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Nina didn't want to go down to the tunnels until she knew Amber would be okay on her own, and the twins were fine with that. Fabian could tell something was up with Camilla that evening as she joined him in his room, not saying anything but just seeking out his company. Fabian watched his sister as she for once did her homework, he had the feeling that whatever was bugging her was something she didn't quite understand herself. Anyways, he wasn't going to complain about the company especially since Mick left.
The next day the trio ventured into the tunnels, "Where are we?" Nina mumbled as the light of Ra stopped due to the amulets and the trio had time to look around.
Camilla sniffed a wall as Fabian tapped his side with the back of his pen, both turning around to give each other impressed looks at the workmanship, clearly, Robert did this solo or someone would have found it by now. "Hell, I think," Camilla told Nina in answer to her question giving the girl a bright smile until she walked into a cobweb, causing the two with her to laugh. The tunnel was not long but it was spooky and creaked in places in a way that slightly scared Camilla. The only sources of light were the lamps that flickered to light as they passed them, Camilla pausing to look at one to see an engraving of the god Ra next to the Goddess Isis, magical light, a bit on the nose but I got the job done she supposed.
"This place is amazing, I wonder how far it goes," Nina excitedly asked as they reached their next hurdle, it was a small room with nothing but a stone platform in the middle, a wall to their left with a huge hexagon made of triangle shapes (a gap in the middle) and a bookcase. Odd place for books but clearly Robert was a weird man.
"To the 12th level of the Duat probably," Camilla murmured so only Fabian could hear causing him to snigger slightly as he moved to examine the platform before he glanced up at the wall that was blocking their way to the next room and let out a sigh.
"So we've got a door but no key, and a pedestal with nothing on it," Fabian spoke out loud.
"And a bookcase full of books,"
"And a pair of nerds who speak what we all can see out loud." Camilla added causing Fabian to roll his eyes at her, "what? You took me down here on only one cup of tea, you should have expected these results."
"Now what do we do?" Nina asked to bring the attention back to the task at hand before the Rutter's could have a sass off.
Camilla glanced too the bookcase with her brother and Nina, "the bookcase is marked with Thoth, the god of knowledge, and we get knowledge from?"
"The internet?" Camilla suggested with a shrug.
"No, books..." Fabian corrected her.
"Most people get their information from the internet Fabby, right Nina?"
Nina, however, was smiling and seemed to have figured out the clue, which was great cos then maybe they could figure this out and get back upstairs so Camilla could have her second cup of tea before school. "Guys, look at this," she said rushing forward to point to the middle row of books, on the spines the letters, 'REBTRO' could be seen.
"REBTRO...?" Camilla asked confused at what they were looking at.
"which is an anagram for...?" Nina turned to Fabian as he let out a gasp.
"Robert," Fabian answered for her as Camilla used the pedicel as a lean and facepalmed, why was she stuck down in a creepy tunnel with nerds? Don't get her wrong, she loved the nerds but she needed Amber to balance out all this. Nina started to rearrange the books and the moment the books spelt 'ROBERT' the same mechanical click of something was heard causing Camilla to look around the room. Seriously Robert? She had higher standards for these tests than learning how to spell the mans incredibly long name. All of a sudden, the pedestal Camilla had been leaning on started to glow brightly and the girl backed away from it, hands in the air as if to tell her brother and Nina she hadn't touched anything.
"It's not what's in the books, its what's on them." Nina excitedly said as she started to look around the bookcase. "We need to spell his full name."
"Robert Frobisher Smyth is defiantly a full name," Fabian commented with a laugh before he and Nina got to work and Camilla watched them with interest leaning against the side of the tunnel. As they put more books onto the case the glowing got brighter on the pedestal.
"Guys there is something in the light," Camilla told them with a smile, "it might be our key."
The duo at the bookcase stepped back once they were done, "Okay, so we are just missing Frobisher,"
"the longest of his names," Camilla grumbled as she walked up to them, Fabian putting an arm around her shoulders.
"God your grumpy today," Fabian laughed.
"Insert Tea to upgrade your sister," Camilla joked at him.
"We're missing Nine books," Nina said softly, "where could they be..."
