A/N: Warnings for this chapter are some minor season two Doctor Who spoilers, weird I know but you'll see how it works out. A bit more into the past of the residents of Anubis House, something we never get to see in the shows. Amber and Jerome are sick, Lacie asks someone on a date, and Eddie signs up for musical auditions.

… Lacie didn't say anything for a bit. After a particularly long drag, she spoke. "If they know that he's dead? Or that I'm his murderer?"

Lacie shot up in bed.

The clock on her nightstand told her it was 3:40. She put her head between her knees and took deep breaths. "My name is Lacie Brown, I'm safe here in England, and I didn't mean to kill him." She whispered to herself in the darkness, struggling to regain her senses. "I didn't mean to kill him.

Nina laid on her bed Saturday morning far past when she normally did. She had stayed at the library for as long as she could the night before to avoid seeing anyone, so when she returned home it was so late that everyone was asleep. Now it was only a matter of time until Amber, who slept in almost as late and Eddie and Fabian, woke up and began questioning her about her date with Cory.

She took that time to think about everything that had happened lately, talking with a goddess, getting a new clue, discovering Fabian had magic powers... it was still so surreal and it all happened so fast.

Amber didn't wake up much later than Nina dad. She was only up for a few second before she was on Nina about her date, just as she had predicted. Amber asked just about every question that there was before Nina was even aware that Amber was awake, and there was no way for her to dodge the questions anymore.

"Slow down, Amber." Nina commanded. "I'll tell you everything."

"You better! I've been waiting two whole days for this information."

"I'll pick up after the part where Eddie and Fabian got us kicked out of the theater, because apparently everyone already knows about that," Nina said, cynically remembering her conversation with Lacie from the day before. Amber didn't understand.

"What?" She asked. "Eddie and Fabian got you...?"

Nina assumed Amber was just out of the loop, which, in hindsight, didn't make sense because Amber usually was the loop. "Eddie and Fabian crashed my date at the movie theater and got us all kicked out. Lacie told me everyone knew, but-"

"Uh oh..." Amber interrupted. "So that's where they were..."

It was Nina's turn to not understand. "What do you mean? Where did you think they were?"

Amber blushed bright red. "Well..."

"Amber tell me."

"It's not my fault I swear!" She said quietly. "Joy was the one telling everyone.. We all thought that Eddie and Fabian were on a date..."

That explained a lot. "Oh..."

"Okay now you need to start at the beginning." Amber insisted.

For another twenty minutes Amber grilled Nina for ever single detail of the date, insisting she wanted to feel as if she were there. When she was done, she decided it was time for breakfast. "Do you want to come downstairs with me?" She asked as a formality. There was something she wanted to do first, but always asked Nina.

"No. I think I'm gong to keep thinking about the clue Isis gave us. I'm sure Fabian would know the answer, but I'm... I'm not ready to talk to him yet." Nina responded.

"Alright. But I'm sure you'll make up and get back together soon," Amber said. Nina reckoned that Amber didn't quite catch on to the whole situation yet.

As she left, Nina shouted after her, "Don't go and say anything to Eddie or Fabian, please?"

"Of course!" Amber lied, closing the door and walking straight down to Eddie and Fabian's room.

She opened their door and slammed it behind her as loud as she could, making the two sleeping boys jump into the air. Eddie grabbed a knife off of his bedside table and help it ready to attack. Then he realized it was only Amber and not some mythical creature he assumed he could take down with a knife. "What the hell?" He yelled at the blonde who stood in the center of the room, arms crossed as she looked at them disapprovingly.

"You crashed Nina's date?!" She yelled. Fabian blinked the sleep out of his eyes trying to decide if she was real or not. "Here I thought the matching outfits were for your date! Instead, you're out ruining Nina's life. And to think I made an "I Ship Feddie" page on Facebook."

"What?!" Eddie yelled, tossing the knife back onto his nightstand.

"You told Trudy you were going on a date and she thought you meant together because why would we think you'd be so daft to go on Nina's date?! But we decided we wouldn't' say anything so you could come out to us yourselves and now Nina tells me it's not true at all!" Amber ranted. Eddie and Fabian were completely lost.

"Every one thinks that Eddie... and I... went on a date?" Fabian asked slowly. Amber nodded viciously.

"I thought you'd be my gay best friend, Fabian, but no!" She yelled "How could you do that to poor Nina!? You both think you can do whatever you want to her because your her protectors or whatever but you can't. You missed your chances! Move on!" This explained why everyone had been acting so weird to Fabian. He knew he would have to do major damage control.

"I was trying to protect her! It's part of my job!" Fabian said defensively. Amber swatted him with the drawstring on her robe.

"From what?! A good time?! A fun movie?!" She yelled between hits.

"From a bad boyfriend!" Fabian replied.

Amber stopped. "Then you should protect her from you!" Beat. "Wow... That was really clever." She stood there for a moment thinking about how amazing that was of her.

Eddie was still in shock from finding out the whole house thought he and Fabian were together. He guessed all the time they spent together alone in their room hiding from Nina wasn't helping their case. "Wait... what Facebook page did you say you made?" Eddie grumbled.

