Nina

Everyone at the table applauded as Trudy brought out a triple-layer double chocolate cake for dessert. "Let's see some store bought cake of Vera's top this!" she declared proudly, slicing it into pieces and placing them down in front of us.

"This looks totes amaze Trudes," Joy declared in awe.

"Hear, hear!" Eddie chimed in enthusiastically – at least I think that's what he was saying, but he'd already stuffed a forkful and a half of cake in his mouth so it was hard to tell.

Amber didn't take one however, and Alfie's jaw just about hit the floor. "How can you say no to this Ambs?" he demanded, aghast that she was giving up her portion.

Amber looked at him in pity while absently grooming her flawless nails, picking at an imaginary hangnail. "Alfie we had pot roast for dinner and so I already ate roast beef, potatoes, carrots and celery. If I have cake too, I'll have to run it off before bedtime and you know how much I dislike sweating."

Alfie opened his mouth to argue but Jerome cut him off. "Let her be Alfie, more for you isn't it?"

"So Nina, when am I going to learn what it is that you were looking forward to?"

I blinked in surprise before tugging my attention away from the cake debate and over to Fabian. I propped my hand underneath my chin and smiled slyly at him. "Actually it hasn't happened yet, but I can guarantee you will be finding out very shortly."

Fabian sighed in disappointment, and I nearly died from how adorable his action was. "What does very shortly qualify as?"

"Oh, sometime after dinner I'm sure," I hinted, undoubtedly enjoying this far more than I should be.

Fabian raised his eyebrows and laughed. "Yeah, because that narrows it down," he grinned. "So very shortly qualifies as some point in the four and a half hours between the end of dinner and Victor's pin dropping."

"I knew you'd understand," I winked. I reached out to gently push his shoulder but he caught my hand in his and my breath halted as he lowered our now joint hands to the table and gently stroked my knuckles with his thumb.

"Hey Nina can I borrow you for a minute?" I looked to my right to see Eddie kneeling beside me, looking slightly anxious.

I raised an eyebrow and subtly jerked my eyes in Fabian's direction. "Can't it wait?"

Eddie dramatically blew out a breath and mimed a deeply thoughtful expression as he pretended to think about it and I rolled my eyes. "Yeh – no. I need to talk to you."

I bit back a sigh and cast an apologetic look at Fabian. "I'll show you what I'm looking forward to after I help Eddie with whatever it is he's so jumpy about. I promise."

Fabian opened his mouth to reply but Eddie interrupted. "Yes and then he says OK you stare at each other lovingly and you kiss him good-bye so we're going to skip all that since this discussion is about a very important topic. Let's go."

I didn't even have time to blush before my Osirian grabbed my wrist and promptly tugged me from the table, up the stairs and into the girls' bathroom where he locked the door.

"Eddie, what do you need to discuss that is apparently so urgent it couldn't wait until dinner was over?" I folded my arms and perched myself on the edge of the bathtub, arching an eyebrow as I waited for his response.

"What I want to discuss is what we're going to do the next time that book of yours magically makes your suitcase float, because I'm pretty sure there was another way that situation could have been handled." Eddie leaned against the wall next to the sink and jammed his hands in his pockets, staring at me earnestly.

A scowl rose to my lips before I could stop it. "My suitcase was levitating about half a foot in the air and getting higher by the second, what did you want me to do? Wait for someone to point it out?" I defended myself.

Eddie shook his head. "I'm not saying your… 'method'," he made dramatically big air quotes and smirked at me as he continued, "Didn't get the job done. The problem is, tackling your luggage is hardly subtle so we need to find a way to make sure your book stays grounded. Last thing we want is Victor finding out about this and confiscating it for his, 'research'."

I shrugged. "Well from what we can tell, the book's in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, so chances are even if Victor does steal it, he probably won't be able to read it."

Eddie smirked. "Well from what we can tell," he mimicked me, winking to let me know it was on purpose, "It's still Victor we're dealing with so chances are, he will be able to read it."

Throwing back my head I puffed my cheeks up with air and slowly exhaled, drumming my fingers against the bathtub and staring at the smooth white ceiling.

"You know Chosen One, staring at the ceiling and just waiting for a good idea to come to you is not going to make a good idea come to you."

He smirked at me and I arched an eyebrow. "Oh, and I'm assuming you speak from experience?"

Pretending to gasp, Eddie, clutched his stomach and sank slowly down the wall. "Ouch, Chosen One. Way to hit me where it hurts."

I laughed, before sliding off the tub to join him on the floor. "What if I just keep the book with me at all times?"

