*Unedited*
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"Ascendit fumus Lucius Annaeus Seneca! Ascendit fumus Lucius Annaeus Seneca!" Camilla hissed as she glanced at the door, the small ball of smoke gathering in her hand as she, Nina, Amber and Fabian all turned just as Victor burst into the room. Camilla making sure to keep her hands behind her and just hoping Victor didn't notice the slight smokey haze that surrounded them all.
Victor looked over them all with his scrutinising gaze before he spoke, "you are well aware of the rules Mr Rutter," he told Fabian with a sneer. "no boys in the girl's rooms after 10 O'clock, except..."
"Except for family emergencies." Fabian finished for him, Victor's sneer curling up even more at the boy's words.
Camilla and Amber looked at one another with a small smile, they both knew Victor still despised the exception the twins had enforced to the rules when they where 12 but their family had money and the twins sometimes needed each other. Or more like Camilla needed Fabian especially when they first moved to the school.
"Get to your room immediately!" Victor shouted at Fabian who glanced to Nina and then Camilla and Amber before rushing from the room.
Victor then looked around and sniffed the air, "where is that smoke coming from?" he demanded of the girls who all stayed silent as the man looked around. "Well?" he asked them, thankfully they where all saved from answering by Nina's gran who wandered in with a smile.
"Oh?" she asked as she took in the scene before looking down at her watch, "am I late for my bedtime? Sorry Victor" she asked the man jokingly. Victor wasn't impressed but he knew he couldn't ask the girls any more questions with the older woman there so turned on his heel and stalked from the room. Nina and Amber sent her grins before turning to uncover the doll's house, whereas Camilla backed up until she was at her bed before thrusting her hand with the smoke in it out of the open window and watching the Smokey ball drop and dissipate in the air. turning round to give Nina and Amber a bright smile, all of them looking relieved as Nina's Gran settled into bed. She hadn't noticed the magic usage and she had gotten them out of an awkward encounter with Victor.
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The next morning Camilla sat on her bed, a cup of tea in hand, with a look of amusement on her face as she watched Fabian struggle to close Nina's Gran's suitcase.
"How the head this morning Gran?" Nina asked as Fabian glanced at Camilla with pleading eyes for her to come and help him.
"Hmm, yeah, little better." Nina's gran said as she took her coat off Nina, "must be the excitement. London here I come!" Nina couldn't help but laugh at this as she and her gran hugged.
"Sigillum Clausas" Camilla muttered using the two's distraction to help her brother out a little, moving her hand as if she was gathering energy from the air before pointing it to the suitcase. Fabian and Camilla watched as small orange in coloured sparkles danced across the room to the zipper before zipping it the last of the way up with ease.
"Finally!" Fabian exclaimed looking to Camilla with an exasperated look. His sister had been watching him struggle for almost a full 30 minutes, hell she had even gone downstairs to make herself tea so she could watch his struggle in comfort. Though it took them a second both twins realised that Fabian's exclaimed happened at the wrong time, making it sound as if he was grateful Nina's gran was leaving. Fabian turned to the two Americans in the room with them and sent them an apologetic smile, "oh, I finally got this shut!" he stuttered an explanation.
"Aww, thanks Fabian," Nina's gran smiled appreciatively at him before she moved forward to whisper something. Whatever it was Camilla missed as Nina came over and hit her with a pillow – they had a no magic agreement around her gran and it didn't take a genius to see that Fabian didn't get super strength to shut the case from nowhere.
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Camilla was just getting down the stairs as she saw the rest of her housemates rushing through to the kitchen, knowing she wasn't needed to say goodbye to Nina's Gran and her curiosity was peaked. Thankfully as she appeared in the doorway Jerome grabbed her hand and pulled her with them all with nothing more than a whisper of, "You don't want to miss this, Milly"
Camilla was glad Jerome pulled her along with them all or she wouldn't have seen the masterpiece that was Alfie's wheels. Somehow, he had gotten his hands on one of the schools sit down lawnmowers and Amberfied it. Honestly, it was creative and Camilla couldn't wait to get a ride-off it... once Amber, of course, had had the first ride. Camilla wasn't alone in wanting a ride as round them all the Anubis house members were all calling the out that they wanted a ride. This, of course, made Amber want a ride, calling to them all as she approached the lawnmower, "as the potential GF, I get automatic shotgun!" Amber told them all as she gracefully got onto the seat Alfie had created at the back, the boy himself getting onto the driver's seat and starting the engine. With a bit of a bumpy start, the two were off, causing the rest of the Anubis house to watch them go with laughs.
