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PROSPECTIVE PARENTS DAY had unfortunately arrived and Amber insisted she did Leah's hair and makeup for today as well as revamping her uniform slightly.

They arrived at school and they had Mr Winkler's lesson first. Leah took her seat at her table as Mr Winkler began the lesson

"Okay! As I'm sure you are all aware, its Perspective Parents Day. Is everyone clear on their individual tasks?" Mr Winkler spoke. The room stayed quiet but gave a nod to Jason's question. Leah had set up the stand for Art and she decided to go down to the student lounge where she saw Alfie dressed in a costume, doing some robotic dance moves as Jerome just sat and watched

"Hey" Leah spoke, standing next to Jerome

"Hi" Jerome spoke

"What is he doing?" Leah asked as Alfie beatboxed and danced

"You'll see" Jerome stood and walked over to Alfie

"This is your big chance to win Amber's heart, dude. Shes been dumped, she's vulnerable. She needs a sensitive guy, like you, with a big shiny shoulder to cry on" Jerome spoke

"I don't know, man. Jason said I can't get the costume wet" Alfie spoke. Jerome looked at him, with a thought running through his mind

"If you want to win the girl's heart. You have to follow my four step plan.. Step one: Attention, make sure she notices you. Step two: Intention; show her you're interested because women want to be swept off their feet"

"Be noticed, sweep her off her feet" Alfie interrupted

"Step three: Longing"

Alfie let out a sigh, "Already got that one covered"

"No! She had to long for you! You have to be her hero"

"Hero?" Alfie questioned

"Try to be more of an iron man than a tin man" Jerome spoke, placing Alfie's helmet onto his head. Alfie stood in a 'powerful pose' as Leah giggled at him

THE PARENTS HAD BEGUN TO ARRIVE and Leah was finalising the art stand and Jerome and Alfie were in charge of putting some posters up on the bulletin board when Jerome clocked Miss Robinson walking down the corridor, wearing a dress instead of her sport attire

"Hello Miss Robinson" Jerome spoke, quietly but it was loud enough for Leah to hear and turn in disgust

"Doing a good job there, boys" Miss Robinson spoke

"Men, Miss Robinson, Men!" Jerome corrected her

"You keep telling yourself that, Jerome" Miss Robinson spoke before moving off. Leah couldn't help but snigger at her comment

"Man, why do non of the chicks around here take us seriously?" Alfie complained

"I refer you to use step four of my plan, Alfie. Heroics and what do you need to become a hero?"

Alfie shrugged his shoulders as Jerome turned, "A damsel in distress" Jerome whispered something into Alfie's ear which must've been a plan.

Amber led a parent and his son to the drama studio where they just walked off from her. Leah walked down towards Amber who scoffed at the sight of the parent walking away

"What's the point?" Amber spoke. A pair of feet shuffled behind Leah and when she turned it was Mick behind her

"Hey" Mick spoke. Leah moved next to Amber's side

"Hey" Amber spoke

"Look, I didn't mean to be such a pig, dumping you like that"

"Uh, thank you.. Wait what are you saying?" Amber spoke

"I'm saying sorry... and also you look kind of hot" Mick spoke, with a puzzled expression on his face. Amber smiled in response

"Are you both on fire?" Mick questioned

"Fire?" Leah questioned. A shallow bang occurred and a large amount of smoke bellowed from behind Leah and Amber as Amber let out a scream. Alfie ran and jumped over, knocking both girls to the floor as the fire alarm sounded

"Its cool, it's cool. I've got you, you're safe" Alfie spoke. Leah climbed to her feet and Mick helped Amber up

"You knocked me over, you idiot. What are you doing? More to the point, what are you wearing?" Amber spoke.

"Its okay Miss! I've got it from here. You go and get yourself checked out. Smoke inhalation, silent killer" Jerome spoke, dressed in a hi vis with a helmet under his arm and a book in his hand. Miss Robinson snatched the book from his hand as she walked off to the fire exit. Everyone gathered outside as they waited for the smoke to settle

"Thing is, I've taken it to the next level. Esther, she saw how much mutually I handle that situation"

"Yeah but there was one problem.. We didn't expect Leah to be next to the smoke either" Alfie spoke

"Mhm true" Jerome spoke as Leah walked over to them both

"You had something to do with that?" She questioned, folding her arms across her chest

"No─" Jerome started

"─Jerome" Leah interrupted. She knew those two boys more than enough to know that they would do something like this

"Okay, yes but don't say anything" Jerome begged, practically grasping the girls hands in his own

"Lips are sealed" Leah spoke as Jerome and Alfie let out a deep sigh, "For now" She said, moving next to Jerome. Victor walked out of the school, holding an artifact which was bellowing smoke out. Mr Sweet saw him and clapped, signalling everyone's attention

