A/N: Hey guys. I know that I'm very very late and I'm so sorry. I had a lot going on in my personal life, but that's all over now. I really wanted to update this sooner and simply didn't have the time.

On top of it all, I wrote this chapter and then realized that it didn't go the way I wanted it to, which was unfortunate. I really like the way this all turned out now, and I'm glad I took the time to re-write it. I think it paid off and gave the story a much better quality.

The chapter was originally going to be double this length, but as I wrote it, I saw it was simply getting too long. Just writing this much is close to 10,000 words which is a really long chapter. For this chapter only, I included times, places and characters before every scene because this one can get very confusing because of how tightly everything is intertwined and how one event causes another in a different place. This is the only way it could have worked out.

So everyone is clear, we left off the last chapter with Amber finding the first clue and Patricia walking in on her holding the paper! See you at the end!

7:07 pm: Anubis House (Amber)

"It's..." Amber started without knowing what she planned on saying after that. Patricia looked at her expectantly when Trudy ran up the stairs.

"Oh! Amber, I heard you fall!" She cried,pushing past Patricia and going right to Amber. Quickly, while Patricia was distracted, Amber was able to hide the little slip of paper in her bra. When Patricia looked back and noticed the paper was gone, she gave Amber a look that meant she was going to hear more about it later—when Trudy wasn't around. "You always get so delirious when you're sick. I'll ring the doctor right away."

Amber groaned as she realized there wasn't anything to do to avoid seeing Doctor Huddersfield. He was the single most annoying doctor ever, and he smelled of cat food. Trudy only called him when someone needed a doctor and everyone hated him. Amber prayed (despite being strictly atheist... but that very prominent part of her personality was being affected by Sibuna. How could she still be an atheist when she had just met a goddess the past week?) he was busy, but—like always—he was totally and completely available. No amount of begging on Amber's part would work, her fate was sealed when she accidentally tripped off of her damn bed. There was nothing left to do but sit, wait, and hope that Nina was having a better time than she was.

7:07 pm: Lori's Pub (Nina)

Nina took Cory's hand as he helped her out of their cab. They lingered slightly behind Bradly and Arabella, who were running ahead towards the small pub—the first stop on the date—full speed, laughing together. Cory, however, was gentlemanly and walked slowly with Nina, but she sensed that he wished he was running around being crazy with them. He wrapped an arm around her waist as they walked in a comfortable silence.

The gesture still felt unfamiliar to her. It was something Cory did all the time, but it still felt awkward to her. Granted, Eddie held her like that too, but that was different. Nina didn't understand why Eddie was so different, but he was. When Eddie touched her she felt alive. With anyone else—even Fabian—it didn't feel like anything at all.

She tried to stop thinking about Eddie positively. Nina was determined to stay mad at him until he apologized for crashing her last date.

"Excited?" Cory asked, opening the door for her sweetly. She wasn't completely paying attention to him, because she was more caught up on the fact that she didn't feel cold when Cory let go of her waist, like she would have if it were Eddie holding her.

"Of course!" Nina assured, a beat too late. Cory looked down at her with a look of questioning and amusement. Someday, Nina vowed, she would learn to lie. Not-so-secretly, she was terrified about this date and really couldn't wait until she was back at Anubis house, but she didn't want to tell him that. However, she was a horrid liar and if Cory was half as good at Lacie was at reading people, he would have seen right through her comment.

"Just to warn you," Cory whispered to her, arm back on he waist. They followed the path Bradly and Arabella cleared through the hazy crowd. "They can be a little loud and... well, rude."

As if Nina couldn't tell that from the ride there. She could deal with rude, though, as long as they didn't end up turning into some kind of ancient evil. Somehow, she felt that she shouldn't use those words to express her feelings to Cory.

"Whatever." She shrugged. Cory smiled then started greeting almost everyone in the pub (that Nina was beginning to like less and less by the second). By the time they reached the table where Bradly and Arabella were, Nina had forgotten all the names she was just told.

Forgetful and a bad liar. Nina really had no business becoming a wanted criminal with Eddie and Fabian. Was there really no one better for the job? None of Amneris's other decedents were better suited for it? Did her other three chosen friends feel equally inadequate for their position? She guessed not, though. Eddie expressed to her once that he felt he was too good at his job, to the point where he didn't even feel like himself anymore, and Fabian probably didn't have enough time to process it all yet. Lacie was a wild card and could go either way, but Nina still trusted her. Someone told Nina to trust Lacie that day she told her everything...

She was so caught up in her spiral of doubt that Nina didn't pay attention to almost anything Arabella was telling her about the others who lived at Ra house with her Bradly and Cory. All she understood was that Lottie King was a bitch and roomed with Anya Turner. Arabella, who preferred the nickname "Ara"-or "Airy" if you were Bradly, her boyfriend and Cory's best friend—roomed with Scarlet Morris, a very popular girl that she knew somewhat through Joy (who was very close with both Ara and Scarlet). Then there was Zachery and Frances who apparently hated everyone.

"... and I don't know how you deal with having so many people in your house. Eight is too many for me." Nina didn't know that it was possible for someone to talk more than Amber, but here Ara was. This was one for the books.

And with every word Ara said, Nina began disliking her more and more. Plus, she really didn't like how her and Bradly were all over each other. Even Mara and Jerome (the most couply couple she knew) weren't even close to their level of PDA.

Finally, after a lifetime in a minute, a bartender came to take their orders. "Whatdaya want?" He asked casually.

"Lucas," Cory warned lightly. "This is Nina." Nina couldn't remember being introduced to a Lucas yet.

"This is the one you were talking about?" He questioned. Nina was confused. Did Cory often tell bartenders his personal problems... while he was underage? Lucas must have sensed her confusion, because he added, "I'm his brother."