"An I ship Feddie page... You've got 300 likes..." Eddie gave her a death glare. "I suppose I'll have to take it down now..."

"You think?" Fabian spat. "What a mess..." He turned on Eddie. "If you hadn't rushed me out of the house Trudy wouldn't have thought we were on a date!"

"If you hadn't asked me to help you crash her date in the first place we wouldn't have been in the position at all!" Eddie yelled back.

"You should have just asked her out yourself, we all know you're in love with her!"

"You shouldn't have broken up with her. You're the one everyone wants her to end up with it!"

As much fun as it was to watch them descend into madness, they were pissing her off. "Shut up!" They fell silent. "Nina isn't a piece of meat! She's not defined by who she's dating."

Neither of the boys wanted to say anything. They knew she was right and didn't know what to say. "You two need to apologize to her, sooner rather than later. Why am I the one who has to tell you this. I want to be happy, and fun. Not the responsible one."

"I will... but first, I think I need to tell everyone we're not dating." Fabian said. He cautiously—as if she were an angry dog—walked around Amber towards the door.

"Fabian!" Mara yelled down the hall. Perfect timing; she was just about to go look for him.

"Oh... Hi, Mara." He couldn't remember the last time they held an honest conversation together.

"I've been meaning to talk to you." She said, crossing the hallway and looking up at him. God, even Fabian towers over me, she thought.

This wasn't the best time. "It's been ages," he lamented.

"I know. I was hoping we could get back to where we used to be," Mara admitted. She didn't say it, but it was obvious she meant "back to where we used to be before Nina." "I miss playing the guitar with you." Fabian smiled at her. He missed it too.

"I'd love to, Mara." He said, then after a moment added, "on one condition."

She laughed. "What condition?"

"You help me tell everyone Eddie and I didn't go on a date, because that's not what happened." He said, only half-joking.

"Mara's face turned white. " Oh... I-"

"It's fine! Just help me fix this... walk with me?"

Nina spent the rest of the weekend avoiding the house just like she did Friday. In order to convince the house (though she wasn't sure they were all totally convinced) that Eddie and Fabian weren't dating, they had to tell everyone what they were really doing. She had no interest in seeing any of their questioning or sympathetic looks. Most of all, she didn't want to see Patricia looking at Eddie. Just because Nina was mad at him did not make him free to date!

She knew how bad that sounded, but couldn't stop herself from thinking that way.

Speaking of Eddie, he was the only one who hadn't come to see her hiding out in the library. Hell, even Mara came to see her and Nina wasn't sure he ever spoke to Mara by herself.

Cory visited her pretty often, however. Not all the time, because—to use his words—he "had to maintain some street cred and the library is not a cool place to be." Nina found it sweet that he came at all, though, even if it was annoying that he visited her more than her fated protector!

The only time Fabian came to visit her was during one of Cory's visits. He was telling her a story about one time he and Bradly tried sneaking off campus, when the door opened.

Fabian walked in, unaware that Cory was there at first. His hair was messy in the same way that it was when he paced and constantly ran his hand through it.

"Nina, can we ta-oh." He said, then noticed Cory, who had stopped telling his story and leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. They boys made angry eye contact and their faces flushed; Fabian's with embarrassment, Cory's with anger. For the first time, Nina saw just how much these two didn't like each other. "Bad time?"

"Very." Cory answered for her.

"I really need to talk to her." Fabian said. It annoyed Nina that he was talking through Cory. They weren't even an official couple yet, and even if they were she wouldn't let him speak for her like that. Somewhere she thought that this was probably a warning sign, but didn't really want to think of Cory like that. He was her way to piss off Fabian and Eddie peacefully. So she let him. This was the first of many mistakes that she would make with Cory Colette.

"Well, Rutter, I'm with her right now."

"Do we have to do this?" Fabian asked. He really didn't feel like fighting, mostly because Nina was there. Having Nina see him when he was truly angry was not something he wanted—at all.

Nina, even though she was angry with Fabian, felt bad for him. She could tell how uncomfortable Cory made him. "Just go," she said, faking being cold. "I have nothing to say to you."

Fabian looked heartbroken. Obviously, she succeeded. "Nina... I... I-I'm sorry." He awkwardly mumbled and then walked quickly out of the room.

Cory continued the story as if nothing happened and was either oblivious to what she was feeling or was choosing to ignore it. She thought he was staying longer than he was planning on just so Fabian couldn't come in right after he left. If that was his plan, because when he left no one else visited her for the rest of the day.

And that was how her weekend went. Occasionally visited, but mostly alone.

Sunday night, she realized she would have to go back to the house at a reasonable time, interact with people, and forgive Fabian, but she still really didn't want to. As she packed up her books, she heard the door open. Sunday didn't have nearly as many visitors as Saturday, so it surprised her.

"Nina, I need to talk to you and I don't care what Cory has to say about it. " Fabian yelled in the voice he used when he wanted to try and sound forceful and... didn't. If she hadn't been on her way to speak to him him she wouldn't have responded the way she did.

"Go ahead."

