Hey hey hey! I'm back! So there was a little confusion on the whole Nine Lives of Chloe King thing. I have not seen the TV series and I've only read half the book. The only thing I took from there is Kemet's name and the whole concept of The Mai, which is introduced in this chapter. Sorry about that!
Chapter two
The next morning Kem awoke in a soft warm bed.
The feline side of her wanted to stretch out in the warm sun spot that hit her, and roll over on her back, but she opened one bleary, golden yellow eye first.
After making sure nobody was in the room, she complied. She sighed happily, and a knock came at her door.
"Kem? Are you awake?" George asked, peeking in.
"Mhm…" Kem sighed sleepily.
"I can see you had a good sleep." George teased, smiling at her.
"Hm…"
"Well breakfast is in five so-"
George was cut off by Kem trying to untangle herself from her sheets so quickly; she fell off the bed on her bottom, feet still caught in the sheets.
George and Kem paused for a moment in shock, then burst out laughing.
"OI! Shut the ruddy hell up!"
"Morning, John!" George called, helping Kem up.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Kemet laughed. "John is not a morning person, is he?"
"No, not really." George chuckled, helping her up
They walked out into the kitchen together.
"Hey! Look who lives!"
"Hi, Ringo." Kem laughed.
"Hey, Kemmy." Paul called from the kitchen.
"Hi, Paul!" Kem called back, pleased with the new nickname.
Breakfast was simple, just scrambled eggs and toast, but large. Kem, who was used to near starvation, had three helpings.
The boys gawked as she gulped down eggs at high speed.
"Did that hurt?" Ringo blurted, seeing the cat on the inside of her forearm.
Kem glanced warily at the simple brown outline of the cat goddess Bastet running from her wrist to the inside of her elbow.
"Very much."
Just then the doorbell rang. Kem automatically pricked her ears.
"I'll get it." She said, recognizing the noise.
Kem opened the door to a black haired girl with intense green eyes. Sekhemet Kiromasia.
"Hello, Sekhemet." Kem said wearily, stepping outside, and closing the door behind her.
"What's with the coldness, Kemet?" Sekhemet replied.
"There is none at all."
"Where have you been, Kem?" Sekhemet asked. "The game-"
"The game can wait. I am forgetting why I have entered in the first place!"
Sekhemet sucked in a breath bitterly. "The people who have called us demons, who have tried to steal our prophecy-"
"I am beginning to doubt this prophecy as well!" Kem snapped.
Sekhemet gasped angrily. "Then why don't you fall in love! Or better yet, why don't you marry!" She shouted.
"Perhaps I will! Don't you see, Sekhemet? We are killers! The Mai, a once peaceful race, has now evolved to love to hunt human! They have reason to want to wipe us out!" Kem shouted back.
"We have reason to want to kill! They have hunted us from the very beginning!" Sekhemet yelled.
"And yet we had made no attempt to create peace!" Kem yelled at her, exasperated. "You see, none of this had to happen! We could have stopped this silly game three centuries ago, and yet-"
The door opened, cutting Kem off, and John, Paul, George, and Ringo's guilty faces were revealed.
"We thought we heard… eh…" Paul started.
"Raised voices." George finished, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
"We're fine." Kem said, glaring at Sekhemet. "Sekhemet here was just leaving."
"Consider well, Kemet. The longer you wait the stronger-"
"Do not fret, Sekhemet. I am well aware of your warning. I bid you farewell, and ask you do not come back here." Kem interrupted coldly, continuing with an overtly formal tone.
"Kemet, please understand-"
Sekhemet was cut off by a feral snarl that came through Kem's gritted teeth. John, Paul, George, and Ringo jumped back in surprise, but Sekhemet barely flinched. She took the warning though, and turned and left.
Kem turned around and stalked back into the flat.
"Kem, what was that?" George demanded.
"An old friend, bearing an old warning." Kem said sharply. "Look, I do not wish to talk about it right now, okay?" she added, seeing the look on their faces.
Kemet stalked back into her room, slamming the door angrily.
"Does anyone get the feeling she's hiding something?" Ringo asked uneasily.
The other three nodded.
"Should we ask?" Paul wondered.
"No, she's not gonna tell us! I mean come on, she barely knows us." John replied.
"But she trusts us." George pointed out.
"I'm with John. I don't think she'd tell us. Seriously, guys, this must be huge! Did you see the way they were glaring at each other?" Ringo said.
"And the way Kemet growled? Is that even human?" Paul added his eyes wide.
"Is she even human?" George wondered aloud.
The other three looked at him like he had grown an extra head.
"What?" John asked.
"Oh, come on guys! She growled like that at the club, except it wasn't as scary! And the way she healed so fast was impossible! Something is defiantly alien there!" George insisted.
"George, are you feeling okay?" Paul asked.