"The jokester and his princess," Jerome dramatically sighed as he put an arm around Camilla who was watching her two best friends with a smile, "who'd have thought it eh?"
Camilla couldn't help but smile at Jerome's comment before she turned back to Alfie and Amber. Amber leaning forward to whisper something causing Alfie to throw his head back laughing. Every time Alfie laughed Camilla couldn't help but smile a little as it reminded her of why she forgave him for breaking her heart. Yes, he didn't know the extent to which he unknowingly hurt her, but now she was moving on and could look at it with a fond nostalgic gaze instead of the red-hot iron feeling it once was. Life was getting better, and every time she saw him laugh, she was reminded of that.
"The jokester and his princess," Camilla repeated fondly, "it's your turn, next jokester, I wonder who your princess is going to be?" Camilla teased to Jerome who shook his head with a smile.
"Whoever she is, good luck to her, she'll need it if she's stuck with me," Was all Jerome could joke causing Camilla to copy Alfie's movements and throw her head back laughing, as what Jerome said was true. It would take someone very special to be with Jerome for who he was.
"Come on you Giraffe, lets get to school. I need to see the reactions to this madness of Alfie's." Camilla said as they wandered behind their friends following them to the school building.
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So Amfie was officially almost ago!
Or so Alfie informed Camilla as they walked out of biology class together. Alfie just had to pass a date to see if they were official. Of course, Camilla didn't have the heart to tell him Mick had no 'pre-date date' he had to pass before he and Amber got together so just smiled and helped him come up with possible ideas for when 'Amber's people' approached him to discuss terms. The two turned the corner just in time to see Victor leave Mr Sweets office with an adult Camilla knew too well and affectionately called Uncle Jasper.
"thank you for volunteering your services Mr Choudhary," Mr Sweet was heard saying causing Camilla to stop to take in the sight, Alfie muttering something about having to find Jerome and she waved him off. She was due to have a magic class with Victor in 15 minutes so if the man was here already, she might as well just walk to the lab with him – and try to work out why here uncle was in the school.
"And most enlightening about the book of Isis," Victor told the man who's smile strained a little, though Victor didn't seem to notice. Camilla assumed that was what he was used too as that was the normal reaction of everyone around him on the daily., "A collection of scrolls..."
"14th Century 3BC," Jasper recited off his head, causing Camilla to smile and roll her eyes, and causing Fabian who had come up beside her to scoff. Camilla knew he was a little jealous of the fact most of their family could recollect that kind of thing from their memory and Camilla wasn't going to have yet another argument from him that it was due to the fact they had been studying for years. He was only 16 he had a least a 15-year disadvantage from their family, but the positive was he was that person for the average student at school – but what did she know? "they were put in one book of Isis in recent centuries."
"Fascinating..." Victor whispered in awe, "Shall we?" Victor pointed down the corridor as if to keep talking causing Camilla to let out a little noise of annoyance. Was Victor really going to miss their classes to learn about some ancient book of their Deity's? Fabian, of course, knew why Camilla was annoyed and couldn't stop his laugh causing the men to turn around to see them both.
"I think I'd better say hello," Jasper told Victor who nodded a little glum before he looked to Camilla and tapped on his watch before walking away. Clearly off to the Lab.
Camilla couldn't help but throw her arms out in a 'what the hell' kind of way. Victor himself was late! He was trying to chat up her uncle for god's sake for information about a book and he had the nerve to tell her to watch her time.
