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PATRICIA RACED into Mara's room after reading the writing on the mirror, "Mara! Come quick!"

"What is it?" Mara questioned

"Joy!" Patricia spoke. She raced off back to the bathroom as Amber and Mara followed her. Leah adjusted her night wear and climbed under the covers as Victor finished his infamous call. Leah turned onto her side and started to fall asleep when the bedroom door slammed open

"Leah!" Patricia spoke, gripping her wrist and pulling her from the warm of her bed

"Can a girl not sleep? What's wrong?" Leah asked as she was dragged out of the room, only to be joined by Amber and Mara who Patricia obviously dragged beforehand. Patricia led them over to the door of the girl's bathroom to find Nina with a towel in her hand

"What are you doing?!" Patricia shouted as Nina turned and stopped what she was doing

"Cleaning the mirror?" Nina said with the sound of confusion in her voice. She had no clue what Patricia was about to blame her for but Leah also knew that it wasn't going to end anytime soon as she lent against the door frame

"Didn't you see what was on there?!" Patricia shouted

"Steam?" Nina spoke, puzzled

"She's wiped it off!" Patricia stomped her foot on the ground

"What did it say?" Mara asked

"'Help me -Joy' Now she's gotten rid of it to make me look like I'm going crazy"

"Take it easy Patricia" Mara spoke, placing her hand on Patricia's shoulder

"This is what she wanted. She's involved I'm telling you!" Patricia snapped

Leah groaned at yet another conspiracy from Patricia, "I'm going back to bed" Leah turned to see Victor walking into the corridor, holding Corbierre in one arm, "Why are you girls not in bed? You know the rules" He questioned, pointing a key he was holding at the 5 of them

"I don't want to share with Nina" Patricia demanded

"You know what... I'll move. Half of my stuff's in a pile on the floor anyway or I could just sleep on the couch" Nina voiced her suggestion as Victor shook his head

"Nobody is moving anywhere. Now get to your rooms immediately!" They all darted off to their rooms. Leah flopped back down on her bed and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep and didn't wake up until the sound of either Nina or Patricia rummaging around for stuff was heard

AS LEAH WALKED DOWN the stairs of Anubis house, she straightened her jumper, well Jerome's jumper she stole off him. She walked into the living room as Patricia started her conversation

"Joy would've definitely called me by now, I'm telling you something's happened to her" Patricia spoke as she walked around the table holding a plate filled with 4 pastries for Jerome, Amber, Mara and Fabian.

"Patricia, give it a break. You're driving me crazy" Jerome spoke, taking the plate from Patricia and putting a pastry on his plate, before passing it to Mara

"Jerome, some of us are worried about Joy even if you're not" Mara scolded

"Did you get any response to that email you sent last night?" Amber asked as she took the plate from Mara and passed it over to Fabian

"No," Patricia responded

"It is difficult to know what to do-" Fabian spoke

"-question the newbie, that's what" Patricia interrupted.

"She has nothing to do with it. She just has bad timing" Fabian spoke

"What about last night? That business with the mirror" Leah get out a groan and she rolled her eyes from the kitchen at the sound of Patricia as Jerome laughed, "What? You don't believe I saw anything, did you?" Patricia whined

"Yes we do. It's just Mick saw Alfie hanging around the girls corridor last night" Amber spoke as Leah joined them at the table, placing herself next to Jerome

"Not even Alfie would do something like that" Patricia spoke. Leah choked on her drink and Jerome threw a confused look at Patricia, "Are we talking about the same Alfie?" Jerome asked. Leah continued to eat her breakfast while everyone else discussed who could've wrote on the bathroom mirror. Leah raced back upstairs, once she was finished and grabbed her blazer and jacket before heading down to Jerome and Alfie's room to walk across to school with them. She knocked on the door and opened it to see Jerome sat on his bed, doing up his tie and Alfie on his own bed... being attacked with a pillow by Patricia. Jerome gave Leah a small smile before continuing to do his tie and watch the scene with Patricia and Alfie unfold

"Ow! Stop it Patricia! That hurts!" Alfie pleaded. Leah sat herself down next to Jerome who had moved to make room her for on his bed

"I need to know the truth! Did you or did you not sneak into the girls bathroom last night while I was showering and write on the mirror!" Patricia demanded

"I don't know!" Alfie spoke as Patricia continued to hit him with his pillow

"You swear?"

"Yes I swear! On Sprocket's life!" Alfie shouted. Leah looked over at Alfie confused

"Who?" Patricia questioned

"Sprocket, my dog. I swear on his life I didn't do it-" Alfie spoke.

