Here is Chapter 4! Thanks for all your continuing support! It has helped the writing process become more fun than it is already!
But first a response to A Reviewing Reader:
Let me just say that I tried to respond! But it says that your PM is blocked, so that sucks. Anyways, great reviews! Ya the thing about the italics near the end was a mistake, when Nina says 'hi' to Debbie it's suppose to be outloud. As for the story idea... interesting to say the least. The idea of two choosen ones is an interesting fact, and the increasing tensions between Nina and Joy would make for some interesting drama. If you were to make a story about it than I think I would be ok with it. If you do make sure to credit me and all (plus send me a link and mention the titles of my two stories), and I would suggest that you wait until I get through more of the story, because the characters and plot right now really haven't been able to develop too much. What you (and all you other readers) are reading now is what I like to call the characters 'surface shell' attitudes. That means that they haven't devolped much and their actions will definilty irk you (I use 'irk' in the story, if you don't know what it means look it up :)). Thanks for the review!
Anyways, on with the show!
REVIEW!
Chapter 4 Friends and Foes
August 23, 12:34 P.M.
Nina's P.O.V.
I entered the house and knew I was in a whole different world than Anubis. The darker shades that spotted Anubis house were gone, now replaced with lighter colors of dark blue, white, and silver. The walls aligned in a perfect fashion, reflecting the light off all angles giving a beautiful glow to the house that did not blind yourself.
The double doors, made off wood, creaked as they opened to me revealing the wonderous colors described. The main enteranance was circluiar, with tiles decorating the ground and a few windows above to reflect light. Straight in front was a staircase that led to the second floor. On both sides of the stairs were hallways that led down to the back parts of the house. On the right before the staircase and hallways was a large doorway and on the left there was a indent in the wall with held a statue. The statue was a large man who was dressed in battle armor and held onto a spear. One of his eyes was gone, leaving an empty socket in its place. I couldn't help but notice one thing, which sent me into a momentary shock.
On both shoulders stood ravens.
Memories of Anubis came back, the creepy bird in Victor's office, where Fabian and I had to bash open the birds skull to find the final clue. I knew that those… things would haunt me for the rest of the year every time I walked in the door.
"I see your admiring out House's god." Michael said behind me. Everybody was gathered in the entrance foyer, backpacks and luggage littering the ground. I nodded back.
"What's with the ravens?" I asked innocently enough. I could swear that they were staring right into me, the light seemed to be giving them a red glowing aura around their eyes.
"They're Odin's eyes and ears. Odin would send them out every morning into the world, and at night they would return to him, telling him everything that had happened that day. Odin was obsessed with knowledge, and this was the easiest way for him to gain it without leaving his heavenly throne. To do so however, he had to cut out his own eye." Michael said, pointing to the socket.
'Knowledge. Same themes just like last year, great start.' I thought, when something popped into my mind and I blurted it out before I even thought about it. "Was Odin an evil god?"
"No, the only 'evil' god for Norse mythology was Loki, the trickster god. Odin was wise and caring towards the Norse in their opinion."
"Good, Anubis was evil enough." I said, relieved. Michael stared at me with an eyebrow raised.
"Anubis helped people find their way to the underworld so they could rest in peace." He exclaimed, "He wasn't an evil god."
I chucked to myself before turning away from him. "Depends on who you talk to." I mumbled. Before the confused Michael could question further I heard a bell go off behind me, making a clamoring noise the vibrated throughout the foyer. I turned to see Debbie, now up several steps on the stairs, looking down at us with a smile on her face. In her hands were the bell, which she set down on the stair mantle, and several sheets of paper.
"Welcome to another year at Odin House!" She said clapping and smiling. We all started clapping a little bit, except for Mitch and Tori. "Now, as you all probably know we have a new student here this year. Nina Martin!" She said, holding out my hand to me. Tony gave out a holler and started the clapping again. "I hope you will all make her feel welcome here this year." Debbie looked down at the papers, adjusting her glasses. She began to hum and then threw the papers up in the air laughing. Nobody seemed shocked by this, I guess my new housemother is a really teenager.
"Silly rules and such, just remember my rules and we will all be fine." She said smiling. Not knowing the rules, I raised my hand awkwardly, slightly blushing. "Oh please Nina," Debbie began, "no need for such proper manners, what's your question?"
"Um… what are the rules?" I asked, giving a small smile, hoping it would cover my stupid question. Debbie just continued to smile.
"Rule 1, bed by eleven, though I suspect you might want to get to bed earlier. Rule 2, Don't break things. And Rule 3, always tell me when you leave campus." She must have seen the shock in my face. "Something wrong Nina? Did you want more rules?"
