I hold tightly onto my notebook, which I wasn't given the time to put down while my other hand is being dragged from the comfort of my room to Amber and Mara's room. I haven't gotten more than five minutes of peace in the last week, since Nina's arrival, though I don't exactly blame her for that. "You see?" Amber asks and releases my wrist "my plan totally worked, after all, Mick wants to meet me in the laundry room tonight" on her bed letter candy in all colours spells out 'Meet me in the laundry room tonight? 11 pm? xxx' I'm surprised Mick or any of the boys we live with would think up a gesture like this. "I obviously made him wild with jealousy and now he wants to apologize for his bad behaviour with Mara and kiss and makeup" honestly from what I've heard Mick did nothing wrong other than study with the smartest girl in our year, that's something even I've done from time to time.
"I'm sure that's true," Nina says while Amber pulls more dresses than I'd ever seen in one place from her wardrobe "If he's the one who sent the message"
"Did Mick say he left you a message?" I ask
"Of course, he wrote it" Amber insists "sometimes I think you both miss so much because you're not British or something" my head tilts, if only I knew what to make of her statement or how to tell her my family actually is English, and I just happen to have been raised in Australia. Nina shakes her head and smiles as Amber hands me a dress with frills, one I would never wear.
•••••••
I scan over my room, Patricia's asleep in her bed while Nina waits by the door with her bag and her jacket, tapping her foot. I wait on my bed, phone in one hand, torch in the other. It's ten fifty-eight, two minutes before the agreed time to meet Fabian. My eyes dart back and forth between the door and Patricia's bed and I can feel the nerves running down my spine, It's not that I've never done something like this, but normally she and Joy would be involved and we'd only we sneaking down to the kitchen for ice cream not up to the attic for who knows what. I stand and take a few steps, tapping Nina, and showing her the time on my phone screen. I take one last look at Patricia before I twist the door handle "we're good, let's go." Fabian's already waiting in our corridor with a flashlight in his hand, I'd bet money he's never snuck out after lights out before this week.
"Hey, are you ready?" Fabian asks
"Yeah," Nina whispers and our heads turn to the sound of a door closing, being hidden from the view of whoever is near, whether that's Victor or another student. With speed, I turn back to our door to hide inside, but time was not on our side as Nina and Fabian are left outside the door. I press my ear to the door, it's too quiet for Victor to have caught them.
"Oh, are you two on a date as well?" Amber says, I smile and cover my mouth with my hand. Luckily for us, this means we'll only be delayed a few minutes instead of stopped completely.
"No, no," Nina's hushed voice hurries
"No, no, not at all" Fabian says too and it gets harder and harder not to laugh, I would have if I weren't worried about waking Patricia.
"Whatever, catch you later," Amber says and frankly I wouldn't put it past Nina and Fabian to have a secret date in the middle of the night if they were an actual couple. I see Patricia hasn't moved and I slowly exit again, Nina pulls the key out of her pocket and nods toward the attic door.
"Let's go" Fabian whispers as we walk, Nina unlocks the door and we follow her up the steps. The walls are covered in dust, furniture is covered in white sheets and spider webs all over the roof, nothing in here has been touched in years, until now.
"You ready?" Nina asks
"As ready as I'll ever be," Fabian says, and I nod in agreement before we follow Nina along the creaky floor to the panel she told us about. "Do you need the torch?"
"I don't think setting fire to the place will help us right now," Nina says, though he turns the torch on anyway and gives her a smile. We continue on past deteriorating cardboard boxes and an old wooden rocking chair. Nina pulls out her locket holding it up to an indent in the wall of the same shape, it glows red, and another smaller indent below it "Emma, your necklace" I look down at the glowing ring on my necklace, and a panel opens when her locket touches the indent, revealing a woman... a painting of a woman or more like a little girl. Fabian drops the torch and screams. If my necklace was glowing just like Nina's was, I wonder if mine would open the secret door too, but I don't think that's possible, I can hardly believe Nina's locket opened a panel either.
"It's a portrait," Nina says "just a portrait, look"
"That was seriously scary," Fabian says
"It's a painting," I say helping Nina get it out of the hole in the wall.
"The eyes were glowing and looking at me and... " Fabian says
"It's okay, I won't tell anyone that a painting of a little girl made you so scared you screamed," Nina says and I laugh with her.
"I didn't scream," Fabian says
"Yes, you did," I tell him "you so did" Fabian picks up his flashlight and lights up the portrait.
"I know her," Nina says, she lets go of the frame to open her locket and I adjust my grip on the painting. Nina shows us the photo inside her locket, the same short curled hair, the same big eyes and the same depressing forced smile.
"It's the same girl," I say
"I wonder who she is," Nina says
"Wait," Fabian says, he looks over and leans the painting toward himself
"Wait, what's that?" Nina points to the back, Fabian takes it and places it upside down on the floor. little shapes, like a language I can't understand written on the back.
"It looks like hieroglyphics" I kneel next to Fabian and they both look at me "I pay attention in history"
"Yeah, I think it's Egyptian," Fabian says taking a picture with his phone.
"You know, the old lady said there was treasure hidden in this house," Nina says
"What kind of treasure?" Fabian asks
"Well, she hardly knows her own name so she wasn't that specific," Nina says "but maybe we should go talk to her"
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
ŞİMDİ OKUDUĞUN
Risk || House of Anubis || ONE
Hayran Kurgu♾ How much you wanna risk? I'm not looking for somebody with some superhuman gifts ♾ Emmaline James, although goes by Emma, boards at the House of Anubis Everything seems perfectly normal until her roommate disappears and a new American girl takes...
