Mara tossed an turned in her sleep, she was breathing heavily and panting.
"Don't you know the date, Valedictorian?" A figure spoke to her, as it slowly walked towards her, cornering her.
"No," Mara shook her head, she was shivering from fear.
"Don't you remember the riddle?" The same figure asked, getting even closer.
"I do," Mara spoke, as she shrunk down to the floor.
"RECITE ME THE RIDDLE!" The figure demanded, raiding its voice.
"Time is a precious thing, Free me you must, Be warned though, Only twelve will allow such a thing. Ra," Mara recited.
"The last line again!" The figured lowered its voice into a quiet and mysterious tone.
"Only twelve will allow such a thing," Mara repeated nervously.
"AGAIN, REPEAT IT AGAIN, AGAIN, AGAIN!" The figure shouted, bending down, towering over Mara.
"Only twelve wi-"
"Mara?" Patricia sat up and looked over to Mara who was non stop repeating the last line of the riddle, getting louder and louder, "Mara?!" Patricia repeated in a worried tone. She then climbed out of bed and moved closer to Mara.
"Joy, help!" Patricia looked over to her.
"What's going on?" Joy rubbed her eyes, before sitting up, "Mara!" She then exclaimed, after seeing Mara.
Joy ran over to the side of Mara's bed and began to shake Mara, "Mara, Mara!"
"What's going on?" Mara sat up, she was speaking fast and was extremely out of breath.
"Mara, what are were you talking about," Joy asked, trying to calm Mara down.
Mara didn't speak, just continued to breath heavily.
"I'll get Fabian," Patricia stated, before rushing out of the room. She then darted down the stairs and rushed up to Fabian and Eddie's door, before bursting in, "Fabian!"
Both Fabian and Eddie woke up to Patricia.
"What's going on, Patricia?" Fabian groaned, rolling over and looking at his clock, "It 3:20 in the morning."
"Mara," Patricia stated, "There's a problem."
Both Fabian and Eddie then leaped out of bed and rushed upstairs, following Patricia.
"Mara are you okay?" Fabian fell by the side of her bed. Mara still wasn't speaking and was still breathing heavily, "Why is she like this?" Fabian looked up to Patricia and Joy.
"She was just repeating the final line of the riddle over and over again," Patricia told him.
"The final line, repeat the final line!" Mara spoke in the voice of the figure in her nightmare. Everyone jumped at this, they didn't expect it and it freaked them out.
"Mara, are you okay?" Fabian looked to her.
"REPEAT THE FINAL LINE!" Mara shouted, the same voice overtaking her body.
Fabian, Patricia, Joy and Eddie all shared a look. You could see fear and worry in all of their eyes, they didn't know what was happening to Mara, how to stop it, or if she was even conscious.
"Only twelve will allow such a thing," Patricia stated, obeying the demands of Mara.
"Only TWELVE will allow such a thing," Mara repeated, emphasising the word 'twelve'. She then fell back on her bed unconscious. Then suddenly, before anyone could say anything; the calendar fell from the wall, crashing on the floor.
Everyone looked in the direction of the calendar, they needed to worry about that in a minute. As for now, their main focus was Mara.
"Mara!" Fabian shook her, panicked.
"W-What's happening?" Mara whispered, before sitting up. She was now speaking in her normal voice.
"You were um..." Fabian stuttered.
"Possessed?" Eddie suggested a word for Fabian.
"Yeah..." Fabian mumbled, looking to Eddie, "That."
"I had a nightmare," Mara stated, swinging her feet over the bed.
"We could tell," Eddie weakly smiled.
"So... Um, what's the significance of twelve?" Joy asked, looking to Mara for answers.
Mara shrugged, "I don't know."
"Guys," Patricia spoke in a shaky voice, she was crouched down by the calendar that had fallen on the floor, "You might want to look at this."
She then picked up the calendar, it showed the 12th December, 5 days time. It had blood splattered on it, there was also scratches and tears on it.
"Oh my God..." Mara murmured, walking up and taking the calendar out of Patricia's hands.
"Whose blood is that?" Eddie asked nervously, walking over too. Fabian and Joy followed.
"Maybe its just tomato ketchup," Joy tried to lighten the mood a little.
"Maybe its just symbolic blood," Fabian shrugged.
"Even symbolic blood has to belong to some bod-," Eddie began.
"Shh!" Patricia hissed, stopping Eddie from speaking.
"Patri-" Eddie tried to argue.
"Shut up, Eddie!" Patricia rose her tone, but kept her voice quiet at the same time, "There's someone moving in the corridor," She stated.
Everyone quietened down, listening carefully. They could hear foot steps, except they were getting lighter, it sounded as if the person was walking down stairs.