He looked shocked at her answer. Nina didn't really want to hear him out, but she had pouted long enough. "Oh.. Okay. I just want to tell you I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ruined your date. I could have talked to you about it and I was wrong-"

"Stop! I forgive you." She said. "I'm still mad, but I forgive you." His smile could light up the whole world. She missed that smile. How could she not forgive him...? He was always going to be her best friend, no matter what he did.

"Thank you. I—em—do you need help carrying those?" He gestured to her pile of books.

She grinned at him and teased, "it's the least you can do."

"My god, Amber!" Trudy exclaimed, popping the thermometer out of the child's mouth. "Your temperature! I can't believe you and Jerome both got so sick in one day!" Amber sat on her bed pouting Monday morning. Normally she would have been thrilled to get out of a day of school. Staying home from school was supposed to be a good time! Watching the telly all day, not having to go to school! But Jerome had to be sick too and ruin the whole day of nothing she wanted to have to herself. Now, instead of watching Merlin or reading fashion magazines, she had to deal with that jerk all day alone! Even Trudy must have recognized that this would be a terrible day because she planned to abandon the girl to go run errands, granted she did that every day, but still! There was no way she'd be able to get through this day and had no idea how Mara did it all the time. Still, she didn't want to be confined to her room all day, so she let Trudy help her down the stairs and tuck her in on the couch next to Jerome.

The fever clouded her brain, so she wasn't able to come up with anything snarky to say. She thought of a few things about how hot he was or how flushed his face was, but after a second thought, those sounded more like compliments or lines from a romance novel.

"I think this is the closest you've been to me since I coated you in paint," he teased, his voice raspy from coughing all night.

Instead of responding, she made a face and picked up her journal and started writing to ignore him. He shrugged and put on a random program on the telly. She put the "paint incident" up to a brain blip. Why else would she enjoy spending time with Jerome.

After a considerable amount of silence Jerome spoke again. "You know your boyfriend instructed us to try and get along." Amber scoffed at him and put her journal down next to her, marking the page where she was writing about how much she hated Jerome and why did Alfie have a best friend like that?

"Fine." She croaked. "We'll get along." Their "getting along" consisted of a lot of glaring and arguing over what program to watch.

"Amber, there is no way I'm watching Doctor Who with you." Jerome said after Amber made her suggestion.

She rolled her eyes. "You and Fabian are the only people in the world who don't like Doctor Who!" He still didn't budge. "Come on! I'm almost finished with series two and Nina said it's a really important episode."

Jerome groaned and handed her the remote and allowed her to play the hour of torture.

He didn't understand the hype of this show. It wasn't that good and it caused huge fights all the time. The biggest one was over weather or not Amy loved the Doctor more than she loved Rory. Joy v/s Patricia. They refused to speak to each other for a week after that and even now wouldn't watch the show together. Patricia told everyone who would listen that Nine loved Rose, Ten loved Martha, and Eleven loved Clara... whoever they were...

Amber was mostly quit through the whole show. Jerome watched her facial expressions go from shocked to happy to angry... The first time she talked t all was when the main companion girl almost slipped into the void the first time.

"No!" She cried, hugging her knees to her chest. Jerome scoffed. Of course the girl would be okay. She was the main character...

But then she actually slipped. Jerome was sure that the void would close at the very last moment, her and the Doctor would kiss, and off they'd go. He did not, however, expect her father to come in and take her into a parallel universe.

He looked at Amber who was actually crying. "Stupid... Nina... Tell me to... Watch... This bloody... Show." She said between sobs. Jerome had to pause it so she could regain herself. He wasn't sure what was happening, but obviously it was bad. Amber sobbed through the rest of the episode and Jerome watched her, mildly amused.

Then, in the last few seconds of the episode, an older woman in a wedding dress appeared on board the TARDIS.

"What?" Jerome and Amber yelled in tandem. Amber's head snapped towards him.

"I thought you didn't like Doctor Who." She teased. He rolled his eyes. Of course he didn't like Doctor Who... but a cliffhanger like that wasn't even fair.

"You tell no one." He commanded as he clicked on the next episode. Amber smiled wildly and snuggled up next to him without realizing what she was doing. Jerome was too sick to stop her. It wasn't like it meant anything. It was Amber! His best mate's girlfriend.

Somewhere, he thought he was trying to convince himself, but the fever wouldn't allow him to access that part of his brain for long. Instead, he enjoyed her fever heat pressed against him under their thin blanket as they watched the foolish show on Trudy's Netflix account.

Trudy came in to check on them a few minutes into their third episode. She forced them to take high doses of fever medicine (This medicine was infamous in Anubis House. Trudy gave it to everyone who got sick ever and it's powers were so strong it would knock people out for days. Fabian only avoided it by insisting on going to school and he couldn't go to school in a coma) and took their orders for tea. "I hope you two don't have what Fabian had. Poor boy was stuck in the hospital for so long over nothing." She said as the tea seeped. "I can't believe he went to school that whole week, sick as a dog."

Amber didn't really pay attention to what Trudy was saying. The medicine was starting to kick in already and she was falling asleep on Jerome's shoulder. Normally, there was no way either of them would let that happen, but they were too sick and too tired for any fighting.

