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You know what's not fun? Amber's annoying alarm clock waking me up far before I want to be awake. Nina's clock was much less annoying, it's just the sound of the alarm that's bothering me. I groan, grabbing my pillow and pulling it over my face. Too early for this after everything that happened yesterday.
"It's my birthday," I hear Amber state, like she's just realizing it. Oh, right, it's her birthday. Girl's eighteen today. "It's my birthday! Ashley, get up, it's my birthday!"
"It'll be your birthday for the rest of the week, just give me five minutes," I mumble, rolling away from the sound of her voice and the irritating sound of the alarm. "Could you do me a favor though and turn the alarm off?"
The alarm shuts off, and just when I think she's actually going to give me the five minutes I asked for, she suddenly jumps onto my bed, grabbing my shoulders and physically shaking all of the sleepiness out of me. "Ashley, Ashley, Ashley!"
"Amber, Amber, Amber!" I mimic her tone of voice, throwing her a look as I sit up. Amber grins at me, sitting on the edge of my bed. "Happy birthday, Amber."
"Thank you!" she exclaims. Clearly trying to act casual, she adds, "So...did you get me anything?"
"Why wouldn't I?" I reply with a smile. "It's in my ba—" I don't even get the whole word out before she's suddenly jumped up again and gone to grab my bag, rifling through it for the gift I got her. "In my bag. You're welcome to look through it, by the way."
In her rifling, Amber has successfully found a small jewelry box, and looks at me as she holds it up. "Is this it?" she asks. I nod. "Can I open it now?"
"If I said no, would that actually stop you?"
"Probably not."
"Open it."
Amber excitedly opens the jewelry box and gasps upon seeing the necklace inside. A silver heart-shaped locket on a matching silver chain, and it had reminded me of Amber the moment I saw it. "It's so pretty!" she gushes, taking it out of the box.
"Why I bought it for you," I say, watching her hold it up to the sunlight to see it better. It had been between this necklace and a bracelet, and I decided to go with the necklace for locket-related reasons. "If I were you, I'd open it."
She opens the locket to see the photo on the inside, and she beams. "It's all of us!" She turns around the locket to show me the photo I'd resized to put in there. It's a Sibuna group photo we took together last term, one of my favorites of all of us (me, Amber, Nina, Fabian, Patricia, Alfie, and we even managed to convince Joy to get in on it).
Amber sits back beside me on the bed and gives me a tight hug. "This was so thoughtful, Ash! See, now I have a locket just like Ni—" She cuts herself off halfway through Nina's name, and I glance over to her empty bed. It's exactly the reason I chose the locket, so she would match with Nina when we got back and all three of us would have our own special necklaces. I bought it before Nina told me she wasn't returning.
I set a gentle hand on Amber's arm, telling her, "You can't let Nina not being here ruin your day. I'm sure she'll call though, or text at least."
(Yeah, Nina better send at least a text wishing her a happy birthday, or else next time I actually manage to get a hold of her she's gonna get an earful from me.)
Amber gives me a small smile as she tears her eyes away from Nina's bed. She raises the necklace to put it around her, but stops before she can clasp it. "The post is here!" she states, dropping the necklace onto the bed as she gets up.
"How did you know that?" I question, quickly throwing the covers off me and grabbing the locket to follow her out into the corridor. I didn't hear anything to suggest that the post had come. She's halfway out the doors already. "Are your ears, like, fine-tuned to the sound of possible presents in the post?"
Amber's standing at the top of the stairs by the time I catch up with her, looking down and questioning excitedly, "Was that the postman I just heard?"
Mara responds, "No!" while at the same time Trudy counters, "Yes." Okay, odd. I look at the two of them strangely as Mara adds, "I mean, yes, but with no deliveries."
My eyebrows raise. "Seriously?"
Amber starts slowly, "The postman...came to the door...without any mail?"
"Any mail for anyone?" I ask. "Anyone at all? Not even Victor's taxidermy tools?"
"Yes, he wanted to apologize for not bringing anything. Right, Trudy?" Mara says pointedly. I narrow my eyes at her as Trudy gives her a confused look. I'm glad to know Amber and I aren't the only ones confused. "Should I help you get breakfast ready?"
"What?" Trudy asks, snapping out of her confusion. "Oh. Yes. Thank you, Mara."