"You mean like never let it out of your sight at all times, or just know where it is at all times?" he clarified.

"First one," I mumbled, feeling exhaustion from jet lag begin to kick in. I yawned and felt my head loll to the side where it landed on Eddie's shoulder, the lights beginning to swim in my vision.

A knock on the door startled us to our feet. "Nina? If you're in there it's Amber and I've been walking down the hall banging on doors looking for you because Trudy says we need to unpack." I pressed my fingertips into my eyes and shook my head, trying to force the tiredness away as footsteps walked away from the door and Amber repeated the same message at the next door down the hall.

"I'll just keep it in my book bag whenever I'm at school, and figure out some way or another to keep it with me while I'm here," Eddie gave me a thumbs up before pulling open the bathroom door and following me out.

"Over here Amber," I called.

My blonde roommate whirled around, hands going to her hips when she spotted me. "There you are Nina! I've been looking for you for ages and I've knocked on nearly every door up here and I just got a manicure done yesterday so that means I put myself at risk of ruining my beautiful nails for your sake. You're welcome."

"Um, thank you?" I turned to Eddie, hoping he would have answers but he looked just as confused as I was and simply shrugged at me.

"Come on Neens, I have sixteen suitcases worth of outfits to unpack and because I risked ruining my manicure for you, you're going to help me." Amber looped her arm through mine and I nearly tripped as she pulled me down the hall to our room to start unpacking.

At least I thought we were going to be unpacking, until Amber shut the door and leaned against it, looking at me expectantly. "So?"

"Um," I looked around the room in confusion. "So, what?"

Amber huffed impatiently and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "So, are you going to tell me what that funny business downstairs was about or not?"

A nervous laugh burst out of my lips before I could stop it and I dug my nails into my palm in an attempt to calm down. "Wh-what are you talking about?" I turned around so she couldn't see my face and began to open my bag in an attempt to have something to do with my hands.

"I'm talking about you attacking your suitcase. Duh," Amber explained slowly. "That whole christening your luggage thing? You've never done that before, so call me crazy, but I say that you're hiding something from Victor. And whenever you're hiding something from Victor, it's Sibuna related. So are we back on or not?"

I stopped unzipping my suitcase, and took a slow breath before standing up and turning to face Amber, doing my best not to let my face give away the lie I was about to tell. "No, Amber. Sibuna is not back on. I was just trying to mess with Victor."

Amber 'hmmed', tapping her chin slowly as she thoughtfully circled me, eyeing my face. I forced myself to not blink, ignoring the cold fingers tracing their way down my back. "Alright!" my roommate's expression transformed from suspicion to her regular enthusiasm and she promptly sat down at her vanity to begin unpacking her makeup.

I stared at her for a second, mouth opening and closing, not comprehending what I was seeing. "Wait you – you believe me?"

Amber nodded, pulling out her first few containers of eye shadow. "Of course I do. You've changed the subject, avoided me and made some very creative twists to the truth before but you've never lied to me. If you say it's not Sibuna related I believe you."

"Oh." A golf-ball sized lump of guilt rose up in my throat, making it hard to breathe. "OK then." I knelt next to my bag and unpacked my clothes while Amber happily chatted on about how she'd gone to Fashion Camp over summer break and how it had been absolutely amazing but I barely heard her, concentrating on keeping tears from jumping to my eyes. I was surprised I felt so guilty, but I supposed I shouldn't have been. Amber was right after all; I'd never lied to her before.

I'd never lied to Fabian before.

I froze and my bathrobe slid through my hands into a heap on the floor as a pounding filled my ears. Remembering how dangerous our quest for the Mask of Anubis had turned out to be last year, Eddie and I had agreed to do our best to keep Sibuna out of whatever was currently happening to me. But I hadn't realized until this second that that would mean lying to Fabian. If I slipped up and he suspected that something was going on, I was going to have to look him right in the eye and lie to him.

"Nina? Helloo-ooo?" Amber snapped her fingers in front of my face and I jerked in surprise. "Are you all right?" she asked loudly and clearly. "Do you need mouth to mouth?"

"What? No!" I snatched my robe up from the floor and walked over to the dresser hurriedly. "I don't need – nor do I want – nor will you ever give me – mouth to mouth."

Amber shrugged, and walked back over to her vanity, idly humming to herself.

I blew out a shaky breath and ran my fingers through my hair, pressing my lips together. I didn't even know if I could lie to Fabian, it wasn't like I was all that of an amazing liar to begin with. Maybe he wouldn't notice anything was wrong. Maybe if he did he wouldn't suspect it was Sibuna related. Maybe the lady from my dream would slip a magic potion in his breakfast every morning to make him freakishly gullible.