"Oh my lovelies," Trudy said, clutching her heart. She smiled at the two laying so nicely together. Trudy reckoned she never saw Amber and Jerome in the same room together without arguing. The only two worse than them were Joy and Jerome, though Eddie and Fabian were a close third. Seeing them happy, albeit drugged, made her happy. She put their tea down on the coffee table and left quietly, afraid that if she made too much noise, they could snap back to their normal personalities.

XxXxXxXxX

Amber woke up again a little bit after noon and pulled herself off of Jerome's shoulder. The side of her face was sticky with sweat. In other circumstances, she would care, but she felt way too weak then to even notice. Jerome woke up when she moved.

"Stop moving," he grumbled, but his voice was so weak, she didn't understand what he said. Slowly, he got all the way up and tried to stay awake with her.

"You know, I think we can be friends," Amber said after some time, her voice no louder than a whisper. Her words shocked even sick Jerome.

"Us? Friends?" Jerome started laughing at her. He thought back to primary school when he would literally pull her (then brunette) pigtails, or put mice in her bed, or... Him and Patricia tortured her since she was six. They got a little nicer after Alfie came to their school when they were eleven and developed the biggest crush on her. Jerome didn't think he'd ever be able to see Amber the way Alfie did. Alfie came in post acne, braces, and peroxide. All Jerome saw when he looked at her was that awkward, too tall, preteen who he humiliated that day when she admitted her crush on him, age ten. Was that really six years ago already?

The same memories came flooding back to Amber. She thought more of what happened after she decided to take pride in her appearance. Mostly, she thought of how terrible she was to Alfie and how desperately he wanted everyone to get along since the moment he arrived at the school and became their friend. He always was the bridge between her and Mara, and Jerome and Patricia, Everyone loved Alfie. She thought he deserved a girlfriend who got along with his best mate. "Yeah. We're older now... more mature, right? Who would have thought you'd end up dating Mara?" No matter what Alfie did, there was no way Jerome and Mara would have gotten along.

Jerome laughed. "Most certainly not me. I never though you'd date Alfie! You could hardly stand the sight of him."

He wasn't totally correct. "I loved Alfie! Just, after I went blonde, I thought I was too good for him." After she got rejected by Jerome on the last day of fifth year, she went home and vowed to become so pretty and fashionable he would regret it every day. She found out she had a knack for makeup and clothing and spent all Summer getting ready to wow everyone with her knew look.

Then she got back to school and suddenly people treated her differently. Boys would stare at her, girls would glare at her... She loved every second of it. Until they started calling her things like "Barbie," or a "dumb blonde." Sure, Amber had always been ditzy, but that was just her. It had nothing to do with her new hair color. No one ever called her a "ditz" when she was a brunette. She would never forget the time Mick yelled at the boys on the football team for bothering her. That day he told her he liked her new look and the petty crush she had on Jerome was over. So much heartbreak could have been avoided if Mara had just told her that day that she was head over heals in love with Mick. Instead she waited five years. For two years, Amber obsessed over Mick, pretending to date him the way young teenagers do. Finally, in seventh year, they began dating for real, and by then most people had forgotten what Amber was like before she changed and didn't care to know.

"You're still too good for him." Jerome said. It was a running joke between Alfie and him that they didn't deserve the girl they had. Jerome couldn't remember when Patricia became Joy's friend and not his anymore, but at the same time Alfie became his friend.

Amber was suddenly serious. "No. He's too good for me. The only thing I had going for me was I was pretty, and some days I wasn't even sure of that. He helped me be less of a... well... spoiled brat."

"Amy, you're still a spoiled brat." He said. She could almost hear his sarcasm.

"And you're still a bully. Mara only masks it." She teased. They laughed together, got Trudy to make them more tea and started the next episode of Doctor Who, but this time, they were friends.

Monday was an incredibly slow day for Nina. Usually she relied on Amber to keep her interested all day, but with Amber and Jerome home sick, she ended up sitting next to Mara for most of her classes, who was nice enough, but very dull during school. Nina was scholarship student and didn't care about school as much as Mara did. She liked finally talking with Mara, though. Her, Nina and Fabian ate lunch together. Most of the time Mara would sit with Patricia, Joy, Jerome and Lacie, but that day Mick was sitting with them and, even if Jerome was there, wasn't comfortable sitting with him.

"... and you should hear him sing." Mara said, referencing Fabian, who was blushing because he didn't handle compliments well.

"Just because I sing well, doesn't mean I should do the school musical. I'm already fighting gay rumors, which I blame your boyfriend for." Fabian argued back. Most likely he'd end up doing the musical anyway, but he wanted some shred of his reputation to remain.

"Well, I know I'm going to do it," Nina mentioned casually, trying to get into the conversation. Mara and Fabian talked so easily with each other.

"You sing?" Mara exclaimed. "Sorry. You just don't seem like the type."

"I know. I'm a little shy about it..." Nina replied, eating a forkfull of chicken.

Mara tried to imagine what color Nina's singing voice would be and tried to match her to a part in Les Mis based on what she knew. Fabian spoke next. "The rumor is that Mr. Parker's going to announce what it is today." Mara blushed deeply and tried to hid that she knew by taking a sip of her water, but instead looked like a convict who just got asked about the person she murdered. "You know what it is, don't you?" Fabian had known Mara long enough to recognize when she was trying to hide something. She was even worse of a liar than Nina.