Trudy and Mara walk into the kitchen, out of our sights. I turn to Amber, inquiring, "It's not Sunday, is it?"
Amber doesn't seem like she's heard me. She whispers, mainly to herself it looks like, "No mail?"
"There has to be mail," agrees Victor's voice from a few feet away. Guess he really was expecting some taxidermy tools today. Corbierre doesn't wake up like that.
"I know right," Amber states. "There really isn't. Birthday fail."
—
I grab a glass from the kitchen cupboard for breakfast, glancing at Eddie as he comes in. I was the first one down here while Amber's still sulking in our room over the lack of mail, which makes him the second person. Before I sit down to my chair at the end of the table, I make sure to smack him on the back of his head.
"What was that for?!" Eddie questions, holding the back of his head.
"Gee, I wonder what's the best thing to say to a girl you've only just met?" I ask him rhetorically, grabbing the pitcher of orange juice. After last night's events with KT, he deserves a head-slap.
"What was I supposed to say to her?" he retorts. "She was the girl from the dream. I wasn't lying."
"Except you said daymare, not dream," I remind him. "So that right there, technically a lie. And honestly, Eddie, you could have waited until your ex-girlfriend wasn't in the room. Or, you know, not said it at all because now you've effectively creeped her out and we're probably going to have a harder time figuring out why she was in your vision and what that key is for."
Clearly uncomfortable, he says, "Look, can we just change the subject?"
"Fine," I agree with a shrug. "So, the letter. Have you found it yet?"
"No," he answers, giving me a look that indicates he's not comfortable with this conversation either. Sucks to be him, because I'm not giving up on this one so easily. Fabian was supposed to have the letter by now. It's one of the only things Nina asked Eddie to do. "I'm still looking, don't worry. But if I can't find it, I think I'm gonna have to rewrite it like a girl would." I roll my eyes. He straightens in his chair and turns to me. "Hey, you're a girl."
"Gold star for the observation skills, Edison," I respond dryly. "I'm not forging the letter."
"You knew her better than I did—"
"Knew who better?" wonders Fabian aloud as he enters for breakfast, taking his usual seat one chair away from mine.
Covering for both of us quickly, I lie, "Lily Henry. Eddie, he was just wondering, you know, what she was like, the whole Osirian/Bringer-of-Death thing, you know, so we're just...doing some family catching-up that does not involve his dad."
Fabian reaches forward for a muffin. "Lily died thirty years before you were born."
"I mean, Senkhara died two thousand years ago, didn't stop her from haunting us," I point out. "And I have actually spoken to Lily in dreams and seen her ghost right in front of me, plus I've got her diary, so I actually do think I know what she was like."
Eddie looks at me. "I'm not gonna start seeing ghosts, am I?"
"If you do, I hope it's a poltergeist focused specifically on you."
"Seriously, is this a thing in your family?"
"You're a part of it, you tell me."
"Stop reminding me."
Fabian glances between us. "Well, if I wasn't sure before you two were related, I'd definitely be now," he remarks. "More like siblings than cousins." Then he takes a deep breath, turning to just me. "Ashley, did...did you hear back from Nina yesterday?"
Reluctantly, I shake my head. I did try to call Nina last night, but I had to leave a message. Eddie needs to find that letter and fast so Fabian gets at least some closure, or Nina needs to message Fabian directly herself and tell him whatever was in it.
—
"No presents, no cards," Amber sulks as she walks slowly through the school hallways with Fabian and me. He's looking intently at his phone, no doubt trying to get in touch with Nina. I look at her strangely, glancing to the locket around her neck. "No birthday breakfast."
"What do you mean 'no presents?'" I question, gesturing to the locket. "I got you that and I love you."
Amber sighs and links our arms together. "I know, and I love you, too, but there was nothing from anyone else. Not even from my other so-called friends, Fabian." She gives him a pointed look, which he doesn't notice. "Great birthday this is."
"It's your birthday?" says Alfie's voice from behind us. Oh, tell me he didn't forget. Him, of all people, forgetting her birthday? Fabian continues walking, having likely not heard Alfie, while Amber and I both turn to face her boyfriend/my stupid best friend. It's his girlfriend's birthday, she's been talking about it since her last birthday, how can he not know? "I mean—I mean, it's your birthday! Yay! Happy birthday!"
