The Curse of the Osirians

House of Alibis

Layla's POV

"Senkhara's been around for a zillion years, right? She might know it. Why don't we ask her?" Suggested once I got home from my date with Eddie.

"That's actually not as crazy as it sounds.
Is it? Is it?" Fabian said.

"What? No! No, no, no!" Nina countered. "It's all fine and dandy for you Layla! She's not after you!" Nina added.

"In case you forgot, dear sister, that would be because I'm already destined to die before I turn 18!" I hissed back at her before stomping out of the room and knocking on Eddie's door. He opened it and looked surprised to see me again so soon.

"Can I stay here tonight? Don't wanna be near my sister right now," I mumbled. I mean I know it might sound a little selfish especially since she had a sooner deadline than I did, but that didn't mean it didn't bother me occasionally that no one (myself included) was doing anything as of yet to try and figure out I way to stop me and potentially Eddie and Jerome from dying as well. I love my sister really I do, but with the focus always being on her, where did that leave me?

"Hey, whatever it is, it'll be alright," Eddie whispered to me as I cuddled into him and he wrapped his blanket around us.

*****

I was sitting with the others in the drama studio when Nina came charging up to us.

"Guys. Senkhara came to my room. She was standing right there, and she played the song of Hathor," she exclaimed.

"So I was right? Can you remember the notes?" I asked as I gave my sister a smug look. She rolled her eyes at me but we had talked things out this morning so all was forgiven.

"Yes. It's a simple melody. Just five notes, and Victor and Vera are out. I checked," she replied.

"Well? What are we waiting for? Come on.
Let's go!" I said excitedly.

*****

"So we all remember the tune, right? Even Fabian?" Nina confirmed.

"Yeah. Yeah, I got it," Fabian nodded.

"All we have to do is play it right, and then we can all go back to normal," she told everyone.

"For Nina, for the mask, for Sibuna," Amber recited. I saw my sister glance at me clearly worried about me after I expressed my concerns earlier but I just rolled my eyes at her and stuck my tongue out. I just wanted to stop the current curses.

"Is that it?" Nina said when we had finished playing.

"I think we did it!" Fabian cheered. "We did it!" But suddenly the room started shaking again.

"Everybody out!" I demanded.

*****

"That ceiling is not going to stay up much longer," Fabian commented.

"I don't get it. We played it right, didn't we? What are we missing here?" Nina asked.

"Wait. It's a five-note melody, right?" Fabian said. I shrugged. I hadn't been the one to hear Senkhara play it.

"Yeah," Nina replied.

"So how come we were only playing four horns?" Fabian asked.

"I guess one of the notes was different," Nina mumbled. "Maybe there's another instrument. We might be missing one. Okay, what other instruments did the ancient Egyptians use?"

"I'll go down to the library, see what I can find out," Fabian suggested.

"Just write it down this time. You don't want to forget," I told him.

*****

"You should get some sleep, Amber. You need it as much as Alfie does," I said gently as I looked over at her. She had aged several years and looked almost as old as Gran now.

"No, I want to help," she said as she looked up from the book in her lap.

"Might be easier to read if I turn the light on?" I asked.

"No. Please, don't," she said.

"Okay," I replied sitting down next to my sister.

"So anything about funeral laments. Or the song of Hathor in there, or do we need to raid the antechamber for more books?" Nina said trying to to make light of the situation.

"Nothing so far. I'm only up to the 10th dynasty. It's actually kind of fascinating.
Why didn't you tell me?" Amber spoke up.

"Okay. No mention of instruments here, but this book does have the lyrics. "Egypt mourns Tutankhamen killed by a stepmother's knife the song of Hathor shall declare Senkhara took his life," Nina read aloud. We all stared at each other.

"Our ghost lady killed King Tut?" Amber exclaimed.

"According to this. Wow! At least we know what we're up against," I said softly. There was something about that piece of information that seemed to strike a chord in me but I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I would take it personally.

"Do we? Who knows what she's capable of? And why does she have to pick on us? It's so unfair. I had a lot of stuff planned, and I'm past it before I've even graduated. Things could not be worse," Amber lamented.

"Something really bad has happened!" Fabian declared as he suddenly walked into our room looking shook up.

"Worse than this?" Amber said gesturing to herself.

"Yeah. The ox bell from the library has been stolen. And I was caught standing right next to the display case!" Fabian told us.

"No way they can pin this on you!" I said.

"Yeah, but I can't remember. How can I convince anyone I didn't steal that bell when I don't even know, myself, what I did!" Fabian fretted.

"If you stole it, then where is it?" Nina countered.

"I don't know," he replied.

"Because you didn't take it," Nina stated.

"Well, maybe I forgot where I put it," Fabian countered.

"You're no thief, Fabian!" Nina said.

"Except that time when we stole things from Victor's office, the cellar, the attic," Amber started to list.

"Don't think about that right now!" I hissed.

"Look, how do I prove I didn't do it?" Fabian asked.

"We find this bell and return it. Right, Nina?" Said Amber.

"Are you okay?" Fabian asked as he stared at my sister and I who were sharing looks.

"Is anyone else wondering that the bell might be the thing we're missing to finish the task?" I pointed out.

"Who'd take it? Victor?" Amber said.

"Victor might not want us to finish the task," Fabian replied.

"Well, we'll see about that," my sister stated.

*****

"We can't find little Alfie anywhere," my sister and I said as we walked back into our room.

"I just saw him. I think," Amber said.

"You did? Where?" My sister asked.

"In the wardrobe," she replied pointing over towards it.

"Come on, Alfie. We know you're in there!" I called out as Nina opened the door and we stared down at a baby Alfie.

"Alfie?!" My sister exclaimed.