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As the mechanical sound stopped the Sibuna's all turned as a shadow fell over them. There handing from a silver threat was a huge metal spider.
"Just remember!" Amber squealed the moment she saw the spider, "if you can't see it, it's not there! It's not real!" she told them all as she covered her eyes with her hands.
"It's not real Amber," Fabian said in an amused tone.
"That's right Fabian! Say it with me!" Amber spoke up thinking someone was with her in believing the spider wasn't there.
Nina and Camilla wandered closer to the metal spider to examine it further. "this is the most amazing spider I've ever seen." Camilla whispered in awe as she walked behind it, grabbing its leg to move the body closer to her and Nina. On its underside, there was writing on the copper belly of the metal beast.
"Guys..." Nina spoke as Camilla moved the spider into the light to reveal the writing, "I think this is what we've been looking for." Fabian walked over and gently unhooked the metal spider as Camilla kept a hold of it. "the spider that fits in the hole in the wall." Nina continued to explain for the other Sibuna's as the twins worked on unhooking it.
"There is something written on here," Camilla pointed to Fabian as she held the spider.
Fabian looked where his sister was pointing and read over her shoulder, "To pass beyond the weaver's throne. Lay her daughters in their home. Move with care through her poisoned loom. The scarlet threat may spell your doom."
"When did death become such a common thing in our lives." Camilla muttered angrily, "last year it was just sneaking around fun, now we have to outmanoeuvre death from all sides."
Camilla was the only one who seemed angry at what Fabian said, everyone else looked to one another with worry. "Spiders weave webs," Patricia spoke up softly, "so is that where her throne room is? The big web in the tunnel."
Fabian took the giant metal spider from Camilla and started to inspect it as Nina and Camilla nodded their heads at Patricia's question. It seemed logical to assume that her throne meant the web many layers under their feet.
"But who are her daughters and where are they?" Amber asked them all from behind Alfie and Patricia. She clearly now knew the spider was fake but she was making sure to keep her distance just in case it somehow magically came to life.
"Okay, we need to go down and check them out, tonight?" Nina told them all.
"Maybe should eh.. sync up our schedules because tonight's Fabian and Joy's Big date!" Alfie teased.
This caused five very different reactions from the Sibuna's around him. Patricia smiled and laughed along with the teasing. Fabian's head shot to Nina who looked hurt at the news. Camilla simply sighed knowing it was going to cause drama and Amber glared at Alfie.
"No," Fabian argued, "its not a date. It's more like a... eh... a miss understanding. We're just going to see that film, that Jasper helped produce when he was away on his dig two years ago. We invited Camilla along so its not a date."
Nina glanced to Camilla hopefully to see the girl scoff at her brother and take the spider off him, "I'm not going sorry, I spend my summers in Egypt and most of my schooling surrounded by it. 3 hours of an Egyptian film is automatic - no thank you from me."
"Yeah, that's not a date at all..." Patricia laughed as Camilla held out the spider leg to her to high five causing even Amber to let out a small smile.
The teasing wasn't enough however, Nina still looked hurt, "I was going to ask you to go see that," Nina whispered quietly to Fabian. The girl's words where merely a whisper but due to the fact the other Sibuna's attention was on Fabian they all heard them instantly.
"Hey, why don't we all go?! You, me, Joy, Fabian..." Amber offered, causing Alfie and Camilla to both shake their heads instantly at the proposed idea. Amber saw the shaking heads and the look Nina was sending her, "let's not crash their date."
"Camilla! Amber!" Fabian exasperatedly spoke to the two girls who knew about his feelings for Nina and his thoughts on the Joy thing, "tell her it was not a date. You both where there." Nina glanced between the two girls confused, "Amber you were the one telling me what to say!"
"I did not!" Amber argued back.
"Okay, okay guys..." Nina interrupted before there was a shouting match in the kitchen. "tonight's just not ideal. We can just wait one more night. The mask can wait." She told them all with a fake smile. Camilla saw through the girls lie easily and she knew that tonight they probably would be going into the tunnel with or without Fabian. "I need to go phone gran..." Nina told them all in a whisper her eyes watering up as she left the room.
"No..." Fabian mumbled as the Sibuna's watched her leave.
"Well done Fabian," Amber glared at him, "Well Done." With that Amber left with Patricia following behind her. Leaving the twins and Alfie alone in the living room, with the giant metal spider.
"On a different unrelated topic... if you are going to the library, can you pick me up some Aconitum from the woods on the way back?" Camilla asked her brother in an innocent tone causing Alfie to burst out laughing as Fabian almost dropped the spider he was examining. "it's for totally normal reasons. I need some for a thing..." Camilla smiled sweetly at her brother.
"Well, thank you, that cleared everything right up." Fabian sassed as he handed the spider to Alfie. The whole 'Joy/Nina Date' thing had put him into a bad mood.
"No, I mean... I need it for a potion." Camilla explained as if it was the most obvious thing ever.
Fabian rolled his eyes at Camilla, "I am aware of what you are trying to say, I'm just wondering you tried to say it in such a convoluted way..."