"-Patricia? Maybe you just need to accept the inevitable" Jerome interrupted

"What's that?"

"Something sinister has happened to Joy and she's trying to contact you!" Jerome spoke as Alfie made ghost noises. Patricia scoffed, smacking Alfie on last time with his pillow before leaving the room as both Jerome and Alfie laughed. Once Patricia had gone, Leah turned to Alfie

"I did not know you had a dog" Leah questioned Alfie as he turned to lie on his stomach

"Nope... Allergic" Alfie spoke as all 3 of them laughed before heading off to school

Leah headed to her locker alone as the boys went a separate way. She grabbed her file from her locker when she noticed Amber, Mick and another boy heading their way

"Leah! You remember Ethan, who I told you about last year?" Mick asked

"Oh yeah! Hi" Leah greeted

"Hey" Ethan smiled

"He's back again this year-" Amber spoke

"-and up until graduation. Apologies, but I have to go. See you at practice!" Ethan raced off leaving only Leah, Mick and Amber. Amber grabbed Leah's arm and linked it as they walked off. They bumped into Patricia and Mara in the corridor

"Amber, Leah.. Look" Patricia spoke, standing in front of the school picture that was taken a while back.

"I know, don't rub it in... Bad hair day" Amber gasped as she looked at the picture

"Forget your hair Amber. Where's Joy?" Patricia spoke with an annoyed tone

"Didn't she go home with her parents yesterday?" Amber asked

"Here on this photograph" Patricia pointed at the photo. Amber and Leah looked closer before stepping back, "She's not there" Leah spoke, walking off to her class

"Didn't she go home with tonsillitis?" Mara asked

"No, she was standing right next to me when it was taken"

"How can you be so sure? It was eighteen months ago" Mara spoke before leaving Patricia at the photo alone

'WATCH OUT FOR THE BIRD!'

Leah tossed and turned all night, having a bad dream when she was woken by a voice saying the same phrase over and over again

"Caw Caw Caw! Beware the blackbird!" Leah opened her heavy eyes to see Patricia standing over Nina's bed, sprinkling black feathers onto her. Nina woke, moving the feathers out of her face

"What are you doing?" Nina asked in a sleepy tone. Leah rolled her eyes and turned over to sleep again

"Nothing. You woke me up," Patricia spoke, moving away from Nina's bed and taking off the feather boa, "Beware the blackbird" Patricia climbed into bed, "Aw, are you scared? You gonna sleep with the light on newbie?" Patricia spoke, switching her lamp off and lying down to sleep. Nina did the same and by which time, Leah was already fast asleep. The next morning, Leanna entered her bedroom after returning from the bathroom to see Nina getting ready

"Where's-?" Leah asked Nina as she rummaged for her shoes

"Downstairs with Jerome and Alfie i think"

"Oh," Leah moved over to her dressing table and grabbed her jewellery, placing her hoops in her ears and her ring onto her right hand. Nina caught a glimpse through the mirror

"That's pretty" Nina spoke. Leah turned, holding her hand which the ring was on

"Oh thanks. It's a family heirloom from my father's side. Not sure why I wear it, I don't know much of him but it's pretty and very me" Leah spoke. She noticed a necklace chain around Nina's neck, "Can I see your necklace?" Leah asked. Nina nodded and pulled the necklace out from behind her jumper to reveal a locket in the shape of an eye

"That's very pretty"

"Thank you. We best get down to breakfast"

"Oh yeah" Leah and Nina got to the top of the stairs when Nina spoke

"So how come you don't know anything of your father? If you don't mind me asking" Nina spoke

"No it's fine. My dad died before I was born. My mum doesn't talk about him much" Leah responded, not knowing Victor was in his office, listening to every word as the two girls walked downstairs to breakfast.

LEAH AND NINA MADE THEIR WAY to the dining room when Leah heard voices, particularly Patricia, Jerome and Alfie's as they sat around the table, reminiscing on last nights events with Nina's dream.

"I wish I could've seen her face when she woke up just covered in feathers" Jerome spoke

"Was it like this-" Alfie pulled a face causing Jerome and Patricia to laugh

"Hey, I have an idea that really will give her nightmares-" Patricia spoke but was interrupted when Jerome cleared his voice as Leah and Nina walked through the door together

"Sleep well Nina?" Patricia asked before all 3 of them started cawing like a bird, acting like complete fools. Leah rolled her eyes as she sat down next to Nina and Fabian in Mick's seat

"Ignore them" Fabian told her quietly, but just loud enough for Leah to hear

"I am" Nina smiled. Leah grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table and poured herself a glass of orange juice

"So, what was this dream about?"