Yeah right. And maybe Victor was going to adopt me.

There was a knock on our bedroom door. "Come in unless you're Victor but I know you're not Victor because Victor never knocks so come in!" Amber called.

"Nina?" Speak of the devil. Fabian poked his head in the door and started to come over to where I was unpacking but Amber leapt out of her chair and jumped in front of him, barring his path. "You can't go over there are you crazy?"

I bit back a laugh, as Fabian looked at Amber in confusion, gesturing to himself, Amber and me before finally finding his voice. "But, but you said to come in," he reminded her.

Amber folded her arms and pushed back her shoulders. "Right. I said to come in. I did not say to go over to where Nina is unpacking, I mean honestly Fabian, are you completely out of your mind?"

I continued unpacking, straining my ears to continue to hear the conversation taking place, curious about where Amber was going with this.

"Amber, what's the big deal?" Fabian asked and unable to help myself I snuck a peak over my shoulder just in time to see him give Amber a look of bewilderment that he somehow managed to make look really attractive.

Amber sighed and sadly patted Fabian on the shoulder, looking at him with pity. "Fabian, drop the act. I am not letting you near your girlfriend's suitcase, not today, not tomorrow, not at the end of the year or anywhere in between."

"Why not?" he folded his arms.

"Be-cause," Amber drew out the word, speaking slowly, "Girls keep our clothes in our suitcases." She waited for him expectantly, sighing when Fabian still didn't get the point. Deciding to finish unpacking my almost empty suitcase later I shoved it underneath my bed and stood up, feeling like I should know where this conversation was going. "You see Fabian, girls have certain items of clothing that we don't necessarily want boys to see, nor should boys see them until such a time as a boy and a girl have reached a certain milestone in their romantic relationship."

My face turned bright red as I realized where she was going with this and I darted in between them before Amber could elaborate on what she meant and Fabian realized what she was saying. "OK then Amber, I think he gets the idea."

My roommate tilted her head at me innocently. "Does he though Nina? Does he really?"

"Yes, he really does Amber," I tried to smile but I was so nervous it probably looked more like a grimace. I couldn't help it though – I had moments to get Fabian out of the room before he understood why Amber wouldn't let him near my suitcase and the situation got very awkward, very fast. "So we are going to move this conversation elsewhere. OK?"

Amber's face fell and her focus shifted from the old problem to this new one. "But Nina you were meant to help me unpack," she reminded me, turning on the puppy-dog eyes.

"I will help you once Fabian and I have finished our conversation, sound good?" Not giving Amber much time to answer I turned around and practically shoved Fabian out the door, yanking it shut behind us and exhaling in relief when it clicked shut.

"So," I turned to him expectantly. "What did you want to talk about?"

Fabian frowned and held up a hand. "Before we talk about that, can you tell me what Amber was talking about in there?"

My cheeks turned pink and I tried to swallow away the dryness in my throat. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do," Fabian assured me, "But what does that have to do with–"

"Then trust me when I say that you do not need to know what Amber was talking about," I interrupted.

Fabian tilted his head, considering my words and nodded. "Alright. So what do you think are the chances she's eavesdropping right now?"

Amber's voice through the door caused me to turn around in surprise. "Just because you can't tell that I'm listening to every single word you're saying does not mean that I'm eavesdropping!"

I pressed a hand to my mouth to quiet my laughter, and pointed down the hallway to the infamous door and Fabian nodded in agreement. Wrapping his hand in mine I intertwined our fingers, pulling him over to the attic. Tugging an ever-present bobby pin out of my hair, I slid it into the lock, jimmying until I heard a click and the door swung open.

I lead Fabian up the stairs, pausing to let him close the door behind us and a thrill ran through me as we darted up to the attic, as though we were clandestine lovers in one of my gran's cheesy old romance novels.

"I like this place a lot better now that Vera's stuff is out of it," I confessed. Once Vera had 'moved out', Victor had vetoed any more of Trudy's efforts to turn the attic into a suitable place for human beings to reside in and it had once more become the place where stuff went to die. Hands still linked, we sat down on an upturned chest, our pressed together knees making me feel like my heart was trying to win a marathon it was pounding so fast.

"Nina, it's been an hour since dinner, and I've been patient, so will you please tell me what the big secret is?" Fabian pressed our intertwined hands against his chest and looked at me expectantly.

I twirled a piece of hair with my free hand, smiling at him tauntingly. "Wouldn't you like to know," I teased.

Fabian shrugged his head as though considering, fighting back a smile. "Yeah, I kinda would," he affirmed.

