if you two are going up there again, then I'm coming with you. And that's all there is to it."
"Wow, that was forceful," Nina giggled.
"It was, wasn't it?" Fabian admitted sheepishly. "You can trust me, Nina, Cam, I promise."
"All right, all right," Cameron chuckled. "You've had your soap opera moment, Fabian. We'll tell you."
And they did. They told Fabian everything. Sarah, the locket, the notch in the wall. Fabian took them seriously, listening to them with rapt attention. Cameron was glad she and Nina now had another person to talk about it with. And if she was honest, if anyone was going to investigate this mystery with them, she was glad it was Fabian.
~)8(~
Nina and Cameron were in their room doing homework. Nina had changed into a white shirt and pink undershirt with jeans. Cameron was in skinny jeans and a white tank top. Both girls jumped when Amber barged in. She grabbed both their arms and dragged them to her room.
"You see, my plan totally worked after," Amber said.
There was a note on Amber's bed written in sweets. It said to meet in the laundry room at 11pm. Both Nina and Cameron had discovered that the only reason Amber had kissed Alfie was to make Mick jealous. Amber believed he had been spending too much time with Mara and had made a plan to regain his interest by flirting with someone else.
It seemed to have worked.
"Mick wants to meet me in the laundry room tonight," Amber continued. "I obviously made him wild with jealousy. And now he wants to apologize for his bad behavior with Mara, and kiss and make up." Amber went over to her closet and began pulling out dresses.
"I'm sure that's true," Nina said, "if he's the one who sent the message."
"Of course he is!" Amber insisted.
"Amber, there's no signature," Cameron told her. It didn't seem to matter. Amber was convinced Mick was the one who sent that message. However, Cameron wasn't so sure.
Amber had kissed Alfie. Maybe it gave him the wrong idea.
~)8(~
Victor did his usual curfew speech and Cameron rolled her eyes. She was already used to it. Cameron put away her notebook and quickly changed into her pajamas. Patricia was quick to fall asleep, but Nina and Cameron stayed up, waiting for 11 o'clock to strike. That was when they decided to meet up with Fabian.
About five minutes till, both girls silently got up and pulled on their jackets, preparing for the chilly attic air. Both girls slipped their bags over their shoulders and grabbed flashlights right as there was a soft knock on their door.
"Hey," Nina whispered.
"Are you ready?" Fabian whispered back. He could see Cameron inside her bedroom, searching for something. "What's she looking for?"
"The teddy bear she took," Nina answered. Fabian nodded, and spotted the dictionary in Nina's bag. They were returning their souvenirs. They didn't want to run the risk of Victor finding them.
"Oh, are you two on a date as well?" they heard.
Nina and Fabian turned around and saw Amber creeping out of her room. She was wearing a knee-length green and gold dress. Her hair was done up and she held a clutch in her hand.
"If they are, then I'm definitely going to feel like a third wheel," Cameron said coming out of her room. She quietly shut the door behind her. Nina and Fabian silently thanked her for her timely arrival. They might not have been able to convince Amber they weren't on a date without her.
"Well, okay." Amber seemed a little disappointed, but soon perked up. "Catch you later." The three waved goodbye to her and Amber disappeared downstairs.
Once she was gone, the trio rushed forward and Nina produced the attic key. She slipped it into the lock and opened the door. The three silently snuck up to the attic. Nina faced Fabian.
"You ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," he said. "Do you need the torch?"
"I don't think setting fire to this place will help us right now," Nina replied.
Cameron stifled a laugh. "He means the flashlight," she clarified. "They call flashlights 'torches' in England."
Nina blushed. Then fished her own flashlight from her bag. Cameron produced hers as well, not noticing Fabian's narrowed eyes.
