Tears of Gold: House of Anubis

Nina/Patricia LXXXIX

Summary: A deadline gets moved up and Eddie finally gets someone to bloody listen to him!

Evie's Notes: Happy Saturday! Sorry for the unexpected break, the end of the grading period is always insane at work. I hope you all had a wonderful week . Thank you again for your continued support, it truly means the world to me 💜. I hope that you all continue to love this story and enjoy this new update🌺.

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Cutting class to catch a cab to the hospital was way easier than it probably should have been, but Nina wasn't about to complain. The fact that Gran was still in her coma meant that her vist went by extraordinarily quickly. After checking in with Gran's doctor and the nurses assigned to her, Nina headed back to campus.

Since she had already planned to not return to classes, Nina took her time changing out of her street clothes. Slipping into one of her comfiest dresses she prepared herself for an afternoon of hiding from Vera and Victor in her room.

"The Chosen One has returned, but without the mask" scorned a far too familiar cold voice.

Nina whirled around to see the hostile wispy form of Senkhara floating threateningly in the shadows of her room.

"We'll get it, I promise" assured Nina nervously.

"Your friends had the key and they discarded it," spat the woman disapointedly.

"In order to rescue me!" argued Nina.

"The mask is unique, the Chosen One is not" taunted the murderous spirit. "Nevermind that though, it would appear that the old myths are true after all".

Old myths? "The Osirian?" asked Nina nervously... this wasn't good.

"Yes, the Osirian" agreed the woman with a cruel and twisted grin. "My patience has run dry with you. It has been 7 full moons since I employed you in my service and you have failed at every turn. The old one will die first, at sundown tomorrow".

Well that was hardly fair! The Clue Crew had made plenty of progress in seven months... wait did she just say what Nina thought she said?!

"Gran? NO! Please No! Don't do this!" How could she move the deadline up on them like this?! They were supposed to have at least another week! There was no way she could get the fireworks to blow up the glass that fast!

"And then who will be next?" cackled the undead ruler. "The pretty girl or the clown? The trickster, the craftswoman or the angry girl? Or your Precious Boy?".

"If you hurt him" swore Nina. If Fabian was harmed Nina's wrath would be incomparable.

"The boy may be too important to perish," revealed Senkhara.

"Fabian?" clarified Nina. "What do you mean?"

"At sundown tomorrow you will know all" swore Senkhara, but Nina felt the opposite of reassured.

"And then I will keep my promise to claim your lives". And yup, there it was, the ever present sense of doom was back with a bang.

Patricia's POV:

"So where have you been hiding?" snapped Eddie's angry voice.

Patricia pulled her head out of the fridge to find her boyfriend leaning moodily against the door jamb, clearly still upset.

"Oh you know... Here, there, chess club, infirmary... I took on a paper round" drawled Patricia, trying to wave off his questions. It's not like she could say that she'd been busy fighting an evil spirit, trying to hoodwink a crazy old mastermind, and trapped in the school's super deep cellar.

"Come on Patricia, I'm not stupid" scoffed Eddie.

Patricia winced guiltily, he was right. Her boyfriend, despite his grades, was incredibly bright and discerning. The boy was the very definition of street smart when it came to the booksmart v streetsmart debate.

"Oh, and Alfie's back," continued Eddie. It seemed that he was still on the idea that she was interested in the boy.

"Is he?"

"Liliana too"

"Hmmm" hummed Patricia, doing her best to feign disinterest.

"And Nina! After visiting her gran for over a week, only to immediately announce that she was going to go spend the day with the woman".

"Well she's a very dedicated granddaughter" assured Patricia, but yeah she saw his point.

"No, Patricia, what is going on!"

"Nothing's going on," insisted Patricia. But deep down inside the guilt of constantly lying to her significant other was threatening to boil over.

"Hey Eddie!" called Mara as she bounced into the room, effectively breaking the tension between the two. "Poppy drew up a list of all the relatives she has that start with R but none of them were men. Are you sure it was a guy Jerome left with?"

"Ha ha, Mara. Yes it was a man, but he did have a girl's name. It was Uncle Rene".

Psssssshhtt. All of the water Patricia had just been guzzling came spurting out as she stared at her boyfriend in horror. Did he really just say Rene?

"Rene?" she croaked, as Mara attempted to clean herself up from Patricia's water splatter.

"Yeah, I know. Poor guy right?"

"What did he look like?" pressed Patricia. A guy masquerading as Rene in Anubis house could only mean one thing... and all she could do was pray she was wrong.

"Um, he was tall, blonde, creepy vibe... really piercing blue eyes" listed Eddie.

"NO! No!" shouted Patricia. This couldn't be happening. The weasel was just supposed to be at a funeral not kidnapped by Rufus. How long had he even been gone?! Was he still...alive?

"Patricia what is it?" pressed Mara. "Do you know who this man is?".

What the fuck was she supposed to say to that? She couldn't possibly tell them who Rufus really was?! That would place the two of them in danger. Come on Patricia, you aren't Nina, come up with a believable lie.

"Okay," she admitted. "He's not really Jerome's uncle... he's a private investigator". Ha! Take that fate, not a lie and also not the truth... Patricia lived for the grey!

"Ugh! AGAIN?!" asked Mara incredulously.

"Again? Wait, is this like a regular thing for him?" wondered Eddie

"So why is he hiring a P.I. this time?"

"Hold on, Mara, I want to know about the last time" cut off Eddie.

"It's.... Something to do with his dad" decided Patricia... her mind racing to put together an excuse.

"Huh..."

"Oh! Maybe he wants to clear his name?" suggested Eddie

"I can't believe that Jerome told you first and not me" bemoaned Mara.

"Yeah well, Jerome and I are really close these days".

"Are you?" doubted the girl.

"Since when!" argued Eddie.

"Well, I mean not like close, close" backtracked Patricia. "Anyways... I've got to go help Joy. BYE!".

Sprinting out of the room, Patricia had to congratulate herself on a job well done. She had clearly put the pair's mind at ease in regard to the Jerome issue.

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Evie's Notes 2: Thank you all so much for reading 💕! I hope you enjoyed this update, let me know what you want to see more of in the comments!

Next Update: "G'day!" - Fabian's one true love returns.

I love hearing from y'all! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far in the comments or my Tumblr House-of-Secrets! Have a great week and stay safe! - Xo Evie🌺