"Wellll…" I dragged the word out until he groaned in impatience.

"Nina!"

I felt the small laugh bubble out of my lips and ducked my head, before tossing back my hair. "How about a trade?"

Fabian raised his eyebrows quizzically. "A trade?"

I nodded, nervously licking my lips. "You give me something I want, and I will tell you whatever you want to know."

"Done," Fabian asserted, before quickly backtracking and adding, "Provided it doesn't involve anything too humiliating."

"Come on, when have I ever asked you to do anything like that?" I let my eyes twinkle at him as I chewed by bottom lip and he laughed.

"Alright, so what do you want?" He had absently started tracing the skin between my index finger and thumb again and it made me temporarily lose my train of thought.

Clearing my throat, I nervously wrapped a few strands of hair around my finger and pulled before steeling my nerves and voicing my request. "I want you to kiss me."

Fabian blinked as though he'd heard me wrong. "You… what?"

I hurried to explain myself. "It's just, last year we went through that whole date-without-really-dating thing for like two weeks and then, well, we broke up – or, you broke up with me – because we didn't seem to be working as a couple and I could be way off but I feel like part of it is because we just, we never really got the chance to, well, you know, kiss once we got back to school and I don't want to break up this year and I know I kissed you earlier because of that race thing with Eddie but that was different, that was in front of people and rushed and not intimate at all and I'm pretty sure I'm rambling now so I'm just going to shut up and tell you what I was–"

I was interrupted by Fabian cupping my cheek and gently pressing his lips to mine. My eyelids fluttered closed and I kissed him back, fireworks whirling throughout my body until I thought I would dissolve. His lips were soft and firm under mine and I placed a hand on Fabian's chest as I leaned into the kiss, afraid that if I didn't I would melt right into him. His hand moved from cupping my cheek to tenderly nestling itself in my hair and the motion seemed to replace my blood with lightning that raced from where our lips were connected to my fingers and toes and I wouldn't have been surprised if my hair was standing up straight from the sheer electricity coursing through me.

Fabian slowly pulled away and I reminded myself to breathe as my eyes flickered open and I bit back a giggle. "That was a really good way of getting me to stop talking," I murmured happily, pushing my hair out of my face where it had fallen.

He gave a small laugh and a blush rose to my cheeks as I cleared my throat. "So, do you remember in May last year on your birthday I gave you that 'IOU' card that said I would give it to you next year because I was ordering it and couldn't afford international shipping rates?" Fabian nodded and I continued, "Well I got it the week after I went back to America and it is currently hiding in my suitcase, waiting to be delivered to you."

Fabian grinned excitedly, his eyes lighting up. "Wait you mean I'm actually getting a birthday present from you?"

I nodded. "Of course. Why wouldn't you?"

He shrugged. "Well three years ago Joy did something like that, gave me an IOU card for my birthday present, and three years later I still haven't gotten it."

"What are you saying you think I'm like Joy?" Leaning back I unclasped our hands and raised an eyebrow and Fabian seemed to realize he was in the danger zone.

"No! No of course not! Not at all, I think you're nothing like Joy! I just thought it was some sort of girl trick or something to give someone an IOU card and keep saying they'll get it later until they forget about it."

I turned away from him and chewed the inside of my lip. "Yeah OK."

Fabian sighed in disappointment. "Nina, please don't do this. I don't think you're anything like Joy." When I didn't say anything in response, he added, "I can prove it."

I turned back to him and folded my arms expectantly. "How?"

He gave me a little smile and gently unfolded my arms, taking both my hands in his. "Because I wouldn't date Joy."

I felt a grin fighting to form on my lips and stubbornly rolled my lips inside my mouth to try and fight it. "You're smiling I can tell," Fabian declared happily.

"No I'm not," I said quickly, ducking my head to try and hide my borderline-exuberant facial expression.

Fabian didn't back down. "Yes you are," he insisted. "You always do that thing with your mouth where you try and hide your lips whenever you don't want anyone to know you're smiling." Giving up, I raised my head, letting him see me laugh and he sweetly tucked a piece of my hair behind my ears. "So am I forgiven?" he asked.

I tilted my head, pretending to consider and then extricated one of my hands from his. Placing it on the back of his neck I pulled his lips into mine and kissed him fondly, gladly forgoing a little bit of oxygen in exchange for the contact. "Yes you're forgiven," I answered after we broke apart, foreheads touching.

Footsteps coming up the stairs startled us back into our own realms of personal space – aside from our still joined hands. "Nina? Fabian? Are you up here?" called a voice that sounded an awful lot like Patricia.

