The Mansion
Summary: The crew discovers what Victor and Vera are up to... it's not good!
Evie's Notes: Happy Monday! I hope you all are doing well . Thank you so much your support of this story, it truly means the world to me 💜! I hope that you all enjoy the this new update 🌺.
Previously: "Hey guys… what's that?" asked Eddie pointing to where a stream of smoke rose up in the distance. "I thought the main campus was the only set of buildings in these woods?".
"We are… it's probably just some students having a bonfire" dismissed Patricia.
"Well shouldn't we go check it out? It's really not safe to be burning anything this week due to the heat warning, plus with it about to rain no one should be out in the woods?" worried Eddie.
"Do we have to?" whined Alfie, "Trudy made her Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cake".
"It's the right thing to do," replied Eddie stubbornly.
"Fine, we'll swing past their campsite, and then head back to the house" decided Nina.
The Sibuna Crew, plus Eddie, hiked their way through the trees to where they expected the campsite to be. Reaching a clearing the students were shocked for two very different reasons. The smoke that they expected to see coming from a campfire was instead exiting the chimney of a gorgeous mansion.
Nina and Eddie were confused as to why a beautiful mansion was hidden away in the far reaches of the campus, deep in the forest.
Amber, Alfie, Fabian and Patricia stared at the newly restored mansion in shock. Last they remembered this was the location of the old and broken down Frobisher Summer House that the older students would sneak off to party in and look for ghosts.
"Oh Alfie, would you look at that house, have you ever seen anything so gorgeous?" gushed Amber
"It's haunted and we're all going to die," droned Alfie. "I have no idea why anyone would want to fix up the Summer House, since everyone knows it's filled with ghosts".
"Hey, isn't that Victor's car?" asked Fabian. "See Nina, I told you they were up to something!"
Nina just hummed noncommittally as she eyed the house.
"Clearly the fire is contained so let's just get back to the house before we are missed" suggested Alfie nervously.
"Are we seriously going to walk away without investigating this?" asked Patricia disbelivingly.
"Patricia's right, this place was supposed to be in shambles. Why on earth is it looking brand new and who would fix it up?" asked Amber.
"The "who" is probably Victor or Sweet. They would be the only ones with the power to order a school property to be worked on" figured Fabian.
"So Victor or my Dad decided to fix up an old building. This really isn't any reason to be concerned" dismissed Eddie. "Let's head back to the house".
Nina was eyeing the house strangely. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but there was something calling her from the house. She did not know what Victor and Vera were up to in that house, but the longer the group stood on the edge of the woods the louder the warning bells sounded in her head.
"We NEED to get in that house" the decisiveness of Nina's voice shut up any arguments that other members might have made.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
It took a bit of doing, but the group soon found themselves slipping in through a window to access one of the house's studies.
"Well it looks normal so far" Alfie commented. "I mean, there's no dead animals so that's a point in the 'not-evil' category"
"I feel like 'no dead animals' should go without saying… but given that it's Victor and Vera we're working with we can't take that for granted" sighed Amber.
"What are your 'Chosen One' senses telling you?" asked Fabian, making his way over to stand by Nina who was busy examining a long stretch of wall covered by an ornate china cabinet.
"I'm getting a similar pull towards this wall like I did with the cup and mask…"
"Ok, that's great! It probably means we are on the right track. We just need to find what's calling to you. Let's get to searching" directed Fabian as he pulled open one of the drawers. The others followed his lead, investigating the bookshelves, desks and cushions of the room.
Amber was going through the bottom drawer of the main desk, when she found a box that wouldn't budge. "Hey guys… I think I found something!"
"What is it?" asked Patricia, kneeling down beside the blonde girl.
"I was able to move everything in this drawer except for this box. It's almost like it's bolted to the drawer. I think there's a key hole though" grunted Amber as she tried again to lift the little black box.
"Let me try" offered Eddie, taking Patricia's place beside Amber. As soon as the American boy laid his hand on the box, it glowed and slid to the side revealing a ring drilled into the wood. "Okay… that was seriously creepy" muttered Eddie.
"Welcome to the world of being a Chosen One" sighed Nina.
"So… should we pull it?" asked Alfie.
"Pulling a random lever, in a creepy house, in the middle of the woods is a terrible, horrible, incredibly foolish idea" grinned Amber.
"But we're doing it right?!" checked Nina.
"Of course! We need to see what happens!" chuckled Fabian.
With the group's go ahead, Eddie reached into the new opening and pulled the ring. At first it seemed like nothing happened, the Sibuna Club exchanged disappointed looks.
"I guess Victor and Vera really aren't up to anything" commented Patricia disappointedly.
Nina opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off as a low rumbling sound filled the room.
"Well that doesn't sound good" quipped Eddie.
The china cabinet that Nina and Fabian had been investigating suddenly swung open revealing a rocky staircase heading down into a dangerous darkness.
"Fuck yeah! Now that's what I'm talking about" cheered Patricia, as Eddie's jaw dropped.
"Huh, well after you Chosen One" grinned Fabian.
Nina pressed a kiss to his cheek before switching on her torch and stepping down into the tunnel.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
"How much further does this passage go?" whined Amber quietly, only to be shushed by her fellow club members.
Nina came to a sudden halt, putting up a hand to stop the others behind her, "I think we're here" she whispered, gesturing to the light that illuminated the end of their current passage.
Crouching, Nina crawled carefully towards the light. Hesitantly she peeked her head around the corner of the passage into the lighted room, only to immediately whip it back around with her face ashen.
"What's wrong Neens?" whispered Alfie.
Nina just made a shooing motion at them to go back to the secret staircase. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and made sure that the flash was off before hitting record and tilting the camera part around the passage's corner.
"What is she doing?" asked Eddie, only to freeze as the corridor was suddenly filled with the sound of ominous chanting.
"Sibuna Rule Number One: When you hear ominous chanting, the appropriate response is to run!" worried Alfie. "Nothing good ever happens during ominous chanting".
"Oh Isis, goddess of magic, and Amun Ra, god of all the light touches. We present to you this sacrifice in exchange for all that you have promised" echoed Victor's voice accompanied by many chanting voices.
"What's going on?! Let me go! What are you doing?" yelled a young frightened voice. A voice that had haunted Eddie's dreams for the last week, one that he was very, very familiar with.
"Place him on the table" directed a cold voice none of the students recognized.
"Please, let me go. I won't say anything! Please, just let me go home" begged the voice of the previously believed dead, Jason McCreary.
"Relax young man" ordered Vera's voice. "Place the scarab on his chest. This will all be over in a moment".
The chanting intensified as a bright glow started to emanate from the room. As the glow grew brighter, Jason's screams increased. Amber buried her head in Alfie's chest horrified by what they were hearing.
Jason's screams and all light from the room suddenly ceased. "It's done," announced Victor roughly. "Our sacrifice has been accepted by Ra, only seven more to go".
Evie's Notes 2: The scarab makes a come back! Oh Sibuna... what have you gotten yourselves into this time? They really should have learned their lesson from the cat... you know what they say about curiosity 😉.
I'm looking forward to seeing all of your theories from this chapter!
Thank you all so much for reading 💕! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know your favorite part of in the comments! I hope to see you all next week 💗!
I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story as a whole in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie🌺
