*Unedited*
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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.
Camilla was moving as fast as she could but without the help of one of the girls telling her where strings where that movement wasn't fast at all. Thankfully someone came running and Camilla looked up to see Fabian push the girls aside and navigate his way to Alfie with ease (both twins thanking the gods Alfie hadn't made it too far from the entrance of the room unlike Camilla).
"Alfie," Fabian spoke in a calm voice, the only really calm voice in the room, as he approached the boy, holding onto his body to make him stop thrashing around. "It's okay, I've got you," Alfie clung to Fabian as his vision came back into focus Fabian looking around at them all, seeing Camilla's shoulder's drop in relief from where she stood in the middle of the webs.
"I'm so sorry..." Nina mumbled to Alfie from where she stood at the entrance to the task, sorrow soaked into her voice telling all the Sibuna's she was in fact sorry.
"Let's get you out of here," Fabian mumbled to Alfie, turning to Patricia who nodded her head and started to help guide them.
"Cam..." Amber whispered but, in the silence, Camilla could hear her. Camilla glanced up to see tear stains streaking down Amber's face. Clearly, the thing with Alfie had shaken her up and now Amber wanted Camilla out the maze too. Camilla nodded her head and allowed Amber to guide her from the maze.
The twin not missing the look shared between Nina and Fabian. Both of them knowing this had happened because Nina had gotten jealous of Fabian's date night with Joy.
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Alfie made a full recovery and was his old self the next morning. Of course, none of the Sibuna's brought up the task and what had happened. Well not until biology where Camilla caught Nina muttering to herself.
"Nim?" Camilla asked looking at her expectantly, causing Nina's head snap up at Camilla in shock. Camilla had made the executive decision to take Fabian's seat so Fabiana were split during the class, meaning Fabian had to take Camilla's usual seat on the other side of Eddie, the boy not happy as Eddie and Camilla used their jotter's to play hangman or knots and crosses instead of work.
"Sorry..." Nina muttered as she realised Camilla had heard her muttering about how this was becoming an impossible task to get the mask.
"Don't be sorry," Camilla whispered looking down at her jotter as Mr Sweet looked their way, "this isn't an impossible task if we look at it as one task at a time instead of a huge task. We just need to focus on completing this task. Can you just focus on that?"
"What about the next one?" Nina couldn't help but whisper back to her protector.
Camilla reached out and took Nina's hand with a reassuring smile, "We'll worry about that when it comes. Now come on, get up. I won't let you fall here."
Nina couldn't help the smile that flitted onto her face. She knew she had lucked out on having Camilla as her Protector, no matter what the girls went through together Camilla would always be on her side even if she didn't agree with her side.
Amber approached the two and Fabian with a smile on her face from across the room, she instantly sat herself down beside Nina flicking her hair back and pulling the American girl into a conversation. Behind her Patricia started to play with the skeleton bones she had been handed, making the feet tap dance on her desk until Mr Sweet pipped up from the front of the classroom, "That's enough Patricia."
Camilla and Eddie turned to look at the girl. Eddie to flirt and Camilla just cos she didn't want to talk highlights that would look 'totally awesome in your hair Nim' with Amber and Nina.
"Is that all you've got in your bad girl bag?" Eddie scoffed at the girl. Causing Joy and Camilla to once again share a confused look at Peddie's idea of flirting. "Epic Fail."
"There's only one epic fail around here," Patricia told him sassily, "and I'm looking at him."
"Let me show you how it's done," Eddie informed her, before getting to his feet. Missing Patricia look towards Camilla with a begging look.
"Nope..." Camilla muttered instantly, "Trish do you remember the last time I tried magic in Sweeties class?"
"Penguin-gate...." Patricia whispered in understanding before the two girls looked towards Eddie at the front of the room. Neither of them too sure what he was up too.
Eddie went over to the diagram of the human and plucked the eye from its socket with ease, before winking to Patricia and wandering over to Mr Sweet whilst the man was focused on the board and threw it expertly into his cup of tea before racing to his seat beside Camilla. Appreciating that at least she was trying not to laugh at his joke whilst Patricia pretended to look bored.
"I can totally top that," Patricia confidently told him.
"Really?" Eddie whispered, challenging her.
Patricia sent him a smirk before looking around the room.
"Patricia no..." Joy groaned as Patricia picked up the concentrated formula of Sodium Chloride, tipping it all over the floor with a smirk to Joy.
"OOPSY." She innocently said, causing Mr Sweet to look their way to see the white power on the floor and groan loudly.
"a little more care girl." Mr Sweet warned her as he wandered over with a brush and pan to clean up the mess.
"Sorry..." Patricia said moving to one side as Joy jumped to her feet to help the teacher clean up the mess.