"Yeah, we're up here," I called back.

She rounded the corner and poked her head in. "About time, I've been looking for you for ages. Sibuna reunion in here at midnight tonight."

We nodded and Patricia gave us a thumbs up before heading back downstairs.

"So Nina, do you think Sibuna is going to be starting up again this year?" Fabian asked and I swallowed down the guilt in my throat.

"Who knows?" I laughed, fighting to keep my voice light before hurriedly changing the topic. "Come on, I want to finally give you your four months late birthday present."

Not giving him time to respond I stood and tugged him back down the stairs to mine and Amber's room, but he paused at the door. "Won't Amber give me the third-degree if I set foot in there again?" he worried.

I shook my head. "I'm pretty much finished unpacking this time, it should be good."

Twisting the handle, we headed inside and he sat on the bed while I tugged out my luggage and Amber finished subcategorizing her suitcases. Shoe-cases by type, heel height and color, and clothes-cases by tops, skirts, jeans, dresses and miscellaneous.

Grabbing the wrapped present I shoved my suitcase back so he wouldn't see the book and pressed Fabian's gift into his hands. "Open it," I insisted, practically bouncing in a hybrid of excitement and nervousness.

"Aw, is this going to be a really cute, scrapbook-worthy Fabina moment?" Amber sighed wistfully, pressing her hands together.

"OK Amber first: I told you, neither of us scrapbook, and second: it's not a huge deal, I'm just finally giving Fabian his birthday present." I sat on the bed next to him, making sure to sit on top of my hands to make sure I didn't bite my nails.

Amber 'aww-ed', again and declared that we had five minutes and then I had to help her unpack because she nearly broke a nail already and all the stress could cause wrinkles before bouncing out of the room.

Fabian untied the springy blue ribbon, pulling it off the package and carefully unfolded the forest green, white polka-dotted wrapping paper. His face lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning as he slid the paper off and saw what I'd gotten him and I felt like an enormous weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. "It's a new copy of The Solar System Is Your Friend!" he said excitedly and I shakily exhaled, words unable to express my relief that he actually liked it.

"And," I opened it to the second page and pointed at the inky signature. "It's autographed." Fabian laughed in delight and I pulled my hands out from underneath me, my nervousness evaporating as I explained, "I thought you could use a replacement after you burned yours for your Sibuna sacrifice two years ago."

Fabian clutched the book and turned a wide smile on me, opening and closing his mouth before pulling me into a tight hug. "Thank you Nina," he said sincerely, hands pressed into my back, keeping me close.

I hugged him back, letting my head rest in the crook between his neck and shoulder. "Don't mention it," I murmured.

We sat like that for awhile, one of his free hands running through my hair over and over again as he kept trying to pull me closer and I thought he must've done something to fill my nervous system with bubbles because I felt as though I were flying. Until I heard a dreamy 'awww!', at which I promptly jerked away from Fabian like it scalded me to touch him and immediately stood up to see Amber staring at us happily. "You guys are so good together!" she proclaimed, clapping her hands excitedly. Just as quickly as I'd stood up, Amber's body language shifted from gushing to stern and she marched over to the bed. "Now shoo, Nina needs to help me unpack." Tugging Fabian up she lead him to the door, ignoring his protests, and shut the door behind him. Firmly brushing off her hands Amber flounced over to her piles of suitcases and I resigned myself to spending the rest of my evening trapped in the room.

For the next two and a half hours, Amber instructed me on everything about helping her unpack, from how to properly open up her suitcases to the correct way of folding her tops. When she tried to tell me how to coordinate her hangers by material however, I drew the line and made her finish herself.

"Amber, I opened your suitcases – top to bottom – I sub-subcategorized your subcategories, I put away all your shoes in order of seasons, I folded all your jeans and non-wrinkle tops, I put all your skirts, dresses and can-be-wrinkled tops on hangers and I put the rest of your clothes away. I think you can finish up." Amber sighed in disappointment but gave in, mumbling a disgruntled 'fine' as she moved over to hang her clothes up in their proper order.

Shaking my head in fond disbelief, I went back over to my side of the room to make my bed. I'd almost finished when a thought struck me. "Hey Amber, was that really necessary by the way?"

"Was what necessary?" Amber asked, finishing up the last of her hangers.

"The whole, not letting Fabian near me while I was unpacking my stuff deal," I clarified.

Amber huffed and folded her arms at me, head tilted, eyebrows raised. "Well Neens I'm sorry but did you want Fabian seeing your bras?"

A faint blush crept into my cheeks as I opened my mouth but then closed it with a shrug. "Fair point," I admitted.