Amber stares at him and his fake enthusiasm blankly. "Just admit it. You forgot like everybody else."
"Except for Ashley," I point out, "because that gorgeous locket around her neck came from me and the rest of you are terrible, terrible people."
Alfie weakly denies his obvious forgetting, "No. Not—no. No."
"So where's my present?" Amber asks.
"I...will go and get it," Alfie claims. He physically turns her back around and takes off in the opposite direction, probably to go scrounge up something quick that can pass as a birthday present. I can't believe him.
Glancing back down the hall at Fabian, who's still staring at his phone and holding it higher, I tell her, "Okay, it seems like the only person you can't fault for forgetting your birthday is Fabian, because I think he's about to find a beanstalk to get some bars."
Amber looks at him and sighs as she drags me over to join him. "No word from Nina?"
"Something's going on," Fabian tells us decisively, "and I intend to find out what it is."
"And then will you buy me a present?"
I smile lightly at that, following them into the classroom. The two of them sit down at one of the tables together, and I fortunately spot the new girl KT sitting by herself. That's good for me. I walk over and gesture to the seat beside her, asking, "Do you mind if I sit here?"
KT shakes her head. "Go ahead."
I smile at her and pull out the chair, sitting down. Turning to her, I hold out my hand. "I'm Ashley, by the way."
"KT," she says again, shaking my hand, and then she pauses. "And you already knew that."
"Yeah. You know, you're actually the third American Anubis House has gotten in the same number of years."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. Pretty sure I'm never going to hear a new British voice while I'm still at this school."
KT laughs. "But you're not British. Australian?"
I nod. "Anyway, sorry about last night. Uh, since we didn't really introduce ourselves, I'll do it for them now. That's Amber, today's her birthday and she's feeling really down about it so wishing her a happy birthday might make her feel better," I inform, and point at everyone else as I give her their names. "That's Fabian, he's a nerd but we love him. That's Mara, and the girl sitting next to her is Patricia. Mara's super nice, but Patricia...okay, you'll probably be on her good side in a couple weeks, but she can be pretty intense in the meantime. That's Joy, she's also nice."
Her eyebrows raise as she looks between all the girls I just introduced, as well as me. "There's a lot of girls in this house."
"I know, right? Both bedrooms on the girls' corridor have three beds in them. We're running out of space, we're about ten seconds from plotting how to take over the boys' rooms, make them sleep in the attic," I joke, and she laughs. I look around the room for the other Anubis students I haven't introduced, noting that two aren't even here. "Anyway, two of our boys are missing. Tweedledum and Tweedledumber, AKA Jerome and Alfie—or Alfie and Jerome depending on the day—two of the funniest people I've ever met but watch out for their pranks."
She nods. "I'll watch out for them. Anyone else?"
The only person in Anubis she doesn't know the name of is at the table behind us, staring at his notebook. I glance at him awkwardly, saying, "Yeah, uh, that's Eddie."
"Oh, so that's his name," KT says to me, lowering her voice as she turns back. "He was kind of weird last night."
"Yeah. Always is. Unfortunately, I know better than most how weird he can be. He's my cousin. Weird coincidence, I'll tell you all about it."
"Yeah, weird coincidence."
Our conversation is cut short by an unfamiliar blonde woman walking into the classroom, greeting us, "Good morning, everybody. My name is Miss Denby, and I'll be teaching you history and business ed this year." Whatever she was going to say next is interrupted by the Tweedles running into the classroom, both out of breath. What exactly have they been doing? "Hello. And you are?"
"Jerome Clarke," he says.
"Alfie Lewis," he says. "Hi."
Miss Denby looks at them weirdly, probably the first of many weird looks she'll be giving them—and probably the rest of the house—and says, "Sit down then, please. So, anybody else new like me?" KT raises her hand high from beside me. "Welcome. Do you want to tell the class a little bit about yourself?"
"Okay," KT agrees as she stands. I give her an encouraging smile while Mara and Joy both clap for her. Well, at least I'm not the only one on the new girl's side. "Um, I'm KT. That's short for Kara Tatiana. Blame my parents for that one. Um, I'm from the states."
"Oh, we never would have guessed," Patricia sneers quietly, but still loud enough for me to hear, which means KT definitely heard it. Joy shushes her.