"No."

"Mara..."

"I don't..."

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

"W-"

"Okay I know!" She yelled. Fabian looked smug.

"Well... Spill!" Nina commanded. Fabian and Mara looked at her the way everyone did when she said something American. "Sorry."

"I can't... but you'll find out in like, ten minutes."

"Fine." Fabian grumbled. Lunch was almost over anyway and when it was, they left for the drama studio. The room felt pretty empty without Amber gushing about something, or Alfie and Jerome running around. The whole house was subdued, and it was eerie. They were all so annoyed and angry with each other that it felt like one wrong move would cause an all out fight.

Mr. Parker came in and went on about what doing a musical meant for them and for the school, but no one really listened. The announcement that they were doing Les Mis was met with some joy, but not the level expected.

Lacie raised her hand. Joy saw the look on her face and knew what she was going to say and tried to stop her but it was too late. "There's no way we can pull off that show." She said, looking Mr. Parker straight in the eye. "Trust me, I went to a preforming arts school. We don't have a chance."

Joy rolled her eyes and watched Lacie. They had been talking and flirting for almost a month now, and her feelings had changed so much in that month. "Well, Miss Brown," the teacher responded. "I do think you're wrong about that. And if you're so sure, then you should come and audition."

"It's a hard show to do. I've done it twice."

"Well I'm sure that everyone will pitch in." he announced. "Sign up list is posted on the door of the History classroom. Now, The Merchant of Venice..."

XxXxXxXxX

Halfway through the class, Lacie had a note passed to he. She looked up and saw Nina indicating it was her note. Lacie opened it quietly as Mr. Parker droned on.

Sibuna meeting tonight? Amber and I have something to tell everyone. It's important.

Lacie looked at Nina and nodded. She wasn't sure if her and Eddie should be in the same room yet, though. Nina couldn't even look at him, which worried Lacie. Those two shouldn't be fighting. That's why Rufus when crazy. Fate only went so far...

But when Nina made a decision there was no changing her mind. It was something everyone either loved or hated about her. It came from generations on generations of high priestesses influencing her. It was amazing and stunning, but came off as self-righteous most of the time.

After school that day, Lacie went to sign-up for auditions. Nina's name was written at the top, followed by Fabian, Mara, Jerome (written in Mara's handwriting), Amber (written in Nina's handwriting) and finally Cory. Lacie scribbled her own name down and turned straight into Eddie, who she wasn't aware was standing behind her.

"Sorry," she said immediately. He rolled his eyes, but offered no comeback. It was unnerving that one fight with Nina did so much damage to his personality.

"Why did you sign your name Lacie Petit?" He asked, looking at the sheet. She cursed under her breath and struggled to find something to say. How could she have made such a stupid mistake? "You have some kind of past, don't you?"

"We all have a past," She said, failing to sound casual. Instead, she sounded like a murder about to be discovered...

"I'm not going to tell anyone... I just think I need to know..." Eddie pried gently. He knew if he pushed too hard, she shut down. There was so much he wanted to know about her that she wouldn't let him see. It drove him insane, especially since she was getting so close with Nina.

"Can you deal with an I'll tell you later?" She asked. Now was not a great time to tell him her whole life story.

"Fine." He said, sounding similar to his normal self. "I think I'm going to sign up for this musical thing. If Nina's doing it, I should be there. Just in case."

"Or you just want to be in it," Lacie teased as they walked towards the exit of the school together.

"That is not the case."

"Sure..."

"How are they?" Nina whispered to Trudy whens he got home from school. Amber and Jerome were curled up together on the couch, sleeping again. Nina figured they must be pretty bad if they were sitting so close to each other. Everyone knew how much they hated each other. He does have a habit of dating girls he hates... She thought, thinking of Mara. Amber and Jerome... now that would be funny.

"They're not great. I might ring Doctor Huddersfield if it doesn't get better soon." Trudy whispered back. "They should probably sleep in an actual bed, but I don't want them getting you or Alfie sick..." Nina tried to help her come up with a solution.

"We could put them in Mick's room and put Mick in Jerome's," Nina suggested. It wasn't the best plan, but it was better than her and Alfie sharing a room.

"That's a great idea, lovely." Trudy exclaimed. When Mick got home they explained the plan to him.

"No way!" He yelled. "I don't want him in there." Nina excused herself to her room while Trudy tried to talk Mick into it. He made up a bag for Amber of things she knew Amber would want to have. Makeup, tooth brush, hair brush, fluffy pajamas—there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." She said, grabbing Amber's pillow and preparing to leave.

"Hey, " Nina turned towards the door and saw Eddie standing there. His hands were in his pockets of his leather jacket and he looked somewhat humbled.

"What do you want?" she asked harshly. She wondered when she had become so mean?

"Lacie, Amber and Fabian all told me to come and talk to you." He said. "I guess I'm sorry." He didn't sound sorry at all and he knew Nina knew that.

