House of Anubis: Sibuna Descending

2. Arriving at Anubis House

"You've got a Manc accent," Cassie stated. Ian nodded in response, adding, "Yeah, I bet I'm the only one here from Manchester."

"Probably," Cassie agreed, only sending Ian's anxiety diving deeper into his stomach. "Anyway, sorry for that. Do you know what house you're in?"

"Anubis house," Ian answered. "You know where that is?"

"Only because I'm staying there, too!" Cassie squealed. "So that's one person down."

"Eh?" Ian said, perplexed.

"There should be around eight people in Anubis house," Cassie explained, straightening her pink jacket. "Two people a room."

"Err, I know about the sharing rooms bit. I just didn't know how many...how do you know how many people are staying there?"

"Well," Cassie laughed, "my friend, me and another boy moved in at the end of last term because of a nasty incident. Most of my stuff is already there." As she patted her large suitcase, she added, "This is just additional stuff."

"Err, okay," Ian answered, deciding that if Cassie was not explaining this incident without being asked to, he wouldn't want to know about it. "So I'm guessing you know the place."

"Sort of," Cassie said, keeping her white smile flashing. "We can head over together if you like."

"Sure," Ian said.

The pair of them pulled their suitcases across the grounds of the school, passing other students. What made Ian feel horrible inside was that each parent he passed made him wonder why he was away from Manchester. Were there no good schools to send him to back there? Did his parents really believe sending him away — not only to a boarding school but a boarding school in a different city — would help him, or did they just do this to get rid of him? Ian denied the possibility of the second reason; they were his parents, they loved him no matter how much trouble he stirred, there was no reason for them to send him away other than to help him become a better student.

"So," Ian spoke up as he and Cassie passed one house, "do you live nearby?"

"Um," Cassie said, "not super close. Why?"

"Just wanted to know. I'm far from home."

"You don't need to worry," Cassie told him. "The housemother's really nice. She's called Trudy. But the old caretaker was a bit of a cranky-pants."

"Oh, yeah," Ian said, remembering the mention of Trudy in the email. "And what do you mean by 'old caretaker'? As in not there anymore?"

"Yeah," Cassie answered. "I don't know who the new one is."

It wasn't long before Cassie stopped in front of a walkway to a particular house and looked up at it. Ian did the same, and took in the details of the house. It was definitely big, with leaves and moss lining the barriers between the upper and lower windows, as well as the roof above the porch.

"Is this the house?" Ian asked Cassie.

"Yep," Cassie replied before walking past the stone walls, up to the porch and knocking on the massive front door with a large, metal knocker with a creature's face under it. Ian followed closely behind, keeping his suitcase by his side. Who was he expecting beyond the door? The house mother, Trudy? Or the new caretaker? The door swung open, and popping their head round it was a short, darker-skinned lady. Once she saw Cassie, her face immediately lit up in excitement.

"I was expecting you to be first!" the woman sang, opening her arms up to embrace Cassie. "What with your extra luggage, I knew you'd rush to sort everything out." As Cassie fell into the lady's arms, Ian managed to take a quick glance at the inside of the house. All he saw was  a bland room beyond the door, and that's it before the woman addressed him.

"Are you staying at Anubis house, too, darling?" she asked Ian.

"Yeah," Ian replied, walking closer and holding out his hand. "I'm Ian."

"Trudy. Delighted," Trudy returned, shaking Ian's hand with her own warm hand. "I'm your new housemother. You'll have loads of fun here. Now, why don't you two come in. One of your new housemates are already in the living room."

Cassie and Ian followed Trudy inside to the entrance hall, and Ian took in the magnificent sight before him. A massive glass chandelier hung spectacularly from the ceiling, beaming its dazzling crystal light to mingle with the amber light radiating from its centre. The floor was tiled with a big square of art in the centre, and it ran the whole length of the hallway, to the very end, where some doors stood in the right of the wall. To Ian's left was a doorway that Trudy and Cassie had just walked through. However, Ian wanted to also take in the staircases that ran single-filed from his right to the upper floor in a square-like fashion against the wall. Right above where he stood was a window that looked like it led to an office or study, and the banisters running alongside the stairs had a repeating oval-like pattern of art carved out. At the bottom of the stairs to the side was a table and soft armchair, and just a little distance away was an aged grandfather clock. Ian also couldn't ignore the fact that a large sarcophagus stood against the wall to the left.

Ian then hastily entered the living room. Comfortable-looking, brown leather sofas stood facing each other, with one boy sat on one of the armchairs. At the centre of the living room was a low table with a model of either a crocodile or an alligator on top. Paintings in frames patterned the walls of every room Ian saw, and a fireplace sat perfectly in the wall far opposite Ian. To the right was evidently the dining area with the long table and the kitchen beyond it.

"Cassie, Ian," Trudy said, standing before Cassie and Ian and gesturing towards the boy in the armchair in front of Cassie, "this is Raymond."

"Hey," Cassie said, waving enthusiastically.

"Hi," Raymond said back.

"What's up," Ian added, getting a short laugh and shrug in response.

"Well," Trudy spoke, "I've got dinner to prepare. Why don't you three get to know each other. Hold on, Cassie. Do you and Ian already know each other?"

"What?" Cassie asked. "Oh, no."

"It's just that you arrived together," Trudy explained.

"She helped me out," Ian said. "I didn't know where to go. The map was confusing."

"Ah, that map," Trudy tutted. "I told Mr Sweet it would be too complicated. Sweet, but arrogant, old Sweetie is." With a short laugh, Trudy waltzed over to the kitchen as Cassie and Ian seated themselves on the sofa.

"So," Ian broke the silence. "You found the map confusing, too, right?" he asked Raymond. "I'm not the only one, right?"

"Ha, yeah," Raymond answered, loosening his posture slightly. "Thank Bigfoot I'm not the only idiot."

"What?" Ian asked. He wasn't sure if his ears picked the sentence up wrongly.

"Oh, sorry," Raymond quickly apologised. "I called myself an idiot, as well."

"No," Ian stopped him. "You said Bigfoot."

"Ah, yes," Raymond said, and he suddenly lunged forward to the edge of his seat to speak to both Cassie and Ian, totally breaking the barrier of his shyness. "He's completely real. And...I have reason to believe he's on these very grounds."

Ian and Cassie exchanged looks of both uncertainty and humour.

"Well," Cassie said, "if you find Bigfoot, make sure you send some of the money my way. I could do with three new pairs of shoes."

The conversation is cut short as three rapid knocks sound against the front door in succession. Trudy flings herself from the kitchen out into the hallway, passing Ian's sight again as she flew from one side of the doorframe to the other, and the opening of the door could be heard. There were laughs and voices as Trudy led two other new residents into the living room, though they stopped at the doorframe. One of them was a boy, quite short with flat brown hair. The other was an Asian girl with sleek black hair and a flickering smile as Trudy encouraged them to say something. They just stood there, smiling at Cassie.

"Erin," Cassie gasped. "Dexter."