"Pennsylvania," KT continues shyly. "And I'm here on a scholarship, and I'm really excited about this place. Oh, and I move into Anubis House later today."
"Thank you, KT," Miss Denby says as KT takes her seat again. "So, continuing on the theme of 'who am I?' I thought our first project together could be about family trees."
Family tree? My family tree? Oh, boy. To KT, I say quietly, "Oh, this is gonna take a while for me. My family tree's super complicated, like, Once Upon a Time level complicated."
KT laughs lightly. "I love that show. Is it really that complicated?"
"I've never actually written it all down before. This is gonna be fun."
She smiles again before grabbing her bag from the floor and digging through it for something. Probably a pen or something, but Eddie's behind us not-so-casually leaning forward to see inside her bag. Is he looking for any sign of that key in his vision? I throw him a look and motion for him to knock it off before she notices, but by then it's too late and he's been caught.
"Oh, um," Eddie sits back down awkwardly, but still leans forward to speak quietly, "do you...have a sick grandfather?" I cough, shaking my head at him. The idiot continues, "If you do, did he leave you a key?"
KT's obviously taken aback by his questions, but asks him, "Are you sure you're okay?" She turns around without waiting for an answer, looking confused.
I glare at Eddie again before leaning toward her and asking, "You okay?"
"Yeah, it's just..." KT trails off. "He just caught me off-guard, is all."
—
"Congratulations, you've officially creeped her out."
Eddie jumps as I catch up to him in the hall after class, glancing at me. "She has the key, I know she does," he insists. "Come on, you're friends with her now—can't you just ask her outright about it? Like, 'Hey, KT, got a mysterious key?'"
"Right, I'm going to ask my new friend whom I've only just met about a mysterious key her ill grandfather left her. It's got to be a tough subject for her, not to mention she's just moved across an ocean. You've gotta ease into it. Give me time, Eddie."
He sighs as we enter the lounge, only to be greeted by Amber speaking loudly as she presses a piece of paper against Eddie's chest. "Just in case any of you have forgotten," Amber states, "which I'm sure you haven't, several of the items on this birthday list can still be bought in town this lunchtime."
Most of the Anubis residents in the room get unceremoniously handed her birthday wish-list except for me. Eddie asks, "Why didn't you get one?"
"'Cause I got her that beautiful heart locket she's wearing," I retort. "Step up your game, Miller."
Fabian's got his laptop open in front of him and barely acknowledged Amber's list-giving, and for a very good reason, it turns out. "She's messaged me! Nina!"
"What'd she say?" Amber questions as the others crowd around the couch. "Is she okay?"
"She says all is explained in the letter."
I give Eddie a wide-eyed look. Okay, he needs to find that letter, like, yesterday!
"What letter?" Amber says.
"Well, I don't know," Fabian answers.
"Well, ask her," Patricia suggests.
Eddie grabs my arm and slowly pulls me out of the room with him as Fabian begins to type the message that'll definitely get Eddie in some kind of trouble, and probably me as well. Eddie suddenly lets go of my arm, and is walking hurriedly over to KT at her locker. Oh, you've got to be kidding, don't do this again!
"KT?" Eddie's saying to her when I catch up with him. "I know—I'm not stalking you, okay? But I really need your help right now, okay?"
"Eddie—" I start, trying to pull him away, but he takes his arm out of my grip. "KT, I swear he's not usually like this. We're just having a bad day."
"A bad month," Eddie corrects. "Please, let's just go over here—classroom—" He pulls her back into Miss Denby's classroom, which is empty now. I follow with an exhausted sigh. He's insane. He's just completely insane. "Okay, if you were a girl—"
"Oh, my God," I mutter.
"I mean, you are a girl," Eddie backtracks. "And you had to write a letter dumping a boy—"
"I wouldn't," KT says. "Kinda have to do that thing face to face."
"Yeah, I know. Say you couldn't—"
"Then I'd call."
"Okay, say you didn't have a phone," Eddie says. KT and I look at each other before back at him. Definitely insane. "Right, who doesn't have a phone."
I roll my eyes. "Okay, Eddie, we seriously have to stop badgering the new girl, okay?"
"You're not helping me," Eddie retorts before looking back at KT. "Anyway, the point is: what would you say to a boy to break up with him?"