That made sense. "Yeah..." Cory said coldly. He must have thought Nina couldn't see the death glare he was giving Lucas, because he was mouthing something that looked like "don't you fucking dare mess this up."

"Nice talk, Cornelius." Lucas said. Across the table Ara and Brad didn't try to hid their snickers.

"I haven't heard your real name in ages." Ara teased. Cory glared at all of them, but Nina didn't get why. It wasn't like he chose his name.

"Shut up all of you!" He hissed.

"Cornelius isn't that bad." Nina assured, this time she wasn't lying.

"She speaks!" Lucas teased harshly. Nina blushed a deep red, but he went on. "Now what do you want? If I stay here too long someone's going to get suspicious."

"He gives us drinks even though we're underage because of Cory," Brad explained. "Just three beers and..." He looked over at Nina.

"Beer's good." Nina said against her better judgment. Obviously she didn't have a problem with drinking (it was Eddie who got her started on that over the Christmas holiday. It was how he coped with being the Osirian and he thought it would help her too), but she wanted to be aware of the evening. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Fabian's warnings about him played, but it was a desire to get Cory, a normal person, to like her—or maybe just the desire to rebel—that silenced that loop. Lucas scribbled something onto his order pad and left.

"So, I told you all about my house, tell em about yours," Ara begged. She was acting more and more like Amber by the second.

Nina wasn't sure where to start. "Well there's Amber and I-"

"-Wait! You room with Amber?" Ara interrupted. "That sounds like hell." Made sense. Amber would hate herself if she met her. Her and Brad laughed loudly together and Nina got the sudden foreign urge to rip Ara's bouncing, dyed-red curls off of her head.

"Amber's not that bad, honestly." Nina said, trying to stay as nice as she could. Ara mouthed likely to Brad, and Nina pretended she couldn't see it. "Um... You know Joy and Patricia, then there's Mara-"

"-the one who got kicked out?" Ara interrupted again. Nina looked to Cory for help with dealing with her, but he only chuckled and shrugged.

"Yeah... We don't talk much. She rooms with Lacie, the new French girl."

"The-"

"Airy, stop it!" Brad shouted playfully.

"Thank you," Cory said.

"Anyway..." Nina said, trying to remember what she was going to say next. "The boys are Jerome and Alfie, Mick, and Eddie and—em—Fabian." She didn't want to bring up Fabian in front of Cory, but he gave her a look that said it was okay. Nina smiled apologetically up at him.

"He must really like you if he lets you talk about Fabian in front of him," Brad said, smirking at Cory as if there were some joke Nina wasn't a part of. Ara noticed it too, so she knew she wasn't imagining it, and Ara looked equally confused, but then a dawn of realization settled over her face. For one moment she looked at Nina with a very concerned look, but then she started talking.

"So—em-tell me about Mick," Ara said, just one beat too late. "He's so dreamy! What does he see in that Mara chick" Yep. She practically was Amber.

Brad snapped out of his weird silent conversation with Cory. "Hey! What the hell?!" He teased Ara.

"I'm taken, not blind."

He turned to Nina. "If I said something like that about another girl, I'd be strung up by my ears!"

"That's so not true!" Nina didn't think they were really fighting, but wasn't sure. At the perfect moment, Lucas came over with their drinks.

"Drink quickly, please," he commanded. "If I get fired, you'll be the one paying for my Uni education," He said to Cory, who only rolled his eyes and took the mugs from his brother's hands, passing one to the people at the table. Lucas stormed off with one backwards glance at the table, making sure everything was clear one last time.

"We're not poor," Cory explained after one very long sip. "My parent's could totally afford to send him to Uni, but they don't like that he chose to go to music school. Father wanted him to go to law school and take over his firm... he still thinks I'm going to do it..."

Did Cory think she'd care if he wasn't rich? She was a scholarship student, it wasn't like she was rich. "Well... what do you want to do?" Nina as a huge advocate of not letting anything influence your own life choices, which was probably the reason that she hated being the Paragon so much. But it wasn't like she could go up to Isis and say, "Sorry, I want to chose my own life path. Find a new champion of good."

"It's silly," Cory said, blushing. Brad and Ara were amerced in their own conversation so they didn't pay any attention to what they were talking about.

"Nothing is silly," Nina insisted seriously. She was honestly very interested in his answer. Someone's deal career said a lot about them. "I wanted to be a writer.. Well, I still want to be a writer."

Cory didn't look shocked like Nina expected. Most people assumed she'd be a teacher or scientist, something logical and structured. They assumed that was what Nina was like... how far from the truth that was. Most people didn't know Nina well at all. Had Cory managed to see the real her that quickly or was she reading into his lack of a response too much? "I figured you'd want to do something like that. You're so secretly creative... I can't imagine you sitting behind a desk."

"Well, I told you what I want to do..." Nina said leaning against him as the beer began affecting her slightly.

"Manipulation, eh, Martin?" He asked jokingly. "I want to be an explorer... Yeah, I know I'm about tow centuries too late,,, but finding new things fascinates me." Nina could picture it. Cory in a boat sailing to new lands,... Cory breaking into pyramids to discover ancient secrets...

No. It was crazy to even think about. Bring Cory in as another Sibuna? Fabian and Eddie would be up in arms. Still, the idea was nice... "I think that's really cool, actually."

Cory smiled shyly and looked down at Nina's head resting on his shoulder. "You think so?"

"Of course... You're really interesting when you actually open up." Nina said. She made eye contact with Cory and almost gasped. Not because she felt some amazing connection, but because there was a complete lack of any feelings at all. She wanted to feel something, because she cold tell in the way that Cory was looking at her that he felt something.