"Uncle Jasper, what are you doing here?" Fabian asked the man who approached them with a smile, bringing Camilla back to the conversation at hand and reminding her she couldn't throw a rude hand gesture in the direction of the caretaker with an adult present.
"How are my favourite unofficial niece and nephew?" Jasper smiled at them.
"last time I check, we were your only unofficial niece and nephew," Camilla sassed back causing the man to smile and pull Camilla into a hug.
As he let her go, he answered Fabian's question, "I am going to be the curator of this exhibition, if the school wins the bid,"
"Great!" Fabian exclaimed happily. "oh, eh, did you manage to find any more information on the Mask of Anubis?"
"I'm onto it," he informed the pair, "I'm meeting an expert I know from online forums; he calls himself The Collector." The twins looked to one another with the same expression – this dude clearly thought way to highly of themselves – but neither said anything to their uncle.
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Camilla was running super late for her magic class due to her little chat with Jasper. Racing through the grounds – in heels – and racing into The Lab out of breath and unsurprised to see Victor with his sleeves rolled up, Corbierre under his arms as they spoke to the plants around the room. This wasn't a usual sight for Camilla now, she had learned in their first class that Victor needed a soundboard to help him work out problems, like teaching a teenager how to control her magic was a big problem of his. He had started off by muttering away to the plants which frustrated Camilla to no end who then snuck up to his office before their second class and brought Cobierre with her. If Victor was going to talk at least talk to the bird, that was a more normal sight to her than just him talking to leaves.
"You are late!" Victor said the moment the teenager hung her blazer and dumped her bag, leaning down to pull out her Grimoire to hide her eye roll at the man's statement.
"It is regarded as rude, to just leave halfway through a conversation Vicky," Camilla told her Guardian as she wandered to the table they used, "Motus," she whispered using a small gust of air to push down on the button on the kettle in the corner so it would boil, she needed tea.
Victor frowned at the casual use of magic by the twin for something as mundane as pushing a button he had warned her of the dangers of becoming too reliant on her magic for small things, but he knew he couldn't fault her given where they were, this was meant to be her safe space to perform magic and study magic, "How do you know Jasper Choudhary anyway?" he asked as he watched her dump her books onto the table and pull out two miss-matched mugs from the cubanite under the kettle, opening the wooden doors to reveal a mini-fridge on one side of it along with tea and coffee supplies, as well as chocolate digestives, his personal favourite.
"You mean Fabian's godfather?" she asked not looking round at him as she poured hot water into the mugs.
"What?" the older man asked, placing Cobierre on the table.
"He was my aunty Tabby's best friend growing up, so he's practically an honouree uncle too us. Mum made him Fabian's godfather so he was officially family." Camilla explained as she turned with the mugs to see she had over-explained her point to the older man who just looked at her before shaking his head.
Camilla placed his mug of tea in front of him before rounding the table and sitting down in her seat placing her mug in front of her. They were still on the 'theory' side of magic, as Victor claimed she was too emotional to start performing actual spells.
"Summaries what we have gone over," Victor told her as she pulled her 'magic notebook' towards her, Victor casting the Slytherin emblazed book a sour look once again. He didn't appreciate the joke the first time around and he still didn't now.
Camilla flipped to a page and started reading in a monotone voice, "Ma'at is order and harmony as well as the creative power of the universe, its opposite is Chaos or its technical term Isfet. These two forces are unique because one cannot exist without the other. Mage's tattoo Thoth's feather of Ma'at on them so they can understand and perform spell's easier."
"What is a Mage?" Victor asked as he took a sip of tea, leaning on the counter behind him.
"A Mage is those trained in the methods of True Egyptian Mythology and magic. Those who are blessed by the gods can become a Mage through knowledge and practice, though those with a family history, such as decedents of Pharaohs so they have the Blood of Old Ones, have a greater innate power and skill. Mage's seek to uphold Ma'at and save the world from the chaos that comes with the gods, twice if it's a Friday." Camilla looked up from her notebook to see Victor's dramatic eye roll as he realised the added comment about Fridays.
"What of the Great Mage?" Victor asked the girl.
