The Curse of the Osirians

House of Scares

Layla's POV

"I may not have my cameras any more. But I'm still watching you, remember that," Victor told us the next morning as Nina, Amber, Patricia, and I headed down the stairs to school.

"Amber wants to see the photo of Victor the ever-living," Patricia said as Fabian joined us by our lockers.

"That is soooo creepy," Amber stated as she stared at the picture.

"It gets even creepier. There are two or three other ones, all from different years," Fabian said as he pulled out a few more.

"Do you think he's a ghost or I don't know a vampire?" Amber asked.

"No, Amber, I do not," Nina said.

"Although, I do think it's confirmation of the existence of an elixir of life," I piped up.

"Okay, so now we've got proof, can we go tell someone? Please. This is just getting too scary," Amber pleaded.

"We have got the photos to back it up," Nina agreed.

"Nina, do you remember what happened the last time? Trudy hasn't even arrived back yet!" I argued.

"Who do we show them to? It's not enough proof. Photos can be doctored," Fabian added.

"We need to get our hands on the elixir itself," Nina said.

"That means going back down to the cellar," Amber slowly said.

"If it means going into the cellar again then that's what we'll do. We'll go back, we'll steal some of the stuff, bring it back and get it analysed. Don't worry. I'll do it myself," Fabian said.

"No. We stick together. I'm coming with you," Nina told him.

"I'm coming too," Patricia agreed.

"Sibuna, Amber? Come on. You started this club. You named it and everything. It's not the same without you," Nina goaded. "Sibuna?"

"Sibuna," she nodded.

"Hey, I would love to go, but I was told I have to take 2 of the aspirin tablets every night and you know how sleepy they make me," I said slowly, wishing I could go with them.

"Hey, it's okay, that's not your fault," my sister said as she pulled me into a side hug.

"Hmm, maybe I'll see if Jerome and Alfie want to do another marathon night?" I said as I followed them to class, failing to notice that one of the boys was hiding and had heard our whole conversation with a smug smile at my last words.

*****

"Good morning everyone. Listen, before we start today's class, I'd like to draw your attention to this sheet of paper on the wall here. Anyone who's interested in auditioning for the school play, sign your autograph up there. Amber, Nina, Layla, how are you doing with the script?" Mr. Winkler asked.

"Nina and Layla are all over it!" Amber said quickly. I had let Nina do most of the writing as my wrist was still recovering.

"We've written some of the early scenes. But we're not sure if they're winkler-worthy yet," Nina hesitated.

"Don't worry about it okay? It's a work in progress. But I would like to start auditioning from next week if that's okay," he told us.

"Next week?" Nina freaked.

"I'm sure it'll be great!" Fabian reassured.

"I'm not. We've gone with the whole Sarah and Charlotte theme. But, I just hope we're doing the right thing.