Chapter 6:
Nina
"What's there a first for?" Kara asked innocently, walking into the room.
"A first for, um... Patricia wearing pink!" I exclaimed as I hurriedly hid my book behind my back and Fabian sat on the papyrus and riddle.
"What?" Patricia gasped. I gave her a "go with it!" look. "Oh, I mean, yeah... I was thinking of changing around my wardrobe a bit, you know?"
"Um... Okay then..." she said doubtingly. "But why are you all in here?" I blanched on what to say, but luckily Amber hopped in, covering for me.
"Patricia's been having relationship issues with Eddie so she came to us four! We're like, the relationship gurus!" she said. Kara nodded, appearing to believe it.
"Oh, well, sorry for interrupting. I'll just be going then..." she said, slipping back out the door.
"Jeez!" Patricia shouted. "She's going to think I have some major issues now! Am I really the best person to make excuses about?"
"Actually, you are." Amber stated.
"Well, gee thanks. Glad I'm such an important contribution to the group." she mumbled sarcastically.
Kara
"God damnit..." I mumbled to myself as I closed the door to my bedroom. Something was obviously up with Nina and the others, and I knew it wasn't Patricia's relationship problems.
I walked down the stairs and into the common room where the only "normal" people were. I went and sat down next to Mick who was tossing a soccer ball up and catching it.
"Are Nina, Fabian, Amber, Alfie, and Patricia always super weird and secretive?" I asked as he tossed the ball up again.
"Yup, and don't ask me why because I have no idea. I think Eddie and Joy know something about it though, but not enough that they're included in their sneaking around and stuff." He replied, catching it.
"Ah..."
"Why do you ask?" He questioned.
"Because I just walked in on them reading a super old book, and when I asked what's up, they said Patricia was planning on turning her wardrobe pink." Mick erupted in laughter before turning to look at me.
"Patricia? In pink?" he laughed.
"And you asked why I thought they were up to something!" I said, starting to laugh as well.
"What's so funny?" Eddie asked, coming out of the kitchen.
"Well," I said confidently. "According to Nina and Amber, you and Patricia have been having relationship problems and she's going to start wearing pink instead of black." Mick guffawed as Eddie's expression changed to one of pure horror.
"I wouldn't believe them though," Mick comforted. "I think those were just excuses. They've started with their sneaking around again."
Eddie walked out the door mumbling something about how "our relationship was going great..." which made Mick and I laugh even harder. Mick was laughing so hard that he dropped the ball he was playing with and it landed on my head.
"Ow!" I said as the ball hit my face.
"Whoops! Sorry!" Mick said before laughing some more. I grabbed the ball from the couch where it had fallen after hitting me, and stood up.
"Are you good?" I asked coyly.
"At football? Definitely." he replied.
"Well then, I guess you'll have to prove it." I said. He looked confused.
"Come on! Play a game with me, yeah?" his face lit up at the challenge and he stood.
"Bring it." he called. I laughed and he followed me outside.
Nina
"Ugh! This doesn't make any sense!" Patricia cried.
"Guys, maybe we should ask Kara..." Alfie interjected quietly.
"NO!" Amber and I exclaimed causing Alfie to flinch.
"Why not? There are two very good reasons as to why we should. One, she probably knows a lot more about Egypt than any of us, and two, she's the one who told us where to find the papyrus. Maybe she knows something about it!" he defended.
"But Alfie," I sighed. "We can't put her in any more danger... Remember what the riddle said? Try on your own and perish in hell? If we screw this up, we could put Kara's life at risk as well."
"I guess you're right..." he said, though he didn't sound very convinced.
"Okay, well... We definitely need to do some research. We need to find out who or what this cousin's daughter is, as well as what "the beloved" is." Fabian said, bringing the attention back to the riddle at hand.
"Maybe the beloved is another name for the chosen one?" Amber offered.
"Hey! Yeah, maybe! Good thinking Amber!" I said cheerfully.
