Carnival
Summary: The Sibuna Club discovers a new Frobisher Lair and attend the School Carnival.
Evie's Notes: Hey... sorry for disappearing. Things have been super crazy and I had insane writers block. That said thank you for all of the love you have given this story. You all are the absolute best! I love you all so much đź’ś! I hope you enjoy this new upload .
Previously on Scent of Lavender: Pressing her locket against the stone, Nina watched with bated breath as the stone grate slid aside revealing a terrifying sight.
The stone grate slid aside allowing the students access to what seemed to be a tomb. Nina carefully stepped down off the ledge and into the room, checking for booby traps, her fellow club members following closely behind.
"Yup! I recognize this place from just about every nightmare I've ever had" snarked Amber hopping down off the ledge. "Spooky dungeon crypt. Gods it's like out of a fantasy novel or something"
"Amby, everything we do is like out of a fantasy novel" chuckled Alfie, but he was giving the large coffin in the center of the room a wide berth.
The group spread out to assess the new chamber and look for any possible exits to the outside. Patricia and Fabian made a beeline to the two sets of doors, but both struggled to get either to budge even a little. "OW! It's like they were sealed closed" bemoaned Patricia.
"I think they only open from the outside" gritted Fabian, as he threw his whole weight against the door in hopes of opening it.
Nina was far more invested in the placard etched into the front of the tomb's main coffin. Brushing away the dust revealed the letters R.F.S and the dates 1881 - 1922. "Guy's this is Robert's crypt!".
Before the group could process the latest reveal, an ominous screeching sound filled the air and the Sibuna Club turned back to the tunnel from which they came only to see the stone grate rapidly closing off their only exit. Despite the group's best efforts the gate slammed closed effectively trapping them. Nina sunk down on one of the steps in defeat.
"Are you doing ok?" Fabian asked Nina, rubbing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"As best as I can. At least if I'm buried alive I'm in the family tomb, right?" she tried to joke. "I just can't stop thinking about how unfair it is that Sarah isn't able to be laid to rest under her real name and with her family".
"Well that is something we can think about later" encouraged her boyfriend. "Let's focus on finding an alternate way out of here".
With their new entrapment hanging over their heads the Sibuna Club set to work looking for any possible escape routes. Amber opened a door which revealed a closet full of screeching bats.
"AAAAAAHHHHHH" screamed Amber running to hide behind Patricia.
"Calm down Amber, they're just bats".
"Right. Just bats… in this just crypt" snarked Amber angrily.
"Guy's the bats are gone! Maybe we can get out the way they did" suggested Nina pointing to the shadow covered roof where the bats had supposedly escaped from.
"Uh huh. Let me know when you grow wings Chosen One" sassed Patricia.
"Fuck off Trix" replied Nina, begining to climb on top of her greatgrandfather's coffin. "I can just make out a grate up top, maybe if I was able to get on someone's shoulders?"
"Nope, we are NOT doing that" declared Fabian, tugging Nina back to the safety of even ground.
"Fine" grumped Nina returning to her search for a ground based escape route.
It was Alfie who suggested that they try forcing Nina's arm through the grate and seeing if she could unlock the door by pressing her amulet against the marking hoping that it would trigger the grate. Nina and Fabian protested that this could end with her getting hurt, but the vote was three to one meaning Nina found herself lying on the ground with her arm shoved as far as possible through the grate. It took a couple tries, but she was eventually able to successfully hit her amulet against the mark, sparking the grate to roll back. Unfortunately the grate moved at a faster clip than she expected so her arm was stuck in one of the holes, Fabian helped her to untangle herself but Nina was going to have a wicked bruise. The opening of the door allowed Alfie to wedge a large stick in the space to keep the doorway open.
"Well I don't know about you guys but I am more than ready to call it a night. We only have a couple more hours before we have to be up" announced Amber. "Victor and Vera should be gone by now so let's get Nina an icepack and some shut eye".
The other Sibunas quickly agreed and made their way back through the tunnels to get some well deserved rest.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
Taking a deep breath, Nina wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans while mentally giving herself a pep talk. She was the bloody chosen one, she had fought actual demons and she was scared of a little phone call? Summoning all of her courage, Nina hit the call button on the contact and squeezed her eyes tight as the phone rang.
"Hello?" came an unfamiliar voice.
"Hi, is this Tony? I'm a friend of Tanya's, she mentioned that you would be able to get me what I need?"
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
The Frobisher Academy Carnival was the latest brainchild of Headmaster Sweet. Ever since the failure of The Society two years ago, Eric had turned his attention towards legitimizing the school and making sure the less savory aspects of its history, and his involvement in those aspects, would remain hidden. So when Mayor Carlyle had called the School and asked that they host a carnival for the town, well how could Eric turn down this golden opportunity?
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
Joy eyed Patricia and her friends warily as she ran through her vocal warm ups. The group had been acting strangely over the past two weeks. Joy didn't want to be wrapped up in another mystery, yet she hated being left in the dark more. After Eddie and K.T.'s revelation about the reformed cult, Joy had done a bit of digging and was upset with what she found.
While she was happy that her father wasn't wrapped up in the cult again, she had noticed some rather worrying signs that Victor had simply recruited upwards. Joy had at least been able to give Eddie reassurance that his sketchy child-napping father wasn't currently a member of the cult. It was laughably obvious that Victor and Vera had shut out the headmaster. The newest hire by said headmaster… well she was worth watching.