By the time we finished setting up our room we only had about thirty minutes left until Victor got out his pin so I hopped in the shower and had just finished pulling my pajamas on when a knock sounded on the door. "One second," I called. Pulling my towel out of my hair I gave a small shiver as my damp curls landed on my back, sending water into my cotton shirt. I touched my locket and quickly checked my reflection in the mirror. "OK I'm coming."

I pulled open the door and blinked when I was greeted with none other than my not quite a friend but she saved my boyfriend's life so not really my enemy – Joy Mercer.

"Hey Nina," Joy said, a stiff looking smile plastered onto her face. "Amber said you were here, can I come in?"

"Well. I don't know why you would want to have a conversation we could be having in the living room in the bathroom," I smiled tightly, "But sure. Why not?"

Joy gave a nervous little laugh and stepped inside. "Thanks, because this actually isn't the type of conversation you want to have in the living room," she explained as she shut and locked the door.

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Why, is this the part where you kill me?"

"No but don't worry I've got that scheduled for next week," Joy joked and I cleared my throat.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I considered sitting down for about two seconds before deciding to just lean on the sink.

Joy puffed her cheeks and blew out a breath, swinging her hands back and forth. "Right, well, see I just wanted to hear it from one of you that, you and Fabian, you're… are you off or on?"

I was suddenly very glad that I'd decided to lean against the sink because when I folded my arms and straightened up it added about another three inches to the two or so I already had on Joy. I smiled at her tightly and said, "Fabian and I are most definitely on, Joy. Are we done now?"

She shook her head. "Not quite."

"So since we've already established that Fabian and I are on," I repeated, just in case she'd missed it the first time, "What do we still need to discuss?"

Joy gave me a pained look. "Well, you see Nina, I want Fabian to be happy. And so if he's happy with you, then I'll respect that. I just…" she paused and cast her hands about before clasping them under her chin. "I'm just not sure that you're good for him."

I blinked. I blinked again. And then I pinched myself hard to make sure I wasn't experiencing a vivid hallucination. Give her the benefit of the doubt, I decided, striving to bring a smile to my face and keep it there, although it probably looked more like I was bearing my teeth. "Thank you Joy," I said, my words coming out a little muffled as I struggled to maintain my frozen smile. "For your consideration. May I ask what makes you so sure I am not good for him?"

Joy nodded, looking relieved. "See I remember how after you two broke up last year Fabian struggled to get over you and he was really unhappy and I don't want that for him and when you two break up again–"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I cut her off and gave a little laugh of disbelief. "What do you mean, when, we break up?" Benefit of the doubt, benefit of the doubt.

Joy shrugged. "Well you know, you two broke up last year and got back together and the first phase of a relationship tends to dictate the rest of it so I just figured you guys were going to have one of those on-again off-again things."

And benefit of the doubt goes out the window. "Joy, I am going to say this, as clearly as I possibly can so that there is no chance of any kind of misunderstanding. Fabian and I are together. As a couple. We are going to be staying together. As a couple. We are not going to be breaking up. Meaning he is not going to be available for you to swoop in and steal."

"Now hang on a second Nina I don't steal boyfriends," Joy insisted.

"You know that's so funny Joy because you keep saying that but I remember last year how we were still together and you kept throwing yourself at him at every single opportunity, so just try and tell me that isn't boyfriend stealing," I snapped.

"What are you two still doing up?" Joy and I turned from our argument that was really more of us taking turns trying to bite each other's heads off to the door in panic before we realized it was still closed. "Mister Clark, Mister Lewis, stop pressing your ears against the bathroom door this instant and go downstairs."

I felt my jaw drop. I felt indignation swirl up in my stomach and I firmly yanked the door open to see a not-ashamed-at-all-looking Alfie and Jerome, facing off against a rather disgruntled looking Victor, who promptly turned towards us. And just when I thought I'd seen every shade of red Victor could turn. "And you two!" Victor's hands fidgeted all around angrily as though he were either trying to fight off an imaginary swarm of gnats or having a miniature seizure. "What is everyone still doing up, you have fifteen minutes to get to bed and I have business to attend to so I want you to finish getting ready for sleep and of course once you have, I shall as always, want to be able to hear a pin drop."

My cheeks filled with enough heat to pass for an oven furnace as Victor turned and headed downstairs. I was about to leave before I turned back to Joy, unable to resist throwing something in her face. "Oh and just for the record Joy, you may think he, 'struggled to get over me'," I mimicked harshly, "But the truth is, Fabian never got over me." Whirling around I stalked back to my room, keeping my jaw locked and fighting back tears of anger before I did something I regretted.