And before Nina knew what was happening, Cory was leaning down to kiss her. She panicked. Could feelings be created? Synthetically produced so perfectly you could no longer tell the difference? At the last moment, Nina knew that they couldn't She sat up and moved away from him. It didn't matter how fascinating she found Cory, if there was no connection, what was the point? Cory looked completely defeated, but something about his expression was ever so slightly off. So minuscule that before she became the Paragon, she never would have picked up on it.

"Rejected," Brad whispered across the table. Nina scrambled to find an excuse for, well, rejecting him.

"No! It's not like that!" Nina said quickly. "It's just our second date... and..."

"Nina!" Cory said, cutting her off. "It's okay. It was too soon." Nina felt terrible instantly, but still, what was she going to do; kiss him?

Ara looked back and forth between Nina and Cory. "Come on, chug your beers. We still need to order food."

7:10: Kathy's Diner (Lacie)

"This isn't even fair," Joy complained to Lacie. They were only a few seconds way from their dinner date and she had yet to stop asking where they were going.

"We're almost there!" Lacie assured. They both sat in the back of the cab together, remaining a respectable distance away from each other. Lacie wanted to bridge that gap, but was too worried she'd scare Joy off. Little did she know, Joy was feeling the same way.

"But I hate surprises!" Joy whined.

"You love surprises."

"Only when they're not for me!"

"You girls alright back there?" The cabbie asked, looking in the rear view mirror. Lacie didn't see much of him except his strikingly blue eyes.

"Of course," Lacie said, laughing. She glanced down at Joy's hand resting so close to her own and decided she was going to do it. She as going to hold Joy's hand.

But before she did, the cab stopped. "We're here," The cabbie announced. Internally, Lacie cursed.

"Ooh! Where are we?" Joy asked, rushing to the window. When she turned away from it, she starting screeching, "You remembered! I told you this was my favorite restaurant and you remembered!"

"Of course I remembered," Lacie assured. Joy got out of the cab and started jumping around excitedly. Lacie went to pay the cabbie.

"Call me when you're done, love." He said, then he drove away. Such a nice man for someone so mean looking...

"Come on!" Joy shouted. "Let's go inside!" She grabbed Lacie's hand without thinking about it, so she could drag her into the restaurant. Joy didn't notice the way that Lacie's heart sped up.

The restaurant was mostly empty, but that was okay for them. They were seated in a small booth in a busy area. Joy knocked the ice around in her cup with a straw. "Why do you think Nina went on another date with Cory?" She wondered aloud.

Lacie thought for a few seconds, but came up short. "No idea."

"Me either..." Joy said quietly. "I mean, I don't like her, but I don't want to see her totally crushed, either."

Lacie took a long sip to giver herself sufficient time to think. "Why do you think she'll end up crushed." The Paragon was stubborn and if she was heart broken, there was no way she would do any work she was supposed to in Sibuna. God, that girl could be annoying.

"I've known Cory since before I met Fabian.. and I adore him, don't get me wrong, but he can be a total git!" Joy said casually. "Plus, he probably doesn't even like her."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he's always had this thing about any girl who Fabian likes," Joy responded. "He likes to play with them to fuck with Fabian."

This was news to Lacie. "Does this have to deal with that fight the two of them had?" Lacie felt like she had heard so much about their infamous fight, but knew so little about it.

"It has everything to do with it!" Joy said quickly, but them stopped herself. "It's not really my story to tell, you'll have to ask Fabian if you want to know the details, but... as an overview, they used to be best friends, closer than you could imagine, and then they fought so hard that...it hurt everyone around them. Especially me. I don't know how I managed to stay friends with both of them..."

Lacie felt Joy's growing distress and tried to change their conversation topic. "You have a lot of friends... You're better with people than you think."

And somehow, she got even less happy. "Hardly... Last year I lost most of my friends at Anubis because I really messed up." She seemed really sad, but Lacie could tell that they got too far into this to pretend like the conversation never started. Lacie would have to hear this through to the end, no matter how painful it was for Joy to say.

"What happened?" Lacie asked carefully. Asking the obvious questions was the quickest way out of this.

Joy took a deep breath before speaking. "I think I have to start at the beginning..." Lacie listened intently as Joy told her story. "Everything started at the beginning of my freshman year, just a little while before Nina came to the school. I knew my dad was a part of this... cult thing. Um—well... Actually, I have no idea how to explain this."

Lacie figured it had to be something about he Paragon, otherwise she wouldn't have such a big problem talking about it. "I promise, nothing you say will be too weird."

Joy sighed. "You have no idea how weird this gets."

"Try me."

"Alright..." Joy replied. "So my dad had been a part of this cult for as long as I can remember. My mum and him fought about it all the time. Anyway, I didn't know what it was really about until my freshman year. About two weeks in, one of my dad's friends showed up and took me out of school. They explained that they thought I was the Chosen One, someone who could put together this ancient cup that when someone drinks the elixir of life from it, they become immortal. You probably think I'm crazy."

"I don't think you're crazy" Lacie assured. How could she? Elixir was common as far as the supernatural went. If only Joy could know how intertwined Lacie was in all of this... But of course she couldn't tell her. Lacie promised Nina not to tell anyone anything they didn't need to know.

"Well, I spent almost the whole year hidden at home because apparently I was in danger. They thought a man named-" she looked around and lowered her voice, "Rufus Zeno was going to kidnap me, steal the elixir and make himself immortal." Lacie was shocked and very excited that Joy was telling her these things. She tried to line everything up in her mind to make a solid time line. "At the end of a long year we discover that I wasn't the chosen on at all. Nina was, that bitch. She put the cup together, destroyed it, then everyone loved her and forgot about me."