"Where on earth would Robert Frobisher Smyth, a man with a library dedicated to himself, leave books named after himself? This guy is worse than shield with his name on everything," the sarcasm dripping from Camilla's comment wasn't lost on the two, but the content within her statement may have held some truth.
"Okay, let's nail this spelling bee!" Nina excitedly said to the twins with a smile.
"Let's get Camilla another cup of tea too," Fabian joked as he pulled the Thoth book and the bookcase swung round so, they could go back upstairs.
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Camilla was ready to sprint out the study and to the kitchen when Nina threw her hand out and stopped her and Fabian as she looked out the peephole they'd found whilst trying to usher Amber out the fake door in the cellar.
"Victor," she mouthed at the two causing Camilla to dramatically fall back against the armchair in a cloud of dust as she watched Fabian and Nina listen in to the conversation happening on the other side of the door.
"What are they doing?" Fabian asked Nina who could see.
"Flirting," Nina laughed, causing Camilla to shudder a little at the thought. "I think I just heard Victor chuckle," Nina added with a disgusted look on her face that Fabian mirrored.
"Aww, maybe he's in love," Fabian added with a smile.
"I doubt that unless their name is Corbierre or Ru-" Camilla covered her mouth before she could say the rest as she had promised Victor she wouldn't say anything but thankfully Nina and Fabian's attention was back on the adults on the other side of the door.
"Bad idea coming down here before breakfast," Nina told the two as Fabian sat down on the couch. The two of them exchanging awkward but flirty looks causing Camilla to try to blend in with the armchair she was on and become extremely interested in the dust on the side table next to her, drawing a very mature dick pic's in the dust whilst the two spoke.
"So, how's your gran doing?" Fabian asked Nina, who smiled and joined him on the couch.
"Good," Nina told him, "I got a postcard of big bed today, she told me to ask you how the poetry is going,"
"Ah, well... not so good..." Fabian openly admitted causing the two to laugh of course the moment was ruined by the arrival of the spirit who appeared at the door causing Camilla to groan and Nina to look around at the noise Camilla made to them let out a gasp.
"the timepiece child! Watch the timepiece!"
Nina glanced at Camilla who sent her what she hoped was a reassuring smile, they'd figure this out together, Nina wasn't alone.
Fabian noticed the two girls were glancing at the door and looked around worried, "Was that her?" He asked them both.
"yeah," Nina spoke up the worry and fear evident in her tone. "it feels like she's always watching,"
Fabian let out a sigh and put his arm around Nina pulling her to his chest for some comfort. He knew he and Camilla where blackmail for the spirit and Camilla didn't seem as scared as it as Nina seemed to be. Nina was the main target and clearly, she needed as much support as she could get.
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Victor and Vera where soon out the cellar but that still meant the three had missed Mrs Andrews' history class. Camilla hissing down the corridor the worst thing the two could do was barge into class at the very end, they'd be better off playing hooky but Nina and Fabian were not for that kind of life so Camilla loitered by the lockers and watched them burst into class and get detention. They then looked at each other smiling before rushing off towards the exit and it didn't take a genius to know they were off to the library to see if they could find the missing books. Sometimes Camilla questioned how she and Fabian were related, how he could be so excited about a library she'd never know. After that Joy and Patricia came out arm in arm chatting away both rolling their eyes as they realised Camilla had played hooky, Mara rushing out after them calling after Joy about some chess match thing – the girl had gotten rather good in her year off. Alfie followed carrying Amber's heavy bag over one arm groaning and Amber on his arm talking about the newest primer her daddy had bought her still pretending she couldn't see. Followed by Jerome who was watching the pair with a disgusted look, "if I ever get that co-dependent with a girl, shoot me, Milly," Jerome told her as he wandered over. "What about you? Game for ditching school and going into town?" he asked causing Camilla to give him a knowing look.
"Alfie ditch you for Amber?" she asked instantly.
"Yes! Amfie is more important apparently," Jerome groaned causing Camilla to laugh.
"You know why not? I've missed one class already so why not miss them all," Camilla told the boy who made a jackpot motion as a celebration of persuading someone to go into town with him, "but your buying lunch," she told him with a smirk.
"Whatever you say," Jerome laughed offering his arm which she took. Knowing they were going to sneak back into the house to change out their uniform first.