"Amber," I demanded, wrapping my arms around myself and holding on tight. "Does the first phase of a relationship dictate the rest of it?"

My blonde friend looked up from where she was braiding her hair to me. "What?"

"If two people breakup and then get back together does that automatically mean they're going to have an on-again off-again relationship?" I asked.

Amber shrugged and turned back to the mirror. "Well it depends on the length of time in between the breaking up and getting back together. If the couple breaks up for two to five days and then gets back together, sixty-eight percent of magazines show that those relationships are more likely to turn into on-again off-again relationships. If the breakup lasts a significant length of time and then the couple gets back together, in my opinion it's meant to be."

"So you don't think Fabian and I are doomed to have an on-again off-again thing?" I clarified.

Amber sighed and shook her head. "Of course not Nina, where on earth did you ever get such a ridiculous idea?"

I felt my shoulders relax. If the official Anubis relationship guru said Fabian and I weren't going to be constantly breaking up, I would gladly take her word over Joy's. "It doesn't matter," I insisted. "Come on, we should finish getting ready. If Victor can't hear a pin drop he'll be up here asking Corbierre to peck our tongues out."

Amber squealed and clapped her hands over her ears. "OK that's a mental image I can realllllllly do without!"

I laughed and tucked my locket into my shirt. "Good night Amber. Wake me up at midnight?"

She took her hands off of her ears and looked at me. "What?" I smiled and repeated my question. "Oh right, of course," Amber nodded.

I mumbled a thanks, flipped off the lights and pulled back the covers. "Sweet dreams," I yawned, nestling into the pillow. I let my eyes drift closed, allowing the jet lag to come back and I yawned again as sleep swirled over me.∞

∞Eddie was waiting for me when I got down to the Sibuna reunion. "Where are the others?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Not sure."

A strange scent tickled the inside of my nose and I frowned. "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" he asked, walking over.

I inhaled deeply, trying to figure out what it was that I was smelling. "That. That, earthy… dirty… smelling… scent, thing."

Eddie smirked at me. "Yes, because that wonderful explanation just made everything crystal clear."

I rolled my eyes and punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up. Honestly though, how do you not smell that?"

Eddie raised his hands in defeat and sniffed deeply, an odd expression coming to his face. "Wait, I do smell that. Like we're in a forest or something."

"Exactly," I said. "Which is strange because we're not in a forest, we're in the basement which I'd expect to be smelling of Victor's chemicals and stuff." I waved my hands around the cellar and just about jumped out of my skin. "Um, correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this place just full of tables covered in weird alchemy things?"

Eddie frowned in confusion, looking around at the empty room. "I thought so."

"Huh," I muttered, and blinked as I realized Eddie seemed to be having an extremely rapid growth spurt. "Eddie why are you growing taller?"

"What?" he looked down at himself and then back at me and he paled. "OK Nina, don't freak out but – I'm not growing taller. You're sinking."

"What are you talking about?" I rolled my eyes in disbelief only to look down and yelp in shock and fear. "I'm sinking. I'm sinking! Why am I sinking!" The cellar floor had transformed into a thick, muddy substance that I was already knee-deep in and as I tore my eyes away from my encased legs I noticed that the walls were now old, made of stone and covered in moss. "Eddie what's happening?" I cried.

I was hoping with every fiber of my being that he would have an answer but he only threw out his hands in disbelief. "I don't know."

I shrieked as my body suddenly lurched down another six inches at least so that the ground was now covering everything up to my ribs. "Eddie!" The call had barely left my lips when his hands were on my wrists and he was tugging me up. My one-way ticket underground seemed to pause as my Osirian strained to pull me up and I experienced momentary relief before the mud began slithering its way up my body, reaching dirty little fingers up to my chest. "Do something," I begged as my locket was submerged. Eddie's grip on me was so tight I feared if he held on any tighter he'd pull my wrists right off but it wasn't tight enough. The ground kept crawling its way up my body, making me shudder in disgust as it stuck to my skin.

"So this is who the goddess chooses?" I turned at the introduction of a new voice, momentarily forgetting that Eddie and the ground were playing tug-of-war with my body and the ground was winning.

A woman was walking towards us out of a hall I hadn't noticed before. She stepped into the torchlight (since when were there torches here?) and I was immediately reminded of the lady from my dream last night. They both had an ethereal glow about them, but the similarities began and ended there. Unlike last night's transformed Ms. Miller, this lady had pale skin, skin so white it looked as though someone had leeched the life right out of it. Her hair was green, but not a forest green like one of my favorite tops, more like the green swamp monsters were made of and it was interwoven with dozens of what looked like either pearls or – and I was really hoping it was the first option – human teeth. Ms. Miller had been wearing some kind of white dress and gold jewelry, but this lady had on a black, scaly battle suit. With two double-bladed axes strapped to her waist, this lady looked ready for war.