The idea that the Cup of Ankh could be destroyed was laughable. It was indestructible. That was the point. But if Nina didn't want it to be common knowledge that the cup was intact, then it wasn't Lacie's place to tell anyone. "I'm sorry all that happened to you..."

"Don't be. That's not even the worst part." Joy replied. She was starting to look like she was going to cry. Lacie really didn't want her to cry. "Then school started the next year and everything was different." She actually was beginning to cry at that point. Lacie wanted to stop her and tell her everything would be okay, but she absolutely needed to hear what Joy was saying. Maybe it was moments like this that showed how well she fit her roe of Setiah. "I didn't handle it well and I was horrible to Nina and I almost lost all my friends trying to win Fabian over."

"Joy... Thank you for telling me all of this." Lacie said. It amused her that the thing that bothered Joy most wasn't the immortality or being held against her will. It was losing her friends. Such was the ways normal teenagers acted.

"You can't tell Nina I told you about her being the chosen one, I-"

"Joy! I already know! I just didn't know you did." Lacie interrupted. Neither of them spoke for a very long time.

Finally Joy sighed. "For being a secret identity, a whole lot of people seem to know about it... It feels so good to talk about this with someone."

Lacie smiled at her. "I'm glad it does." She felt like this would be a logical time to reveal that she was the Setiah, but something held her back. It wasn't that she didn't trust Joy, it was deeper than that.

"I'm really sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Did Joy think that would matter to her? It wasn't like she was secret free...

"Forget about it."

7:30: Anubis House (Amber)

Amber sat unhappily on her/Mick's bed glaring at anything that moved, awaiting the arrival of Doctor Huddersfield. How could anyone with such a stupid name be a good doctor, anyway. He always acted like they were toddler and gave them children's medicine and suckers.

Next to her, Jerome rolled over in his sleep and whispered, "Mara." Sleep peacefully now, Amber thought, watching him lovingly, It's only a matter of time before you'll be rudely awakened by the beloved doctor's dumb rubber duck.

When she was fairly certain she would be alone for some time, she opened up the clue she found and read it out loud again. "The first for the last you have found." That part made sense. The first clue for the last artifact. "The next you seek is underground." That made less sense. Would they have to dig, or was it talking about the cellar? Someplace entirely different? "Paragon, hurry, you wont have long; to discover the goddess's song?" She'd have to ask Fabian about that one. "Side by side you three must look; in my secret library nook." The three part was obvious. Nina, Eddie and Fabian. And the "library nook" could be his study, which would make sense with the underground part.

"Good evening, Missy." Doctor Huddersfield said, opening the door. Amber hastily put the paper away. The doctor cam in the room with his stupid briefcase and his stupid scrubs and that stupid rubber duck.

"It is not a good evening." Amber grumbled. Next to her, Jerome stirred again. She wondered if he was dreaming of Mara. How would he react when, her soft yet commanding voice was replaced by the squeak of Lucky the Ducky?

"I heard," he said, speaking to her as if she were a child. "Sounds like you've gotten yourself a tummy buggy-"

"-I have the flu."

"Yes you do, Amber—love. You've missed two whole days of school! Trudy should have called me sooner." He took a bright pink thermometer out of his stupid briefcase and popped it into her mouth without warning. "I heard pink's your favorite color."

Yeah when I was five, Amber thought, bitchily. If there was one thing she hated, it was people assuming things about her. It drove her insane. She stared down the doctor as she waited for the stupid thing in her mouth to beep.

Huddersfield may have been able to be considered attractive (Amber always judged how attractive she thought everyone was), but he was much too old now. He had to be in his 60's at least. After what felt like an eternity, the thermometer beeped and Huddersfield felt it time to wake up Jerome.

"Well, Lucky, I think it's time to get out old pal Jerome up." Huddersfield said, holding up the stupid rubber duck and talking to it as if it were real.

"I think you're right, HD" He answered back in his 'duck' voice. Duck in quotations because, to Amber, he sounded more like an Australian Micky Mouse. She almost burst out laughing, bot because she like Lucky, as she did when she was a kid, but because she forgot he called himself 'HD.' Meaning Huddersfield and Doctor... It was pathetic.

He walked Lucky over to Jerome and up his sleeping figure. "On the count of 1...2...3..." He squeezed the duck twice and it gave off the most hideous honking noise ever. Jerome woke up thrashing.

"Amber I swear to god what the bloody hell!" He yelled until he noticed Lucky and Huddersfield.

"Language, lovely," he scolded. Jerome and Amber looked at each other, then glared at the doctor, both thinking the same things. Mostly profanities.

For a torturous half-hour, Huddersfield poked and prodded them; did exam after exam, and in the end told them what they already knew. They had the flue and if they weren't better by the next day, they'd need to go to the hospital for fluids.

"Thank you so much, doctor." Trudy said leading him back out of the room. Amber and Jerome both looked at each other and laughed quietly at the small inside joke. Trudy said "doctor." They immediately thought of Doctor Who.

Maybe they were getting to be better friends than they realized.

Trudy opened the door to the bedroom to let herself out and standing there was Eddie.

"Thank god. You know, I've been waiting out here for twenty minutes to talk to Amber," Eddie complained, trying to push past Trudy into the room. She caught him by the sleeve.

"You're not going in there. They need rest." She commanded, closing the door behind her.

As they walked away, Amber could hear Eddie complaining. "I just need to talk to her..." Eventually they got too far away for her to hear.

"What's that about?" Jerome asked, then downed his medicine that the good old doctor left. Amber noticed how much better he was looking he was already. She slowly got up and grabbed her hair brush. Just because she was sick did not mean she could look gross. Besides, she was feeling better too and she wanted to look like it.