"Oh no, no!" I said blushing some more, "It's just, after all the rules Victor had it's nice to not have so many." I said.
"Ah Victor, such a litt-"
"Tony!" Debbie screeched, "Don't say anything about Victor." She scowled at Tony, apparently the "Victor Incident" had ruffled some feathers across the entire school. As it should have. Nina silently wondered what the official story was that the administration gave out. Obviously the actual story of 'teachers endangering lives of students due to ancient Egyptian rituals of immortality' wasn't in the school's best public interest.
"Now then," Debbie said, smoothing her shirt some, "I have your class schedules right here." She looked down at the floor, where all the papers had drifted around the ground in an unorganized pile. "Somewhere…" She muttered. She looked back up smiling. "Never mind, I'll give you them at supper."
"Who are we rooming with, Debs?" Alan asked. Everybody else didn't seem that interested, I guess rooms don't change that much, but since I'm new maybe something had changed to anger people.
"Oh right! I have those memorized." Debbie tapped her head, and gave a dramatic pause. "For the boys, Alan and Michael, Mitch and Tony." Alan and Michael bumped fist and Tony gave Mitch and look. Mitch merely nodded.
"For the Girls, Tori and Sophia, Nina and Charlotte."
"NO!" Charlotte yelled, stepping forward. "I refuse, put me with Tori instead." Tori gave a huff and a snobby laugh. Debbie looked shocked.
"Why do you want to change rooms?" she asked. Charlotte looked at all of us uncomfortably.
"I just do ok?" she responded. "Please, can one of you switch with me!" Charlotte said turning towards the two other girls. Debbie looked pretty mad once again. I guess it doesn't take much to ruin her good mood.
"Charlotte! That is quite enough! You don't even know Nina and your already willing to switch rooms. How rude!"
"Just, please Debbie!" Charlotte practically begged. I would be lying if I said I wasn't offended. With her hanging around Joy I didn't want to room with her already, but this was just insulting!
"No, that's the end of it! Now all of you, to your rooms and unpack. But first, do you want a tour of the house Nina?" Debbie said, back in the pleasant teenager mood.
"Sure, it's a really nice house, I'd like to see all of it." I exclaimed. Tony stepped forward with a smile on his face.
"I have no problem escorting our new housemate. There are so many… areas to explore." He winked at me and gave a devious smile.
"I'm locking my door at night." I replied, slightly unnerved by the guy.
"Our door." Charlotte muttered bitterly.
Debbie shook her hand in exhaustion. "As nice as the offer is Tony, I think somebody else should do it. Michael, why don't you give her a tour?"
"Um… sure no problem!" he replied. I saw Alan give a devious smile along with Tony, who began coughing. 'Just like Anubis,' I thought, 'Everybody seems to be on a few pages ahead of me socially.'
"Excellent! Everybody start unpacking! Enjoy the tour Nina!" Debbie said, hugging me, and then walked off with her luggage to go to her room on the second floor. Everybody proceeded to do the same thing, except for Tori, whose luggage was once again being hauled by Alan. Michael just shook his head and turned to me.
"So, ready for the tour of Odin House? I doubt that there are as many secrets here as there in Anubis, but it's still pretty cool."
I smiled, "After last year, I don't think I want a new mystery to deal with."
"You know," Michael began, "I'd like to hear about what really happened at that house. Tell me, were there ghosts?" I gave him a look for a little bit while Michael looked a little embarrassed. "Sorry, didn't mean it like that."
"Oh no, it's fine." I reassured, "There was some weird stuff happening there, and maybe someday I'll tell you." I felt kind of bad about leaving the answer up in the air like that. Michael looked kind of disappointed with the answer, but I wasn't really ready to talk about what happened yet with someone who didn't live in Anubis House.
"Well, um, no problem. Anyways, let's check out the house." I nodded and we began our tour. We first moved right of the stairs, into to the room on the side. "So um, this is the dining area and to the left there is the kitchen." It was pretty easy to tell it was the dining area due to the giant table and eight chairs surrounding it. Instead of the oval shaped table like in Anubis, it was a giant rectangle with a fancy hammer and eye designed into the table. Windows also surrounded the area bringing in a lot of natural light. The effect was beautiful, causing the table to look like a priceless artifact
To the left was a counter with barstools sitting beside it. The counter was connected to part of the kitchen, allowing for the students to eat up on the counter instead of the table. The kitchen itself didn't have many differences from Anubis's, except most of the appliances weren't as old. They were mostly brand new, and seemed to show no wear from use or age.
