Chapter 1:

Fabian

It was back to our school for sophomore year and I was in the car ride on my way to Anubis house. I was extremely excited; I couldn't wait to see everyone! Especially my girlfriend, Nina Martin.

Unlike everyone else in the house who were able to spend time with their significant others, I hadn't seen Nina for three months. She lived in New York all the way over in America. I missed her so much that I couldn't even begin to explain it. Summer was great to start with; water fights with my sisters, ice cream on the beach, football with Dad and my brother. But after a few weeks I started to miss Anubis house. There were no mysteries to solve, no missing students or crazy spirits, and most unfortunately, no Nina. So I spent the next two months either skyping and texting her, or pacing my room thinking about her.

But finally the end of August came and it was time for me to pack up all of my stuff and head back to my boarding school outside of Liverpool. As I sat in the petite black cab, I couldn't help but wonder what strange mysteries we'd encounter this year in the ancient house. Of course, it would be nice to have a normal year with no riddles and near death experiences, but really, that was practically unheard of at Anubis.

I hopped out of the cab and paid the driver, quickly grabbing my one large suitcase from the trunk before turning to face the old house that I called home. It looked just the same as it had three months ago, if not more mysterious. I could already tell that this year was going to be one to remember.

I scurried up the old stone steps, almost tripping as I went. I took a quick breath before opening the door and stepping inside.

I looked around the main entrance of the old home upon entering. Directing my gaze upward, I saw the tears of glass chandelier connected to the ceiling, the staircase with the eye of Horus pattern, and out of the corner of my eye, the sarcophagus against the wall in the hallway. I felt a smile creep onto my face as I remembered some things that had happened in that room. The key under the third stair, the cup piece in the railing, the magic glow from the chandelier...

"Fabian?" A voice called. I turned at the sound of my name and spotted the face I'd been longing to see for the past ten weeks. She was standing at the top of the staircase, leaning against the railing and peering down.

"Nina!" I called, putting down my trunk and holding my arms out.

"Fabian!" she said again running down the stairs and into my outstretched arms. "I missed you." she whispered into the crook of my neck as she flung her arms around me.

"I missed you more." I replied. She giggled before immediately retaliating.

"I don't think so!" She laughed, pulling away and looking up at me.

"Well, I do!" I insisted.

"Prove it."

I leant down and kissed her, causing her to let out a little yelp of surprise as I smiled against her lips. After a moment however, she regained herself and tightened her grip behind my neck. I put my hands on her waist and pulled her closer.

I missed this. The feeling I had when I was with Nina, the way she always made my heart leap. I reluctantly pulled away when I heard an excessive amount of squealing from upstairs.

"Awwwee! Fabina!" Amber screeched. I rolled my eyes and casually slung my arm over Nina's shoulder.

Amber ran down the stairs and quickly hugged me before squealing again and disappearing down the hall and into the common room.

"That happens way too much." Nina said, before taking my hand from her shoulder and leading me down the hall after Amber.

When I walked into the common room, I received an onslaught of greetings from everyone. Eddie and Mick were at the table eating (big surprise there), Alfie was playing a handheld video game, Amber was digging for something in her oversized purse, and Jerome was sitting on the couch with Mara curled up in his chest. I couldn't help but notice Mick glancing at them between bites. Also, Joy was sitting in the armchair reading a magazine. It looked like I was the last to arrive. Just then Trudy walked in from the kitchen and greeted us.

"Hello Fabian, dear," she said. "Now that you're all here, I have some news for you!" Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at her. "Well, Mr. Sweet has talked to Victor and convinced him that the house has enough room for another student!" She exclaimed enthusiastically causing glances to be exchanged all throughout the room. Some good, some not so friendly.

"Trudy?" Joy asked. "Why are we getting another student? Don't we already technically have one too many?"

"Well dear," Trudy replied. "We looked over some old papers and there is technically no limit to the amount of students per house. However the rooming agreement is no more than three to a room."

"Trudy, please tell me I'm not getting somebody else in my room! Alfie is quite enough!" Jerome said.

"Don't worry darling, the new student is a girl. She had applied for a scholarship here but the school couldn't give it to her until they found a house for her to stay in! But now that that's settled, she has been offered the scholarship and is on her way here now! I expect all of you to be kind and welcoming." she said, more strictly at the last part. Jerome let out a sigh of relief and Nina spoke up.

"So she'll be rooming with Amber and I?" she asked.

"Yes Nina, I hope that won't serve as a problem?"

"No way!" Amber intervened. "Another roommate will be awesome! Unless she's really ugly and hates makeup and fashion... But that's nothing a little Amber magic won't fix! Oh I wonder what she's like! I can't wait! This is going to super mega funtasticariffic!"

"Poor girl..." Nina mumbled to me under her breath to which I let out a small laugh. Amber gave me a confused glance before shrugging it off and continuing to dig through her bag.

"I guess that explains why there's an extra bed in my room." Nina said to me. "Wanna come help me move some things around?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Sure, why not?"

We exited the common room and headed upstairs to Nina and Amber's room. Just like Nina had said, there was an empty third bed at the far end of the room, in front of the window. It looked really out of place between the pink of Amber's side and the multiple colours of Nina's side.