There was a tapping on her window sometime around stoke number 83. She turned towards it and almost screamed. Eddie was standing outside trying to break in. When she regained herself, she ran over to help him

"What are you doing here?" Amber whisper-yelled.

"Where's Nina?!" He replied. Amber didn't understand what his obsession with her was. Just because she was some mythical champion of good didn't mean he should lover her so much. Why didn't he like her that much? Amber thought she was much prettier anyway.

She didn't even notice that she used love to describe Eddie's feelings for Nina. It was just so obvious. "If I tell you, you have to promise not to freak out." Amber bargained. Jerome looked at them like they were completely crazy, and maybe they were.

"She's out with Cory, isn't she?" Eddie complained. Amber nodded in response. "What does she see in him?" Amber swore he was sad, but he disguised it well as anger

"Well," Amber started. "He's totally fit and-"

"Not helping!"

"Sorry..." They must have been a little too loud, because Trudy came running in.

"Eddie Miller!" She scolded, proceeding to drag him from the room.

"No, Trudy it's okay!" Amber shouted. She ignored the girl and left with Eddie and dragged him into the kitchen.

"If you're so board that you need to bother Amber, then you can help me with dinner." She commanded.

"I wasn't board, I needed to talk to her," Eddie grumbled, but Trudy ignored him and handed him an apron. He wasn't very helpful, because mostly he just complained about everything.

Closer to dinner time, Fabian came into the room. He took one look at Eddie and said, "I'm not eating anything he touched." Trudy laughed at him, not knowing he was serious. Slowly, everyone came into the dining room, which wasn't many people. Mara and Mick sat deliberately on other sides of the table, Fabian, in his typical suck-up way, decided to help Trudy put out the food, leaving Eddie free to sit down between Alfie and Patricia on the side of the table facing the kitchen.

He didn't realize the effect he had on Patricia, just by sitting next to her. In her lap, she balled her fists, and Eddie remained oblivious. Mara glared at Patricia, the person she considered her best friend, as she whispered tensely back and forth with Mick. Everyone but Eddie knew they were talking about him. Mara tried to find it in herself to feel bad for Patricia, but all she could see at that moment was betrayal.

When Fabian sat down, Eddie started immediately asking him questions. "So, did you know Nina went on another date tonight?"

Fabian took a bite of food to give himself time to think before answering. "Yes. She told me yesterday."

Eddie glared at him, jealous that Fabian and Nina were made up and he hadn't made up with her yet. Granted, that was his own fault, but knowing that didn't make him any less bitter. "And you just let her go?"

Fabian laughed one short, sarcastic laugh, then replied,"Remember how poorly it went the last time we tried to stop her from doing something?" He looked up to see Eddie staring him down. They made eye contact which terrified Fabian. What was it that he read? Never make eye contact with an angry animal?

And after their fight the day before, he did not need another confrontation, especially since his magic had been appearing at random moments. He still had no means of controlling it, either. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally freeze Eddie or something... well...

Neither of them noticed that no one else in the room was speaking. Trudy slowly walked in and loudly put another plate down on the table to stp their staring match.

Chatter resumed, but not how it usually was at the house. Fabian and Mara talked about how excited they were for musical auditions, while Alfie joked loudly, making fun of them. Mick watched Patricia carefully, making sure it didn't look like anything bad was going to happen.

But, what was Patricia going to do? The whole mean she only thought about how pathetic she was for thinking about Eddie so much and for being so jealous of stupid Nina. Her and Eddie had a connection, sure, but Eddie loved Patricia, too. Of that much, she was positive.

So there had to be another reason for him breaking up with her... and maybe, I she could swallow her stupid pride and apologize, they could get back together. This time, Patricia would try harder and be a good girlfriend. She wouldn't even get jealous when he ran around with Nina.

When dinner was over, Eddie stomped out of the room loudly. He made sure that everyone heard him go. It made Patricia smile a little bit. Eddie always got dramatic when he was upset. Like when his mum told him that he couldn't drink because he wasn't old enough and he refused to leave his room until her and Nina coaxed him out with the promise of a party.

Mick noticed Patricia's smile and felt responsible for stopping her from going after Eddie. Ick hadn't know him long but he hurt Patricia, and that wasn't okay.

He was so caught up in his hatred of Eddie, that he missed Patricia slipping out of the room to follow him. For almost a full minute, she paced outside his door, building up the courage to go in.

After what felt like a lifetime, she knocked three, short knocks on the hard wooden door. The sound ricocheted around the hallway and Patricia counted the moments until Eddie answered.

"Who is it?" He shouted, sounding very bored. Still, Patricia swore that he sounded worried. About Nina? About some mystery she was no longer allowed to know about? Of what she wasn't sure.

"It's Patricia," she replied, her voice cracking slightly. She imagined his socked look as she waited for his response.

He didn't say anything for a while. He came to the door. "What do you want?" He asked very harshly. Patricia kept her confidence, however, and walked past him into the room

"I want to talk to you." She said, stronger by the second. Eddie watched her; he slowly closed the door and followed her into his room.

"What could you possibly want to talk about?" He asked. It showed just how oblivious he was when the first thing that crossed his mind was that maybe she found out about Sibuna again and wanted in.

"Us." Patricia regretted the word as soon as it passed her lips. Even more so when she saw how he looked at her; with a mix of horrified and terrified.

"Us?" Eddie asked. Maybe she was crazy, but she swore he wasn't being as condescending as he was with most people. Maybe that meant there was hope for them yet. Maybe she could get him to remember how he felt towards her only one short month ago.

She really hoped she could. "Yeah... I wanted to—em—apologize for being... well... a bitch." The shock on Eddie's face came and gone in an instant, but Patricia saw it.

