Incorrect House of Anubis

the aquarium

“this is so fun! i haven’t been to the aquarium since i was a little kid!” nina squealed.

fabian smiled. “well, i’m glad you’re enjoying. no one else in the house seems to enjoy looking at fish all day, so i haven’t been in a while either.” he was right. a few years ago their year group went on a trip to this same museum, and fabian found himself alone in the aquarium after a few minutes. everyone was more interested in seeing the dinosaur bones than anything. fabian was excited to see them too, but there was just something so captivating about watching sea creatures glide through the fluorescent blue tanks.

nina giggled at that. “oh! what’s this?” she gawked, pointing at a little pink creature swimming in the tank in front of her. “axel… axolotl?” she said, skeptically. “i’ve never heard of that before.”

“yeah, they’re super cool actually!” fabian replied. “they’re able to regenerate parts of of their bodies, like limbs and parts of their brain, so studying their biology is really… um, it’s really…” fabian trailed off. his train of thought derailed as he noticed nina gazing into the tank in front of them. the colourful lights twinkling in her eyes with the soft ripples of the water dancing across her face made her look absolutely majestic, and fabian couldn’t help but stop and stare. ‘she is so pretty’ fabian thought to himself.

“really what?” nina questioned, noticing how he’d cut his sentence short.

“sorry, um, yeah. really interesting, is what i meant to say. scientists think they may have major implications in human medicine. brain repair, organ regrowth, tumour resistance, stuff like that.”

nina listened intently. partially because she wanted to learn more about axolotls, but mainly because she liked the sound of fabian’s voice.

“sometimes i forget that i’m dating a bookworm” nina joked while she linked her arm with his. the couple laughed as they continued through the aquarium into the next room.

—————————————————————————

Ancient Egypt gallery

“okay, this is more like it!” nina gasped. fabian could tell just how excited she was by the way she gripped his hand and dragged him across the ancient egypt collection room.

“i thought you might like this room the most,” fabian chuckled, “and we might find out more about you and the frobisher smythes.”

nina’s face twisted. “fabian, we just spent the whole year in those dusty tunnels under the house. right now, i don’t want to know anything about anything that could potentially get us cursed again” nina ranted, sarcastically.

“okay okay, fair enough” fabian responded. “although to be fair, a lot of the artefacts in here were probably discovered by robert and his team.”

just as he said that, the couple were found face to face with a glass case, holding a wall fragment depicting tutankhamun taking part in a festival.

“ugh, you jinxed me!” nina exclaimed with an eye roll. “it is still pretty interesting, though” she admitted, as they read over the plaque explaining how robert and his team found the boy king’s tomb in 1922. it even went on to describe how the frobisher smythes were accused of stealing artefacts from his tomb to smuggle back to britain, alongside a picture of the team of archaeologists. nina moved on to the next glass cabinet displaying other objects, while fabian stayed put, his eyes fixed on the image.

he recognised robert and louisa instantly, smiling triumphantly in the middle of the photograph. he didn’t recognise the other members of the expedition team, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had seen them before. the man standing next to robert was tall, impeccably dressed, and had fluffy blond hair. he’s sure he’d seen that hairstyle before. and the lady stood next to louisa was of similar height to her, maybe a bit shorter. she had tan skin, dark hair, and a bright smile. he stood there, staring at the image for a few moments longer, before the realisation hit him like a slap in the face. they were spitting images of…

‘jerome?’ he whispered to himself, utterly confused. ‘and… joy?’

“what was that?” nina glanced up from the ancient jewellery she was inspecting when she heard fabian’s faint voice beside her.

“oh… nothing” fabian muttered. perhaps it was just a coincidence, he thought to himself. and if jerome and joy had connections to the frobisher smythes and tutankhamun’s tomb, surely he would know it, right? he shrugged the uneasy feeling off of him, before heading over to the display nina was grinning at. today was not about robert or whatever potential mystery that still lay hidden beneath the grounds of anubis. no, today was about nina.

“look how gorgeous these are!” nina said, while pointing to a set of gold necklaces encrusted with different precious jewels and metals. “amber would go crazy for these” nina giggled.

“oh, she definitely would!” fabian agreed.

they then wandered through to the mummy room, safely tucked to the side of the gallery. they were greeted with dozens of sarcophagi, mummies, and funerary objects. but, what caught fabian’s eye was the long glass cabinet housing a long papyrus scroll, labelled ‘the book of the dead of djedhor’.

“wow” fabian gawked. “this is the longest intact scroll i’ve ever seen.”

“it’s beautiful” nina added, “i wonder what it says. i wish we could read it.”

“well, this plaque says that the full text has never been published or fully translated.” fabian told her, regrettably. “but, if i were to guess, it’s probably filled with spells, prayers, and rituals, to guide one’s soul safely into the afterlife.” he studied the illustrations carefully etched into the scroll. he recognised the scene where djedhor’s heart was weighed against maat’s feather, overseen by anubis and horus.

“oh, never mind then” nina replied with a shrug, although fabian could tell she was a bit disappointed. he would never understand how difficult nina’s life had been, with her parents passing at a young age and carrying the responsibility of ‘the chosen one’ as a teenager. the only explanation for being the chosen one was her birthdate, but surely there was more to it than that? if there was any more information on the importance of the chosen one or the osirian, it was probably written on a papyrus scroll somewhere. perhaps in this very museum, lost in translation. or buried beneath the sands of egypt, crumbling into dust as time slips away from them. either way, nina had been carrying the world on her shoulders for the past two years, and fabian would be damned if he let anyone put her in danger.