"Let's go," Joy whispered.
Mara then placed the calendar down on her bed, then they all rushed to the door and peered round it to see Vincent walking down the stairs.
"Where is he going?" Mara muttered, creeping of of the room and leaning against the opposition wall in attempt to hide herself from Vincent. The others followed her moves.
"Charlie Bennett," Vincent whispered to himself, standing outside Charlie and Jerome's bedroom door. In his hand was a piece of paper. He then walked into their bedroom strapped duck tape across Charlie's mouth, preventing him from speaking and shouting for help. He then tugged him out of the room, "Think it's funny to roam around my cellar do you?"
Charlie had no idea how Vincent found out, or why the others weren't also being punished, but he had no way of speaking back; regardless of what he was thinking.
"What is going on?" Eddie murmured, as him and the rest of Sibuna saw what Vincent was doing to Charlie from the top of the stairs.
Vincent then shoved Charlie out the door, Charlie tried to fight back, but couldn't. Vincent was much stronger than him and he couldn't use words.
"Let's go," Mara whispered, pushing on Joy's back. They then all quietly followed.
"Woah!" Eddie stated, after stepping outside, "Talk about fog."
"I can't see a thing," Joy stated.
"Look, whatever is going on, we are going he have to sort it out in the morning, there is no way we can travel in this fog," Fabian spoke realistically.
Everyone nodded, before dispersing off to their rooms.
****
Fabian and Eddie both walking into the dining room for breakfast, in there sat; Lavender, Nina and Jerome. Both of them were very tired due to the events of last night.
"Good morning," Fleur greeted them both.
"Morning," They both murmured in unison, before taking a seat at the table.
About 10 minutes later; Patricia, Joy and Mara walked into the room, also looking very tired. Mara sat beside Fabian, then Patricia sat beside Mara. Joy sat in between both Jerome and Nina.
"You girls look very tired this morning," Fleur stated, walking over to the table.
"Yeah... Couldn't get to sleep," Joy lied.
"Right," Fleur muttered unsurely, "Who knows where Charlie is?"
"Yeah, I woke up and he wasn't in his bed," Jerome stated.
"He probably just went to the college early," Fabian lied.
Fleur nodded. "Okay, speaking of college, you all should probably get going."
"We'll rescue Charlie after school," Fabian whispered to Eddie, as they'd planned to rescue him before school, but now they couldn't.
****
Mrs. Miller and Miss Chase both stood in the student lounge talking, no students were in as they all had lessons.
"Don't worry, we will have the watch by the twelfth," Mrs. Miller spoke.
"We better," Miss Chase said, "Is the Release Room ready to go?"
"Yes," Mrs. Miller nodded, "Those 3 kids finished it a few days back."
"Thank God Eric went along with it, stupid man, doesn't know what he has caused."
"Yes," Mrs. Miller nodded, "I just hope that the kids have built it correctly."
"We can go and check on it after school, then, after that, we go and get the watch back, then wait for the twelfth. After that Ra will serve us."
"Also, good job with the foolish old history teacher," Mrs. Miller smiled an evil smile.
"A history teacher will do anything for a day of power," Miss Chase laughed.
****
"Right, class," Mr Hevery stated, a few minutes before the lesson was due to end, "On the 12th of December we will be holding a day of history - you will be working and doing projects. This event will last the entire day, it is compulsory that you attend and there is no leaving the classroom except from toilet use."
All of Sibuna shared a glance, they didn't know why the 12th was significant, but they knew it was, and they were almost one hundred percent sure that this history day had something to do with it.
"Right, class dismissed," Mr. Hevey then announced.
"History day, what is that all about?" Joy asked, as they walked out of the room.
"Whatever it's about, we need to find a way to get out of it, that is an important date," Fabian stated in a whisper, they weren't alone yet, so he couldn't speak at a normal volume.
"What if it's important to our grade though?" Mara raised a point, "A whole day dedicated to history must be worth something."
"What if we pretend to be ill on that day?" Joy suggested, totally ignoring what Mara just said.
"All of us, really?" Eddie raised his eyebrow.
"Whatever we do, we need to get out of it," Fabian stated.
"Why ever would you want to get out of a history day, Mr. Rutter?" Mrs. Miller spoke, walking over to them. Fabian gulped.
[Heyyyyyooooooooo! Are you people good? Whatever your answer is; just pretend that I gave a considerate response. Let's move on to da questionssss...
Who did that to the calendar?
What's the significance of the twelfth?
Why did Vincent take Charlie?
Where did Vincent take Charlie?
Will Sibuna be able to rescue him?
That be all the questions that I can think of. The next chapter be up on Christmas Eve, I 100% promise. Byeee ^_^]