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"what's going on?" bella questioned as her and eddie entered the house. they were stood by the doorway, looking into the living room where nina, amber and patricia were bombarding victor with words and frustrating the man. she looked up at eddie expectantly but the boy could only shrug in response, clearly just as lost as the girl.
suddenly victor shouted at them to be quiet before something else was said, and amber and nina came rushing past the two and up the stairs. "that was weird." bella mumbled, shaking her head as she headed towards the kitchen. her and eddie were still dressed in the american football gear that they had found in the gymnasium of the school, and had just finished their friendly game that bella definitely won despite eddie's protests.
however, upon their tousling around, bella was yet to realise that the amulet she was meant to be looking after had slipped off her neck whilst they were playing.
"gotta admit princess, you've got good game," eddie complimented as he followed her into the kitchen. "for a girl." he cheekily added, causing her to roll her eyes as she grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.
"you're just mad that i actually beat you." she taunted, turning to face him with a victory smile.
"yeah, i don't think sitting on me so i can't move is winning." he rolled his eyes as the girl giggled, clearly amused by their little game. "just admit that real football is just too hard for you." he shrugged, a smug smile on his lips.
"yeah, right." bella flicked her hair out of the way as she took a sip of her water, however, she noticed that her hair didn't get caught in the amulet like it usually would. with eyes widening in panic, she felt around, realising that it was missing. "oh no," she mumbled, setting the bottle down as she realised she had lost the amulet. "oh god."
"finally realised i'm right?" eddie questioned.
"no i―" bella didn't even finish her sentence as she hurried over to vera. "can i go, vera? i just remembered, i left something behind at the school." she partially lied, hoping the woman would give in to her desperation.
"of course," vera agreed. "just as soon as victor says its okay." she added, causing bella to sigh in annoyance, clearly too impatient to wait around as she could only hope that no one had taken the amulet. when the lady walked past her into the other room and with her back turned to her, bella wasted no time in sneaking away, needing to find that amulet before she got into bigger trouble.
she rushed back to the flowerbeds that she had been working around all day, suspecting that it had fallen off in this area whilst working. "come on, it has to be here." she mumbled to herself, digging through the soil and just praying she didn't bury it inside the manure. when she was met with nothing but dirt, bella sat back in defeat, knowing that she was in such a huge mess.
"nina's gonna kill me." she groaned, knowing that the others will definitely not be happy to hear this. "wait," a sudden thought popped into bella's head. "my clothes." she mumbled her thoughts aloud to herself, thinking that it may have got caught in her top when she was changing into the sports gear.
she wasted no time in heading back into the house through the back door, however, she had completely forgotten about victor's ongoing room search and his command to stay in the living room with vera until he was finished. it was too late for the girl to remember, as she walked straight into victor and vera.
"ah," victor's eyes landed on the girl, causing her to halt in her step. "there will also be grave consequences, for those of you who chose to ignore vera's instructions to remain in here." he declared, stepping up to the girl intimidatingly. "starting with you, miss kim. where on earth―"
"i think we've all been cooped up long enough, victor." vera suddenly cut the man off, coming to bella's rescue. she didn't expect it vera to come to her rescue, nor did she expect victor to agree with the woman, but their new housemother seemed to be able to tame the man.
"very well." he nodded, waving the girl off before walking away with vera. bella breathed a sigh of relief, she didn't know if she could stand anymore punishments from victor compared to what she was already getting.
"where did you go?" amber questioned as her, fabian and nina stood up from the table where they had been doing their school work whilst waiting for victor to finish his room searches.
"huh? oh, just left something." bella lied, but amber seemed to see through her, eyeing the girl suspiciously as bella avoided her gaze. "did i miss anything?" she added, trying to act normal and hope that amber would drop it.
"i checked our rooms and everything's still there," nina answered. "big relief, huh?"
"so the spare is still safe?" bella questioned, plotting that as her backup plan if she can't find her amulet.
"yep, no victor tailing us," nina nodded, seeming relieved. "i think we're ready, victor's at the staff meeting tonight, so tunnel time in two hours?" she suggested.
"or," bella jumped in before they could agree. "maybe some more practice? like, a lot more times before we go―"
"bella, you're our best web walker," nina reassured the girl, placing a hand on her arm. "the others are ready too, they learnt from you." she praised the girl, giving her no leeway to argue. "so, let's meet here later, okay?"
they all agreed with nina before going their separate ways. amber was about to grab bella to interrogate the girl but fabian had grabbed amber, and bella had escaped the living room to her room upstairs.
"it has to be here." she mumbled to herself, going through the pile of clothes that she had worn earlier today. "please be in here." she begged, defeat crawling in as she couldn't find the amulet anywhere. bella dropped the clothes in her hand to the floor in frustration, realising that she had messed up big time. she just prayed that the amulet didn't fall into the wrong hands.
changing out of her clothes, the girl decided to distract herself from her worries and grabbed the diary she had found the other day, when her eyes suddenly landed on the dollhouse, realising what she had to do. making sure no one was around, she grabbed the spare amulet from the dollhouse and slipped it around her neck, looking down at it and praying that no one checked the dollhouse from now until after the tunnels.
she tucked it under her jumper and shut the dollhouse, turning around just in time as amber and fabian entered the room.
"bella!" amber exclaimed as her eyes landed on the girl. "we need to talk―" she suddenly cut herself off, glancing over at fabian as if suddenly remembering he was in the room. the blonde cleared her throat before leaning in and whispering. "later." she finished, sending a knowing glance to the girl before she escaped the room.
bella was only more confused as she wondered what it could be that amber wanted to talk about, but she brushed it off and headed downstairs into the living room, deciding to read the diary whilst she had some time before she'd have to deal with the tunnels.