"Please. I don't have time for your fake apology. If your not sorry then we have nothing to talk about." She started, grabbing all of Amber's things in her arms and tried to push past him out the door, but he grabbed her arm, causing her to drop all the things she was carrying. "Let go of me-"

"You're right. I'm not sorry. I"m not sorry I did what I'm supposed to do!" He yelled, trying to keep his voice down so the whole house wouldn't be gossiping about them, which is how things usually ran in the house. Nina wanted to kneel down and pick up all the things that were rolling around the floor, but her and Eddie were caught in a starting match and she didn't want to be the first one to break eye contact.

"And what's that? It was just one date, dad." She was trying to make him as angry as possible, which, in hindsight, wasn't on of her best ideas.

"Are you oblivious or are you just that stupid?!" Eddie said, unknowingly attempting the same thing. She laughed, but wasn't sure why.

"This! This is why I did it. Victor told me that morning to watch out for you and I decided to not commit myself to you right away!" Nina replied.

"You trust him more than me?!"

"No! He just made a good point!" Eddie's grip grew tighter on her arm to the point where it was uncomfortable. Fabian Nina called out in her mind. She wasn't sure why she did it, but assumed it was the Paragon part of her.

It made more sense when Fabian came sprinting up the steps. "Nina! What's wrong?" His eyes went right to Eddie's hand on her, then to the things on the floor. "Let go of her."

"Where the hell did you come from?" Eddie said bitterly. He let go of Nina and turned on him.

"I'm not sure, but she called me! What are you doing that she's afraid of you?!" Fabian yelled stepping towards Eddie confidently. He wasn't Fabian anymore; he was the Isiasus.

"I was just trying to have a conversation with her." Eddie stepped in too and their height difference became evident. Plus, Eddie was much stronger than Fabian. Nina was worried he could get seriously hurt and there was no way she could stop him.

"Didn't look like it." There was a fire in his eyes Nina never saw before. It would only be a few seconds before they charged each other...

"Look, I don't like you and I don't need to," Eddie said, but Fabian cut in.

"Well you're going to have to deal with me."

"Please stop," Nina begged. They continued to ignore her. Eddie took one step too close and Fabian threw the first punch. Lacie heard the commotion going on bellow her and ran down the steps from her room.

Eddie dodged the punch and threw the next punch. Lacie took a few seconds to admire his form, knowing she taught him that. When it made contact with Fabian's cheekbone, however, and there was a sick snapping sound on Eddie's end, she was brought back to reality. How many times did she have to stress that his thumb needed to be on the outside of is fist?

Then the atmosphere of the room changed completely. Lacie felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, because she could tell what was going to happen next. She put her arm, palm out, straight in front of her and telepathically pushed Nina backwards into her room so she'd be safe and out of the way. Fabian raised his arm similar to Lacie and Eddie flew back several feet, much less gently.

After a few seconds of composing himself and trying to figure out what just happened, Eddie got up and charged Fabian. Lacie panicked and did the first thing that came to mind, which was always a bad choice for her. She put herself in between them and put both of her arms straight out to her sides and roared, "Stop!"

Both of the boys ran into invisible walls and flew backwards. Nina stared up at her and it felt like everything was happening in slow motion until they crashed into the ground, the band bounced around the house, but they stopped fighting, so it was almost worth it. "If you don't knock it off, you're going to kill each other."

Fabian laid back on the floor, in pain, but also amazed. Footsteps thundered through the house and in a matter of moments everyone, save Jerome and Amber, were standing in the hallway.

"What is going on in here?!" Trudy yelled Victor pushed his way through the crowd and walked right in front of Lacie, who quickly lowered her arms.

"Yes, Miss Brown, What is going on here?" He asked quietly. Eddie sat up and rubbed the back of his head that he hit on the floor with his good hand.

"Fabian and I were fighting. That's all." He said. As much as he'd love to get them in trouble, there was no way he could explain that her and Fabian just did magic. Victor looked around and seemed to know he wasn't going to get any more out of them. He glared at them and left and when Amber called Trudy downstairs, the only ones left were the students.

"I thought you were coming to apologize..." Nina said sadly, then closed her door on the house.

"Come with me you two!" Lacie whispered angerly. She lead them through the crowd down to their room and slammed the door behind them. Fabian and Eddie sat on their beds, glaring at each other. "What the hell was that?!" She waited for an explanation like a cross mother.

"Nina called for me, so I came." Fabian said simply. Lacie was surprised by his anger. It seemed so unlike him.

"She didn't fucking call for you. I was there. I would have heard her." Eddie complained. He laid back on his bed massaging his hand. "Can you fix my thumb?"

"She didn't call me with her voice... it was in my mind... like..."

"Like telepathy?" Lacie asked Fabian nodded. "And how many times do I have to tell you. God of destruction. I don't have healing powers. He does, then again we don't know much about his powers because you refuse to read the book that I gave you. The one only you can read!"

"Did I do magic?" Fabian interjected.

Lacie sighed. "Looked like it."

"Is this like, team up on Eddie day?"

"Only because I needed to protect our Paragon from you!"

"She didn't need protecting."

"Boys!" Lacie shouted. "I thought you were starting to get along!"

"He was meant to go and apologize and instead he scares her into calling for help." Fabian grumbled.

