Tears of Gold: House of Anubis

Nina IX

Nina was not having the best semester. She had hoped that with Sarah and her family now at peace that she would be able to have a calm year at Anubis. Unfortunately the first week back had the unfortunate surprise of a malevolent Egyptian Spirit set on ruining Nina's Junior year.

Between the evil spirit and her Fabian-Joy issues Nina had really needed a win. Finding a dead-end after finally passing the pendulums was not what she had in mind. She was just as disheartened as the rest of her friends but had to remain strong as the leader. At least she always had her best friends. Amber and Fabian had joined her after dinner to try and find a way around the block in the tunnels. It was Fabian who found that there was no dead-end shown on the map. They were clearly missing something obvious, but the doll house remained silent. The trio decided to call it a night and try again the next morning.

Tossing in her bed Nina couldn't get to sleep no matter how hard she tried. All that was running through her mind were the consequences for her and Fabian is she should fail. The whoosh of the spirit brought her out of her thoughts. "You're sleeping you foolish girl? Your stone impasse does not trouble you?"

"I've got four other people trying to figure this out" Nina defended.

"Yes," the spirit agreed. "Your servants. Lazy fearful creatures. Perhaps if you were not the only one forced to watch the time piece. If they too shared the mark"

"Shared?"

"I will bind them to you" holding out her hands the spirit's palms glowed causing the brand on her arm to burn. Nina's cries woke Amber.

"NO!" The spirit turned to the screaming Amber with her palms still outstretched. Marking her friend for death. Running to her bed Nina saw the mark branded on to Amber's ankle.

Looking up with eyes full of fear Amber asked the dreaded question "We are all cursed, aren't we?". Reaching out Nina pulled into a hug as tears rolled down her face. Muttering apologies under her breath. How could she have let this happen? She was the Chosen One, but she couldn't protect her friends. Not for the first time she wished that she had never accepted the scholarship and had stayed with her Gran in America. At least then her friends would be safe from what goes bump in the night. The monstrous murder cult and the evil spirits would have no reason to target them.

*Tears of Gold - Tears of Gold - Tears of Gold*

The next morning dawned too early for the exhausted girls. Looking at her new tattoo Amber tried to cover it with her socks. "I don't know who I am more scared of, the spirit or my Dad". All of her socks were too short or a part of her uniform.

Rummaging around in her closet Nina finally found a pair that might work, "Here, these'll cover it" plus it will be hilarious to see Amber in a pair of American Flag socks.

Holding the pair up Amber made her distaste known. "Okay. I guess I'll just have to wear long socks for the rest of Daddy's life". As she slid them on Nina chuckled internally. They really did look silly on her. "Yeah, this look is going to look great around the pool".

"I am so sorry Amber. I didn't want this for you. I just... I feel so powerless against this thing" Nina revealed.

"I know. It's okay" Amber comforted. Laying a hand on her shoulder she made Nina look at her. "Hey, I was with you anyway. Now I'm just Really with you". At least she could always count on Amber to have her back. Which apparently, she would need as Patricia came storming into the room.

"Patricia! We have rules about knocking!"

Of course her rebuke was soundly ignored as the other girl pulled up her sleeve angrily revealing the Anubis brand on her forearm. "What do you call this".

"Membership?" tried Amber.

"You too?" Patricia glared "Who else?".

And of course that was the moment that Alfie flailed into the room; "I'm freaking out! I just acquired a tat over night! I'm too young, it's illegal, and if I had a choice, I would have gone for some sort of fire breathing dragon" he ranted.

To which Amber took offence, "Not my name?"

Holding up her hand to stave off the fight that was sure to begin between the couple. Nina began to pace the floor her mind going a thousand miles a minute. The spirit had marked all the members of Sibuna. There was no way to get them to safely back out now.

"Does this mean that we're all cursed?" questioned Patricia from her spot on the bed looking at Amber's brand. "Are our lives at stake now too?"

"I don't know!" worried Nina as she ran a hand through her hair. Thank the gods for Fabian's arrival.

"So you've met the spirit?"

"Met, stamped, and cursed" snarked Patricia.

"What? They've all got them?"

"Well what about you?" asked Alfie. "Why didn't you get marked?"

This was not going to go over well, "Fabian already had one" Nina revealed, "He got his after me".

"What!" screamed Patricia. "You didn't think that it was important to let us know that it was kind of contagious?"

Seeing her flinch, Fabian jumped in to defend her. "But when Amber never got one, we thought that it was just us". Making his way over to her, Fabian wrapped an arm around her shoulders pulling Nina into a comforting side hug. "So we decided".

His comments though did little to calm down the enraged Patricia. "Oh, you decided. From now on we make all decisions together. Okay?" everyone nodded. This really was fair Nina reflected. They were risking their lives to help her so the least she could do was to make sure everyone had all the information. Having made their point Alfie and Patricia stormed out of the room to go get ready for the day.