Layla's POV
"What's that? Who's there?" We heard Victor calling out as we hurried to try and find a spot to hide. I hissed as the bracelet on my arm suddenly burned hotter than before as I passed by one of the walls.
"Nina over here!" I whisper shouted as suddenly a wall opened up. We hid behind it and the next thing we knew it had closed up. I hugged my sister tightly as we heard Victor's footsteps draw nearer and nearer, until thankfully they finally faded and we heard the door to the attic close and lock again.
"How are we supposed to get out?" Nina whispered to me as we stood up. I spotted something on the wall. It was a little groove that matched the shape of Nina's new locket and when I looked over at her I saw the red gem glowing.
"Nina! Your locket!" I told her as I pointed to it. She held it up, eyes wide as she stared at the glowing necklace and then fit it into the groove. The door opened again and we stumbled back out into the attic room.
"Well that's a relief," I huffed as I wiped off some dust that had gotten on Nina's shoulder. She stared at the wall and then used her locket again to open the door, I hadn't noticed but there was another indent on this side as well. Huh...why had it opened up the first time without it? We peered in but jumped back as we saw a pair of eyes peering out at us. We looked at each other and nodded before racing back down the stairs.
"Layla, how do we get out?" Nina asked.
"Ahh, my dear, dear sister, allow me to show you the wonderful art of lock picking," I said with a wink. "If you could be so kind as to hand me one of your hair pins?" I asked sweetly as I held out my palm. She giggled but took one out as I bent down and wiggled it around until I heard a click.
I pulled the door open but we both stepped back as we came face to face with Fabian and Amber.
"Arrghh!" Fabian cried out quietly. I chuckled but decided now wasn't the time for teasing.
"Hi! What's the matter? You guys look like you've seen a ghost," Nina said with a smirk as we high fived.
"How did you?" Amber started to say before I raised up my hand to show her Nina's hair clip. She giggled excitedly.
"Sssh! You'll have Victor up again," Fabian warned her. Are you ok?" Fabian asked, though I noticed he was looking at Nina when he asked. I smirked. Fabina was definitely going to be a thing.
"Yeah," she replied as I turned back and used her clip to relock the door.
"So what was it like up there? See any ghosts?" Amber asked worriedly.
"No. Just mice and some spiders. Possibly a rat," Nina replied as I handed her pin back to her.
"Ugggh! You two are so brave! Night you three.
See you in the morning," she whispered before starting to head back to her room.
"Night," I whispered back.
"You did good," Fabian told my sister. I grinned at him with a raised brow, causing him to blush.
"Thanks. Don't tell Patricia, but my hands were shaking so hard," my sister admitted.
"Hey, your secret's safe with me," he whispered before heading off to his room. I gripped Nina's hand and squeezed it before opening our room quietly and climbing into bed next to her. I was just grateful that was behind us now.
*****
"We were certain Victor was going to get you two!" Jerome said as everyone clapped for my sister and I the next morning. I tried not to blush as he leaned over me to set something down on the table before heading to his seat.
"Yeah, either Victor or the flesh eating zombies," Alfie added as he raised his hands up to Nina's face as I snagged the seat next to her, which was on the corner, leaving me next to Jerome. He leaned over and nudged me so I copied him and nudged him back. I wasn't really used to anyone doing that other than Nina, but it was kind of nice.
"No zombies. Mostly rat bones," I told the table.
"Cool," Alfie said as he went to sit next to Jerome.
"Was it really scary up there?" Mara asked from the other side of the table.
"I thought it would be worse. It was actually kind of cool. We might move up there," Nina said, trying to sound confident.
"Don't you think she was brave?" Amber commented. I smiled at her.
"Even you have to admit, Patricia, Nina and Layla passed their initiation test with flying colors," Fabian pointed out.
"No. They didn't bring anything back did they?" Patricia argued.
"Well actually," I told her with a smirk as I reached into my school bag and pulled out the two old books I had snagged last night and showed them to the table. She hadn't specified whether we both needed to bring down an item so I made sure to grab two just in case.
"Yes!" Alfie cheered as he raised his hand over Jerome's head for me to high five. Patricia got up and stormed out of the room. Hah! I thought proudly as Mara chased after her.