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"we still need to talk about you-know-what." amber whispered as they made their way into the antechamber in the cellar.
"what are you talking about?" bella questioned, glancing over at the girl. she was so panicked about using the spare amulet and wondering where her one could be, she had completely forgotten that amber had wanted to speak to her about something.
"the other house, that was where you went earlier, wasn't it?" she questioned as bella looked at her in confusion. however, before she could answer, nina caught their attention.
"ready guys?" she smiled as she glanced back at the group. they all nodded before nina pulled the book in the bookshelf and turned it around for them to enter. bella had a funny feeling in her stomach as she watched amber, patricia and alfie pass the beam first. the feeling only got worse as nina and fabian also passed and walked on, leaving bella to face it on her own.
she watched in anticipation, watching the light crawl up her body and straight past the amulet. "wait―!" she shouted, realising that the amulet hadn't worked, but it was too late as the beam struck her eyes and blinded her once again.
"bella! what happened?!" she heard nina shout as her and fabian ran back to the girl. "why didn't the amulet protect her?" fabian didn't answer as he hurriedly opened the shelf back up and guided bella back into the antechamber, helping her take a seat on the sofa.
"oh not again," amber mumbled. "it can't be fun going through it a second time."
"do you think there's a time limit on them?" fabian questioned, answering nina's question from earlier. "maybe that's why the spirit keeps saying watch the time piece?" he suggested.
"but ours worked fine." alfie pointed out. "they're all the same, aren't they?"
"actually," bella began, catching their attention. "mine's the spare." she sighed, feeling embarrassed that this had happened to her.
"what do you mean?" fabian questioned.
"i lost my amulet," she finally admitted, glad that she didn't have to see the looks of disappointment on their faces. "i'm really sorry, i had no choice, so i took the one from the doll house."
"what if victor gets his hands on it?" nina panicked, knowing the consequences they'd have to go through if victor was in the tunnels again.
"i know, i messed up big time." bella pursed her lips. "i'm sorry, i should've told you earlier." she sighed, regretting the fact that she hid it from them. if she had come clean then they all could've searched and helped find it before she was blinded again.
"where did you lose it?" alfie questioned, trying to help her retrace her steps.
"it must've been whilst i was doing victor's chores, i definitely had it before then." she answered, remembering the amulet round her neck when she got back from school to change.
"it's okay," nina sighed, bella feeling someone grab her arm. "let's just get you upstairs."
"no," bella resisted the arm, shaking her head. "don't worry about me, you guys can still go." she assured them.
"bella, i'm not leaving you by yourself." nina argued.
"it'll be fine, that spirit lady is only going to get angrier if we keep delaying." bella reminded, knowing that it was her own fault that she was in this mess. there was no way she could bring the others down with her.
"only if you're sure." nina queried, reluctant to leave the girl on her own.
"i'm sure," bella reassured the girl. "i'll be fine, i promise." there was a moment of silence as bella guessed that they were debating actually leaving her, before she finally heard some form of movement.
"come on." fabian instructed as they re-entered the tunnels and left bella on her own. she heard the bookshelf turn back around, confirming that the girl was on her own now, which slightly made her scared but she knew there wasn't anyone who would be coming in here anyway.
boy was she wrong. almost immediately she could hear movement coming from the cellar, suggesting that someone was coming down. panic settled into the pit of her stomach as she stood up from the sofa, wondering if it was just victor doing his nightly cellar routine or if someone was actually coming in here.
either way, bella had to warn the others. she wasted no time in finding the bookshelf, feeling around for the book that would turn it around before pulling it down and feeling it swivel open. she stepped inside and passed the beam easily since she was already blind, and carefully felt across the walls to make her way through the tunnels. she had hit a few branches along the way, but pushed through, knowing that she had to warn the others before they got caught.
"woah," she felt nothing under her foot, realising she had already reached the chasm. "ah, my favourite part." she humoured herself to stop her heart from climbing out of her mouth. she carefully felt around for the bridge, making sure she kept her balance as she crawled across the beam, praying that her weight didn't suddenly break it or something.
she released the breath she was holding once she safely reached the other end, hurrying through to the web room where the others were.
"bella, what are you doing here?" patricia was the first to notice the girl as she blindly walked up to them.
"there's someone in the tunnel!" she called out, feeling along the wall as she approached them. "we need to hurry and hide." she ordered, panic clear in her voice as she hoped they would hurry.
"who is it?" amber asked the blind girl.
"she can't see, remember?" nina remarked before hurrying over to help bella.
"there's no where to hide." amber added, trying to figure out where they could go.
"okay guys, forget that whole thing i said about going slowly, just get back here as quick as you can." nina instructed. the two girls who could still see guided them back to where they were stood, the two boys and patricia clearly moving as fast as they could to avoid getting caught.
"okay, now where?" alfie questioned as he safely made it back as fabian and patricia followed suite.
"the tunnel!" fabian shouted as he hurried them back the other way.
"we are in the tunnel?" bella questioned in confusion as she held someone's hand who guided her back.
"the mini tunnel, you never got to see it, but i guess you'll still experience it." fabian joked as she was suddenly crawling into a tight space. bella decided not to question it as she could hear the others follow suite until she couldn't hear any movement at all, and they patiently waited for the person in the tunnels to leave.
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