He crossed past Patricia and sat down on his bed. "I guess I should apologize too." Eddie apologizing? He must have still had a soft spot for her. Eddie apologizing was as unheard of as Patricia apologizing.

"Hardly. I'm the one who got stupidly jealous," Patricia said. "I miss you Eddie."

"I miss you too," he said honestly. He motioned for her to sit next to him.

"I want to give us another go." Patricia said, her voice barely above a whisper. Eddie looked down at her.

Of course he wanted to be with Patricia again, but there was something holding him back. Nina. Eddie had everything in common with Patricia. They got along perfectly in their own way. They could be best friends and still date... Him and Nina had nothing in common. They would argue all the time, but... somehow... he still wanted Nina too.

Who did he want more?

But did it matter? Nina was off on a date with Cory. Patricia wasn't on a date with someone else. She was right there, so shockingly close and beautiful. For a few instants, he stopped thinking and just looked at her. He studied the red in her hair and the blue of her eyes... he could smell her strawberry shampoo...

And, like every time Eddie stopped thinking, he made a bad decision.

Eddie wrapped a hand around her head and pulled her lips towards his. She didn't' hesitate to kiss him back. Eddie started parting her lips teasingly slow.

Patricia weaved her hand in his hair and held him tighter to her. His hands wrapped around her torso and pulled the girl flush to his body and his tongue slipped past her lips into her mouth.

"I love you," Eddie sighed against her. Hearing Eddie say those words again filled Patricia with a new passion.

She pushed him back onto his bed with a hesitant roughness. Eddie laid back and grabbed her hips, adjusting them so they rested on his own. She smile mischievously, which drove Eddie out of his mind. He sat up again so he could kiss her; Patricia whispered to him. "I'm ready."

XxXxXxXxX

Patricia snuggled up against Eddie laying next to her. He wrapped one arm around her waist and held her tightly. She was completely happy in that moment and absolutely nothing could ruin her wonderful mood.

Except, maybe, Fabian coming into the room

"Eddie, as much as I'm sure what you're doing is important, you need to help me wash-" Fabian said loudly as he opened the door to the room. He stopped talking when he noticed the clothing scattered around the bed. "Oh my gosh..."

Patricia scrambled to pull the blanked higher on her body. "Bad time, Rutter." Eddie hissed.

"Aren't you supposed to put a sock on the door handle or something...?"

"Out!" Eddie shouted, tossing a pillow at him. Fabian quietly dodged it and closed the door loudly. Patricia and Eddie looked at each other for one moment before laughing slightly and laying back down together. "You should probably get out before you're missed." Eddie said sadly. She kissed him on the cheek and began collecting her clothes.

Eddie silently watched her re-dress herself and briefly wondered if he made the wrong choice, but there were too many feelings going on for him to sort out what he really felt. So, instead, he allowed himself the pleasure of her company for a few more moments.

When she was fully dressed again, she went and kissed Eddie again. "I love you," she promise, then left the room cautiously, wishing she could stay with him longer.

Whens he was safely up in her room, the wave of guilt she was expecting hit her hard. She sunk to the floor behind her closed door and hugged her knees to her chest.

What if all that was a terrible mistake? Hadn't she always wanted her first time to be something special? She had known Eddie for what? Five months? But at the same time, it really was special. It had felt special at the time.

In that moment, Patricia needed someone to talk to more than she ever needed someone before. What was Eddie doing to her? Her first thought was Mara, but they hadn't spoken all that much since the beginning of the new term because she was always off with Jerome.

How sad it was that Joy came to her mind second. The girl she was best friends with for years. The two of them had drifted apart too much...

Even so, it was Joy's number Patricia found herself dialing.

8:00 pm: Cab (Nina)

"I know you're not a jewelry girl," Cory said to Nina, "but I couldn't talk Ara out of it." Nina just giggled and leaned on him. She was mildly drunk and couldn't care less about where they were going. "I tried to talk her into going to this really cool party, but someone-" he looked pointedly at Ara "-would rather look at chains and gems."

"Wait! There is a party tonight?" Brad asked, leaning over Ara to see Cory. They didn't all fit in the cab exactly, but they tried really hard which basically meant Nina ended up half on Cory's lap.

"Brad, it's Tuesday night. We can't go to a party."

"Come on, Ara, we've done it before!"

Nina silently watched them bicker back and forth through the twenty minute car ride. Cory noticed that she wasn't up to talk and decided to pet her hair while she rested on his shoulder.

Her drunken mind wandered. Mostly, to Eddie. What was he doing right then? Was he worried about her? While drunk she was much more forgiving of Eddie. She saw how pointless her anger towards him was. She thought it was kind of pathetic that it took her being tipsy to realize this.

"Come on, Nina. I promise this store will make you love jewelry." Ara swore when they finally arrived. She shoved past Cory so she could pull Nina long with her. As they rushed towards the door, Nina could hear Cory laughing at them.

Ara pulled the door open sharply. Nina stopped short.

"No that would look horrible on you." Nina watched Lacie and Joy laugh together. Joy was the first one to look over at the open door. "Nina?" Lacie looked over at her too.

"Hey, Joy!" Ara yelled, oblivious to the silent tension between the three girls. Cory walked up and put his arm around Nina's shoulders casually.

"I didn't know you were going to be here..." Lacie said, her expression unreadable.

"Everything alright?" Cory whispered in Nina's ear. He watched the girls carefully.

"Of course." Nina said, then took his hand and brought him to the back of the store where they couldn't hear Lacie, Joy, and Ara gossip together. She was almost certain now that Eddie put Lacie up to this. How could it have been a coincidence that they all showed up at the same place at the same time. "What do you think of this one?" She asked, holding up a silver pendent that looked like something Amber would wear.

