[1-0 to gods]
"where did he go?" i panicked, "eddie?"
"no!" patricia yelled, in sync with fabian.
"what do we do now? can i get off the board?" i cried, tears streamed from my eyes.
"eddie, can you hear us?" the room shouted, hoping for any sign he was alive.
"what have i done?" fabian breathed, shaking his head in his hands. "what have i done?" he repeated.
"look fabian." patricia began, "it's not your fault okay? okay you need to focus and tell us what to do, okay?"
"alright, okay." he started to shuffle through the papers once more. "everyone retrace you're steps, and come back to me."
"i can't remember." my voice was breaking and i was still staring at the square my brother had just called through.
"y/n, to your right and back down the side of the board." fabian explained, we all shuffled round and we were now back to where we started, minus my brother."
fabian walked down the stairs from the seat and joined us at the bottom. frobisher's voice then echoed through the tunnels once more. "my warnings ignored, now count the cost. continue the task, and all will be lost. but if fallen friends you wish to reclaim, you have no choice but to continue the game."
"if we carry on we lose everyone, but-but if we don't, we lose eddie, forever." my own words rang in my head.
"well, wherever he is he must be okay, or else why would the message say reclaim him." patricia pointed out while wiping the rest of her own tears.
"it doesn't mean he'll be back in one piece though." alfie panicked, i ran off at his words, the tears falling harder.
they followed me through into robert's old office, "we can't do this anymore! not without my brother! it's finished!"
"no!" a scream echoed, we all jumped at the sudden noise and turned to see senkhara stood in front of us. "the chosen one has failed, i have no further use for you." volts shot out of her hands and targeted out jackle marks, "unless the chosen one can be replaced, shared blood can always be of use." she turned to me, floating forward slowly.
"stop!" i shouted, "without al of us, there is no chance you'll get the mask! we'll get him back just, think about what you're doing! i promise we just need more time!"
senkhara listened to my words and stopped, "find him!" she commanded, "or his sister and the rest of you will suffer. and you must do it before ra crosses the sky thrice over, or it is finished, just as you say."
the ghost disappeared and fabian muttered, "three days." under his breath. "we have three days."
"why didn't she just say so?" alfie complained. "not only is she scary but she's really annoying."
the next day fabian, alfie and i all day in the hall sleepless going over the sennet board, the game, the rules over and over.
"no that was me fabian! you should of moved y/n!" alfie complained.
the boy shook his head, i can't do this. i cant do this."
"you're fine." i reassured him, "you've got this."
"what with the group geek out sesh?" a familiar voice asked, we looked over to jerome who was grabbing a coffee in the corner of the room.
"some ancient board game." alfie played off, "you know what fabian's like." we all looked over at him concerned as the blonde boy walked away over and towered over the rest of us.
he grabbed alfie's shoulder, "yes, yes i do." he chuckled but it seemed serious, "i also know what you're like." he dragged alfie away from us and began to whisper.
after a short thirty seconds alfie returned leaving the other boy staring down suspiciously at us as fabian continued to play the game of sennet once more.
the bell then rang and we all shuffled out the room to get to class as soon as possible, i sat beside patricia behind fabian and amber and in front of jerome and alfie.
not seconds later miss valentine entered the room with a smile and sat on her desk, "okay so today we are going to talk about tragedies, what the definition of tragedy? macbeth, romeo and juliet, even homer simpson, a tragedy is the tale that sees our hero come unstuck."
i put my head on the table, trying to ignore fabian's mutters of panic and alfie's foot continuously hitting the floor.
"so often our hero, or heroine comes to an untimely end." the teacher continued.
"not this time he doesn't!" fabian yelled across the class, my tears hit the table as i hid my face with my hands. "i'm sorry! i'm sorry!" i heard the boy rush out of class.
"i think fabian might be having a holistic breakdown." amber suggested, i lifted my head.
"can you blame him." i whispered.
"he's lost it."
"is everything okay?" miss valentine panicked soon to be reassured by the rest of us.
"yes." amber answered, "he's fine, he's just a bit upset about something." she then rushed out the room.
i turned round to alfie and mouthed, "this isn't good." he shook his head and jerome began to bombard alfie with questions about what's going on.
not a second later i ran out and followed the two who were rushing towards my father's office.
"we can't just leave him down there!" fabian shouted, banging on his office door.
"enter." my father answered, the door swung open and the three of us tumbled in. "well i'm sorry that's just not good enough!" she yelled down the phone before turning to us. "sorry i must leave, we have a fish crisis in the cafeteria!"
eric slipped passed us and out the door leaving us alone in his office. "you can't tell my dad! do you have any idea how he'll react?"
"think about it fabian." amber began, "you could be putting eddie life into even more danger than it's already in and you'll send his father into mass panic."
and that's when i heard it. "hello?" a faint voice comping from the corner of the room. through a tiny vent behind a statue of armour, "hello?"
my brother. my brother was alive.