Joy had made an appointment with the counselor with the goal of discovering any possible cult connections and wow… so many red flags! Miss Wilson was far too invested in the going ons of the school for Joy to believe she wasn't involved. Plus when the woman had to briefly step out of the room to deal with Mr. Sweet, Joy went through her purse and found a second phone! Later on when Joy broke into the office after pin drop with KT and Eddie she found a filing cabinet filled with files on each of the students and staff members. KT had tried to argue that as guidance counselor she would have the files, but Joy was not convinced.
"Let it go JJ, you know that you don't actually want to be wrapped up in their crazy. We already have our own mission, we don't need another one" advised Eddie upon seeing her annoyed look.
"Ugh, I know, but it still sucks to be left out".
"How about you go check on K.T.? Make sure that she's ready for her first performance?" suggested Eddie.
Rolling her eyes, Joy headed off towards the makeshift dressing room to find the band's replacement drummer.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
"I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this!" muttered K.T. frantically as she paced back and forth in the performer's dressing room.
"Knock, Knock" called Joy as she entered the space, "You ready to rock this carnival?". It had been hard for the group to decide to replace their guitarist, as the hole Jason left behind in his death was huge, but K.T. was settling in as a perfect fit.
"I'm so sorry, but this was a terrible mistake! I can't do this!" called K.T. intending to grab her bag and race out of the performance tent.
"Hey, hey. What's going on? Is something wrong?" asked Joy, moving to lay a hand on her housemate's shoulder.
"I'm so sorry to let you guys down but I can't perform with you" insisted KT, shrugging off Joy's hand to pull on her jacket.
"Yeah, you said that, but why?"
"Why?! Because of all the people! What if I mess up? It would screw up your whole performance. I can't do that to you all".
"Hey, take a deep breath for me please" asked Joy, firmly placing her hands on both of K.T.'s shoulders. "Look into my eyes and count with me. One, three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen, seventeen, nineteen, twenty-one".
Despite herself, KT found her body relaxing as she counted along with her gorgeous band mate.
"Very good!" praised Joy. "Now about this foolishness of you messing us up. That's all it is… foolishness. You are not the only one on stage, there are four other people with you so if you do mess up, which will probably happen since you are human, we will cover for you; just like you will if Eddie forgets a beat or Lindy is off time. We're a band and we have each other's back".
"Thanks Joy"
"No problem, now let's get out there and show everyone what a kickass guitarist you are" declared Joy happily, tugging K.T. out of the room. K.T. just laughed happily and followed after her new friend.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
Nina scanned the crowd of Frobisher Academy students and townspeople looking for her contact. She honestly didn't know what to expect this Tony person to look like, but she was grateful to Tanya for passing along their contact. How else was Nina supposed to get cannabis for the elixir? Shifting awkwardly, Nina tried her best to not look suspicious as she stood by the cotton candy tent. Why on earth would a drug dealer want to meet in the middle of the carnival?
"Hi! You must be Nina" greeted a peppy voice. Nina turned to see that said voice was accompanied by a pretty girl in the local public school cheerleading uniform holding a purple gift bag.
"Yeah, I'm Nina. I'm sorry I seem to be at a disadvantage, you are?"
"Sorry, I'm Toni" grinned the girl. "I have that necklace you ordered right here. Thanks for supporting the cheer team, we really appreciate it" winked the girl.
"Right…" drawled Nina, confused but handing over the cash anyways.
"Pleasure doing business with you, see you again soon" beamed the girl, handing Nina the gift bag. Nina watched stupefied as the cheerleader disappeared into the crowd, leaving the girl wondering what had just happened.
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
"Hey, Toni! Did you see that they have a cup stacking station? I bet you ten bucks I'll beat you" teased Jackson.
"Oh you are on" agreed the girl excitedly, only to freeze. "Shit, I left my phone back by the cotton candy tent".
"You want me to walk with you?" offered her friend.
"Nah, go on ahead and get us a spot in line. I'll jog on over to the tent and then meet up with you for the game" decided Toni.
"If you're sure?" agreed Jackson hesitantly.
"Of course I'm sure. I'll be like ten minutes tops. Go save us a spot, I want my ten bucks".
"As if, I am going to crush you at cups".
"We will have to see" she teased, "See you in ten!".
* Scent of Lavender * Scent of Lavender *
"Lola, have you seen Toni?"
"Hi Jackson! Not since about an hour ago, sorry, why?" replied the purple haired girl.
Jackson ran a hand worriedly over his hair. "I'm worried about her. She was supposed to meet up with me at the cup stacking game after getting her phone, but that was forty five minutes ago. I've been calling her non-stop but she won't pick up".
"Maybe she went back into town? You know how her parents get… ever since she started with those 'necklaces' they've been absolute prison guards. They probably drove over to pick her up early; I mean she's lucky they even let her come out tonight at all".
"Maybe you're right, it's just weird is all".
"Try to put it out of your mind. Mr. Sparrow says we only have another hour or so to play before he's loading up the bus to take us back to the center" comforted his friend.
"Ok. I never got to play the cup stacking game, would you like to join me?"
"Totally! Let's go crush some prep school kids!".
Evie's Notes 2: Thank you all so much for reading đź’•! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know your favorite part of in the comments! I hope to see you all next week đź’—!
Next Update: Nina cooks up another spell
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🌺