"If that's the case, we've already got that part covered." Fabian said sweetly as he weaseled his hand into mine. I blushed and smiled at him.
"But that leads us back to the cousin's daughter and the house's father... What could that mean?" Patricia pointed out, interrupting my moment with Fabian.
"Maybe..." I ponder, thinking aloud. "The Frobisher Smythes built this house didn't they? Maybe the "father of the house" is the man that built it? Robert Frobisher Smythe?" I suggested.
"Nina, that's brilliant!" Fabian exclaimed. "If she's right, it means we get to learn something about him! He's always been a huge mystery and maybe knowing this "secret" will help us out with any mystery the papyrus is providing!" I smiled, quite proud that I had just impressed my nerdy know it all boyfriend with my clue deciphering.
"But one small problem..." Patricia said.
"What's that?" Fabian asked.
"If we're right about the clue, if it's talking about Robert and the chosen one, how is that going to lead us to anything about the papyrus? It's basically just saying that there's another mystery but we need Nina's help to solve it." she pointed out.
"Well..." I sighed. "I guess that means we'll have to translate the papyrus."
Amber groaned audibly.
"Can we ask Kara now?" Alfie asked, bouncing back to his previous suggestion. "If she's such an expert she should know how to read hieroglyphics!"
"Alfie, I told you. We aren't bringing Kara into this!" I snapped.
"Whhyy?" he whined. "Practically everybody in the house knows about these mysteries aside from her, Mara, and Mick! We may as well tell her!"
"NO ALFIE." I almost yelled, causing everyone to look at me in surprise. I took a calming breath before explaining. "Being the chosen one and going through all of this, it's changed me. I'm so much faster to judge now and I don't like that! When Kara came, in my mind I accused her of having the capability of being as evil as Rufus! RUFUS! That's terrible! I don't want to drag her in to this if we can avoid it." I almost pleaded.
"Fine." he said.
"Why are you so set on getting Kara involved anyway, hmm Alfie?" Amber questioned, her tone laced with jealousy.
"I honestly just think she could help! Imagine how much easier finding the mask last year would have been if we had someone like her helping us out! I promise that's all it is Amber!" he explained quickly, putting his hands in front of him defensively.
"Awe! Okay beau!" she said and I couldn't help but laugh. Everyone looked at me like I was going crazy.
"Sorry! I can't help it! Anyway, we should probably get downstairs before people start asking questions. Besides, I think Patricia's going to have to talk to Eddie."
"What? Why!" she demanded, shocked.
"Because Kara probably asked him about your "relationship problems" after she left!"
"Oh crud. You guys suck, you know that right?" she said as she stood up. "Guess I'd better go talk to him..."
"Good luck!" Amber sang after her.
If looks could kill, Patricia would have just murdered Amber.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
After hiding the papyrus back inside my box of things from Sarah, we all headed downstairs and into the common room. Mara was reading another book while Joy was on her laptop. Eddie was in the kitchen spraying whipped cream into his mouth.
"Disgusting..." Patricia muttered.
"Yet you love him!" Amber squeaked.
"Yeah... Call me crazy." At that point, Eddie had noticed us and came running over.
"Hey Yacker! I mean, Patricia, I mean... Um yeah.. Anyways, so Kara was saying something about how you went to talk to Amber because you thought our relationship was having problems or something? And I don't really understand... If you thought we were having problems why didn't you talk to me? I thought that things have been going great but-" he was cut off by Patricia stepping forward and kissing him, taking some left over whipped cream with her.
"Better?" she asked, wiping the cream from her face and back onto Eddie's.
"Yeah," he replied in a daze. "But why-"
"There's no problems with our relationship. You're doing a wonderful job at being a great boyfriend. Princess pink over here just decided that was the best excuse for all five of us being in her and Nina's room." she explained.
"Ooooh!" he said. "Sibuna?" he asked in a whisper. Patricia nodded. He seemed to understand because he made his way back into the kitchen to continue with his whipped cream eating.