"You don't have to pretend you want any of this stuff," Cory assured. "I mean, the only thing I've ever seen you wear is that locket of yours."

Nina subconsciously reached up to her neck to check and make sure her locket was still there. "You're right," she giggled. "I hate this!" Nina put the pendant back on the counter.

In the next aisle over, someone's phone started ringing.

"I'm so sorry... it's Patricia," Nina heard Joy say. She wasn't trying to listen,but they were so close and the story Cory started telling her was so boring. "What? Slow down." Joy commanded, having answered the phone. "You did what... I'm happy for you, Trish... We'll talk when I get home... I'm on a date right now... Just try and calm down... You're gonna be okay, and isn't this what you wanted... Okay... Okay... Okay... Bye."

"What did she want?" Lacie asked as if she didn't really care what Patricia had said.

"Long story, but her and Eddie are back together, I think." Nina felt her heart breaking Patricia and Eddie were back together? Why? Why did ti bother her so much...?

"You okay?" Cory asked, noticing she wasn't paying attention to him any longer. Nina looked up at him. If Eddie was going to be with Patricia, then damnit, she was going to be with Cory.

"Absolutely great... What do you say we ditch those two and hit up that party?" She replied, fully confident. He looked at her, shocked. Perhaps she wouldn't have decided that if she wasn't already tipsy, but she was so she wanted to go.

"You sure?" Cory asked. Nina nodded and grabbed his arm. Who cared about Eddie? She was going to have fun and stop thinking about him once and for all.

"Of course."

XxXxXxXxX

Lacie felt her phone buzz in her pocket. When Joy wasn't looking she pulled it out. The name on the screen read "Eddie."

Keep an eye on Nina, would ya? I'm worried about her.

The nerve of him. Lacie felt he had no right to ask her to do his job because he wasn't man enough to talk to Nina himself. And now, to go and get back together with Patricia? It was too much. Besides, Nina just left the store anyway.

Filled with anger, Lacie typed out her response. Do your own job. Then she turned her phone all the way off and tried to push the stupid Osirian out of her mind.

8:20 pm: Anubis House (Amber)

Amber stared blankly at the ceiling of Mick's room. She thought wished bitterly that she had gotten Eddie sick when he came in to see her. How could he have the nerve to come to her for information about Nina. He really needed to apologize to her, hadn't everyone said that to him enough? What was wrong with him?

And still, she regretted not having more time with Eddie. If she did, she would have been able to give him the clue she found. Even if Eddie took nothing else seriously, he took being the Osirian seriously. She could see that I the way he trained with Lacie, or in the way he used to look at Nina. The clue was safer with him than it was with her. Honestly, the only people who took Sibuna more seriously was Fabian and Nina. Amber liked to pretend that she did, but in all honesty, she probably fell somewhere between Alfie and Patricia.

Then it hit her. She didn't have to give the clue to Eddie for it to be in good hands. She could give it to Fabian. He was home and he would know more about it than Eddie would. Amber reached for her phone and opened her text conversation with Fabian. There wasn't much there, no point in texting someone you live with.

Sibuna update. Sneak into my room.

Fabian responded fairly quickly. And risk Trudy killing me? Can it wait?

Amber groaned. She supposed it could wait... but she didn't want to.

It's really important.

Amber watched the three dots on her screen, indicating that Fabian was typing something back. After lights out. I promise.

That would have to be good enough. She sent back a quick okay and laid back down on the bed. She tried her very best to stay awake, lights out was in less than two hours and she wasn't... even... tired...

9:55 pm: Anubis House (Eddie)

Eddie looked up from his food when Victor began his pin drop speech. He waited in the kitchen for Nina all night, figuring that, now the romantic tension aspect of their fight was gone, he could finally apologize for what he did, but he couldn't do that if she wasn't home...

"Mister Miller, go to bed this instant," Victor snapped when he noticed him. Eddie put his half eaten hoagie back onto the table and stood up to go to bed.

The front door opened.

"-If you're late, you're going to get in trouble, and I'm not going to have that happen," Cory said, guiding her up the steps, into the house. Eddie watched with mild satisfaction as he looked up and came face to face with Victor.

"Miss Martin, who is this?" He growled. Eddie figured that this would be the right time to go to bed so he didn't get in any more trouble, but he had to see how this played out.

"Him? That's—hic—Cory." Nina responded. Eddie knew from one look that she was wasted. Where had Cory taken her?!

"You are late, and you should promptly make your way to your room, lest you wish to face further punishments than what already awaits-"

"-shhhhh," Nina commanded. Eddie couldn't see Victor's face, but he bet the expression he wore was priceless. "You're being too loud. I'll go to bed in a minute."

Cory looked at her, then at Victor in a panic. "Maybe you should go to bed now, love," he suggested sternly, as if he was speaking with a child. In any other situation, Nina would have freaked out at him, but she had just caught sight of Eddie standing at the end of the hall.

"You know," she said to Cory, "I really like you."

"Martin."

Nina grabbed Cory's head and kissed him. Eddie could only watch with morbid fascination. When Cory broke away, the smug grin he wore made Eddie want to hit him... but his thumb was still broken from the last time he hit someone...

"Be my girlfriend?" Cory asked. It was as if they were in their own world.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes!"

"Okay. I've gotta go," he said; he kissed her on the cheek and left. Nina turned towards Victor, who's face was bright red. She looked right at Eddie and he could almost see some sympathy in her eyes.

"Bed. Now." Victor fumed, but Nina ignored him when Eddie walked over to her.

"I'm sorry." He said sharply, if he didn't, it never would have gotten said. Apologizing wasn't something he did.

"I know..." Nina replied. "And I know about you and Patricia... and I'm happy for you." It wasn't a total lie. She was happy for him, but she was also very sad. They felt both felt the same sadness.