We finished up breakfast and got ready for class and were heading out of the house when Fabian came running up behind us.
"Hey! Nina. I just wanted to ask if you didn't mind if I...do you fancy walking over with me?" He asked. I smirked as I crossed my arms and stared at him, deciding not to point out that he hadn't bothered to include me in the conversation.
"Yeah. Ok. Sure. I would "fancy" that. Sorry. This all just takes some getting used to. But this is weird even for England," Nina said as Fabian suddenly bent down near the bushes and started rummaging around.
"No, no wait, I'm just looking for something," he called over his shoulder.
"That much I got. What are you looking for?" My sister asked.
"Hang on, hang on," he shouted.
"I'm hanging," she called back.
"Yes. I got it!" He said triumphantly. I grinned at their little Fabina moment as Nina reached out and removed a leaf from his hair as Alfie and Jerome ran past us. I chuckled as I noticed Alfie had stolen one of Jerome's shoes, causing him to have to hobble after him.
"Unless you wanted that there," Nina commented as she dropped the leaf and Fabian tried to hide his red face.
"I think this needs to find its way back into Victor's key box before it's missed," he said, holding up the attic key which my sister quickly snagged. We had talked it over this morning and decided we wanted to go back up and investigate the eyes that we had seen. She didn't fail to tease me about my excitement over our little Harry Potter-like mystery.
"No actually because we're going to need this when we go back into the attic," she told Fabian.
"You're going back up into the attic?" He exclaimed in shock.
"It didn't sound so crazy until I said it out loud," Nina replied as she glanced at me.
"Why would you risk getting caught again?" Asked Fabian.
"Even though we were terrified when we were up there, it was the first time since we've been here that we weren't thinking about gran.
Or trying to get Patricia to like us. And we just, we really need to know," Nina tried to explain.
"Need to know what?"
"If we saw someone up there," I finished for my sister, reminding them that I was still there walking with them.
"You saw someone?"
"Ok, I know it sounds crazy, but what if there really is something weird about Joy's disappearance? What if Joy is still here? Yeah, you're probably right. Crazy!" Nina stammered as I shook my head at her to tell her I didn't think she was being crazy. I thought the same thing. So if she was crazy then that made me equally loco for coco puffs.
*****
"Ok, I've been thinking. You should do something for Amber. You know, something 'romantic'. She's made the first move, with that kiss, now you need to follow it up with a few moves of your own," I overheard Jerome telling Alfie in the halls. I rolled my eyes as I snuck up behind them.
"You're right! Like what?" Alfie asked.
"Oh, the maestro has a few tricks up his sleeve," Jerome said as he puffed out his chest.
"Maestro? Really, Jerome?" I said, causing him to jump and clutch his chest as he turned around. I grinned as I stuck my tongue out at him and ran to catch up with Nina and Fabian.
"Hey, Mick," I heard Amber greet as she walked over to him in class. He didn't respond though and I shrugged at her sympathetically as she went to sit down next to Mara. I turned back around and focused back on the conversation between Nina and Fabian.
"So this panel just opened when you got near it?" Fabian asked me.
"Sort of," Nina and I said at the same time. I had told her about what happened with Brandon and my bracelet before drama class the other day and how it had heated up the first time the panel opened but it was clear that Nina's locket was meant to be the key or whatever. But we thought it would be interesting to test out both when we went back up there. I had re-examined it and spotted similar small red gems that made up Isis's eyes that I had never thought to notice before.
"Sort of? What kind of an answer is that?" Fabian asked.
"Well, there are some other things," Nina whispered.
"You're a real girl of mystery aren't you?" I winked at Nina as I nudged her shoulder, causing her to blush. "Look, if you're going up there again, then I'm coming with you two.
And that's all there is to it," Fabian added.
"Wow. That was forceful," I said as I crossed my arms with a smirk.
"It was, wasn't it? You can trust me, I promise," he said, though his eyes never left Nina's face. Man, was he whipped already. I loved it. Nina could use a little romance in her life.