"It was awful. I knew they are making jokes but it felt so real-" Nina started to tell Fabian as Amber walked through the door with her hand on her hip.

"Has anyone seen Mara? She has my hair straighteners"

"Yeah she's with Mick in our room" Fabian spoke, looking at her

"What?!" Amber exclaimed, her hand had dropped from her hip and she looked like she was about to turn red with fury

"Uh oh, green eyed monster alert" Jerome spoke, looking over to Nina, Leah and Fabian.

"I'm not jealous. Why would I be jealous? What is there to be jealous of?" Amber spoke, moving over to her seat

"She's helping him with homework, that's all" Fabian spoke

"Yeah I know. I would help but I'm so busy" She said, flipping her hair over her shoulder causing Jerome to mimic her movements and everyone laughed, "I see you haven't sneaked out at the crack of dawn" Amber spoke, leaning slightly towards Nina

"Wow, everyone does keep tabs on everyone else around here" Nina commented

"Fabian said you had gone to school early but then you didn't turn up first class" Amber spoke

"Nina was helping an old lady across the street. We had a visitor from the old people's home" Trudy spoke, entering from the kitchen, picking up plates then disappearing into the kitchen again

"I'm not very good with old people... They just so old, aren't they?" Amber spoke. Leah began to choke on her drink at Amber's response as Fabian carefully patted her on her back, "Really" Jerome spoke as Patricia and Alfie sniggered at Amber's comment.

"Are you okay?" Nina asked as Leah stopped coughing

"Yeah I'm fine" Leah picked up her napkin and cleaned up some spilt juice.

"Still you must be used to it. Trudy said your gran brought you up" Amber resumed her conversation with Nina

"Yeah she did"

"What happened to your mum and dad?" Amber asked. Leah looked over as Nina sort of slumped in her chair at that question

"Amber, queen of tact" Jerome spoke. Amber rolled her eyes at Jerome's comment before looking back at Nina

"They died in a car accident" Nina spoke, causing the room to quieten down. Leah looked down at her lap.

"Oh, that's awful"

"Still, it was a long time ago. My gran and I are really close-"

"-so how come she's packed you off to a big bad boarding school miles away from home. Sounds to me like she wanted to get rid-"

"Patricia!" Fabian snapped, "Don't be such a witch! I know you're upset about Joy but you don't need to take it out on Nina!"

"Yeah well everyone seems to have forgotten about Joy except me!" Patricia spoke before standing up and stomping off upstairs.

THEY ALL HEADED TO SCHOOL soon after breakfast and the awkwardness that Patricia had left. They went on with their day then it was soon hometime and Leah began to tidy away her supplies from her art lesson. Once she had put everything away, she left the room, bumping into someone on the way out. She stumbled but two hands grabbed her waist and steadied her. She looked up to see Ethan

"Ethan, hey" Leah spoke

"Hi," He said, removing his hands from Leah's hips, "Mick said you had art now so I thought I'd come see if you wanted to walk with me"

"Sure!" Leah spoke, straightening her uniform

"I wanted to ask you something" Ethan spoke

"Sure, what's up?" Leah asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime, you know, outside of school?" Ethan spoke

"Yeah sure. Not like I've got anything else to do" Leah agreed

"Cool, so after school?"

"Yeah sounds fun"

"Great, see you then" He waved before running off to the football field. Leah walked off back to Anubis house and got changed out of her uniform before heading downstairs. Leah sat at the table next to Jerome with Nina, Fabian, Alfie and Patricia while Amber handed out the plates

"So, Nina's initiation will take place tomorrow night at midnight" Patricia spoke, catching Leah's attention

"What initiation? We've never done anything like that before" Leah spoke.

"At the witching hour!" Alfie spoke as he and Jerome cackled and sounded like ghosts. Fabian shrugged his shoulders at Leah's question before turning to Jerome and Alfie, "You guys, cut it out"

"Tell me, Fabian, does it get boring always always being the one who's like 'cut it out' or 'that's not right' or 'fun is bad'?" Jerome asked. Fabian faked a laugh before responding no

"It drives me mad"

"Lee, you up for the initiation preparation tonight?" Alfie asked, looking over at Leah

"Sorry, no can do. I have a place to be" Leah responded, grabbing a glass of juice. They all looked at her with raised eyebrows. Her face started to turn red, "I'm going out with someone tonight" A gasp from Amber made a smile appear on Leah's face

"Who who who?" Amber questioned excitedly, leaning forward at the table

"Ethan..." Leah spoke quietly. Amber squealed quietly, jumping up and down at the news from her friend. Leah smiled and looked over to Jerome who's expression changed and he was now looking down at his empty plate.