"So, I guess we should just rearrange mine and Amber's stuff so that there's enough space for the new girl." Nina said, mapping out the space with her hands. "We can move my wardrobe closer to my bed, and we can move Amber's vanity to the wall near her bed. That way the space is distributed a bit more evenly. Then we can press the third bed against the wall, longways under the window."

"Sounds good to me," I said. "But are you sure we'll be able to move Amber's vanity with the 50 pounds of makeup she has in it?"

Nina stepped closer to me and looked up, tracing her hands along my chest.

"You're strong, I believe you can do it." she said with a smile before quickly pecking me on the lips. She hopped back and practically skipped over to the wardrobe. "I push, you pull?" she asked. I nodded and took my place on the opposite side of the large dresser.

"Okay, on the count of three. One... Two... Three!"

We moved the wardrobe so it was by the foot of Nina's bed, but so there was enough space for her to get to the other side of it. Next, we moved Amber's vanity closer to her bed, opening a whole wall for the new girl.

Nina went and plopped down on her bed and I sat next to her as she spoke.

"You were right, Amber has way too much makeup! I would never have been able to move that on my own! Good thing I had my big strong boyfriend to help me." she said, poking me in the stomach.

"Glad to help." I replied with a smile.

"I hope the new girl's nice..." she said suddenly. "I would hate to have to put up with another Patricia." I laughed before responding, offering my girlfriend my hand.

"I'm sure she'll be absolutely wonderful," I assured her. "I just hope Patricia's nicer to her than she was to you."

"Getting water dumped on you isn't the warmest of welcomes..."

"I still can't believe she did that! I mean, I know she was mad about you replacing Joy and all, but that was a little extreme!" I said in a tone that was near to bitterness. Nina laughed.

"I'm just glad we're able to laugh about it now. And I'm also glad that Patricia doesn't hate me anymore. And that Joy is back. And that all the mysteries are over!" she said, lying down with her arms behind her head.

I still didn't think that the mysteries at Anubis were over yet, but I didn't want to ruin Nina's relaxed mood. Instead, I laid down next to her. I was just about to tell her how much I'd missed her over the summer, when the doorbell rang.

"That'll be the new girl" I said, standing up. I offered my hand out to Nina and she took it once again. I helped her up off the bed and together we headed downstairs.

We reached the bottom step just as Trudy was turning the door handle. She opened the door to reveal a tall brunette girl. She was wearing black leggings, a blue Doctor Who T-shirt, and rolled down blue knee socks. She was also wearing combat boots and a black bomber jacket.

"Hi," she said shyly in an American accent. "Um... I'm Kara."

"Oh boy, another American..." Patricia muttered causing Eddie to elbow her in the side. "Ouch!"

"Hello deary," Trudy said, ignoring Patricia. "Welcome to Anubis house! My name's Trudy, I'm the housemother."

"Hi Trudy," she said with a beaming smile. "I'm really excited about being here."

"Well, you're going to have a marvelous time here. Your room is upstairs, you'll be sharing with Nina and Amber." she said, pointing first to Nina, then Amber.

The way the new girl seemed super happy and excited to start here reminded me slightly of how Nina was when she first arrived at Anubis. That was before all the riddles and sneaking around after dark, but I hoped Kara would get lucky and not have to endure all that.

"Eeep! Come on roomie! Let's go upstairs and get you unpacked!" Amber squealed, grabbing Kara by the wrist. Nina and I moved out of the way to let them up the stairs. "Nina! Get her luggage!" Amber commanded.

"Yes Amber..." Nina said, rolling her eyes. "I'll see you later." she said to me before quickly pecking me on the lips and grabbing three suitcases from the doorway.

Nina

I went up to my room with Kara's luggage whilst thinking to myself. She seemed nice enough, I only prayed that it wasn't some sort of façade or mask. I immediately shook the thought from my head. What was my problem? This new girl had just arrived and out of nowhere I was suddenly expecting the worst of her. I shook my head in an attempt to rid myself of my paranoia that had bloomed due to Rufus, Vera, and God knows how many other people.

I stepped into my room to find Amber babbling on and on about who knows what to Kara. I could tell she was trying to listen, but to no avail.

"Honestly, I think that Brangelina, you know, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, are the cutest celeb couple out there! What's your favorite star couple?" Amber demanded of Kara.

"Oh... Um... Uh... Yeah, totally Brangelina..."

"You see? This is why we are going to be such good friends! We totally ship the same couples. OMG! Wait till I tell you about Fabina!"

"Fabina?" Kara questioned, no doubt extremely intimidated.

"That's quite enough Amber!" I intervened. She made a pouty face but perked up when she saw the luggage. Kara remained sitting on Amber's bed looking extremely confused. I sighed and rolled my eyes as Amber dragged the luggage away from me and over to the bed.

"Fabina is the couple name that Amber made up for my boyfriend Fabian and I," I explained, and her expression changed to one of sympathetic understanding. "I'll introduce you once you're done unpacking."

"Thanks," she said. "And thanks for bringing up my stuff." She said quietly. "I'm sorry that there's so much... I just couldn't pick what to take and what to leave, you know?"

