Chapter 3 - Joy's POV

When I woke up the next morning I noticed that Nina was not in her bed. I shrugged thinking that maybe she was in the shower or down at breakfast. I get dressed in my school uniform. We had to wear a white shirt with a maroon and yellow tie and a maroon blazer. The bottom half was either a black/grey skirt or black trousers. I really didn't like my school uniform. Not because it was uncomfortable, it was the colours. They were soo boring and annoying. I quickly put my hair in a ponytail, grabbed my schoolbag and dashed downstairs. I expected to see Nina there but she was nowhere to be seen. I shrugged and sat in my usual place next to Fabian.

"Morning" I called to him. He looked up and gave a wave in response as he had something in his mouth. Breakfast usually had a selection of things. Croissants, Crumpets, Pancakes, Toast and Cereal. I grabbed a plate and placed a couple of blueberry pancakes on it. I then drizzled on some honey. Chloe then storms in looking pretty annoyed.

"KT defintitually would of called me by now. I'm telling you, something has happened to her "Chloe complains. Both me and Jerome rolled our eyes.

"Chloe give it a break, you're driving me crazy" Jerome says. Mara slaps his arm.

"Jerome, just because you're not worried about KT doesn't mean some of us aren't" She says. One thing is for sure. I certainly wasn't worried out her nor would I probably ever be. She was the Queen of mean, so why should I?

"Did you get any response to that email you sent her last night?" Amber asks. Chloe shakes her head

"It's difficult to know what else we can do" Fabian says, taking a croissant of the plate in the middle of the table. Chloe considers it for a second.

"Question the newbie that's what" Chloe spits. I growled at her.

"She has nothing to do with it!" Patricia protests. I look at her thankfully.

"Yeah, she just has really bad timing" Fabian says. Chloe glared at us for a moment.

"What about last night? That business with the mirror?" Chloe questions. Chuckles escaped across the room. If possible Chloe looked even more angry.

"What? You don't believe I saw anything do you?" She says a little sadly. I scoff at her.

"Chloe. It was probably our favourite comedy duo." I tell her. Jerome looks at me with a fake hurt expression on his face.

"Yeah, Mick saw Alfie hanging around our corridor last night" Amber says. Mara nods.

"Not even Alfie would have the nerve to sneak in the bathroom whilst I was showering" Chloe bites.

"Are we talking about the same Alfie?" Jerome asks sarcastically. Chloe rolls her eyes at him.

"So who do you think did write it then...KT?" Fabian asks. I smirk at him. He really could be sarcastic when he wanted to be. I think he might like Nina. I mean, he's always defending her. But then again so am I...

"Maybe...maybe Nina wrote it to drive me crazy!" Chloe accuses. Fabian, Patricia and I all rolled at her eyes. Chloe really wasn't going to let this drop was she? Chloe peered around the table.

"Where is she anyway?" She asks, looking directly at me. I shrug my shoulders. However this got me thinking. Where was Nina?

"Went into school early I think. I caught her just before I came in here, trying to sneak out the house" Patricia explains. Chloe shot a fake smile.

"Aww, so she's a geek as well as everything else now is she?"Chloe teased. I slammed my hand on the table.

"I think it more about getting away from you lot! The only people in this house who have given her a little sympathy is Me, Patricia and Fabian. Think about it: You're in a new a school, a new house, a different country, and on your fist day you get accused of kidnapping someone! Seriously" I shout. I then slowly sit down and continue eating. I could feel everyone staring at me, from my 'little' outburst. Trudy comes in and dismisses us for school. I get up; swing my bag over my shoulder and stalk out the room, Fabian and Patricia closely following me. When we got outside we saw Nina leading an old lady away. I looked at my two friends in confusion.

"Is that her Gran?" Fabian asks. I shake my head.

"No, it can't be her Gran. She's in hospital in America" I explain. Fabians' mouth formed an 'O' shape.

"Maybe it's a friend of her Gran?" Patricia suggested. I shrugged.

"Yeah, Maybe" I say. We continue to walk to school. My first lesson was English with Mrs Andrews. Nina did not show up for it though which I thought was very strange. She barely ever misses class. My next class was maths with Mr Paul. Nina did show up for this one however she was very distant from us. She sat at the back of the classroom and did not raise her hand, which is extremely strange for her. I was going to try talking to her at lunch however she seemed to of disappeared again. My final lesson of the day was Geography with Mrs Nickel. As much as I loved Geography, Mrs Nickel was so strict. Once the day was over I went to meet up with Fabian and Patricia outside their RE class. I also caught sight of Nina leaving but before I could say anything to her she was already halfway down the corridor.