As we moved into the kitchen, Michael pointed out all the cabinets and stuff. He even offered me a drink and some food to snack on. I turned it down, but yet the offer was really sweet. I felt a buzz in my jean pocket and pulled out my phone. A text from Fabian.
Hey, how r u doin?
"Friend of yours?" Michael asked, pointing to my phone.
"Boyfriend." I responded. Michael made an 'ah' sound and turned away to allow me sometime to respond. I thought about doing that, but Fabian could wait a little bit. "Come on," I said, putting away my phone, "To the rest of the house." Michael smiled and allowed me through another door way out of the kitchen. I found myself in the hallway that was on the right side of the staircase. Michael led me further down into the house.
Behind us, Alan came scrambling by and ducked into one of three doors at the end of the hallway. The hallway led into a small sort of foyer area, which was boxed and had three doors on one side and on the other a door. On the left was the other hallway that also led back to the staircase.
The first door was on our right, "This is Tony's and Mitch's room." He said, motioning to the two guys inside who getting settled into their beds. Tony was already pulling out posters and electronics while Mitch had simply thrown down his stuff and was lying on the bed.
"My door is always open for you, sugar!" Tony called to me. He lay down on his bed smiling seductively. Michael's fist clenched.
"Moving on." He said, his voice barely controllable. "on the other side is mine and Alan's room. That door right there," he said now pointing to the sole door between hallways, "is the bathroom for the guys. I wouldn't suggest going in there after Mitch and Alan are done showering." I opened my mouth to question him but he just raise his hand stopping me, "trust me." I nodded and we moved to the big door between the two guy rooms. "Now this, is the library." Michael said opening up the doors. I gasped in shock; this wasn't some small library collection. The walls were lined with books, all different kinds by the look of it. In the center was a giant rug with two sofa's on top of it and several armchairs and poufs lying around too. On the left side was a fireplace and above it was a picture of Odin.
"Wow." Was all I could say. Michael laughed a little.
"What'd I tell you? Odin was the god of knowledge, can't have his house without a library." I could only nod. Since last year, I had developed a really love of reading. Whether it was Fabian or just reading about Egypt that did it to me, I don't know. Though I prefer to think it was Fabian.
"You know where to find me." I said, my face now lit up entirely.
"Well, if you ever want to escape the wrath of Tori, come here. She will not set foot in here. I've never even seen her pick up a book that wasn't required for school. And most of the time she doesn't even do that."
"Can't wait to really get to know her." My voice dripped in sarcasm. "So upstairs then?" I asked. Michael shook his head and pointed to the door that was on the other side of the room. It was see through so I could see that he was pointing outside. We moved across the room and opened the double doors.
The hot, late summer air clashed with the cool A/C from inside, but a breeze picked up and I heard the sound of bells coming from somewhere. The bells were attached to the roof of the open ended patio which extended farther from the house. Flowers and plant's sat along the edges, many of the blossoming.
"Whose flowers are these?" I asked curiously. I moved up to smell them, each one smelling better than the last.
"Those are Debbie's. She spends a lot of time working on them, and if you help here she signs you off for some community service. It's an easy way to get some, and it's actually kind of fun."
"You are gardener than, Michael?" I asked smiling, while he just rubbed the back of neck and fidgeted a little bit. Something caught my eye, laying right outside the patio. At first it looked like any other hedge, but then I noticed the opening which separated the two hedges. Finally it dawned to me what it was, and I filled with childish excitement.
"I see you enjoy our maze." Michael said, coming up behind me. I jumped up and down for a little bit.
"We have to go through it right now!" I exclaimed, grabbing Michael's hand and dragging him toward the maze.
"Wait, wait a minute Nina!" Michael said, successfully wrestling himself from my grasp. "It's a pretty big maze, maybe we ought to wait until you see the rest of the house before you decide to get lost." I sighed. I really wanted to explore it, but Michael was probably right. From a horizontal point of view, it looked pretty big. Reluctantly, he led me back inside.
We went back to the main entrance through the other hallway, passing by a sort of family room area. There were several coaches in there along with a TV and a pool table! This place is pretty cool, but I couldn't let it overwhelm me. Anubis was still the house for me, and nothing would change that.
"So, that's the first floor, would you like me to show you the second?" Michael asked. I could have sworn that his voice was begging to do so.
"Nah, it's ok. I'm sure I can find my way from here thanks."
"You sure, I don't mind." Michael insisted. I gave him a polite 'no thanks' and grabbed my luggage. "See you at dinner." He called after me as I moved up the stairs.