"I'm fine!" George snapped. "Look, we've already established that she's hiding something, and she won't tell us what it is. We're going to find out what it is!"
"Why are you so bloody curious about this?" John demanded.
"Because, she said something about killing people! And the other girl, Sekhemet, said something about people wanting to kill them!"
"Well, if we do want to know more about this, we have to get some key words. She said something about a civilization called the Mai, right?" Ringo said.
"Yeah, I think it might be in Egypt." George replied.
"What makes you say that?" Paul asked.
"Last night she said her name translates to Egypt."
"Well then, let's go to the library and research Egypt!" Ringo said, already grabbing his coat.
"I'll go tell Kem." George said, hurrying towards Kemet's room.
"Hey, Kemmy? You okay?" He asked poking his head in.
She nodded, looking weary.
"Well, we're headed out. Paul left some money on the counter in case you need anything."
Kem nodded again, and said "I'm so sorry about earlier. Sekhemet doesn't know when to drop the matter sometimes, but I lost my temper. I'm sorry I scared you."
George smiled. "It's okay, Kem, you did what you had to do.
"Paul did you find anything?" John asked.
Though John would never admit it, he was just as curious as George on finding out Kemet's secret.
Paul pushed his dark hair away from his hazel eyes. "Nothing." He replied. "Though, I think my brain is numb from reading all this history.
Ringo frowned defensively. "I think it's interesting!"
"Well you can-"John never finished his sentence, because in the instant he had looked down at the book he had been skimming through, he found the word they had been searching for.
The Mai.
"Guys, I found it!" John said excitedly.
Paul smacked the back of George's head, abruptly awaking him.
"Read this!" John said.
They gathered around John and read.
The Mai, a mythological civilization, were worshiped has half-gods, being the children of the goddesses Bastet and Sekhemet, the cat goddesses.
According to legend, the Mai were a peaceful species, but as time passed, people began to hunt them, believing them to be demons. The Mai were eventually split into two prides: Bastet and Sekhemet.
The Sekhemet pride was driven towards war, seeing as the goddess Sekhemet was considered to be the side of war.
The Bastet pride was more peaceful, because the goddess Bastet was the side of maternity.
There have been many mythological stories about the Mai, the most popular being a story about the prophecy of Cairo.
The legend claims there was a prophecy made by the great sun god, Ra, which would be crucial to the survival of the Mai, who were then considered unseen protectors. An evil, immortal lord would rise, and try to find the prophecy, and the Mai would continue to hide it, until one would step up, and kill the immortal lord forever.
Today's legends of the Mai are similar, however the tale tells of the hunt for the Prophecy of Cairo more of a game, rather than a protection.
Legend says the Mai had distinct qualities. Their personalities would be quite catlike, and they would have eyes like a cat (green, gold, blue, and silver). Inhuman speed, agility, and flexibility, and the ability to turn take the form of a cat are among the Mai's other characteristics. The Mai were also believed to have nine lives, just like a cat. The Mai can never fall in love if they want to keep their cat-like qualities. Once they marry, they are giving up the way of the Mai, and must lead a human life.
"Wow." John breathed.
"No kidding." Paul said.
"Do you think-"Ringo started.
"It fits, doesn't it?" George cut in.
"We should tell her." Paul suggested.
"Agreed." Chimed the other three.
Kemet sat in her room. She knew she had to tell them she was part of the Mai eventually, but she had no clue how.
She was scared that she would scare her new friends off by telling them she had killed people before, and that she was part cat, but she would do it when they got home.
Just then the door opened.
Showtime.
"Uh, guys? Can we talk?" Kem asked, walking into the sitting room.
"We were just thinking the same thing." John said.
"I have a confession, if you don't mind me going first." Kem said, smiling tensely.
Silence.
"Err, right, so…um… You know when Sekhemet came with that warning?" Kem shifted uncomfortably.
She was clearly struggling to find the correct words, so Paul decided to break the ice. "We know, Kemmy."
Kemet looked shocked. "How did you find out?"
"Err."
"We sort of looked it up." Ringo said, looking down
Kem sat there, with her head in her hands. "You're not supposed to find out." She muttered.
"Aw, c'mon, Kem, we still like you!" John said.
"Even though I've killed?" Kem asked "Even though I can hunt someone down and kill them by simply looking into their mind?"
Silence.
"I thought so." Kem said, getting up and going towards the door. George caught her arm, and held her back. Kem looked at him, tears in her golden eyes.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her.
The other three, taking a hint, quietly left the room.
"What?" Kem asked him, her eyes never leaving his as he stood up, much too close to her. "What are you doing?"
"Giving you an incentive to stay." George whispered in her ear.
"George, I-"Her protest was cut short by George's look.
"Please don't go." He whispered just barely brushing his lips against hers.
Kem looked into his dark brown eyes. "I- um, I-"
Yeah, yeah, I know, cliffy. Just go complain about it in the review box, yeah?