Camilla looked up at him, "well... according to you, they cannot exist."
"In theory then,"
"The Great Mage will stand next to the next great Pharaoh and they together will save the world or something, does it matter? The Pharaoh's don't rule Egypt anymore and don't exist so other than it being a cool story there is no point in learning this."
"It seems you have been listening," Victor commented with a smile a few seconds later, "shall we work on a spot of gardening today instead of bookwork? You will need to know the correct way to look after some of these plants for potion work." Camilla was off the stool in seconds, she wouldn't say no to doing anything other than book work because that's all they had been doing.
While the pair worked slowly Camilla had become increasingly aware of Victor as he glanced at her mark. She knew better than to hide it around him, but his worried glance at it every so often was unnerving.
Having had enough she stood up and held her wrist out too him, "Vicky what does this mean! I saw your face when you first saw these, and I see your face now. Something about this has you worried."
Victor let out a worried sigh, "It's an ancient symbol, a curse. Anubis gives it to those who wrong him."
"But it wasn't Anubis unless Anubis is now female," Camilla muttered causing a curious look to flit into Victor's face. There was defiantly more to the story than Camilla was telling him.
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Camilla couldn't wait to change out of her uniform as she wandered into Anubis house. Whenever Magic classes were taking place of her last period class she and Victor always seemed to lose track of time which resulted in Camilla always being the last on in the house. Victor always coming in a few moments later via the back door. What Camilla wasn't expecting was one Poppy Clark to come down the stairs looking at something on an iPad.
"Popsicle! What are you reading?" Camilla called up to her causing the girl to look up and run down the stairs to show her.
"Well I was talking with Mara and we looked on the school archives," Poppy explained before she thrust the iPad into the older girl's hands, "and Sweetie went to school with my dad."
"That's odd..." Camilla frowned as she looked between John Clark and Eric Sweet's pictures, "why didn't he say?"
"I don't know..." Poppy replied with a sigh. "I've got to, my dinner is going to be called soon and I promised Evan we'd study for our Shakespeare test,"
Camilla handed her back the iPad with a smile, "If you need me call me Popsicle," with that the girl was gone leaving Camilla to simply smile and head up to her room to finally change out of her school uniform.
As she got into the girl's hallway, she saw Fabian race from Joy, Mara and Patricia's room looking shaken.
"Do I?" Camilla started as he passed.
"Don't even ask..." Fabian told his twin who just watched him go looking even more confused.
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Camilla knew she had protected Nina when it came to dreams but she didn't remember doing that with Fabian. So, to say she was completely confused when she fell into his dream hearing him calling her name and calling for help, to see the Spirit holding onto his arm was an understatement.
The spirit too seemed confused as she looked between the two, "What is this?!" she demanded as Camilla got to her feet her face falling into a look of anger Fabian had never seen on his sister face and hoped he'd never see again.
"First, you go after my Chosen One," Camilla calmly spoke as she stalked towards the spirit, "then me, but you're really crossing a line going after my brother!"
With this, the spirit's eyes widened, "The Bond of Old? But this should not exist in this time!"
Whatever else she was going to say Camilla didn't let her say it as she let out a scream and thrust her hands in the direction of the spirit. Watching as she was pushed away from her brother and out the room, the dining room door shutting, however, Camilla had tapped into her anger and her magic was out of her control as flames started to rise around the twins.
"Fabian, you need to wake up!" Camilla shouted at him as she held her hands to her chest looking at the flames in fear, "you have to wake up NOW!"
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Hey all, sorry for the late upload - had a bit of a bad night (my stir-fry didn't agree with me) so I've spent the day in bed cuddling my cat and writing - apart from when I was called outside my house to babysit my new neighbour's kids because he had crashed his car into another neighbour's garden (everyone is 100% safe) and the neighbourhood all came together to unjam the car. I was put on babysitting duty cos that's what I'm good at apparently. so we all had a lovely bonding session today with the promise of a huge neighbourhood dinner at the weekend which is exciting.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter :P
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Love ya
Sarah xxx