We all continued farther into the room and went to sit down. I sat down on the couch with Fabian next to me while Amber and Alfie plopped down on the love seat. I was just about to ask Fabian if he would be willing to do some translating of the papyrus, when we were interrupted by laughter coming from the doorway.
"Are you sure your shin's okay? I really didn't mean to kick the ball that hard!" Kara said between giggles.
"I didn't know it was possible for someone to kick that hard!" Mick whined in reply.
"Sorry!" she said before bursting into a fit of laughter.
"Do you two always have to be laughing?" Patricia snapped. "Your giddiness is driving me insane!"
Mick and Kara both stopped laughing. Then, as if on cue, they looked at each other and spontaneously burst out again.
"So-Sorry Pa-Patricia!" Mick wheezed.
"My god..." she sighed, looking thoroughly disgusted.
"So what have you guys been up to?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.
"Who knew this kid was so good at football!" Mick exclaimed. "I was all for kicking her arse and she comes out and wounds my leg by kicking so hard! She's awesome!" I laughed as I noticed Kara's cheeks tinge pink.
"Don't call me a kid!" she yelled, smacking his shoulder. "You're only a couple months older than I am! It's not a big difference!"
"Yeah, sure, whatever kiddo!" he replied.
"Miiiick!" Mick chuckled at Kara's annoyance. The brunette went to open her mouth again when suddenly, a huge bang rang out through the house.
"What the hell?" Patricia yelled.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Where did that come from?!" Joy squeaked.
"Holy crap, that scared me..." Kara muttered, placing a hand over her chest.
"Wait..." Mara said, looking around. "Where's Jerome?"
"Um..."
"Oh no! What if he's hurt!" she squeaked. "Where is he? Oh my goodness! Jerome! Jerome!" she called running out of the common room. We all followed her out into the hallway. She ran over to Jerome and Alfie's door and started pounding on it.
"Jerome!" she called. "Jerome, are you in there? Is everything all right?"
"Um... Yes?" A voice replied from the other side of the door. "You may not want to come in here though..." Mara let out a sigh of relief before her eyes squinted suspiciously.
"Why?" she asked. "What was that noise?"
"Oh, it was nothing Mara, you should really just, just stay..." he said with a nervous tone.
"Jerome!" she sighed opening the door. "HOLY CRAP WHAT DID YOU DO?"
We all jumped at Mara's outburst then ran to the door to get a better look.
The walls were covered in what looked like burnt rubber and Jerome's whole face was covered in black char. There was also a burn mark on his desk with more of the burnt substance.
"I... Um... I wanted to know if marshmallows were explosive... I read that they were, but I didn't see how it could be true."
"JEROME!" Mara shrieked. "Are you stupid? You could have gotten seriously hurt!"
"Mars, I'm fine... Really." he assured her. She walked up to him, carefully avoiding the scorched marshmallows on the floor.
"But. You. Could. Have. Not. Been." she said, punching his chest with each word.
"Mara... You're making it sound like I went vampire hunting or something crazy like that! All I did was cause a teeny tiny explosion! I'm fine, okay?"
"Fine." she huffed, crossing her arms.
"I'm sorry I scared you." he said. I saw Patricia roll her eyes and leave as she detected a mushy moment coming on. I figured she was probably right, so I slipped down the hall and into the common room.
By that time, it was five to ten and I decided to head upstairs before Victor's 10 o'clock speech. I was sitting on my bed, alone in my room when I heard it.
"You can't do it alone chosen one."
I looked up in astonishment. I hadn't heard that voice for over a year!
"Sarah?" I asked into the silence.
"You need to seek the help of the beloved! You cannot go at this alone!"
Well, there goes Amber's theory of the beloved being another term for chosen one, I thought.
"Sarah, who is it? What's the beloved?"
"Help her on her quest to find herself! Find her before its too late!" Sarah spoke urgently before her voice disappeared. I sighed and looked around the room dejectedly.
Nothing could ever be easy could it?