KT's eyebrows raise, and she motions toward me. "Have you asked her?"
"First of all, I refuse to help him with this," I inform her, gesturing to him as Eddie glares. "Second, last boyfriend I dumped publicly because he cheated on me, all heat of the moment stuff, and I'm definitely not planning on breaking up with my current boyfriend, so evidently Eddie's skipped straight past anything normal and decided to freak out the new girl, AKA you. Sorry. But sooner the question's answered, sooner he's out of your hair."
KT nods warily, looking between us. "Okay..." she says slowly. "Um...we're not compatible." With her giving him these, he pulls out his phone and starts typing. "I don't have time for a relationship right now. I think we should be just friends. Oh, I love you, but I'm not in love with you. And the classic: it's not you, it's me."
"How many times have you used these?" I question curiously.
"I'll tell you later," KT says, giving me a smile before she heads out of the classroom.
With her gone, I turn to Eddie and cross my arms. "Don't. It's not going to work. She would never say any of that to him."
Eddie's still typing out what KT had said. "It could work."
"It won't."
"It could."
From the door, Jerome's familiar voice states, "Still determined to write a letter from a girl's perspective." I turn to look at him. Yeah, he's more than suspicious now. "I wonder why that could be. And who could she be writing to? A lovesick British boy, perhaps."
Eddie brushes past him. "Out of my way, Jerry."
Jerome leans against the doorframe, tilting his head at me with a smirk on his lips.
I look at him strangely. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"No reason," he claims as he actually steps into the classroom toward me. "Just...heard that little thing you said about not breaking up with your current boyfriend." He sets his hands on my waist, backing me up until I hit one of the desks.
"I see," I reply, eyes flickering down to where he's holding me. "Should have already known that by now, shouldn't you have?"
"Yeah, but always nice to hear you say it."
"Afraid to tell you you're stuck with me, Clarke."
"Happy to tell you I've already gotten used to that, Adams."
I raise my hand to the side of his face, pulling him down to me with a kiss. He returns it eagerly, grip tightening on my waist. Unfortunately, we do still happen to be in an empty classroom, and odds are Denby's about to come back, so despite how much I want to keep kissing him, I pull away and remind him, "New teacher's gonna be back any second. We'll continue this later."
"Oh, how can I refuse?" Jerome replies, winking at me. "I'll see you later then. Love you."
"Love you, too," I tell him, and he kisses me quickly again before leaving the classroom. Things with him, actually having time with him alone for more than two minutes, seemed a lot easier over holiday. I pull my bag further on my shoulder and leave the classroom to go find Eddie before he actually fakes the letter, only to run straight into KT within twenty seconds. "Oh, hey, sorry—"
"Totally my fault," she counters, shaking her head. "I wasn't looking where I was go—I feel like I've had this conversation before."
"Given the amount of people in Anubis House, I'd probably get used to it if I were you."
KT laughs. "Good advice, thanks. Oh, by the way, Joy's looking for you and Eddie. She didn't say why."
Joy's looking for us? Joy?! Oh, that seems worse than Fabian looking for us, recalling how witchy she acted last year. I mean, she's obviously changed and is one of my closest friends, but...that actually makes it worse. If she and Patricia team up to find us, then Eddie and I are so both dead.
Instead of replying to that, I offer, "Hey, did you want any want any help with moving your boxes into our room? If you're, uh, taking Nina's bed, then you'll be rooming with me and Amber. It's a really nice room."
"Yeah, that'd be great," she agrees. I nod to the hallway and we start to walk. "At least I'll have a friendly face. No one else seems to have...taken to me well."
"It's nothing personal," I assure her. "It's just...we all love Nina. We miss her. She's probably the reason most of us are friends."
"What do you mean?"
"Um, well, before Nina came along, we all kind of had our own groups, you know? Like, for me, I pretty much just stuck with Jerome and Alfie and considered everyone else basically acquaintances. Then Nina came and she kind of...brought us all together. She was the glue."
KT gives me a small smile. "She sounds really great."
I nod. "She is. She'd like you. I think you'd like her."
"I'm starting to think I would, too," KT says. Yeah, Nina and KT would totally get along. Maybe, when Nina feels up to seeing us again, I can get her on video call to officially introduce her and KT. "All right, so how about you catch me up on what Anubis House is like?"