Hey guys! So this is my first regular post in a while (finally right?!). Anyways hopefully one of many. Happy reading!

Nina's POV

6:00 P.M.

"Do you think he's asleep yet?" Mara asked me.

"Pretty sure. It's been more than twenty minutes since I told him that, but it's hard to tell if someone's asleep when they are unconscious." I responded.

"Well what are we going to tell Victor? We can't just carry him down the stairs like nothing ever happened. He won't be at dinner either unless he wakes up within the next hour." Fabian noted.

The opened and Jerome was standing there.

"Can't you knock?!" Mara yelled.

"Of course I can, but I don't want to. I would watch my tone if I were you, because now I know something has happened to poor little Jonny." Jerome threatened.

"What do you want Jerome?" Fabian asked him.

"I want you to tell me what's going on here. Patricia has been asking me about him, a guy. And we all know how much she hates guys. He is unconscious on the floor, but yet you don't know if he's sleeping or not?" Jerome questioned.

"Look we have no idea what is going on between him and Patricia if there's anything there, but him being unconscious is very complicated and hard to explain." I told him.

"Oh I know. However, I think we all have the time. Afterall, we have an hour until dinner." Jerome insisted.

"If we tell you, will you cover for him?" Mara asked politely.

"Of course, but you have to tell me." Jerome crossed his arms, leaned against the door frame and had a smirk on his face.

"Okay, well…" I explained everything to him.

"Okay well… VIC-" Jerome started to shout but I covered his mouth.

"I'm telling the truth, look." I lifted up my shirt and showed him the scratches from the first night I saw the figure. Jerome's eyes widened.

"Well how come it only attacked you and Jonny?" He asked me.

"It attacked Mara too." Fabian butted in.

"No I just fainted out of pure terror." Mara confessed.

"Look, we don't know that yet. We don't know anything about this thing." I looked up at him, hoping he would believe me. It honestly has sounded far fetched, but it's true.

"Okay I will tell Trudy he just wants to be left alone."

"Thank you Jerome." I smiled, just out of relief.

"Should we hide him? What if Victor comes in the rooms looking for him?" Mara asked.

"In the closet with a blanket should do." Fabian said. We all looked at him funny. "What?"

"Really Fabian? That's the best you can do?" Mara asked him. I couldn't help but laugh and Jerome joined in.

"Hey, I never said you had to listen to me." Fabian grumbled.

"Okay, cover him with a blanket and shove him under your bed. I will get some of my clothes and my stuffed bear to make it not so obvious." I told Jerome and Fabian to do.

"Okay and I will get some of my half full water bottles." Mara added.

"Sure then we can go downstairs." Jerome said. Fabian started to push Jonny.

"Ah!" He jumped, but then his scream turned to a whisper. "Ahhhhhhhh!" I looked at him. "Get it off me." He had Mr. Dude coiled around his arm.

"Haha, he liked you." I told him.

"Nina!" He pleaded. All of us were laughing except him. I walked over and held my arm out to the snake. He began to coil up on my arm. Fabian was pale and a little shaky.

"Come help me push him." Jerome smirked. I walked over to my suitcase, which was not fully unpacked, and grabbed some shirts out of there. Mr. Dude was very cuddly and loose on my arm. I could tell he was comfortable with me. Now I just have to find a snake. I don't want him getting hungry. Once I got all of my clothes I walked over to my bed and grabbed Tuffles, my bear, and handed all of the things to Jerome. "Thank you." Jerome smiled at me. Everything was set, except I didn't know where to put Mr. Dude.

"Put him back in the basket and set books on top of the lid." Mara suggested.

"I don't want to leave him in there, it's all lonely and dark." I told them, once I said it out loud, it didn't sound as sane as I thought.

"Nina, it's a snake. You can't take it to supper." Fabian said.

"Oh okay, fine." I gave in. After I set the snake in a safe place, we went downstairs. As we walked into the living room, we saw Patricia watching T.V. She looked up at us.

"Where's Jonny?" She asked us.

"He doesn't feel so well and he wanted to be left alone." Jerome lied. He is really good at that.

"Oh homesick?" Trudy asked as she was setting the table. Jerome shrugged. "Poor dear." Trudy responded. Amber and Mick were snuggled up on the couch watching T.V. along with Patricia. The four of us went to go sit at the table. Mara sat next to Jerome, who was in his regular spot again. Trudy set the last bit of food down and we all had a delightful dinner. It was 8:00 when we all were done. Mick and Amber were on dishes so we didn't have to worry about it. Mara and I went up to our room and the boys went to there's. I believe one of the reasons Jerome agreed to cover for Jonny was so he could have his room to himself for a night. When we entered the room Mara checked the basket to see if the books were still there on top, and they were. They were in my corner of the room because she didn't want to have that thing anywhere near her.

"I'm gonna go take a shower." I told her.

"Okay." I took my bathroom bag, a couple of towels and my clothes with me. When I was done with my shower I went and plopped on my bed. It was a long day so I drifted right to sleep.

Jonny's POV

3:00 A.M.

Can I move? I just woke up. I move my arm… yup. Where am I? I lifted my head up, just to realize I was under a bed. I bumped my head on the pallet. Why am I under a bed? I crawled out from under it with many obstacles of clothes and bottles. I looked around the room lit up by moonlight just to realize I was in Mara and Nina's room. Mara started moving, then she sat up.

"Jonny? You're awake?" She asked me.

"Yeah." I whispered.

"Are you going to go downstairs?"

"Probably, unless Victor's out there."

"Here let me check if he's in the hall." She got up and opened the door.