"Everyone! Back inside, please!" He shouted before turning to the parents, "Apologies visitors. Just a bit of spirited fun. We pride ourselves on having a sense of humour in this school" Mr Sweet spoke. He walked over to Leah, Jerome and Alfie, "Clarke, Lewis, Jones.. My office now"

"Wait Mr Sweet, Leah had nothing to do with it.. She got caught in the blast" Jerome spoke, looking at his best friend

"Very well.. Clarke, Lewis, my office then" Mr Sweet walked off and an upset Amber stomped over to Alfie

"Thanks a bunch! For ruining everything again!" Amber shouted at Alfie before walking away.

Leah and Amber headed back to the house upon receiving a message from Nina and Fabian saying they had found a new piece

"What did it look like when the sun shone through?" Fabian asked, admiring the new puzzle piece

"Amazing, Incredible!" They had the gramophone on, playing a cylinder they hadn't listened to yet

"Do you think there's something hidden inside, like the last one?" Leah asked

"He frightens me. He spends a lot of time in his cellar with dead animals that he stuffs. But what frightens me the most is his raven Corbierre─"

"Is she talking about who I think she's talking about?" Leah asked

"I'm more confident than ever that he is responsible for my parents death but I can't prove anything... He's coming! You have 5 minutes then I want to hear pin drop" Victor's voice sounded from the gramophone as the 4 looked between each other in shock.

"Victor?" Nina spoke, in horror. They paused the recording and stayed quiet

"That's impossible... That can't be Victor" Leah spoke

"Who else do we know that says that exact line?" Nina questioned

They headed downstairs after changing when Leah saw a familiar person in the entryway with Trudy

"Mum?" Leah questioned as she ran downstairs

"Hi darling" Leah wrapped her arms around her mum in a tight hug

"What are you doing here?" Leah asked

"Well, I heard it was prospective parents day and do I really need an excuse to come see my only daughter?" Leah's mum spoke

"Where are you staying?" She asked

"At your aunt Marie's. She's moving and she wanted some help" Leah's mum spoke. A pair of footsteps stomped down the stairs and stopped suddenly as Leah's mum looked up. Leah turned to see a shocked Victor standing there

"Hello Victor" Leah's mum greeted

"Beatrice..." Victor spoke before making a hasty exit back to his office. Leah shrugged away the situation that just happened as Jerome and Alfie bundled out of their bedroom

"Mrs J! Looking good!" Alfie spoke as he and Jerome walked up to Leah and her mum

"Hello Alfie, Jerome" Leah's mum hugged the two boys, who are like sons she never had, before turning back to her daughter, "I must be going before your aunt gets annoyed but if I'm still in town, how about you three come have dinner with us?"

"Yeah sure!"

"Brilliant! I'll call you later, sweetheart," Leah's mum kissed Leah on the forehead, "Look after her, boys. I'll see you both later"

"Bye Mrs J!" Alfie spoke, waving her off

Following yesterday's events in the attic, they all struggled to sleep that night, now that they heard Victor's voice on the cylinder

Nina walked into the bathroom when Patricia turned around and stared at her

"So when did you, Leah and Amber suddenly become best buddies?"

"We all share a room. I'm sorry, can we do the part where you interrogate me tomorrow.. it's been a long day" Nina knelt down and picked up her pile of clothes from her shower when her locket fell. Patricia picked it up and looked at it

"Where did you get this?" Patricia questioned

"A friend gave it to me" Nina spoke, taking the locket from Patricia and walking back to her room.

The next morning, Nina, Leah and Amber headed over to the bathroom to wash their face and brush their teeth as Patricia crept out of her room and into Nina's to retrieve the locket. Amber had forgotten something so she went back in to find Patricia searching through Nina's dressing gown for the locket

"Yes!" Patricia exclaimed as she had found the locket. She turned to see Amber standing behind her, "What are you doing here?!"

"This is my room! I came to get my toothpaste. Why are you snooping through Nina's stuff?"

"She was gonna lend me a top.. I just came to find it" Patricia tried to leave but Amber stopped her, luckily just as Leah entered the room

"What's going on?" Leah asked

"Am I supposed to believe that you guys are such good friends that swap outfits"

"Trix, what's in your hand?" Leah questioned, moving forward and snatched the item from Patricia's hand which just happened to be Nina's locket

"That's Nina's!" Leah snapped

"Look, we've all been friends for a lot of years"

"Off and on" Amber muttered

"I need you both to keep this a secret. Please!"