"Nina wants a Sibuna meeting tonight. You two will have made up by then." Lacie commanded. "If not I will personally insure you meet Osiris tonight." She turned and left the room.

Eddie stared at the door. "I still don't trust her.

"She's terrifying."

While they weren't made up, Eddie and Fabian were at least civil to each other during the Sibuna meeting they had down in Mick/Amber and Jerome's room while Jerome was in the shower. None of them had any idea what Isis really meant by "check your dwellings." They ended the meeting short when Jerome returned and Trudy shooed them out.

Briefly, as they left the room, Eddie and Nina made eye contact, but she broke away. She was too mad at him still. She felt a little heartbroken, but mostly angry and spiteful, so when Cory texted her as she was going to bed, she was ready.

Hey! So Bradley, Arabella and I are planning on going off campus tomorrow night for some fun in town. Wanna join us? The message read. Nina finished brushing her teeth before responding.

Sounds great, she replied. The phone blocked her view as she picked up her things and left running into Patricia."Sorry, I'm so sorry." She said immediately.

"It's fine... Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you." Patricia responded, wiping the water off her shirt. "You and Eddie..?"

"...Are totally not a thing. Actually, I'm going on another date with Cory tomorrow night and that's been going really well." Nina explained. If Eddie was going to be a baby then he was all Patricia's. If only she actually felt that way. Why did she always do this to herself?

"Look, I'm sorry about how I've been acting lately. You don't deserve it." Patricia said humbly. "I've been blaming you for things that weren't your fault..."

"It's okay! I-I hope you and Eddie get back together." Nina said, then left. She was glad that Patrica and were on good terms again, but wasn't happy she just told her it was okay to date Eddie... First it was Joy with Fabian, and now Patricia with Eddie...

Whens he got to her room, her phone buzzed again. See you tomorrow, Love.

After she got back from cardio with Eddie, Lacie was on a mission. It had been four weeks of flirting with Joy Merer and that was too long for her. Today they were going on a date and that was that. While she took her shower, she wondered what Nathan would say if he knew what she was planning to do. He deserved a call... But there was no way she could call him or Emma or anyone else. A clean break was best.

She stepped out of the shower on to the warm bathmat. What was it that she really like about Joy? Maybe it was the fact that they were both a little bit outcasted, or that they both had their hearts broken in similar ways. The biggest reason, though, was how Lacie felt so free to talk to her about hings she couldn't even tell Nina. As long as she avoided magic and... well, murder, everything was good.

More consideration went into the outfit she was wearing than had ever been put into any outfit she had worn before. Joy wasn't a particularly girly girl, so Lacie didn't feel the need to dress up, but she didn't want to look too causal either. In the end she decided on an oversized red sweater and leggings. Lacie slipped on her tan and plain Toms before sprinting down the stairs to the common room where Mara told her Joy was. She was such a good friend.

Lacie told herself to breathe as she walked into the room. It was mostly empty, save Mara who was trying to be stealthy by spying over her book (it was very obvious what she was doing and Lacie wanted to hit her), Patricia, Mick and Joy. The three of them were huddled under a blanket watching the telly. Mara gave Lacie a thumbs up and muted the show.

The three on the couch just began complaining when they noticed Lacie standing there, dressed somewhat nicely, during the time that everyone knew that her and Eddie went out "running."

She took a deep breath and promised herself it would be okay. "Joy Mercer,. We're going on a date." Lacie announced. Joy's eyes opened with, what looked like, shock, then excitement.

"Now?" She asked, a grin spreading across her face.

"No. A cab will be here in fifteen minutes and we're going into town." Lacie caught Mick mouthing "knew it" to Patricia. She didn't care, though, because Joy got up and ran upstairs, presumably to get ready.

Patricia looked smug. "Took you long enough. I thought you'd never ask her." Lacie liked how nicely everyone took her sexuality. At her last school, a PA school, people weren't that accepting. The only one who ever came off as prejudiced was Nina and that was just a misunderstanding. Mick was the only one that gave her any real trouble, but that was only when he said she was a lesbian, not bisexual, but she could look past that.

"Thank you, Mara," Lacie said. Mara, in response, smiled, then unmuted the telly and started actually reading her book.

"Was this some big plan?" Mick asked.

"Hardly. The only people that knew were... well... everyone but Nina, Amber and Jerome." Lacie explained. Mick rolled his eyes and brought his attention to the program on the TV.

As Lacie left the room, Patricia said. "Good luck... and don't break her heart!" Lacie smiled in appreciation and waited for Joy to come down in the hallway.

Five minutes earlier that expected, there was a horn honking outside. "Is that the cab?" Joy yelled. Nina quickly ran down the steps.

"No! It's for me!" She yelled. "Are you going somewhere too?"

"Joy and I are going on a date." Lacie said; Nina groaned.

"So am I... Did Eddie put you up to this?" Lacie was annoyed. Eddie wouldn't do that... would he?

"No. Have fun on your date..." Lacie dismissed. Nina awkwardly smiled and left quickly. Her going on another date was bad if Fabian was right about this Cory guy she was seeing. Then again, most of the time, Fabian was more protective of Nina than Eddie, so he could be exaggerating.