“plus,” nina added, after a short pause. “i probably shouldn’t read any egyptian spells out loud anyways. who knows? i’d probably just resurrect an evil spirit that tries to take over the world or something” nina joked.

fabian laughed at that, as he intertwined her hand with his and started leading her out of the small room. there was no way that would ever happen! it’s just not physically possible… right?

as they made their way to the exit, they stopped at one more big display they had skipped over the first time.

“oh my gosh, this is huge!” nina gushed at the granite sarcophagus for a man called bakenkhonsu. “he must have been super important.”

fabian started reading the plaque beside the case. “it says he was a high priest of amun during the reign of pharaoh ramesses II. he was responsible for several building projects, including the eastern temple in the karnak temple complex.”

“amun?” nina questioned. “as in the king of the gods?”

“looks like it!” fabian continued reading. “says high priests were in charge of performing sacred rituals, managing temple estates, and other political matters. bakenkhonsu was especially important as he had been blessed by amun himself. it is said that he was gifted with supernatural powers that allowed him to summon and exorcise gods and spirits from the spiritual realm to the mortal realm. unfortunately, his mummy went missing after the initial excavation.”

the information settled in nina’s chest like dust on the old books at the frobisher library. the high priest of amun — the king of gods and the god behind their school’s name — was able to resurrect and banish gods and spirits. and his body was missing. not misplaced, not undiscovered, missing. nina shuddered. was he the one who resurrected senkhara? and where was his body now?

suddenly, her locket started glowing.

“um, nina? your locket’s glowing?” fabian stated.

nina looked down and quickly tucked her locket under her shirt. whoever this person was, and whatever he did, nina was nowhere near ready to discover the part he played in her oh-so-complicated life.

“let’s get out of here. right now.” nina said, hurriedly, as she pulled fabian out of the gallery and towards their next room.

—————————————————————————

the planetarium

“are you sure you’re alright?” fabian asked, his eyes full of worry as he looked at nina, who had only stopped trembling when they sat in their plush seats under the unlit dome.

“i’m fine, i promise. i just… don’t want to think about being the chosen one right now. we just finished one quest, and i’m not about to dive headfirst into another.” nina slumped forward, leaning her elbows on her knees as she balanced her head in her hands, which allowed fabian curl his arm around her shoulders and bring her head towards him.

“i get it,” fabian said lovingly. “you’ve had a tough year, we all have. so just relax and enjoy the show, yeah?” he whispered, placing a kiss atop her head as the lights dimmed and the dome above them lit up.

fabian had chosen this show called ‘from earth to the universe’. he was looking forward to diving deep into the history of the galaxy, our solar system, the stars we gaze upon, and the planets we’re surrounded by. but, despite the floating lights and marching colours that shimmer and spark above his head, his attention was set on the stunning girl beside him.

she had no idea he was starting at her. her eyes were following the moving pictures above her, as she smiled in awe of the beauty of the cosmos.

if only she could see the beauty that sits before fabian.

as his gaze lingered on nina’s shining eyes and radiant smile, he decided this is it. this is what love feels like. it’s not painful, or avoidant. it’s not tiring, or even difficult. it’s peaceful, like the quiet of the library after opening hours. it’s golden, like the glow of our sun being shown on the screen above me, or the tears wept by the mask of anubis. it’s absolutely beautiful, just like nina.

fabian would never know what he missed from the show during those minutes he spent admiring nina. but, he didn’t care. he found the universe breathtaking, but it still had nothing on nina.

—————————————————————————

anubis house

“listen, i got you something” nina admitted sheepishly, as the pair sat on her bed. amber was still downstairs clearing up after dinner, so the two were left alone for the time being.

“aw nina, you didn’t have to do that.” fabian blushed as nina handed him a small wrapped box.

“it’s nothing really, i just thought you might like it.”

fabian carefully unwrapped the box to unveil the watch box hidden beneath. he opened the box and gasped excitedly. it wasn’t just any watch, it was a brand new calculator watch.

“i love it! thank you, thank you, thank you!” fabian repeated over and over again, as he enveloped nina into a bone crushing hug.

“it’s no big deal, honestly. i just know how disappointed you were when alfie broke yours, so i thought i’d get you a new one.”

fabian had never been so infatuated with a girl in his life. he leaned back slightly as the pair looked into each other’s eyes. he thought back to the events of the day, and of the past two years. the way she’d walked right into his heart as if she already owned it and intertwined herself in his soul like she was stuck in the spider maze. the way he remembered every fleck and colour in her eyes. the way her glossy lips looked so inviting. he couldn’t take it anymore. it had been a long time coming.

“i love you, nina” he finally admitted.

nina’s cheeks flushed instantly. she knew fabian loved her, and she even knew that she loved him. but to hear it out loud, especially coming from him, made her feel like she could handle any quest or curse life threw at her, as long as she had fabian to hold her hand while she conquered it.

“i love you too, fabian.”

please note that some of the stuff i’ve written about the museum and the artefacts are inaccurate! i’ve never seen the museum in real life, and i made up some stuff about the egyptian collection to make the story more interesting lol.

headers by @uzmacchiato