"Because I ran out without realising,"
"and there's none in Your Labs garden? "
"you think we just leave poison plants lying around?" Camilla asked her brother causing Alfie to let out a laugh as he and the spider followed the twins back and forth with amusement. "What kind of gardener would Victor be if he did that?!"
This seemed to be the final straw for Fabian who let out a sigh shaking his head, "whatever..." with that, the boy left the room.
"you're totally making a potion without Victor knowing arent you?" Alfie whispered to Camilla.
The girl looked his way and burst out laughing to see Alfie holding a giant metal spider petting it like a supervillain does with a cat in the movies, "We're gonna be weird old people, Alfie." She said causing the boy to grin.
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Camilla and Alfie wandered into the boy's room laughing (after dropping the spider off down in the secret office), "Dude," Alfie spoke as they glanced at Jerome on his bed as they walked in, "do you want to punk Fabian and Joy on their 'Date'. We could get popcorn and throw it at them or something?" Alfie judged Camilla as she went to hit him both of them laughing though.
Camilla turned to Jerome and frowned seeing him forlorn as he lay on his bed examining the gem. She wandered over to him and sat on the end of his bed causing the boy to look up for the first time since his friends walked in, "what's up?" Camilla asked softly.
Jerome let out a sigh and sat up so he was facing Camilla and Alfie, "everything I did to get my hands on this Gem, and I can't even put it back."
Camilla reached out and grabbed his hand trying to find a way to comfort him, Jerome sending her a small smile understanding the gesture.
"Have you told your dad you've found it?" Alfie asked quietly.
"And say; I'm sorry dad I know you're trying to turn your life around but there is no more shield and I'm fresh out of ideas." Jerome sassed Alfie, before he turned and saw Camilla's unamused look, "sorry..." Jerome murmured to the boy he roomed with who shrugged it off. They knew Jerome was stressed about the gem; he didn't mean to snap.
"You will work something out," Camilla reassured Jerome with a confident smile, "if you can't charm your way to the shield then scam your way to it."
Jerome glanced from Camilla to Alfie who was nodding his head in agreement to her words, "it's the Jerome way." he told the boy with confidence.
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Camilla eventually slipped up to the girl's bedroom, the movie Fabian was off to see was just starting and she knew Nina would know that. She liked her Chosen One but at the moment her emotions made her kind of... unpredictable.
Amber smiled at Camilla as she slipped into the room, the girl was sat at the bottom of Nina's bed reading a book whilst Nina worked on homework or something. Both girls glanced at Nina as she looked at her watch. "we could still make the start of the movie if we hurry..." Amber told her.
"Yeah there is like a 10-minuet prologue before it gets somewhat interesting," Camilla told the girl with an eye roll. Why anyone would want to see a 3-hour movie about Egypt was still beyond her.
"Guys," Nina looked at them both, "the last thing I want to do is sit there whilst Fabian and Joy hold hands in the dark." Amber shot Camilla a look, neither girl sure how to fix this Fabiana mess – though the two of them talking would go a long way - Nina missed the look between her friends as she kept talking, "I just wish we could go to the tunnel and do the next task."
"I was going to tell you," Amber mumbled guilty-looking to Nina. "honest,"
"And it really was an accident. We all know Fabian his hopeless." Camilla added, trying to stick up for her brother and his hopeless ways.
The look on Nina's face told Camilla she didn't believe that the 'date' was an accident, "yeah, I do." Nina told her roommates, "and if he really didn't want to go, he wouldn't have."
"When has Fabian said no to anything Egyptian? Ever?!" Camilla countered causing Nina to look her way, "he was going anyway, Joy just beat you to asking to chummy him."
"Fabian is free and single now," Nina countered, "he can date half the girls in school, I really don't care."
Yeah, Nina minded and the two girls she lived with knew it.
Thankfully a distraction came in the form of Alfie who burst through the door with the spider around his neck, screaming wildly as if the creature was attacking him.
Camilla burst out laughing but Amber got to her feet, closing the book she was reading and hitting Alfie with it. Causing the boy to drop the spider as he tried to defend himself from the blonde actual attack.
"Alfie!"
"Oh, you need to relax it was just a joke," Alfie told her.
"Hilarious!" Amber grumbled as she threw the book back onto the bed, confused as to why Nina and Camilla had jumped off and were crouched by the fallen spider. "Oh look, now you've broken it." She pointed seeing the bottom of the spider had fallen off.
With a nod from Nina, Camilla gently lifted the spider up and three smaller spiders fell from it. Each with a different coloured stripe on their backs. The American girl collected them and put them in a line next to the larger spider with a grin.
"Eww, they are gross and tiny, like spider babies." Amber shuddered as she saw the line of spider's the two girls had created.
"Guys..." Nina excitedly looked up at them, "the riddle says lay her daughter's in their home. Well if big spider is the mom..."
"then these wee babies are her daughters..." Camilla finished for her looking at the small spiders.
Nina picked one up and weighed it in her hand, "wow they are really heavy."
"the spider's home is its web." Alfie pipped up.
"So there is three spider's and three hooks on the web." Nina spoke out loud, getting excited and jumping to her feet. "let's go down to the tunnel right now." She spoke looking at them all.