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Camilla was waiting for Jerome on the wall that was at the front of Anubis house, humming softly as she made a daisy float up and down in her hand.
"Neat trick," she heard Jerome's voice from behind her causing her to be startled and the flower fell to the grass. She turned round to see he'd gone for his normal business casual look a look only Jerome could pull off; dark jeans, a blue shirt that almost matched the colour of her jeans and a grey speckled blazer, the latter two having their sleeves rolled up to reveal he was wearing the watch she and Alfie had gone halfers on for his Christmas. (Jerome had been eyeing a particular black Rollex Watch and decided why not – he wasn't happy his friends spent too much money on him but Jerome was thankful for the gift)
"Ready to escape into town?"
"We need to make a slight stop first," Jerome didn't bother to look innocent, and from the eye roll he got he knew Camilla had expected as much.
Holding her hand out to him, he helped her to her feet watching her brush down the high wasted light blue jeans that had rips in them that she had matched with a simple white crop top, which revealed the belly button ring on her toned tanned stomached something she defiantly didn't have the year before and the camouflage bomber jacket Alfie had got her for her birthday last year. "do I want to know what we're up too?" she asked the boy causing his thoughts to go back to the conversation at hand.
"By any chance as Poppy told you about us hiring a PI?" Jerome asked, the two easily falling into step.
"he's found something?" Camilla asked the boy.
Jerome rubbed his jaw and sighed, "supposedly, I hope this isn't a waste of a bunch of money."
"Well you don't know until you talk to him," Camilla told him reassuringly, taking his hand to show her support and rubbing his arm with her free hand. Jerome smiled down at her and nodded. He wouldn't tell the girl, but he was glad she was with him.
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The duo turned the corner to see a middle-aged man with no sense of dress and Camilla could already assume he didn't know how deodorant worked from the way he was sat, manspreading everywhere. Part of her had wished Jerome had come to her about getting a PI, her family had fingers in everything and she was sure some cousin twice removed or something had some kind of consulting detective thing going on.
The man stood as the two teens approached, glancing down at their hands and smiling, "ah, so this must be the actual girlfriend then if the girl the other time was just a friend," the man in front of them wiped his hand on his jacket before holding it out to Camilla with a wide smile, "Pete Roper, P.I."
Camilla took his hand and shook it once, trying not to grimace as she felt something odd on his hand, "Camilla-Anne Rutter, pleasure." The moment she could she dropped his hand and subtly wiped hers on her jeans.
The P.I. didn't seem bothered by Camilla's blatant rudeness though the fact she tried to hide it was new for him, in fact, the moment she said her last name his eyes widened with excitement, "Rutter? Any relation to those guys who own Rutter Archaeology and Discovery, who donate a load of stuff to museums,"
"Among many things... Yes, my parent's run that company," Camilla glanced at Jerome to try to get him to take over the conversation as this man was becoming way to interested in her life.
"You said you had some good news for me," Jerome spoke up causing the P.I.'s eyes to go from Camilla to Jerome and his excited expression dropped.
The man nodded, "Hmm, that's right," he told the duo as he walked over to the bench he had been sitting on before, showing the two a white bin bag he had been hiding when he was at on the bench causing Camilla to make an actual gagging motion as she saw it. "it was pretty easy to track down in the end," the P.I. informed the pair with a shrug as if he was that good at his job, which Camilla categorically questioned. The P.I bent down and picked up the bin bag.
"Really?" Jerome seemed surprised by the news.
"Yeah, got the address, hung around, riffled through the bin, some pretty juicy stuff in there," with that he pushed the white bin bag into Jerome's hangs causing an audible gagging noise to come from Camilla this time. This was gross and both teens knew it. "be careful though, there's cat food in it, or at least... I think it's cat food." Jerome glanced to Camilla with hopelessness, did this guy honesty ask to meet up to hand him a bin bag full of rubbish? Clearly P.I. Pete noticed the look between the two teens and pulled a picture out of his pocket along with a letter, "now, here's the address and eh, that's her photo!"