"Ok, before you do anything drastic to prove your loyalty, we'll tell you," Nina chuckled as we quickly filled him in on everything Sarah had said to us the other day.
*****
"Amber!" I squealed as she ran over and grabbed mine and Nina's arms and pulled us into her room after school that day.
"You see, my plan totally worked after all.
Mick wants to meet me in the laundry room tonight. I obviously made him wild with jealousy. And now he wants to apologise for his bad behavior with Mara and kiss and make up!" Amber exclaimed excitedly.
"I'm sure that's true. If he's the one who sent the message," I pointed out to her, it wasn't signed, and she had kissed Alfie who obviously had a crush on her. Not to mention I couldn't help but remember the conversation between Alfie and Jerome from earlier.
"Of course he is! Nina, Layla, sometimes I think you two miss so much because you're Americans," Amber argued. I rolled my eyes at her as Nina smiled at me. We sat on Ambers bed as she made us look at a long line of potential outfits for her date.
*****
"It's ten o'clock. You have five minutes precisely. And then I want to hear a pin drop!" I heard Victor shout. The guy really did make Snape look like a teddy bear.
"Hey are you two ready?" Fabian asked as he joined us a little while later.
"Yeah," my sister told him as I nodded my agreement.
"Oh, are you two on a date as well?" Amber asked as she snuck out of her room and spotted Nina and Fabian. What am I? Chopped liver? I chose not to say anything, however, as I was enjoying the blush that appeared on my sisters face as she rushed to deny it.
"No, no not at all," both her and Fabian said.
"Never," Nina added softly.
"Never say never, sis," I said wiggling my brows at her.
"Whatever. Catch you later!" Amber whispered before dashing off.
"Do you need the torch?" Fabian asked a little while later once we had snuck up into the attic.
"I don't think setting fire to the place will help us right now," Nina told him. I poked her in the side as Fabian lifted up his flashlight and she realized what he had meant.
Nina motioned for me to try my bracelet first again and I quickly removed it and lifted it up and we both stared as the eye gems glowed red and the door opened. Fabian flashed his "torch" inside and let out a loud gasp as he saw the same eyes we had earlier. I patted him on the back as I stepped inside to investigate.
"It's a portrait. It's just a portrait. Look," I told him and my sister.
"That was seriously scary! The eyes were glowing and looking at me and - urgh!" he declared with a shudder.
"It's okay, I won't tell anyone that a painting of a little girl made you so scared you screamed," I teased him.
"I didn't scream!" He said with a glare at me.
"I know her," Nina softly whispered. I turned to look at the portrait and motioned at her locket. Remembering the small painting that was inside.
"It's the same girl. I wonder who she is?" Nina said as she compared the two.
"Wait. Wait, what's that?" I commented as I noticed something on the back.
"It looks like egyptian hieroglyphics," Fabian observed as he bent down. I leaned over him and made sure I got a good look at them so I could have it in my memory, though Fabian also took a picture with his phone.
"You know, the old lady said there was treasure hidden in this house," said Nina.
"What kind of treasure?" Asked Fabian.
"Well, she hardly knows her name so she wasn't that specific. But maybe we should go talk to her?" Nina suggested. I nodded my agreement as we put the painting back. This time letting her use her necklace to close the door again.
*****
"Hey, Juliet!" I heard somewhat shout down the hall as I reached for one of my textbooks. "Juliet!" This time the voice came from right next to me so I looked up to see the boy from drama class standing by my locker.
"Um...my name is LAYLA, not Juliet?" I told him as I closed my locker and stared at him.
"Are you sure about that? If I'm Romeo, then that makes you Juliet." I rolled my eyes, was that supposed to be some sort of pick up line?
"You do realize both characters die at the end don't you?" I heard his friends sniggering from the corner as I walked away, noticing out of the corner of my eyes as Jerome glared at Brandon. Seriously what was up between those two.
The rest of the school day was relatively uneventful other than Brandon trying to come up to me several more times but I managed to get away each time, though I felt kind of bad since I could hear his friends teasing him constantly about it, but if the guy couldn't even be bothered to call me by my name (he kept calling me Juliet) then I wasn't going to stick around for an actual conversation.