"Ms. Jaffray? What are you doing out of bed?"

"I have to pee." She rubbed her eyes and went out the door. I went up to it and listened.

"Well I am going to downstairs soon. Go back to bed when you are done, Jaffray." He instructed her. I heard two doors close, then one open. I waited for Mara to come back but she didn't. The light from the hall illuminated the door frame cracks a smidge. I wanted to open the door but I was afraid it would be someone else. Someone was walking towards the door, I didn't know if it was Mara or not so I dove back under her bed and covered myself with the blanket and clothes. I peeked under the edge of the bed. It wasn't Mara, but it wasn't Victor either.

"Mara?" It was Patricia. She walked over to Mara's bed only to realized that Mara wasn't there. "Blasted darkness, I can't see anything." She whispered. Mara opened the door.

"Patricia?" She asked. I saw that the light in the hall was off.

"Mara? I can't see you." Mara walked to the front of her bed out of my vision, but light appeared.

"Okay now, what's up?" Mara asked her, hopefully this will be quick.

"I can't sleep. I have to get something out and I am not living with Joy in my room anymore. I trust you more than I trust anyone else at the moment."

"Um, Patricia. Can't this wait till morning? I have a big exam in my math class. I have to get some sleep."

"Okay."

"Sorry, I just need to get an A."

"I will tell you in the morning then, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Goodnight." Patricia bid her.

"Goodnight." I saw the door shut and then I heard her door shut too.

"Do I have to stay down here?" I whispered.

"Get out here." She laughed.

"You know, you are really messy." I laughed.

"Those are Nina's things. We tried to make it less obvious."

"And you being messy is less obvious? You seem like a very organized girl."

"Well thank you." She smiled at me.

"How long is he going to be down stairs?" I asked her.

"An hour then he will go to sleep." She replied.

"Great."

"Here." She pulled off her pillow and blanket from her bed.

"Oh no. It's fine."

"No I insist." She said.

"I'm not taking that. You will freeze to death in here." I denied the items.

"You will too." She forced them into my hands and went to lay on her bed, turning off the light and facing the wall. I wasn't going to let her shiver so I put the blanket on top of her. She kicked it off the bed in my direction. I was getting frustrated so I took my shoes off and jumped on her bed with the blanket and the pillow. I spread it out over the both of us and laid my head on the pillow. It was the only way I could get her to keep the blanket on her. I put my arms around her just because it felt nice. I honestly really like her and I hope I'm not screwing up.

Mara's POV

AHHHHHHHH! Cuddling! We are cuddling! He's cuddling me! ME! Him! He's perfect! Why does he like me? What do I do? I turned to face him and I rested my head on his chest. I was so comfortable in his warmth. I got drowsy and I saw he had drifted to sleep. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

Nina's POV

4:30 A.M.

I opened my eyes and sat up. It's still dark outside. I turned my light on to see that Jonny was in Mara's bed! Why is he in Mara's bed! He's supposed to be under it, not in it! It's okay, they are sleeping… Should I wake him up and tell him to go downstairs before Trudy wakes up? Yeah I don't want any of us to be expelled. I got up and walked over to Jonny. It was so cute. They were cuddling. I shook Jonny's shoulder.

"Hmm?" He asked. I don't think that he knows where he is. I shook him more.

"Jonny!" I whispered forcefully. His eyes opened.

"What time is it?" He asked.

"A little past 4:30. Victor just went to sleep. Trudy wakes up at 5." I told him.

"Okay." He stretched a little bit and took his arm off of Mara. She looked so peaceful. Jonny swung his legs off the bed and carefully scooted back, trying not to wake her up. She started to move, but then she turned over to her other side.

"Here I'm going to go get changed. You want to meet me downstairs in the living room?" I asked him.

"Yeah sure. I won't be able to go back to sleep." He told me.

"I won't either. I went to bed too early."

"And I went to bed way too early." He laughed. "Okay see you in a second." He left the room and I grabbed some of the clothes off the floor and put them on. I gathered the rest of them and put them inside of different drawers. When I left the girls corridor with my computer, Victor was sound asleep in his chair, with the creepy black bird by his side. What is up with this house and Taxidermy? Trudy's light was still off and so was every other light in the house. I walked over to the living room and opened a curtain. I liked watching the sun rise and the sky was beginning to become blue. I walked over and turned on a dim lamp, along with opening my computer to see who was online. Jonny walked in with his computer and sat right next to me. We messaged our friends until five, then Trudy left her room and came into the living room.

"What are you two doing up this early?" She asked us walking to the kitchen in her robe.

"We had the same idea of coming in here when we couldn't sleep. Are we not supposed to do that?" Jonny asked.

"Well how long were you down here?" Trudy asked opening the fridge.

"About 15 minutes." I answered her.

"Oh well that's fine. Just don't come here before Victor goes to sleep." She warned us.

"Yeah we figured." Jonny said.

After breakfast the day went by smoothly. Nothing happened really at all. That was also how the next couple of weeks went by. Then we had a project in Mr. Winkler's class. It was a family tree project. I was laying in my room with Mara lying at my side when I looked up my mother's name to find more information about her. Apparently she was a well known archeologist and had her own Wiki page. It was very odd. My father's name was under spouse but there was another name. One I have been told to be my father's brother. Maxwell Martin. My Gran said they all died in a car crash. Did he have an affair with my mother? Then I scrolled down to see a very familiar name under children right next to mine. Jonathan Skidmore.

Hey guys. How will the two siblings react to finding out they are siblings? How will Nina react to finding out that her father, isn't really her father? What will the truth be about their mother and uncle's death? Keep reading to find out what happens next!