Alfie, Amber and Camilla all sharing uneasy looks but Nina knew if she went down Camilla would follow, if Camilla went down so would everyone else. "Fabian is our best web walker..." Alfie countered trying to argue for a reason to no go. "shouldn't we wait for him to get back from his date?"
Camilla groaned as Alfie used the word date. Nina's face falling into one of angry determination. "there is enough of us to do this without Fabian," she told them all. "we got this. Let's show these spider's what Sibuna are made off." With that Nina left the room to get Patricia.
Amber turned on Camilla the moment the door shut, "You should have done something!"
"How am I meant to control my Chosen One when I can't even control my hair?" Camilla countered, "this is all Alfie's fault anyway."
"My fault?!" Alfie asked perplexed.
"You used the word 'date' which created a highly motivated Nina who knows I will follow her into the tunnels because in the mood she is in she is going to get herself killed!" Camilla hissed, grabbing the spiders from the floor before opening the door. Hearing Amber groaning before the three Sibuna's left the room.
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Patricia wasn't in her bedroom. She was downstairs making lovey eyes with Eddie which Camilla thought was adorable slightly regretting the fact she was going to have to break up the moment to get Patricia to go on a stupid mission with them.
"Patricia?!" Nina whispered for her causing the two on the couch to look around and Patricia got up to see what Sibuna issue was going on.
Knowing Nina would catch Patricia up Camilla stayed by the doorway to see Eddie let out a huff. "Love not going the way you want?"
"She's just soo..." Eddie let out a frustrated groan.
"Well I'm busy right now, but when I'm done, we're going to have a very stereotypical chat about how I will make your life a living hell if you break Trish's heart," Camilla told him sweetly.
"There is no point it's not like she'll let me close enough to do so." Eddie sighed.
"Jerk-face," Camilla said in a fond tone which to any other person would sound so weird but Eddie knew it was Camilla's name for him, "Patricia isn't like the other girls who will make it easy. She has reasons to have her guard up, you just need to prove to her that you are not like anyone else and will be there for her." Camilla told him.
"So you'll help me."
"I mean, Fabiana is going no were because those two are helpless," Camilla rolled her eyes getting a smile from Eddie, "so if I can at least get Peddie together I'll have done something right this year."
"Peddie?"
"Amber's creation... we're thinking of making badges," Camilla told him with a grin, turning to face the door as she heard Amber call her name. "Got to go," she waved at him before rushing from the room. The Sibuna's were going on a suicide mission all because Nina was too stubborn to admit she still had feelings for Camilla's brother and was hurt he'd gone on a date with another girl.
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"What were you doing?" Amber whispered to Camilla as the rounded the stone steps down to the web room.
"I thought I'd grab the marshmallows from the kitchen. You know for when this goes up in flames..." Camilla whispered back with a teasing smile.
Amber smiled slightly glad someone was able to make jokes even on their suicide mission, "really what were you doing?" she asked quietly.
"Give Eddie some advice about our Trish," She replied looking at the girl who was whispering excitedly with Nina. "if Fabiana is being hopeless, we can at least help Peddie out."
"the hopeless couple list is longer than the hopeful one this term, Fabiana, Jemilla, Amfie..." Amber started counting on her fingers,
"Jemilla?" Camilla asked confused,
"Jerome and Camilla..." Amber explained as if it was obvious.
"Ambs... I may have a crush on him but he likes Mara..." Camilla told her softly.
Amber just rolled her eyes and shot her a knowing look. Camilla didn't just have a crush on Jerome and the two girls knew it, much like how Amber knew this whole thing was Mara was Jerome's way of deflecting his true feelings. Not that she'd explain that to Camilla. The girl had enough on her plate to have to overthink the whole thing with Jerome. Amber was happy enough to guide the two herself from a distance - all that mattered to her was her best friend got her happy Ending in the End.
The girl's conversation came to a stop as they looked out on the room of webs. Camilla taking her shoes off in preparation to climb through them along with Alfie. One of them was going to take the big spider with one baby, the other two baby spiders. Alfie strapped the big spider to his back and handed Camilla the yellow and red baby spiders. With a deep breath, the two looked to the webs waiting for instructions from their friends.
"You've got your spiders?" Nina asked the walking pair, causing the two to nod, "let's match them up on their hooks." She said.
"Is no one else bothered about the part in the riddle that says the red thread spelt doom?" Alfie asked turning to look to Camilla.
"that's why I am putting baby red-widow on her nest not you," Camilla said holding the baby spider out. Alfie clinked his baby spider to her's before the two started to climb.
Amber was being Camilla's eyes and Patricia was Alfie's. Camilla was halfway to the red hook when Amber screamed out the boy's name, causing Camilla to turn her head to see what the issue was. Alfie had gotten himself caught on a yellow string, and the boy was panicking like crazy. From where she was halfway across the room Camilla could do nothing, not that she didn't try as she turned from the web, she was walking towards to try to get to the boy.
The yellow wire seemed to have some hallucinogenic on it and Alfie kept muttering about seeing things and thrashing around, coming close so many times to touching a red wire no matter how many times Nina, Amber and Patricia screamed at him to stay still.
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