"Don't you mean supper?" I asked jokingly. He smiled back and left to his room. I reached the top of the stairs and immediately came to two separate hallways leading left and right and a door right in front of me. Unsure of what to do, I decided to go right. At the end of the hallway was an antique single door that led into another room. Opening the door, I was relieved to see I picked the right room. Although I wasn't so happy about what my roommate was doing.
"What the heck are you doing!" I yelled, dropping my bags outside the room and rushing in. Charlotte was on the ground stretching out duck tape across the floor. Already I was getting flashbacks of last year first moving in with Patricia. However, I felt this was far more personal and unjustified.
"Separating the room in two." Charlotte replied nonchalantly. I just stood there with my mouth open, not even Patricia had over reacted like this when we first met. "Close your mouth boy stealer, flies might get in."
"Excuse me!" my voice increasing and my shock gone. "You don't even know me and you think you can just start calling me names!"
"I know enough about you Nina! Joy's told me all about you tricks and stunts to steal Fabian from her!"
I was shocked, I knew that Charlotte and Joy were friends, but I never thought that something like this could happen. I had to end this now, before the rest of the year went by with tension and boiling hatred. I hated having to be the adult sometimes.
"Look," I began; bring my voice down in volume, "Joy is lying to you. How long have you known her for?"
"Long enough." She said defiantly.
"Not long enough apparently." I crossed my arms, staring down my roommate. "Because if you did, you would know how cruel and manipulative Joy can really be. She can twist things and make them sound awful. I did not steal Fabian, Joy tried to steal him from me!"
"Liar!" Charlotte shrieked, pointing an accusing finger at me. "Joy was here first and you took advantage of Joy's disappearance to wrap your skanky fingers around her boyfriend!"
"Boyfriend!" I yelled, forgetting everything of compromise. "They were not together! They never were! Fabian loves me, and Joy twisted her way into our lives like the snake she is!"
"Don't speak about her that way!"
"I can speak about her anyway I want to! If you want to believe the lie Joy has you wrapped in, than go ahead. But it's false and you're an idiot to believe it, Charlotte!"
"Oh you lit-" Charlotte began before the door slammed open behind me.
"GIRLS!" Debbie scowled, "What's the meaning of this! Charlotte! You should be ashamed of yourself! Nina is new here and you treat her like an enemy." Charlotte clearly had a sassy remark back, but decided against it. Instead, she bit her lower lip and cast her eyes downward. "And what is the meaning of this tape! You know how it can ruin the floor! Get it off now!" Charlotte bent down and ripped it off the floor. "Now apologize!"
"That's not necessary Debbie." I started by she held up her hand. Charlotte hesitated for a little bit, then muttered something and left the room.
"Charlotte!" Debbie called after her. "Nina, don't worry about a thing! Just unpack and I'll have supper ready around five." She closed the door, leaving me alone in the room. It was a little different from Anubis's rooms. The door was actually positioned in the center of the room and on the opposite sides were beds and separate closet space. Massive windows were on the wall opposite the door, with stained glass at the top.
Tired, drained, and just overall exhausted, I sat down on my bed. I closed my eyes for a little bit, only to be interrupted by the buzz on my phone. Annoyed, I picked it up to see who was texting me. My irk disappeared when I saw the text from Fabian. I opened it, relieved he hadn't forgotten about me.
Nina, is everything k?
I smiled, and quickly typed a response.
Ya, at Odin. House is very big! Miss Anubis :(
It didn't take long for a response from my boyfriend.
I miss you. Joy is being a pain. She's Ams roommate now, they might kill each other in the night.
I laughed; Amber in a brawl with Joy sure would be entertaining. Hopefully, I don't miss that. Fabian followed up with another text.
How are the people there?
I thought hard about that.
Most are 2 early 2 tell. 1 named Charlotte is my roomie, she has it in 4 me.
I was about to send it, when I remember something.
But there is a nice guy here. He's looking out 4 me.
I sent the text. After about a minute or two there was a familiar vibration.
Glad that you're getting settled fine. I love u!
Quick as a flash I responded.
Love u 2. I'm srry but, its been a long day. Goin sleep a little, ttyl luv!
Satisfied with that, I closed my eyes. I heard a vibration, but by then I drifted into a light sleep.
Alright, I have finally finished describing all the new stuff! ON WITH THE DRAMA IN CHAPTER 5!
As you've just read, Nina has barely set both feet in Odin House and has already made some enemies, but also a friend. Don't worry, these shallow shells of characters will develop. You will see a more human and emotion side that is often overlooked in many stories as 'irrelevant'.
Any plot ideas are welcome and please REVIEW!