Moments later, Joy descended the stairs. Her hair that was usually pulled into a ponytail or bun was down and long and wavy. She wore high-waist skinny jeans, and a tight-fitting plain black v-neck. Her makeup was simple, but pretty. The most stunning thing about her was the way, for the first time since Lacie met her, she shone with confidence.

Patrica appeared behind Lacie. "Wow, Joy, you look... stunning." She said.

"What she said," Lacie said dreamily. Joy bit her lip and smiled and looked down. Lacie figured she wasn't good at accepting compliments.

"Alright, you kids," Patricia teased. "No drinking, no drugs and be home by midnight... or … well ten, but midnight sounded better..." Lacie could tell she was enjoying giving this spiel. "And, for the record, I though it would be Fabian getting this speech."

"Fabian's done. Over. The end." Joy replied. Lacie smiled, knowing she had helped her to that point. It was only two weeks ago she was still swooning over him saying hi to her.

"Good. I don't want any competition." Lacie said, and wrapped a protective arm around Joy's waist. Another cab honked outside.

"Have fun!" Patricia said and pushed them out the door to their date.

Amber woke up next to Jerome feeling groggy and sicker than before. Usually, she might have minded having to share a bed with Jerome, but she was hardly awake, so it didn't really matter. Trudy deemed them too sick to do anything, and Mick had a queen sized bed, so they were approved. She also said that if they weren't better by the next day, Wednesday, she would have to call the doctor.

She probably should have called the doctor Tuesday, because Amber wasn't able to hold down any food that whole day. Jerome complained every time she got up to throw up, but then she didn't wake up because she was ill. Maybe it was just a limit to how long you could sleep in one time period.

Amber pulled off her blanket and allowed the cool air of the room to touch her fevered skin. She wasn't sure what to do—Trudy had forbidden her from leaving the room just in case she infected someone else—so she allowed her mind to wander. She thought about all the gossip she must have missed and about all the time she could be using to prepare for musical auditions that were that Friday! Mostly, she thought of Sibuna and Lacie Brown...

Nina was so upset when she found out Amber was trying to do a background check on Lacie. She wasn't sure why Nina cared so much. Normally Nina didn't trust anyone that wasn't a Sibuna and now she trusted Lacie more than her own best friend? It was too weird.

And on weird things, what was up with the surprise visit from the goddess of magic? Saying things like Amber was "protected by Tenent?" She meant to look up what that meant, but got too sick. It could probably wait. What couldn't wait was the fact that they needed to find some other ancient artifact to protect themselves from yet another evil. Except this time their only clue was "check your dwellings," which could basically mean anywhere. Amber was also convinced that Lacie was the evil, but no one but Fabian took her seriously and even he was trusting her more and more by the house.

Check your dwellings... Dwellings were the place that yo lived... So could Isis have meant Anubis house? Because that was as vague as it got. The cup of Ankh was "in Anubis house."

Unless she meant something more specific... Like her and Nina's room perhaps... It would make sense, that's where Nina and Sarah both lived.

And suddenly, Amber knew exactly where the first clue was. She jumped out of bed and tiptoed into the hallway.

Apparently she wasn't being as stealthy as she though, because Patricia found her in four seconds exactly. "Trudy's out, but you have to stay in bed."

"I just need something from my room," Amber explained, not very convincingly. Patricia grabbed her arm and tried to lead her back to bed.

"Trudy said to make sure you stayed in bed." Patricia said. Amber groaned but let Patricia bring her to bed and get her a cuppa. "I'll ring Trudy and let her know you need her to come home."

Patricia was acting so un-Patricia-like that Amber didn't even realize hat happened fully, though that might have also been the fever. When Patricia closed the door, Amber tried to leave again, more stealthy this time.

Her time in Sibuna made her much better at sneaking around. This time she was able to make it past Patricia and up to her room.

She rationalized that she would have five minutes to look. Now, if she was Robert, where would she hid a clue in her daughter's room... Sarah was the Paragon, so she was the only one who would be able to find it... but she was only fine at the time. It had to be somehow she could find eventually, but not yet...

Amber heard a bedroom door open downstairs. She only had a few more seconds. If she was going to hid something from a five year old she would hide it...

...High up! Quickly she scanned the ceiling and sure enough she saw a peeling piece of wallpaper above Nina's bed. And the called her a dumb blonde... Amber jumped onto the bed as Patricia started yelling, "Amber! Dammit come down!"

Amber peeled back the wallpaper and a small yellowing piece of paper fell into her hands. She lost her footing and tumble doff the bed onto the floor. Quickly, she read what was on the paper.

"The first for the last you have found," she read aloud quietly. "The next you seek is underground; Paragon hurry, you don't have long; to discover the goddess's song; Side by side you three must look; in my secret library nook."

She had just finished when Patricia opened the door, "amber are you okay?" She noticed the paper in her hands. "What is that?"

Amber gulped and scrambled for something to say.

A/N: So I wanted a really bad cliffhanger for you this time. One that you could picture being on the show. Is that not the single most HOA cliffhanger ever?

Next chapter is a lot of romantic tension. Two new couples get together and one old one! Date's and fluff galore! P.S. I got this up way early I deserve a cookie.

See you by April fourth :)!

R&R!