It's A Twin Thing | j. clarke [1]

twenty-seven

       -:- House of Reservation / House of Heavy -:-

Wednesday morning, two days after the mice incident, Nina and Fabian insisted on a quick Sibuna meeting before classes. Before breakfast, which also meant before coffee, the members of Sibuna sat in a circle on the floor of our room, dodging the mess. Victor had practically destroyed our rooms while looking for the pieces, and we were still cleaning up from it. Mara was going to talk to Mr. Sweet this morning and request compensation for the damage.

Sarah's box had been protected from Victor's wrath, but Nina and Fabian didn't get to the house in time to save the picture of Anna I'd been keeping in my copy of I'll Give You The Sun. It wasn't the only picture we had of Anna, but knowing that Victor had it felt like a hole in my heart.

While Nina was digging out the box of pieces from under her bed Amber detailed to us her pitch to Mara about an end of term prom. She'd mentioned it to us before, but Amber decided that while Mara was asking for compensation she should mention the prom as well. I didn't tell her how unlikely it was that Mara would talk to them about it today because I admired her enthusiasm. Somehow, Amber was able to find a project to pour herself into amid our stressful hunts for the pieces and keeping them from the teachers.

"What would the theme be?" Patricia asked.

"I'm thinking of Midnight In Paris." Amber smiled wide. "You know, the gorgeous city backdrop, great, and even better food."

"Sounds romantic," Alfie commented dreamily.

I raised my eyebrows at him, struck by his dreamy tone as he eyed Amber. Patricia noticed this too, and we shared a look of intrigue but neither of us pressed on with his reaction. Nina was almost ready, and I wanted to get breakfast as fast as possible.

"Okay, so I think after what happened with the pieces it's best we split them up," Nina started. "That way if Victor searches the house they won't all be in one place."

"What if he searches our bags?" I asked.

"Well we probably shouldn't carry them around all the time," Fabian noted. "So we'll hide them separately."

"We're all responsible for our own pieces," Nina emphasized. "There are seven, which means one of us gets two."

"I'll do that," Fabian said. He reached forward and took the most recent piece we'd gotten, what looked like a black bottle cap with the word END on it, and the bent piece that Nina found in the chandelier.

"Can I have this one?" Amber pointed at the circle piece from earlier. "It's the prettiest."

"Sure," my sister agreed. "Patricia?"

"I'll take the Egyptian Rubik's Cube." She tossed it lightly, causing Fabian to flinch.

"I'll take this one if you like." Alfie picked up the one that resembled a candle-stick. "It's a bit of an awkward shape, like me."