With Mr Sweet busy – and the eyes of the class on her – Patricia rushed to his desk. Picking up the biscuit they all knew he had with his tea and halving it before taking out some algae from the fishbowl on his desk and placing onto his biscuit.
Poor Sweetie... Camilla could only think as she controlled her laughter to nothing more than shoulder shakes, only their headteacher could find himself in the middle of a flirt off via pranks.
As Mr Sweet stood up the entire class was now invested in the pranks taking place on him, no one was working (not even Nina, Fabian or Mara) they were all watching the teacher with bated breath.
Mr Sweet grabbed his teacup and saucer and smiled at the time. It was his tea time. He brought the biscuit to his mouth and took a bite before spitting it out, giving him enough time to register the eyeball floating around in his tea. No one in the room was surprised to hear the prized china hitting the floor as the man let out a scream.
Laughter rang out around the room, and the headteacher turned to look to who he could guess was the culprits, "Patricia... Edison!"
"Guilty...." Patricia innocently spoke laughing with everyone else.
"Well, you are in real trouble. You see me after class!" Mr Sweet threatened before he looked to Eddie. Camilla and Fabian looking to one another knowingly as Mr Sweet spoke, "Edison... don't let me catch you miss using school property again." Was all the teacher threatening the boy with causing him to slump down in annoyance. "I'm getting rather tired of you leading new students astray Miss Williamson, you will copy down the periodic table 100 times before tomorrow." Mr Sweet told the girl who looked at him in shock. "Perhaps it will help you learn some respect for the sciences!" with that they all knew the fun in games in the class was now over.
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Alfie and Jerome dragged Camilla to the library with them, hoping if anyone could help them navigate the dusty shelves it be her. After a quick talk with Jasper, the three were racing up the stairs to the section on school history. Jerome and Camilla taking the tall bookcase looking for something that resembled sports history. Alfie took the lower shelf.
"Dudes!" Alfie spoke up excitedly, pulling a book from the shelf, "here it is! The schools sporting record."
Jerome grabbed the book from Alfie and thumbed through the pages, Alfie and Camilla watching over his shoulder, "Frobisher shield. Ah-ha!" He glanced to the two excitedly as he reached the page, "The jubilant champions hold the winning shield," Jerome read, "which was donated to the school by Sarah Frobisher-Smythe in honour of her father Robert. A keen ping pong enthusiast."
"that makes sense with his Egyptian roots," Camilla spoke before she could help herself causing the boys to look her way confused, "there had been a few Arabic words dating from the ancient Egyptian times found in tombs that make it believable they used to play a tennis-like sport like ping pong. Plus, there is a theory that the name Tennis derives from the Egyptian time of Tinnis alongside the Nile, and the word Racquet evolved from the Arabic word for the plan of your hand, Rahat." Camilla knew she had gone on a ramble and from the looks of Alfie and Jerome she had said way too much for them to follow.
"So, this is part of Roberts love of Egypt?" Alfie asked after a second.
"It could be argued," Camilla nodded.
"Okay...." Jerome looked back at the book again.
"If it is Ping Pong, charming and scamming are out of the window..." Alfie told Jerome.
"I guess you're going to have to win it back fair and square..." Camilla added trying not to laugh as looks of horror flitted onto Jerome and Alfie's faces at her words.
"Fair and Square?" Jerome repeated the words as if it was an unheard-of language to him. "that is a thing, right?" he added looking to Alfie.
"It's a thing..." Alfie nodded his head.
Jerome closed the book with a slight snap, "that's funny, I've never really got it..."
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So with that decision made, the trio hunted down Mr Sweet to try to talk the man into holding a ping pong tournament in order to win the shield back. Just a normal day at Amun Academy.
"Mr Sweet!" Jerome thanks to his high spotted the teacher first. Grabbing Camilla's hand so she wouldn't get lost in the sea of students rushing towards them as they battled their way up to the headteacher.
"Ah..." Mr Sweet paused as he heard Jerome's shout, turning to face the three troublemakers he knew far too well, "Lewis, Rutter and Clarke, excellent timing." This caused Camilla and Alfie to look at each other trying to think what they had done in the last few hours to have the headteacher expecting them. "what can I do for you?"
"It's about the Frobisher shield." Jerome started instantly, "I want to win it back."
"The Frobisher shield..." Mr Sweet almost seemed to get misty-eyed at the thought of the shield being back in the school until he realised, he had the three well-known pranksters in front of him and his face turned serious, "this isn't a joke." The three students shook their heads causing a small smile to creep onto his face, "if we could actually win it back, why then... the school could be truly great once more. And greatness is no laughing matter." He told them as he opening his office door.
"Mr Sweet, look how serious we are sir." Alfie pipped up gesturing to them all. "we are serious about this."
Mr Sweet looked over them all thoughtfully, "if you really mean this, I'll make arrangements. But once you begin on this, the hopes of the entire school will be riding on this match."