LEAH SAT IN FRONT OF AMBER'S MIRROR as Amber excitedly helped Leah prepare for her date with Ethan.

"And... Done!" Amber spoke. Leah looked in the mirror at her outfit Amber chose.

"Thanks" Leah spoke. She went to pick her bag up and headed downstairs to where Ethan was waiting for her.

"Hi" Ethan spoke, looking up as the girl made her way to him

"Hey" Leah smiled

"You look nice"

"This outfit was all Amber's doing"

"Your welcome" Her voice spoke from the top of the stairs. Leah and Ethan headed out into town as Patricia, Alfie and Jerome prepared Nina for her first task: Getting the attic key from Victor's office.

"See the set of keys of Victor's desk?" Alfie spoke to Nina as the 4 peered through the window from afar

"Yeah"

"Those are the master keys. He carries them everywhere he goes so you'll never get them" Alfie spoke. Nina scoffed as she looked at Alfie

"But there is a key box on the wall, just beside him" Patricia added

"He keeps a spare set of every key in there" Jerome spoke, pointing in the room as Victor noticed

"What are you lot looking at?" Victor's voice sounded. Alfie rushed to the floor, attempting to create a diversion

"Sir, we were just-"

"-we were just admiring your coat! Is it vintage?" Nina lied as Jerome looked at her puzzled

"Yes! Ju-just as I thought.. this floor" Alfie spoke, kneeling on the top step, "it could.. it could use a polish"

"Hmm" Victor looked at Alfie, "Yes, well in that case, please feel free to polish it Alfie" Victor walked over to Alfie and dragged him down the stairs, as he pleaded. Nina waited until Victor was out of sight before she sprinted into his office and unlocked the key box, grabbing the attic key.

Amber's voice echoed from downstairs along with the clatter of cleaning product bottles and a bucket, "Oh Alfie! You're such a pain!!"

Jerome and Patricia looked up as Nina ran out of the office, still holding the master keys. She ran back in to put them back on the desk as Victor noticed her running into the office. Nina tripped and fell to the floor, taking Corbirrre with her

"Nina Martin. What are you doing in here?!" Victor shouted as he grabbed Corbeirre out of Nina's hands

"I was uh... just admiring Corbierre! I'm sort of an amateur taxidermist" She lied as she stood herself up

"Get out! And don't let me catch you in my office ever again" Victor shouted as Nina ran out. He slammed his door and once his back was turned, Nina pulled out the attic key

"Lucky" Alfie spoke with his hands full of cleaning products, following his lie to Victor

"Very lucky" Jerome added

"Well, we will see how lucky she is tomorrow night when she goes up into the attic" Patricia spoke before huffing downstairs. Jerome, Nina and Alfie laughed.

Alfie had to do the polishing that he got himself involved with as Jerome and Nina walked back downstairs.

"So, Leah's seeing someone..." Alfie spoke to Jerome

"Good for her I suppose" Jerome spoke, shoving his hands in his jeans pocket

"Oh come on, dude. I know you like her" Alfie spoke

"I do not!" Jerome retorted

"Do too! You're just afraid to admit it" Alfie spoke. He walked into the living room as Jerome pulled his phone out and admired the screensaver, him and Leah during the summer when they met up last year.

TWO HOURS LATER, Leah returned home from her date with Ethan. She walked into the living room where Mick, Amber and Mara was.

"Hey! I heard you went on a date with Ethan" Mick spoke as Leah flopped down on one of the sofas

"It wasn't a date. It was just two friends hanging out"

"How was it?" Amber spoke, joining Leah

"It was good. We went to see a movie and it was fun" Leah spoke. Amber let out a small squeal in excitement as Leah smiled. Nina walked into the living room and sat in one of the chairs, "Hey! How did the preparation go?"

"Weirdly good"

"Really? Especially with Jerome, Alfie and Patricia's planning?" Leah questioned

"Well, I did get caught at the end by Victor but I managed to get the attic key"

"Neens, you don't have to go through with this" Leah spoke

"Yeah I do. I want to prove to Patricia that I am able to do anything"

"Okay, only if you're sure. I'll be there, rooting for you" Leah spoke. Nina gave her a smile before they headed off upstairs before Victor sounded his infamous call, once again.

Leah lay in her bed as she looked up at the ceiling when her phone buzzed. She opened it to see a message from Ethan, forgetting she gave him her number

𝙷𝚎𝚢, 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝. 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚘 𝚒𝚝 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎! -𝙴𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 :)

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