"It's no problem! I'd love to see it all. Besides, I was the newbie a couple years back, I'm trying my best to make sure your welcome is better than mine." I said.

"You had a bad first month?" she asked, genuinely concerned, a small frown forming on her lips.

"Yeah..." I replied thinking back to my first few weeks in Anubis house.

"Why? What happened?"

I took a moment to try and think how I could change the story of my first year around without involving Joy's disappearance or the first mystery.

"Well... Let's just say nobody was really expecting me. One of the girls dropped out of the school without telling anybody about it and I took her place. Well, it caused quite a commotion with the girl's best friend. I got water poured on my lap, not to mention the cold shoulder from just about everybody. Fabian was super nice to me though, and soon Amber realized I wasn't so bad. Soon everybody but Patricia, she was the girl wearing all black with green streaks in her hair, was accepting of me. But at the end of the year, the girl who dropped out, her name is Joy, came back and Patricia became my friend. But I'm sure your stay won't be as bad as mine started out. Especially since you didn't replace anyone." I said giving her a wink.

"Well... That sounds... Fun..." she said hesitantly, trying not to be rude.

"Oh yeah, it was a ball! Anyway, let's get you unpacked." I laughed, putting her suitcases up on her bed.

Soon, the three of us were laughing and happily arranging Kara's things. Amber seemed satisfied with her wardrobe, so putting her clothes away didn't take as long as I thought it would. I was currently putting sheets on Kara's bed while she arranged a huge stack of books and put them on the shelf. Amber was looking through her shoes and placing them in "order" under the clothes in her wardrobe.

"Oh! Kara, you are SO going to have to let me borrow these!" she said, holding up a pair of 2 inch heeled boots.

"You're welcome to wear them if they fit you!" she replied as she put a large overused book on the shelf next to a small Boba Fett action figure.

"Eeep!" Amber squealed as she tried on the shoe. "It's a little big but I can manage!" Kara laughed as she placed another tattered book on the shelf.

"You sure have a lot of books" I said.

"Yeah..." she replied, stroking the ancient looking cover of the one she was currently holding.

"Why?" I asked, moving to sit next to her on the floor.

"Oh... You know... Boredom..." she replied half heartedly, putting another book on the shelf.

"Kara, I totally know that you're lying." Amber said, turning her focus away from the wardrobe.

"It's just... Never mind."

"Come on Kara, you can tell us." I said reassuringly, offering her a smile.

"Well..." she started. "I just like so many different things..." she said, pointing to her books. "I have so many fantasy books because I've always loved to escape reality into another world. I got picked on a lot as a child so I found happiness reading about other kids in magical places." she sighed and picked up a history book. "But I have to admit, I'm also a bit of a nerd. My comic books are still in that little box over there, but I have Star Wars and Star Trek novels, Doctor Who character guides, alternate universe versions of Harry Potter! Oh, and I also have my mystery and CSI books, I love a good mystery. And, of course, my history books. I love history! Not the boring things you learn in school like the formation of America and the world wars and things, but ancient Greece, the Aztecs, and my absolute favorite, ancient Egypt! It's so fascinating to learn about all the different traditions and mythology! To see what life was like for people before technology and advanced science! I just love it, but everybody thinks I'm such a smart-ass loser, that I tend not to talk about it much. I mostly just talk about my other interests, like music and sports, and if they like comics..." She trailed off.

"Awe," Amber said. "Don't worry Kara, you won't feel out of place here! Ancient Egypt is a pretty big topic of interest here." Kara's face lit up and I shot Amber a warning glance. The last thing we needed was for Kara to learn about Sibuna and the history of the house.

"Really? That's so awesome! I actually came to England because of all its ties with archeology. I was planning on becoming an Egyptologist when I'm older, but usually I just tell people I want to be a singer or professional athlete or something. I don't want to be laughed at."

"Kara, being interested in Egyptology isn't something to be ashamed of!" I said. I took a deep breath before I continued, debating whether or not my words were safe to say. I decided it would be fine and kept talking. "I have a very close friend and both of her parents were Egyptologists!"

"Really?" she asked, her eyes lighting up with excitement. I can tell that she is extremely fascinated. "That's so cool! What's her name?"

"Um... Her name is Sarah." I said while Amber looked at me as if to say 'and you think I was giving too much information'.

"That's awesome. But I'm not all nerd! Like I said, I love sports and music! And I have to say, acting has always been my best subject in school!" she added.

"I have a feeling you're going to fit in perfectly." I said, holding back a giggle.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"Mara loves books, Fabian loves history, Mick lives for sports, Alfie is a huge geek, and Amber and Patricia are quite the drama queens! As long as you know how to take a joke, life here's going to be great for you!" I explain.

"If I know how to take a joke?"

"Let's just say that Jerome can get a little... Out of hand." I said, causing Kara to laugh.

"I can't wait! Can we go meet everybody now?" she asked eagerly, hopping up from in front of the bookshelf.

"I don't see why not!" I said as the three of us linked arms and meandered downstairs laughing. Something told me that we were all going to be the best of friends.