Cameron certainly had a very versatile vocabulary. More so than anyone else his age he'd ever met. Then again, he had noticed she wrote. A lot. She was always taking very detailed notes in class or absently writing in one of her notebooks. That, and she wasn't in their French class with them. She seemed to have already read every single piece of literature Mrs. Andrews assigned them and the teachers all praised her like she was a celebrity. The teachers only did that with Mara, and she had been at the school for years.
There was something off about this new American girl. It wasn't anything bad, but Fabian could tell she was keeping something from them.
"Here goes nothing," Cameron muttered. Fabian snapped out of his thoughts just in time to see Nina lift her locket to the notch in the wall. It began to glow, and with a flash, the panel opened.
And two, glowing red eyes stared back at them.
Fabian screamed and dropped the flashlight.
"Fabian, it's a portrait," Cameron said. She lightly touched his shoulder, trying to soothe him. "It's not a real person."
"That was seriously scary!" Fabian said. His heart was practically going a mile a minute. The hairs on the back of his neck was standing up and he was covered in goosebumps. "The eyes were glowing and looking at me and… Ugh!" Cameron laughed lightly and Nina brought the portrait from the little chamber.
"It's okay," Nina said. "We won't tell anyone that a painting of a little girl scared you so bad you screamed."
"I didn't scream," Fabian quickly denied. Cameron raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief, but returned her attention to the portrait. She shined her flashlight on it and frowned.
"I've seen her before," she muttered. Cameron leaned over and opened Nina's locket. Inside was a much smaller version of the same portrait.
"It's the same girl," Nina breathed. "I wonder who she is?"
"Wait," Fabian said. He took the painting from Nina and held it up.
"Wait, what's that?" Nina cried. She was looking at the back of the painting. Fabian set it down and he and Cameron shone their flashlights onto the bottom left corner.
"It looks like Egyptian hieroglyphics," Fabian said. It was.
One single hieroglyph — three symbols inside of a cartouche.
"It is," Cameron said. Fabian pulled out his phone to take a picture. Cameron stopped him. "Underneath. Stairs. Eight."
"What?" Nina asked.
"That's what it means," Cameron clarified. Nina and Fabian gaped at the girl. She had just translated an Egyptian hieroglyph like it was no big deal. Fabian was right — Cameron was hiding something. No girl just randomly knew how to translate that stuff.
"Are you sure?" Nina asked. Fabian discreetly took a photo of the hieroglyph anyway, just to make sure Cameron's translation was right. And if it was, it would prove his theory that Cameron was way more intelligent and sophisticated than anyone was giving her credit for.
"Yeah, pretty sure," Cameron answered. Nina seemed to accept this and moved on.
"You know, the old lady said there was treasure hidden in this house," Nina said.
"What kind of treasure?" Fabian asked.
"Well, she hardly knows her own name, so she wasn't that specific," Nina said. Cameron frowned.
"Nina, I think she was telling the truth," Cameron said. Nina looked at her in surprise.
"Why?" Cameron almost gave Nina a look that suggested she was an idiot.
"Nina, that locket opens a secret panel in this house. Not only did she claim to have lived here, but she gave you that locket. And…"
"What?" Fabian asked. Cameron sighed.
"I did some research. The Frobisher-Smythes, the original owners of Anubis House…" Cameron looked at her friends, her brown eyes piercing. "They had a daughter… named Sarah."
Nina's eyes widened.
"We need to go back and talk to her," Nina breathed.
Cameron nodded.
"Then I'm coming with you," Fabian decided.
Cameron smiled, and poked his cheek teasingly.
"Course you are."
~)8(~
"I just can't believe that Amber was expecting Mick instead of you," Jerome told Alfie the next day at school. Cameron froze and her eyes widened. Alfie was the one who had sent the message to Amber?
"Do you reckon someone messed with your message?" Jerome continued.
"Duh, what do you think?" Alfie said it like it was obvious.
"But who would do that?" Jerome asked. Cameron's eyes narrowed. His tone suggested that he knew exactly who had messed with Alfie's message.