A laugh rippled out of Lizard Lady's throat, cold and mocking, but just like the woman from my dream last night, her lips didn't move when she laughed, or when she calmed down and said to us, "With all the minor gods and goddesses in the realm to choose from, all the demons even. And she chose you. Pathetic." She laughed again and waved an arm. Roots immediately sprouted up from the ground, wrapping Eddie in place. I tried not to let fear overwhelm me as Lizard Lady walked over and smiled at me, revealing pointed teeth, made of gold. "Such a pretty face," she murmured, cradling my chin in her hands. "Too bad you'll have to die." Her smile widened into a menacing grin that literally stretched from ear-to-ear and her laugh again filled the cavern as she stroked my cheek with her thumb.

"Get away from her!" Eddie snapped.

Lizard Lady turned to him, eyebrows raised, a small smile on her face. "Peace Osiris. Your child's death doesn't have to be painful, provided she gives me the book without too much delay. So," she turned back to me expectantly snapping her fingers. "Where is it?"

"I'm not his child," I snapped instead.

Lizard Lady's smile transformed into a sneer, cold and hard and she grabbed me by the hair, yanking my head back and I gasped in pain as I felt few curls part from my scalp. "Do not attempt to play me for a fool Horus. I saw you there with Her Majesty the other night, I saw her give you the Book of the Dead!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I managed.

Lizard Lady rolled her eyes, releasing my scalp but whatever relief I felt immediately faded as I felt the mud crawl up to my neck. "Eddie," I choked out, terror surging through me. I was going to die. The earth was going to swallow me up as my Osirian, my protector watched on, the roots trapping him, making him unable to help me. I didn't want to die. That single thought funded through me, over and over again as I locked eyes with Eddie, reaching my hand out for him even as the mud crawled down my shoulders and over my arms. "Please don't let me die," I sobbed, feeling tears leak down my eyes as the mud began to slide up my chin.

I saw the pain and helplessness in his eyes, I saw him open his mouth but all I heard was the woman's high, cold laughter as the mud covered my ears, stooped up my nose, blanketed my eyes and swallowed up my head. I wanted to breathe, I needed to breathe and I struggled to find some way to take oxygen into my system that wouldn't involve inhaling a mouthful of mud. My lungs burned as tears slowly continued their monotonous trek out of my closed eyelids and eventually I couldn't take it anymore and opened my mouth to breathe but I couldn't breathe and instead dirt poured into my mouth and fell down my throat, choking me, strangling me, making my entire body spasm with coughs I couldn't get out –

"Nina wake up it's almost midnight!"

A scream tore itself out of my lips and I bolted upright, throwing myself away from the voice, from the laughter, from the dirt.

A hand firmly clapped itself over my mouth and someone hissed 'Shh!' before my mind went on backtrack. I'd been thrashing. I could move. Someone's hand was over my mouth which meant dirt wasn't covering my mouth and I could hear a person trying to quiet me which went my ears weren't covered. Carefully prying my eyelids open, I saw a familiar blonde head glaring at me. "Are you trying to get us caught Nina?" Amber demanded. "Try to keep it down or Victor will hear, now let's go!"

I nodded slowly, adrenaline beginning to trickle out of my system as I squeezed my blankets to make sure that I really was in bed and not being buried alive. "Right, you head up to the attic, I'll be there in a minute," I said once she took her hand off of my mouth.

Amber seemed to realize I was a bit shaken up because concern painted itself over her face. "Nina are you all right? Did you have a bad dream?"

I nodded, but flashed her my best attempt at a confident smile. "It was no big deal Amber, just…" I cast about for something to say before shaking my head. "It was no big deal."

Not looking entirely convinced, Amber turned and quietly slipped out the door after whispering to me that it was five minutes to midnight and the Sibuna reunion couldn't start without its leader so I better not be late. Slowly breathing in fresh, non-dirt air I felt almost giddy knowing that I was here, safe and sound in Anubis and not busy being buried alive. Running my fingers through my hair, I pushed back the covers, swung my legs over the side of the bed and froze. I couldn't blink, I couldn't think, I couldn't move and could barely breathe, what I was seeing blocking all links between my brain and my muscles.

Caking my legs and the thin cotton of my pajama pants, in a layer so heavy I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it first, was thick, dried, mud.