Camilla looked over Jerome's arm to see what the man had handed him, her eyes widening as she saw a letter in her own handwriting addressed to Jerome in his hand, clearly the letter she had sent him that summer. Jerome glanced at Camilla seeing the shocked look on his face before he put the letter behind the photo. The photo was of an elegant woman who reminded Camilla a lot of Jerome and Poppy. Camilla reached out and took the photo looking at it with a smile. She'd never met Jerome's mum – Parents' Day was one of the few things the Rutter's and the Clarke family could bond over – but she liked the vibe the woman in the picture gave off.
"that is my mother!" Jerome told the P.I, pointing to the photo that Camilla was looking down at with a smile, "I know where she lives because, oh yeah, I live there too!" Jerome sassed the man.
The man didn't seem to understand Jerome's sass and honestly asked, "so why did you ask me to find her?"
"I didn't!" Jerome countered defensively.
"well here's the piece of paper you gave me," Pete the P.I. got out the small piece of paper with Jerome's messy handwriting on it and showed it to him, "look, Joan Clarke..."
Camilla couldn't help but snigger as she saw the note. She had been around Jerome and his horrible handwriting for years so she could read the note with ease, but she could also see where this P.I had mistaken his handwriting to mean 'Joan' instead of 'John', and with one look at Jerome and the way his mouth puckered as if he had swallowed something sour Camilla knew he could understand it too, not that he'd tell this guy. "John! It says, John!" Jerome argued with the guy.
The P.I. took the paper and held it away from him as if he was trying to see where this 'John' came from on the letter. "that's never an 'H',"
"Your fired!" Jerome shouted, pushing the bin bag into the man's arms. Causing Camilla to groan, it was never that easy, Jerome still had to pay this dude and from the gleam in his eye the P.I. knew the female teen knew.
"Hold on son," he told Jerome who was ready to pull Camilla out of this situation and towards the gatehouse so they could have an afternoon of somewhat enjoyability. Jerome turned to the man, who was more than happy to push the bin bag back into his arms, "not so fast. Fire me if you like, but you still have to pay your bill!" with that he held out a bit of paper out to Jerome who stood there in shock. Camilla waited a moment but it was clear Jerome wasn't going to take the paper so she did. Pete gave them a small wave before turning and walking away causing Jerome to groan and sit down on the bench the man had vacated while Camilla looked at the price.
"How much is it?" he asked after a moment, watching her expression.
"For what he gave you... far too much," Camilla mumbled looking at the paper. She could cover it with her 'pocket money' or even Alfie could if Jerome would let her but she knew the boy well enough to know he wouldn't let her do something like that. Instead, Camilla folded the letter and tucked it into her jacket pocket, Jerome giving her a curious look, "we aren't going to let a stupid P.I. ruin our afternoon J," she informed him causing a small laugh to come from him as he looked at the bin bag in his hands.
"May as well see what he has found for what I'm assuming is a stupid price," Jerome mumbled, pouring the contents of the bag out onto the grass and looking at it all until he picked up an unopened letter in shock.
"What is it J?" Camilla asked navigating the rubbish to stand next to him.
"It's a letter... from my dad for me and Poppy..." Jerome sounded almost shocked.
Camilla took a deep breath, "don't open it yet, you're not in the right headspace..." Jerome looked at her confused. Camilla could see the emotions swirling in his eyes. She held a hand out for him to take, "we can open it later. You deserve a decent afternoon full of laughter...plus you promised me to lunch," Jerome smiled. He understood what Camilla was trying to do and for once he didn't fight it. She was right (shocker) he wasn't ready to open the letter just yet, after everything with the P.I. some normality would do him a lot of good.
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Which was how the two found themselves in the small bar in town, eating a huge bowl of cheesy chips between them as Camilla once again tried to explain the D&D alignments to Jerome – Alfie and Camilla had been part of an online game for years and wanted Jerome to join he just didn't take it seriously, "Chaotic stupid is not an alignment, J!"
Jerome let out a laugh as he pointed a cheese-covered chip towards the girl in the seat opposite him, "then how do you explain Nimmi using a cheese wheel bigger than her body to defeat a dragon!"
"that's fairly simple," Camilla countered taking a chip of her own and biting down on it, "like myself, Nimmi isn't a complicated girl. She does stupid things for stupid reasons."