"Mick, obviously," Alfie said. Jerome laughed like he was getting away with something.
Cameron shook her head.
"Yeah! Mick, of course. I should've thought of that," Jerome said laughing.
Cameron highly doubted Mick would do something like that. Jerome, on the other hand… would.
"Trying to wheedle his way back in with Amber," Alfie muttered. "Looks like he succeeded."
"No, no, no," Jerome said. "Amber's still got the hots for you, man. Without a doubt." Cameron scowled, realizing what Jerome was doing.
"It didn't look that way when she was pushing me out of the room," Alfie grumbled. Cameron could guess what was coming next. Jerome was going to get Alfie to pay him to get Mick out of Amber's life. Cameron decided it was time to intervene.
"Hey, Jerome? May I talk to you?" she asked. Jerome looked startled, but nodded. Alfie looked confused, so Cameron put him at ease with a smile. "Don't worry, Alfie. I'm just going to borrow Jerome for a minute." With no other explanation, she took Jerome's wrist and dragged him around the corner.
"I can't believe you," she hissed once she was sure they were out of earshot. Jerome tried to feign innocence.
"Why, Caramel, I don't believe I know what you're talking about." he said. Cameron scowled at the new nickname.
"You know, the last guy to get on my nerves ended up in the hospital with a broken nose," she told Jerome. His eyes widened, but he clenched his teeth in defeat.
"Fine, what will keep you quiet?" he hissed.
"I won't tell Alfie, Amber, or Mick because it's none of my business. I know when I've overstepped my bounds," Cameron said. She had the very strong belief of staying out of other people's business and drama, and she tended to stick with it. "I just happened to overhear you in the hall and figured it out for myself. But stop, okay? Alfie's your best friend, Jerome. Think about how he'll feel if he figures out you're the one who messed with his message. Not only that, but you're leading him to believe Amber likes him when she likes Mick. That's just mean, Jerome, and if Alfie finds out…" Cameron trailed off, and Jerome had the decency to look a little ashamed of himself. Then Cameron did something that surprised him.
She smacked him upside the head.
But before he could say anything, she walked away.
Jerome stared after her. This incident had not helped him figure her out… Or how he felt about her. She was sneaky and clever and he respected her for that. She had quickly stolen the attic key and had pulled one over on him. But… she had very strong morals and seemed pretty unattached. She hadn't really opened up to anyone, not even Nina, who she seemed to be friends with.
This girl… intrigued him.
Yes, that was the right word. It was quite bothersome how mysterious she was. Jerome was determined to figure her out, even if she hated him for it. He would get this girl to open up. If not to him, then to Nina, or Fabian.
It wasn't often Jerome felt like this, but he wanted Cameron to like it here. He wanted her to feel at home. Even he had to admit that Patricia was being ridiculously mean to her and Nina. Joy wasn't missing. She hadn't disappeared. She had just left school. However, Patricia didn't seem to believe that, and she was turning her worry into anger. And she was taking that anger out on the two people who deserved it the least. It was starting to drive everyone crazy. Everyone would sigh or roll their eyes whenever Patricia brought up Joy or the crazy "disappearance" theory of hers. And at the rate she was going, she wasn't going to let up anytime soon.
Jerome just hoped she didn't drag Cameron and Nina down with her.
~)8(~
After school, Cameron walked back to the house alone. She had some of her books in her bag and held it securely over her shoulder. However, when she got to the house, Victor was waiting for her.
"Bag, now."
Cameron's eyes narrowed.
"Why?" she asked.
"I need to search it," he answered. Cameron knew better than the argue with Victor, but she still didn't like it.
She still hesitated.
"I will not divulge any content I find in your bag," Victor said. "Now give." Cameron sighed, but nodded and handed over her bag.
Something must've been seriously wrong for Victor to be searching their bags. Something must've gone missing. Or been stolen. Something important.
Cameron couldn't even begin to imagine what it could be.
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Sammiemoosam
