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(TIME LAPSE approx.4 days)

SADIE

3RD PERSON

Sadie stood in front of the mirror in her room and sighed. Dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, she knew she looked less than healthy: Her shirt hung loosely from her bony shoulders and her makeup barely disguised her dark circles and purple bruises on her neck.

She knew she wouldn't be able to slip into breakfast undetected, so she decided to go in the back and make a quiet entrance. Lucky for her, everyone was engrossed in conversation. Carter was going over a lesson plan with Walt, Jaz and Cleo were debating whether to allow Khufu into the library again, and the ankle-biters were chattering about some spell or another.

SADIE POV

I watched as my brother laughed at something Walt said, and I can honestly say that the sound of my two favorite people in the world laughing together like normal friends was one of the best sounds ever. I know that sounds mushy and odd, but neither one of them laughed as much as they should. Sadly, I didn't get to enjoy their laughter for long because Julian noticed me. Then chaos ensued.

"Oh my gosh! Sadie's back!" Julian yelled. Immediately Felix and the ankle-biters converged on me, all talking at once.

"Hey!" I have a feeling I didn't sound quite as energetic as I'd have hoped.

Julian waded through the mass of kids to give me a hug. He looked at me weird but grinned non the less. "Good to see you." Gosh, even though he was almost a year younger than me, he sounded so mature. He was taller than me now, too. I missed a lot.

"Good to see you, too, Julian." I replied.

Cleo and Jaz shoved Julian out of the way [well, Jaz did] and tackled me into a group hug. "Ow...guys..." I gasped, saying a quick prayer for my newly mended ribs. "Need...air."

"Sorry." Cleo apologized, releasing me.

"You're okay?" Jaz asked.

"Yeah. I'm good." I assured her. It was the truth; the sun was shining, it was a lovely 60 degree day and I was back with the people I loved.

"Good." Jaz smiled. Cleo waved as Jaz drug her off to where Khufu was trying to eat something I couldn't see.

I'm afraid what happened next wasn't so pretty: I got cornered by Carter.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was, Sadie Kane? You almost died! What if-"

Bless his heart, Walt stopped my maniacal brother.

"Cut it out, Carter." He said sternly.

"I am sorry." I said. I didn't like doing that to poor Carter. It's not fair to him that I can't stay out of trouble. "I was being stupid and reckless. I shouldn't have left without telling you." That was about all I could say before I would start to cry and I didn't want to do that in present company.

Carter still looked upset, but Walt took my hand. "There's no need to get upset." He scolded me gently. "Carter?" He prompted my brother.

"I'm sorry,too, Sadie. I shouldn't have gone off at you." Carter said. I released Walt's hand as Carter pulled me into a hug. I rested my head on his chest [as he had gotten much taller] and enjoyed the feeling of familial affection. And for the first time ever, he said the words rarely spoken in the Kane family.

"I love you."