Jerome couldn't help the laugh that came from him at Camilla's words, though from the successful smile on her face that clearly was her plan all along. He'd be the first to put his hands up and admit that he wasn't the best of company this trip into town. He allowed Camilla to pull him from shop to shop without so much of a complaint which was rare especially when she popped into her uncle Ade's shop without warning him – there was always something about visiting her family that made him want to have a little warning so he could give the best impression. Thankfully for Jerome, her uncle wasn't there, just an assistant from the Rutter's company, Camilla asking if he had heard anything from her mother which got her a sharp look which clearly indicated he hadn't. Camilla didn't hang around long after that, in fact, that was when she suggested they went to the little pub in the village, The Hanging Moon, to get lunch and the two had been there since, moving from coca-cola and food to hot chocolate and just munchie food as the afternoon went on.
The smiles on the two's faces dropped as Jerome's phone started ringing once again. Camilla didn't need to see the phone to know who was calling; Mara had been calling Jerome every 20 minutes since school ended, why Camilla didn't even bother to ask but she could guess. Jerome groaned as he declined the call once again putting his phone on the table along with the letter that had been plaguing his mind all afternoon. He had taken Camilla's advice and had yet to open it, partly because he was scared of what it might say.
"Worried?" Camilla asked as she watched the boy's eyes glance to the letter that now was on the table.
"I just... I don't want to open this and find out he wants to meet us, get Poppy's hopes up for him to disappoint her as he did me all those years ago," Jerome told the girl quietly as he put another marshmallow into his hot chocolate and watched it melt.
Camilla reached over and gently put her hand on his in a comforting way, "J, the fact he reached out is huge. It means he cares and is trying to get to know you and Poppy. Don't discredit him for that, he's doing way better than my folks."
Jerome looked up at her in surprise, Camilla talked about her parents sparingly and normally as a joke, "you never talk about your folks..."
Camilla let out a shaky smile, running a hand through her hair as she leant back knowing she needed to divulge in order for Jerome to take her advice, "My dad is distant, his digs and his work is far more important than whatever me and Fabian are doing... which is a lot better than my mum." Jerome quirked his head as he took in Camilla's words but didn't stop the girl talking, in fact, he just put his elbows on the table and used his hands as a lean giving her his undivided attention knowing what she was saying was important and highly emotional for her. "Mum," Camilla's voice broke a little as she looked away, "she holds me and Fabian to a standard that honestly neither of us can realistically reach. Dad just doesn't know how to be a parent, and tries to buy our love which though sucks we understand... but mum, I don't know if I'll ever be good enough for her, the woman is impossible." Camilla wiped a tear from her face and pushed the letter towards the boy, "so take it from a girl who has parents who don't see her or her brother, you have a mum who loves you and dad who wants to get to know you. You should give him a chance."
Jerome sighed and picked up the letter, folding it and putting it back in his pocket, "I'll think about it," he told her.
"we'll you can't say I didn't try," Camilla mumbled sarcastically, picking up her mug with her free hand as Jerome reached out to take her other.
Jerome smiled at her, "thank you for today, I know I've not been the best company but you still stuck around."
"We're all allowed grey days," Camilla shrugged as if that answered all the questions.
"Well the hot chocolate helps, and the good company," Jerome informed her lifting his own mug in her direction before taking a drink being rewarded with a bright smile before she looked down at the table embarrassed.
Camilla let out a gasp and a laugh as a text popped up on Jerome's phone causing it to come to life. "Am I your lock screen?!" she laughed.
"You weren't supposed to see that..." Jerome groaned as Camilla picked up the phone to look at the picture, swiping the text message from Mara to one side so the image could be seen better. It was a candid picture of Camilla and Poppy sat on the school stage, the two girls with bright smiles on their faces, cheeks red and hair wild as moments before they had been dancing wildly on said stage to music performed by Evan and Fabian – it was one of the bonding afternoons the big sibling program made them do every month.
"It's a great picture of Poppy," Camilla smiled pushing the phone back to him. Jerome lifting it and looking to the photo, Poppy's smile was the biggest he had seen it in years, but that was only part of the reason it was his lock screen. Looking to the girl opposite him who had just taken a huge gulp of hot chocolate resulting in cream going onto her nose and a laugh to come from him as she looked at him confused. Yes, Poppy wasn't the only reason why he had chosen it.
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Soooooo nice wee treat a very Jemilla heavy chapter for you!
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Love ya
Sarah xxx