"You tried to steal Nina's locket" Leah spoke

"I wasn't stealing it. There's a really good reason why I need to borrow it" Patricia spoke

"Oh yeah? Like what?" Leah questioned. Nina walked into the room, "Oh! Hey!"

"Hi!" Patricia spoke, "Well uh, thanks for that Amber and Leah. Catch you both later, yeah?" Patricia left the room. The girls got ready and headed into school. They had french which was taking notes in silence. Fabian sat next to Nina and he wore headphones, linked to the MP3 Player which they recorded the cylinders on.

"Mr Rutter!" Mrs Andrews spoke, standing up from her desk and walking over to Fabian's. Fabian quickly took the headphones out and turned off the recording, "Listening to music whilst you're supposed to be studying is very little respect to me" She spoke, folding her arms across her chest

"I'm really sorry, Miss. It just helps me to uh.. think"

"You know the rules," Mrs Andrews held her hand out, "MP3 Players are not allowed in class"

"When will I get it back?" Fabian asked as he reluctantly handed her the MP3

"When I'm ready" She walked back to her desk and placed it into the drawer. Amber turned around and whispered as Nina and Leah glared at him. His cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and guilt that he had lost their recordings.

School had finished and Nina sat on her bed, trying to see if the new puzzle piece could open, "Any luck?" Fabian asked, sitting himself next to Nina

"I was wondering if this jewel bit turns or something but it's really stiff.. I could use some brute strength" Nina handed Fabian the puzzle piece

"Don't give it to Fabian" Amber spoke, turning in her seat. Fabian managed to get the jewel bit off, "What's inside?" Nina asked. Fabian pulled out a piece of paper as Leah and Amber ran over to Nina's bed

"Khet is the place to find and there in the flames, you must look behind" Fabian read aloud

"Even I have no idea" Amber spoke

"Well... Khet means fire or place of fire" Leah spoke as Fabian and Nina turned to look at her, "What? I researched a few things and Khet was one of them..." Leah shrugged

"Place of fire?" Nina spoke

"Reverse it" Leah suggested

Nina gasped, "Fire of place! A fireplace!"

Fabian turned to Leah, "Good work Leah"

"Thanks" Leah smiled. Leah, Nina and Amber headed downstairs to the fireplace in the living room. Amber knelt down and began knocking against the wood

"What are you 3 doing?!" Victor's voice spoke, startling the girls, "Why are you fooling around the fireplace?" Victor walked closer

"We're─" Nina stuttered, thinking of a good lie to tell Victor, "─We're collecting soot!"

"I don't appreciate you snooping around the house" Victor spoke, "Chandeliers, Fireplaces"

"Oh! We're taking the chandelier down" Nina spoke, "As soon as Fabian's back"

"No!" Victor stopped Nina, "Leave it up there"

"But I thought you said─" Leah started

"Yes I did, but I've changed my mind" He started, "I want you all in bed early tonight, lights out by 9 o'clock and I shall expect to hear a pin drop, inform the others" Victor left the room quickly

"We'll come back later" Nina whispered

Amber had received a message from Alfie to be downstairs in the living room as he had something for her and Amber insisted that Leah went with her. So, Leah found herself, sitting next to Jerome on one couch as Amber sat on the other one as Alfie began to rap for Amber

"What up! What up!" Alfie began to beat box, "Owe it to Amber, y'all. Amber, if i were a gambler, I'd put my money on you" Jerome and Leah couldn't help but laugh at their best friend's terrible rapping skills, "Cause you care about stuff that matters, like making yourself look good and Amber, I always scramble-"

"-Okay!" Amber spoke, stopping Alfie, "Thanks Alfie.. That was totally and utterly..."

"Yeah?" Alfie spoke. Jerome and Leah were now in fits of laughter

"Horrible" Amber spoke. Leah stopped laughing at that, knowing her best friend would be upset

"Oh," Alfie spoke

"Sweet, but seriously.. Don't quit your day job" Amber spoke as Nina rushed into the living room

"Victor's on the warpath, guys.. And it's not pretty"

"Uh oh" Jerome spoke, standing up and heading to his room

"Time to make a quick exit!" Alfie spoke, running after Jerome as Fabian entered the living room

"What is going on? I was at the school and the teachers were acting really weird.. and then as soon as I got back, Victor bites my head off and sends me straight to my room.. I told him I have to give you this" Fabian spoke, holding out the MP3 Player which Mrs Andrews had confiscated, less than a few hours prior.

"You got it!" Amber gasped

"Do you think she heard anything?" Leah asked

"Close but no" Fabian responded

"Its 9 o'clock!" Victor's voice boomed, "You have 5 minutes then I want to hear a pin drop" Nina, Leah, Amber and Fabian made their hasty exit to their rooms.