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

eight

-:- House of Confrontation / House of Alarms -:-

The morning after our Sibuna initiation, Nina, Amber, Fabian and I were all standing in the kitchen around the center. There were pastries spread out on the island, and I was eyeing the chocolate croissant. A variety of cereals were also spread out on the table, making me hungrier. We all were dressed in our uniforms, ready to head to school after breakfast was over. Well, most of us. Fabian was holding his ty in his hand, tying and untying the knot as he paced around the small kitchen.

"When daytime ends at midday, through tears of glass the eyes shall see," Fabian said.

There were no other students in the area, so we were able to speak freely about the next clue.

"Is that on the Shakespeare test?" Amber asked with a tilt of her head.

"No," Fabian laughed lightly. "It's the clue."

"Oh, right!" Amber realized. "I don't get it though, do you? By the way, do you guys know what is on the Shakespeare test?"

"Romeo and Juliet?" I offered.

Amber's mouth formed an "oh" shape as she connected the dots.

"When daytime ends at midday, through tears of glass the eye shall see," Nina repeated, ignoring the exchange between Amber and me.

"Yep," Amber interrupted. "Still don't get it."

"Me neither," I added.

"We need to figure it out," Fabian said. "So, lunchtime, yeah?"

We all nodded, placing our hands over our right eyes and saying "Sibuna."

"Why can't there be like a map or something?" Amber asked. "That's what you usually get when you're looking for treasure."

"What treasure?" Mick's voice came from the entryway of the kitchen as he walked in.

"Oh, nothing," Nina said.

"Just a little kids treasure map on the back of a cereal box," I covered.

"I'm like, really into pirates," Nina continued. "Like, so much."

"Right," Mick said disbelievingly before he turned to Amber. "Hi, Amber."

"Hi boo," she greeted cheerfully.

"I, um," he said, before looking down at the box in his hands. He sighed and after a moment's contemplation held the box up to Amber, "ta-da!"

"Aw," Amber exclaimed as she ran over. "That's lovely, thank you!"

"And I thought, we could like, maybe hangout this lunchtime?" Mick asked. "Seeing as you sneaked off without me yesterday."

Amber's smile faltered.