At least with the sadness, their anger faded. They could be friends again, but only that.

"If I have to ask one more time, you two will both be grounded for a month!" Nina and Eddie looked at each other, and silently agreed. They'd go to bed, and text each other for the rest of the night. Both were happy to talk to the other as friends again.

10:00 pm: Roof of Anubis House (Lacie)

"So, good date?" Lacie asked. They were sitting together on the roof of the house between Joy and Nina's windows just talking. The cold wind whipped around their hair, but they were happy to be spending time together. Through the open window they could hear Victor begin his speech for the second time.

"It was lovely," Joy replied, her head resting on Lacie's shoulder. There was nothing either of them wanted more than to kiss each other, but both were too shy to make the first move. Lacie looked down at her and smiled. "What are you smiling at?"

"You." Lacie teased. Joy pushed her playfully and Lacie pushed her back. "Thank you for tonight..."

"I should be thanking you!" Joy said, "you're the one who took me out."

Joy smiled up at Lacie. "What are you smiling at," she teased. Their faces were so close to each others that Lacie could taste Joy's minty gum in the air. She decided that she was going to do it, she was going to kiss Joy. They leaned towards each other slowly and-

"Joy, come in now?" Patricia called out the window. Joy groaned and muttered a small apology.

"I'll see you tomorrow... I had a great night."

Lacie watched Joy crawl through the window. The place where Joy's head rested on her shoulder still buzzed with energy. She let out a tiny sigh. "Me too, Joy... Me too."

10:15 pm: Mick's Room (Fabian)

"Amber," Fabian hissed outside her door as loudly as he dared with Trudy sleeping next door. If he woke her... well he was afraid to think of what she would do if she found out someone else was trying to sneak in and see Amber and Jerome. After what felt like a lifetime, Amber opened the door.

She was a sight to see with her matted hair and smudged eye makeup. Fabian never thought he would see Amber look like that and he wasn't sure he liked it. "I wasn't sleeping," she said, confirming exactly what she was thinking.

"Let me in," he whispered. The longer he stood out in the open, the more of a chance there was that he would get caught. Out of everyone in Sibuna, he was definitely the worst at sneaking around and he knew it.

"Don't be rude," Amber commanded, but let him in. "Why are you here anyway?" Fabian looked at her, dumbfounded. He waited for her to remember which took less than a moment. "Oh..."

"Amber, sometimes I wonder about you." Fabian grumbled. "Now what was it that was so important?" Amber took a viable breath before beginning.

"I found this tonight," Amber whispered to Fabian in the darkness. Jerome rolled over next to her and they both held their breath hoping he wouldn't wake up. Amber passed the aged paper to him and he used the light on his phone to see them small scripted words.

"Where was this?" He whispered excitedly, smiling that geeky smile he always did when they found a new clue. Amber never really noticed it before and only did now because she remembered a time when Nina commented on it. Fabian was such a sweet heart.

"My room... My real room." She replied. "But there's something else I need to ask you..." She was hesitant. Somehow Amber knew asking Fabian what Isis meant by "Protected by Tenant" was bad.

"Anything for you! You found the clue that we had no idea where it was." He whispered, still smiling.

"It was something Isis said... when she visited Nina..." Amber said. He looked at her, urging her on. This was just another clue for Fabian.

"What did she say?"

"She told me that I'm "protected by Tenant," but I don't know what that means and I was wondering if you did." Fabian's smile was gone, instead his look turned into that of concern and horror. His eyes went wide and he started at her.

"You're positive that's what she said?" Fabian asked, acting like he was in some nightmare. It was freaking Amber out more than it would have if he just told her the bad news right away.

"Yeah... is there something wrong?" She begged, and Amber wasn't one for begging.

Fabian swallowed hard before answering.

"Well... Tenant is the goddess of fertility... and woman who were trying to conceive would ask to be protected by her... and the idea was... if they were... they'd become pregnant by their next cycle." Fabian stuttered his way through. Amber looked at him for a while. What he said was silly. She wouldn't be getting pregnant.

"No." She said. It wasn't a scared sort of no, but a firm, sure no. She knew it wasn't true. "This is silly..."

"Well, em, you might want to be... careful. Have you... since your last...?" Fabian tried to ask as causally as possible, but came out much more awkward.

"No," Amber answered, understanding his question. "And I wont. This can't happen. I can't get... pregnant..."

"You wont be... I'm sure this is all a misunderstanding," Fabian assured, not sure he agreed with himself. Still, he felt like he had to be positive for her. For his best friend, besides Nina, because that is what he considered Amber now.

She looked him in the eye and whispered, "I really hope you're right."

A/N: So what did you think? Sorry this chapter only included the date night. Next chapter we will see more of this new friendship between Amber and Fabian develop, Nory fluff, Peddie fluff, and Jacie fluff. Something puts a rift between Jara, musical auditions, and Lacie gets desperate, trying to get Fabian to use his powers and does something... interesting.

What do you guys think about Peddie and Nory getting together? Will Neddie ever be able to get together happily? Is Amber really going to be pregnant? Am I a terrible person for abusing these characters so... maybe? :) I only hurt them because I love them. Please review, the reviews really make my day.

I'm also so sorry that HoA has not been renewed for a fourth season, for a while there was hope, but now it seems to be gone. This is a lovely fandom and I really hope it doesn't fade away, because it wasn't very strong to begin with. I think it's important for us to stick together and keep reading/writing HoA fanfiction to keep the fandom going. And I think, in light of the news, I may start watching the third season finally. I'm not going to recognize any of it as cannon or include anything that happens in this story... but I really think I need my Sibuna fix. I love you, readers. :)

I will see you (hopefully) May 9th!