"Joy!" Someone called me, making me jump. It was Patricia. I smiled in relief.

"Hey Trixie!" I say back to her. We wait for Fabian and the three of us made our way back to the house.

"Have you spoken to Nina today?" Fabian asks. I shake my head.

"No. First lesson she didn't show up, Second lesson she did but was sitting at the opposite end of the class to me, Lunch time she totally disappeared and when I came to meet you guys, she rushed out before I could say a single word to her! I don't know what I've done to upset her either" I cry. Patricia pulled me into a hug.

"Maybe, she's just upset about her gran?" She suggests. I shrug.

"Maybe. I don't know anymore. I'll ask when we get back." I say.

When we arrived back at the house, I went straight upstairs to see if Nina was in our room. She wasn't. Okay think Joy, Where would Nina go? Library? I decide to head over to the library to see if she is there. No Nina. Now I was getting really worried. I run back to the house and bump into Fabian, Mara and Amber.

"Whoa, Joy slow down" Fabian jokes. He then catches sight of how sad and serious I look.

"What is it?" He asks as he grabs my shoulder.

"I can't find Nina anywhere!" I cry. Mara and Amber r have confused looks on their faces however Fabians expression changes to worried.

"Have you checked all the places Nina would normally go?" Mara asks me. I nod my head.

"Okay, we'll search around this area. Mara you go with Amber and go and check near the other houses. She might have walked back to the wrong one. Me and Joy will check the woods as we know them better than anyone." Fabian instructs. We all nod at him. Amber and Mara head towards the other houses (Hathor, Isis, Osiris, Ma'at and Horus) whilst Fabian and I walk towards the wood. We reach the clearing and... Nina was up a tree staring up something. I sighed in relief and rushed to the bottom of the tree trunk.

"There you are!" I shout up to her. This startles her little causing her to wobble on the branch she was sitting on.

"Oh hey Joy" she calls back, smiling down at me.

"What are you doing out here? And more importantly up there?" I question. I hear her sigh.

"I need some time to myself. You know, think things over" She replies. Fabian has now just caught up to us.

"I called Mara and Amber and told them you found her." He says to me smiling. I smile back.

"Hi Nina. You had us worried sick. Do you mind coming down now?" He calls to her. She smiles and swiftly climbs down the tree. She brushes some bark of her skirt and walks over to us.

"I will never know how you do that" I say smirking. She looks at me confused.

"Do what?" she asks. I pointed to the tree.

"Climb trees so easily. And with a skirt on" I reply. She smirks back at me.

"And you shall never know!" She says a mischievous glint in her eyes. We link arms and walk back to the house, Fabian scurrying behind us. When we arrive, Patricia walks up to us and shoots Nina a smythaphetic smile. Then Amber and Mara walk in a give Nina hug and warning her to 'never scare them like that again'. Nina laughs and tells then that she promises. We had dinner and then we went up to bed. Nina decided to go in before Chloe, so we don't have a replay of last night. After that we settle down in for the night...

I woke up to someone rustling in the room. I kept hearing the phrase 'beware the black bird'. What did that mean? I then heard Chloe get out of bed. She went over towards Nina and cried:

"Caw, Caw, Caw! Beware the black bird." Nina jumped up in bed. She was covered in black feathers. I decided to pretend to be asleep.

"What are you doing?" Nina asked. Chloe cackled.

"You woke me up!"Chloe said walking back to her bed. I feel a rush of anger run over me. I knew I mustn't rise.

"Are you gonna sleep with the light on newbie?"Chloe teased. She laid back down and switched off her lamp. Nina rolled over so she was on her side. She grabbed her phone and started to examine something. It looked like a pendant of some kind. I'll ask her about it tomorrow. After 10 minutes Nina switched off her phone and went to sleep. I fell asleep about half an hour later...

HELLO PEOPLE!

Two chapters up in one day... YAY go me. Anyway as I said before I don't have a schedule but hopefully once a week i will be able to update, It depends on my internet and how much HW I have because I'm in high school... And they give you a **** load of homework...

Lauren