"No pressure then..." Camilla muttered as they watched Mr Sweet grab something from his office.
Handing Alfie and Jerome ping pong bats with a smile, "the Frobisher shield is for Ping Pong doubles." Mr Sweet explained at the confused look the students gave him at the two bats.
With that he walked back into his office leaving the three students in the hallway, Jerome turned to Alfie with a grin. "Jerome and Alfie! Ping Pong Partners in crime. Who else would I trust with something like this?" Jerome asked Alfie lifting his hand for a high five which Alfie happily gave.
"We can't let the school down remember." Camilla pipped in. "there is more than just your dad's gem on the line now."
"Have I ever let anyone down?" Jerome asked the pair.
"do you really want us to answer you, or shall we let Cammy's expression do all the talking," Alfie commented pointing to Camilla's sceptical face.
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Nina, Fabian and Amber had seen Camilla, Alfie and Jerome rush excitedly from the library as they were about the enter, but none of them bothered to ask the question as to why they were so excited thankfully. Camilla wasn't sure how she would explain the whole ping pong thing to them.
Nina was wandering around the exhibition part of the library. She had been feeling guilty all day for what had happened with Alfie even though the boy was insistent he was fine. Fabian, like his sister before him, was talking to Jasper trying to get information. He had heard something in the documentary the night before he thought would be critical for their mission to find the mask.
"So Fabian," Jasper smiled, "how did you enjoy secrets of ancient Egypt? It was a pity Camilla couldn't make the showing, but I get monthly girls' night must come first." This comment caused Amber to let out a small laugh before she moved off to examine some of the jewels of Egypt. Her personal favourite part of the exhibition.
"Well that was what I wanted to talk to you about," Fabian told Jasper, ignoring the comment about Camilla. "we need to know more about the Egyptian Tyrant it mentioned."
"Ah, like mother like son," Jasper smiled bemusedly at Fabian's question.
"Mum?" Fabian asked.
"Annabeth has been making it her life's mission to find out more about the tyrant. It's a truly fascinating subject, everything in the documentary came from her research journals."
Nina shot Fabian a look before wandering up to the upper floor, clearly, this was a family conversation and maybe Fabian would get more information if she wasn't listening in.
"Now I do have something somewhere about her..." Jasper muttered moving over to his desk Fabian following, neither men noticing Nina leaving them to go explore. "now where would I have filed it." Jasper moved some paper's and picked up a book. "Ah-ha, here we are. The Forgotten Ruler, a terrible tyrannical queen. Your mum was on the team found an empty tomb on one of her first digs looking into the boy king, apart from a crown the tomb was completely empty. Nobody nothing."
Nina was looking around the top floor as she heard whispers guiding her.
"There's no name in the book?" Fabian asked, wondering if trying to contact his mother for information was going to be worth the disappointment when she just sent him her novel or something as 'research'.
"No," Jasper shook his head, "although I was told one, once... several years ago now in Cairo. Our guide whispered a name; something his grandmother had told him when he was a boy, to scare him... what was it now? I'm sure your folks could tell you instantly. Let me think."
Nina had moved to the very back of the upper floor exhibition, her eyes focused on a delicate-looking crown, the face of the spirit in the glass as a name flooded her mind. "Sankara..." Nina spoke out loud causing the two below her to glance up in surprise.
"Yes!" Jasper spoke up with a grin, "how did you know?" he asked, missing the worried look sent between Nina and Fabian.
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"IT'S TEN O'CLOCK!" Victor's voice rang out around the house, "You have five minutes precisely and then I want to hear a pin.... Drop."
Everyone apart from the Sibuna's heard his evening call.
The Sibuna's where down in the tunnels. Fabian, Camilla and Alfie all stood by a coloured hook with a spider in their hands, Nina stood by the webbed door having crossed the room first. "Lay her daughters in their home..." Alfie spoke as he slipped the yellow spider onto the hook. The mechanical noise filling their ears as they looked around them.
Camilla glanced to her brother before placing the red spider onto its hook.
"What happens when they are all on?" Fabian asked them all nervously.
"let's all just be ready..." Nina answered unsure, getting nods from her fellow Sibuna's.
They all looked to Fabian who carefully placed the white spider into its home.
There was a screeching noise from all around them before the door behind Nina opened causing a gasp from them all. Before any of them could say anything, Nina turned and ran through the door.
"Stop Running off Nina!" Camilla screamed at her Chosen One, moving to follow after her, however, the door was already shutting.
"Nina!" Fabian screamed as the door shut.
There was a petrifying scream from the other side.
"NINA!" the twins both screamed in unison.
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Happy Sibuna chapter day!
Nina has run off and Jerome and Alfie are organising a ping pong tournament what could go wrong?!
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Love ya
Sarah xxx